ger, and then casually poked her finger into a tree by her side. Because her internal energy had not reached perfection, her finger only went half an inch deep into the tree.

Zhang Wuji asked again, “How did your Mama teach you this skill? Did she complete the training herself?”

Zhu’er’s eyes suddenly shone with a malicious light; she hatefully said, “In training this ‘qian zhu wan du shou’, as long as one has consumed more than twenty spiders, the venom accumulated in one’s body is already considerable, one’s countenance will be deformed. If the training reaches a thousand spiders, one’s face will be incomparably ugly. My Mama had almost reached a hundred spiders when she met my father. Because she was afraid her countenance would grow uglier and would make my father unhappy, she discarded the entire skill from her body. As a result, she turned into an ordinary woman who lacked the strength to even truss up a chicken. Although she turned back into a pretty woman, but receiving Er Niang [second mother] and my two older brothers’ bullying and insults, unexpectedly she did not have the least bit of ability to fight back. In the end she still had to lose her life. Humph! What good is it to have a pretty face? My Ma was a very beautiful and extremely refined woman. Just because she did not bear a son, my father took a concubine …”

Zhang Wuji’s eyes swept over her face. “So … it was because you train this skill …” he said in a low voice.

“That’s right,” Zhu’er said, “It was because I train this skill that the poison turned my face to look like this. Humph, if that heartless man pays me no attention, just wait ‘til I master the ‘qian zhu wan du shou’. When I find him, if he does not have any woman by his side, then that’s all right …”

“You are not married to him,” Zhang Wuji cut her off; “You also are not engaged to him, you’re just … you’re just …”

“Just say it straight out, what are you afraid of?” Zhu’er said, “You wanted to say that I am just indulging myself in unrequited love, didn’t you? What if I am? Since I have already fallen in love with him, I cannot let another woman occupy his heart. If he is heartless and wishy-washy, I’ll let him taste my ‘qian zhu wan du shou’.”

Zhang Wuji stifled a laugh, but he did not argue with her, realizing that she had a weird character; when she was good, she was really good, but when she was bad, she would not listen to reason at all. He also remembered that his Tai Shifu, Er Shibo [second martial (older) uncle) and the others would often tell him to avoid Wulin people of the heretical way. Apparently the ‘qian zhu wan du shou’ she trained was one of the most ruthless martial art skills of the heretical sect. Her mother must also be a top ranking demon of the heretical sect. Thinking to this point, he could not help but feel somewhat apprehensive toward her.

Zhu’er, however, did not realize the change in his mood; she was busy going in and out of their little hut. She picked a lot of wild flowers and arranged them inside the hut. Seeing the elegant taste with which she decorated the hut, Zhang Wuji knew that her good taste must have come from her natural instinct, it was the poison that caused her face to be ugly.

“Zhu’er,” he said, “After my legs are healed, I am going to pick some herbal medicine to try to cure the poison swelling on your face.”

When Zhu’er heard these words, her expression suddenly turned fearful. “No … no … don’t,” she said, “I have endured countless pain to reach today’s level. Do you want to neutralize my ‘qian zhu wan du shou’ skill?”

Zhang Wuji said, “Perhaps we can think of a way to eliminate the swelling of the poison on your face without any adverse effect to your skill.”

“No way,” Zhu’er said, “If there were a way, my Mama would have inherited the skill, how could she not know? In this world, other than the Divine Doctor Hu Qingniu of the Butterfly Valley, nobody else has this kind of astonishing ability. But he … he has died many years ago.” [Translator’s note: the original was ‘yi xian’ – medicine/medical immortal. Previous chapters also use ‘Sage of Healing’.]

“You know Hu Qingniu?” Zhang Wuji asked in astonishment.

Zhu’er stared at him and said, “What? Something strange? The name of Divine Doctor of the Butterfly Valley was known throughout the Jianghu, everybody knew him.” She heaved a deep sigh and continued, “Even if he was still alive, he had the reputation as Seeing Death Without Helping, [orig. Jian Si Bu Jiu. Previous chapters also used ‘The One who Ignores the Dying’.] what good is it to see him?”

