Yan Zi was hit in the face and staggered back three steps.
He suddenly realized something. Even when Zong Hao pressed him with his halberd, he only took half a step back.
On the other side, Lu Songping finally came to his senses, looked down at the ground, and was stunned.
Lying in front of Yan Zi was a shoe.
The most common kind of shoes, with green surfaces and hemp soles, sold for twenty cents three pairs at the Quecheng night market.
At the same time, the wind in the open space finally stopped.
A rustling sound came from the jungle behind him, and then a huge, blurry black shadow gradually appeared. In the moonlight, the face of the person could barely be made out.
The man looked very strange, with black hair hanging down to his shoulders and the face of an octogenarian. He was wearing a coarse white robe that looked like mourning clothes that had been washed many times, yet it was put together very neatly.
The dark mass he sat on was much stronger and taller than an ordinary military horse. It passed through the forest without stopping for a moment. The dense and vigorous bushes and tangled thorny brambles became weak in an instant and made way for this huge figure.
It was not until the giant creature stepped out of the forest and walked to the defenders' open space that everyone could see clearly that the mount was a huge blue rhinoceros with huge horns. Its body was bald, without saddle or bridle, and the old man in white clothes and black hair was sitting steadily on it, holding a duster full of colorful feathers in his hand, one foot was curled under his body, and the other foot was raised, and the shoes on his feet were nowhere to be seen.
A huge stone fell from Lu Songping's heart, and his movements became much more agile.
"Thank you, Mr.
Xie Li knocked the colorful duster in his hand and waved with a smile.
"No thanks, no thanks."
Zong Hao snorted coldly, his voice full of undisguised contempt.
Xie Li glanced at the disheveled, disheveled old man in brown clothes in the middle of the open space, and his face showed a very comfortable expression.
"Why are you giving me that face? If I hadn't intervened, you would be dead by now."
Zong Hao finally stopped being silent and laughed twice, his voice was strange and harsh.
"I haven't seen you for many years, brother, and you're still so annoying."
Xie Li seemed too lazy to pay attention to Zong Hao. He just looked up at the moonlight tonight, then looked down at the mess around him, and sighed for a long time.
"They say Yu'an was once a fertile land of mulberry and peach trees. But in my opinion, it's a bit too gloomy, which isn't very auspicious. It's time to get rid of the bad luck."
In the middle of the open space, Yan Zi slowly wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and the long sword in his hand was ready to strike.
"So they were stalling for time, waiting for you to come."
Xie Li seemed to have just noticed the other person's presence and turned to look at him.
"Is that sword still working well?"
Yan Zi turned his wrist and the blood that had been stained on the sword dripped down the spine of the sword.
"I've used this sword to kill countless martial arts masters. The last one was only a few months ago, and she was from your An Dao Academy. I wonder if the dean has gone to collect her body?"
There was an undeniable malice in these words, but Xie Li just sighed.
"I gave her the names of Shrike and you Yan Zi, hoping you could complement each other's strengths and improve together. However, you two have never met since you entered the academy. You stole the sword and fled the sect first, and she entered the general's mansion out of anger later. It's true that your relationship is as volatile as the stars in the sky. It's destined that you will never meet, and if you do, one of you will definitely be hurt."
"When soldiers meet, they either die or get hurt. What's wrong with that?"
Xie Li threw two short knives from his sleeves and threw them on the ground.
"That's right, but you should never, ever break her weapon."
Yan Zi's face once again revealed that hard-to-conceal arrogance.
Of course he recognized the dagger.
After all, there are not many people who can hurt him, and he still has some impression of the owner of this knife.
In the past, he could never remember the faces of those who died under his sword. Those blurry faces were too mediocre to distract him from his own world.
"A warrior's destiny is determined by victory or defeat. The strong prey on the weak, and those who are willing to surrender will be defeated. Her martial arts are not of the highest order, and her weapons are equally lowly."
"What a low-brow guy!" Xie Li laughed loudly three times, his laughter carrying a hint of frivolity that was unbecoming of his age. "Then do you know why the sword of movement in your hand has cracks?"
Yan Zi was obviously stunned.
No one except him could get close to his sword, and no one could get a close look at it when it was unsheathed.
The timing of the crack's appearance was extremely strange, and its shape was extremely small. If he hadn't been with the sword every day, he wouldn't even have been able to notice it. How could the person in front of him know it?
A jarring mix of confusion and irritation appeared on his face, like cracks in his sword.
"It's because I didn't control the force when I drew my sword, causing the shock."
"Ignorant youngster, it's okay to tell you."
The old man in white looked at the swordsman in purple, and his eyes instantly became calm.
"The moving yao is made of meteorite iron, though few people know it. There was still some left from forging swords back then, and while it wasn't enough to forge more swords, it was a shame to discard it. So An Daoyuan forged it into a pair of short swords and stored them in Hanling Pavilion, never revealing their origins to future generations. Because of the short blades and the double blades, this weapon remained unused for hundreds of years until Shrike entered our academy."
A stone from another mountain can be used to polish jade, and swords from the same source are neither strong nor weak.
What he thought were inferior were actually of the same clan as him, and what he thought were lowly turned out to be no different from him.
Xie Li slowly stood up from the big blue rhinoceros and stepped his left foot flat on the shoulder of the giant beast. Only then did everyone realize that the old man was so tall and his aura was so overwhelming that people dared not look at him directly even from a distance.
"There is no distinction between high and low in the military, and no distinction between high and low in martial arts. The first lesson for anyone who enters our sect is to learn what reverence is. From what I can see now, your cultivation is still far from enough."
Before he finished speaking the last word, he was no longer on the beast's shoulder.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
