It was already past eleven o’clock in the evening when Fang Qiu arrived at the edge of the uninhabited area.
He watched from a distance.
Several bonfires were blazing around the boundary marker of the uninhabited area ahead.
“They should be Wulin people coming to watch the battle.”
Fang Qiu muttered to himself but he had no intention of going over.
He was going to make a detour or stay outside for the night before entering the area tomorrow morning.
With that in mind…
Fang Qiu turned his head and looked around. At once, he walked toward a rocky area not far away.
“Hmm?”
Fang Qiu slowed down as he approached the rocky area. He sensed that there was someone watching him.
It felt so real. Ordinary people might feel the same way when they walked about at night and had the feeling as if there was someone watching them from behind.
For common people…
They had this feeling mainly because they were excessively nervous. Of course, there might be someone tailing them. But martial arts practitioners could easily find out if anyone was following them, not to mention that Fang Qiu was as mighty as a guru. Ordinary people might feel nervous, but Fang Qiu’s spiritual force was thousands of times stronger than normal people’s, so he would never get this nervous feeling that he was being followed.
Once this feeling appeared, it was evident that he was being targeted!
Fang Qiu hit upon the idea.
He instantly stopped and turned around to observe his surroundings.
He searched for the person who was secretly watching him.
However, after glancing around, he saw no one, only total darkness in this deserted place.
“Hum!”
Fang Qiu snorted.
He activated his Divine Consciousness, ready to investigate.
Then…
“Swish!”
Before he could move, a piercing sound of something breaking through the air suddenly rang out!
He looked over.
Not far away, a light-red wooden stick abruptly shot out from the depths of the sand. Like a sharp arrow breaking through the air, it flew straight toward Fang Qiu’s chest with a powerful blast of energy Qi, intending to penetrate through him!
“Hidden underground?”
Fang Qiu narrowed his eyes and clenched his right hand, forming his Divine Sword instantly. Then, with an upsurge of his internal Qi, Fang Qiu vigorously waved his right hand that clasped the Divine Sword.
“Clang!”
A stream of sword Qi full of energy erupted with a loud bang and slammed violently against the light-red wooden stick with a mighty force.
In the meantime…
“Pow!”
A human figure suddenly broke through the ground from where the wooden stick had shot out.
Fang Qiu scrutinized the figure closely.
This figure from underground was tall and thin and dressed in a long dark robe. The moment he came up out of the ground, he reached out and grabbed the wooden stick flying back to him.
The surroundings were tranquil. Apart from the sound of the wind, almost no other sound could be heard. In addition, this place was void and spacious, so people could turn their heads and clearly see what was happening around them, though many places in this area were covered with rocks.
Beyond doubt…
Their sudden fighting sounds and the energy Qi from the collision between their weapons immediately attracted everyone’s attention!
In a twinkling…
One after another, the Wulin people, who were preparing to spend the night here, flashed over from all directions, to see what was going on.
As a result…
Just as they arrived, they saw two figures.
“John Doe!”
Someone shouted at once when he recognized John Doe without a mask and the antique Divine Sword in his hand.
“Who’s the other one?”
“Hey, it looks like Qingshan!”
People crowded around them, all talking excitedly at the same time.
Meanwhile…
In the field, Fang Qiu stared at the figure who had just rushed out of the sand with a murderous look and asked coldly, “Who are you? Why would you ambush me?”
All the onlookers gathering at the scene heard that.
“An ambush?
“Again?”
Even without John Doe’s question, they could tell from the situation on the battlefield that John Doe had been taken by surprise by this attack.
“Hee hee.”
Facing John Doe’s interrogation, the figure let out a laugh that sounded strikingly similar to Qingshan’s. Then this figure poised and charged at John Doe. At the same time, a layer of red energy light suddenly emerged from the one-meter-long light-red wooden stick in his hand. It emitted a glow of overwhelming energy Qi and was on the verge of erupting.
“Qingshan?”
Fang Qiu looked at the figure attentively.
He had never seen Qingshan but had heard that he used a light-red wooden stick. In addition, the strength displayed by this figure was very much like that of a guru, so Fang Qiu asked this question.
But he had hardly finished his words.
The man wielding the wooden stick in his hand had already rushed up to Fang Qiu. Raising the stick high above his head, he brought it down hard toward Fang Qiu’s head, which created a gust of wind.
“Whoosh!”
Fang Qiu took a step back. With a wave of his right hand, the potent astral energy of the sword erupted from the Divine Sword in his hand. While Fang Qiu brandished his sword at the man, the astral energy of the sword condensed by his light blue internal Qi turned into a Sword Lotus, which then sprang up violently to block the wooden stick slashing down at Fang Qiu.
In the next moment…
“Boom!”
There was a huge bang.
The moment the wooden stick collided with the Sword Lotus, an immense amount of energy went off and pressed fiercely on Fang Qiu with overwhelming force.
On the other side…
Fang Qiu planted himself squarely before his opponent, his hand wielding the long sword. Through his flexible Sword Lotus, he managed to clear the considerable force from the wooden stick.
