That moment, everybody on the peak looked like a statue; nobody dared to neither move nor make any noise. Suddenly Zhou Dian laughed and strode forward.
Yang Xiao was startled. "Dian Xiong," he shouted, "Don't be reckless."
Zhou Dian ignored him; he walked toward the three Shaolin monks and with a smiling face said, "Three great monks, do you eat dog meat?" Reaching into his pocket, he produced a boiled dog leg and waved it in front of Du E's face.
These past two days, Shaolin Temple only served vegetarian dishes to its guests. Zhou Dian loved to drink wine and eat meat; how could he stand eating green vegetables and tofu every day? He went out the previous night to steal a dog and cooked it. After eating his fill, he still had a dog leg, which in this critical moment he used to disturb the Shaolin three monks' concentration.
As soon as they saw it, Yang Xiao and the others were delighted; they thought, "Zhou Dian usually acts like a lunatic, but this time his move is brilliant." They knew that in an internal energy battle, the key was the combatant's concentration. As Zhou Dian stepped forward to create trouble, even if only one of the monks got angry, his concentration might be broken and Zhang Wuji would be victorious.
The three monks turned a blind eye to him; they completely ignored Zhou Dian. Zhou Dian took the dog leg to his open mouth and took a bite. "Smells good, tastes good!" he said, "Three great monks, why don't you take a bite?" Seeing the monks did not even blink, he brought the dog leg closer to Du E's mouth.
As he was about to shove the dog leg into Du E's mouth, several monks watching from the side shouted, "Baldy Dian, back off quickly!"
As soon as the dog leg touched Du E's lips, suddenly Zhou Dian's arm shook, half of his body turned numb. 'Bang!' the dog leg fell to the ground.
Turned out at this moment Du E's entire body was covered with his internal energy that he was in the 'fly cannot penetrate' realm. As soon as his four limbs and hundreds of bones met with an external force, the force would bounce back.
"Aiyo! Aiyo! Terrible, terrible!" Zhou Dian cried out, "You don't want to eat my dog meat, that's all right. Why did you have to snap it out to the ground? Now it is dirty and wasted. I want compensation, I want compensation!" His hands and feet were flailing all over the place; he raised a clamor.
Unexpectedly, the three monks' concentration was so deep that they were not disturbed by any external demonic influence. Zhou Dian flipped his right hand and fished a short blade from his bosom. "Since you don't appreciate my kindness by eating my dog leg, Laozi [old man – referring to self] will risk everything to fight you." His blade slashed his own face that immediately he was dripping with blood.
The crowd of heroes shouted in shock. Zhou Dian used the short blade to make another slash. His face was covered with blood; he looked terrifyingly fearsome. Regardless of who saw this kind of scene, their hearts would be shocked and disturbed. But in their deep concentration, the Shaolin three monks' eyes, ears, nose and tongue seemed to be closed to the world outside. Not only they did not see the scene Zhou Dian was making, they even seemed unaware of his presence, which was very closed to their bodies.
"Good monk," Zhou Dian loudly called out, "If you don't compensate my dog leg, I'll die in front of you!" Lifting his short blade, he thrust it into his own heart. Because his Cult Leader was in such a dire situation, he was determined to kill himself to disturb the concentration of the three monks.
Suddenly a yellow shadow flashed by; someone flew in and snatched the short blade away from his hand. The yellow shadow then continued sideways, with five fingers striking toward the top of Zhou Zhiruo's head. The technique used was exactly the same as the one Song Qingshu used to kill the Beggar Clan's elders. Zhou Zhiruo's five fingers were less than a foot away from Xie Xun's head, but the enemy's movement was simply too fast; she had no alternative but to turn her hand over to block this attack.
Zhang Wuji's internal energy level was very strong; it was not inferior to the combined energy of the three monks. However, in terms of 'forgetting everything', his meditation skill fell short. He could not reach the stage of 'looking without seeing, hearing without listening' of the outside influence. Seeing that Zhou Zhiruo's hand was threatening Xie Xun, his mind was immediately thrown into confusion. He also saw Zhou Dian stepping forward to create trouble, and then drawing his blade to commit suicide. He saw everything clearly and was even more anxious.
Currently, his internal breathing was boiling, he was about to spurt out some blood and perish. To suddenly see that woman in yellow gown leaping forward into the circle, snatching the short blade from Zhou Dian's hand, and attacking Zhou Zhiruo, Zhang Wuji knew that Xie Xun was out of danger. His heart was delighted and his internal energy was growing so that he was able to neutralize the three monks' internal energy attacks one by one. As a result, now the four of them were back into the stalemate situation.
Although Du E and the others were not affected by outside disturbance, they were able to differentiate the subtle decrease and increase of either side's strength. They realized the sudden increase of the opponent force, but the force did not change from defensive to offensive; which was precisely the best opportunity to withdraw without endangering either side. The three monks' minds were interlinked; they concurrently reduced their own power. Zhang Wuji followed by reducing his own power one notch. The three monks then reduced their power another notch. By 'you reduce one notch, I reduce one notch', in a short time both sides had withdrew their power completely.
Four men laughed together and stood up at the same time. Zhang Wuji cupped his hands and bowed low. Du E, Du Jie and Du Nan also clasped their palms to return the propriety. Almost together they said, "My utmost admiration!"
Zhang Wuji turned his head and saw that lady in yellow had already fought Zhou Zhiruo. The lady in yellow was barehanded, while Zhou Zhiruo still had the whip in her right hand and the dagger in her left, yet the lady in yellow did not show the least sign of defeat. The lady in yellow's martial art seemed to have the same source as Zhou Zhiruo's. They both moved swiftly with seemingly infinite variations, yet her hands and feet looked upright without any sign of demonical influence. If Zhou Zhiruo moved like a ghost, then the lady in yellow moved like an immortal.
Zhang Wuji took a second look and knew that the lady in yellow would certainly win without any chance of defeat, and that his Yifu was completely out of danger. But he had a feeling that the lady in yellow was tantalizing Zhou Zhiruo; it seemed like she was trying to find out the ins and outs of Zhou Zhiruo's martial art. She would have had flattened Zhou Zhiruo early on if she took the fight seriously.
"Shanzai, shanzai!" Du E said, "Zhang Jiaozhu, although you cannot defeat us three brothers, we three brothers also cannot defeat you. Xie Juzhi [warrior Xie], you are free to go!" Having said that, he stepped forward and unsealed Xie Xun's acupoints, while saying, "Xie Juzhi, lay down your saber and follow the teachings of Buddha. The gateway to our Buddha is wide open, there is no one in this world who cannot be brought to cross over. You and I have spent many days together on this peak. That is also destiny."