Chapter 138: A Meeting of Minds Subdues the Vajra Monk
“Ah.”
The man whose waist and abdomen were leveraged by Zhou Yan’s shoulder throw and hung on the large tree tried to use the “Pearl Rolling Curtain” to get up. A long whip silently passed through the mist and landed on his head. With a sound like a shattered tile jar, astonishing blood exploded.
“Xiaowu, send the signal flare,” Zhou Yan shouted.
Liang Xiaowu was with the Zhenwei escorts. The fierce fight had not yet spread to them. He quickly took out a signal flare from his bosom and lit it under the shelter of the tent from the rain.
A red flame rose into the sky, then was extinguished by the rain. However, in the gradually darkening night, it was enough to send the message.
“Brother Zhou, help me.”
The voice of the young master of Zhenwei came from the mist. The moment Zhou Yan’s gaze shifted, he saw Lu Beihe with twin spears in his hands, like two pythons rolling. The monk’s iron sleeves, however, were like a churning tornado, completely suppressing the spear styles. Even from several yards away, one could clearly see the rainwater being shot out in all directions by the movement of his sleeves.
Zhou Yan immediately thought of Ouyang Feng’s internal force-driven sleeve attack in the Imperial Palace of Lin’an.
This monk is an expert. Zhou Yan stomped his right foot on the ground and rushed forward.
“Where do you think you’re going!” Two sword lights that burst out from the rain swept over fiercely. Zhou Yan’s feet barely paused. He blocked the opponent’s sword-wielding arm with his left hand and thrust his right hand along his ribs, using the “Crushing Hardness Divine Claw” to pierce the opponent’s ribs.
With a “crack,” the opponent’s ribs were ripped out by Zhou Yan. He merely shifted his steps slightly in the rain, and another sword light slashed past his side.
Zhou Yan’s hand, holding the rib, stabbed like a dagger, “stab” piercing the man’s jaw.
“Ah!”
The man dropped his long saber, clutched his neck, and staggered back.
In Zhou Yan’s sight, Lu Beihe’s twin spears failed to pierce, and he suddenly drew his spears to smash at the monk.
The monk heavily sank his feet, and two lotus flowers exploded from the rainwater on the ground. He separated his fists, and his raised kasaya whistled like it was propping up heaven and earth.
With a “bang,” Lu Beihe’s twin spears were repelled by the kasaya and flew out of his hands, whistling into the rain.
Could this be the Shaolin Temple’s “Kasaya Subduing Demon Skill”? Where did this monk come from?
Zhou Yan kicked out, and the steel saber on the ground flew out with a “swoosh.” In the dim vision, the monk abandoned Lu Beihe and swung his sleeves like iron fans.
Zhou Yan rushed forward several yards. The moment the long saber was smashed by the monk’s iron sleeves, he pushed out “Dense Clouds Without Rain” from the “Subduing Dragon Eighteen Palms.”
This palm strike did not produce any explosive sound; it was as if the sound was annihilated. However, the moment it came into contact with the monk’s iron sleeves, the “burst” force that he had comprehended while practicing in the floodwaters of the Xiangyang suburbs suddenly exploded.
The rainwater seemed to stop for a moment, then suddenly parted in all directions. The monk’s iron sleeves, like a poisonous snake struck at its seven inches, suddenly collapsed. The monk pushed with his left hand and his right, and surging palm force roared towards him.
Zhou Yan met the monk’s move head-on, feeling his arms go numb and his chest feel heavy. Without a second thought, he gathered his strength from the outside in, his external posture and internal energy converging simultaneously, and his palm strike was like wind and thunder erupting.
The most righteous and kingly “Riding the Six Dragons” from the “Subduing Dragon Eighteen Palms” was pushed out to meet the monk’s second palm strike.
With a “boom,” Zhou Yan was sent flying backward, his body crashing through the wall of the inn behind him and rolling on the ground. He used the ground to leverage himself into a half-kneel, blood trickling from his lips.
He and the monk retreated rapidly. After stabilizing his footing, the monk let out a roar, and his body crashed through the dense raindrops. Mud and water splashed violently under his feet, forming lotus flowers in the rain. In an instant, the opponent charged into the inn.
Huang Rong’s figure flickered. She clasped her thumb and index finger, with the remaining three fingers slightly spread, her fingers extending like an orchid to point at the monk’s elbow, the “Qu Chi” acupoint.
“Impossible!” Zhou Yan shouted loudly. The monk’s “burst” force exploded upon contact. Huang Rong’s cultivation would not only fail to strike the acupoint but would also result in her fingers being broken.
Huang Rong instinctively chose to believe Zhou Yan and suddenly retreated. The monk charged into the inn.
Square tables and benches flew towards the monk with a whistle.
The monk was furious, his kasaya swirling into a circle like a dancing whirlpool. The wooden table shattered and flew out.
“Watch this.” Huang Rong kicked out with her left and right feet in succession, and the surrounding benches and tables all spun towards the monk.
The monk’s iron sleeves and kasaya flew, and everything around was smashed to pieces.
He sneered, “I’ll kill your little lover first.”
Huang Rong was furious: “You bald donkey, what did you say?”
“You think I can’t tell you’re dressed as a man?”
