The greater xia.

Yang Guo wanted to keep himself away from this dispute but when he saw how cruel Gongsun Zhi was, his anger erupted and he decided to step forward to argue with him. Just as he was about to do this, Xiao Longnü dashed forward and picked up Qiu Qianchi. She patted her ‘Jade Pillow’ pressure point a few times and controlled the bleeding. She then tore off a piece of cloth from her sleeve and covered her wound before shouting at Gongsun Zhi, “Mr. Gongsun, she is your wife, how can you treat her like that? Since you’ve already got a wife, why do you still want to marry me? Even if I married you, won’t you treat me just as you’ve treated her?”

Those three sentences were asked fervently; Gongsun Zhi’s tongue was tied and he couldn’t reply. Ma Guangzuo couldn’t help himself and cheered.

Xiaoxiang Zi said coldly, “This Miss is right.”

Gongsun Zhi really did love Xiao Longnü; though he was made speechless by her he didn’t get angry, he was just embarrassed; he lowered his tone and said to her, “Sister Liu, how can you compare yourself with that evil woman? I can’t love you enough; if I have any ill intent towards you then let heaven condemn me where I stand.”

Xiao Longnü said coldly, “All I need is him to love me; even if your love for me is a hundred times stronger I wouldn’t care.” She then went over to Yang Guo and held his hand.

Yang Guo was filled with resentment, he thought, “Gu Gu loves me like this yet I just have a few days to live and it’s all because of this bastard.” He pointed to Gongsun Zhi and shouted, “You said you have no ill intent towards my Gu Gu, huh! You left me for dead and then lied to my Gu Gu to get her to marry you; is that good intent? She’s been poisoned by the Passion Flowers and you know that there isn’t an antidote to cure her, yet you don’t tell her, is that good intent?”

Xiao Longnü was shocked and quivered, “Is this true?”

Yang Guo said, “Don’t worry; you’ve already taken the antidote.” He then smiled a smile that was filled with grief along with joy, he thought, “I’ve given the antidote to you; I’m willing to die for you.”

Gongsun Zhi looked at Qiu Qianchi and then looked at Xiao Longnü and Yang Guo; his eyes swept across them and jealousy, yearning, anger, shame, embarrassment and disappointment all filled his heart and disturbed him. Although he had great self control, he had now fallen into a semi mad state. He suddenly bent down and took out his yin yang twin blades from under their red cover; he clashed them together and shouted, “Fine, fine! We’ll all die together!”

Everyone gasped; they would never have thought that he had actually brought weapons to his wedding ceremony.

Xiao Longnü chuckled, “Guo’er, we don’t have to be respectful to such an evil person.”

A ‘qiang lang’ sound was heard as she took out a pair of swords from underneath the bridal gown; it was the ‘Gentleman’ and ‘Lady’ swords. Though she wasn’t versed in the ways of the world, she did not have an ounce of mercy in her when dealing with such evil people. When she went to take revenge for Grandma Sun, she frightened all the Taoists of Chongyang Palace witless and the Blithe Sage Hao Datong almost lost his life to her. The thought of killing him entered her mind when Gongsun Zhi had stopped her and Yang Guo from getting back together today. She had hidden the weapons beneath her gown so that when Gongsun Zhi cured Yang Guo, she would immediately take the opportunity to attack him with Yang Guo at her side. If it didn’t work then she would kill herself for Yang Guo; not allowing herself to be sullied in this Passionless Valley.

All the guests were shocked when they saw that both of them had prepared weapons. Only Fawang and the others, who were experienced, knew that this celebration would end in tragedy and weren’t surprised. They were only surprised with the fall of Qiu Qianchi in one attack; this did not match the abilities of someone with the profound internal energy she had just shown.

Yang Guo took the ‘Gentleman’ sword from Xiao Longnü and said, “Gu Gu, today we’ll kill that man to take revenge for me.”

