s ‘telepathic’ skill sounded mysterious, but these three men had been together in one room for more than thirty years; concentrating in interaction with each other in training, so it was not surprising that their minds could react as one person.

Zhang Wuji further thought, “If that is the case, then although Grandfather and the others come together, we might still be unable to breakthrough these three men’s interlinked minds. Could it be that in the end my Yifu is beyond deliverance? That I will lose my life today?”

As he was anxious, his focus was slightly dispersed, his shoulder was swept by Du Jie’s five fingers, and the pain entered the bones and marrows. He mused, “My own death is nothing to be regretted, but Yifu’s injustice must be washed clean. Yifu has always been a proud man. Since he has fallen into others’ hands, he will not utter half a word to defend himself.” Thereupon, in a clear voice he said, “Three Old Honorable Masters, since Wanbei has stranded over here today, my life is difficult to protect. A real man is not afraid of death. What else can I say? There is one matter I need to clarify, though …”

‘Whoosh! Whoosh!’ two black ropes came from left and right. Zhang Wuji pushed to the left and pull to the right, warding off the incoming force away, while continuing, “That Yuan Zhen’s real civilian name was Cheng Kun, his title was Hun Yuan Pi Li Shou [Lightning Hands of the Originating Formation]. He was my Yifu, Xie Xun’s master …”

The three Shaolin eminent monks noticed how he warded off their forces while spitting out words at the same time. It was a kind of internal energy cultivation they themselves were not able to master. They could not help but feel more alarmed. The three monks recognized the Ming Cult was the ‘stop-at-no-evil’ Devil Cult. The higher the Jiaozhu’s martial art skill, the higher their capacity to harm others would be. Seeing that currently he fell into the tight encirclement and unable to escape, they decided to seize the opportunity. Only, their endeavor would need unlimited efforts. Therefore, without saying anything, they intensified the black ropes and their palms attacks.

Zhang Wuji continued talking, “Three Old Honorable Masters must understand, this Cheng Kun’s Shimei [younger martial sister] was the Ming Cult’s Jiaozhu Yang Dingtian’s wife. Cheng Kun had some feeling toward his Shimei, thus he became jealous and eventually his jealousy turned into deep hatred toward the Ming Cult …”

Thereupon as his hands were busy fending off the three monks’ stances, his mouth did not stop recounting, from the beginning to the end, how Cheng Kun schemed to destroy the Ming Cult, how he made illicit rendezvous with Mrs. Yang, which finally caused Yang Ding Tian’s demise, how he faked drunkenness and molested Xie Xun’s wife and killed his entire family, how he compelled Xie Xun to randomly massacre Wulin people, how he took Kong Jian Shen Seng as his master and deliberately lured him to take thirteen fists from Xie Xun, but he did not appear and in the end Kong Jian died with unsatisfied regret.

The more Du E, three monks heard, the more troubled their hearts were; the story appeared as it was cooked up by some criminals or barbarians, yet everything was logical and reasonable, everything fitted together perfectly. Du E was the first to relax his black rope.

Zhang Wuji also said, “Wanbei does not know how Yang Jiaozhu became enemies with Du E Dashi, but I am not surprised if there was a third party who incited disharmony between the two of you. Most likely this man was Yuan Zhen. There is no harm in Du E Dashi trying to recall past events. See if what Wanbei has said has some merit in it.”

“Hm,” Du E stopped his rope altogether. He lowered his head and pondered a moment. “That makes sense,” he finally said, “In Lao Na’s feud with Yang Dingtian, Cheng Kun did indeed play an important role. Afterwards, he wanted to take Lao Na as his master, but Lao Na had never taken any disciple, so I recommended him to Kong Jian Shizhi to be his disciple. Come to think about it, did he intentionally arrange all this?”

