Chapter 105

"Let's go, let's go take a look." Huang Rong, the most curious of them all, said as she rose to get up.

Jiang Sishui reached out and pressed her back down, then shook his head at her.

Huang Rong was startled for a moment, then immediately understood: "Brother Sishui, is it this qin music… is there something wrong with the person playing?"

Over these past three days, as the two of them grew closer, Jiang Sishui had finally gotten Huang Rong to switch to calling him "brother."

A delicate, crisp, tender tone, a sweet, soft, velvety manner, with a hint of coquettishness in it—anyone who heard it felt their bones grow several taels lighter.

Jiang Sishui glanced toward the lake and said with a smile: "Don't worry, you don't need to go over. He'll come to us on his own."

The qin player would come over on his own?

Huang Rong's big eyes blinked with thick curiosity as she asked: "Does Brother Sishui know who that person is?"

Jiang Sishui shook his head: "I don't know."

Huang Rong grew even more puzzled: "Then why are you so sure?"

Jiang Sishui looked around and said: "Out here in this desolate wilderness, there aren't any households around. Yet the moment we stopped here, someone just happens to come over and play the qin."

"The qin music may be beautiful, but to my ears it clashes with the surroundings. Most likely someone is deliberately making a show of it, trying to lure us over, then pretending it's a chance encounter to achieve some ulterior motive."

"This kind of pretentious, staged act—haven't storybooks already beaten it to death?"

Seeing the women still half-convinced, he added: "The most crucial point is, I can sense a killing intent within the qin music!"

Killing intent?

????????? Begging for flowers??????????

All the women were taken aback.

The qin music was upright and gentle, making one feel like bathing in a spring breeze—how could there be killing intent?

But then immediately after, they thought of one of Jiang Sishui's innate talents—Cicada Sense!

So they all believed him, no longer doubting a word Jiang Sishui said.

Huang Rong sat back down, but her expression clearly held a hint of eagerness, as if she couldn't wait to watch a good show.

"Alright, let's eat first. Since he's coming for us, he won't run. Let him play for a while. When he gets tired, he'll come over on his own."

A hint of playfulness laced Jiang Sishui's tone.

All the women laughed as well.

So the group listened to the qin music and savored the fine food, quite relaxed and at ease.

And this qin music played on for a full quarter of an hour.

Just at that moment, the group had also eaten and drunk their fill, and Jiang Sishui glanced toward the lake.

... 0 0

His gaze seemed to pierce through the layers of branches in between, landing on the qin player.

"Let's go."

Jiang Sishui called out, and the group continued on their way.

As expected, they hadn't gone far before a figure appeared ahead.

A young, handsome monk in white.

He carried a qin on his back and walked along the roadside, as if only hearing the hoofbeats did he turn to look.

Then he stepped aside and stopped at the roadside, as if making way for the group.

It's him!

All the women recognized this white-robed monk.

It was the Shaolin Temple's "Wonderful Monk" Wuhua.

The reason all the women remembered him was that at the Zhenlongqi Society, Xu Zhu had called out the Shaolin supreme technique that Murong Bo used, drawing everyone's attention.

At the time, Wuhua had been standing right beside Xu Zhu.

One beautiful, one ugly—the two formed a stark contrast. The former had an ethereal, otherworldly air, unlike any monk they'd ever seen, naturally drawing everyone's gaze.

So all the women had remembered such a person.

It had only been a few days since then, so recognizing him was no difficult feat.

So… it was this monk with ill intentions?

The women all turned to look at Jiang Sishui.

Jiang Sishui glanced at Wuhua, his gaze sweeping the surroundings, while simultaneously channeling his internal force and listening intently.

After confirming no one was around, he flicked his reins and urged his horse forward slowly.

The distance between the two sides kept shrinking. Wuhua, too, seemed to recognize Jiang Sishui, and a smile spread across his jade-like, gentle face.

But before his smile could fully bloom, his expression suddenly changed. He tapped his toe and shot backward at full speed!

At the same moment, a sharp streak of sword light flew from its sheath! Up.

116 Heavenly Art's fangs revealed, the bizarre Eastern Barbarian ninja arts

Wuhua's reaction was already very fast—he had retreated the instant Jiang Sishui's right hand reached for his sword hilt—but no matter how fast he was, he couldn't outrun the sword speed of the "Heavenly Sword Drawing Technique"!

