Hu Po Counters Yu Ye, Zhong Ning Counters Hei Ying
There are a hundred warriors of the imperial court ranked on Liu Shan’s Elites Rankings. The twenty-first to one-hundred ranks are conferred Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding ranks, while the top twenty are different. Some in the pugilistic world jokingly call them seven, six, four, three, one brigade.
The top three on the rankings are referred to as The Ultimate Three.
The three of them possess profound martial arts skills and are in no respect inferior to the top masters of the martial world. It’s rare for them to fight, but when they do, they cause the world to tremble. Yan Shisan was once one of them. That’s why the three of them are usually delegated to posts far away where they are responsible for subduing foreign enemies.
The seventeen warriors ranked after the ultimate three are known as the Seventeen Hidden Dragons.
Among the seventeen of them however, are clear distinctions. Those distinctions being: last-seven, middle-six, top-four.
The skill level in each of those ranks is different. Long Zaitian is ranked fifteenth in the Seventeen Hidden Dragons and therefore belongs in the last-seven, and is one of the relatively weaker members.
Despite being one of the Seventeen Hidden Dragons, his skills are far inferior to those ranked above him.
However, all twenty of them serve the imperial court. Therefore, the nickname seven, six, four, three, one clown brigade isn’t without reason.
The ultimate three are given aliases based on sacred animals so they’re like sacred animals that defend the nation. As long as they’re around, the imperial court shall know peace.
Flying Fish, Qing Lin and Ying Long are the same. The ultimate three that came after were also the same.
The top four whom are closest to the ultimate three are also conferred aliases that are close to them.
Hu Po’s name contains the “tiger” character within “Hu”. That goes to show that the emperor holds his martial skills in high regard.
Nan Junfei was aware his opponent was no pushover. He held his breath and then whipped his sleeves out creating a whirlwind of snowflakes that picked up over ten little stones that packed full of power. They were hidden within the snow whirlwind and hard to notice.
This Flying Sands and Stones technique was a top-tier hidden-weapon technique that’s hard to master. However, it wasn’t difficult for Nan Junfei who was a famous skilled-master. The difficult part was forming the attack when waving his hand as it needed to look natural and not give the enemy time to defend. He took advantage of the snowflakes and night sky as cover to bring out the essence of hidden-weapons. That was where his effort was focused.
“Insignificant fluffy tricks.”
Ho Po however, didn’t think anything of him. Without even looking, he stepped forth. A single step from him was enough turn the atmosphere around unnatural. Nan Junfei could seemingly see the qi around him suddenly flow erratically. He didn’t know what sort of godly strength was hiding within. One misstep would mean death.
It appeared as though an invisible layer of qi flowed erratically around him, pushing the snowflakes around away. However, the stones that contained Nan Junfei’s internal strength could still pierce through the layer of flowing qi and accurately hit him on his body.
Nan Junfei was all giddy to himself: Your fault for acting up. You can’t blame me for the consequences!
He then shouted: “Die, scoundrel!” With that, he rushed him with a palm strike.
However, Hu Po’s body only stopped for a second when the stones hit him. His clothes absorbed the force of the stones so taking one step back was sufficient to dissolve their force. He got his clothes to stand straight up again, thereby bouncing them back at him. The sound of the stones flying through the air was two-times louder than when they flew at him.
Being a master at hidden-weapons, Nan Junfei naturally knew how to defend against hidden-weapons as well as strike with them. However, it’s rare to see someone do it in an incredible manner as Hu Po just did. Nan Junfei didn’t panic as he watched the stones fly back at him. He was skilled at maintaining his composure. He stopped his feet and caught the stones with his hands skilfully.
“You want to kill me with that child’s play level of skill?”
By the time he heard that sentence and looked at Hu Po again, he was already up in his face. While Nan Junfei was catching the stones, he moved to stand within three-feet of him. He wore a cold expression as he raised up one hand and slammed it on Nan Junfei’s chest.
The punch came from Hu Po’s self-created “Ten Tiger Penetration Techniques”. The punch was heavy, sending Nan Junfei flying where he then spat a mouthful of blood like cotton being tossed into the winds.