“Not only that,” Zhang Wuji said, “Currently, he is coveting over the Shaolin Temple Abbot position, gathering supporters outside the Temple, and cooking up a secret conspiracy to usurp Kong Wen Shen Seng …”

He had not finished speaking when there was a loud rumbling noise as a giant boulder on the sloping hill toward their left tumbled down toward the three pine trees.

“Who’s there?” Du E shouted. The back rope in his hand flew. ‘Bang! Bang!’ it struck the boulder right on, but it only caused several chips to fly away. From behind the boulder a shadow suddenly pounced toward Zhang Wuji with an exceptional speed. A cold ray flashed as a short blade was thrust into his throat.

This attack was so sudden, and it came when Zhang Wuji was using his full-strength to block Du Jie and Du Nan, two monks’ black ropes and palm strikes. He was totally caught off guard against this sneak attack. He only felt a sharp wind in the darkness and the short blade had already reached his throat. In this critical situation he threw himself sideways, and with a ‘rip’ noise the sharp of the blade made a big cut on his clothes right on his chest. If he was a fraction of a second late, his chest and abdomen would be cut open.

As his attack failed, the attacker broke out of the three monks’ black ropes encirclement by rolling behind the giant boulder.

“Close shave!” Zhang Wuji silently cursed. He shouted, “Wicked thief Cheng Kun! Come and deal with me personally if you dare! You want to kill me to close my mouth?”

Actually, he did not see clearly the assassin who attacked him with the blade, but he knew that person’s movements were quick, his stance was fierce, his internal energy was strong, and his martial art was somewhat similar to Xie Xun, so he presumed it was none other than Cheng Kun.

Just like three great hands, the three black ropes of the Shaolin three monks reached out toward the boulder. Wrapping and heaving, they lifted the thousand-catty giant boulder and hurled it away. But Cheng Kun had already gone down the mountain far away.

“Was it really Yuan Zhen?” Du E asked.

“Of course that was him,” Du Nan said.

Du E said, “If he did not have any guilty conscience, why would he …”

Suddenly from all directions came repeated shouts, as seven, eight shadows arrived. The first one shouted, “Shaolin monks became Buddha disciples in vain, you have killed too many people. Aren’t you afraid the consequences of your sins? Everybody, let’s go together.”

Eight people, each with a weapon in their hands, charged toward the three monks. Zhang Wuji was still standing in the middle of the three monks. He saw that among these eight people, three wielded swords, each of the other five wielded either a saber or a whip. Each one of them possessed a high level or martial art skill. Immediately they fought the three monks’ black ropes.

After watching for a while, Zhang Wuji recognized the stances of the three people wielding swords were similar to the Qinghai Three Swords, who were killed by the Shaolin monks several days earlier. Only their changes were more subtle and their forces stronger, far above the Qinghai Three Swords. These people must be Qinghai school’s senior characters. These three people attacked Du E. The other three people fought Du Nan, and the remaining two joined hands in battling Du Jie.

Although Du Jie only fought two people, these two’s martial art skill was a notch higher than the rest of the attackers. After fighting for half a day, Zhang Wuji could tell that Du Jie gradually fell under his enemies’ control; while although fighting one against three, Du E seemed to be in control with his abundance internal strength.

About a dozen or so stances later, Du E was aware of the difficulty Du Jie was facing. His black rope shook, and flew toward the two men attacking Du Jie. The two men were tall and powerfully built. Their black beards floating, their movements were extremely agile. One of them held a pair of judge brushes, the other held a short pole to seal acupoints. Du E and Du Jie were several ‘zhang’s apart, yet Du E could feel the wind generated by these two people’s weapons as if they were closed to him, proving that short weapons were inevitably more fierce than the long ones.

On the other front, the power carried by the three swords of Qinghai people was getting weaker, and they slowly fell under Du Nan’s control. As it happened, Du Nan was fighting three enemies, while Du E and Du Jie two monks were fighting five enemies. For the time being, both parties were in a stalemate.

