Scrap (Part 3)
“Your ego is too big for your body! I won’t spare you even if you beg me!” thundered Squall, charging toward Hong Jiu.
The elder in black transformed his right hand into a claw, and, as expected, it was “Dragon Claw” again. Since Darkcloud perished, it was up to Squall to protect their secret. The less scheming one of the pair didn’t hold back whatsoever in his fit of rage.
Due to the injury at his left shoulder, Hong Jiu couldn’t utilise his left arm optimally, compromising his output. His chest wound rendered him more sluggish. Under those circumstances, all he could manage was swinging Hunt around to avoid getting hit. Unfortunately, Squall’s pressure made evading as about as useful as not evading.
Based on the observation that Darkcloud could perform each strike consecutively without leaving any space in between, he clearly had a better grasp of Dragon Claw’s mental cultivation compared to Squall.
Hong Jiu suddenly moved in the Big Dipper formation and flipped himself aerially whilst swinging his blade in a curving motion while upside down. It might’ve looked as though he was spraying and praying, but he moved with conviction. Most importantly…
“You shameless brat!” Squall’s next attack looked violent and devoid of control.
Thud! Squall held his ground, while Hong Jiu went reeling and rolling across the ground, almost leaving just his blood in the ring.
“Hmph, conniving brat.”
While it appeared to be Squall’s victory, he was actually the one who was played. He planned to start with a constant barrage of attacks to pressure Hong Jiu. Howbeit, Hong Jiu baited him into coming out of the gate with solid blows, which gave Hong Jiu a repellent force to use as a launch pad to create distance. Squall was so prone to Hong Jiu’s provocation because he was furious. Despite the different medium and differences in execution, the positioning and mental cultivation Hong Jiu applied with his finisher was an obvious imitation of “Dragon Fang”. How could he not be mad when someone was able to imitate the technique so closely when he spent decades to become an expert at it?
All that being said, Hong Jiu was still bleeding and light-headed. In fact, his shoulder injury had worsened after being forced to block Squall’s attacks. He lost even more blood after the last blow made him cough up blood.
“Brother Hong, that’s ‘Shrouding the Moon’,” Fang Xiaoyu yelled between his hands.
Hong Jiu recognised the discipline without Fang Xiaoyu’s information. Hero Shenzhou’s “Divine Palms Manual” might’ve had “palms” in the name, but it didn’t encompass only palm techniques. He included punching, clawing and finger techniques, as well. Although Hong Jiu never devoted himself to punching and clawing techniques, he certainly had a better understanding of them than an amateur.
“Divine Palms Manual” naturally touched on Dragon Claw. After all, Hero Shenzhou included his analyses of martial arts into the manual. Although he seldom gave praise, he was particularly generous when commending Dragon Claw, calling it the best external discipline of Shaolin. When Ming Huayu taught Hong Jiu, he even said, “Given his pride and plagiarism habits, you can be sure you’re in trouble against that Pig Feet Dragon Claw stuff when he doesn’t shut up about how good it is. Thank god Shaolin’s monks are soft-hearted. If they let one person embody all of it, sh!t.”
“Sh!t” was Ming Huayu’s go-to description when the situation was as bad as “I’m screwed”. Most of the time, he used them in the presence of beautiful ladies. Hardly ever did he use it in relation to martial arts.
Hong Jiu knew “Shrouding the Moon” was part of the Dragon Claw syllabus, but, unlike “Dragon Fang”, it wasn’t a technique rooted purely in brute strength.
“I practice flexibility and fluidity, making me your Subduing Dragon Eighteen Palms’ worst enemy. You won’t fool me like you fooled my senior.” Despite his anger still swelling inside him, Squall didn’t press the attack. Instead, he kept his distance as he continued, “It would leave a bad taste if I defeated you in your current state, undermine the might of Dragon Claw and take away the satisfaction of revenge. Bug off. Let me kill Old Bai first, and then I’ll reunite you with him.”
Bai Zhiqing already discerned Squall could rival his senior after their three exchanges. Now that his true qi was also compromised, Bai Zhiqing had no chance. Nonetheless, for the sake of Hong Jiu, he replied, “Hahaha, funny. You make it sound as though this one doesn’t have a blade to kill.” He glanced to Hunt in Hong Jiu’s hand and awkwardly cleared his throat before adding, “Uh, I shall go fetch my brother’s blade. Excuse me.”
Hai Yecha questioned, “Hey, how long is it going to take?”
“Not long, not long. It’s at the back of the mountain. Just give me six hours.”
“You think I’m an idiot?!”
“What do you know?! A special weapon needs to be hidden away carefully. I’m not exaggerating when I say this, but my brother’s broadsword literally glows when unsheathed, shrouds the moon when raised, quells waves with a swing, changes the direction of wind wh-”
“Yeah, save me the lies. I’m not going to let you buy time! You said you’d be back in a flash back then, and then you were gone for two decades! You think I’d believe you?! Sister, come out!”
People started whispering, “The old fart has a sister?” They couldn’t believe it when a gorgeous middle-aged woman stepped out into view.
Nine-Lives Cat Fiend, Ye Yexin, stole the attention of all the young men in her thin robe, but she didn’t seem to notice as her attention had never left one man ever since she arrived.
“You left my sister heartbroken for two decades after you ran off. Do you admit to this deed or not?”
Bai Zhiqing expected to see her again for the first time today, but it still felt so sudden. He held his hands up in salute to the lady who hadn’t seemed to have aged a day and politely expressed, “It has been a long time, Miss Ye.”
Ye Yexin had had imagined herself cursing him for being heartless and then running a blade through his heart. She had imagined many other scenarios of her doing a variety of things. In the end, when they finally met, and when he greeted her the same way when they met for the first time, she looked down to hide her red face and mumbled, “Mm.”
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