Chapter - 374 East And West are Forever APart Like Orion And Antares (8)

Toward the ninth stance, the Sheng Huo Ling in Miaofeng Shi's left hand slamming down diagonally in a very weird move; looked like he was aiming Zhang Wuji's lower abdomen. Zhang Wuji lowered the Persian leader's body. Although Miaofeng Shi's stance was very strange, Zhang Wuji's reaction was extremely ingenious. 'Slap!' the Sheng Huo Ling squarely hit that Persian on his left cheek.

The Three Emissaries cried out in alarm simultaneously; their countenance changed and they leaped back at the same time. After talking in Persian among themselves, suddenly they bowed toward the Persian in Zhang Wuji's hand, with a very respectful expression; and then they retreated.

Suddenly the bugle sounded again as one big ship slowly came near. On the bow of this ship were twelve embroidered golden banners, while underneath the banners twelve chairs were set covered in tiger skins. One of the chairs was empty, while the other eleven were occupied. That big ship stopped some distance away and dropped its anchor.

Zhao Min noticed that the empty chair was the sixth one; a thought came to her mind. "The man we captured is dressed similar to those eleven people on that ship; looks like among their twelve leaders, he ranks number six."

"Twelve big leaders?" Xie Xun asked, "Hmm, the Central Cult's twelve 'bao shu wang' [lit. kings of treasured/precious tree] have come to the Central Earth. This is no small matter."

"What are the twelve 'bao shu wang'?" Zhao Min asked.

"Under the Jiaozhu of the Persian Central Cult," replied Xie Xun, "are the twelve grandmasters of the Scripture; they are called the Twelve Precious Tree Kings. Their position is similar to the Four Protector Kings of the Central Earth's Ming Cult. These twelve kings are: the first Dasheng [great holiness], the second 'zhi hui' [wisdom or knowledge], the third Changsheng' [eternal victory], the fourth Zhanghuo' [palm of fire], the fifth Qinxiu [diligent cultivation], the sixth Pingdeng [equality], the seventh Xinxin' [faith], the eighth Zhen'e [suppressing evil], the ninth Zhengzhi [integrity], the tenth Gongde' [virtue], the eleventh Qixin [single mindedness], the twelfth Juming [entire brightness]. However, these twelve Precious Tree Kings are only experts in Scriptures and doctrines, great teachers of religious law; I heard they are not experts in martial art. This man is the sixth; so he must be the Pingdeng Bao Shu Wang."

Zhang Wuji sat down by the main mast, laying down the Pingdeng Wang on his knees. This man held a high position within the Persian Central Cult; hence, Zhang Wuji was thinking of using him a hostage to escape later on, therefore, he must take a good care of him. Looking down, Zhang Wuji saw that man's left cheek was swollen very badly; fortunately it was not life-threatening. Thinking about the fierceness of Miaofeng Shi's strike, he felt strange; hastily he exerted his strength and felt some reaction from this man's internal energy.

Meanwhile Zhou Zhiruo and Xiao Zhao were cleaning up the deck; they moved the corpses to the rear cabin and laid down those who were still alive neatly in rows on the deck.

They saw that they were surrounded by more than ten Persian ships, with each ship's cannon aimed at their ship, while the deck next to the fender was full of Persian people; their blades flickered under the bright torchlights. The ships were jam-packed with these people, it was difficult even to estimate how many people were there. Zhang Wuji was secretly anxious; without even considering the fact that the cannons on each ship were capable of bombarding their ship, if these thousands of people attacked together, he would be hard-pressed to defend himself even if he had three heads and six arms. He might be able to escape relying on his own martial art skill; but how about his companions? Moreover, Yin Li and Zhao Min were injured, making their situation more dangerous.

He heard a Persian speak in Chinese with a loud voice, "Jin Mao Shi Wang, listen! Our Twelve Precious Tree Kings of the Central Cult are here. You have committed a crime against the Central Cult, the Precious Tree Kings are being lenient and willing to pardon you. Quickly release the Cult member on your ship, we will allow you to sail away safely."

Xie Xun laughed. "The Old Xie is not a three-year old child; do you think we don't know that your cannons will fire on us as soon as we released the hostages?" he said.

That Persian was indignant. "If you don't release our people, do you think we cannot shoot you?"

Xie Xun hesitated for a moment before answering, "I have three conditions; if you agree, we will then respectfully send these Cult people ashore."

"What condition?" that man asked.

"First," Xie Xun replied, "From now on, the Central Cult and the Central Earth Ming Cult are to respect each other, no more interfering with each other's affairs."

"Hmm, and the second?" that man said.

"Release Taj-kis," Xie Xun said, "Send her over to our boat. Pardon her for losing her chastity, and do not look for her again, ever."

"Not on your life," that man angrily said, "Taj-kis has violated a major law of the Central Cult; she must be burned alive as a punishment. What does that have to do with your Central Earth Ming Cult, anyway? What is the third condition?"

"You have not agreed to the second one, why talk about the third one?" Xie Xun said.

"All right!" that man replied, "Let's just say we agree to the second condition; then there is no problem in hearing the third one, isn't there?"

"The third condition?" Xie Xun said, "That's the easiest one. Send a small boat to follow us. After we sail for fifty 'li's, and we are sure that you are not pursuing us, then we'll release the hostages to the small boat. You are free to pick them up."

That man angrily shouted, "Hu shou jiu dao! Hu shou jiu dao!"

Xie Xun and Zhang Wuji thought they could not blame his logic; they could not help bursting into laughter even though they were currently under a dire circumstance.

As that man increased the 'degree of rubbishness' and Xie Xun and the others were laughing, the Precious Three King who was sitting at the end of the row, called Juming Bao Shu Wang, was angry. Letting out a loud whistle, he jumped toward the enemy's ship. The eleventh king, Qixin Bao Shu Wang, followed behind him.

Zhang Wuji stepped forward, his left palm struck toward Qixin Bao Shu Wang's chest. To his surprise, Qixin Wang did not parry, but stretching out his left hand to grab the top of Zhang Wuji's head. Zhang Wuji thought that surely his palm would reach the enemy's body first; who would have thought that from the side Ju Ming Wang's both palms came charging in, blocking his palm, while at the same time Qixin Wang's fingers almost touched his skull. Zhang Wuji evaded by moving one step forward. He realized now that these two people's collaboration was as tight as one person with four arms and four legs.

The three people had exchanged seven, eight stances in a flash. Zhang Wuji was inwardly worried; the collaborations of these two were somewhat inferior compared to the Wind and Cloud, three emissaries, but their martial art was very strange nonetheless. The essence of their martial art was clearly similar to the 'Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi', but as their attack arrived, it carried an unpredictable variation within, making it very difficult for Zhang Wuji to fight with confidence. Speaking about swiftness and fierceness, however, their stances were actually not as good as the Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi by a long shot. These two men were fighting as they were mad; occasionally they would launch what seemed to be a stance from the Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi, but before striking the target, they would suddenly act as if they were losing their minds and kicked and hit randomly, but surprisingly their attack was very difficult to block. Their collaboration was very tight, it wasn't any different from the Wind and Cloud Three Emissaries.