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These thoughts flitted across his mind as fast as lightning or the spark from a flint. Xu Ziling sent out a palm strike, the angle was also changing continuously to cope with Shi Zhixuan’s ghostly, unfathomable mysterious technique.

On the surface, the two men seemed to be two armies with equivalent banners and drums [idiom: evenly matched], but Xu Ziling knew he was led by the nose by Shi Zhixuan, because every single one of his changes was in response to Shi Zhixuan’s new changes, he was in an absolutely passive and disadvantageous position.

When the finger and the palm were about to clash, Shi Zhixuan, under a near-impossible condition, waved and swept his long finger, but by the time Xu Ziling wanted to change in response, he already had no time.

The fingertip swept the edge of the palm.

Xu Ziling felt as if he was pounded by a ten-thousand-jin giant iron pestle, his entire arm, from the shoulder down, immediately went numb that he did not feel any pain. It was only then did he know that Shi Zhixuan’s one finger contained the concentrated demonic power of his entire body. He was forcefully swept that he tumbled to the right along the wall, while spewing the second mouthful of blood.

Xu Ziling knew in his heart that he was in a bad spot; if he continued falling with the current momentum, it would be impossible, moreover, powerless – to parry Shi Zhixuan’s following up the victory and pressing home the attack.

In critical situation, he was able to think fast, hurriedly he reversed the true qi within his body, which was driven by Shi Zhixuan’s finger power, unexpectedly, instead of falling, he rose up along the wall, his foot fiercely pushed back, he leaped diagonally from the wall toward the position of the main beam of the small hall.

Shi Zhixuan moved his palm to chop horizontally, but he hit the empty space where Xu Ziling was standing just now, and stopped when it reached the wall, while still maintaining the same posture; it looked weird to the extreme, obviously Xu Ziling’s move was greatly beyond his expectation.

Xu Ziling somersaulted three times in succession, before landing in front of the window on the wall on the other side, with his back toward Shi Zhixuan.

With each somersault, the Long-Life Qi in his body turned one cycle to treat his internal injury, so that by the time his feet landed on the ground, his right arm recovered its senses; it was now throbbing with pain.

Outside the window, sunlight filled the whole sky, brimming with life and light. Compared to the murderous-aura-pervading-the-air inside the hall, it was like a totally different world. But it generated an enormous attractive power to Xu Ziling.

If he bored through the window to escape, would Shi Zhixuan dare to chase and kill him on the thoroughfare, the big street, under the gaze of ten thousand eyes?

Surprisingly enough, Shi Zhixuan did not attack; he just stared at his own right palm chopping an empty air. Laughing aloud, he said, “The rear waves of the Yangtze River drive on those before [idiom: the new is constantly replacing the old], even if Ol’ Shi does not want to admit that he is getting old, he simply can’t. Ziling, do you think that you still have a chance of success?”

Finished speaking, he pulled his palm back and put his hands behind his back. Turning around, he cast his gaze toward Xu Ziling’s back, who was standing facing the window.

Xu Ziling’s divine light suddenly flashed, Shi Zhixuan clearly gave him the opportunity to escape, and then, relying on his Bu Si Huan [undead illusion], before Xu Ziling leaped over the outside wall to escape, he would cut him off and kill him; otherwise, he would have continued to make his move.

But why did he adopt such strategy? The only explanation was that due to the burning of both jade and common stone, he had not completely recovered from his injury, hence each time he made his move at full strength, he had to have a short period of time to gather his demonic power beforehand, otherwise it might affect his injury.

This was perhaps Xu Ziling’s only chance of survival.

Xu Ziling slowly turned around, remaining tranquil and calm, he spoke indifferently, “That finger of Xie Wang, I wonder if it has a famous name?”

Still with his hands behind his back, Shi Zhixuan moved forward. Remaining calm and unruffled in the midst of chaos he walked over to the round table in the middle of the hall and sat down. Casting his gaze toward Xu Ziling, he cheerfully said, “That is the ‘taking a part for the whole’ from the Seven Illusions. Ziling was forced to face ingenuity with ingenuity, exactly because you could not see through the logic behind the whole from the part.”

And then he sighed lightly and said, “Ziling! Why don’t you immediately embark on a journey to Bashu? As long as you are willing to make an oath that from now on you will live in seclusion in You Lin Xiao Gu [secluded forest in the small valley], and no longer come out to the world, I, Shi Zhixuan will make an exception by letting you go.”