Zhang Wuji thought, “She did not know that the Divine Doctor of the Butterfly Valley had passed on his entire skill to me. I’d better not mention it now, someday I’ll think of a way to cure the poison swelling on her face, it will be a big pleasant surprise for her.”

White they were talking, the sky turned dark. They leaned on mountain rocks inside the hut to catch some sleep. In the middle of the night, Zhang Wuji suddenly heard one or two sobbing noises in his sleep. He woke up with a start only to find Zhu’er crying. Zhang Wuji sat up immediately and reached out to gently pat her shoulder twice.

“Zhu’er,” he said, trying to comfort her, “Don’t be sad.” Who would have thought that with his gentle words, Zhu’er cried even louder as she placed her head on his shoulder?

“Zhu’er,” Zhang Wuji asked, “What is it? You are thinking about your Mama, aren’t you?”

Zhu’er nodded. “Mama is dead!” she said in between sobs, “I am all alone. Nobody likes me, no one’s good to me.”

Zhang Wuji pulled his lapel and slowly wiped her tears. “I like you,” he said in a gentle voice, “I am good to you.”

“I don’t want you to be good to me,” Zhu’er said, “I only like one man, but he ignored me, beat me, scolded me, and he even bit me.”

With a trembling voice Zhang Wuji said, “Why don’t you forget this unfortunate young man? I’ll marry you, I will treat you well for the rest of your life.”

“No! No!” Zhu’er loudly said, “I won’t forget him. If you tell me to forget him, I am going to ignore you forever.”

Zhang Wuji was greatly embarrassed; fortunately it was very dark inside the hut that Zhu’er could not see his red and awkward expression. For a good while nobody said anything.

A long time afterwards, Zhu’er said, “Ahniu Gege, are you angry at me?”

“I am not angry at you,” Zhang Wuji replied, “I am mad at myself, I shouldn’t have said those words to you.”

“No, no!” Zhu’er hastily said, “You said you wish to take me as your wife, you will treat me well for the rest of my life, I love to hear it. Can you say it one more time?”

Zhang Wuji indignantly said, “Since you cannot forget that man, what else can I say?”

Zhu’er reached out to grab his hand. “Ahniu Gege,” she said in a soft voice, “Please don’t be angry. I offended you. My mistake. If you really take me as your wife, I might prick your eyes blind, I might kill you.”

Zhang Wuji shuddered. “What did you say?” he asked in shock.

Zhu’er said, “If you are blind, you won’t see my ugly face, you won’t look at that Miss Zhou from Emei Pai. If you still cannot forget her, with one finger I will stab you dead, with one finger stab that Miss Zhou from Emei Pai dead, and with one finger stab myself dead.” She said those strange words with ease, as if what she was going to do was in accordance with the heaven’s law and the earth’s principle.

Hearing her ruthless words, full of maliciousness, Zhang Wuji’s heart skipped a beat. Right this moment, suddenly from a distant came an old voice, “In which matter did Miss Zhou of Emei Pai give you trouble?”

Zhu’er was startled, she leaped up and said in a low voice, “It’s Miejue Shitai!”

Her voice was so low, but the person outside could still hear her. “That’s right,” she said sternly, “It is Miejue Shitai.”

When the person outside spoke the first few words, the voice sounded from a far, but the second time she spoke, she was already outside the little hut.

Zhu’er knew their situation was far from good, but it was too late for her to pick Zhang Wuji up and hide; she had no choice but holding her breath without saying anything.

“Get out!” they heard the person outside said with a cold voice, “Do you think you can hide inside forever?”

