Ma Yongtao jumped in first followed by Zhu Baique. Jinshui came after along with Huang Yu while the Yuzhi Shi Wu girls along with Lao Diaoyan and Lao Guishou tried to release the several children who were being held behind the altar.
To the north was the Wei River. Jinshui and the others found three dead bodies by the river. Huang Yu took a look. The three corpses were all the victims of xuanlong sword. The three victims were all Taoist priests who seemed to have just happened to be passing by. The unextinguished fire of the hearth indicated they were resting on the bank of this river when the killer came.
"No one had the chance to put up any fight," Huang Yu saw that the swords in the hands of the three priests had not yet been unsheathed. "All died with their heads almost severed. Judging from their injuries, it was obvious they were hit with one move."
"There is one more person there," Zhu Baique informed the others. She pointed at the rocks on the bank of a nearby river.
Another figure was there, still moving though very weakly. Huang Yu immediately approached, but he was alert and first flicked a chess piece directly to the figure's side.
The figure looked shocked and was about to get away into the river. However, Huang Yu blocked his way faster. A number of needle secret weapons suddenly appeared, spreading towards Huang Yu and the others, along with a loud and ghastly laugh. That figure turned out to be Huang Zhe, he knew that he could not match his pursuers' qinggong ability, then killed some men and looked for opportunities to attack by pretending to be a victim.
But since Huang Yu didn't simply lose his guard and did test him with a secret weapon first, Huang Zhe's trick failed. He knew he was close to being recognized, so he spread out the needles recklessly, hoping to get in the way a bit. As Huang Yu and the others faced the needle attack, Huang Zhe quickly grabbed his hostage hidden behind the rocks, diving into the river.
Jinshui and his friends didn't jump into the water, they just waited around the river. Ma Yongtao and Zhu Baique both used their qinggong to shoot up into the trees, watching from above. After all Huang Zhe would definitely come out of the water to breathe air, they just had to wait. Jinshui waited with Huang Yu, both of them on high alert.
At that moment Li Qian, Qin Liangjie, and Liao Xian arrived, followed by Lin Jixuan and Liuxin, all waiting by the river bank and watching a distance away, guarding all eight directions to make sure their prey would not escape.
Huang Zhe did come out of the river a few moments later. Ma Yongtao and Zhu Baique immediately led him to Jinshui and Huang Yu. Xiu-er was still in his arms, seemingly moving though weak and almost out of breath.
"The Yumen Jiao people usually just gang up!" Huang Zhe shouted when Ma Yongtao attacked him. He placed Xiu-er's small body in front of him as a shield so that no one would dare to recklessly attack him. Only Ma Yongtao didn't care, immediately jumped up and pointed his forefinger and middle finger at the top of his head, a gesture he used to often use against his father Ma Yaolun.
Huang Zhe slashed the xuanlong sword to his chest. Ma Yongtao clearly knew the sharpness of the sword, and immediately withdrew the attack before his hand was sliced off. Zhu Baique instead attacked Huang Zhe's back, wanting to divert his attention so Xiu-er could be taken. However, Huang Zhe was still ruthless enough to grab a girl's neck in his hand, if someone were to forcefully seize that hostage, there would be a terrible sight.
Only facing one Huang Zhe of course Jinshui and Huang Yu didn't feel the need to join the fight. They just watched while the others were surrounding the place, making sure Huang Zhe would not escape.
"Erdi, you are the one who has business with me, why don't you fight me yourself instead of letting other people do it?" Huang Zhe suddenly shouted, aimed at Huang Yu. "We are two siblings, since childhood, we have been treated differently. I always didn't like our parents passing on their martial knowledge only to you. But in the end, I got a master who is far greater than yours."
"You have already called the murderer of our parents a master, I cannot top that," Huang Yu said. "Your abilities now are better than mine, I also admit and will not deny it. It's just that the sword in your hand is not yours, I have to snatch it from you. That girl, I also don't see your formidable abilities being only enough to kill a child."
"That's right, I already called the murderer of our parents a master, followed him for a long time, and humbled myself so that he would be willing to accept me as his disciple," Huang Zhe replied cynically, "I did all of this because my ability was low because our parents didn't teach me enough. I had to endure Xie Tianhu's harsh treatment, in order to make him trust me, teach me everything, even give me a copy of the map left by Zhang Zheliang and allow me to arrange a plan to take everything in Baiyu Shan that was ours."
"This kind of lowly means doesn't suit our Huang Family," Huang Yu replied, "as far as I remember, your abilities are low because you were too lazy, thinking yourself to be the young master of the Huang Family who could always be protected by bodyguards and rely on our father so that no one dared to you."
"I can let this girl go, maybe I can also return the sword," Huang Zhe said, pointing at Xiu-er with the xuanlong sword in hand, "as long as you dare to have a one-on-one fight with me."
"I came here to take the sword back, and none of us here plan to let you go," Huang Yu said even more fiercely, "give back the sword, and let Xiu-er go, then I'll ask our jiaozhu to make you die more pleasantly."
"A descendant Chailang doesn't dare to fight me Huang Zhe alone, instead relying on the strength of many," Huang Zhe was still debating his words. "The eight descendants of Yumen are about to gang up on me, a nameless person. If this matter gets out, then you Yumen people will be considered as oppressive, repeating the mistakes of previous generations."
"Argh, you really talk too much!" Lin Jixuan exclaimed impatiently. "We have a lot of people, you won't be able to escape, don't expect what happened here to reach the ears of all kinds of outsiders."
"I can ask Huang Yu to fight you alone, giving you one day to run all the way if you can win over him," Jinshui stepped forward and said to Huang Zhe. "However, you have my xuanlong sword, so I myself will step in to take it back. Thirty moves, if I still can't knock you down, then today you can leave freely, we're here just to make sure you don't kill anyone else."
