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A string of blood flew off from Fu Xiang's neck and landed on the ground like rainfall while Fu Xiang landed back on the ground from the air like countless grapes falling. Drops of dark-red blood trickled onto the ground like raindrops which was not only pleasing to the ear but also dyed the ground red. Fu Xiang thought of a number of different people who might have attacked him in the split moment. He even considered his own men who he thought might have turned on him, He also thought if it was a violent riot, but never did he imagine that his assailant would be her!
Shen Yiren who was supposed to be immobilised by Thorn-Tears was as imposing as a sword and her sword was sharper than a normal sword which indicated that her internal energy was normal. Her hair was sprawled messily like a female-demon. A flash of blue awn appeared on the tip of her white-slender finger which didn't take on a fixed shape, curving and being dexterous like a lively-slippery snake.
Fu Xiang thought to himself: It's sword-awn! She's so young and yet she's managed to master sword-awn!
His feet didn't slow down as he thought to himself. He continued to retreat. The wound on the side of his neck was a big one. One slip up and he could die. While the strike didn't take his life, he was bleeding heavily. Moulding energy would put him at risk of severe injury. If he didn't stop the bleeding now, consequences would follow him in future. Fu Xiang didn't have time to counterattack so he subconsciously tried to seal his meridians to stop the bleeding.
However, his young opponent didn't give him the chance to. The sword techniques Shen Yiren unleashed with her finger kept on varying. The most severe wound Fu Xiang had was the one on the side of his neck. She didn't go after his neck though, instead striking left and right, high and low, but all her thrusts were aimed at his limbs, giving him no time to seal his meridian and heal himself. If Fu Xiang were to seal his meridian to stop the bleeding, he would take a lot of other injuries from Shen Yiren's onslaught of attacks.
In just a moment's of hesitation, he felt his left chest become wet. His blood had dyed his shirt red. The areas around his neck had turned numb. He had lost all feeling there which was a clear sign he was slowly headed towards danger. If he were to let this continue, his fighting power would be greatly diminished.
Fu Xiang was without question the strongest in the flying fish pavilion, yet Long Zaitian kept putting him in check and now Shen Yiren was able to bind his hands and legs. Given those experiences, how could he not be mad? Shen Yiren's cold words resurfaced in his mind: Your plans are perfect, but you lack the guts. This shows that you don't dare to go all the way with things you do. It's rare to see people in the pugilistic world with such skills yet be such a pussy at the same time.
Fu Xiang was furious. He roared like a wounded animal, ignoring the wound he had on his neck. He moved his arm and unleashed a Fu Xiang Divine Palms strike aimed at Shen Yiren. As a result, his nerves went into overdrive causing a large volume of blood to spew out.
He never expected to see a smile on Shen Yiren's beautiful face. The beautiful physique that chased him down had now stopped giving chase. She went up on tippy-toes, turned and she moved positions, moving a number of inches along with the gust of wind from the palm strike. She stretched her snow-white arm out and picked up a sword from the table. She took another step and then used the force behind Fu Xiang's palm strike to land like a leaf landing on water. She glided toward the ring under the control of the gust of wind like a swallow in spring.
Fu Xiang realised he fell for her plan! Shen Yiren left and didn't come back.
As soon as Shen Yiren landed in the ring, the blue mountain she held in her hand was like a tiger entering a flock of sheep. Her usage of the sword-awn technique where she uses her fingers as a sword is so formidable witnesses can't help but be shocked. Thus, needless to say, it was much more incredible when she executed it with a real sword. Those watching over the warriors on the ring were no match for her.
She managed to subdue the imperial guards in just a few moves and then cut the ropes binding the warriors of the imperial court. The warriors who were competing today outside of the Black Winds Thirteen Wings didn't drink Thorn-Tears. They were just tied up with leather ropes and couldn't break free. However, they managed to break free after Shen Yiren came to their rescue with sword-awn.
Fu Xiang poured his energy in to his finger making it like the wind and sealed his meridian before quickly leaping over to the rings.
Wherever Shen Yiren's blade went, a warrior was released, causing countless changes at the battlefield in the flying fish pavilion.