Xu Ziling sensed that Shi Zhixuan was speaking without meaning it; moreover, this was the first time he caught Shi Zhixuan’s real intention.

Because based on Shi Zhixuan’s intelligence and wisdom, he ought to know clearly that Xu Ziling was not the type of person that could be intimidated by other people; if he really wanted Xu Ziling to go to You Lin Xiao Gu to accompany Shi Qingxuan forever, he should not need to say the last sentence. Was it a sign that Shi Zhixuan was indeed stalling for time, so that without being affected by his injury, he could raise his power to launch another fierce offensive to kill Xu Ziling?

The corner of Xu Ziling’s lips revealed a hint of disdain, the clothes on his entire body suddenly made rustling noise, it fluttered without any wind, his pair of eyes opened wide, bright and clear, he fixed his gaze on Shi Zhixuan, unwilling to miss any subtle movement, and spoke heavily, “Is Xibai Xiong no longer in the world of the living?”

While speaking, he had one hand behind his back, the other hand stretched out in front, the hollow of the palm facing outward, while he continuously amassing and concentrating his power.

Shi Zhixuan threw his head back in laughter and said, “I, Shi Zhixuan need not answer such a rude question. Although your talent is high, it’s a pity that your martial art skill has not reached the ‘down to the smallest detail’ level, compared to Shi Feixuan you still fall short. I have nothing to say, give me all you got!”

Xu Ziling let out a cold shout, his right palm swiftly pushed, a sphere of spiraling qi power shot out from the hollow of his palm, traversing the approximately a zhang distance at thunderbolt-stimulating-lightning speed, smashing directly toward Shi Zhixuan’s face.

This was one-step advancement to his Treasured-Vase Image Qi, from one beam to one sphere, smaller than a fist, but more concentrated, even more difficult to withstand. This was his last-moment creation being forced by Shi Zhixuan.

After undergoing the cultivation beyond the Great Wall, whether in terms of xinfa and power, Xu Ziling had made remarkable progress. The Long-Life Qi plus the Jade Annulus of He Clan plus the strange qi of the Demonic Emperor’s Relics mixed and fused together into an integral whole, becoming the true qi that never existed in ancient and modern times, which could follow his heart’s desires, able to create myriad of changes.

Shi Zhixuan’s words convinced him more that after repeatedly launching killer moves toward him, it was very likely that this Demonic King’s internal injury had already been affected; therefore, he deliberately belittled Xu Ziling’s martial art skill, hinting that he was inferior to Shi Feixuan, but actually he just wanted to make Xu Ziling angry.

Shi Zhixuan let out a cold snort, but he was still sitting motionless. Opening up his mouth, he spat out a beam of qi arrow to pierce the sphere.

Xu Ziling’s right palm moving slightly, unexpectedly the Treasured Vase sphere changed direction. It curved outward first and barely evaded the qi arrow, and then it shot toward Shi Zhixuan’s left cheek. So brilliant that people did not dare to believe.

Apparently Shi Zhixuan had never thought that after receiving injury twice in a row, Xu Ziling still had this extremely shocking capability. Finally he was unable to keep his chair steady, suddenly his body leaned backward, he made a flip and evaded the Treasured Vase sphere by a mere hairsbreadth, and landed on the other side of the hall.

The Treasured Vase sphere stopped midair.

Xu Ziling barely missed the qi arrow splitting the air, using a ghost or demon-like speed shenfa, he caught up and waved his palm, as light as a feather, seemingly without any strength at all, to smack the Treasured Vase sphere still floating in the air.

The Treasured Vase sphere, as if it had substance, whistling through the air like a shadow attached to the form, also like a ghost who died of injustice and refusing to leave, chased after Shi Zhixuan, who was just about to land on the ground.

The timing and the angle were grasped to perfection like seamless heavenly clothes. The moment Shi Zhixuan touched the ground was the precise moment the qi power attacked his body.

Since the start of the battle, this was the first time that Xu Ziling was able to seize the initiative and the upper hand, but it definitely did not come easy. If he had not seen through that Shi Zhixuan’s internal injury had not been healed, there was no way he would dare to stake all on one throw by condensing the power in his entire body into this Treasured Vase sphere and throw his life and death into this grand gamble move.