Xiao Longnü’s ‘Lady’ sword trembled and she said surprised, “Take revenge for you?”

Yang Guo was filled with sadness in his heart but he couldn’t tell her about it, he just said, “This bastard has harmed many people.” He flipped his sword and went for Gongsun Zhi’s left side. He knew that this battle was extremely dangerous; though Xiao Longnü’s Passion Flower poison had been cured, he was still poisoned. If they come together and used the “Pure Heart of Jade Maiden Swordplay” and stirred feelings of love, he would break out with unbearable pain. He kept his eye on the enemy and used “Quanzhen Swordplay”; every stance and form of his was extremely stringent and cautious. If these stances were performed by Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and the other old Taoists, the stances will of course be performed steadily and controlled, profound and intense. In the hands of Yang Guo it displayed maturity beyond his years but his stances were slightly less smooth.

Gongsun Zhi knew that when the two used their combined swordplay they were powerful so he immediately used the “Yin Yang Wild Blades” with the black sword in his right hand and the gold saber in his left. His stances were getting fiercer and fiercer with every stroke. The “Quanzhen Swordplay” that Yang Guo was using was developed by Wang Chongyang; though it wasn’t vicious and fierce like the opponent’s, it was subtle and had variations. Yang Guo defended cautiously and did not attack as he received three stances. Xiao Longnü called out and raised the ‘Lady’ sword, attacking Gongsun Zhi’s back.

Gongsun Zhi was furious, he thought, “This beautiful girl was going to be my wife and now she’s joined an outsider to attack me.” He continued thinking, “The evil bitch coming back here suddenly and revealing all the things I’ve done has caused me to lose my respect and all face. Not only can’t I force sister Liu to marry me; it looks I won’t be able to keep my position here in the valley.” Though today’s matters are troublesome, he was going to rely on his martial arts to get him out of this mess. All he wanted to do was beat Yang Guo, kidnap Xiao Longnü and run away. He didn’t know that Xiao Longnü’s Passion Flower poison had been cured and still thought that she had less than thirty six days to live; he was still going to force her to marry him. His thoughts were becoming more and more evil and the wild twin blades in his hands were becoming more vicious by the minute.

Xiao Longnü used the “Jade Maiden Swordplay” so that when Yang Guo and she become one, they would be able to unleash the power of the “Pure Heart of the Jade Maiden Swordplay”. But his eyes did not glance over at her once; he was just concentrating on himself as he fought.

Xiao Longnü was extremely surprised and asked, “Guo’er, why aren’t you looking at me?” Her love was gradually being stirred and the light from her sword suddenly enhanced.

When Yang Guo heard her voice, his heart trembled and his chest broke out with an unbearable pain. His sword slowed and a ‘chi’ sound was heard as the black sword cut his sleeve. Xiao Longnü was alarmed and unleashed three stances in a row, blocking Gongsun Zhi’s attack.

Yang Guo said, “I can’t look at you or listen to you.”

Xiao Longnü said tenderly, “Why?”

Yang Guo was afraid that he would meet danger again and replied coarsely, “If you want me to die then continue talking to me!” As soon as his anger stirred the pain immediately stopped and he received the stances of Gongsun Zhi’s black sword.

Xiao Longnü was extremely sorry and said, “Don’t be angry, I won’t say anything more.” Her mind suddenly lit up, “My poison has been cured but his hasn’t! He got the antidote but he didn’t take it and returned here to give it to me.” She was extremely touched and the love in her was boundless; as soon as this feeling grew, the power of the “Pure Heart of Jade Maiden Swordplay” enhanced greatly. The stances that she unleashed protected all of Yang Guo’s vital points. Since she was protecting Yang Guo, Yang Guo should protect her, but he didn’t dare to glance over at her; and so she was completely unprotected and exposed to the enemy’s attack.

