The rain was like the milky way hanging upside-down, like a waterfall dropping from the sky, bringing along with it isolation and setting off the quiet uproar, causing darkness.
On such a rainy night, white feathered arrows were darting through layers of water screens as if it were from the Nine Serenities, and the cold light was piercing the heart.
Little Zi was in mid-air like she was riding on a cloud and unable to find any support. Facing such lethal arrows, all she could do was open her frightened eyes wide.
Suddenly, in that desperate moment, she instantly felt her body being pushed downward, narrowly missing a long arrow.
She turned around, and through the heavy rain and darkness, she could make out the face of a "solemn image".
Meng Qi was tossed in the air and could not twist his body. Instead, he gritted his teeth and pushed Little Zi aside. He then drew the long Buddhist Commandment Blade with his right hand and headed to the front.
"Clang!" The arrow heading for Meng Qi's throat was blocked by his Buddhist Commandment Blade, but he could not block the other one. The only thing he could do was drop his shoulders and crouch his stomach to prevent the crucial points of his body from being hit.
"Thud!" The arrow hit Meng Qi's right shoulder, making the sound of penetrating thick layers of fabric, with great force.
On such a rainy night, Meng Qi and his group found it difficult to see, which was why he did not avoid the object that tripped the horse. Fortunately, the attackers faced the same problem and, therefore, most of their arrows missed the targets. Otherwise, even with Meng Qi's Iron Shirt skill, the arrows would not have missed all of his weak points.
"Bang!" Meng Qi fell to the ground, and then he used the Lazy Donkey Roll move to avoid the incoming arrows. At the same time, he held out his left hand and pulled out the long arrow from his right shoulder.
Blood sprayed, but luckily Meng Qi had accomplished the primary level of the Iron Shirt skill. The wound was not too deep, therefore, it would not affect him wielding the blade.
At that moment, through the dark screen of rain, a group of shadows holding long sabers or wide swords started approaching and surrounding Meng Qi, Qi Zhengyan, and the others.
The attackers had also acknowledged that the harsh environment would make it difficult for a long distance attack.
Meng Qi used the move Carp Flip to get up and wield his blade at his enemies, only to be surrounded by endless shadows. He was unable to make out how many enemies there actually were. He felt like the enemies could strike and break through the screen of rain and attack him at any moment.
In the darkness, it seemed that enemies could be hiding anywhere.
"I must fight!" Meng Qi thought. He gritted his teeth and hurried forward. He decided to attack first instead of running away.
Just then, a clear thought popped into his head. Since he could not see the enemies clearly, they probably could not see him either.
He knew that only by getting among the enemies and creating chaos could he then have a chance at survival, using the moves Eight Divine Steps and Iron Shirt.
If he tried escaping using the Eight Divine Steps, he could get away from the siege, but Meng Qi was worried that there might be other skilled killers awaiting him in the darkness. If he escaped the chaos alone, he then could find the accurate target to attack, by then it would be like tigers in front and wolves from behind, which would be even more dangerous.
After a few steps, Meng Qi was already among the enemies. He did not hesitate and saber radiance flashed. Blood sprayed and shadows fell.
Since the whole process was very chaotic, Meng Qi could not rely solely on the Eight Divine Steps
to completely avoid the attack, but he knew to protect his crucial points. He used Iron Shirt for blocking. After the burning time of a half stick of incense, he was full of cuts and wounds, but none too lethal to battle on.
The enemies were getting more frightened as the battle went on. Meng Qi seemed like a ghost in the darkness. Every time he appeared, there would be dead or wounded bodies. But the enemies' attack seemed to have landed on their own people, therefore they had to pull back. When they finally landed a hit on Meng Qi, they felt like it was being blocked and unable to penetrate deeper.
"This is not a human being, he must be a weird immortal!" they thought.
They all knew about Thwart Kung Fu, but under such circumstances, the Iron Shirt skill incorporated with the Eight Divine Steps had created the impression of an immortal!
Even so, Meng Qi was not feeling great. He was pressured by the seemingly endless enemies and weapons from every direction. If he lost focus for just an instant, his weak points would be hit.
