Li Mochou and Wu Santong were still trading blows.
The force of the One Yang Finger pierced through the air again and again.
The courtyard walls were already riddled with small holes.
Li Mochou shifted her footing swiftly, her apricot-yellow Daoist robe swaying in the wind.
The horsetail whisk in her hand targeted Wu Santong's wrists exclusively.
Just as Wu Santong was about to thrust a finger forward, the silver strands coiled toward him.
The two were evenly matched, their exchanges growing faster and faster.
At this moment, the sound of breaking air suddenly rang out from beyond the courtyard wall.
A black figure leaped over the high wall of Lu Manor and landed in the courtyard with a heavy thud.
The newcomer was a blind old man. His hair and beard were white as frost, his weathered face carved with deep, fierce lines, and his eyes completely dead white.
Yet his back was ramrod straight, and his right hand held a jet-black, bowl-thick iron staff upside down.
Tucked beneath his left armpit was a little beggar with snot and tears smeared across his face.
His feet had barely touched the ground.
The little beggar slithered down to the floor, leaned against a rockery beside him, and began vomiting violently:
"Blergh... Old Grandpa... we—we're here! This is the place!"
The old blind man's ears twitched slightly.
The clashing of weapons, the flutter of robes, the placement of footsteps—he took it all in through sound alone.
He tapped his iron staff against the blue bricks with a loud clang, sending sparks flying:
"Child, hurry and find a safe corner to hide far away!"
With that, he swung the iron staff—weighing a good hundred-plus jin—and lunged straight into the fight with a fierce gust of wind.
By the corner near the moon gate, Aniu's eyes bulged wide as he waved his arms frantically, shouting at the top of his lungs:
"Little Shitou, we're over here! Hurry!"
Hearing the familiar voice, Little Shitou scrambled over to the corner on all fours.
Seeing Yang Guo's pale face and blackened hand, he burst into tears on the spot:
"Yang Guo! How did you get pickled like a salted vegetable?!"
Suppressing the poison, Yang Guo forced open his heavy eyelids and rolled his eyes:
"Little Shitou, after all that time, you only brought back one helper?"
Wiping his nose, Little Shitou said aggrievedly:
"Easy for you to talk!"
"I ran through all the biggest taverns in the city."
"Those jianghu wanderers with sabers and swords at their waists talk big like nobody's business, slapping tables loud enough to shake the heavens while drinking."
"Every one of them claimed to be the Thirteen Sabers of Mobei, the Little Mengchang of Jiangnan, or the Divine Iron Arm..."
"But the moment they heard the Scarlet Maiden Li Mochou had come to Jiaxing—good lord, within three steps, there wasn't a single person left breathing on the entire floor!"
"Some didn't even pay for their drinks, jumping straight out of the second-floor window to run!"
"There was even a hammer-wielder who called himself 'Invincible in Jiaxing.' He insisted his mother was in premature labor and bolted faster than a wild rabbit!"
Yang Guo's mouth twitched:
"Get to the point."
Little Shitou wiped the cold sweat from his forehead:
"They all ran off without paying! The tavern manager grabbed me by the collar, insisting I scared off all his customers, and threatened to break my legs to pay for the booze!"
"Where was I supposed to get the money?"
"Just as I was about to get beaten, this old blind grandpa cracked a table with one palm slam, pulled out some silver, and threw it to the manager."
"After I explained what was happening, he picked me up without a word, told me to show the way, and flew all the way over across the rooftops!"
Yang Guo raised his eyes toward the tall figure swinging the iron staff in the middle of the courtyard.
A strange emotion suddenly surged in his heart.
"The heroic reputation of the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan really isn't just for show. When things happen, they really step up."
The eldest of the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan, the Flying Bat—Ke Zhen'e.
His fame was truly legendary, his temper was truly terrible, and his bones were truly stubborn as steel.
The jianghu was full of shrewd people. When disaster struck, even the Four Greats under Heaven would weigh whether it was worth the trouble or dignified enough.
Except for the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan, those straightforward hotheads.
They didn't care whether the opponent was the Twin Black Demons or Ouyang Feng, so long as someone crossed them or dared to slaughter the innocent.
They would grab their weapons and aim straight for the enemy's head!
Whether they could win or not was never in their consideration.
Seeing injustice and roaring out a challenge was their rule for life.
Watching the black iron staff flying back and forth in the yard, Yang Guo sighed inwardly:
"No wonder after decades, only one of the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan is left alive."
"And yet so many people in the jianghu are genuinely convinced, calling him Hero Ke."
Clang!
A shower of dazzling sparks exploded in the center of the yard.
