Sword from the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 56 Thunderclap on the Plain
Old Ding leaped and bounded about, his movements unpredictable and silent.

The teahouse was deathly silent, like a graveyard, with only the crackling of the campfire.

If he encounters someone who is highly suspicious, he will get close and sniff them repeatedly.

It seemed like they needed to smell if there was any rotten soil from the mass graves.

Many martial arts practitioners who were still awake felt a chill run down their spines, wondering which grave this 'old zombie' had sprung up from.

A dark shadow flashed, and Old Man Ding jumped around more than half a circle in the teahouse.

Slowly.
His gaze fell on an inconspicuous corner.

That was the direction Zhou Yi and Liu Zhiyuan were in.

"swift!"

With a flick of his clothes, he lightly leaped across the two-zhang distance.

Those eyes, sunken deep in their sockets, held no emotion other than a lifeless stillness.

Zhou Yi felt extremely uncomfortable, and a chill ran through him.

Old Ding lowered his head gradually and slowly approached him.
The jeweled curtain of the crown trembled slightly, and the stench of corpses mixed with the smell of blood wafted over.

At that moment, I suddenly missed Little Phoenix very much.

Unfortunately, Little Phoenix can never be by my side.

The Zen of the Mind will never perish, the Zen of the Mind will never perish.
Master Miike, please help me.

The kind old monk's face appeared in my mind, and all my distracting thoughts instantly receded like a tide.

Emperor Ding's head was already close to Zhou Yi's, less than a foot away.

Liu Zhiyuan, the "good brother" standing to the side, remained motionless.

Zhou Yi turned to the side, as if he were slightly turning over in his sleep, revealing no clue whatsoever.

Emperor Ding's expression darkened.

The young man in front of me had a normal heartbeat with little fluctuation.

The dead will not lie in his presence, because corpses cannot speak.

It is difficult for a living person to lie, because they do not need to speak.

The innate, subtle true energy can combine with the spirit cultivated in the orifices, thus enabling extremely subtle sensations.

This kind of perception allows one to examine the fine details of the other person's body and discern their aura, temperament, and emotions.

A person with a guilty conscience being pressured like this is in a completely different state than someone who is pretending to be asleep.

Clearly, Zhou Yi's actions were perfectly normal.

After glancing at Zhou Yi's blue robe, Emperor Ding shifted his head and leaned closer to Liu Zhiyuan.

'Cut him off, cut him off!' Zhou Yi shouted in his heart.

Like Zhou Yi, Liu Zhiyuan would turn to the side when he was dozing off.

Emperor Ding glanced at Liu Zhiyuan's moon-white robe. It was very dark at the mass grave that night, and the color was quite similar.

The crown pressed down, and Emperor Ding leaned closer to smell it.

"Pfft!"

Just then, Liu Zhiyuan suddenly let out a loud, foul-smelling fart.

Emperor Ding pulled his head back, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

The large scissors on his back gleamed with a cold, metallic sheen in the afterglow of the campfire, and he reached behind him.

Once this move is made, the next strike will be the Five Emperors' Mace!

However.
The moment Emperor Ding reached behind him, the person who had been sleeping in the thatched hut awoke almost instantly.

A chilling killing intent burst forth from all directions.

All the murderous intent was directed at him.

There are so many experts!
If you make a move now, you will be surrounded and attacked!
Emperor Ding's pupils contracted as he looked at Liu Zhiyuan, who was still 'sound asleep' on the ground.

Hehe
So what if there are many experts?!
This great emperor fears nothing!

His hand, which had been reaching behind his back, didn't stop for a moment; he pulled out the iron shears.

Zhou Yi shouted in his heart: Well done, Emperor! Cut his hair!

"Whoosh!!!"

A sharp whistling sound tore through the air.

A cold glint suddenly appeared from the dark silhouette of the trees!

The arrowhead glowed faintly, its tail adorned with black feathers, and it streaked through the air like a black line!
One, two, three!
Each arrow is faster than the last!
Even more astonishingly, the three arrows changed direction in mid-air due to their tail feathers, striking back and firing with three bird cries.

What should have been difficult to control took an unexpected turn, each shooting with exquisite precision towards Emperor Ding!
He pulled out a large pair of scissors, and with incredible speed, he slashed the two arrows to pieces, moving left and right.

A strong wind swept the third arrow into the night sky!
These three arrows were fired secretly and unexpectedly.

In addition, his strength is fierce, and even a first-rate person would probably be either killed or seriously injured if he encountered him.

When Emperor Ding unleashed his Five Emperors Mace, everyone around him was astonished, realizing the extraordinary power he possessed.

Even so, they had been forced back several steps.

A master archer in the shadows?

Tongtian Guan turned towards the direction from which the divine arrow had come, staring at Liu Zhiyuan, ready to make another move.

suddenly
A commotion broke out outside the thatched hut, with a flurry of hurried footsteps.

Emperor Ding leaped out of the teahouse with a zombie-like jump and disappeared into the darkness.

Zhou Yi could sense that the old monster was secretly watching him.

The murderous intent in the courtyard vanished instantly, and the person who had been sitting up lay back down, as if still 'sound asleep'.

The footsteps grew louder and louder.

