Huang Rong from The Return of the Condor Heroes: Brother Jing, let's get a divorce.

Wu Dunru.

Wu Xiuwen.

Yang Guo recognized the two old acquaintances at a glance.

After not seeing each other for several years, the two had grown quite a bit taller and their shoulders had broadened considerably.

But his manner of walking with his chin slightly raised and his eyes looking down his head was exactly the same as when he was on Peach Blossom Island.

Yang Guo remembered clearly the beating they gave him on Peach Blossom Island.

Wu Xiuwen likes to throw punches with his elbows, while Wu Dunru likes to use his knees to hit people in the stomach.

Two people beat up a boy who didn't fight back, and they even acted as if they were in the right.

Yang Guo lowered his straw hat by two inches.

He is now in his early twenties, half a head taller than he was back then. The demeanor he has cultivated through the Quanzhen School and the restrained aura of a master of innate cultivation have transformed him from his physique to his demeanor.

He wore a gray cloth shirt and a bamboo hat, but no Taoist robe and no black iron token.

Da Wu and Xiao Wu naturally couldn't recognize the man leading the horse in front of them as the little bastard who had been slapped in the face by Guo Fu with a willow branch back then.

The line moved forward a few steps.

The family of refugees ahead of us was questioned for a long time. It seemed they couldn't produce any travel permits, and they were pushed and shoved out of the queue by two gatekeepers.

It was Yang Guo and his two companions' turn.

Wu Xiuwen was idly playing with his riding whip when he caught sight of three figures approaching from the corner of his eye, and the tip of his whip stopped in mid-air.

Lu Wushuang and Cheng Ying both wore veils, the gauze covering their faces, but the veils could not hide their figures.

Lu Wushuang's pink shorts were tied around her waist, clearly outlining her slender waist and long legs.

Cheng Ying's light green dress was made of high-quality material. Although the neckline was buttoned up tightly, the fabric swayed gently with her steps, and her restrained posture was all the more eye-catching.

Wu Xiuwen nudged Wu Dunru in the lower back with his elbow.

"Brother, look."

Wu Dunru followed his gaze and his Adam's apple bobbed.

The two brothers followed Guo Jing from Peach Blossom Island to Xiangyang. Apart from serving Miss Guo Fu, they had no respectable women around them.

They knew Guo Fu's temper all too well; she would throw a tantrum if things didn't go her way, and the two brothers couldn't even get a chance to please her.

Seeing two women with such good figures walking over, the pent-up frustration that Guo Fu had been suppressing for so long suddenly surfaced.

Wu Xiuwen, holding a horsewhip, strode forward to meet Yang Guo, and then placed his horse across the road in front of Yang Guo's horse.

"Halt. Where did you come from? Where's your travel permit?"

Lu Wushuang had always disliked the two of them.

Just now, the fair-skinned man lashed the old man's back with a whip, drawing blood, while the tall man stood by laughing.

The hilt of the willow-leaf dagger in her hand was already warm from gripping it so tightly.

"We came from Guanzhong. We have travel permits, but you'd better keep your eyes open before asking us for anything."

Wu Xiuwen was stunned for a moment, then his face darkened.

He guarded the gates of Xiangyang for more than half a month. Whether they were refugees or wandering swordsmen, everyone who saw him bowed and scraped.

Today some ignorant and arrogant little girl popped up, spouting nonsense the moment she opened her mouth.

"Such arrogance."

Wu Xiuwen slung the riding whip over his shoulder and looked Lu Wushuang up and down.

His gaze swept from the chin peeking out from under the veil down to the chest, then to the waist, pausing for a moment before moving away.

"This is Xiangyang, the territory of Master Guo. I am Master Guo's disciple, ordered by my master to patrol and investigate spies. You are not cooperating with the investigation, are you hiding something? Take off your veil, open your bundle, and unsaddle your horse for inspection."

He said he was just doing his job, but his eyes kept wandering towards Lu Wushuang.

Lu Wushuang was all too familiar with this way of judging people.

Among the Quanzhen disciples in Zhongnan Mountain, the most despicable ones are of the same character.

"Who do you think you are?"

Lu Wushuang's voice rose by half a beat.