The murderous aura in Shi Zhixuan’s pair of eyes flaring greatly, he let out a cold snort, and stretched out his finger to stab swiftly.

The sphere of qi no longer flew in a straight line, it drew an arc in the air and slammed toward Shi Zhixuan.

‘Pow!’

The qi power exploded, violent qi wind rolled out.

No matter how formidable Shi Zhixuan’s Bu Si Yin Fa, he was still incapable to neutralize such a highly concentrated and spiraling, itself became one entity, capable to repel outside qi, carrying extremely strong destructive force – qi power; therefore, he could only meet force with force, to stake it all in one move against Xu Ziling.

It seemed like Xu Ziling was finally able to find a way to break the Bu Si Yin Fa, too bad it could only be used while Shi Zhixuan’s internal injury had not been completely healed, because with Shi Zhixuan’s exceptional demonic power, under normal circumstances, he would be able to easily block his sphere of qi head-on. And then, due to excessive wear and tear in his true qi, he would be unable to continue, and his defeat would come even quicker.

Meeting the finger, Xu Ziling’s, standing nearly two zhang away from Shi Zhixuan, entire body was severely shaken, and he spewed out the third mouthful of blood since the battle started; he staggered and fell backward.

Shi Zhixuan also let out a miserable groan, his countenance turned white, he flew at angle backward, and ‘Whoosh!’ he slipped through the window and flashed into the sunlight-shines-over-all-things world outside.

‘Bonk!’

Xu Ziling fell on his butt on the ground, his entire body lost its strength, he spurted out another mouthful of blood.

※ ※ ※

Xu Ziling was awakened by the sound of the door opening. By this time the boiling true qi within his body has calmed down, he was entering the gradual recovery process. Hearing the noise, his entire body relaxed, because he recognized Hou Xibai’s, whose life or dead was unknown, unique footsteps.

Pushing the door open, Hou Xibai caught sight of Xu Ziling sitting cross-legged on the ground, while there was blood everywhere in the hall. Shocked, he pounced behind Xu Ziling and pressed his palm to his back, injected his true qi, and asked in horror, “Who was so formidable that unexpectedly he was able to beat Xu Ziling and make you look like this?”

Smiling bitterly, Xu Ziling replied, “Who else but your Shi Shi?”

Hou Xibai said, “If it were Shi Shi, I’m surprised that you can still breathing here, alive.”

Xu Ziling spoke heavily, “Wanwan guessed correctly. Your Shi Shi’s internal injury has not yet recovered, otherwise, I would be lying on the ground instead of sitting on the ground. We don’t have much time. Once his power recovers completely, you and I will not leave Chang’an alive, therefore, the grand plan condemn the Xiang Family must proceed at top speed.”

Hou Xibai’s handsome countenance sank, he spoke with a frown, “According to your estimate, how long will it take Shi Shi to recover?”

Xu Ziling replied dejectedly, “Your Shi Shi is like a deep and immeasurable well; knowing full well that his internal injury has not healed, I still failed to grasp his foundation.”

Obtaining Hou Xibai’s true qi helping him treating his injury, Xu Ziling’s countenance and the condition of his injury were improving greatly.

Xu Ziling said, “This is called mistakes have mistakes’ move [referring to a move in a game]. I thought you were slaughtered by him, hence disregarding the consequences, I took the initiative to attack first, otherwise I do not dare to imagine the situation even more.”

Touched, Hou Xibai said, “You should have taken the initiative to escape instead, Shi Shi definitely did not wish to alarm the Li Clan’s people, hence fleeing to the street would have been a lot safer. Before, I was an expert in sleeping, I could fall asleep as soon as I climbed into the bed, but now I lost that ability, so I had no choice but to go everywhere looking for information, in order to pass the time that I should have used for sleeping. Hey! I suspect that Yang Xuyan already left Chang’an, but I don’t know where he got lost to.”

Staring blankly, Xu Ziling said, “This kid appears and disappears unpredictably like a spirit or a ghost, his tracks secretive, you did not see him does not mean that he is not in Chang’an.”

Hou Xibai took his hands off Xu Ziling’s back, he moved in front of him and sat cross-legged. Smiling, he said, “The man of the mountain has his own brilliant scheme. In Xiao Yang’s [little Yang] garden, there are several tree stumps that he personally sprinkled with water to grow poisonous flowers and grass. These past couple of days, it was his servant doing it for him. Can you guess where this kid went?”