Zhang Wuji wondered in his heart, “These eight people are all martial art experts and they are not necessarily inferior to He Taichong, husband and wife. Other than the three Qinghai Pai people, I cannot figure out the school origin of the other five. Truly in this wide world, there are crouching tigers and hidden dragons among the tall grasses and thick weeds. I wonder how many heroes and warriors are hiding quietly, whose names I have never heard of.”

After these eleven people fought for more than a hundred moves, the black ropes in the three monks of Shaolin’s hands were getting shorter. The shorter ropes required less internal energy to operate, but their agility and attacking power were also reduced several degrees. Several dozens of moves later, the three monks’ black ropes were shortened six, seven feet more. The two black-bearded old men fought closer and closer. The power behind their weapons was getting stronger and stronger. As soon as they saw a hole in their enemies’ defense, they would do their utmost to advance step-by-step, to be as close as possible to the three monks. But as their black ropes were shorter, the three monks’ defense was also tighter. The three ropes were like a circle with infinite elasticity. Each time the two black-bearded old men pressed on, they would be pushed back by the ropes.

By this time the three monks had already joined their ‘qi’ that the battle turned into three against eight. The three Shaolin monks spared no effort in fighting the enemies, but they were groaning inside. They knew that although the battle with these eight people was prolonged, they would not suffer defeat. If they used the ‘Jin Gang Fu Mo Quan’ [Buddha’s warrior’ devil subduing ring/loop], not only eight enemies, even sixteen or thirty-two people would not be able to penetrate their defense. However, inside this ring hides a powerful enemy who would endanger them internally. If Zhang Wuji ever decided to make his move, they would be crushed from inside and outside, then the Shaolin three monks’ lives would be gone.

The three monks saw him quietly sit on the ground; apparently he was waiting for a good opportunity to strike. Perhaps he was waiting for the three monks and their enemies to exhaust their strengths, and then gain advantage at their expense. By this time the three monks had used their internal energy to its fullest potential. They were thinking of letting a long whistle down the hill to call for help from the Shaolin Temple, but they could not open their mouths. If they uttered even a single word, the flow of their blood and ‘qi’ would reverse, and then if they were lucky enough not to die, they would certainly suffer internal injury and would be crippled.

In their hearts, they were scolding themselves for being too proud. If, at the first sign of powerful enemy’s arrival they had raised the alarm asking reinforcement from the Temple, their victory would have been assured as soon as several masters of Damo Hall and Luohan Hall came to help.

This dire circumstance was also clearly seen by Zhang Wuji. If he wanted to take these three monks’ lives at this time, it would be as easy as lifting his finger. But he thought as a real man, he should not take advantage when others were in danger. Let alone the fact that these three monks were the victims of Yuan Zhen’s evil plot. Besides, if he killed them, he would still have to deal with the eight powerful enemies, which would not make his job any easier.

Knowing that victory or defeat between the two parties would not be decided for a while, he looked down to see that there was a dungeon in the ground, covered with a very big rock. All he could see was a small gap, supposedly it was the air passage for Xie Xun to breathe, and to deliver food for him. He thought that his time was limited. By the time victory and defeat between the combatants was decided, some people from the Shaolin Temple might have arrived; and then he would lost the opportunity to rescue Yifu. Thereupon he knelt down by the rock and pushed with both hands. He was able to push the giant stone slowly aside by exerting his strength using the Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi technique.

He had not pushed the rock one foot when suddenly a strong wind came from behind, as Du Nan sent a palm strike toward his back. Zhang Wuji used the ‘take off force to borrow strength’. ‘Bang!’ a large part of the clothes on his back tore to pieces. In the fierce wind and rainstorm, the pieces of clothes flutter in the air like butterflies; but actually he transferred Du Nan’s palm strength to the giant stone. With a loud rumbling noise the stone slid about a foot. He unloaded the palm strength to the rock so that he was not injured internally, but when he took the force, his own internal energy was focused on the stone in front of him; therefore, he felt severe pain on his back.

