Chapter 1112

Hearing Gai Nie paid no heed to this blade, waiting until the very moment it was about to fall on his head.

He merely tilted his body slightly to the side, and the blade immediately missed.

Before the masked man could be surprised and try to change his move,

Hearing Gai Nie had already struck out like lightning, gathering his Sword Heart, using his finger in place of a sword, and swiftly tapped the masked man's wrist.

With the vital point of his wrist struck, the masked man naturally could no longer hold his blade, and it dropped straight to the ground.

After knocking the blade away from this masked man, several others beside him immediately surged forward to attack.

Each of these masked men possessed cultivation at the Grandmaster level.

Clearly, they also knew how to form battle formations against enemies.

Therefore, when they attacked together, for a moment Hearing Gai Nie appeared to be in a perilous situation.

After all, at this moment Hearing Gai Nie had no true essence.

When fighting, he could only rely on his Sword Dao cultivation and Sword Heart.

Seeing that several people were moving with terrifying speed, their attacks about to reach him,

Hearing Gai Nie once again employed the Guigu Vertical Sword Art, executing a move called "Unrestrained Indulgence,"

and in the blink of an eye, he had already struck out countless sword points.

Every single thrust bypassed these masked men's attacks and struck their weak points.

The next moment, the offensive and defensive positions had reversed.

These masked men were all struck and sent flying backward.

"Good! What fine swordsmanship! Who might you be, sir?"

Seeing so many of his subordinates struck down, the leader of the masked men was not surprised in the least; instead, he turned to Hearing Gai Nie and asked.

Although Hearing Gai Nie had not ascended the Heavenly Dao Golden List, his temperament was extremely proud.

He would never do anything that concealed his identity.

Since the masked leader asked, he replied directly,

"I am Hearing Gai Nie!"

"So it is Hero Gai who has arrived—what an honor!"

Hearing that it was Hearing Gai Nie, the masked leader was not alarmed; instead, a flash of delight crossed his eyes.

"Hero Gai, since you have arrived at our humble place, you are an honored guest of our Despair Shanzhuang.

Men! Bring a sedan chair, and escort Hero Gai up to Despair Shanzhuang!"

Originally, many of the masked men harbored resentment at being beaten by Hearing Gai Nie.

But since their own leader had spoken, no matter how unwilling they were, they could only bring out another sedan chair.

"Hero Gai, please…"

When the sedan chair arrived beside Hearing Gai Nie, the masked leader made an inviting gesture.

This attitude was three times more respectful than the one they had shown toward Duan Yu and Murong Fu earlier.

Yet Hearing Gai Nie also knew that their treating him with such courtesy clearly meant they had designs on him.

If he went along with them to Despair Shanzhuang atop that lonely peak, he would likely no longer be master of his own fate.

Without paying any attention to these masked men, he instead retreated to Old Six's side and asked,

"This… Miss Six, are you all right?"

Of the Six Freaks of the Yellow River, Hearing Gai Nie only knew that the eldest was called Huang Laosi.

Of the remaining five, he did not know how to address a single one.

All along, he had referred to them in his mind simply as Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth.

Now that he was face to face with Sixth alone, he naturally could not bring himself to use such an address.

Moreover, Sixth was young and fair of face.

To call her "Old Six" would surely ruin the mood.

After much hesitation, he could only address her as Miss Six.

This time, had Hearing Gai Nie not intervened in time, the fire monkey in Sixth's arms would long since have been snatched away.

And now Hearing Gai Nie stood with his sword, shielding her; Sixth was deeply moved.

Hearing Hearing Gai Nie address her as Miss Six, Sixth could not help but let out a snort of laughter, covered her mouth, and said,

"Hero Gai, I am no Miss Six. If you don't mind, you may call me Miss Xiao Li."

Miss Xiao Li?

Is this Sixth surnamed Li?

Hearing Gai Nie's heart stirred, and he nodded and said,

"Very well! Miss Xiao Li, can you still walk?"

"I can't. I still had some strength earlier, but now I find I have less and less."

Miss Xiao Li pouted her lips and shook her head.

Strangely enough, when the masked men had tried to snatch the cloth bag in Miss Xiao Li's arms earlier, she had still had the strength to resist.

She had even seized the chance to bite one masked man's Hukou.

But after such a short while, Miss Xiao Li felt her whole body go limp and numb.

Not only were her hands and feet weak and powerless, even her fingers seemed to be gradually losing sensation.

Only her mouth could still speak.

"Ha ha! Hero Gai, this Miss Xiao Li here."

Watching Hearing Gai Nie speak with Miss Xiao Li, the masked leader did not order a forceful attack.

It was only when Miss Xiao Li mentioned she had no strength left that he laughed aloud and said,

"This place is full of the Despair Grass planted by my Despair Shanzhuang. At first it can dissolve the true essence within your bodies.

After enough time passes, it can even gradually wear down your physical strength until it's completely spent.

Hero Gai, even if your swordsmanship has reached the divine, in just a little over an hour, you'll be nothing but a soft-legged shrimp yourself!"

No wonder he had allowed Hearing Gai Nie and Miss Xiao Li to talk so much — he had something to rely on.

Hearing Gai Nie listened, sensed faintly, and found it was indeed as the other had said.

Although his own skill was profound and his will was firm,

at this moment he was not yet like Miss Xiao Li, who had lost the ability to move.

But if it went on long enough, he really would end up the same as Miss Xiao Li.

This place was no place to linger!

Hearing Gai Nie made up his mind: that Despair Shanzhuang was a perilous place, and until the enemy's situation was clear, no matter what was said he would not go there.

At once his body shot backward, and he scooped Miss Xiao Li up in one motion,

"Miss Xiao Li, forgive the impropriety!"

As he spoke, Hearing Gai Nie hoisted Miss Xiao Li onto his shoulder and retreated like the wind using the Guigu Vaulting Art.

"Seize them!"

The masked men's leader had never expected that, under such unfavorable circumstances, Hearing Gai Nie would still be thinking of fleeing.

He immediately gave the order to the whole band of masked men.

Those masked men had long been displeased with Hearing Gai Nie, so now they paid no more attention to the other Jiuzhou martial artists and instead turned in unison to pursue Hearing Gai Nie.

If Hearing Gai Nie's true essence were still intact, in just two bounds he would have left these masked men far behind.

But now Hearing Gai Nie could not use his true essence, while the masked men could.

With one side gaining and the other losing, even though these masked men's cultivation was inferior to Hearing Gai Nie's and their lightness skill could not match the Guigu Vaulting Art,

they still relied on true qi to press the pursuit on Hearing Gai Nie with all their might.

If Hearing Gai Nie had been alone, relying on the Guigu Vaulting Art, escaping would not have been hard.

But he could not put Miss Xiao Li down, and so he raced along the whole way.

Yet after running barely a hundred steps, his breath gave out, and he could not help but reach Master Lijie, his body stopping of its own accord.

"Ha ha! That soft-legged shrimp's done for. Lads, put your backs into it — seize Hearing Gai Nie and Miss Xiao Li, and the Master of the Manor will surely count it as a great merit for us!"

The masked men's leader was also among the pursuers; at one glance he saw Hearing Gai Nie reach Master Lijie, and could not help but laugh smugly.

Hearing the masked men's leader say the Master of the Manor would surely count it as a great merit, those masked men put even more effort into their movements as they acted.