Gongsun Zhi’s eyes were very sharp; he discovered the weakness in just a few stances but he didn’t want to harm a single hair of Xiao Longnü’s head. He directed all his vicious sword and saber stances towards Yang Guo. He was attacking like a crashing wave but Yang Guo was defending like an unmovable cliff. With Xiao Longnü using all her efforts to protect him, all of Gongsun Zhi’s attacks were actually rendered useless.

By this time, Lu E had wakened up and stood next to her mother watching the battle. She watched as Xiao Longnü concentrated only on guarding Yang Guo, ignoring all dangers to herself; she couldn’t help but ask herself, “If that was you, could you disregard all the dangers to yourself to protect him?” She sighed lightly and said, “I would definitely be able to act like Miss Long, but he would not act the same way towards me.”

Just at this time, Qiu Qianchi hissed, “The false saber is not a saber; the false sword is not a sword!”

Both Yang Guo and Xiao Longnü were startled when they heard this, they didn’t know what she meant by these two sentences.”

Qiu Qianchi called out, “The saber is a saber, the sword is a sword!”

Yang Guo had fought Gongsun Zhi twice; all along he has been pondering about where the essence of the “Yin Yang Wild Blades” lies but the light, airy black sword chopped solidly while the heavy gold saber was swift and flighty, following the way of the sword. The stances he was using were the complete opposite to the orthodox martial arts theories. It would be fine if the saber was using sword techniques only and the sword was using saber techniques only; but the reality was, that in the midst of the sword techniques there were saber stances; buried within the saber stances were the lethalness of sword strokes. The variation was mysterious and difficult to grasp; when he heard those words of Qiu Qianchi he thought, “Could it be that the sword techniques of the saber and the saber techniques of the sword are all illusions?” He saw the black sword chopping across his shoulders; this was definitely a saber stance. He then treated it as a sword and extended his ‘Gentleman’ sword forward; the swords collided and they both took a step back. Only then did he know that the black sword was still just a sword, and the saber stances that he was using were merely trying to confuse his opponent. But if the opponent’s martial arts were slightly poor, the saber techniques would still able to cause harm.

With this immediate success, Yang Guo was delighted and continued to search for weaknesses in the opponent’s sword and saber. He was thinking that although the jumbled stances were masterly, the ways of these blades would not be refined. A few more stances passed when he heard Qiu Qianchi say, “Attack his right leg; attack his right leg.”

Yang Guo saw that Gongsun Zhi’s saber was like a blur; there was no open space to attack on his lower body at all. But he thought that, although Qiu Qianchi was not able to perform martial arts anymore, her knowledge was still there. She was the one who taught Gongsun Zhi martial arts; she would definitely know what was real and what was false; so he listened to her and attacked his right leg. Gongsun Zhi swept his saber across and there was no way to hit his right leg; but as he did this, his left shoulder and left side were left unprotected. Yang Guo did not wait for Qiu Qianchi to prompt him and flashed his sword towards him, cutting through his gown underneath his armpit.

Gongsun Zhi cursed and leapt back; he stared angrily at Qiu Qianchi and shouted, “Old witch; do you think I’m going to let you go?” He then continued to attack Yang Guo with the saber and sword.

Yang Guo raised his sword to block the attack. Qiu Qianchi continued, “Kick his back!”

The two of them were facing each other, there was no way he could kick his back; but Yang Guo was confident in Qiu Qianchi. He knew that there was a deeper meaning behind her words; he didn’t care what would happen and dashed towards the back of his opponent. Gongsun Zhi used his saber to cut backwards.

Qiu Qianchi called out, “Pierce his forehead.”

Yang Guo thought, “I’ve just turned towards his back and now you’re telling me to pierce his forehead?” It was an urgent situation and he didn’t give it much thought, he turned back towards the enemy’s front and he was just about to pierce his enemy’s forehead when Qiu Qianchi called out, “Cut his arse!”

Lu E watched with sweaty palms; she knitted her eyebrows and thought, “By calling madly like this, isn’t mother helping father instead?” She kept her thoughts to herself but Ma Guangzuo couldn’t contain himself and he shouted out, “Brother Yang, don’t fall into the trap of that old woman; she wants to kill you.”