On the imperial platform, the orange prince was getting beaten up by old ministers. They beat him without mercy and their morale rose as they hit him while cursing him. The orange prince was like a water-ladle floating on top of the water getting pressed down into the water and then coming back up over and over. His face was soon bruised. He called out loudly: "Minister Long, save me! Save me!!"
However, Long Zaitian's attention was fixed on Shen Yiren's side. After seeing Shen Yiren land in the ring and begin to release warriors, his job here was done too. He shouted in the orange prince's direction: "Coming!"
Long Zaitian moved agilely. He somersaulted through the air and over the heads of the group of ministers. With his monkey-grip, he grabbed the orange prince and pulled him up, saving the orange prince from the sea of people.
All of the ministers were enraged. They shouted at Long Zaitian stuff like "You traitor, watch me take you on one-on-one."
Long Zaitian wore a sneer on his face and then did something nobody ever expected. Right before he landed on the ground, he spun around and tossed the orange prince. The orange prince finally escaped from the sea of pain only to get tossed flying away by Long Zaitian before he could give his thanks. Long Zaitian clasped his fist with his other hand to bow. He smiled and said: "I dare not ask for your thanks."
The orange prince was stunned. He furiously thundered at Long Zaitian: "You minion! What are you doing?!"
Long Zaitian shouted. He then grabbed the collar on the back of the orange prince's shirt and slammed him onto a seat. The seat broke due to the impact while the orange prince cried out in pain.
"What the hell are you crying about?!" Long Zaitian then grabbed the front of the orange prince's shirt, drew his arm back like pulling a bow-string back and then slapped the orange prince over and over across his face as he thundered: "You retarded Emperor Cheng Kong! You dare hit my goddess! This is what you get for hitting her! This is what you get for hitting her!"
Long Zaitian slapped him four times consecutively. It hurt the orange prince so much he nearly cried "not even my mother has hit me like this before". Both sides of his face quickly swelled up.
As soon as he finished his four slaps, Long Zaitian felt a strong gust of wind attack him. The wind carried with it multiple different weapons, which meant that the Black Winds Thirteen Wings were coming to the orange prince's rescue.
The very mention of the Black Winds Thirteen Wings could shake the martial world so they were not someone you would want to provoke. Long Zaitian wasn't delusional to the point he'd think he could beat so many of them. He knew he was in a pinch so he decisively tossed the orange prince off the platform. And as expected, they went to rescue the orange prince before he fell to his death like Xiang Batian.
The orange prince's face was bruised from the beating the ministers dished out on him, and then Long Zaitian slapped him, so his entire face was swollen. Chances are, not even his mother, the empress could recognise him anymore at this point. He panted as he pointed at Long Zaitian: "Long Zaitian! You committed treason. You… you must be sick of living!!"
"Kiss my ass." Long Zaitian retorted with disdain: "You're the one that underestimated our three offices. Miss Shen said it well, I'm a soldier, you're a brigand. How did I commit treason?"
"Heh! Has your brain malfunctioned?!" The orange prince seemed to find Long Zaitian's jeering funny. He loudly exclaimed: "You already surrendered your loyalty to me, so how are you betraying me? I can remind you if you don't have a brain! You accepted my bribes so there's evidence against you. You conversed happily with me on the imperial platform today which everybody can be witness to. You've already been labelled as my henchman. Careful you don't end up like Xiang Batian trying to play to three sides!"
Long Zaitian waved his hand like he didn't care: "Xiang Batian was fickle so how am I the same? I've only been loyal to one person from beginning to end, so what do you mean I'm playing to three sides?"
"You think the Qilin Guards will still accept a traitor like you? You're the one who drugged everyone with Thorn-Tears. Everyone saw you protecting me. You think you can wipe the slate clean with a few words?"
"That's why I'm saying you're stupid. I did drug them, but why is Miss Shen fine?"
The orange prince looked at Shen Yiren who was gliding across the ring suavely. She certainly was fine. The sight caused the orange prince's heart to freeze up.
"My men have always been watching you. How… when did you team up with Shen Yiren?!"
Long Zaitian didn't give an immediate answer. Instead he chuckled coldly and said: "And you claim yourself to be skilled at collecting intel. You watched me for twelve hours each day. You sent me a group of divas, and sent a stash of gold, money, pearls and treasures to my house leaving me with no choice but to accept them as a means to prevent me from betraying you. But why didn't it occur to you that I hadn't been home for months after you sent me the presents?"
