Chapter 20: Secret Passage
Roosters crowed repeatedly in Bai Liu Village, precisely the darkest moment before dawn.
Zhou Huang blocked the path, yet Xiahou Bubai did not dodge or evade, charging straight ahead.
“Damn it!” Zhou Huang was the only grandmaster on the Heavenly Rank List residing in Jiangnan. He had always dominated one side; when had he ever been so disregarded?
With an explosive shout, Zhou Huang’s left hand fingers gathered together, the back of his palm bulging, wrist joint hooked, transforming into a black snake entwined with water vapor, striking toward Xiahou Bubai like lightning!
“I’ve said long ago, your opponent is me!” Xiahou Bumie intercepted Zhou Huang’s assault for his brother, unleashing the Great Wheel Vajra Seal, two fingers pointing at the black snake’s vital spot! “Today, I’ll experience Your Excellency’s True Martial Demon Subduing Art!”
The Great Wheel Vajra was one of the thirty-three Vajras of Esoteric Buddhism, with a dharma form of six arms and two legs, two hands grasping venomous snakes, mouth biting the body of a venomous snake, symbolizing the subjugation of the venomous dragon!
Zhou Huang was instantly horrified, not daring to meet it head-on, hurriedly shifting his form. His right arm muscles bulged like a turtle shell, one heavy fist smashing toward the Great Wheel Vajra!
Facing this Spirit Turtle Divine Fist that dispelled all evil, Xiahou Bumie neither dodged nor evaded. With an explosive shout: “Lin Bing Dou Zhe, all array forward!” His hands formed the Inner Binding Seal, tightly clasped like a pestle, hard-taking Zhou Huang’s strike!
With a booming loud noise, qi waves surged around them, shaking everyone below Earth Rank within seven feet to the ground! Those below Yellow Rank directly fainted…
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From the great locust tree, Lu Yun, even at such a distance, felt the fierce forceful energy rushing at his face. He widened his eyes, staring intently at the clash between Xiahou Bumie and Zhou Huang! At Heavenly Rank, they rarely made moves casually! Witnessing a life-and-death battle between two Heavenly Rank grandmasters up close was a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity for insight!
“Hahaha, exhilarating!” Xiahou Bumie’s cloak shattered, a pair of sinewy arms nearly bursting in the air. Yet he laughed excitedly, his battle intent surging to the heavens!
Zhou Huang’s hairpin was severed by the forceful energy, his hair disheveled, his appearance equally disheveled. What made him extremely anxious was that he was tightly entangled by Xiahou Bumie, making it impossible to stop the other Heavenly Rank grandmaster!
Zhou Sili led a group of Zhou Family experts in desperate obstruction, yet how could they match Xiahou Bubai and the others? Seeing the reckless Zhou Family experts swarming forward, Xiahou Bubai frowned tightly, casually palming several Zhou Family Black Rank experts flying, and ordered in a deep voice: “Half of you block them, the rest follow me!”
“Yes!” Xiahou Clan experts acknowledged in unison, with five Earth Rank grandmasters leading eight Black Rank experts blocking in front of Xiahou Bubai and the others.
Xiahou Bubai then grabbed Zhou Side, darting like a flying bird toward the direction he indicated. The remaining Xiahou Clan experts closely followed behind!
Seeing Xiahou Bubai heading for the secret passage, Lu Yun reluctantly withdrew his gaze and quietly slid down from the tree.
The moment he landed, he saw the masked person sharing the tree also descending from it.
The two exchanged a strange glance, then one after the other followed the shadows along the wall base, chasing after Xiahou Bubai.
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The two arrived at the backyard, where the shouts of battle gradually faded, and no trace of the Xiahou Clan members was seen.
By now, daylight was gradually brightening. Lu Yun circulated qi to focus his eyes, spotting a string of faint footprints leaving the backyard flower path, leading straight to a dense bamboo forest. Entering the bamboo forest, in an extremely concealed corner, there was a water well with its stone cover pried open.
The masked person followed closely, glancing at the deep cave entrance, then at Lu Yun; neither had any intention of jumping down first.
Lu Yun was also calculating whether to take out the other first before descending the well to investigate.
“Team up first.” The masked person spoke, her voice crisp and pleasant, like an oriole emerging from the valley. “Whatever we get depends on our own abilities.”
Lu Yun was stunned, not expecting this to be a woman, but he dared not underestimate her in the slightest. Since she dared to extract chestnuts from the fire, she was certainly no pushover. Thinking it over, Lu Yun nodded: “Just what I wanted!”
“Down!” The woman leaped into the well, and Lu Yun followed suit upon seeing this.
