Chapter 32
Saber Light in the Cold Alley
Clatter!
Amidst the silent rain, a commotion suddenly broke out, causing crazed barking.
“Woof woof woof!”
Ye Jingtang was pulled away by Luo Ning. He heard the sound of a window breaking coming from the courtyard and immediately rushed to the courtyard.
At the same time, three flying needles shot toward the wall Ye Jingtang was about to jump onto.
The flying needles were two in the light and one in the dark. The sound of the two light ones cutting through the wind attracted attention, while the dark one was silent.
On this extremely dark and rainy night, it was very difficult for anyone to detect the existence of the silent dark needle.
But Ye Jingtang didn’t know many moves. He had already discovered that the hidden weapon was difficult to avoid, so his fighting style no longer followed the norm.
Clang!
The saber at his waist flashed.
The old courtyard wall in front of Ye Jingtang exploded under the blade and turned into rubble. The rubble covered the sky and the earth as it smashed toward the house and drowned the flying needles shooting over.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The old house was instantly riddled with holes by countless broken bricks.
Guo Yuanlong, who had just crashed out of the window, was horrified when he saw this scene. Knowing that two experts suspected of being Grandmasters had come knocking, he didn’t even have the intention to fight back and directly fled to the side.
Ye Jingtang didn’t know lightness skills and wouldn’t be able to catch up to him if he got away. But his short-distance explosive power was not low.
Knowing that the Wingless Owl’s lightness skills were extraordinary, when Ye Jingtang saw the black shadow dash out of the house, he threw his saber at the spot where the black shadow would land to prevent him from borrowing the force to soar into the air.
Whoosh!
The three-foot-long silver blade brought about a violent wind-breaking sound in the night rain.
Guo Yuanlong didn’t expect these people to react so quickly. His right foot that was about to land on the ground quickly rose back. The next moment, the blade slashed past his foot, cutting off a layer of the sole of his shoe.
This move had already restricted Guo Yuanlong’s movements, but Guo Yuanlong’s reputation was well-deserved. Since he couldn’t step on the ground, he used the tip of his foot to tap on the vibrating saber lightly and borrowed the force to soar into the air.
Swoosh!
But no matter how fast he retracted his foot and changed his footing, it was still slower than usual.
Luo Ning and Ye Jingtang rushed into the courtyard at the same time. How could they give the cat burglar a chance to escape? At this moment, like a fairy from the heavens, Luo Ning leaped into the air and slashed horizontally with the soft sword.
Swish!
Amidst the sharp sword cry, the soft sword was like a peacock spreading its tail, turning into a half-moon folding fan in the rain.
The sword wind drove the raindrops falling from the sky and turned them into a storm of pear blossoms that shot toward Guo Yuanlong. A few raindrops smashed against the collapsed walls of the house, and explosions immediately sounded everywhere.
Poof! Poof! Poof!
Dust flew everywhere, and a line of round holes appeared on the wall.
Screen-Opening Sword?!
Guo Yuanlong recognized that this move was from a sword technique of the Pacifying Heaven Cult of the Heavenly South. He couldn’t help being astonished. He didn’t understand why he was ambushed by the rebels of the Pacifying Heaven Cult when he was at the feet of the emperor.
But with a page of the Roaring Dragon Chart on him, the entire world was his enemy. The person had already come to kill him, and he had no chance to understand the cause and effect.
Blocked top and bottom, Guo Yuanlong found it difficult to force his way through. He spun around in the air to dodge the raindrops while simultaneously throwing a copper ball with an iron wire from his sleeve to the side.
Bam!
The copper ball pierced through a wall. As the soil flew, the iron wire stretched taut.
Guo Yuanlong borrowed the force and pulled himself over. His entire body moved horizontally toward the distant wall.
Ye Jingtang had thrown his saber, but he didn’t stand there stupidly. If he let the cat burglar land, he might not be able to touch the corner of his clothes anymore. Seeing the copper ball flying out, he unleashed his full strength, approached the center of the wire, raised his hand, and struck.
Guo Yuanlong’s eyes were sharp. From Ye Jingtang’s attack, he could tell that Ye Jingtang’s martial arts skills were definitely not low. But under the siege, escaping was his top priority. He immediately braced himself and threw a punch in the air. He wanted to borrow Ye Jingtang’s palm force to fly out of the courtyard and escape into the distance.
