Chapter 104: Why didn't you call me?
She was so scared that she broke out in a cold sweat, but fortunately, her instinct for survival overwhelmed her, and her body moved faster than her brain. She used her light footwork and took a step diagonally to the left of the sharp thorn.
It was a three-edged bone spike, forged from the bones of some ferocious beast. It was pale white, brushing against her hair, the sharp wind it created stung her cheek.
The attack missed, and the assassin's body twisted and shrank strangely in the air, landing silently on the ground, like a pool of boneless mud.
Then, the "mud" suddenly bounced up again, and the bone spur came from an incredible angle and slashed towards her throat.
This movement is too strange. The movement of joints when moving forward and backward is completely against common sense.
Qing Guiyu didn't dare take the blow head-on, relying on his exquisite martial arts skills to maneuver around the pomegranate tree at the entrance. He vibrated his bamboo flute, pricking and provoking, not seeking to injure the enemy, but simply to press the pulse point on the assassin's wrist where he held the weapon.
This was her most familiar method of relieving force and cutting off pulses, using ingenuity to break the force. If an ordinary master encountered this, his arms would be numb and his weapons would fall out of his hands because of her flute.
However, where the tip of the flute touched, it felt smooth and tough, like touching the most flexible cowhide.
At the moment when the assassin was about to be hit, the wrist of the assassin unexpectedly shrank and twisted inward, and the joints shifted instantly, allowing the tip of her flute to slide through a joint that should have been solid.
Qing Guiyu was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat. His attack missed and the door suddenly appeared.
His body felt cold and he felt a sharp pain. A cut had been made on the outside of his lower abdomen by the sharp thorn, and blood instantly soaked his clothes.
She used the momentum to quickly retreat, sweeping the bamboo flute across, and finally forced the assassin away.
But his left arm was already numb and weak, and the old injured tendons in his hand were even more painful after being stimulated by the murderous aura.
"Shrinking bones and changing shape..." She covered the wound, not daring to be negligent, and quickly tapped the blood spots on her chest and abdomen with her right hand to prevent the weapon from being poisoned.
Seeing that she had recognized this skill, the assassin smiled, his temperament surprisingly arrogant. Perhaps he was confident in his cunning, and since he had succeeded, he did not rush to pursue her. Instead, he slowly straightened up and confronted her.
Suddenly, a series of light "crackling" sounds came from his body, and his already slender body suddenly grew several inches taller, with his limbs stretched out, like a spider ready to pounce.
Ordinary acupuncture methods were completely useless to him. He could dislocate joints and change pulse points in an instant, rendering acupuncture and pulse-blocking methods useless.
If it comes to a head-on fight of internal strength, she is far from being a match.
The assassin's body movements clearly showed that he had transformed himself into a living weapon that was invulnerable to swords and spears, as well as water and fire.
But... is it really flawless?
Qing Guiyu took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. He quickly reviewed all the medical knowledge he had learned throughout his life in his mind.
Suddenly I remembered what my master said all those years ago - this skill is very insidious, and every time you move it, you will feel pain in your bones.
If there is pain, there is injury. If there is injury, the meridians still exist.
Remove the joints, pull the muscles... If you want to twist anything in the world, there must be a pivot where the force is exerted.
Thank God.
Fortunately, Qing Guiyu’s whole life was devoted to the word “people”.
Humans are flesh and blood, capable of countless transformations and ingenuity, yet able to stretch and twist in any way they choose—the spine, governing all bones and connecting the limbs, remains the central axis connecting the upper and lower parts. This is the very foundation of the human body; even the greatest of magical powers cannot alter this backbone.
To twist the spine, the force must be generated from the waist and hips, and the pivot is located below the neck and above the chest. It is located between the three points of "Shenzhu", "Taodao" and "Dazhui", and is the key point of the Du meridian known as the "sea of yang meridians".
Normally, acupuncture involves cutting off the meridians with external force, blocking the flow of qi and blood. However, this assassin could dislocate bones and blood, rendering this method useless. But what if she changed her mindset—she wasn't trying to "point" him, but to "take" him?
Seeing that she only defended and did not attack, and her body gradually showed signs of fatigue, the assassin secretly guessed that her internal strength was insufficient and her old injuries had relapsed. The bone spurs whistled, bringing with them a gust of fishy wind. He shrank his body again and went straight for her center.
If you want to survive, you must use unconventional means to counter unconventional means and take risks to win.
She gritted her teeth, straightened the bamboo flute, and met his chest with it.
