Sword drawn from the constellations, poison as its edge.

Chapter 143 The Essence of the Twenty-Eight Subduing Dragon Palms

"Protect the gang leader!"

With a loud shout, Chief Jiang drew his twin swords and stood in front of Qiao Feng.

The disciples of the Righteousness Branch all stepped forward and surrounded Qiao Feng to protect him.

Quan Guanqing shouted, "Chief Jiang, you are unaware of the ins and outs of this matter. Loyalty to your master is a fine man's duty, but this matter concerns the fate of our Great Song Dynasty. If you insist on protecting Qiao Feng, don't blame me for disregarding the loyalty of our gang!"

Jiang, the leader, ignored him and shouted, "You bastard surnamed Quan, you're spouting nonsense! Over the years, how many good deeds has Chief Qiao done for the country and the people? Who are you to put on airs here? Hmph, everyone says that your martial arts are no less than Elder Nine Bags', but I don't believe it. Come on, come on, let's see who lives and who dies today."

Quan Guanqing's handsome face twisted into a stern expression as he shouted, "Brothers of the Great Wisdom Branch, join me in dealing with the Righteousness Branch. The rest of you, surround the Murong family and Qiao Feng's friends. If they dare to make any moves, kill them without mercy."

Jiang Mingzhe sneered, "Quan Guanqing, I haven't said a word here, and you still want to cause me trouble? Do you really think I wouldn't dare to crush you?"

Quan Guanqing shuddered at the memory of Jiang Mingzhe's ghostly movements and hurriedly retreated to his brothers' formation, shouting, "You think you can scare my brave men just because you're skilled in martial arts? Brothers, set up the Dog-Beating Formation!"

Jiang Mingzhe's eyes twitched. He thought to himself that the Beggars' Sect's Dog-Beating Formation was the best formation in the world. At that time, there was no Quanzhen Sect's Heavenly Dipper Formation or Wudang Sect's True Martial Seven-Section Formation. Only the Shaolin Temple's Arhat Formation could compare. Back then, Guo Jing had learned all eighteen palms and was rarely matched in the world. Even in the Battle of Junshan, he could not withstand the power of the Dog-Beating Formation. I should not underestimate it.

He reached behind him and took out his sword fan, intending to use the high-flying Chuiyun Sword Technique to deal with the rampaging Dog-Beating Formation.

Seeing the Beggars' Sect disciples approaching from all sides, each armed with weapons, Bao Butong whispered, "Hey, Jiang, the Beggars' Sect's Dog-Beating Formation is incredibly powerful. You're good at light footwork, so before they surround us, pick up A'Zhu and A'Bi and run! Don't worry about us."

Jiang Mingzhe asked in surprise, "No, no, if I wanted to take care of you, then what you said would be perfectly reasonable. But when did I say I wanted to take care of you? You two are strong men with four legs, can't you kick people?"

Seeing that the two sides were about to start fighting, Qiao Feng took a breath and suddenly shouted, "Stop!"

This roar was like a thunderclap from a clear sky, making everyone's ears ring.

Qiao Feng pushed aside the disciples of the Righteousness Branch in front of him and stepped forward: "Quan Guanqing, didn't you want to capture me with the elders? One person does one thing, one person takes responsibility. Are you five coming at me together or five hundred coming at me together? I, Qiao Feng, will take it all on myself!"

Chief Jiang said urgently, "Chief..."

Qiao Feng suddenly turned around, stared at him and said, "Since you regard me as the leader of the gang, why did you disobey my orders when I sent you to lead your brothers to rescue Elders Xu and Bai and the other leaders?"

"Chief..." Chief Jiang hesitated, gritted his teeth, clasped his hands and said, "Your subordinate obeys!"

He waved his arm and shouted, "Follow me!"

He led his brothers from the Righteousness Branch, strode up to Zhang Quanxiang, ignored the beggars eyeing them menacingly, shoved Zhang Quanxiang aside, and shouted, "Didn't you hear the leader's order? Lead the way!"

Zhang Quanxiang stood there for a moment, then turned and left, with Chief Jiang following him quickly.

Feng Bo'e praised, "Qiao Feng is truly a hero. People treat him so well, yet he can't bear to see his brothers kill each other."

Qiao Feng then looked at Jiang Mingzhe, who understood his meaning and smiled before he could speak, saying, "If they don't come to attack me, I won't interfere."

Qiao Feng nodded gratefully and said to Quan Guanqing, "My brother's martial arts are unfathomable. If you value the lives of your brothers, you'd better not provoke him."

Quan Guanqing said, "If he doesn't concern himself with the internal affairs of our Beggars' Sect, we naturally won't cause any trouble. Elders, before Elder Bai and Elder Xu arrive, let's capture Qiao Feng first!"

Elder Chen shouted, "Good! Everyone, let's get started!"

After saying that, he leaped up and threw a punch at Qiao Feng. Qiao Feng dodged to the side, and Elder Chen pulled out a sack with his left hand, which crackled loudly in the air.

Feng Bo'e's eyes lit up, and he exclaimed, "What a skill! He can use a mere burlap sack as a soft whip!" Bao Butong shook his head and said, "Not at all, not at all. This old fellow's truly brilliant skill is Tongbei Fist!"