The rain was falling violently, blood was splashing everywhere, and a foul stench was in the air. Meng Qi was fighting enemies from all directions in the darkness. He was barely hanging on. Though bodies were falling one after another, it seemed there were even more shadows near him.
As Little Zi fell in the mud, she used her hips to try to get up, but was too weak. The only thing she could do was watch the enemies surround her.
"Xiaosang, Xiaosang..." She was so frightened and desperate that she did not know what she was muttering.
During the panic, she suddenly stopped because the enemies did not approach her, but joined the fierce battle in the front.
Amidst the pouring rain and fierce thunder, Little Zi could make out a shadow jumping from place to place with saber radiance, which seemed as if it was weaving cloth. The shadow was drawing all the enemies to that spot.
The person who owned the shadow was, in fact, short, but he seemed tall and reliable at that moment.
He had been hit time and again, but he never cried out in pain, unlike those surrounding him.
Little Zi stopped muttering and controlled the panic on her face.
Not knowing how much time had passed, Meng Qi was tired. Just when he felt that he could not go on any longer, the enemies screamed, turned around, and ran.
Although the attackers were martial artists and knew that they outnumbered Meng Qi's gang, when faced with nearly half either wounded or dead bodies, they could not control their inner fear, collapsing in the end.
After all, they still feared death!
When the first ran, the second followed, and soon after, Meng Qi's pressure was reduced,
becoming more confident as enemies either fell or escaped.
Just as he was ready to scan his surroundings and help Qi Zhengyan, he suddenly saw a large body holding a long saber appear out of the forest.
"Ah, a killer with advanced success of Qi-cultivation!" Meng Qi thought. He knew that it was because his surrounding enemies had almost disappeared that the hidden killer was able to lock in on his body. He, however, was not scared, this was not the moment to panic. He just observed, preparing to be hit or attacked.
Since he had been discovered, then... Meng Qi thought of Zhang Yuanshan's suggestion, "When facing someone with advanced success of Qi-cultivation, you must fight fast, and exchange small wounds for large ones."
The thought had flashed through his head. After the slight fear had passed, his courage rose. Meng Qi went past an enemy and lifted his blade to face what was in front.
As he got closer, Meng Qi could make out that he was a big and solemn man.
He waved his Buddhist Commandment Blade. When two blades were about to make contact, Meng Qi used his Eight Divine Steps. He slid and turned, unpredictably landing behind the skilled killer, and then he struck the back of his head.
The skilled killer was calm, and with cat-like moves, he avoided the saber. At the same time, he wielded his long saber backward, pointing toward Meng Qi's abdomen, trying to force Meng Qi to halt his attack.
This was an act of someone who was mature and knew what to do first.
Gritting his teeth, Meng Qi actually dove his body first toward the long saber, not trying to avoid it at all.
The long saber cut a deep wound across Meng Qi's abdomen. Blood was spraying, creating a flash of red before the skilled killer's eyes.
"Damn!" When the long saber hit the object, the skilled killer already had a bad feeling. He wanted to move to the side, but the residual shock from the saber actually slowed him down for a second.
Saber radiance flashed and the skilled killer's shocked expression was stuck on his face. Then his head flew up and saw his own beheaded body fall to the ground.
Meng Qi had no time to celebrate his victory. He used his back to block an enemy's blade but then he just felt a throbbing pain in his abdomen. Both his legs were wobbly and his head felt dizzy.
"It is just a slight injury..." Meng Qi sarcastically thought. This adversary was so highly skilled that his saber almost cut open Meng Qi's stomach.
But he had no regrets. If he had allowed the enemy to learn about his real strength and use a counter-attack, then Meng Qi's life would have been in more danger.
This battle had made Meng Qi come to the realization that the level of Kung Fu was just one important component in the result of the battle, but not everything. Even though the adversary was more skilled, it was he who fell on the ground, not Meng Qi.
It seemed that the remaining enemies were not afraid of dying. When they saw that their leader had died, their thoughts were not to run, but to take Meng Qi's life while he was badly injured.
Since the start of the battle, Meng Qi had expended a lot of energy, so he was indeed exhausted. But he did not panic. After ending the life of the killer with advanced success of Qi-cultivation, he felt very confident facing the rest of the enemies.
Suddenly, sword light flashed and blades gleamed like smoke and fog.