His blood landed on the snow creating a trail of blood in the snow.
“D-Damn you, Hu Po.”
Nan Junfei struggled to sit up. He then used “Qi Release Aspiration Manual” and slowly spat out several mouthfuls of foul qi. He acted like he was severely wounded, but in reality, he was still fully capable of fighting. The founding emperor’s Qi Release Aspiration Manual truly was a miraculous healing cultivation art. It was particularly effective for battle wounds. The ability to heal internal injuries with it was mind-blowing. He saved his true power, waiting for Hu Po to let his guard down to launch a counterattack.
Hu Po walked over slowly, watching Nan Junfei seated on the ground with his calm gaze.
He suddenly launched a punch like flash of thunder. He punched mercilessly with no care for whether his opponent was wounded or not.
Nan Junfei’s plans were far off from what he imagined they would be like. As a matter of fact, he revealed his card and had no choice but to evade. The brick where he was seated just a moment ago had been reduced to dust by Hu Po’s extremely powerful internal energy. In his moment of shock, the sound of a fist punching through the air swung toward his head. Hu Po hunted him down, using “Ten Tiger Penetration Techniques” again on him.
Nan Junfei exclaimed in his mind: Fucking nutcase! Did I smash your ancestors’ tombs or something for you to be so vicious?!
Hu Po threw three consecutive punches and then threw a kick. Nan Junfei rolled like a gourd on the ground back and forth. If he didn’t have good qinggong, Hu Po would’ve dealt him the fatal blow already.
Nan Junfei was furious. He wasn’t a magnanimous or tolerant man. Being a eunuch for so many years made him frighteningly paranoid. His attempt to lure his opponent just now failed. Instead, he convinced himself he was injured. Yet when he was genuinely injured, his opponent hunted him down mercilessly. He cussed: “Fuck you, Hu Po, you bastard! You and I have no deep grudge! Chasing me down like this… are you ignoring the rules of the pugilistic world now too?”
After Hu Po heard him, he asked: “No grudge?”
A dark shadow appeared on his face. His voice got deeper as he rhetorically asked: “Did you say we have no grudges?”
Hu Po’s anger appeared to increase. He put more force into his punches and punched quicker, leaving Nan Junfei with no room to catch his breath.
“Being a member of his majesty’s security detail and yet not being able to keep him safe is the greatest humiliation in my life. Death is the only way the grudge can be settled!”
Nan Junfei finally realised why the emperor had him be his bodyguard for so many years and closer to him than anyone. He wasn’t just loyal, he was basically a mad dog!
Nan Junfei wasn’t as skilled as him to begin with compounded with the wound the emperor gave him, the more he fought him the more he started slipping. He was forced to focus on defence.
Hu Po didn’t give him a chance to drag the fight out. His Ten Tiger Penetration Techniques could be used with punches, palm strikes and even hard-weapons. It wasn’t restricted. He suddenly swung his hand using a knife-hand technique, crushing Nan Junfei’s guard.
Hu Po’s voice exuded his absolute confidence as he said: “If you have people with you, call them out, or else you won’t even get to see them one last time.” He kicked him on his chest like a straight stab with a spear, smashing Nan Junfei’s organs and sending him flying.
The kick was so powerful it would’ve caused an internal injury so severe Nan Junfei wouldn’t be able to continue fighting. Fortunately for him, he was using Qi Release Aspiration Manual.
He held in his last breath and forcefully focused on just the healing technique. However, he couldn’t even recover to fifty-percent. He lowered his head and bent his torso over. He watched Hu Po come closer. The violence in his chest surged up. He clenched his teeth and struck Hu Po right on his chest with two palms.
“Aaaarrrgggghh!”
He shouted as he hit him. However, it felt like Hu Po’s chest was an iron wall that his palms couldn’t penetrate.
It was a clear sign his opponents internal strength cultivation was vastly superior to his own. Nan Junfei’s palm strikes were ineffective.
Hu Po didn’t blink. He just frowned with boredom and mocked: “That’s it?”
He then extended one palm, performed a circular motion with the arm and with one loud thud, Nan Jufei flew off some distance away.
