The Tang Sect Crisis

Chapter 7

Long Chengbi Firmly Fells Du Duo

(1)

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Strike after strike, Du Duo suddenly launched his attack.

Three sword thrusts, then three more.

Six strikes in a row, each one set to kill, and carrying an air of wickedness.

Long Chengbi laughed coldly and his sabre blasted out.

He would never show weakness toward Du Duo.

The sword was like a sudden downpour, the sabre was a continuous blur, the two of them soon bogged down in a fierce battle.

When masters traded blows, the the majority of the moves and patterns were crisp and sharp.

But it was so strange, Long Chengbi and Du Duo’s battle looked like a couple of hoodlums brawling. Everyone watching would best describe it by the word “chaotic.”

Was it Du Duo’s swordplay that was chaotic?

Or was it Long Chengbi’s sabreplay that was no up to standard?

Neither!

Du Duo’s sword wasn’t chaotic, and Long Chengbi was not at all lacking in standards.

Everyone only saw that the fight was incredibly chaotic and messy, but actually it was a fierce, suddenly swift and suddenly slow battle.

The two of them were inextricably locked together, neither knowing what the result of the fight would be.

The Evil Sect was in a poor position, but the significance of Du Duo’s battle could not be denied.

No one could tell how many moves they’d exchanged.

Time slipped away little by little.

Their fight took a full two double-hours!

× × ×

It was a very long night.

And a very long battle.

Sabre and sword went back and forth, not pausing for a moment.

For a battle that everyone thought was chaotic to actually be able to last two double-hours was something that no one could have anticipated.

Not even Long Chengbi or Du Duo had anticipated it.

A well-matched contest made people watch with bated breath.

It was almost light out.

Just then, Du Duo suddenly let got of his sword and launched an attack.

× × ×

The gray sword shined in Long Chengbi’s eyes.

Long Chengbi’s eyes in that split second seemed to turn gray.

Du Duo’s Thirteen Sprite Sword came on again and again who knows how many times.

Long Chengbi’s inability to defeat his opponent was because had never been sure of the flaws in his opponent’s moves.

Long Chengbi distinctly saw at least two moves in the Thirteen Sprite Sword that were flawed.

But these flaws still did not allow him to brandish his sabre and attack them.

Why not?

This was Long Chengbi’s shrewdness. Du Duo’s Thirteen Sprite Sword altogether had thirteen moves, but up to now he had only used twelve of them.

In other words, Du Duo’s best move had not yet been displayed.

Undoubtedly, there were flaws in his twelve moves, but behind those flaws was an incredible thirteenth Sprite Swordplay move backing them up.

That swordplay move was baited steel hook, a candy-coated poison!

This was Du Duo’s final stake of capital.

This stake could not only save his life, it could lure his enemy in to be killed.

The Thirteen Sprite Sword was an extremely sinister swordplay. If Long Chengbi got the slightest bit careless, he would fall into a point of no return.

Long Chengbi’s sabreplay on the surface looked to be chaotic and messy, but was in fact was very rhythmic and marvelously patient, never getting reckless, causing Du Duo to lose his cool a bit.

It was not an easy thing to make Du Duo lose his cool.

That’s how strange Long Chengbi was.

Sometimes he was quite unruly, unable to bear the smallest trifles, seemingly very irritable. But sometimes he was incredibly patient, surprisingly so.

When masters traded moves. awing someone with a feat of strength was a masterstroke, but gaining the advantage by countering was an even better strategy.

Long Chengbi didn’t underestimate Du Duo.

The mastery of this not an immortal, not a ghost, but like an immortal and like a ghost Immoral Among Ghosts’s swordplay was certainly no trivial matter.

But Long Chengbi was not defeated by the Thirteen Sprite Sword.

Du Duo finally unleashed his fiercest strike. This flying sword attack was accompanied by thirteen poisoned needles.

He truly was a frightening killer.

Even if Long Chengbi could dodge the sword, he might not be able to avoid the thirteen poisoned needles.

And right after the sword and the thirteen needles quick as lightning came a silent, yet incredibly gentle palm strike!

× × ×

Flying Sword!

Poisoned Needles!

Silent Palm!

Du Duo put all of his skill into that move.

Even Tang Zhuquan’s breathing seemed to stop in that split second.

Could Long Chengbi avoid this three-chain attack?

× × ×

The sword was fast, but Blizzard Blade was definitely not slow.

The strange, gray sword was knocked away by Blizzard Blade.

The thirteen poisoned needles were also swept away by Long Chengbi’s blade like a clay ox entering the sea, gone without a trace forever.

But there was still the palm strike.

It was a soft, gentle, silent, yet able to turn a stone stele to powder vicious palm strike.

And the direction it was unleashed in was really unbelievably strange.

But Long Chengbi’s lightness skill had also reached the realm of perfection, and in the blink of an eye he disappeared before Du Duo’s eyes.

Du Duo was no ordinary person.

Even though he couldn’t see Long Chengbi, but with his sense of hearing he could hear Long Chengbi run around behind him at indescribable speed.

Du Duo suddenly screamed.