Yang Guo had twisted and turned many times and had an inkling as to what her meaning was; when she called out go forward he turned forward and when she shouted go backward he immediately dashed behind him. Indeed, after a few twists and turns, Gongsun Zhi’s right side was uncovered. Yang Guo sent his sword towards Gongsun Zhi’s right side and a ‘chi’ sound was heard as it the sword cut through his gown, piercing about an inch into Gongsun Zhi’s side; blood immediately flowed down his side.

The crowd gave an ‘ah’ call and stood up. Fawang and the others now understood. Qiu Qianchi was not instructing Yang Guo on how to gain victory; she was instructing him on how to gain an opportunity to win in a situation where it was impossible to gain victory. She was not pointing out the weakness of Gongsun Zhi, but was trying to make Yang Guo force a flaw in the opponent from his flawless stances. After being prompted by Qiu Qianchi a few times, Yang Guo immediately understood this advanced martial art notion; he was in awe of her and thought, “If the opponent is a skilled fighter, what flaws will they show in their stances? This piece of advice from this senior is more than enough for a lifetime’s use.”

But to force a flaw in Gongsun Zhi required not only for one’s martial arts to be higher than his, but one must also be familiar with his stances. A person must be clear on all his variations and reactions over ten stances beforehand, before luring him step by step into making an error. Only Qiu Qianchi was able to do this. Yang Guo understood but he was not able to realize it. He heard her prompt and the sword suddenly flashed out, attacking Gongsun Zhi’s back, front and sides urgently. Over twenty stances later, Gongsun Zhi’s leg was cut.

Though this cut wasn’t deep, it was long, at least five or six inches long.

Gongsun Zhi thought, “The two of them are guarding each other, I can’t hurt the one named Yang; if this continues, with the old hag giving advice, I’ll die by this bastard’s sword.” Years ago, in order to save his own life he killed his lover; in this desperate situation he couldn’t care about Xiao Longnü anymore. He moved his black sword and swiped his saber, slashing towards Xiao Longnü’s shoulders.

Yang Guo was alarmed, he stretched his sword forward to protect her from this attack when he heard Qiu Qianchi call out, “Stab his waist.” Yang Guo was startled and thought, “Gu Gu is being attacked right now, how can I not save her? But each time Senior Qiu Lao has given me advice, it has a deeper meaning behind it. It looks like this is a ‘surrounding Wei to rescue Zhao’ plan.” He changed his mind and the sword arrived at Gongsun Zhi’s waist. Suddenly Xiao Longnü called out, her right arm was cut and the ‘Lady’ sword fell onto the floor. Gongsun Zhi’s black sword slanted across and blocked Yang Guo’s sword.

Yang Guo was extremely shocked and quickly called out, “Move back, I’ll take him by myself.” His love and care for her was stirred and his chest broke out in an aching pain again. Xiao Longnü’s injury was not slight; she moved backwards and tore off a piece of her sleeve, wrapping it around her wound. Yang Guo fought with his life; he was furious with Qiu Qianchi and glanced at her with rage.

Qiu Qianchi chuckled, “Why are you blaming me? I’m just helping you defeat your enemy; who’s trying to help you to rescue someone? Ha-ha, what’s her life got to do with me? It’s better if she dies!”

Yang Guo said angrily, “You and your husband are a perfect match; there isn’t an ounce of goodness in either of your hearts!”

Qiu Qianchi just chuckled; she didn’t get angry and remained composed as she concentrated on the battle.

