65 Invasion 13

Luo Qingke's eyes widened slightly as soon as he saw the smile on Nu Yuanqing's face. "Ah! You insist that your Heaven Sword School didn't send him here? Fine. I shall not bother to argue with you. But what do you intend to do now?

"Are you going to fight me? You should know that you are not my match. Or are you simply delaying me, in hopes that Lady Xie will finish off Ye Hongge and return to join hands with you? So that you can take me down together?"

The woman in green sniffed once again, as she shrugged at the old man. "Do not insult me. Do you really think that we need to join hands to deal with you? Who do you think you are, Luo Qingke? You are merely an Outer Court Elder of the Purple Serpent Sect!"

A frown appeared on the purple-clad old man's face then. Li Sanlang sensed that he was beginning to feel really upset by the woman's disparaging words. Which was probably why he had reached out to put his hand on the collar of Qin Feng's ragged robe. He would do his best to pull the younger man along with him, once they started to fight.

Maybe he would get lucky, and get away before their attacks affected the area around them too badly.

"Oh? Merely an Outer Court Elder? And what are you, Lady Nu? From what I can remember, you have no status in the Heaven Sword School. After all, you were merely one lover out of several, who had clung onto Grandmaster Jin Zongjie's thigh, when he rose to his position. And the only one whose facial skin was too thick to back away, unlike the others."

Nu Yuanqing's face seemed to harden as soon as she heard those words. And she did not hesitate, raising her sword to look down its length at the purple-clad man. "You shall pay for that!" she declared softly.

Then, without further warning, she attacked!

Li Changhai gave out a gasp, and his hands froze for a moment, almost as if he had forgotten that he was tending to Qin Feng's injuries. That was the Four Seasons Sword Technique, wasn't it? The same one that Qin Feng had used earlier?

But it was far more impressive, and deadly, in Nu Yuanqing's hands!

The sword in her hand lashed out at the old man with the metal gauntlets, its tip catching the skirt of his robe, even though he had danced back as he fended off her attack. The trailing hem was shredded despite his defense, and there was an obvious growl emanating from his throat, telling of his anger and distress.

Not that he was the only one to suffer from the exchange:

Nu Yuanqing's sword blade was quivering as she fought, whining as though it was in danger of snapping. And her left hand was shaking slightly, after having to meet with the close-knit web of fist blows that Luo Qingke had put up. By the time that the pair separated once again, her reddened cheeks and the way that her chest heaved made it clear that she had put in more effort than it looked to Li Changhai's inexpert eye.

Luo Qingke, on the other hand, did not fare any better. His hands were obviously shaking despite the fact that he was wearing those gauntlets, and the purple robe that he wore was in tatters below his knees. The sleeves on his arms were also torn up to his elbows, and the woman's sword had left a shallow track on his right cheek.

However, the Second Ducal Prince did not dare to disparage either of the combatants. They were moving so fast that he could not even catch a proper glimpse at the styles that they were using! All that he managed to get out of the brief exchange was the impression that either of them were sufficient to lay the entire Third Army to waste!

But there was a slight itch that he could not help but feel, as he considered the movements of the woman in the green robe. There was a smattering of similarity, between the style that she had used and what Qin Feng had demonstrated earlier. Was it because both of them were from the Heaven Sword School? That they would wield their swords in such a similar manner? Was she using the Four Seasons Sword as well?

"So ... it seems the vaunted defense of your Iron Fists has been greatly exaggerated. How disappointing," the woman in green managed to say at last, as she lifted her sword quietly. The shivering of the sword-blade slowly eased off as she did so, but she continued to clench her left hand, as though she was trying to quell the pain that she felt in her palm there.

"Not a match for your Four Seasons Sword, it appears. You have grasped the passing of the seasons, and the weight of the years. Far better than that young disciple of your Heaven Sword School. Then again, that is is no surprise, given how many of them you have already seen."

Nu Yuanqing's eyes narrowed once more, as soon as she heard the old man spit out his latest insult. But she did not launch another attack. It was clear from his stance, and the way that he held his hands, that he was ready to receive it.

Instead, she gave him a mocking smile, as she nodded at the forest at his back. "You are free to attack me, if you wish to have another taste of my sword. But I believe that you should be more worried about keeping your skin intact, rather than trying to taunt me."

The old man met her smile with a grin of his own as he cocked his head at her words. "Such confidence in your words. It seems you believe that your Heaven Sword School is more than a match for my Purple Serpent Sect then? Or are you talking about your own skill?" he asked with a bark of laughter.

"Neither. It is another principle that you should have heard of. How a pair of fists is no match for four hands. And we clearly have you outnumbered," she told him plainly, with a malicious glint in her eyes.

"Isn't that right? Lady Xie?"

Luo Qingke whirled, just in time to see the other woman emerge from the edge of the Southern Forest, walking confidently out of the shadows of the trees, as though she hadn't a single care in the world.

But his eyes were soon distracted by the roundish object that she was holding in her left hand. Droplets of bright red fluid dripped from the same with every step that she took. And as she got closer, there was no mistaking it for anything else:

A human head!

Even Nu Yuanqing's uneasy smile could not disguise the surprise that she felt, as soon as she noticed the gory burden, gripped by its hair, in Lady Xie's left hand.

Xie Nianxue merely sniffed at the pair as she dropped the object that she was holding, startling both of them again at the rough treatment of the same. Luo Qingke's eyes went wide as he recognized the bloodied features at once. "Ye Hongge! You killed Ye Hongge!"

"What did you expect me to do? Invite him over for dinner? You two have been working against the Southern Duchy for close to twenty years! Since he has so generously brought his head over to offer it to me, it would be far too impolite of me if I refused," chuckled the woman as she kicked the decapitated head over.

"Here! Why don't you have a few words with your old friend? Before I send you down to join him in Hell?"

* * *