Flashes of cold star-like light appeared in the fog as the enemies in front of Meng Qi fell to the ground one after another.
"You okay?" Qing Zhengyan asked as he appeared with blood all over him. He did not know whose blood it was, his or the enemies.
Meng Qi shook his head, tore off some of his frock to bandage his wounds, and said, "Nothing to worry about, but I've lost a lot of blood and feel extremely tired. You?"
"About the same. I just encountered a swordsman with advanced success of Qi-cultivation, he landed one on me," replied Qi Zhengyan, still unsmiling and reserved, but his face was whiter than before. Though his abilities were higher than Meng Qi's, his Kung Fu adaptability was inferior to that of Meng Qi, thus he was hurt. If it were not for the fact that he had mastered the 13 Moves of Infinitely Changing Mist, who knew if he would still be alive.
"We'd better get into the mountain quickly. Many enemies have escaped, so they might go and get more help," Meng Qi said as he looked around and sighed. "We should also find the rest of them and bury their bodies here."
He thought that Xiang Hui and Little Zi could not have survived considering the circumstances.
"Master, are you okay?" Little Zi asked as she walked over unstably, looking at Meng Qi's wounds.
A little startled, Meng Qi asked, "Little Zi, you are unharmed?"
Little Zi puckered up a smile, with a hint of beauty. She seemed to be prettier than usual. "They all focused their attacks on Masters like yourselves, so nobody cared that I was lying on the ground," replied Little Zi.
Then, Xiang Hui also stumbled toward them with his hands over his face, and asked, "Divine monk, Master Qi, you are all okay?"
"You're unharmed as well?" Meng Qi asked in a surprised tone.
Xiang Hui moved his hands aside, revealing a deep cut stretching from the left side of his face all the way to the right side. He replied with a tone of anger, "I got hit by a blade and fainted, so they ignored me. Perhaps they thought that I had died, but thanks to the divine monk and all of you who drew all of the enemy's attention."
Meng Qi curled his lips, and muttered to himself, "I should've pretended to be dead too."
But he knew that if it were not for Qi Zhengyan's and his own efforts in attracting the enemies, pretending to be dead would have been useless for everyone.
Little Zi found a relatively clean bit of fabric on one of the corpses. She ripped all of it off to tape up Meng Qi's wounds.
Xing Hui was violently flipping the corpses trying to find valuables, but no one had brought scripts with them to a battle. All he could find were some concealed weapons.
...
Just half a day later at the crack of dawn, Meng Qi was awake.
The four of them traveled through the night and climbed over the mountain. The door to the Shaolin Temple was just down ahead.
But Meng Qi and Qi Zhengyan both had severe wounds, which started hurting badly in the middle of the night, so they found a cave and decided to rest and wait for daybreak.
After half an hour of meditation, Meng Qi's wounds had already closed and his energy had recovered quite a bit. He got up, punched and kicked a bit, realizing that Qi Zhengyan was outside the cave. His hands were covering his face. Little Zi curled up on the ground, not yet awake.
"Xiaosang, stay where you are... Xiaosang, don't come closer..." Little Zi muttered in her dreams. Suddenly, she sat up, scared.
"Master..." She looked at Meng Qi in confusion, as if she was in a daze after waking up.
Meng Qi laughed and said, "We're ready to go down. The Shaolin Temple is just in the adjacent foothills."
Little Zi's confused expression had disappeared and she nodded, then asked uneasily, "Master, I, I wasn't talking in my sleep, was I?"
"Were you calling out Xiaosang?" Meng Qi said intentionally.
"Ah!" Little Zi yelped, her facial expression kept changing, then she muttered, "Master, in the future, you must be careful of a girl named Gu Xiaosang, for she is the worst of the worst."
"Why is that?" Meng Qi's smile was unchanged, but he thought that this naive young girl had suddenly become a little mysterious. "But then again, who doesn't have secrets? I don't even know if she can survive to the end of this task," Meng Qi thought.
"... Umm... Just know that she is really bad! She kills without batting an eye!" Little Zi replied, trying to emphasize this point.
Then, Qi Zhengyan came in, the blood on his body had turned darker, and he said, "Let's go now and try to get to the Shaolin Temple before noon."