Yang Guo glanced over at Xiao Longnü and saw her leaning on a chair with her wound wrapped up. It looked like it wasn’t serious and his spirits were roused. His sword techniques suddenly changed from “Quanzhen Swordplay” to “Jade Maiden Swordplay”. Gongsun Zhi saw his sword stances had been steady and cautious; but suddenly they were now supple and lively, graceful and attractive. It was as if Yang Guo had changed into another person. Gongsun Zhi was surprised and thought, “This person is extremely crafty, what is he trying now?” After taking a few stances, he felt that his opponent’s swordplay had the same elegant and lofty air of a distinguished family; the same type of swordplay that Xiao Longnü had used. All Gongsun Zhi’s doubts were erased and he attacked with both his sword and saber.

Ten or so stances later, Yang Guo was gradually being put on the back foot (a sign of coming defeat) and forced to retreat. Qiu Qianchi gave advice to Yang Guo repeatedly but he was furious with her for deliberately intending to get Xiao Longnü injured. He ignored her and said to himself, “Who needs your annoying words?” He unleashed four strokes and hummed, “The minutiae of a fine horse, a radiant and beautiful coat, the left grabs the many weak, the right receives the forgotten retreat.” The verses matched the sword stances and he performed the sword strokes with great elegance.

Gongsun Zhi was startled and said, “What?”

Yang Guo continued, “The galloping wind and the flashing lightning, the chasing image flying away. Swift and powerful from the central plains, appearance is the aim.” The stances were grouped in fours, reflecting the verse. Where it said, ‘the galloping wind and the flashing lightning, the chasing image flying away’, the sword stances were extremely quick; when it said, ‘swift and powerful from the central plains, appearance is the aim’, the sword strokes were swift and vicious yet also carried elegance along with it.

Gongsun Zhi had never seen these sword stances before. The verses were pleasing to the ear and he slowed down his attacks, trying to concentrate on the meanings behind each line. He knew that the sword stances and the verses matched each other; all he has to do is to grasp the meaning behind the verses and he’ll be able to defeat this swordplay.

Yang Guo continued, “Stopping at the orchid garden, the horse is fed at Mount Hua. The eyes return unto the swan, the hand strumming the five strings.” The verse was said with a modest tone but the sword strokes were towering and majestic, especially the last two stances which were extremely exquisite and sudden. It appeared to go to the east but went west, the sword hinted up but went down, one stance but two strokes, and it was difficult to tell what was real and what was false.

Xiao Longnü had now finished wrapping up her wound. She watched Yang Guo’s swordplay and felt it was pleasing to the eye; but she had never heard him talk about this swordplay before so she asked, “Guo’er, what swordplay is this; who taught you?”

Yang Guo laughed, “I thought of it myself. Gu Gu, is it good? A few days ago I was resting in bed from some injuries and I saw a book of poetry by the bed. I thought the poems were quite nice so I committed them to memory. At the heroes’ feast, Zhu Ziliu merged calligraphy into martial arts; I thought it would definitely be possible to merge poetry into martial arts.”

Xiao Longnü said, “It’s very good…”

Suddenly, Jinlun Fawang praised, “Brother Yang, I can only look on in awe at your intelligence and wisdom. The following verse is of course, “Bowing to and revering one’s content, the good mood of the heart is too obscure, fishing and searching for something, the trap is forgotten once the fish is caught.”

Gongsun Zhi’s mind lit up, “That monk is trying to help me.” He didn’t think about what the monk wanted but concentrated on the first line of the verse, ‘Bowing to and revering one’s content’, the sword will definitely be aimed upwards followed by a downwards stroke. He guarded his upper body with the black sword and chopped his gold saber from the middle of his body.

Jinlun Fawang was versed in both martial arts and culture. Although he lived in Tibet, he knew Han philosophies, their history and Confucian classics. When he heard Yang Guo reciting the poem, he knew from long ago what the following verses would be. He revealed this to Gongsun Zhi in hope that he would be able to use Gongsun Zhi to kill Yang Guo for him.

Gongsun Zhi did indeed manage to get the first move in when he heard this. Before Yang Guo unleashed his sword strokes, Gongsun Zhi had sealed off all of the sword’s paths while at the same time, chopping out his jagged golden saber from the middle of his body to attack him.