The dry well was pitch black, but Lu Yun could still see clearly. He let his body continue falling. When he saw the water surface, he clawed out to grab the well wall and survey the surroundings. Unexpectedly, the well wall was covered in dense moss, slippery and hard to grip, nearly failing to hold and dropping into the water.
Fortunately, his martial arts were profound; he quickly twisted his waist and abdomen, exerting force with hands and feet, forcibly bracing against the well wall, barely stopping above the water surface!
At that moment, his heart tightened; the masked person was attacking him from above! She had clearly gone first, yet arrived after; was it her exceptional movement technique or some other method?
‘Damn it!’ Lu Yun cursed inwardly. Though he had constantly reminded himself not to be careless, he still was! He hadn’t expected her to propose cooperation only to backstab him in the next instant!
Everything happened too fast; he had no time to turn, only concentrating his true qi on his back to brace for the hit! The Imperial Extreme Profound Cave Skill’s energy dissipation was profoundly wondrous, able to redirect and return the incoming force exactly, without harming himself! Of course, if the opponent was a Heavenly Rank grandmaster, he absolutely could not redirect it at present!
Who knew the woman merely tapped her toe lightly on his back, tossing a soft and glutinous “Thanks,” then borrowed the force to leap toward the well wall, vanishing tracelessly in the blink of an eye.
Lu Yun focused his gaze and saw a cave entrance on the well wall concealed by long water weeds, which he surprisingly hadn’t noticed earlier!
In a moment of carelessness, he had become that little vixen’s stepping stone!
When he leaped into the cave entrance, he found an entire other world inside: a passage over a man’s height, deep and unknown where it led.
The woman stood there leisurely, her eyes narrowed into crescents, chuckling softly: “First time walking the rivers and lakes, huh?”
“You!” Lu Yun flushed red, fortunate his face was covered in soot, hiding it. He quickly suppressed his anger, calmly saying: “Hurry and chase.” With that, he circulated his movement technique and vanished into the darkness.
The woman boredly raised her slender brows and closely followed.
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The secret passage was pitch black and deep, icy cold, with very slippery ground. But this posed no trouble for the cautious Lu Yun; he barely touched the ground, like a nimble leopard, speeding forward rapidly.
And the masked woman’s movement technique was unexpectedly no inferior to Lu Yun’s, actually keeping pace with him!
Lu Yun, being youthful, felt competitive and circulated true qi, increasing his speed a notch.
The masked woman chuckled lightly and accelerated to catch up. Her movement technique resembled Lu Yun’s, but while he was swift like a leopard, she was ethereal and elusive like light smoke, catching up in an instant, even seeming to surpass him.
Lu Yun frowned, exerting sixty percent of his cultivation, his body shooting out like lightning… this was also his limit for unrestricted use.
This finally left the woman behind…
Suddenly, Lu Yun slowed, peering ahead intently; there vaguely a human figure leaned against the wall.
“It’s a corpse.” The masked woman did not slow, surpassing Lu Yun toward the figure, passing safely indeed.
Lu Yun snorted, striding after her. Passing the corpse, he looked closely: the person wore a robe from Bai Liu Village, chest caved in, killed by a palm strike!
Blood still slowly trickled from the deceased’s nostrils, clearly dead not long ago…
“Walking the rivers and lakes, experience matters more than martial arts…” When Lu Yun caught up, the masked woman predictably struck at him again. But halfway, she revealed her fox tail: “So from now on, you’d best listen to me.”
“As long as you’re right, no objection.” Lu Yun remained unruffled, stating calmly.
The woman glanced at him slightly surprised, feeling as if this guy had matured considerably in that short time.
‘No one changes that fast; he’s just putting on airs!’ the woman judged inwardly.
Knowing the enemy drew nearer, the two dared not speak, lightening their movements as much as possible.
Indeed, corpses strewn about grew more numerous ahead, mostly people in Bai Liu Village attire, with only two or three from the Xiahou Clan.
The woman suddenly stopped, looking at a Xiahou Clan warrior sprawled on the ground before her.
Lu Yun focused and heard the man’s faint breathing sound; clearly gravely wounded but not dead yet. In that instant, he understood why the woman could discern targets’ life or death from afar: in the tunnel, any faint sound amplified, making hearing superior to sight.
At this moment, a short sword appeared in the woman’s hand, stabbing the dying warrior’s back heart. The Xiahou Clan warrior’s legs kicked, thoroughly dead!
The woman casually sheathed her short sword, glancing at Lu Yun, seeing his expression normal, seemingly finding nothing amiss.
Continuing not far, light seeped in, faint water sounds audible; clearly the cave entrance was ahead.
The two simultaneously halted to regulate their breathing, adjusting to peak condition, then cautiously peeked out.