Ke Zhen'e's sound positioning was remarkably sharp. The moment Li Mochou's whisk swept out, he pushed his iron staff horizontally, forcibly blocking the white strands.
Wu Santong thrust a finger toward Li Mochou's ribs from the flank.
Li Mochou bounced backward using the force.
Yet the subtle sound of her robes rustling in the night breeze was caught instantly by Ke Zhen'e.
With a heavy whoosh, the black iron staff swept toward her lower body with thunderous force.
The three of them tangled together, stone chips flying everywhere.
However, no matter how sharp his hearing, the gap in age and internal energy remained insurmountable.
After exchanging several moves with Li Mochou, Ke Zhen'e knew he was far from her match, sighing inwardly:
"This demoness's martial arts are actually on par with Mei Chaofeng's back in the day!"
A hint of impatience flashed in Li Mochou's eyes. Releasing internal power from her palm, she struck the tip of the iron staff with a surge of invisible force.
Ke Zhen'e felt severe pain in the webs of both hands, and his entire forearms went numb in an instant.
The next instant, the tail of the horsetail whisk whipped his shoulder guard like an iron whip.
Bang!
Ke Zhen'e, along with his staff, was sent flying sideways.
As luck would have it, he slammed down right in front of Yang Guo and the others.
Yang Guo froze in place. The bit of heroic spirit that had been brewing in his mind went puff and vanished completely.
One second ago, he was marveling at how "the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan's heroic spirit reaches the clouds."
The next second, Hero Ke was swatted right back and slammed down before his eyes.
Looking at Ke Zhen'e panting on the ground, Yang Guo silently added the second half of the thought:
"Hero Ke's heroism stat is definitely maxed out, but his combat power is seriously weak!"
"He's literally 'all talk, no game'—his entrance is his peak, and his peak means he's done!"
Scared out of their wits, Aniu and Little Shitou scrambled over to help him up:
"Old Grandpa, are you alright?"
Ke Zhen'e wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and stood up abruptly, leaning on his iron staff:
"Life and death mean nothing to me—if you don't accept it, we fight! This old man is fine!"
Roaring in fury, he charged back into the fight.
Li Mochou observed him with cold eyes as she fought, asking:
"Are you Flying Bat Ke Zhen'e?"
Ke Zhen'e slammed his iron staff on the ground, his voice like thunder:
"It is indeed your Grandpa Ke!"
Li Mochou sneered:
"I have no grievance or enmity with Hero Ke. Why must you wade into these muddy waters today?"
Ke Zhen'e's hair and beard bristled as he spat curses:
"The people in this manor have no grievance or enmity with you either! Why must you demoness be so relentlessly aggressive?"
"The affairs of the world concern all people of the world! As long as this old man has breath left, I won't allow you to slaughter the innocent!"
Li Mochou's eye twitched, her mind racing.
She knew that behind Ke Zhen'e stood Guo Jing and Huang Rong.
With Ke Zhen'e here, who knew if Guo Jing and his wife were nearby?
If she actually killed Ke Zhen'e here...
The old grudge with the Lu family today would quickly turn into another massive headache.
Li Mochou had no interest in provoking figures like Guo Jing and Huang Rong.
Her gaze lingered on Ke Zhen'e's face for a brief moment, her decision already made.
End it quickly!
Li Mochou's figure suddenly shot up into the air. Infused with true qi, the horsetail whisk in her hand spun wildly.
Three thousand silver strands exploded outward like a sprawling umbrella of churning white light, pressing down like a cloud blotting out the sun and sky.
Wu Santong's line of sight was completely blocked by the white strands.
The sharp whistling of the whisk tearing through the air sounded like tens of thousands of bees buzzing inside the courtyard.
The noise made Ke Zhen'e's ears ring incessantly, instantly blinding his technique of locating enemies by sound.
In that split second, both of them were disoriented.
Behind the giant whisk umbrella, three cold, eerie blue gleams silently pierced through the curtain of wind.
Chi! Chi! Chi!
"Ah—!!"
A miserable shriek rent the night sky.
Unable to dodge in time, Wu Santong took three needles to his right arm, retreating with a scream.
The skin on his right arm quickly turned a dark blue-black.
Ke Zhen'e parried with his staff horizontally based on pure instinct.
Li Mochou delivered a flying kick midair straight to the middle of the iron staff, sending him sliding along the ground three zhang away once more.
Li Mochou pulled back her whisk, her toes lightly touching the roof tiles.
She definitely didn't want to kill Ke Zhen'e.
After all, provoking Guo Jing and Huang Rong was no small trouble.
Rate on N.U.