Guo Yuanlong’s plan was good, and he achieved his goal. Unfortunately, he had greatly underestimated the strength of Ye Jingtang’s palm strike and borrowed too much force!
Ye Jingtang had never encountered an expert at the border. After entering the capital, he had already fought a Grandmaster, which had almost traumatized him.
At this moment, when fighting against someone, he didn’t dare to hold back at all. Seeing the opponent’s violent punch, he blasted his palm out with his full strength.
Boom!
In the rainy night, a thunderous explosion sounded in the courtyard.
Luo Ning’s sword fell from the air, but she was shocked to find that the rain in the courtyard exploded and shot out in all directions, forming a hole in the curtain of rain.
The moment the fist of the cat burglar collided with Ye Jingtang’s palm, his entire body turned into a sack hit by a battering ram. He flew out horizontally, causing the iron wire in his hand to snap, and crashed into a wall.
It was the same for Ye Jingtang.
Ye Jingtang’s combat experience was not low, and his opponent had nowhere to borrow strength in the air. Logically speaking, no matter how good his martial arts were, he couldn’t exert much strength. It was impossible for him not to be able to withstand the impact with his feet on the ground.
But when his opponent’s fist landed on his palm, he felt as if he had caught a crossbow bolt with his bare hands. There was no technique to speak of. It was all pure brute force!
The punch forced his arm taut, and the explosive force instantly numbed his right arm. His feet were still on the ground, but he couldn’t stand at all. His entire body slid back and crashed into the house behind him.
Clatter!
With a loud bang, a hole appeared in the wall. Guo Yuanlong’s figure didn’t stop until he crashed through the opposite wall, fell into another courtyard, and landed on the ground.
Ye Jingtang fell into the house and rushed out in the blink of an eye. His eyes were astonished. The punch just now was too powerful, so much so that he felt that the opponent wasn’t a human at all but a demon transformed from a bull or a giant elephant.
Luo Ning also saw that the Wingless Owl’s physical strength was unbelievably high, but his martial arts skills were really not much. She immediately reminded anxiously, “He’s severely injured. Chase after him!”
Although Guo Yuanlong was strong, his martial arts skills were really average. Otherwise, he wouldn’t just be a cat burglar.
Under Ye Jingtang’s palm strike that contained boundless internal energy, Guo Yuanlong’s right arm lost its combat ability and drooped. After landing on the ground, he coughed before flipping over and flying away into the distance.
Seeing this, Ye Jingtang ran after him with large strides.
Luo Ning landed on the ground, pierced her sword through the Hornless Dragon Saber’s ring on the hilt, and threw it to Ye Jingtang.
Whoosh!
Ye Jingtang caught the saber while running. It was only at this moment that he realized that Luo Ning’s expression wasn’t right, and her left arm was unnatural. It seemed that she had been injured by the invisible black needle when she forcefully pulled him away.
“You…”
“Chase after him!”
Hearing this, Ye Jingtang gritted his teeth, jumped onto the house with his saber, and approached the back of the black shadow.
Tap, tap, tap…
In the old alley, the sound of tiles breaking echoed continuously. Chickens cawed, dogs barked, and residents shouted.
Guo Yuanlong was extremely agile, making almost no sound as he moved through the rain.
But he was severely injured due to Ye Jingtang’s palm strike. No matter how good his lightness skills were, it was impossible for him to be unaffected at all. He obviously staggered a little during the escape.
Ye Jingtang sheathed his blade and ran wildly on top of houses. Along the way, he grabbed tiles, predicted where the cat burglar would land, and kept throwing broken tiles to interfere. Luo Ning did the same.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Under this kind of pursuit, Guo Yuanlong forcefully held on for half a kilometer, but he was still unable to shake off the two of them. His right arm was bleeding, and under the turbulence of his blood and qi, his injuries had already spread to his chest and abdomen. Moreover, he was still being chased.
Guo Yuanlong was a cat burglar. He had killed people from both the underworld and normal society, and he also had a precious treasure on him. As long as he was caught, he would definitely die. At this moment, he had the intention to fight to the death.
Guo Yuanlong jumped over a wall and suddenly landed on the ground. At the same time, he threw out a flying needle, shooting it upward.
This move was to use Ye Jingtang’s poor vision to catch him off guard.
Unfortunately, Guo Yuanlong had overestimated Ye Jingtang’s skills.
This kind of small wall that was taller than the head, even third-rate experts in Jianghu could pass over it with ease.