Luckily, Yang Guo had heard Fawang and was prepared for this, he didn’t continue on with his “Four Lined Poem Swordplay” and guarded his midriff with his sword while the middle finger of his left hand flicked out, striking the back of the golden saber.

Gongsun Zhi’s arm trembled and the joints in his hand felt slightly numb from this flick, he was shocked and thought, “This little punk has much strange kung fu.”

This flick of Yang Guo’s was the “Divine Release of the Flicking Finger” that Huang Yaoshi taught him; but he was unable to subdue his enemy because his internal energy wasn’t strong enough. If Huang Yaoshi performed this move, the jagged golden saber of Gongsun Zhi would have flown out of his hand as soon as it was struck. However, this flick of Yang Guo’s was still good enough to allow him to regain the upper hand; he moved his sword forward and used Huang Yaoshi’s “Jade Flute Swordplay”. The “Divine Release of the Flicking Finger” and “Jade Flute Swordplay” both concentrated on attacking the opponent’s pressure points. When they were used together, it was ingenious and subtle and even though Yang Guo’s mastery of these skills wasn’t refined; after a bout of urgent attacking it was still good enough to trouble Gongsun Zhi.

At that time, Qiu Qianchi called out again, “His sword is going for the waist, and his saber is chopping towards the neck”. “The sword is going to slash towards your right shoulder while his saber guards his left.” She called out every stance of Gongsun Zhi’s in advance.

Yang Guo now held the upper hand completely. With his poetry ceased, Fawang was unable to tell where his sword would go and couldn’t aid Gongsun Zhi.

Gongsun Zhi’s family art the “Yin Yang Twin Blades” were inspected thoroughly by Qiu Qianchi and then subsequently improved by her. All of Gongsun Zhi’s stances were known to her; no matter how sudden his changes were, Qiu Qianchi would call it out in advance. As they were absorbed in the battle, Qiu Qianchi suddenly called out, “Both his sword and saber are going to attack your upper body.” These words were called out at just the exact time as Gongsun Zhi sent out both his saber and sword; it was now difficult for him to change his stance halfway through. Yang Guo had more than enough time to block this attack.

Yang Guo lowered his head and dashed forward while protecting his back with his sword. His left finger came out and jabbed the opponent’s ‘Ocean of Air’ pressure point an inch and a half below the navel. Yang Guo was delighted with this successful attack at the first attempt. He thought that his opponent would suffer a serious injury with this attack but Gongsun Zhi’s leg came out, striking him on the jaw.

Yang Guo was shocked and leapt to the side a few feet. He then remembered how strange the pressure points were on this person; previously he had used the golden sphere silk belt to strike his pressure points but it had no effect on him. Gongsun Zhi came at him once again.

Qiu Qianchi called out once again, “His blades will cross, the right sword attacking left, the left saber attacking right.”

Yang Guo did not give it much thought and defended with all his might.

When it came to internal energy, Yang Guo was not a match for his opponent; he would have lost out long ago if it weren’t for Qiu Qianchi’s advice.

Yang Guo and Gongsun Zhi continued for another seven or eight hundred stances. The members of the valley watched with their hearts on the verge of jumping out of their mouths. At the same time Xiaoxiang Zi and the others were also fixed on the great battle, but they couldn’t tell who would win it. In the midst of the blurs of the saber and sword, one could see Gongsun Zhi panting while Yang Guo was soaked with sweat. The movements of the two were now not as quick as before.

Gongsun Lu E thought that if the two carried on like this, one of them would be seriously injured. Of course she didn’t want Yang Guo to lose; but she couldn’t bear to see her father get hurt, so she whispered to Qiu Qianchi, “Mother, tell them to stop. We’ll settle this by talking it over.”

Qiu Qianchi gave a ‘heng’ grunt and said, “Pour two bowls of tea.”