The long sword leaving its sheath and descending required almost no time at all. Most terrifying of all, the sword tip actually shot out a zhang-long blazing-white sword aura!

Yes, once the "Heavenly Sword Drawing Technique" reached Minor Completion, it no longer needed to be released at close range—it could now strike from a distance.

Right now Jiang Sishui had only just reached Minor Completion, and his sword aura was only one zhang.

When this art reached the threshold between Minor Completion and Major Completion, the sword aura could even reach nine zhang!

He could launch a sneak attack from thirty meters away.

Combined with the terrifying sword speed of the "Heavenly Sword Drawing Technique," anyone below Heavenly Human—unless they were like Wuhua and retreated the very instant Jiang Sishui reached for his sword—would basically end up dead!

Even a Heavenly Human, if they hadn't projected true qi outward to guard their body, could be slain in an instant by a single sword if caught off guard!

It was only "three-zero-zero" at this moment that this Heavenly Art first revealed its fangs.

Because Jiang Sishui had struck when the two of them were less than a zhang apart, Wuhua still hadn't fully escaped the attack range of that sword.

But he saw a zhang-long sword gleam slash out like a waterfall, swiftly catching up to Wuhua, sweeping past him in an instant, and then sheathing itself once more.

Fresh blood soaked his white robes; a hideous wound split open on Wuhua's right shoulder, dyeing half his body red.

And on that fair, handsome face—more beautiful than any woman's—a sword scar had also been added, slicing across his nose and the corner of his left eye, with flesh turned outward, a shocking sight.

In an instant, the handsome, dashing white-robed monk had become as hideous and terrifying as an evil ghost, his transcendent immortal bearing utterly gone.

This scene came so suddenly that everyone present was stunned for a moment.

Even Huang Rong and the other women hadn't expected that Jiang Sishui would actually say not a single word and just start fighting the moment he arrived.

Wuhua hadn't reacted either.

In fact, the reason he had retreated was his body's instinctive reaction to danger; his brain was a beat slower.

Now, as the searing pain swept through his body, Wuhua finally realized—he'd been slashed!

And his face had been ruined too!

His eyes filled with disbelief, his muscles twitching from the pain, pulling at that blood-drenched wounded face and making it even more hideous, as he stared fixedly at Jiang Sishui.

Jiang Sishui, however, had no intention of wasting words with him. He leaped up from his horse's back, looked down from above, and brought his sword down in a vertical slash.

Falling Sword Stance!

Man and sword as one, momentum like a rainbow, about to cleave his opponent clean in two—when suddenly a sheet of purple mist rose up around Wuhua.

The purple mist surged forward like ocean waves, sweeping toward Jiang Sishui head-on, and within the hazy purple light, there seemed to be mixed in some tiny, glittering things.

North Sea True Qi circulated around his body, automatically shielding him. Jiang Sishui shifted his Sword Technique, executing a move called "Arrow-Breaking Stance."

The sword light wheeled around; "ding-ding-dang-dang" rang out in an unbroken clamor, a great clatter, as countless hidden weapons were batted away.

At the same time, Jiang Sishui, now on the ground, stepped into "Wavering Wave Steps," dodging swiftly to evade the purple mist that came surging after him.

With a tremendous "Boom—," as if a thunderbolt had split a mountaintop, the entire ground trembled three times.

Ma Er was startled, rearing up with a long neigh, and directly flung Wang Yuyan and A Bi off.

Fortunately, the grass was soft, so they weren't hurt.

And by the time Huang Rong and the other two women got their mounts under control, the two horses had already run far away.

None of the women bothered with the horses; their eyes were fixed unblinkingly on the battlefield.

They saw the purple mist drift and scatter like light smoke, and the great tree that had been behind Jiang Sishui was now split clean in two, cleaved down the middle, falling to either side.

And the heart of the tree was pitch-black, as if struck by lightning, turned directly into charcoal.

A gust of wind blew past, and leaves fluttered down.

A once-vibrant great tree had, in the blink of an eye, completely withered and died; its green leaves had mostly turned a withered yellow.

The women were startled.

What kind of technique was this?!