But Ye Jingtang was different. He didn’t know any lightness skills. After seeing the Red God of Wealth, the Black and White Impermanence, and Heroine Luo, he knew how terrifying the experts of Jianghu were. If he rashly jumped into the air, he would have nowhere to borrow strength. If he were intercepted, he wouldn’t be able to escape even if he had wings. Therefore, he wouldn’t leave the ground unless he was completely confident.
Seeing the cat burglar disappear behind a wall and losing sight of him, Ye Jingtang didn’t hesitate at all. He turned his body and slammed the wall with his shoulder like a bull.
Boom!
The moment Guo Yuanlong shot out the flying needle, he heard a loud bang behind him. The old brick wall bulged from the impact and then exploded, smashing against his back.
Bam!
Guo Yuanlong’s eyes flashed with shock as he was struck by the tremendous force from behind. He was sent flying and fell on the street in the pouring rain.
“Cough cough!”
With his life hanging by a thread, Guo Yuanlong became ruthless. After falling on the ground, he rolled, bounced up, and turned back. He took out a dagger with his left hand and stabbed it straight at Ye Jingtang’s face.
This move was akin to exchanging life for life.
Clang!
Ye Jingtang immediately unsheathed his saber at his waist and slashed at the chest of the cat burglar, instantly cutting out a white arc in front of him.
This slash was flawless. It should have cut the Wingless Owl’s chest, but something unexpected happened.
Crack!
Amidst the ear-piercing sound, Ye Jingtang was shocked to discover that the cat burglar, who should have been cut in half, only had a hole in the front of his shirt.
The slash that could even cut through the Iron-Armed Impermanence’s arm landed on the cat burglar’s chest but only left a string of sparks.
Judging from the sound, sparks were still coming from the blade. A golden light flashed across the cat burglar’s chest, as if there wasn’t even a scratch!
His opponent had used a move that traded life for life, and he had used his opponent’s flaw to attack. But in the end, he had failed to break through his opponent’s defense. Under normal circumstances, he should have been killed by his opponent in one strike.
This was Guo Yuanlong’s plan. Unfortunately, Ye Jingtang had underestimated Guo Yuanlong’s defense, and Guo Yuanlong had underestimated Ye Jingtang’s damage output.
Ye Jingtang had failed to cut open Guo Yuanlong’s chest, but the majestic internal energy contained in the blade wouldn’t disappear into thin air.
The indestructible ‘heart protecting mirror’ dispersed the force of Ye Jingtang’s blow to half of Guo Yuanlong’s chest, giving him the feeling that an octagonal copper hammer had smashed his chest with overwhelming power.
The immense force sent Guo Yuanlong flying dozens of feet away.
In this exchange, both sides looked shocked.
Guo Yuanlong knew that he was no match for Ye Jingtang at all. He desperately wanted to throw his dagger to stop the pursuer.
Ye Jingtang had failed to kill the cat burglar. He thought that he had encountered another indestructible body like the Iron-Armed Impermanence’s. If he still held back after this, he was probably tired of living.
Seeing his opponent sent flying, Ye Jingtang used the second saber move he had come up with without hesitation. The saber he had slashed out with his left hand was sent to his right hand. Then he stomped heavily on the ground and rushed forward with the saber in his hand!
Boom!
Luo Ning followed behind. Just as she rushed out from behind the collapsed wall, she heard a loud roar on the long street in the heavy rain.
The shameless little thief with the silver saber was like a wild dragon going out to sea. He broke through the rain and created a white line formed by mist on the street.
Swoosh!
A cold light flashed, and the sound of the blade tore through the rain!
Before Luo Ning could even see his figure clearly, Ye Jingtang had already flashed across the street. Before the cat burglar landed on the ground, Ye Jingtang had already appeared behind him. His figure stopped, and he sheathed his saber!
Crack!
The saber light came to an abrupt stop!
Plop!
Gurgle!
The cat burglar’s body fell to the ground, still holding the dagger in his hand that he couldn’t throw in time.
The head flying into the air only landed on the ground after a while. It bounced a few times and rolled to the side of the street. Dark red blood mixed with mud.
The wide eyes on the head had not yet completely lost their spiritual will. The last trace of shock in the eyes might be saying four words: Eight-Steps Frenzied Blade…
Rustle, rustle, rustle…
As the blade was sheathed, the noisy rainy night completely fell silent…