While the two were talking, Qiao Feng and Elder Chen had already exchanged five or six blows. Qiao Feng only dodged and did not attack, while Elder Chen's fists and sacks were almost like afterimages, but he could not even touch a hair on Qiao Feng's head. He was so anxious that he shouted, "Are you here to watch a show? What are we here for today?"

Elder Wu shouted, "Chief, I'm sorry for today!"

He leaped into the fray, his ghost-headed blade slicing through the waist.

Elder Xi and Elder Song exchanged a glance, then each drew their weapons and joined the attack.

As soon as the three of them made their move, Qiao Feng was indeed no longer as at ease as before.

Quan Guanqing shouted and charged forward, wielding his iron flute.

The five of them were all top-notch martial arts masters, far surpassing even the leaders of ordinary gangs. At this moment, they each occupied a corner of the battlefield, tightly surrounding and fighting with Qiao Feng.

Bao Butong and Feng Bo'e watched with great excitement. Bao Butong even shouted like a commentator: "Good killing, good killing! Look at that steel staff dancing in a ball of white light. It should be the style of the Wutai Mountain Demon-Subduing Staff. Aha, are they subduing their own gang leader as a demon?"

"Look over there, look over there. The old red-faced man's swordsmanship seems to be the style of the Three Talents Sword, but it's not quite the same. What kind of swordsmanship is this? Its power looks pretty good, much more powerful than the Five Tigers' Gate-Breaking Sword of Qin Family Village."

"Oh, that mace user is really strange. He clearly learned the Qin family mace passed down from Qin Shubao, a great general of the Tang Dynasty, but he insisted on adding barbs and incorporating the techniques of the tiger-head hook. It seems he wants to create his own style. What is that? A beggar's mace? When people don't give him food, he uses that barb to secretly hook big steamed buns?"

"And that guy's skill of punching with a whip is also amazing. You think his fist has reached its limit, but crack, he can still grow half a foot longer. He can steal a steamed bun and hide it in a bag. Who can find it? No wonder it is a beggar's skill."

"This flute player is a bit lacking. It's not that his martial arts skills are bad, but his choice of weapon is really not very good. When beggars are begging for food, they bang on their bowls and sing ballads. How can he just play the flute here and ask the master and mistress for mercy?"

Feng Bo'e exclaimed, "Strange, strange! These five people are extremely skilled, so how come they can't defeat Qiao Feng even after so long? Qiao Feng is using the Twenty-Eight Subduing Dragon Palms, right? This palm technique is very famous, but it doesn't seem that powerful."

The two of them chatted excitedly, while most of the surrounding beggars glared at them angrily. Jiang Mingzhe, however, turned a deaf ear and focused on watching the battle.

Qiao Feng opened and closed his palms. At first, he was quite restrained, but as the attacks of the five masters became more intense, the power of Qiao Feng's palm strikes gradually increased. Judging from the palm technique alone, it could not be said to be particularly profound or subtle, but the force in his palms was extremely skillful.

Palm force is an intangible thing, so even with the limited perspectives of Bao Butong and Feng Bo'e, they couldn't see anything special about it.

However, Jiang Mingzhe possesses the Northern Darkness, which makes him most adept at changing the attributes of internal energy, thus his perception is far more acute than that of ordinary people.

The weapons of these five masters—the steel staff and the iron flute—are all blunt, the burlap sack has no edge, and the knife has a back and a front. Except for the iron mace covered with blades, Qiao Feng could take them all with his bare hands.

But when his palm touched the weapons of others, those weapons either bounced off, changed direction, or stopped abruptly. Each reaction was different, which was obviously due to the changes in his palm force. Often, the same palm technique would produce different powers due to different palm force, such as shock, absorption, release, or neutralization. The twenty-eight palm techniques produced more than two hundred and eighty variations.

Jiang Mingzhe nodded to himself, somewhat understanding why other martial arts were most afraid of losing their moves. Once lost, they would be incomplete, and their power would be greatly reduced. Only the Twenty-Eight Subduing Dragon Palms, after being simplified to eighteen palms, had their power not only not reduced but increased.

The reason is that the power of his palm technique lies in the application of force, while the specific moves are not so important.

The battle raged and tumbled on the field, lasting over a hundred rounds. The more Jiang Mingzhe watched, the more he admired Qiao Feng's wondrous palm techniques, and he couldn't help but think:

The Great Vajra Pestle is considered a top-tier skill, but in terms of the application of force, it is far too crude compared to the Dragon Subduing Palm. Every punch is like a cannon firing, at most becoming a cannon barrage or a salvo. If it had more variations, sometimes like a hand grenade, sometimes like a landmine, sometimes like a rifle, sometimes like a machine gun, and sometimes like a shotgun, then it would be a true divine skill!

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but feel itchy and started practicing my boxing. Each move was several times slower than the old Tai Chi masters in the park in later generations. I carefully felt the flow and dispersion of the power in my fist.

He was deep in thought when he suddenly felt the ground shake. Turning his head, he saw a large group of people rushing towards him from the southeast, cursing and swearing. Quan Guanqing's expression changed, and he shouted, "Quick, use your ultimate move!"

(End of this chapter)