Chapter 1060: The true expert
What did Han Yunxi want to do?
Cang Qiuying waited while quaking with fear. No matter what, as long as Han Yunxi agreed to race with her, she’d still have a chance. Unexpectedly, Han Yunxi said, “How about we do this? Accept one of my needles. If you can cross this bridge before the poison takes effect, I’ll help you treat the poison. Otherwise, then…sorry.”
“Why should I?” Cang Qiuying cried, both alarmed and angry.
“Because…” Han Yunxi shrugged before backing away to smile and point at Cang Qiuying’s abdomen. “Because…you’re already poisoned. Eldest Young Miss Cang, you don’t have much time left!”
Astonished, Cang Qiuying looked down to see a slender poison needle sticking out of her stomach.
“And it’s ‘One Night Like One Year, oh!” Han Yunxi reminded helpfully.
“No!” Cang Qiuying’s face paled. She had no time to struggle, but flew towards the chain-link bridge connecting the two mountains. Han Yunxi looked back at Long Feiye, who didn’t stop her, and simply flew after the girl. Seeing this, the surrounding ten or so Lockheart Courtyard disciples moved to block her. Meanwhile, the Heretical Sword Sect disciples by the bridge lined up in a row to block Han Yunxi as well.
One of the disciples turned to yell at Cang Qiuying, “Eldest Young Miss Cang, hurry and leave! Go tell Young Master Gong!”
But he’d hardly spoken when he crumpled to the ground and shut his eyes like a man rendered senseless.
This…
The crowd grew alarmed by the sight. Everyone had seen the poisoned disciples down mountain and could tell he’d been poisoned as well. But how did it happen? Han Yunxi was so far away! And those two messengers too–how did they get poisoned? Even if Han Yunxi knew martial arts now, she shouldn’t be that powerful, right?
Cang Qiuying’s martial arts weren’t back, so she had already reached the halfway point of the bridge in no time. Everyone was tense. It didn’t matter to them whether she could cure her poison when the more important thing was reaching the mountaintop to get reinforcements!
Han Yunxi’s icy gaze swept across the crowd before she took to the skies with poison needles in both hands. The one she just used was called “Shadowless,” one of the hardest arts to master from Long Feiye’s personally penned needle arts manual. It was also the strongest skill. Long Feiye had researched the movements and martial arts technique himself, while Tang Li had designed the needles. Shadowless Needles were soundless and formless, making it impossible for the enemy to tell when they’d been hit. Han Yunxi had only shot them one by one, but never multiples at the same time! Here was a chance for her to try it out.
Suspended in mid-air, she silently counted the number of targets beneath her and locked on. Before she attacked, a few Lockheart Courtyards came killing her way. Han Yunxi immediately retreated, making them assume she was afraid. Thrilled, a few more disciples joined in the chase. Han Yunxi’s gaze chilled as she continued to back off.
Seeing the Lockheart Courtyard disciples gain the advantage, the Heretical Sword Sect disciples quickly flew over to block Long Feiye and Gu Qishao on the right.
One of the disciples in the crowd cried, “Hurry and catch her!”
They knew they couldn’t beat Long Feiye, but if Han Yunxi wanted to seek death, they’d fulfill her wish! With her in their hands, they could control Long Feiye at will. Meanwhile, Cang Qiuying was running for her life in the other direction.
This situation left Gu Qishao highly displeased. He suddenly shouted, “Poison lass, what are you dawdling for? Do you want any help?”
Han Yunxi glanced at him, grinned, and said nothing.
“In formation, kill!” one disciple exclaimed. Ten more followed in his wake to draw their swords and filled the air with their sword qi until it formed a circle hemming Han Yunxi in. Cang Qiuying’s personally led disciples were by no means weak.
Sensing the sword qi behind her, Cang Qiuying glanced back and felt relieved. She looked fearfully towards Long Feiye and Gu Qishao next, afraid that the men would chase after her instead.[1] But the two seemed to have forgotten about her ages ago and didn’t spare her a glance. Long Feiye’s mien was severe and cold, his eyes fixated on Han Yunxi. Gu Qishao was rubbing his chin with traces of amusement on his features, also staring at Han Yunxi.
Although she was fleeing for her life, Cang Qiuying suddenly had an urge for the two men to look at her once, or even chase her down to stop her. She couldn’t believe there’d come a day when she not only lost Long Feiye’s love, but antagonism as well!
Just how pathetic was she?!
—
The sword qi aura around Han Yunxi intensified as the disciples circled around her. Someone gave the order and all of them raised their swords to hack towards their target in the center! There was no place for her to escape![2]
The light from the sword qi made all the Heretical Sword Sect disciples look back, as well as Cang Qiuying herself. This was Lockheart Courtyard’s strongest array, made up of 13 swords simultaneously striking down. Han Yunxi would die upon impact! But they didn’t see the scene of fresh blood and carnage as expected. Instead, they saw the 13 swordsmen stop inches away from Han Yunxi as their sword qis dissipated.
And then!
All 13 disciples fell to the ground unconscious, a slender needle sticking out of each of their heads. The crowd fell silent at the sight.
Didn’t those disciples know to duck when Han Yunxi was using the needles at such close range? Their skills are more than enough to avoid it!
How can this be?[3]
“Despicable!” the Heretical Sword Sect disciples charged!
