Chapter - 442 The Bride's Pale Arms Parts the Red Clothing (17)

One of the foreign monks clasped his palms and bowed, while saying, "Xiao Seng receives the Prince's order to accompany Junzhu return to the Palace."

"What are you doing here?" Zhao Min asked.

"Junzhu is injured," the foreign monk replied, "The Prince is very concerned; he ordered Xiao Seng to take Junzhu home." While speaking, he lifted up a mobile communication device in his hand.

Zhao Min understood that her brother had sent a text message to their father via his device, and so their father must have dispatched these foreign monks to intercept them. "Where is my Father?" she asked.

The foreign monk replied, "The Prince is waiting at the foot of the mountain. He is anxious to see the condition of Junzhu's injury."

Zhang Wuji knew too much talking would not do them any good; he strode forward straight toward them, while shouting loudly, "If you want to live, quickly move aside. Otherwise, don't blame me for being merciless."

Two foreign monks stepped forward side by side, they both stretched out their right palms pushing against Zhang Wuji's chest. Zhang Wuji's left hand made a turn in a pulling and pushing action, he sent the two monks' palms strength back.

The two foreign monks cried out together, "Ami amihong, ami amihong!" It sounded like they were chanting an incantation, or it could be that they were cursing.

Zhao Min was not willing to be overdone; she also shouted, "Ami amihong yourself!"

'Tap, tap, tap!' the foreign monks took three steps back. Two other foreign monks behind them stretched out their right palms to stop the first two monks' backs, and pushed them forward again.

These two foreign monks kept using the same stance from the 'pai shan zhang' ['row of mountains' palm].

Zhang Wuji was not willing to fight them strength with strength and thus waste his energy; so he launched the Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi to divert the monks' force away. To his surprise, as his fingers were barely touching the edge of those two monks' palms, he felt just like iron pulled by magnet, his fingers stuck firmly onto the monks' palms.

The two monks cried out again, ""Ami amihong, ami amihong!"

Twice Zhang Wuji tried to shake them off, but both times he failed. He had no choice but strike back with the Jiu Yang Shen Gong through his fingers. Surprisingly, he failed to push the two monks away. And then he saw that behind these two monks, the other twenty two monks arranged themselves in two rows, with each one's right palm on the back of the monk in front of him. Twenty four foreign monks lined up neatly in two rows.

Zhang Wuji suddenly remembered, "I have heard Tai Shifu [great master – referring to Zhang Sanfeng] said that in the martial art world of India there is a technique to combine power. These twenty four foreign monks are combining their strength to fight my palms. Even if my internal strength were stronger, I still cannot defeat the combined power of these twenty four men."

He was afraid the pursuing soldiers would soon arrive, so letting out a long whistle, he added 30% more power to his palms and then abruptly pushed diagonally down, while he dodged to the left. He knew that these twenty four foreign monks could not possibly combine their strength in one straight line. The six foremost monks had already faltered from the direct impact of the push. Zhang Wuji immediately sent both his palms out, 'Slap, slap, slap, slap, slap, slap!' six times, the six foreign monks tumbled down on the ground with blood spurting out from their mouths. But the seventh and the eighth foreign monks continued their attacks forward.

"You want to follow your comrades?" Zhang Wuji thought. His right palm struck out to block these two monks' palms. Focusing his strength, he was about to push diagonally again when suddenly he heard light footsteps from behind; somebody was sending him a palm attack. He swung his left palm backhandedly to parry this incoming palm attack, but his Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi was relying on his Jiu Yang Shen Gong, while right at that moment he was using his entire strength to deal with the combined power of the eighteen foreign monks in front of him; therefore, his strike backward only carried not more than 20% of his normal strength. He felt a blast of cold energy penetrating his palm and went straight into his body. His whole body shivered, he staggered, his body bent down and he fell. It was Lu Zhangke who launched a sneak attack on him with the Xuanming Shen Zhang [black/mysteriously dark divine palm].

"Mr. Lu, stop!" Zhao Min cried out in fear, throwing her own body on top of Zhang Wuji's. "Who dares to make a move?" she shouted.

Actually, Lu Zhangke wanted to follow up with another palm strike, and thus take the life of the number one formidable enemy he had ever faced in his entire life. But seeing how the princess was protecting him, he had no choice but to hold his hand up and step back. He let out a long and loud whistle to signal his companions that everything went well so that it was safe for them to come over.

"Junzhu Niang-niang," he said, "The Prince only wishes Junzhu Niang-niang to come home; no more than that. This man is the leader of the rebels; why does Junzhu care about him this much?"

Zhao Min was bitterly angry with him, and was thinking of scolding him badly, but she changed her mind as she did not want to incite his anger that he would harm Zhang Wuji's life. Therefore, keeping her peace, she sat down, embracing Zhang Wuji in her arms.

A short moment later, they heard jingling bells, as three riders came up the mountain. One of them was He Biweng, the other as Wang Baobao, and the last one was the Ruyang Prince himself. As they came near, they jumped down from their horses. The Ruyang Prince frowned and said, "Minmin, what's wrong with you? Why didn't you obey your brother but deliberately create trouble in here instead?"

With tears flooding down her cheeks, Zhao Min cried out, "Father, you sent people to bully your daughter like this."

The Ruyang Prince took several steps forward, putting out a hand to pull her up. Zhao Min flipped her right hand over, a white ray flashed as she took a dagger from her bosom and pointed it toward her own abdomen. "Father," she called out, "If you don't let me go, your daughter will die in your presence today."

The Ruyang Prince was frightened that he retreated two steps backward. In a trembling voice he said, "We can talk, don't be like this! You … what do you want?"

With her left hand Zhao Min pulled the clothes covering her right shoulder. She took off the bandage to reveal five finger holes. The poison had been taken away, but the wounds had not healed yet. Her flesh was vaguely exposed underneath traces of blood, making the wound looked even more ghastly.

Seeing her terrible wounds, Ruyang Prince's heart melted; she was, after all, the beloved daughter he dearly loved. "What happened? How did the wound become this bad?" he repeatedly asked.

Zhao Min pointed toward Lu Zhangke and said, "This man was having an ill intention; he was going to rape your daughter. Of course I resisted him to the death. He … he … then grabbed me like this. Please, Father … Father must help me."

Lu Zhangke was so frightened that he felt as if his soul was fleeing out of his body. "Even to the death Xiao Ren will not dare. How can … how can there be such thing?"

"Humph!" the Ruyang Prince stared at him angrily. "Such a nerve!" he said, "I was being lenient to you by not investigating the Han Ji affair, now you have the guts to offend my daughter. Seize him!"