Chapter - 497 A Gentleman is Gullible Because of His Righteous Conduct (6)

Suddenly Zhou Zhiruo's long whip vibrated, creating circles, big and small circles, surrounding Yin Liting's entire body with these circles. Taiji Fist and Taiji Sword also based on transmitting strength through circles. Surprisingly, Zhou Zhiruo's long whip was also vibrating strength through circles. The rotational direction of the whip and Yin Liting's sword were the same, but the whip was several times faster.

As Yin Liting's sword was entangled by her whip, it lost its strength and did not want to follow its master's command. The sword was swirled several times and then a blue ray flickered as the sword was thrown upward. Zhou Zhiruo's long whip coiled down to smash the crown of Yin Liting's head.

Yu Lianzhou immediately jumped forward. His right hand caught the tip of the flexible whip. From inside her gown, Zhou Zhiruo's leg flew out, threatening Yu Lianzhou's waist.

From the start, Yu Lianzhou had always had difficulty predicting the direction of Zhou Zhiruo's whip strange movements. However, when he saw her shook the whip to create the circles and snatch Yin Liting's sword, it suddenly it dawned on him, "Turns out her skill is only mediocre. Her technique in vibrating the whip to make circles is far inferior to our Taiji Fist."

As he grabbed the tip of the whip, ignoring the attack toward his waist, his left hand struck Zhou Zhiruo's lower abdomen using the 'hu zhua jue hu shou' ['tiger claw disappears into the door' hand].

Zhou Zhiruo was unable to block. Like a lightning, this thought came into her mind, "I'll die under Yu Er Shu's [second (younger) uncle] hands today." Releasing the whip handle, the five fingers of her right hand came down on top of Yu Lianzhou's head, hoping that in her death, she would take Yu Lianzhou along.

Yu Lianzhou wanted to lean his head sideways to evade, but unfortunately, the 'tui hou xue' [lit. 'behind the leg' acupoint] on his waist was sealed by Zhou Zhiruo's kick that his neck stiffened and he could not turn his head. However, the strength of his left hand did not diminish.

At the time when both people's lives were hanging by a thread, someone suddenly darted in from the side; his right hand blocked Yu Lianzhou's 'hu zhua jue hu shou', his left hand stopped Zhou Zhiruo's fingers, which were about to pierce Yu Lianzhou's skull. It was Zhang Wuji who decided to save them.

Zhou Zhiruo combined the forces of her palms to strike Zhang Wuji's chest. If Zhang Wuji dodged the attack, this pair of palms would strike Yin Liting's face, therefore, he had no choice but parry her palms with his left palm.

As these two people's three palms struck each other, Zhang Wuji suddenly felt that Zhou Zhiruo's palms were void of any strength. Zhang Wuji was stunned. "Aiyo, not good!" he thought, "After fighting ferociously with Liu Shu [sixth uncle] for more than 200 stances, she is like a lamp which oil has dried up. If I continued sending out my strength, she would certainly die on the spot." In desperation, he hastily pulled back his strength.

When he sent out his left palm, he only knew that Zhou Zhiruo's martial art did not differ too much from his own, that she was a powerful opponent; therefore, he did not dare to be negligent. With one palm blocking two, he had sent his entire strength. As the force was just about to come out, he realized the opponent was devoid of any strength, so he hurriedly pulled back his power. He was well aware that by doing so, he had violated an important principle of the martial art theory. It was equal to attacking his own body with his entire strength. In addition, he needed to use more strength in order to pull back the outgoing power. Fortunately, he had reached a level where he could send out or pull back his power at will. This sudden withdrawal of his strength would only stop the flow of his 'chi' momentarily, but would not greatly harm him.

Unexpectedly, as he pulled his strength, he suddenly felt like a burst of flooding water breaking a dam, the opponent's strength surged into his body with an irresistible force. Zhang Wuji was greatly shocked; realizing that he had fallen into the enemy's trap. 'Bang!' his chest was squarely hit by Zhou Zhiruo's palms.

Zhang Wuji was stricken by his own strength plus Zhou Zhiruo's palm power. It was as if two martial art masters joined hands to attack him. Although his Jiu Yang Shen Gong protecting his body was profound, it was simply too much for him to bear. Much less, the power of Zhou Zhiruo's palms seized the opportunity to burst in when his defense line was wide open; right when his previous strength was pulled back and before the new strength was generated.

This technique was actually Emei Pai's specialty. In the past, Miejue Shitai had used it to strike him until he spurted blood and fell down to the ground. It was just that in the past, he was completely ignorant on how to withstand the attack. This time however, he misread Zhou Zhiruo's intentions and thus had fallen under the deceit.

Zhang Wuji was thrown backwards. His vision blackened and he spurted a mouthful of blood.

As Zhou Zhiruo's sneak attack succeeded, her left hand followed with five fingers aimed at the pit of his stomach. Zhang Wuji was heavily injured, but he had not lost consciousness. Seeing the claw was about to rip his throat and chest open, he strained himself to inch backward some more. 'Rip!' Zhou Zhiruo's claw scratched the front part of his clothes open, revealing Zhang Wuji's bare chest. Zhou Zhiruo's right hand claw swiftly followed.

At this moment, Yu Lianzhou's acupoint was sealed by her kick so he was unable to move. Yin Liting was some distance away so even though he pounced forward, he would be too late to save him. It looked like Zhang Wuji would not be able to escape this calamity.

As she was glancing down, Zhou Zhiruo suddenly saw a deep scar on his chest. It was the scar when she stabbed him with the Yitian Sword at the Brightness Peak. Her five fingers were less than half a foot from his chest, but mixed emotions suddenly surged up in her breast. Her eyes turned red and her claw stopped midair.

While she was hesitating, Wei Yixiao, Yin Liting, Yang Xiao, and Fan Yao, four people had already arrived. Wei Yixiao flew and blocked in front on Zhang Wuji. Yang and Fan, two people launched a converging attack from left and right. Yin Liting quickly grabbed Zhang Wuji and took him away.

The crowd around the field was thrown into chaos. Emei Pai disciples and Shaolin monks shouted and grabbing their weapons, and rushed into the arena. Yang Xiao and Fan Yao only fought Zhou Zhiruo for several stances before they stopped. Wei Yixiao helped up Yu Lianzhou, taking him back to their shelter. Emei Pai and Shaolin Pai also returned to their positions as they saw that the fight had ceased.

Zhao Min was actually also rushing into the arena, but her speed was inferior to that of Wei Yixiao, Yang Xiao, and the others. By the time she was halfway, Zhang Wuji was already carried back. As she saw blood seeping out from his mouth, she was so frightened that her face turned sheet-white.

Forcing a smile, Zhang Wuji said, "I am all right. I only need to circulate my 'chi' for a while."

Everybody helped him to sit in the shelter. At once Zhang Wuji slowly circulated his Jiu Yang Shen Gong to treat his internal injury.

Zhou Zhiruo called out, "Which hero will come up to grant me instruction?" Tightening his belt, Fan Yao went out in big strides.