"Master Guo entrusted you with guarding the city gate, and you're treating this like a trivial matter? I think you're not investigating spies, you're picking out girls. You were staring at that family's daughter for ages, weren't you? Haven't you done enough disgusting things?"

The migrants queuing around them all lowered their heads, afraid of being implicated.

A few of the bolder ones secretly glanced this way, their faces showing a mixture of fear and relief.

They faced considerable difficulties from the two brothers while queuing to enter the city, but neither dared to speak out.

Wu Xiuwen's face turned from green to white.

He was used to being scolded by Guo Fu on Peach Blossom Island, but he did it willingly.

This little girl, who hadn't even shown her face, had exposed his secrets in public; this was a slap in his face.

"Say it again!"

Wu Xiuwen reached out and grabbed Lu Wushuang's veil.

Yang Guo watched from the side, one hand on the saddle and the other across his chest.

He didn't move.

Wu Xiuwen used a variation of the "empty-handed entry into a white blade" technique taught by Guo Jing, employing the grappling techniques, with his five fingers forming a claw to first seal the shoulder and then lock the wrist.

He'd mastered about 60-70% of the move, had some strength in his hands, and wasn't slow, but the rhythm faltered between finger and palm movements, indicating a weak foundation.

Lu Wushuang neither dodged nor retreated.

She lightly ground her left foot, and her whole body slid half a foot to the right, just missing the shortest path of Wu Xiuwen's claw attack.

The serpentine, acrobatic movement doesn't follow a straight line; it relies on the spine to drive the waist and hips in a serpentine motion.

Wu Xiuwen's five fingers grasped at empty air, and before he could change his move, Lu Wushuang's right foot had already kicked him in the shinbone.

This kick used three-tenths of his internal strength.

Wu Xiuwen winced in pain and staggered to the side.

After practicing the Yi Jin Duan Gu technique for several months, Lu Wushuang's bones and ligaments were more than twice as strong as before.

If this kick had been delivered by her three months ago, it would have at most caused someone to feel pain.

But now, the shock from that kick to his shin almost broke Wu Xiuwen's knee.

"you……"

Wu Xiuwen looked down at his calves; the area below his trousers was already swollen.

Seeing his younger brother suffer a loss, Wu Dunru threw down his whip and drew his sword.

"Xiuwen, stop talking nonsense. These people are of unknown origin. They attacked the guards at the gate of Xiangyang. Capture them and hand them over to Master for disposal."

Despite the pain in his leg, Wu Xiuwen drew his sword.

The two brothers stood on either side of each other, assuming a stance for a combined attack.

Yang Guo recognized their footwork.

He was using the starting stance of the Quanzhen Swordplay, but his stride was two inches narrower than the authentic one.

This is a version modified by Guo Jing according to his own understanding. It is suitable for use in conjunction with the footwork of the Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms, but it would be restrictive to use it alone for sword walking.

Yang Guo crossed his arms and didn't move.

These two pieces of material aren't worth his time.

Lu Wushuang's lips curled into a smirk as he drew his willow-leaf scimitar.

The blade is only 1.8 feet long, with a narrow back and thin edge, and makes a soft humming sound.

"You two come at me together, so you won't accuse me of bullying you later."

Wu Dunru shouted and thrust his sword straight at the enemy.

This sword strike went down the middle, aiming for Lu Wushuang's shoulder.

Wu Xiuwen circled around from the side, his sword tip pointing diagonally, blocking her retreat.

With the two longswords working together, sword light approached from both the front and left sides simultaneously, compressing the space by more than half.

Lu Wushuang didn't retreat at all.

She lowered her body, bent her knees into a half-squat, leaned her back forward, and lowered her center of gravity to an extremely low position.

Wu Dunru's sword swept past her head, the air currents from the blade ruffling the veil of her hat.

She slid forward two steps in a half-squatting position and slipped inside Wu Dunru's sword circle.

The distance is too close.

The greatest advantage of a longsword is its attack range; once someone gets within three feet of you, the sword becomes a burden.

The back of the willow-leaf scimitar struck Wu Dunru's wrist.

The force wasn't great, but the angle was tricky, hitting the protruding part of the wrist bone precisely.

Wu Dunru felt a sharp pain in his hand, and his longsword wobbled twice.

Wu Xiuwen caught up from behind, taking an unorthodox approach and aiming straight for Lu Wushuang's lower back.