His palm strike was soft and gentle as could be, but his scream was even more ear-piercing than a wolf’s howl.

As he screamed, Du Duo suddenly unleashed a backhanded thrust with his sword.

He’d already lost his sword, but there was another sword hidden in his scabbard.

It was a hiltless sword.

Though lacking a hilt, but one end was blunt.

Du Duo grasped the blunt end and used the incredibly sharp pointy end to thrust a backhanded stab at Long Chengbi’s back.

This move was both brilliant and strange.

The name “Immortal Among Ghosts” was well-earned.

This stroke was the final move of the Thirteen Sprite Sword.

× × ×

It was a really fast thrust!

The blade suddenly made a whizzing sound as layer upon layer of a screen of sword enveloped Long Chengbi’s neck.

Du Duo put all of his strength into this sword stroke.

It was also the final strike of Du Duo’s life.

× × ×

It was a drastically-changing stroke.

But Blizzard Blade in Long Chengbi’s hand was now wielded with the most astonishing power.

Long Chengbi was using the Eight Dragons Swordplay move called “Dragon Sweeps the West Wind”.

The murderous aura in his face was awe-inspiring. After two double-hours of fierce fighting, he did not look the least bit fatigued.

He exuded an invincible might, his sabre like a whirlwind or mountainous waves, swiftly sweeping up Du Duo’s blade.

The sword net in from Du Duo’s hand suddenly slackened totally, exposing a gap.

The gap didn’t look very large.

But it was enough for Blizzard Blade to thrust into Du Duo’s heart.

Bright blood shot out like a waterfall.

Du Duo backed away in a panic.

But even if he had backed away ten times faster it wouldn’t have changed anything.

—Blizzard Blade was already ruthlessly lodged in his heart.

× × ×

Du Duo took ten steps back in succession.

He backed almost all the way outside of Flower Blossom Loft.

He raised his head and looked up.

It was daybreak.

It had been a really long battle.

He had killed countless people in his lifetime, and now he had finally gotten what was coming to him.

Long Chengbi looked at him and heaved a long sigh.

“The Thirteen Sprite Sword truly lived up to its reputation.”

Du Duo gave a sad smile. “Long, you have real skill. In the future , if there’s an opportunity, this old fellow would like to duel with you again…

That last “again” was never spoken, because his life vanished from his bleeding heart.

(2)

The battle of Flower Blossom Loft had really been violent.

while Long Chengbi was going all out to defeat Du Duo, he did not look a bit tired.

But once Du Duo fell, he truly did feel tired.

Du Duo certainly had been a powerful adversary. Long Chengbi even felt that his victory was in some part luck.

If Du Duo’s backhand sword stroke had been a bit quicker, it was really doubtful that Long Chengbi could have defeated him.

But in fat, Du Duo had exhausted his strength.

He had exhausted his strength for his swordplay, and exhausted his strength for his life.

He would never again have the opportunity to “duel” with Long Chengbi.

In this fight, the three masters Boss Sha, Dugu Yi, and Du Duo had all died in battle, and the Evil Sect had suffered a serious setback. It looked as if Evil Valley might revert back to Safe & Sound Valley.

Yes, Evil Valley did revert back to Safe & Sound Valley.

But the Evil Sect still existed. This horrible organization had always threatened the Tang Sect of Shu, and threatened the safety of the entire martial world.

The Evil Sect’s headmaster was Tang Zhi.

Tang Zhi was already very old, but his ambition had not aged.

He had never given in to Tang Yu or to Tang Baixiao. He believed that he was the the true ruler of the Tang Sect of Shu.

Therefore, he conspired to defect and established the Evil Sect elsewhere.

He was the bane of the Tang Sect.

And the bane of the entire martial world of the Central Plains.

× × ×

Tang Jian fought bravely and was wounded.

But the price he paid was worth it.

He had not only killed Sha Bu’e, he had obtained the Lifesaving Soul Returning pills.

The Lifesaving Soul Returning pills were the only medicine that could get rid of the Departing Elixir’s rare poison.

Biling was the woman he most loved, and he didn’t want to lose her. He couldn’t lose her.

After Long Chengbi put Du Duo to death under his sabre, several people showed up outside Flower Blossom Loft.

It was Tang Yu, Wei Kongkong, and Old Tang, the old Hangzhou patriarch.

Besides these three, there was also a woman with a sickly appearance. She was Biling.

Sha Bu’e had forced her to take the Departing Elixir. His goal was to draw out his enemy.

Now, his strategy of drawing out his enemy was a success. The enemy was here. Too bad Sha Bu’e never anticipated that once his enemy arrived he would kill several top masterhands of the martial world and made the Evil Sect suffer an unprecedented “catastrophe”.

As far as the martial world was concerned, it was best if all of the Evil Sect’s villains died.

But now, that was more or less the case.

After Biling took the Lifesaving Soul Returning pills, it was effective at once.

This time, Sha Bu’e had miscalculated.

He never anticipated that as a consequence of drawing out the enemy he would be opening the door for the wolf to enter. The one destroyed wasn’t Tang Yu and Tang Jian, but the people of Evil Valley, and himself.