Chigan Sha expressed, “Big Boss Sis, if you wish to come in, we would not dare object.”
Big Boss Sis? Isn’t that the title of Nanjiang’s Poison King’s subordinate? His subordinate is a young lady?
Bodhi, unaware of the title Su Xiao was bestowed for poisoning the massive group at Dragon Phoenix Inn, barricaded his heart meridians as a safeguard measure against poison and then queried, “How can this one help you, Miss?”
Su Xiao sheathed his sabre and crossed his arms: “I don’t care who dies or lives, but you are not to damage any of my furniture.”
With a smile, Elder Fan flattered, “We apologise for not thinking this through more thoroughly. Please accept this money as compensation for any damage we may cause.”
Ever since the poisoning debacle, some loved to see Su Xiao, while others did what Elder Fan did because Su Xiao had so many supporters.
“Who asked for your money? What did the furniture do to you? If you want to fight, take it outside.” Su Xiao refused to move from between the two factions, resulting in a stalemate.
“Hahaha,” laughed Bodhi. “Worry not, Miss. We can see that you have invested a lot into the decorations of the lavish inn. This one guarantees to not damage as much as the China.”
“Easier said than done. What if you do damage them?”
“Hahaha, then this one… shall sever his hands.”
Dropping lines such as “I’ll give you three free strikes” or “I’ll eat three punches before I fight back” was considered hubristic since it was bragging one’s qingong and strength, respectively, were ahead. Guaranteeing you wouldn’t damage anything was setting a new bar for being cocky because it insinuated that the speaker wouldn’t even need to budge. If an adult said it to a kid, how would they guarantee the kid wouldn’t deliberately smash something? Moreover, Bodhi offered to amputate his hands for some abysmal damage.
Su Xiao knew it was in his best interests to step aside once he saw the inferno in Wuqing’s eyes.
She’s pretty good to spot the angle my internal energy can’t reach. She has the potential to go very far.
While Bodhi was engaged in his mind, Wuqing commenced with a swing of his cudgel, while Elder Fan followed right behind with his double-edged spear attached at the centre with a chain. Wuqing’s shockwaves bounced off Bodhi’s defence similarly to an iron wall splattering a wave. Accordingly, Wuqing switched from a swing to a jab to counter Bodhi’s straight hand thrust. Alas, Bodhi’s straight down the pipe sent Wuqing back.
He countered my first attack with an attack, though I wasn’t going all out. I’m sure I stabbed his leg with my cudgel jab, yet I felt another surge of energy. Is he somehow able to attack and defend simultaneously?
Wuqing had no idea Bodhi was one of those rare individuals who was a veteran at controlling their energy.
Elder Fan managed to stealthily landed strikes on both of Bodhi’s shoulders, only for the latter to repel both with a muscular contraction. Elder Fan sensed an imminent attack based on Bodhi’s inhale and decided a retreat was what the strategist ordered.
Bodhi guffawed: “Excellent. Exhilarating. You two are both splendid fighters. This one won with this much output when he was hunting, yet you two are still going strong. It appears that this one will have to amp it up. Young Master Chigan, I hope you are still in.”
Despite being the youngest among the trio, Chigan Sha was the most collected as he needed to exercise observation and critical analysis. His style relied on hiding his presence and then striking when the opponent was off guard. Hide in the blinding sandstorm and then tag the target.
Elder Fan hurled a shuttle at a flower vase behind him, impelling Bodhi to risk himself and spring for the vase. Chigan Sha whipped out five gusts of wind to cut Bodhi off straight away. Bodhi cracked a grin and dismantled the five slashes whilst using his free hand to perform a vacuum palm strike.
Elder Fan scoffed, “I don’t even need to break it now.”
To Elder Fan’s astonishment, the vase didn’t break and flew three metres away to land safely on the ground, instead – a switch from brute force to minimal output and technique.
Wuqing exclaimed, “You’re from Beijiang!”
“Heh, that was a skill from Evil Eminence Scripture? Heh, I had no idea Evil Spirits had arrived in the Central Plain. You here to see if we’re out of fighters? Heh, arrogance, arrogance, arrogance.” Elder Fan’s delivered three versions of “Heh” and “Arrogance” with surprise, disdain, mockery, sighing and anger, respectively. Elder Fan then performed his signature technique, thrusting one end out.
“You shall die!” Wuqing simpered as he geared up for an attack, imbuing his iron cudgel with enough internal energy to make it glow red.
Chigan Sha disguised two slashes as four slashes, focusing on maximising each slash as opposed to his five gales version.
Due to the positions of the trio, each attack was executed successively, meaning Bodhi had to dismantle the most lethal strike first before moving onto the next. Elder Fan’s spear attack wasn’t the most lethal. That said, as sly as he was, he leveraged his vanguard position to start with an all-out attack. Chigan Sha, on the other hand, only performed two full-power slashes, focusing on his second slash being the finisher. Wuqing was the most dangerous one of the three in terms of combat prowess as he was on the cusp of ascending to Manifestation Realm.
“Die!”
Bodhi chortled in his deep voice: “Not quite yet.”
Bodhi reached behind him to draw his big broadsword that appeared as intimidating as avalanches emanating from him, not due to the faint markings on it but its sheer size, turning the trio into deer in lights. The shape of the broadsword was similar to rest of Beijiang’s broadsword shapes, except it was four times the size of what was commonly wielded, so it was larger than the Central Plain’s guandao. The hilt would be too large for someone smaller than Bodhi to effectively wield unless they used a double-handed style.
The trio heard three quick, successive clangs before realising Bodhi had cracked their weapons. Had they not felt the tension in their hands changing, they wouldn’t have realised Bodhi already made his move.
Glossary
Guandao – https://bit.ly/2ZDkB3x Guandaos shouldn’t be confused with podaos.