As Du Nan launched a palm strike, he revealed a gap in the black ropes defense. One of the black-bearded old man immediately penetrated the loop. The short pole in his right hand struck toward Du Nan’s left breast.

The Shaolin Three Monks’ flexible rope formation was very effective for a long distance attack, but not for a close combat. Du Nan raised his left palm to ward off the attack threatening the acupoint on his chest. The black-bearded old man stretched out his left-hand index finger to pierce Du Nan’s ‘shan zhong xue’ [lit. ‘in the flock (of sheep or goats)’ acupoint].

“Not good!” Du Nan cried out inwardly. He did not expect the enemy’s ‘yi zhi chan’ [sacrificing finger] acupoint sealing technique was fiercer than his sealing acupoint pole. In this critical situation, he did not have any choice but to let go the rope in his right hand and sweep it across his chest with a strong gust of wind, and immediately launched a counterattack with his thumb, index finger and middle finger shaped like a fan.

Although he succeeded in warding off the enemy’s attack, with the black rope no longer in his hand, the old man wielding judge-pens immediately entered in his line of defense. The Shaolin Three Monks’ ‘Jin Gang Fu Mo Quan’ was broken.

Suddenly, the end of the black rope, which was lying on the ground, rose up just like the head of a viper ready to strike its victim. With a loud scream the rope went toward the acupoint on the face of the old man wielding the judge pens. Even before the rope arrived, the strong wind generated was enough to stop the enemy. The old man hastily raised both of his judge pens to block. As the rope and the pens collided, he was shaken and his arms went numb, the pen in his left hand almost fell off, while the pen in his right hand was diverted to strike the rock underneath. Rock chips flew as sparks splashed everywhere.

The black rope continued toward the Qinghai Pai’ three swordsmen, forcing them to withdraw about a ‘zhang’ backwards. The ‘Jin Gang Fu Mo Quan’ was not only restored, the power was even greater than the original formation. The Shaolin Three Monks were pleasantly surprised, especially since they saw the other end of the rope was unexpectedly in Zhang Wuji’s hand. He had never practiced the ‘Jin Gang Fu Mo Quan’ with them, so in term of ‘interlinked minds’ and moving in seamless coordination with the others, he was far inferior to Du Nan. However, his unequalled abundance internal energy was more than enough to generate an earth-shattering force to drive the enemies to withdraw in all directions.

Du E and Du Jie’s black ropes also moved that together they drove the remaining seven people to fall back. In the meantime, Du Nan focused his attention to deal with the black-bearded old man, which was a notch inferior to him both in terms of martial art and internal strength. He fought sitting inside the pine tree, and did not stand up at all. His ten fingers slapped, pierced, plucked, hooked, pointed, brushed, captured and seized, so that after several moves, the black-bearded old man repeatedly fell into dangerous situations. Seeing his seven companions were not in a better situation than what he was facing, the old man bellowed and leaped out from the loop.

Zhang Wuji handed the black rope back to Du Nan, and then bending down, he used the Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi again to push the giant rock another foot. He looked down into the exposed underground cave and called out, “Yifu, Child Wuji is late in rescuing you. Can you come out?”

“I am not going out,” Xie Xun replied, “Good Child, get out of here, quick!”

Zhang Wuji was surprised. “Yifu,” he said, “Is your acupoint sealed? Or are you bound in shackles?”

Without waiting for Xie Xun to reply, he jumped down the dungeon. ‘Splash!’ water splashed out. Turned out the several hours of heavy downpour had flooded the dungeon that the water reached his waist. Half of Xie Xun’s body was submerged in water.