“Ingenious Swordsmanship!”
“Is this the Sword Lotus frequently mentioned in ancient Wulin?”
“John Doe’s reputation is well deserved. He can deliver a Sword Lotus!”
“Qingshan’s stick strike was also terribly violent. It contained the tremendous power of a guru, so John Doe could not have withstood it. But how did he manage to get away unscathed?”
The crowd gathering around them discussed this animatedly.
On the battlefield…
Fang Qiu’s eyes were nailed to the man.
From the last blow, he felt the immense power of a guru.
Therefore…
To deal with the fierce blow from the enemy’s stick, Fang Qiu applied the ancient Swordsmanship skill he had learned from the little puppet in the ancient ruin.
The ancient Swordsmanship skill was a complete set of movements. It had three secrets: Flexibility, Defense, and Combat!
The Flexibility Secret included sword moves as agile as an immortal’s.
The Defense Secret covered a series of impregnable defensive sword skills.
The Combat Secret consisted of all-conquering sword strikes!
The Sword Lotus was one of the sword moves in the Defense Secret.
After comparison, Fang Qiu concluded that the ancient Swordsmanship, Saber Technique, Fist Technique, and Palm Technique that he had learned were much more subtle than those in the modern world. Therefore, in the battle, he directly selected the most efficient fighting style!
He launched a fierce attack.
“Swoosh!”
The black shadow refused to yield an inch. The wooden stick, which glowed with light-red energy, spun rapidly a few times above his palm. Then, he waved his arm, brutally slashing at Fang Qiu’s head with it.
His motion seemed casual, but the stick abruptly produced vast amounts of terrifying energy when it was about to hit Fang Qiu!
The violent eruption of energy brought out a long and curved blood-red tail from the stick as it made its way toward Fang Qiu.
As it passed, it emitted an incomparably piercing whistling sound through the night air.
This shrill sound made everyone’s ears throb in pain. They all stretched out their hands and covered their ears to prevent the noise from bursting their eardrums.
On the battlefield…
His rival mounted another violent attack against him.
Fang Qiu was a little pissed off.
“Humph!”
With an angry snort, he twisted his right wrist. From the Divine Sword in his hand, a layer of terrifying astral energy erupted. Then he got into position.
“Combat Secret, Sword Dragon!”
He bellowed in his heart.
In the blink of an eye, a spray of rich Qi of Heaven and Earth surged out of the Divine Sword in his hand. Then it jerked rapidly forward involuntarily. Without Fang Qiu’s command, it charged headlong toward the opponent’s wooden stick at breakneck speed.
As the Divine Sword spurted across the battleground, the energy erupting from the Divine Sword seemed to magically change into the shape of a dragon, with the sword tip as the head and Fang Qiu’s arm as the tail. It let out an ear-piercing whistle and dashed fiercely against the wooden stick approaching menacingly.
“Smack!”
The two forces collided, and a particularly terrifying counterforce hit Fang Qiu and made him stagger one step back.
He looked at the other side.
The figure had also been beaten back.
Unexpectedly…
When the man was pushed back, he flipped over by making use of the counterforce and darted far away with the wooden stick in his hand.
“Hmm?”
Fang Qiu raised his eyebrows but he did not chase after him.
He was confident that he could get the man, but he couldn’t afford the energy and time. After all, he did not know how long this chase would last. Tomorrow morning, it would be the appointed challenge. If the person was really Qingshan, they could go on fighting tomorrow morning. But if not, the other party must have devised a plan for this and might block his way to catch the person. Therefore, it was better not to pursue him!
Looking at the escaping figure, Fang Qiu loosened his grip. When the Divine Sword dissipated, his brows furrowed instantly.
Nearby…
No less than a few hundred people had witnessed this battle.
Everyone was shocked.
“Is that the strength of a guru? Awesome!”
“That person seems to be Qingshan.”
“He’s dressed in identical clothes and used a light-red wooden stick. The person must be Qingshan. Definitely.”
“Why did Qingshan also come to attack John Doe?”
“What the hell was going on? Aren’t they supposed to have a big fight tomorrow morning? Why would he launch a sneak attack tonight?”
Soon…
The incident gave rise to much discussion. The news that John Doe had been attacked spread rapidly.
The Wulin people on the scene couldn’t help calling and sending text messages to share this news. In addition, many people updated this matter on the Wulin online forum, even with photos and videos taken by some of them.
On the Wulin online forum…
The news came out.
Everyone was dumbfounded.
Whether they supported John Doe or Qingshan, everyone was confused by this attack against John Doe.
“Holy cow! It can’t be too dramatic. A few days ago, John Doe ambushed Qingshan. Today, Qingshan retaliated by launching a sneak attack on John Doe!”
“What the hell? Couldn’t Qingshan wait even one night? Or was he doing it to weaken John Doe’s strength before the battle?”
“The battle seems to have started ahead of time?”
In the endless discussion, everyone finally realized that the two confusing sneak attacks seemed more complicated than they had thought.
In the meantime…
When they heard the news, all the Wulin forces were also very puzzled.
