Book 2: The Golden Lock of the Eight Gates

Chapter 30: Silver Jiangs.h.i.+ Hidden in the Earth

“Dang, dang, dang………………………………………..”

In the blink of an eye, the five Copper Jiangs.h.i.+ were forced back by the force of the Sword s.h.i.+eld; one of them even lost a hand.

Energy Swords couldn’t hurt Copper Jiangs.h.i.+. At least at the present stage of Miao Xianren’s practice, the Energy Swords shooting from his pressure points weren’t able to hurt the Copper Jiangs.h.i.+ yet. He could only use the Sword s.h.i.+eld to kill them.

Miao Xianren, though evil, was a good swordsman. The Energy Swords together with the Sword s.h.i.+eld kept the Copper Jiangs.h.i.+ at bay. The surrounding vegetation was destroyed the flurry of slashes.  Bits of gra.s.s and leaves rained on the battlefield.

The ground where the Sword s.h.i.+eld had reached became barren. The Copper Jiangs.h.i.+ continued to retreat from Miao Xianren as he easily waved his sword about.

Miao Xianren had a strange smile in his eyes while fighting the jiangs.h.i.+. It was true, just like Zhong Shan had said, that the black robed man couldn’t move. Couldn’t move? Haha.

“Dang~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

The five Copper Jiangs.h.i.+ were tossed aside by his next strike.

Miao Xianren eyed the heart in the black robed man’s hand greedily.  With a wave of his sword, hundreds of Energy Swords rushed towards the black robed man.

The black robed man watched them approach with a cold eye. Suddenly, two Copper Jiangs.h.i.+ had moved right in front of him.

“Dang, dang, dang……………………………….”

The two jiangs.h.i.+ blocked most of the Energy Swords. The black robed man widened his eyes and the rest of the jiangs.h.i.+, except two, rushed towards Miao Xianren. One of the two rushed towards Zhong Shan who was behind a boulder. And the other one moved besides the black robed man to protect him.

Miao Xianren grew even more excited when he saw all the jiangs.h.i.+ dash towards him. This was exactly what he wanted to happen. Five Copper Jiangs.h.i.+ couldn’t handle Miao Xianren. Now there were 22 coming at him. The jiangs.h.i.+ might not be as strong as Miao Xianren, but they had extremely solid bodies. Miao Xianren could only slice a hand off of one jiangs.h.i.+, could he resist these many jiangs.h.i.+?

The situation seemed quite difficult now. Yet, to Miao Xianren, it wasn’t difficult at all. He could fly on his sword, but those jiangs.h.i.+ couldn’t.

However, Miao Xianren didn’t choose to flee. An sinister smile was beginning to form at the edge of his lips. He waved his long sword to face the Copper Jiangs.h.i.+.

“Dang, dang, dang……………………………………..”

The continuous sounds of jiangs.h.i.+ colliding with the Sword s.h.i.+eld rang out. Miao Xianren continued to fight with a great amount of killing intent in his eyes.  The cruel smile began to grow across his face.

But, he seemed to be being forced back ever so slowly.

Both Zhong Shan and the black robed man knew that Miao Xianren was trying to trick the jiangs.h.i.+ to move away from the black robed man.

Zhong Shan had speedily moved away when the jiangs.h.i.+ charged at him. It wasn’t his fight. It was enough for him to have caused the fight.

Zhong Shan’s withdrawal had also caught the attention of the black robed man. The man had tightened his frown, seeing the speed of Zhong Shan’s retreat. It was too fast, much faster than last time. It was so fast that even the jiangs.h.i.+ couldn’t catch up with him?

However, Miao Xianren attracted the black robed man’s attention again. After leading the jiangs.h.i.+ further away, he stopped bothering with them. He threw his long sword into the air, jumped onto it, and flew directly at the black robed man.

He flew right in front of the black robed man shortly.

The black robed man and Zhong Shan frowned in unison. Zhong Shan didn’t want Miao Xianren to get the upper hand too soon.

“Huo, huo, huo………………”

Hundreds Energy Swords flew at the black robed man.  A great number of splendorous red flashes erupted just like the firing of hundreds of bazooka that Zhong Shan had seen on TV when he was young.

There was only one Copper Jiangs.h.i.+ at the black robed man’s side. It seemed that he wouldn’t be able to handle these many Energy Swords all at the same time. Was he able to move?

If the black robed man couldn’t move, then Miao Xianren would win. But if he could move, then those Energy Swords could serve as test to see just how powerful the black robed man is.