Zhang Wuji’s heart ached. He reached out to carry Xie Xun up. His hands groped around Xie Xun’s hands and feet, but did not feel any shackles. He then massaged Xie Xun’s several main acupoints, but again, he did not find any signs of anybody sealed his acupoints. Hence, he wrapped his arms around Xie Xun’s body, leaped up and out of the dungeon, and sat Xie Xun on top of the giant rock by the cave opening.

“This is the best time to escape,” Zhang Wuji said, “Yifu, let us leave.” As he said that, he pulled Xie Xun’s arm, with the intention to leave immediately. But Xie Xun kept sitting on the rock, refusing to move. Hugging his own knees he said, “Child, the gravest sin I have ever committed in my life was killing Kong Jian Dashi. If your Yifu fall into other people’s hands, I would certainly fight bravely to the end. But today I become a prisoner of the Shaolin Temple, I am willing to receive the harshest punishment to pay for Kong Jian Dashi’s life.”

Zhang Wuji anxiously said, “But you killed Kong Jian Dashi by mistake. It was Cheng Kun, that wicked thief, who engineered such a sinister plot. Besides, Yifu’s entire family’s blood debt has not been restituted, how can you die under Cheng Kun’s hands?”

Xie Xun sighed and said, “Everyday for more than a month, in this dungeon, I heard the three eminent monks chant their prayers, I heard the morning bell and the evening drum from the temple at the bottom of this hill, which has made me think about my past. Your Yifu’s hands reek with too much innocent blood that even a hundred deaths cannot redeem it. Ay, all sorts of wickedness caused too much sin. I am more sinful than Cheng Kun. Good Child, don’t mind me, just quickly go down the hill.”

The more Zhang Wuji listened to him, the more anxious he was. “Yifu,” he shouted, “If you don’t want to go, I will force you.” As he said that, he turned around and grabbed both of Xie Xun’s hands; he was going to carry him on his back.

They heard clamoring noise of people coming up the mountain path, there were several people shouting, “Who dare to cause trouble at Shaolin Temple?” A dozen or so people were coming up the hill, amidst the noise of feet splashing in the water.

Zhang Wuji was just about to grab Xie Xun’s legs, ready to take him go; but suddenly the ‘da zhui xue’ [big spine acupoint] on his back went numb. It was Xie Xun. Zhang Wuji’s hands lost their strength and he did not have any choice but to relax his grip. In his anxiety he almost cried. “Yifu,” he called out, “You … why are you being this difficult?”

“Good Child,” Xie Xun replied, “The wrong I have received, you have already explained it clearly to the three eminent monks. The sins I have committed, I have to pay the retribution myself. If you are not leaving, who will avenge my grievances for me?”

Zhang Wuji’s heart turned cold; but he saw the dozen or so Shaolin monks wielding Buddhist staff or saber had already attacked the eight people. ‘Bing, bing, bang, bang!’ the noise of the close combat can be heard.

The black-bearded old man with judge pens realized that if the battle was prolonged, not only they would fail their mission at the last minute; they may find it difficult to escape alive. He was enraged that a nameless young man had spoiled their important business. With a clear voice he shouted, “I beg to know the honorable surname and the great given name of the young man in the middle of the pine trees. Hao Mi and Bo Tai of Hejian [a city in Hebei province] want to know which expert has interfered with our business today.”

Raising his black rope up, Du E said, “The Ming Cult’s Zhang Jiaozhu, the number one martial art expert in the world; how can the Hejian Shuang Sha [twin evils of Hejian] not know?”

“Ah!” the judge pen wielding Hao Mi exclaimed. He raised his pair of pens up and then walked out of the loop. The other seven followed him. The Shaolin monks were about to stop them, but those eight’s martial art skill was considerably higher than the monks; side by side they proceeded going down the hill.

Du E and the others, three monks, had heard everything Xie Xun and Zhang Wuji said. They also knew that Zhang Wuji did not take advantage of their precarious situation, he simply stood on the side, did not help either side. When Bo Tai broke through their ‘Jin Gang Fu Mo Quan’ defensive line, based on the Twin Evils of Hejian’s cruelty, the three monks would have lost their lives by now. The three monks laid down their black ropes, stood up, and put their palms together in respect. “Many thanks for Zhang Jiaozhu’s benevolence,” they said in chorus.