Lu Wushuang pushed off with his right foot, using the serpentine, flippery gliding step to dodge sideways by a foot.

Wu Xiuwen's sword tip grazed past her waist by two inches, but didn't touch anything.

"Where did you learn your swordsmanship? It's the beginner's style taught to a three-year-old Taoist disciple of the Quanzhen Sect. You've been learning it for years and it's still like this?"

Lu Wushuang spoke as she dodged, her tone full of mockery.

Wu Xiuwen was so angry at those words that his chest felt tight.

He did practice the basic swordsmanship of the Quanzhen Sect for a period of time when he was learning martial arts on Peach Blossom Island. Later, he switched to the style taught by Guo Jing, but the foundation was not changed. When the two styles were mixed together, the moves looked incongruous.

This is his biggest weakness, something no one usually dares to point out to his face, but today a young girl's words have hit him hard.

"Enough nonsense! Men, surround them!"

The government troops responsible for maintaining order at the city gate, along with a dozen or so martial arts practitioners dressed in colorful outfits, surged over, their spears and clubs forming an arc that surrounded Yang Guo and his two companions.

Cheng Ying stood one and a half steps behind Yang Guo.

She looked at the situation before her, her palms sweating profusely.

If this continues, it will get out of control.

She herself was a disciple of Peach Blossom Island. If she stepped forward, mentioned that she was Huang Yaoshi's closed-door disciple, and then mentioned Huang Rong as her senior sister, Da Wu and Xiao Wu would definitely back down.

This is the fastest solution.

She took half a step forward and opened her mouth to speak.

"Young heroes, please wait a moment, we are..."

Halfway through her sentence, a hand landed on her right shoulder.

The hand wasn't heavy, but the scorching internal energy emanating from its palm unexpectedly choked the Jianjing acupoint.

A wisp of innate pure Yang internal energy flowed straight down through her meridians, colliding with the Qiankun Technique imprint that had been lingering in her Qi Sea for many days.

When the two streams of yang energy from the same source collided, a surge of heat rose in Cheng Ying's lower abdomen.

Her knees immediately gave way, and she slumped backward, leaning against Yang Guo's chest.

"Owner……"

Her voice was kept extremely low, barely escaping from her throat.

Yang Guo put his arm around her waist and pressed his lips against her earlobe.

"Shut up and watch the show."

Cheng Ying was held tightly in his arms.

She could feel Yang Guo's fingers on her waist, his fingertips applying slight pressure. The amount of true energy he used was just right, maintaining the turmoil within her dantian and preventing her Falling Petal True Energy from circulating.

She did not struggle.

It's not that I don't want to, it's that I can't.

When the surrounding government troops saw that these people still wouldn't submit, the squad leader who was leading them held his spear horizontally, the blade pointed at Yang Guo.

With help from others, Wu Dunru felt even more confident.

He pointed at Yang Guo's nose, his voice so loud it could be heard halfway down the street.

"Boy, your two women injured the garrison of Xiangyang. You just cowered in the back without saying a word. What, are you scared?"

Yang Guo did not remove his straw hat.

He freed one hand, took the travel permit from his pocket, glanced at it, then closed it and put it back.

Wang Jian's official seal was very useful, but not at this time.

He sized up Wu Dunru.

Guo Daxia's eldest disciple stood three zhang away, his sword-wielding posture upright, his breathing even, and a faint fluctuation of true qi emanating from his dantian.

His internal energy cultivation was about three to four years, which was average.

Seeing that the other party remained silent, Wu Dunru concluded that he was a spineless coward who lived off a woman.

He withdrew his gaze from Yang Guo and instead focused his attention back on Lu Wushuang.

"I'll say it one last time. Take off your veils, hand over your weapons, and come with us to see Master Guo. If you confess the truth, you'll only be locked up for a few days at most. If you deny everything to the death..."

Wu Dunru turned his sword tip and aimed it at Lu Wushuang's throat.

Lu Wushuang gripped the willow-leaf scimitar, the blade still bearing a few flakes of skin that had rubbed off Wu Xiuwen's wrist.

She breathed a sigh of relief at Wu Dunru.

Fuck you.

Wu Dunru's facial muscles twitched.

He turned to look at Yang Guo and thrust his sword at Yang Guo's shoulder.