“You bald donkey, I’ll gouge your eyes out.”
Huang Rong was furious and used the Peach Blossom Island’s “Falling Ying Divine Sword Palm.” The palm strikes were like falling flowers in a riot of color, surrounding the monk from all directions. Zhou Yan also fully stabilized his breath at this moment. He pushed out a move, “Kanglong Regret,” towards the monk.
The monk dared not underestimate him. He abandoned his attack on Huang Rong and began fighting Zhou Yan again. He used the moves of the “Subduing Dragon Eighteen Palms” one by one, fighting with the monk from the Western Regions.
……
Lu Beihe picked up his twin spears and glanced towards the inn. Seeing that Zhou Yan and Huang Rong seemed to be stabilizing the situation, and considering the limited space in the inn, more people would only hinder their movements, he turned and charged towards the escort bureau. As he moved several yards, hoofbeats like thunder sounded in the distance. Dozens of riders rolled in, and Huyan Lei, holding a Gold-Inlaid Tiger Head Spear, became clearly visible.
He was overjoyed.
Huyan Lei had seen the signal flare lit by Liang Xiaowu and had rushed over with dozens of experts, including Mu Nianci.
As the distance closed, the fight was incredibly fierce. Huyan Lei was surprised. He had traveled far and wide and encountered escort ambushes more than once, but in terms of the ferocity of the bandits, this group was the most formidable.
However, Huyan Lei was not worried. For the past six months, the escorts and runners of Fu’an had been diligently practicing martial arts day and night, and they were now far from what they used to be. Together with the escorts and runners of Zhenwei, they could control the situation.
Huyan Lei leaped from his Wuzhui Horse and thrust out his extremely seasoned Middle Flat Spear, trapping a black-clothed man holding a saber. The man swung his saber to chop, and metal clashed against metal, sending sparks flying.
Huyan Lei flicked his wrist, using the elasticity of the tiger head spear’s steel to break the opponent’s saber. As he swung the spear, the steel spear ripped open the opponent’s entire abdomen.
Mu Nianci also stabbed a black-clothed big man to the ground at this moment.
The Fu’an escorts who had dismounted joined the fray in one-on-one combat. The runners, in groups of three, with two holding fishing nets and one responsible for hidden weapons, then moved in to stab with their sabers, killing efficiently.
Zhou Yan had used the “Subduing Dragon Eighteen Palms” over and over again, just as he had practiced his palm techniques in the floodwaters of the Xiangyang suburbs. Each time he used it, the second time he gained a deeper and more precise understanding and mastery of “force.”
The monk was very curious. The moves were the same. He thought that if the opponent tried the same trick again, he could surely break it, but the next palm wind became strange again.
The sounds of shouting and killing outside were intense, clearly indicating that his companions were in trouble.
He hardened his heart, pushing the force around his body to its peak, and attacked Zhou Yan like a storm.
The inn, under the constant impacts of Zhou Yan and the monk, had its tiles, beams, and wooden frames raining down.
Zhou Yan continuously advanced, “Kanglong Regret,” “Shocking a Hundred Miles,” “Riding the Six Dragons,” one move after another. The monk took two moves head-on, his figure flickered, and he disappeared behind Zhou Yan’s back.
Zhou Yan swung his arm back and chopped horizontally. “Swish,” lime exploded, and white smoke billowed.
This move of throwing lime was like the “Shenlong Tail Whip” technique, catching people off guard.
“Ah, you cheated.”
Zhou Yan’s body sank and rose, his hands like sharp claws churning the sky and clouds, roaring as he used “Crushing Hardness Divine Claw” to grip the monk’s arms, whose eyes were blinded by the lime. The two figures spun like a millstone, crashing through the wall and falling into the rain.
The lime on the opponent’s face hissed as it met the water.
Huang Rong grabbed a bench and, with a flickering figure, appeared behind the monk and smashed it down fiercely.
Rainwater splashed, and wood chips flew.
Huang Rong feigned a move, “I’ll beat you to death, you bald donkey.”
She didn’t actually hit him again.
The monk shook off Zhou Yan’s fingers. He raised his right palm to his shoulder and used the move “Arhat Holding Alms Bowl.” This move, charged and struck, gathered internal force into one palm, which no flesh and blood body could withstand.
However, it was empty.
Zhou Yan, however, sank his shoulder at that instant, stepped forward, and rammed hard.
Under the surging force of the Iron Mountain Lean, the monk was sent flying a full two yards.
Zhou Yan leaped and rolled, picking up a steel saber from the ground. The saber light shot up into the sky, cutting an astonishing arc through the rain.
“Night Battle in All Directions.”
This move entered from the monk’s left waist, nearly cutting his body in half.
“Hoo!” Zhou Yan exhaled heavily. This monk’s martial arts were definitely not inferior to Ouyang Ke’s.
To injure such a highly skilled expert with lime, he deserved to be called the “Lime Martial Saint.”
Zhou Yan whistled, and “Night-Shining Jade Lion” galloped over. In an instant, as man and horse crossed paths, he had the Qingfeng Sword in hand and charged towards the most intense part of the battle.
“Horse, we meet again,” Huang Rong said affectionately.
“Night-Shining Jade Lion” stretched its head and rubbed against Huang Rong’s outstretched hand.