Nan Junfei only remembered a rumour once he was in the air.
All of the first-four members of the Seventeen Hidden Dragons had rumours of being monsters.
But by the time he recalled it, it was already too late.
Nan Junfei knew that he couldn’t fall or he’d die for sure. He forced himself to stay on his feet. But by the time he realised it, Hu Po had started his onslaught again!
Nan Junfei continued stepping backwards while exclaiming to himself: I sent the signal a while ago, why haven’t my reinforcements arrived yet? What the hell are Chen Yun and the rest doing?!!
Nan Junfei was said to be an expert in qinggong and hidden-weapons in this lifetime, but it was all pointless here. In terms of qinggong, he might be a little faster than Hu Po, but that was useless in close-quarters combat. It was only good when he was fleeing. He came here to complete his mission. What the hell would running away do?!
Now for hidden-weapons. That was even more bullshit. Every hidden-weapon user has his own weapons. Where the hell was he going to get his own specialised weapons from inside the palace?!
Nan Junfei had no counters for Hu Po’s onslaught. All he could do was cuss to himself: Those punks from the Black Winds Thirteen Wings got an order from a superior and yet they’re not moving. Where have they gone off too?! If I manage to escape alive, I’ll skin them when I see those bastards!
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“Hey, if we keep fighting, he’s going to be left with just his skeleton. Aren’t you guys going to help him?”
I looked at the guy called Chen Yun in front of me and then the ten guys in black behind him. They seemed to all be from the Black Winds Thirteen Wings but also appeared to be a bit like other assassins from the League of Assassins. They were trapped by me at the laundry. It was a really pitiful sight to see them want to leave but be unable to.
However, Chen Yun was the most pitiful one. I had already stripped him completely. Yes, completely.
In a bored tone, I said: “Didn’t I tell you? Strip down and put on the maids uniforms, and I’ll spare you lot.”
As soon as I was done speaking, he got angry again: “We’d rather die than wear that. As if assassins would submit.”
“Let’s fight then.”
But then they didn’t dare to come at me when I said that. He took several steps back and shouted at his subordinates: “What are you guys standing there for, huh?! You all just going to watch me get ridiculed?!”
One of his subordinates replied: “B-But he’s creepy-strong!”
Pfft! People actually use that adjective that way now?!
All I did was strip Chen Yun to teach him a lesson and trap you guys here.
Chen Yun exclaimed: “We’ve been called for. Get him! You want to die?!”
He then kicked one of his subordinates in the ass to push him over to me.
Hey, hey… General Butt-naked, can you quit being so arrogant? You think you hot? You just flaunted everything raising your leg up for that kick.
His subordinate showed off and then bounced over to slash at me, but the single inch layer of qi I enveloped my body with deflected it. I raised my hand up in a bored fashion and gently pat him on the back of his neck. When I made contact, it sounded like a leather ball getting slammed onto the ground.
“Hey, who else wants some?”
The ten of them wore their terror in their eyes.
Chen Yun thundered: “Where the hell did this creep come from?! Who are you exactly?!”
I laughed and responded: “Hmph, this old man is Zhong Ning!”
But right after I said that, a dignified and beautiful voice came from in the distance: “Zhong Ning, you scoundrel! So you were here, were you?!”
I felt a chill run up my spine. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Why did she come back?!
Glossary
*When MFZ talks about the objective, creepy here is the creepy twisted-creepy like you would use for a pedo (turn yourself in if you’re reading this by the way). Under other circumstances, I would’ve translated it as “indescribably strong”, but for the joke’s sake, I tried.
**I was misinformed about “Majesty” vs “Highness” so I’ve got them the wrong way around this entire time. Again, please, please, please speak up if you find a mistake. I don’t read every forum and bulletin board, so if it’s wrong and bothers you, speak up or I’ll make the same mistake over and over, and you’ll be pissed over and over. When providing suggestions, feedback or questions that need my response, respond directly to a comment of mine or it might get lost in the 100+ daily email notifications I get (you can tell I didn’t see it if I don’t respond). I honestly don’t have time to be reading every bulletin board/forum out there. I’m going to change them around from now.
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