Zhu’er opened the straw curtain and walked out holding Zhang Wuji’s hand. She saw about two ‘zhang’ outside the hut stood an old nun with white hair and dreary face, she was none other than Emei Pai’s Zhang Men [sect leader], Miejue Shitai. Behind her, about a dozen people, divided into three groups, came rushing in. As they arrived, they stood on either side of Miejue Shitai. Half of those people were nuns, the rest were men and women in civilian clothes. Ding Minjun and Zhou Zhiruo were among them. The male disciples stood at the back row. Miejue Shitai had never favored male disciples, Emei Pai male disciples had never learned the most advanced of their school’s martial art, their status was somewhat lower than the female disciples.

Miejue Shitai coldly looked at Zhu’er to size her up without saying anything for half a day. With trepidation, Zhang Wuji was crouching behind Zhu’er. He had made up his mind that if Miejue Shitai attacked Zhu’er, he would do his utmost to help her, although he knew he was not Miejue Shitai’s match. He heard Miejue Shitai humph and she turned toward Ding Minjun.

“Was it this baby girl?” she asked.

“Yes,” Ding Minjun replied respectfully.

Suddenly they heard ‘Crack! Crack!’ twice, Zhu’er uttered a muffled grunt, while she was thrown about three ‘zhang’ backward with broken wrists. She fainted on the snowy ground.

Zhang Wuji only saw a grey shadow flashed as with inhuman speed footwork Miejue Shitai dashed toward Zhu’er, with inhuman speed hand technique she broke her wrist bones and threw her out, and again with inhuman speed footwork she returned to her previous position, and stood loftily like an ancient tree. She looked so ghostly yet also grand standing in the night breeze. Each one of her actions was nimble yet so clear. Zhang Wuji could see each movement clearly, yet her speed was unfathomable. He was so astonished by her speed that he was paralyzed in fear.

Miejue Shitai stared at Zhang Wuji with a piercing-heart-and-soul vision. “Get out!” she sternly said.

Zhou Zhiruo took a step forward. “Shifu,” she reported, “This man’s legs are broken; he cannot walk.”

“Make two snow-sleds, take them go,” Miejue Shitai said. The disciples complied at once.

The dozen or so male disciples with quick hands and feet built two sleds. Two female disciples carried Zhu’er, two male disciples carried Zhang Wuji. They put them on the sleds and pulled the sleds behind Miejue Shitai who had already sped to the west.

Zhang Wuji focused his attention, trying to hear or see if Zhu’er was astir. He did not know the severity of her injury. After travelling for about a ‘li’, he heard Zhu’er groan softly.

“Zhu’er,” Zhang Wuji called out loudly, “How’s your injury? Have you received an internal injury?”

“She broke my both my wrist bones,” Zhu’er replied, “But my chest and abdomen seem to be fine.”

“No internal injury, that’s good,” Zhang Wuji said, “Use your left elbow to bump your right arm three ‘cun’ five ‘fen’ [1 cun is approximately 1 inch, 1 fen is approximately 1/3 of a centimeter or a little over 1/8 or an inch] below the bend, and use your right elbow to bump your left three ‘cun’ five ‘fen’ below the bend. That should lessen your pain somewhat.”

Before Zhu’er could respond, Miejue Shitai had already exclaimed, “Ah!” She turned her head toward Zhang Wuji, stared at him and said, “This kid is proficient in medical skill. What’s your name?”

“Zaixia [lit. under/below, the humble one] surnamed Zeng, called Ahniu,” Zhang Wuji replied.

“Who is your Shifu?” Miejue Shitai asked.

Zhang Wuji said, “My shifu was a nameless country doctor of a small town; Shitai would not know him even if I mentioned his name.”

“Humph,” Miejue Shitai snorted, but no longer paid him any attention.

The party travelled straight until the dawn before they stopped to eat their rations. Zhou Zhiruo took out several cold steamed buns and gave them to Zhang Wuji and Zhu’er. As she gave the buns to Zhang Wuji, she looked up at his face for a second before turning her head away.