Smiling ruefully, Xu Ziling replied, “How would I know?”

Hou Xibai spoke with serious expression, “My guess is he is going to Luoyang.”

Shocked, Xu Ziling echoed, “Luoyang?”

Hou Xibai said, “I have a very high confidence that Xiao Yang is going to Luoyang, and that he is under Shi Shi’s order to go to Luoyang to assassinate our brother, ‘Shaoshuai’ Kou Zhong, because you have come to Chang’an. If you are by Kou Zhong’s side, Yang Xuyan absolutely have no opportunity he could exploit.”

Xu Ziling spoke confidently, “In the trip outside the Great Wall this time, Kou Zhong made major breakthrough in his saber technique, Yang Xuyan wanting to kill him, he’s just being carried away by his wishful thinking.”

Hou Xibai said, “I don’t have full confidence like you. Yang Xuyan is the best assassin in the world today, and assassins’ success is by seizing the fortunate timing. Under normal circumstances, naturally he cannot do anything against Zhong Shao, but imagine the following scenario: all the cities surrounding Luoyang have been captured, Li Shimin is leading his troops in violent attack against Luoyang. Dashing on bravely with no thought of personal safety, day and night Zhong Shao is defending the city, in the end his muscle is weary his strength exhausted. And the preserving-and-nurturing-his-spirit Yang Xuyan took the advantage while the city is in chaos, the moment where the fire beacon is covering the sky, to dress up as a city guard, he gets close to Zhong Shao …”

Gasping for breath, Xu Ziling said, “No need to continue, turns out you, this kid, can tell a story with vivid image and living sound. But why would Shi Zhixuan want to kill Kou Zhong? Shao Shuai Army and Wang Army’s collapsing, what benefit is it to him?”

Hou Xibai sighed and said, “Shifu is an expert in crisscrossing the world unhindered; oftentimes his speech and intelligence are more formidable than magnificent army with thousands of men and horses. Although his nature dictates that he is not a talent to crisscross the battlefield unhindered, but talking about tactics and tricks, not many can match or even surpass him. The past few days I constantly ponder what he said to me before, presumably he was giving me the outline of his strategy. In my opinion, even if I did not hit the target spot on, I shouldn’t miss too far, hence the reason I was able to guess that Yang Xuyan is going to assassinate Kou Zhong. Just now he was trying to kill you, this has confirmed my thought.”

Staring blankly, Xu Ziling said, “How are we going to solve this problem?”

Hou Xibai muttered to himself irresolutely for half a day, his expression showed that he was deep in thought. He spoke slowly, “Shi Shi is a person with deep plans and distant thoughts [idiom: to plan far ahead], in the past he used scheme to topple the Great Sui, it is inconceivable that he did not have any follow-up move, and his follow-up move is precisely Li Yuan. Moreover, he already grasped Li Yuan’s character and weak points, thus he consecutively planted two important chess pieces by his side, which are Yang Xuyan and Yin De Fei.”

Xu Ziling nodded and said, “His assessment on Li Yuan is very accurate. Li Yuan has now become the hegemon most likely to unify the world. The only obstacle is Li Shimin. If Li Yuan is not going to go against his promise to establish Li Jiancheng as his heir, your Shi Shi’s heart and blood will completely flow down the east stream. That being the case, since there is Yin De Fei, why did he want Dong Shuni to enter the Tang Palace?”

Hou Xibai spoke heavily, “Because Yin De Fei failed to give Li Yuan a son in his old age, the child that Dong Shuni is about to give birth precisely filled this gap. As for whether the baby is really Li Yuan’s child, only Dong Shuni knows. Yang Xuyan’s attempt to kill Zhang Jieyu was precisely his means to help Dong Shuni striving for favor.”

Xu Ziling was still somewhat puzzled; frowning, he said, “These speculations of yours are reasonable and fair, but what does it have to do with eliminating me and Kou Zhong?”