Ten, thirteen, eighteen
With so many people around, Zhou Yi could no longer hear clearly.

He was completely bewildered by the situation. "Kill!"

"kill!"

Two low shouts rang out in the darkness, followed by dozens of figures rushing in from both sides of Cixi Stream and the main entrance of the teahouse.

The old ox mooed once.

The light reflected from the blades swayed in all directions as nearly thirty or forty people leaped inside; none of them were skilled martial artists!

The people in the teahouse are still 'sleeping'!
"It is better to kill the wrong person than to let him go."

"Do it!!"

"Kill them all!"

The leader glanced around and then let out a loud shout!
However, something unexpected happened.

These 'sound asleep' martial arts heroes suddenly awoke, each one more formidable than the last!
"Ah~!!"

A piercing scream echoed through the night. Suddenly, a sleeping swordsman drew his sword and, with lightning speed, killed the two men wielding knives.

If one were knowledgeable, one would surely recognize this as the Huashan Sword Technique.

Afterwards, he embraced the two corpses, covered in blood, and they collapsed onto the haystack, motionless.

Those unaware of the truth might think they had perished together.

Zhou Yi squinted, coldly observing everything.

In the teahouse, a thin, bald man dodged a knife by lying on the ground, then suddenly sprang up and slashed out with his claw!
The man with the knife quickly threw it away and began to fight the bald man with a series of palm strikes.

But something extremely strange happened.

The man wielding the knife used this palm technique, and the bald man immediately seized the opportunity to exploit his weakness.

The knife-wielding man lunged at the man's waist with three consecutive claw strikes, forcing him to duck. The bald man anticipated this and raised his claw upwards.

With five fingers hardened like steel, he pierced the area around the man's heart meridian!
The powerful internal energy burst forth from his five fingers, directly shattering his heart meridian!

The bald man was skilled in both internal and external techniques. His Heart-Splitting Claw strike hit a vital point, and the man with the knife cried out and collapsed to the ground.

The bald man killed the man and smeared the blood on his neck.

She then fell asleep embracing the man with the knife.

The scenes before my eyes were truly shocking.

Zhou Yi had already noticed something fishy.

These people who suddenly burst in, whether they used knives, forks, or their palms.

They all use the same approach.

Their methods have already been figured out by the group of people in the teahouse!

Therefore, this was a one-sided massacre!

In less than the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, the tea stall fell silent again.

The strong stench of blood was quite pungent, and the experts who had just committed the murders were now very sleepy, all lying down to sleep, some even using the dead bodies in their arms as pillows.

When everyone had lain down, Liu Zhiyuan awoke from his 'sleep'.

He picked up a few pieces of dry firewood and threw them into the campfire.

The firelight illuminated the corpses scattered on the ground, and he sat back down next to Zhou Yi as if nothing had happened.

"Brother Zhou, do you know who these people are?"

Zhou Yi feigned surprise and remained silent for a moment before speaking: "I don't know, but the martial arts styles they use are similar."

Liu Zhiyuan nodded.

He didn't look at Zhou Yi, but stared at the main entrance of the teahouse, his voice neither hurried nor slow:
“There is a powerful man in Pingyuan County named Hao Xiaode, who previously allied with Zhi Shilang and has 40,000 troops under his command.”

"Hao Xiaode has a capable subordinate named Zhao Ke, who runs the Keyuan Martial Arts Academy in Pingyuan County. This man is skilled in martial arts and has a famous Thunder Palm technique."

Each palm strike seemed to produce a thunderous sound, sometimes the sound came first and the palm last, sometimes the palm came first and the sound last.

He can make a sound and a clap at the same time, or make a sound but not a clap; his moves are ever-changing. If you are not careful, you will be killed by his palm strike.

That's incredibly powerful.

Zhou Yi looked at the corpses: "These people used the Thunderclap Palm Technique?"

“Not bad,” Liu Zhiyuan pointed to the man who had just been killed by the bald man, “that man was the instructor of Keyuan Martial Arts School. He has applied palm techniques to sword techniques and can be considered a talent.”

"Unfortunately, this palm technique has been thoroughly studied by others, but they are unaware of it."

"The saying goes, 'Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.' These people have committed a major taboo in military strategy."

“That makes sense,” Zhou Yi praised, “but why would the troops from Pingyuan County come to Runan?”

Liu Zhiyuan explained: "On one hand, there are grudges and feuds within the martial arts world, and also..."

"Zhao Ke had a cousin, who was Zhao Tuo, the governor of Huaiyang Commandery."

"Zhao Tuo?" This wasn't the first time Zhou Yi had heard this name. He had heard from the local martial arts practitioners that Zhao Tuo was studying the Huainan Honglie.

He was a vicious and madman obsessed with martial arts.

"You want to see him?" Liu Zhiyuan asked.

Zhou Yi casually replied, "I can meet you, or I can not."

Liu Zhiyuan smoothed his messy beard: "Then let's meet."

He picked up some more thatch and placed it behind Zhou Yi to make him lean against it more softly.

"Wait a moment, he will be here soon."

Just as he was about to lie down, Liu Zhiyuan suddenly remembered something: "By the way, Brother Zhou, do you know the person who had the scissors earlier?"

Zhou Yi looked blank: "I really don't recognize this."

……

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(End of this chapter)