Zhang Wuji’s heart was shaken; he could not bear it any longer. “Your kindness in feeding me on the Hanshui River boat, I will never dare to forget,” he said softly.

Zhou Zhiruo’s whole body trembled; she quickly turned around and looked at him. This time Zhang Wuji was clean-shaven. She looked at him for a while. “Ah,” she suddenly exclaimed with a pleasantly surprise expression. “You … you …” she stammered. Zhang Wuji knew she finally recognized him, he slowly nodded his head.

“The cold poison in your body, is it healed?” she quietly asked. Her voice was as soft as a mosquito that it was almost inaudible.

In the same soft voice Zhang Wuji replied, “It is healed.”

Zhou Zhiruo’s face blushed, and she walked away.

All this time, Zhu’er was behind Zhang Wuji. She saw Zhou Zhiruo could not contain her joy; her lips quivered, her face also appeared bashful, but her eyes brightened. Zhu’er waited until Zhou Zhiruo left before she asked Zhang Wuji, “What were the two of you talking about?”

Zhang Wuji’s face reddened. “What? No … nothing,” he said.

“Humph!” Zhu’er snorted, “Barefaced liar!”

They rested for about an hour and a half before continuing their journey in haste to the west, and continued in the same manner for three days. Apparently they had some important matter to attend to. Along the way, whether when travelling or resting, neither the male nor female disciples opened their mouths to talk, unless it was absolutely necessary; it was as if they were a bunch of mute people.

By this time Zhang Wuji’s legs were already healed. He could walk if he wanted to, but he maintained his guise as a cripple. Every now and then he would fake a groan so Miejue Shitai would not guard against him. He was waiting for a good opportunity to help Zhu’er to escape. However, the terrain they had been travelling so far was a vast plain, before they could run too far, the pursuers would certainly overtake them; therefore, he did not dare to act recklessly. He quietly mended Zhu’er’s broken wrist; Miejue Shitai only gave him a cold look, but did not interfere. During their stops in the day, or in their bivouacs at night, Zhang Wuji was dying to get a glimpse of Zhou Zhiruo, but she had never come close to him anymore.

After travelling for two more days, they arrived at the great desert in the afternoon. The snow on the ground had melted; the sleds were now being pulled over sand. Suddenly they heard horse hooves coming from the west. Miejue Shitai signaled with her hand. The disciples immediately hid themselves behind sand dunes. Two disciples drew their daggers and placed the daggers on Zhang Wuji and Zhu’er’s back. Their intention was clear: Emei Pai was ambushing of the enemy, as soon as Zhang Wuji or Zhu’er made any noise to warn the enemy, they would thrust the daggers forward and take their lives.

It seemed like the horses were galloping very fast, only they were still very far away that it took almost half a day before the horses came near. As soon as the riders saw footprints on the sand, they reined their horses at once. Emei Pai’s senior disciple Jing Xuan Shitai waved her whisk; about a dozen disciples responded to her signal by leaping out from their ambush and surrounding the riders.

Zhang Wuji took a peek to see there were four riders altogether, all wearing white robes. The robes were embroidered with a red blazing flame. Realizing they were being ambushed, the four riders shouted, drew out their weapons, and charged toward the northeast trying to break the siege.

Jing Xuan shouted, “It’s the Devil Cult’s demons, don’t let even one of them escape!”

Although Emei Pai had more people, they did not attack together. Two female disciples and two male disciples responded to Jing Xuan Shitai’s order. They shouted their compliance and stepped forward to block the enemies. The four Devil Cult’s people fought valiantly with curved sabers in their hands. But in the expedition to the western region this time, Emei Pai had sent their choice fighters; each one possessed strong martial art skill. After only about seven, eight stances, three of the Devil Cult people were killed by the swords and were thrown down from their horses. The remaining one was a lot stronger than his companions; he managed to chop and injure the Emei Pai male disciple’s left shoulder and rushed through this opening to escape.