Lu E was confused but did as she was told and brought the bowls of teas to her mother. Qiu Qianchi took off the piece of bloody cloth that was wrapped around the wound on her head. When she was knocked into the pillar, blood poured out of her head and it was Xiao Longnü who tore off her sleeve and covered her wound. The bleeding on her head started again as she took off the cloth.

Lu E was alarmed and called out; “Mother!”

Qiu Qianchi called out, “I won’t die!” She threw the bloody cloth onto her knees and took the bowls. Her four fingers held the bowls but the thumb of each hand was in the tea. The blood on her thumbs mixed into the tea. She quickly swirled the tea and the traces of blood were gone. She called out, “You should be tired now; have a bowl of tea!” She said to Lu E, “Give one bowl of tea to each of them to quench their thirst.”

Lu E knew her mother hated her father deeply and wouldn’t have any good intentions towards him. This bowl of tea wasn’t meant to quench his thirst but to poison him. However, she poured the bowls of tea herself and there was no poison in any of them; they were just ordinary bowls of tea. It must be because her mother sympathized with Yang Guo. If her father didn’t have a bowl, he would not stop and Yang Guo would not be able to take a drink. She saw that the two were really very tired so she went to the middle of the hall and called out clearly, “Please have some tea!”

Gongsun Zhi and Yang Guo were both very thirsty; when they heard Qiu Qianchi call out; they both stopped and jumped backwards.

Lu E first took the tray of tea to her father. Gongsun Zhi knew that it was Qiu Qianchi who ordered her to bring these bowls of tea to him, so there’ll definitely be something wrong with it. Most likely they had poison in them. He held up his hand and said to Yang Guo, “You drink first.”

Yang Guo had no fear and casually picked up a bowl of tea; he placed it on his lip and took a sip.

Gongsun Zhi said, “Good, I’ll have that bowl!” He took Yang Guo’s bowl from his hand.

Yang Guo laughed, “It was your daughter who poured the tea; don’t tell me you think there’s poison in them?” Yang Guo took the other bowl of tea and drank it in one go.

Gongsun Zhi looked at his daughter’s face and saw that it was calm and relaxed, he thought, “Lu E loves that punk, of course there would be no poison in his cup of tea; I’ve already swapped the bowls, what have I got to be afraid of?” He too drank the bowl of tea in one go and then clashed his weapons, saying, “There’s no need for a break, continue. Huh, if it weren’t for that old witch giving you tips, you would have died from my black sword and golden saber long ago even if you had ten lives to spare.”

Qiu Qianchi replaced the bandage on her head and said evilly, “His “Closure of the Pressure Points” has been defeated; you can hit his pressure points.”

Gongsun Zhi felt a slight taste of blood on his tongue and was shocked; a shock that was indescribable. This particular family art has one big drawback; the practitioner cannot taste an ounce of meat otherwise this art will be neutralized immediately. His ancestors were afraid that they’d taste meat by accident and so passed a strict order in the valley; no one can eat meat. Though the others didn’t practice this art, they were still forced to be vegetarians. Gongsun Zhi had always been very careful; but how would he have known that Qiu Qianchi would actually use such an evil plan and put her own blood in the bowls of tea?

Yang Guo was not affected by drinking this bowl of blood containing tea; but the “Closure of the Pressure Points” technique that Gongsun Zhi had been training bitterly all his life was gone, just like that.

He turned his head around in fury and looked at Qiu Qianchi who had a plate of dates on her knees that had been served to the guests. She was eating them and savoring the taste. She said slowly, “I told you before, twenty years ago, this art of the Gongsun family is hard to learn yet easy to neutralize; it’s not worth practicing.”

Fire erupted in Gongsun Zhi’s eyes and he raised his weapons, dashing forward towards Qiu Qianchi. Lu E was alarmed and dashed in front of her mother to protect her. Suddenly a gust of wind brushed past her ear; it sounded like some kind of projectile.

Gongsun Zhi howled. Blood poured down f