Chapter - 521 Secret Manual And Military Treatise are Hidden Within (14)

As he spoke, his attention was slightly divided; Zhang Wuji flew in and kicked his left leg. Lu Zhangke staggered. He quickly braced himself and brandished his deer-antler staff, creating a defense so tight that even the wind and the rain would not be able to penetrate.

Zhang Wuji turned his head to see Zhao Min and Zhou Zhiruo; he saw these two women were shaking even more violently. "Min Mei," he asked, "How do you feel?"

"Very bad!" Zhao Min replied, "I feel very cold!"

Zhang Wuji was shocked. He thought for a moment and then understood. When Zhou Zhiruo was hit by the Xuan Ming Shen Zhang, as fierce as the 'yin' and cold energy was, it only attacked her, one person. But now even Zhao Min was feeling cold. He thought it must be because of Zhao Min's good intention that she transmitted her own energy to help Zhou Zhiruo resisting the cold. However, these two women's strengths differed considerably; Zhou Zhiruo's internal energy was also very strange, so strange that instead of helping her, Zhao Min's own energy was depleted.

Zhang Wuji moved his fists furiously, hoping that he would force these two Elders as quickly as possible. But the two Elders kept their distance; they moved to his front and to his back, but did not dare to fight him directly, as their intention was only to prolong the battle.

Zhang Wuji was getting impatient. "Min Mei," he called out, "Lay Miss Zhou on the ground, and do not hold her."

"I … I can't," Zhao Min replied.

"What?" Zhang Wuji was puzzled.

"She … her back … is stuck to my palm," Zhao Min said. Her teeth chattered and her body swayed as if she was going to fall down any minute. Zhang Wuji was even more shocked.

"Zhang Jiaozhu," he heard Lu Zhangke say, "This Miss Zhou is very cruel; she is passing on the cold poison in her body into Junzhu Niangniang that Junzhu Niangniang is almost dead. What do you say we make an agreement?"

"What agreement?" Zhang Wuji asked.

Lu Zhangke said, "We stop fighting. We get the two books from Miss Zhou, you get to save Junzhu Niangniang."

"Humph," Zhang Wuji snorted. He thought, "These Xuan Ming Elders' martial art is already this good; if they also train Zhiruo's sinister martial art and then they do much evil, nobody will be able to control them."

While still thinking, he turned his head to look at Zhao Min again and saw that a shade of greenish blue had already appeared on her jade-like beautiful white cheeks, while her face showed an extreme pain. Zhang Wuji took two steps backward and grabbed her right palm with his left hand. Immediately he transferred his Jiu Yang Shen Qi in steady stream via his palm.

"Attack together from the front!" Lu Zhangke called out. With a staff and a pair of pens, like a flurry of torrential rain the Xuan Ming Elders charged together.

Zhang Wuji was using most of his energy to save Zhao and Zhou, two women; he was unable to move his body, he only had one palm with which to block the enemy's attack, so in an instant he found himself in a very precarious situation.

'Rip', He Biweng's crane-beak pen cut a long slit on the pants on his left leg; blood immediately dripped out of his leg.

At first, Zhao Min was almost frozen stiff by the cold 'yin' chi from Zhou Zhiruo's body; she felt as if her blood was slowly coagulating. As soon as the Jiu Yang Shen Qi flushed in, gradually her body warmed up. But as Zhang Wuji used his other palm to fight Xuan Ming Elders, he was straining just to make ends meet; consequently, his transfer of Jiu Yang Zhen Qi toward Zhao Min weakened. Zhao Min started to feel cold again.

'Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!' Lu Zhangke struck three times with his deer-antler staff, with the tip of the antler aiming toward Zhang Wuji's eyes. Zhang Wuji raised his palm to parry, deflecting the head of the staff away. He Biweng rolled on the ground. The pen in his left hand launched the 'cong xin suo yu' [lit. 'whatever you like' or 'do as you please'] toward Zhang Wuji's waist.

Zhang Wuji was unable to evade; he had no choice but to use the Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi trying to neutralize the pen's strength. But He Biweng's pen carried a tremendous force and Zhang Wuji did not have the confidence that he would be able to neutralize the incoming force. Suddenly a loud 'Dang!' was heard; his waist shook, but he did not feel any pain. Turned out by chance He Biweng's pen hit the Tulong Saber hanging on his waist.

Zhang Wuji did not normally fight his opponent using any weapon. Even battling Du E, three monks, he only used Sheng Huo Ling tablets, which were not real weapons. He had never used a sword or a saber, and thus although the Tulong Saber was hanging on his waist, he had not thought of using it to fight the enemy.

This pen strike by He Biweng awakened him; with a loud shout his left leg kicked, forcing He Biweng to withdraw three steps back. He pulled the Saber out right when the deer-antler staff was stabbing again. Zhang Wuji swept his Tulong Saber. With a light swishing noise the antler from the staff fell down. Lu Zhangke was stunned. "Aiyo!" he cried out.

He Biweng's pair of pens rolled in. Zhang Wuji swept the treasured Saber again. 'Swish, swish!' Two crane-beak pens broke into four pieces. Zhang Wuji turned the Saber around, creating a circle of black light. The Xuan Ming Elders did not dare to get close anymore; finally Zhang Wuji was able to transmit his Jiu Yang Zhen Qi into Zhao Min's body.

With this infusion of full-strength energy, the critical condition of the cold Xuan Ming poison attack on Zhou Zhiruo has finally passed. However, when two different types of energy, yin and yang, intersect inside the body, especially if they were of different strength level, the strong would subdue the weak. After the cold Xuan Ming poison was repelled, Jiu Yang Zhen Qi also offset the internal Jiu Yin energy, which Zhou Zhiruo trained for.

After Zhou Zhiruo acquired the Jiu Yin Zhen Jing [Nine Yin Manual] hidden inside the Yitian Sword, she only trained surreptitiously in the night because she was afraid Xie Xun and Zhang Wuji might find out. But time was running out. Since she was unable to build a strong foundation by training the manual step-by-step, her internal energy cultivation was not too deep. Actually, she only trained the lower and easier-to-train sinister martial art from the Manual. When she was hit by the Xuan Ming Shen Zhang, she was thinking of transmitting the cold 'yin' chi to Zhao Min. When Zhang Wuji interfered, she only felt her entire body was enveloped with a warm and cozy feeling. As she felt the incoming energy grow, she wanted to take her body out of Zhao Min's palm; unexpectedly, as she struggled, she felt as if a whiff of very strong sucking force was holding her so that she was not able to escape. Before, she was sucking Zhao Min's palm with her back; now, her back was stuck on Zhao Min's palm. It was because of the difference in internal energy strengths. Zhou Zhiruo could not help but feel utterly shocked.

As Zhang Wuji was driving the cold poison out, he felt his Jiu Yang Zhen Qi was flowing out, while from Zhao Min's palm continuously came an opposing cold chi. He thought the cold poison of Xuan Ming Shen Zhang had not been completely neutralized, so he kept increasing his power. He did not know that with each part of Jiu Yang Zhen Qi he sent out, he neutralized one part of the Jiu Yin Zhen Qi Zhou Zhiruo had painstakingly cultivated.