When he was several ‘zhang’ away, the third ranking Emei Pai disciple, Jing Xu Shitai called out, “Get down!” With a swift footwork she caught up with the man. Her whisk swept toward the man’s left leg. The man brandished his saber to block. Jing Xu’s whisk suddenly changed its course; ‘Shua!’ it struck the back of the man’s head.

This move had hit the man’s vital point, the whisk also carried a profound internal energy; the man immediately fell down from his horse. Surprisingly this man was extremely swift and fierce; even under such a severe injury, he still attempted to perish together with the enemy. Spreading out his arms, he threw himself on Jing Xu. Jing Xu leaned sideways to evade while her whisk lashed on the man’s chest.

Right that moment, from the cage hanging on the neck of the last man’s horse flew three white pigeons. “What devilish trick are you playing?” Jing Xuan called out. Her sleeve shook, three iron lotus seeds flew toward the three pigeons.

Two pigeons were shot down. The third iron lotus seed was shot down by a secret projectile launched by the white-robed man, who at this time was lying on the ground. The last white pigeon dashed toward the cloud. The numerous Emei Pai disciples immediately launched their secret projectiles, but none hit its target. They saw that the pigeon was flying toward northeast.

Jing Xuan waved her left hand. The male disciples immediately dragged the four white-robed men and stood them in front of her.

From the initial attack toward the enemy down to shooting the pigeons and capturing the men, Miejue Shitai only looked coldly with her hands behind her back. Zhang Wuji thought, “She dealt with Zhu’er personally, which showed that she held Zhu’er in considerably higher regard; perhaps it was because she shook Ding Minjun’s wrists broken. If this old nun wanted to stop that white pigeon, all she needed to do was to lift her finger; what’s the problem with that? But she seemed to intentionally ignore her numerous disciples’ effort in dealing with the situation.”

Zhang Wuji also recalled how Jing Xuan, along with Ji Xiaofu and the others, had come up the Mount Wudang to wish his Taishifu happy birthday. Clearly she was considered of the same rank as the various Sect Leaders of Kunlun, Kongtong, and other sects. By this time these Emei Pai’s senior disciples had held quite a reputation within the Jianghu; any one of them was fully capable to assume sole responsibility in important matters. In dealing with several Devil Cult people, Miejue Shitai did not need to personally go into action. The fact that Jing Xuan and Jing Xu had personally put forth their hands showed that they had a high regard toward the enemy.

A female disciple picked up the two shot down pigeons. She took a roll of paper out from the small tube tied on the white pigeon’s leg and presented it to Jing Xuan. Jing Xuan unrolled the paper and read.

“Shifu,” she said, “The enemy has found out our plan to besiege the Brightness Peak. This letter is an emergency call for help to the Heavenly Eagle Cult.” She looked at the other roll of paper and said, “Exactly the same. Too bad the other pigeon escape from the net.”

“Why do you feel bad?” Miejue Shitai coldly said, “Let the devils gather together. We’ll wipe them out in one swoop. Won’t it be a happy occasion? It will save us running around to the east and to the west looking for them.”

“Yes,” Jing Xuan said.

Hearing the words ‘emergency call for help to the Heavenly Eagle Cult Heavenly Eagle Cult’, Zhang Wuji was startled. “Isn’t the Heavenly Eagle Cult Leader my ‘wai gong’ [maternal grandfather]?” he mused, “I wonder if he, the Senior, would come. Humph, this old nun is so arrogant; you may not necessarily be my Grandfather’s match.”

Originally, he wanted to find an opportunity to help Zhu’er escape, but with this turn of events, he wanted to continue watching the drama unfold, thereupon he did not want to leave just yet.

Jing Xuan sternly asked the four white-robed men, “Who else did you invite? How did you find out about the Six Major Sects’ plan to besiege the Devil Cult?”

The four white-robed men laughed bitterly with their eyes to the sky, then suddenly they fell down to the ground, motionless. Two male disciples stooped down to take a look; they saw the contorted smile on the four men’s faces, it was obvious that they stopped breathing.