"You are the leader of the current generation of Yumen Jiao, am I right?" Huang Zhe asked Jinshui.
"Yes," Jinshui replied firmly. "You sent messages to Baiyu Shan, threatening my friends, your target is me. Having met here, if you don't dare to fight me, then feel free to admit it."
"Alright, I'll have a fight you," Huang Zhe released his stranglehold on Xiu-er slowly, "Only you. The words of a Yumen leader can certainly be taken into account, within thirty moves if I can still stand straight then you will let me go."
Huang Zhe really let Xiu-er go, and Liuxin directly pulled the young girl to a safer place. Huang Zhe carried the xuanlong sword in his hand, left the riverbank, and jumped onto a boulder, getting ready there. Jinshui floated lightly from where he was, casually landing on another large boulder.
"I will stand her, if you can knock me down before thirty moves have passed, then I will return the sword to you, and then you may torture or kill me," Huang Zhe said. "If it turns out that Jiaozhu doesn't have that much ability, then please carry out as promised."
The boulder Huang Zhe stood on could only accommodate one person, meaning that Jinshui had to use his qinggong every time he attacked. Huang Yu was a little worried, knowing that Jinshui had just recovered from a broken bone and even though he had displayed great ability when running between steep cliffs in Baiyu Shan, it could be said that it was just luck. Thirty moves were not a small amount, and Huang Zhe still obviously had some cunning thoughts.
Huang Zhe had witnessed everything that happened in the ruins of Yumen base in Baiyu Shan when the eight descendants all confronted Xie Tianhu. He knew the abilities of descendants. He also remembered how Jinshui used a walking cane to help him walk. He didn't know how Jinshui got hurt but knew he could take advantage.
Ever since the walking cane given by Ma Yongtao was broken by Xie Tianhu, Jinshui only borrowed Gu Chenhui's staff once. Then Shuqin helped him recover his legs, since then he no longer used a walking cane to help him walk, instead he used his internal energy to hold his legs, making it look as if they had completely healed.
His condition did continue to improve, sometimes he still felt pain in his legs when he had endured it with internal energy for too long, but over time he got used to it and no longer cared about the pain. Since mastering the eighth level of wuqing xue, he never felt any pain in his legs.
However, both legs were still his weakness. Now he fought with Huang Zhe who was standing on a large boulder. If he used the strength of the eighth level wuqing xue and hit him using a long-range blast, he might be able to knock him down immediately. However, he didn't want to show off his skills too much on a nameless young man, so he just attacked in a relaxed manner, jumped from his place and seemed to float in the air, and played beautiful moves, using only three parts of his energy.
Fifteen moves passed quickly, Jinshui and Huang Zhe seemed evenly matched. Every time Jinshui attacked, Huang Zhe dodged a lot, dodged, slashed with a sword, only once parried using inner strength, pretended to stagger a little, and definitely didn't use the inner strength he had sucked from Xie Tianhu.
Starting with the eighteenth move, Huang Zhe kept aiming for Jinshui's feet. Every time Jinshui approached, he crouched down, pointed his sword, or punch at Jinshui viciously. When Jinshui began to be wary of this kind of counterattack, Huang Zhe had already predicted, he changed his style and pretended to face the attack by standing straight, then suddenly slapping a number of needles into the bottom.
Jinshui was still flipping through the air dodging the needle attack when Huang Zhe smashed towards it using the internal energy taken from Xie Tianhu, forcing Jinshui to land and simultaneously block the attack. The defense of his legs at this bit faltered slightly, and when Huang Zhe threw the last needle in his hand, successfully snatching his calf, poison spread out immediately.
Jinshui sensed that poison was spreading, but didn't care, and he immediately chanted the next move, charging towards Huang Zhe again. Huang Zhe didn't expect his cunning methods to be fruitless, for the next three moves he was really troubled, trying to stay in place and seemed to use the xuanlong sword to slash recklessly.
In the twenty-ninth move, Huang Zhe once again confronted Jinshui by slamming all the energy he had taken from Xie Tianhu, as well as the energy taken from the two Haitang Jian Pai disciples, making Jinshui feel a combination of conflicting airs. He was still able to withstand the attack, broke easily, and saw Huang Zhe once again reach into his pocket for a secret needle.
"You… what kind of demon arts do you have?" he asked Jinshui, "since when did your strength multiply like this?"
"The eighth level of wuqing xue," Lin Jixuan replied. "Jinshui's ability now surpasses that of the previous Yumen leader. How, do you still want to taste it, or are willing to kindly return the sword and surrender?"
Huang Zhe only realized that he had run out of his secret needle, whereas just now he had used up too much force. At the same time, he also felt tightness in his chest, in the next second, he could no longer hold it in and was already vomiting fresh blood. Jinshui saw that the opponent was already deeply injured, he held the last blow and gave the opponent a chance to regulate his pure energy.
"It's been thirty moves, I'm still standing straight here," Huang Zhe said with a laugh, "Hua Jiaozhu certainly won't break his promise. Now you can let me leave."
"There is one more move," Ma Yongtao said, "you are already deeply injured, it's best to just give up so as not to embarrass yourself."
"How would the leader of Yumen Jiao still attacks someone who is already injured," Huang Zhe instead said. This person was really cunning and he won't hesitate to use all dishonorable means to escape.
"You can go now," Jinshui said to Huang Zhe. "I'll give you one day to recuperate, and I won't bother you until tomorrow at the same time. Use your time wisely. Do not catch, injure or kill anyone. If you fail to do that, then for every wound you give to others, I will charge exactly the same, and will not let you die before paying for everything."