The black robed man squinted as he faced the barrage of Energy Swords, but there was not a trace of fear. Miao Xianren’s heart skipped a beat seeing the man’s reaction.

“Wong~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

Something like an energy s.h.i.+eld suddenly rose from under the seat of the black robed man. It was a protective s.h.i.+eld for the altar.

There were two layers of the s.h.i.+eld. One was right next to the black robed man, the other was a ten-meter diameter half sphere.

“Hong, hong, hong~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

Hundreds of Energy Swords crashed loudly into the s.h.i.+eld leaving nothing but a small ripple.

Miao Xianren didn’t seem concerned, rather he found the situation rather exhilarating. He flew even closer, landed, and wielded his sword in hand. The three hundred meters long Sword s.h.i.+eld appeared again and began madly slas.h.i.+ng into the energy s.h.i.+eld.

“Hong, hong, hong.”

It only took three heavy blows before the outer s.h.i.+eld abruptly lifted, dissolving into a column of blue smoke. At that moment, the Copper Jiangs.h.i.+ at the black robed man’s side hurriedly rushed forward.

Miao Xianren brutally chopped at the jiangs.h.i.+.

“Die~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

A frenzied look could be seen in Miao Xianren’s blood thirsty eyes.

“Hong~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

With a powerful slash, the sword embedded into the jiangs.h.i.+’s neck. Miao Xianren was only able to cut half way through the neck due to its strong body.

The black robed man finally moved. His eyes turned cold, his right hand, which was making the lotus sign earlier, turned black instantly, and struck with his palm towards Miao Xianren.

Miao Xianren pulled his sword out, dropping the jiangs.h.i.+. As the jiangs.h.i.+ fell, he saw a black palm print coming from behind the jiangs.h.i.+.

It was the same as the Energy Sword, a ma.s.s of energy released from his palm rushed towards Miao Xianren.

In a rush, Miao Xianren could only block it with the back of his sword.

“Dang~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ “

Miao Xianren was forced back away about 10 meters. The black palm abruptly dissipated.

Miao Xianten backed away yet his expression was still that of glee. Since he had detected the strength of the black robed man with this palm attack.

Miao Xianren, with his long sword, charged at the black robed man again, all the while releasing a large amount of the Hongluan Mist from his body. The mist almost submerged the black robed man.

The mist had reached the black robed man ahead of Miao Xianren.

The energy s.h.i.+eld couldn’t stop the Hongluan Mist.

But, there was another thing which could block the mist. It was a black mist flowing from the heart in the man’s hand. The ghastly black mist could keep the Hongluan Mist away?

Zhong Shan frowned in surprise. Though Miao Xianren’s Hongluan Mist wasn’t perfect, there shouldn’t be anything that could block it. What was that black mist exactly?

Miao Xianren also knew the black mist was something unusual. However, his desire to get the complete Hongluan Manual from Zhong Shan was further confirmed. It also enhanced his desire for that heart in the black robed man’s hand. What kind of treasure could even block the Hongluan Mist?

“Hong~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

He slashed at the inner energy s.h.i.+eld with full force. Breaking the s.h.i.+eld instantly into a column of smoke like the last one. Now, the black robed man faced Miao Xainren by himself.

Miao Xianren moved his sword at the black robed man.

From the palm strike earlier, Miao Xianren had found out that the man’s strength was much less than his. The black robed man had to die, then the heart would be Miao Xianren’s.

Zhong Shan was watching on a faraway mountain top anxiously. Yet to his amazement, he found the black robed man seemed to only find the entire situation annoying.

“Hong~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

Amidst a loud noise, Miao Xianren flew backwards with widened eyes. A mouthful of blood gushed from his mouth. He was dumbfounded.

Miao Xianren was. .h.i.t by a sudden palm strike.

The instant when Miao Xianren slashed at the black robed man, a white silhouette appeared in front of him out of nowhere. It was a man wrapped around inside white cloth.

Where did he come from?

While Zhong Shan was puzzling over the sudden change of events, there were now two white silhouettes floating up from the altar under the black robed man. Floating? It was floating. There didn’t seem to be any disturbance to the ground below. It was like a shadow. No, actually, it was the Earth Hiding Technique.

Those silhouettes could do Earth Hiding?

“Silver Jiangs.h.i.+?” Miao Xianren abruptly called out in a low voice while wiping out the blood from his mouth.

“Hu~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

A Silver Jiangs.h.i.+, moving like a ghost, suddenly appeared in front of Miao Xianren and with a turn of the hand, struck at him with its palm again.