"You… you son of a……"
Long Zaitian shook his head and sighed: "If it weren't for Mystery being so powerful, you wouldn't even have the right to mention a revolt."
He didn't wait for the others around to react once he finished. He copied Shen Yiren and leapt toward the closest ring. His qinggong skills are inferior to Shen Yiren and he didn't have the gust of wind of Fu Xiang's palm strike to ride. Thus, he got exhausted half-way and had to somersault to land on the ground instead of trying to leap further. Upon landing, he then ran up the ring.
There were only a few members from the Black Winds Thirteen Wings on the imperial platform. Seeing Long Zaitian betray them, the other members went at him in full force.
The members of the Black Winds Thirteen Wings ran over from all directions wanting to smash his head in. Long Zaitian fought them off as he ran, continuously striking. Their battle was powerfully imposing like a tiger fighting off eagles swooping in at it. He then noticed an opportunity and jumped onto the steps of another ring.
One of the members of the Black Winds Thirteen Wings shouted: "You want to find a helper from the rings? You're delusional!"
Just as Long Zaitian was about to climb the ring, two gusts of wind blew toward him which meant that two were coming for him. Attacking from above always gives one the positional and physical advantage over the one below. Long Zaitian couldn't evade in time so he was forced to block.
However, despite seeing the two of them, Long Zaitian didn't block, allowing the two of them to grab his shoulder bone with their Metal Rock-Splitting Claws, hurting him so much cold sweat appeared on his forehead and trickled down. They never expected it to be so easy either. Just as they were about to rip his arms off, they felt a strong force control their necks from behind.
Long Zaitian leveraged his tall stature. When the two of them jumped him, he grabbed the back of their necks at the same time and then bashed their heads against each other. After a loud crack sound, the two of them were seeing stars. The others were surprised to see Long Zaitian put the two's lights out before succumbing to his injuries, causing them to freeze up.
Long Zaitian clenched his teeth, whipped his hands and then gave it his all to muster everything he had and punched the two of them with his two fists like a massive wave crashing into the shore. His punches cracked their bones which could be clearly heard, indicating he put everything he had into his punches.
Long Zaitian's face looked like he got his head dunked in water as flames of fury surfaced into his eyes.
"Three of my brothers died to your eagle claw technique, and it was you two sons of a bitch that killed them!!"
The two of them took three punches each, all of which were in lethal places. Long Zaitian roared, opened his fists to the side and smashed them into their backs, sending the two of them flying like cannonballs. Their landing posture was one even a yoga master would struggle to get into. Obviously, their bones were snapped and their lights were out.
Long Zaitian had avenged his brothers and unleashed everything he had in the moment because of his anger. He was exhausted now. He quickly climbed to the top of the ring and ran toward Shen Yiren. But as soon as he reached the top, what his eyes saw sent him into another world of surprise.
He only saw Shen Yiren duking it out with Fu Xiang on one side. There was only the two of them. There was no backup. Long Zaitian remembered Shen Yiren had released a few people so why was there no one else in sight? Upon careful inspection, his heart froze. Eight corpses lied on the ground. When he saw their faces, he realised, those were the warriors of the imperial court who were freed.
Translator:
I read that my grammar has been getting messier and messier with every volume of this series. I know I had 3 chapters that had lots of mistakes this volume, but I know what I did wrong there and have made sure not to do it again. Putting aside the fact that the author who lurks this place is happy with the translations (he speaks English), it's alarming to me considering I translated professionally part-time for businesses for a year previously(2015), and the fact that I spent time trying to improving my English by investing money and time on English books. I've been building my vocabulary repertoire and introducing more variety into sentence structuring etc., but it sounds like it has made things worse somehow. I also heard that my translations have deteriorated so we do have readers who've read the raws and can compare. Raw readers who are cross-checking my translations with the raws, please provide your critique on translation quality for my sake. The author would be keen to know too. I thought I was improving, but if all I'm doing is making things worse, we got a real problem.
So I would really appreciate it if you could take a minute to let me know below in disqus what I'm doing well, and what I can improve on. To everyone already helping me out with corrections, thank you! I want to ensure the highest quality possible, so don't hesitate to point things out. I can't improve what you don't tell me. Be specific.