“Naturally they are closely related,” Hou Xibai replied, “The sooner the Li Clan obtain the world, the more favorable it is for Shi Shi’s plot. The most ideal scenario is that during the battle to capture Luoyang, Li Shimin died in battle, so that Li Yuanji would receive the benefit of Li Shimin’s outstanding military service, because if the battle for the unification of the world drags on for a long time, Li Shimin’s importance might continuously grow. If Shi Shi can control Li Yuan, the remaining Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji would turn to fight each other, and then Shi Shi would have the opportunity that he could exploit; he could fish in troubled water and be the recipient of Li’s Tang’s world. At that time, if he supports Dong Shuni’s son as a puppet emperor, puts the imperial wives and concubines in the government, combined with the Holy School as powerful backing, who could resist him?”

Xu Ziling had no choice but to nod and said, “That is certainly not impossible.”

Hou Xibai was excited; he said, “Although there are still a lot of details that we haven’t figured out, but what really happens should be more or less like this. Therefore, the person that Shi Shi has misgivings the most should be Kou Zhong; first, because his saber technique is unrivalled, under normal circumstances, unless Shi Shi personally makes his move, no one can put him in order. Furthermore, because he has the support of the ‘Heavenly Saber’ Song Que, one of the people Shi Shi has most misgivings. Even if Shi Shi, via Jiancheng and Yuanji, succeeds in eliminating Li Shimin, Kou Zhong’s power to strike back must not be lightly underestimated. Also imagine the following situation: the fight between Shimin and Jiancheng, Yuanji becomes a fight between Yuanji and Jiancheng, and then Kou Zhong, acting on Li Shimin’s behalf, being outraged by injustice – would send a punitive expedition against the Li Family, which he consider it the call to fight the Holy School. Since he obtains Ci Hang Jing Zhai, Song Que, Tuli, and the others’ full support, what do you think the situation will be? In the first place, various generals of Tian Ce Fu would all rally on Kou Zhong’s side, right?”

Xu Ziling sighed and said, “I want to stop by Luoyang. Ay! Should I advise Kou Zhong to withdraw from this strive for the world, or should I ask him to continue? Will you tell me?”

Hou Xibai shook his head to indicate that he was powerless; he said, “Why don’t you become the ‘Overbearing Saber’ Yue Shan again to enlighten Li Yuan, this sentimental and stubborn old man?”

Xu Ziling said, “This matter, we must not act blindly without thinking; let’s not say that Li Yuan might not necessarily want to listen to Yue Shan, this kind of minding other people’s business is not Yue Shan’s character at all. Reasonably speaking, Yue Shan ought to be on his way to Lingnan to challenge Song Que.”

Hou Xibai said, “If you are going to look for Kou Zhong, what happen to our mission here? Are you saying that I should pretend to be the missing Situ Furong? Unlike you, Xiaodi is not as eager to study pawnshop business.”

Xu Ziling said, “If I hasten on with the journey and travel day and night, round trip ought to take about five, six days, and when I am back, I will no longer be Xu Ziling but Situ Furong; so what’s the problem?”

“You really have the confidence that you will be able to leave Kou Zhong in Luoyang and disregard him?” Hou Xibai asked.

Xu Ziling’s pair of eyes emitted abstruse emotion, but the tone of his voice was extremely tranquil as he said, “Now is not the time to attend to personal gains and losses; since Kou Zhong already made his own choice, he will have to face his destiny due to the said choice. What I am most concerned about now is the well being of the common people of the world. They have had enough suffering; they can no longer withstand destruction. If we let your Shi Shi’s plot to prevail, the world will continue to be in chaos I don’t know until when? I must stop this from happening, and I hope to be clear about your position.”

Smiling wryly, Hou Xibai said, “I already lay the contents of my heart on the tray, yet you are still unclear about my position? Ay! Honestly, only until just now, when I knew you, LaoGe, disregarded everything for my sake in life and death bloody battle against Shi Shi – that I made this decision. Before, I made up my mind not to get involved in Shi Shi’s affairs; he wanted to kill me, that’s enough!”

Xu Ziling reached out to grab his shoulder, saying, “I must now immediately rush to Luoyang. Other things, such us contacting Li Jing and Chen Fu, I am asking you to do it for me. Remember, this is no longer for personal honor and disgrace, but it is concerning the common people of the world. If the chaos in the Central Plains continues, the day when the Tujue main forces coming to the south will be the moment our nation destroyed, its people reduced to be slaves.”

Hou Xibai’s pair of eyes emitted resolute expression, he nodded with firm determination and said, “Ziling’s word is my command.”

Recalling Ji Qian, Xu Ziling thought that this matter would be dealt with when he came back.