“Shijie [older martial sister],” they called out in fear, “They all dead!”

Jing Xuan indignantly said, “The witches took poison to kill themselves. The poison is very lethal, the reaction was this quick.

Jing Xu said, “Search them.”

“Yes!” four male disciples complied. They were about to search the corpses’ pockets when Zhou Zhiruo suddenly said, “Shixiong [martial brothers], be careful. There might be poisonous things hidden inside their pockets.”

The four male disciples were startled; they drew out their weapons to search the pockets. They saw something was wriggling inside the pocket. Turned out in each pocket were hidden two extremely venomous snakes. If they had used their hands to search the pockets, they would have been bitten by the snakes. All disciples’ faces changed; everybody cursed the Devil Cult disciples as poisonous and ruthless in their actions.

Miejue Shitai coldly said, “From the Central Earth we came to the west, today was the first time we dealt directly with the Devil Cult disciples. These four men were merely nameless pawns, but they were already this sinister. Can you imagine how we are going to deal with the leaders and the brains behind the Devil Cult? Humph, Jing Xu, you are not young anymore, but they way you handle matters is this careless, not as careful as Zhiruo.”

Jing Xu’s face reddened; she bowed down to accept the reproach.

In his heart, Zhang Wuji was still pondering Jing Xuan’s words earlier, ‘Six Major Sects besiege the Devil Cult’. “Six Sects? Six Sects?” he mused, “I wonder if our Wudang Pai is one of those Sects?”

About the second hour that night, suddenly they heard the jingle of bells usually mounted on camel’s heads. It sounded like there was a camel approaching from a distance. Everybody was actually asleep, but they were awakened at once. At first the sound of the camel came from the west heading to the south, but a short time later it sounded like the camel ran from south to north, but as soon as the sound arrived at the northwest direction, it immediately turned east, and then the sound appeared again from the northeast. In this way the sound came from east and west just like a ghost.

The people looked at each other in bewilderment. Everybody thought that no matter how fast the camel could run, it was impossible for it to be on the east at one time and suddenly on the west. From the sound of it, it was also unlikely that there were several people on the four directions who rang the bell one after another.

After a while, it sounded like the camel bell came toward them from a distance, the bell grew clearer and clearer. Suddenly the bell rang loudly from the southeast, as if the camel was a bird, which flew swiftly.

Coming to this great desert and hearing this kind of strange ringing bell, Emei Pai people were inwardly frightened. In clear voice Miejue Shitai said, “Which master is paying us a visit? Please come out to meet us. Won’t it be highly improper, playing tricks like this?” Her voice travelled far.

After she spoke those words, the bell suddenly turned silent, as if the person ringing the bell was afraid of her and did not dare to play tricks anymore.

Nothing happened all day the next day, but by the second hour in the evening, the camel bell returned. Suddenly going afar, suddenly coming near, suddenly it was on the east, suddenly it moved to the west. Miejue Shitai repeated her reprimand, but this time the camel bell ignored her. Sometimes the sound was light, another time it was loud. Sometimes it sounded as if the camel galloped in anger towards them, but suddenly it walked away sadly from them. It just drove everybody nuts.

Zhang Wuji and Zhu’er looked at each other and smiled. Although they did not understand how the bell could make this kind of weird noise, they knew it must be the doings of a Devil Cult’s master to disturb the Emei people and render them helpless. Zhang Wuji and Zhu’er found it amusing to see them at a loss like this.

Miejue Shitai waved her hand; the disciples lay back down to sleep, no longer paid any attention to the bell. The bell made a loud noise. Although it changed pattern a hundred times, the Emei people simply turned a deaf ear to the sound, apparently they were no longer interested in the bell. Suddenly the bell rang loudly on the north and then vanished. It seemed that Miejue Shitai’s tactic ‘seeing demon as not a demon, let the demon defeat itself’ was somewhat effective.