Zhang Wuji hastily returned the propriety and said, “Such an insignificant deed; is it worth mentioning?”

Du E said, “In today’s business, although Lao Na would not allow Xie Xun to accompany Zhang Jiaozhu, but Zhang Jiaozhu has just saved our lives, Lao Na would be powerless to stop you from leaving. Only Lao Na, three martial brothers, have received order from our temple’s Abbot to watch over Xie Xun. We have established a heavy oath before Buddha’s presence, unless the three of us lose our lives, we will never let Xie Xun escape. This matter concerns our Sect’s thousand years of glory or disgrace; we beg Zhang Jiaozhu to understand of our difficulty.”

“Humph,” Zhang Wuji snorted, but did not say anything.

Du E continued, “About the animosity of Lao Na losing an eye, we can consider it over today. If Zhang Jiaozhu wishes to rescue Xie Xun, you may come back anytime. As long as you can break Lao Na, three martial brothers’ ‘Jin Gang Fu Mo Quan’, you can take Shi Wang [lion king] go. Zhang Jiaozhu may bring as many helpers as you wish. You can take turn fighting us, or you can fight us as a group; we, three martial brothers, will accept the challenge by ourselves. Before Zhang Jiaozhu’s return, Lao Na, three brothers, will guard Xie Xun carefully. We will not let Yuan Zhen to insult him even for half a sentence, or harm a single strand of his hair.”

Zhang Wuji cast a glance toward Xie Xun; in the dark night he saw the silhouette of his well-built form, his long hair draped over his neck and shoulders; he was standing with lowered head, as if his heart was full of remorse over the transgressions he committed in the past. He looked totally different from his impressive, invincible former self. Zhang Wuji felt tears forming in his eyes as he considered, “I can’t defeat them today, and Yifu does not want to leave. I must bring [maternal] Grandfather, Yang Zuo Shi, Fan You Shi, and the others to help me fight. This three black rope formation is as impregnable as a copper wall or iron rampart. If Du Nan Dashi did not send me a palm attack, that Bo Tai would definitely not able to break through their defense line. Even with the help of Grandfather and the Left and Right Brightness Emissaries, there is no guarantee that we can break their formation. Ay, right now, all I can do is to deal with whatever comes my way using one step at a time.” Thereupon he said, “Since that is the case, I will return to receive instructions from the Three Reverends.” Turning around to embrace Xie Xun’s waist he said, “Yifu, your child is leaving.”

Xie Xun nodded. Gently stroking Zhang Wuji’s hair he said, “You don’t have to come back. I have made up my mind not to leave. Good Child, I hope in everything you will turn bad luck into good fortune. Don’t let the hopes of your Father and Mother and myself down. Follow your Father’s example; don’t follow your Yifu’s.”

Zhang Wuji replied, “Both Father and Yifu are heroes and real men; upright warriors who do everything in the open. Both are Child’s role models.” As he said that, he bowed in respect. His shadow swayed and he flew out of the three pine trees circle. Raising his hands toward the Shaolin Temple’s three monks, he launched his ‘qing gong’ and suddenly disappeared. They only heard his clear whistle, which in a very short time had reached about a ‘li’ [approx. 0.5 km] away.

The Shaolin monks standing on the peak of that hill looked at each other in astonishment. They had heard that the Zhang Jiaozhu of the Ming Cult possessed an outstanding martial art skill, but they had never expected his skill to be this divine.

Since his presence was no longer a secret, Zhang Wuji thought he might as well show his martial art skill. Perhaps the Shaolin monks would be scared and would treat Xie Xun nicely.

