Qiang Jin Jiu (Author : Tang Jiuqing 唐酒卿)

Chapter 24 : Rainy Night

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Lightning flashed and thunder boomed. Rain poured like curtains of waterfalls.

Qiao Tianya stood up and handed the blade to the man behind him to put away. He said, “Xiao the Second has been hit by an arrow. He won’t be able to make his escape.”

At the bottom of the slope, Xiao Chiye and Shen Zechuan lay prone in the mud with bated breath.

Right this moment, Imperial Bodyguards were everywhere around them, and there were also unknown assassins in hiding. It would prove to be harder than ascending to Heaven for both men to escape. But breaking through the encirclement was even tougher. The most fatal of all was Xiao Chiye. His left arm, which the arrow had grazed, was going numb. In just an hour, the drug would spread throughout his body and paralyze him. 

Qiao Tianya brushed aside the tousled grass with his foot and saw the messy tracks of footprints. He silently raised his hand and pointed down the slope.

Behind him, the Imperial Bodyguards filed out, crouching as they slowly surrounded and edged towards that sunken ditch. 

Xiao Chiye’s body tensed as he listened to the approaching sound of men stepping on mud. The hilt of his blade was pressed against his palm. As long as someone jumped down prematurely, he would immediately leap up like a wolf and end the other party in a single blow. 

The Xiuchun Blades had already swung their way to the edge of the slope. Xiao Chiye suddenly—was stopped by Shen Zechuan who had grabbed hold of his soaked clothes. He shifted his gaze over and saw Shen Zechuan’s calm eyes.

Right at this moment, several figures suddenly sprang down in the forest to engage the Imperial Bodyguards in a battle. Qiao Tianya drew his sword at them and saw a flash of flying blades. Following right after, a few Imperial Bodyguards toppled to the ground. With their morale boosted, the other party instantly pounced.

Once chaos descended above them, Shen Zechuan kept away the few remaining blades he had left. Without needing him to say more, Xiao Chiye had already leaped to his feet. He climbed along the muddy slope and rolled into the thick growth of grass on the other side.

“Catch them!” Qiao Tianya bellowed. 

The Imperial Bodyguards streaked across the air in a retreat. Xiao Chiye extended and hung his arms up on a tree trunk and swiftly flipped atop it. Below him, Shen Zechuan had only just reached when the Imperial Bodyguards behind him arrived too. Like a ferocious tiger springing down the mountain, Xiao Chiye swiftly hacked down on them with Langli Blade like a heated knife cutting through butter, forcing the crowd of Imperial Bodyguards simultaneously back in a retreat.

Qiao Tianya sprang up from behind and brandished his blade to sweep it towards Xiao Chiye, who could not retract his own blade in time. Xiao Chiye abruptly ducked his head. Then there was a “thud” as the edge of Qiao Tianya’s blade collided into a sheath. 
Shen Zechuan pressed his sheath against the other blade. With one foot, he stepped onto Xiao Chiye’s back, whose powerful lift of his own body raised Shen Zechuan’s whole body up to close in towards Qiao Tianya. The thin blade between his fingers on his other hand suddenly went assailing towards Qiao Tianya’s eyes. 

Qiao Tianya did not dodge. The Imperial Bodyguards at both sides swiftly cleaved down their blades to obstruct the attack.
Having already gotten up, Xiao Chiye lifted his leg to kick Qiao Tianya right in the chest. Both parties retreated in unison. Qiao Tianya flung off the droplets of blood on his blade. The locks of hair before his forehead had already been sliced off by Shen Zechuan earlier.