By daybreak the next day, everybody was busy tidying up their clothes and blankets, preparing themselves for the journey ahead. Two male disciples suddenly cried out in alarm, because they saw somebody was lying next to them, sleeping soundly. This person’s body was covered from head to toe with a filthy blanket, not the least bit of his body was exposed; his buttocks curved upward, he was snoring loudly.

The rest of the Emei Pai people also jumped in fright. Last night numerous people took turns in night-watch duty, but how could nobody knew someone was coming and that he mingled with them? Miejue Shitai’s martial art skill had reached such a level that even grass blown by the wind or a petal of a flower flying or a leaf falling would not escape her eyes and ears; but how could she not know there was an extra person in the midst of her disciples?

Everybody was startled and ashamed. Two disciples immediately drew their swords and walked toward the man. “Who is it? What trick are you playing?” they shouted.

The man was still snoring loudly, seemingly oblivious of everything around him. A male disciple used his sword to lift the blanket and saw an impressive-looking man wearing dark green robe over white long gown. The man was sleeping soundly with his face to the ground.

Jing Xu knew that since the man dared to come like this, he must have an extraordinary background. She took a step forward and said, “Who are you, Sire? What business do you have here?”

The man’s snoring was getting louder, like the rumble of a thunder. Seeing the man was this rude, Jing Xu was enraged; she brandished her whisk. ‘Shua!’ the whisk lashed toward the man’s buttocks which were sticking up. ‘Whoosh!’ suddenly the whisk somehow left Jing Xu’s hand and flew vertically up for more than ten ‘zhang’ to the sky. Without realizing it, everybody looked up…

“Jing Xu, watch out!” Miejue Shitai called out. She had just closed her mouth when the man in dark green robe had already moved several ‘zhang’ away. His steps were so swift it looked like he was flying; he carried Jing Xu in his arms across his chest.

Jing Xuan and another senior female disciple, Su Mengqing, each with a sword in her hand, quickly pursued; but the man’s movements were so fast they were almost fantastic, the pursuers definitely would not be able to catch up. Miejue Shitai let out a clear whistle, and then with the treasured Yitian Sword in her hand she also ran after them.

The Sect Leader of Emei indeed possessed an extraordinary skill. In the blink of an eye she had already passed Jing Xuan and Su Mengqing. A dark shadow flashed as the sword pierced toward the man’s back. But the man was really fast, the sword missed him by almost a foot and thus he escaped unscathed. The fact that he was carrying Jing Xu did not have any adverse effect on his speed; he was not by any means slower than Miejue Shitai.

He did not run away, but ran in circles around the Emei people as if he intentionally wanted to show off his skill. Miejue Shitai repeatedly thrust her sword forward, but all along she failed to stab his body.

Suddenly they heard a ‘Pat!’ as Jing Xu’s whisk fell back down on the ground. By this time, Jing Xuan and Su Mengqing had stopped pursuing. Everybody watched with baited breath as about a dozen ‘zhang’ away where the two masters were chasing each other. Although they were running on a desert ground, both people’s feet were like flying that the sand did not fly upwards.

The Emei disciples noticed that in that man’s arms, Jing Xu did not move at all, as if she had already died; their hearts were scared. A lot of the Emei disciples had the desire to step forward to intercept, but remembered their Shifu’s prestige, how could she lower her rank by asking her disciples for help? If the incident ever spread out, wouldn’t they be the laughingstock of the heroes and warriors of the Jianghu? It was a highly suspenseful moment, but nobody dared to take any step forward. They only wished their Shifu would be one step faster then she would be able to stab that weird-looking man’s back.

In the meantime, the man and Miejue Shitai had made three large circles around the people. If only Miejue Shitai were one step closer, her sword would injure the enemy. However, she was always one step too late. Although that man started first and Miejue Shitai managed to catch up with him, the man was carrying a person, which added his burden by more than a hu