This time, Han Yunxi forgoed the Shadowless Needles and formed her hands into fists. With a hardly punch, she launched multiple needles at the attacking disciples! Their speeds were discernible to the naked eye, so all of them raised their swords to block. The disciple closest to Han Yunxi made contact with the first needle using his blade, but these projectiles were monstrously strong!
After a clang, the needle passed through the sword and headed straight for its wielder!
“Ahhh!” the disciple got a needle to the eye and howled in pain as he crumpled to the ground!
Seeing this, none of the others dared to block the needles, but evaded the blows with their lives. Many more didn’t make it in time and ended up with miserable fates, unconscious on the ground. Han Yunxi had stopped smiling, her phoenix eyes cold and icy. It was impossible to meet her gaze head-on. She hovered in the air[4] with one hand behind her back as the other shot needle after needle! This time, they were like a violent windstorm that came at shocking speeds, half-mirage half-illusion. Their victims only saw their forms whiz by before it was already too late to duck.
Just like that, multiple Heretical Sword Sect disciples fell victim to the needles, some crying out in panic, others in pain. Some didn’t get a chance to do either and simply toppled to the ground! Cang Qiuying had glanced back during all of this and was so shocked by the sight that she forgot to run! After staring for so long, all she saw was Han Yunxi dealing with twenty some experts with two waves of her hands. Ignoring the fact that her poison skills were exquisite, just how powerful was her internal energy! Without strong internal energy as a foundation, it was impossible to shoot such needles at such speeds!
Cang Qiuying thought of a saying: a true expert needs less than three moves to decide the match.
Wasn’t that saying tailor-fit for Han Yunxi?[5]
Han Yunxi floated elegantly to the ground before pushing off to take to the air again. This time, she was headed for Cang Qiuying. Her body was as light as a swallow’s as she fluttered through the skies in her purple robes like a fairy goddess descended to the mortal realms.
“Poison lass is so beautiful!” Gu Qishao sighed with emotion.[6]
Long Feiye’s lips drew up into a satisfied smile as his quiet gaze trailed after her form. This should be Han Yunxi’s first ever solo fight after learning martial arts. She didn’t look like a newbie at all, but completed her two rounds of needles perfectly.[7]
Cang Qiuying finally recovered her wits after seeing Han Yunxi take up the chase and dashed ahead while covered in cold sweat. Han Yunxi reached down with her hands and scooped up a sword from the ground. She landed steadily on the chain-link bridge, gracefully raised the weapon, and cut through the bridge!
Because Cang Qiuying wasn’t walking on the bridge, this move didn’t affect her much, but seconds before the bridge fell into the abyss, Han Yunxi gripped the sword with both hands and slashed viciously ahead.
“Han Yunxi, you can’t do this! You didn’t keep your word!” Cang Qiuying panicked when she thought Han Yunxi was slashing at her. But she was wrong!
Han Yunxi’s rainbow-hued sword awn sent ripples in its wake and struck the piece of bridge falling to the canyon below. The wooden boards were suddenly blasted aloft by the powerful sword qi and flew up in pieces to smash towards Cang Qiuying!
Finally getting the drift, Cang Qiuying realized she could fight against this! Instead of escaping, she drew her sword and started hacking at the planks. With a ridiculing grin, Han Yunxi soon flew in from the side to land on the high cliff on the opposite end, watching Cang Qiuying deal with the onslaught. Her skills against the planks were quite admirable, but Han Yunxi reminded helpfully, “Eldest Young Miss Cang, you’re running out of time!”
This distracted Cang Qiuying long enough for a giant plank to hit her squarely in the back, making her cry out in pain. She ignored the smashing and flew desperately towards Han Yunxi. But moments before she reached her, Han Yunxi backed away and spread open her arms. Her hands were filled with poisoned needles as she smiled slightly at the horrified Cang Qiuying. Phoenix energy emerged from her palms and sent the needles dancing around her form before they changed into a protective screen in front of her.
Cang Qiuying halted, afraid to get any closer…
1. HAHAHA IN YOUR DREAMS I mean *cough cough*
2. I dunno, if she’s still floating in the air couldn’t she just fly up or down…the descriptions here are kinda wonky.
3. Is it just me or has HYX just borrowed GBY’s “shadow arts super speed” schtick for her Shadowless Needles? Is LFY actually a plagiarizer? Maybe he studied the Shadow Clan too hard in his book on the 7 clans…
4. SEE WHAT I MEAN SHE WAS MID-AIR OR SOMETHING THIS WHOLE TIME
5. I really wished they showed us more training montages before pulling this heaven-defying skillset out of thin air because I feel it’d be more realistic (and also make this statement less cringe in my mind). Then again, some people hate training montages so maybe that’s just my personal preference. The sudden boost in ability does seem really out of left field for me though, because all I remember is the author going “and then LFY and HYX trained for X days,” “HYX’s skills improved quickly,” etc. I know the book mentioned HYX had even more innate talent for martial arts than LFY in an earlier story arc, but I didn’t feel a real sense of improvement before we suddenly get this whoosh-tada-she’s a martial arts expert thing. Not that I expect much out of the author’s erratic pacing…anyways, rant over! I suppose the print version of PGC handles these developments better.
6. If he was a girl I’d definitely use “gushed” here, ah~
7. My suspension of disbelief kinda cracked here, but let’s patch that up and move on.