His whistle sound came out of his abundant ‘qi’; it was a continuous whistle, which rose up above the noise of the thunderstorm. It sounded like a dragon roar as it flew through the sky. Putting his entire strength on his feet, he ran faster and faster, while his whistling was also getting louder and louder. Thousands of Shaolin monks were startled awake from their dreams. It was not until the whistle was far away they started to talk to one another. Kong Wen, Kong Zhi, and the others knew Zhang Wuji had arrived; which only served to increase their anxiety.

Zhang Wuji ran for several ‘li’s. Suddenly from behind a willow tree by the road side someone was calling out, “Hey!” Someone leaped out. It was Zhao Min.

Zhang Wuji stopped his whistle and halted his steps. Reaching out, he pulled her over, only to see that her whole body was dripping wet from the heavy rain; as she looked up, water streaming down from her face.

“Did you fight with the Shaolin Temple baldies?” Zhao Min asked.

“Yes,” Zhang Wuji replied.

“How is Xie Daxia?” Zhao Min asked, “Did you see him?”

Zhang Wuji pulled her arm along, and while they were strolling in the heavy rain, he told her briefly what had happened just now.

Zhao Min hesitantly asked, “Did you ask him how he got captured?”

“I was only thinking of how to help him escape,” Zhang Wuji replied, “I did not have time to mind other people’s business.”

Zhao Min sighed and no longer made any noise.

“You are not happy?” Zhang Wuji asked.

“To you, it is other people’s business, to me, it is a very serious matter,” Zhao Min replied, “All right, I’ll wait for Xie Daxia to be rescued. I don’t think it will be too late to ask him then. I am only afraid …”

“What are you afraid of?” Zhang Wuji asked, “Are you afraid we cannot save Yifu?”

“The Ming Cult is a lot stronger than the Shaolin Pai,” Zhao Min said, “If you really want to rescue Xie Daxia, I am sure you will eventually succeed. I am only afraid that Xie Daxia is determined to die because of Kong Jian Shen Seng.”

It was exactly what had been burdening Zhang Wuji’s heart. “Do you think he is?” he asked.

“I hope he isn’t,” Zhao Min replied.

Two people walking and talking until they arrived at the Du couple’s hut. Zhao Min laughed and said, “Your real identity has been exposed, you cannot hide from these two people anymore.”

Zhang Wuji noticed that the door of the hut was half closed, so he reached out to open it. After shaking the rain water from his head and body he went in, but suddenly smelled a burst of blood. He was shocked and immediately pushed Zhao Min back out of the door with his left hand. From the dark someone’s claw was reaching out. This claw was noiseless, without creating any wind, but it was shockingly fast. In a flash the fingers had reached Zhang Wuji’s cheek. He did not have enough time to evade. His left foot flew up toward that person’s chest. The attacker pulled back his hand and his elbow struck the ‘huan tiao xue’ [lit. ‘jump-the-loop’] acupoint on Zhang Wuji’s leg with an extremely fierce and ruthless move.

Zhang Wuji knew that as soon as pulled back his leg slightly, the enemy’s left hand would immediately scoop out his pair of eyeballs. Therefore, he feigned a grab toward the enemy’s hand, expecting the enemy to pull back his elbow, but unexpectedly his grab was successful. He took the enemy’s left hand in his palm, but right at that moment, his ‘huan tiao xue’ went numb; he could not stand and was forced to kneel down on his right leg.

He was about to seize the opportunity by wrenching the enemy’s wrist when he suddenly realized the hand in his palm was soft, warm and smooth. It was a woman’s hand. His heart was stirred and he did not have the heart to treat her with a heavy hand. He lifted that person up and flung her outside. ‘Stab’, he felt a severe pain on his right shoulder as it was pierced by a knife.

As the enemy leaped out of the room, her palm struck toward Zhao Min’s face. Zhang Wuji knew Zhao Min would not be able to block it and would be killed on the spot. Thereupon, e