There was a dull "pop" sound, and the bone spur pierced straight into the flute and was stuck in the hollow cavity.
The hollow bamboo flute was already strong, and now, having been infused with the last bit of her protective Qi, it was even more resilient. The assassin's weapon was trapped, and he could not pull it out for a moment.
So he moved his hand and took out the three-inch steel hook.
But when masters clash, victory or defeat comes down to a fine line. Even a fraction of a second can make a world of difference.
The momentum of the reversal slowed down. At this moment, Qing Guiyu's fingers had already touched the back of his neck.
Below the neck and above the chest, the xue of the body pillar! This is the pivot of the skeleton and the mechanism that pulls the whole body.
The assassin only felt a clear and peaceful internal force penetrating his bones, causing his whole body to tremble violently. He was about to forcibly activate the bone shrinking technique to move this vital point away.
"Too late!" Qing Guiyu shouted.
She suddenly exerted force with her right thumb, pressing on the spinous process, while her index and middle fingers hooked and twisted upwards.
This is not a martial arts acupuncture point, but an extremely exquisite medical technique of bone manipulation, called "Dragon Turning Back".
But now she was doing the opposite.
Compliance leads to life, while going against it leads to death.
The assassin's face was instantly filled with horror. He had practiced martial arts for thirty years, killing countless people, but he had never imagined that his unique skills, which he was so proud of, could be broken in such a way.
The true Qi in the body was completely disrupted by this force-releasing method and could no longer restrain the joints that had long been dislocated.
Click. Click.
The sound of bones breaking continuously rang out from within the human body.
The forcibly dislocated joints, having lost the support of their true energy, began to rebound and distort wildly. With this crisp sound, the body suddenly expanded like an overblown leather bag, its limbs twisted and folded outward, and all the bones in the body shattered.
All of his hidden meridians and acupoints were exposed at this moment.
Qing Guiyu succeeded in his attack, and without even looking, he picked up the bamboo flute that he had thrown away, and took advantage of the moment when he lost control of his body to poke it downwards, hitting the exposed "Yintangxue" between his eyebrows.
A soft sound.
All the assassin's struggles came to an abrupt end.
A twisted and deformed corpse fell limply to the ground, and the body was so jumbled that it was almost impossible to tell where the hands and feet were.
Qing Guiyu was panting, looking at the corpse, but he didn't feel any joy of success in his heart, only a chill of surviving a disaster.
The assassin's strange martial arts and determination to kill were unprecedented in her life.
If she had not happened to be a martial artist and a doctor, and had not used her medical skills to reverse the situation and unexpectedly break his ability to shrink and change his shape, she would probably be the one lying on the ground at this moment.
Who is this person? Why did they kill him here? This place must be the secret entrance of Tianji Pavilion. How did he sneak in without being noticed by Shen Juansheng?
Shen Yan? Northern Dynasty?
Qing Guiyu frowned, forced himself to stand up straight, and walked to the corpse. Suppressing his nausea, he began to search the twisted body.
The assassin's body contained nothing but bone spurs. Her heart sank, and just as she was about to give up, her fingertips touched a hard, foreign object on the corpse's chest. It was sewn into the layer of clothing, and if she hadn't been so close and skilled at bone detection, she would have been completely unable to detect it.
She tore open the fabric, and a palm-sized spherical token carved from bone rolled out from the inner layer with a clang.
The curved surface of this strange token was engraved with an extremely small Northern Dynasty character that she did not recognize.
The assassin from the Northern Dynasty knew that he had just met Chao Feng, one of the Nine Dragon Sons of Tianji Pavilion and a subordinate of Chen Juansheng.
Shen Yan's plan really came together, and this token was the ironclad evidence.
This assassin is lurking here, who is his target?
The mocking wind? Or... the deep engraving sound?
Or maybe, she and Lu Guiyan?
Qing Guiyu felt his scalp tingle and his heart pounding wildly. This matter was of great importance and must be made known immediately.
Who are you looking for?
In the east wing, the junior brother was still practicing Qigong today. He was injured. If he saw me in such a serious injury, it would only increase my worries and guilt. What if my Qi became disordered and I went crazy? That would be a disaster.
Qing Guiyu could only look to the west.
Inside the door was the evildoer whose mind was as deep as the sea and whose methods were as cruel as a knife, yet he pretended to be good and clever in front of her and kept pestering her.
She covered the wound on her abdomen, took a deep breath, and staggered towards the west wing, with the smell of blood lingering around her.
Push open the door.
A small candle was burning in the room, and Shen Jiansheng was sitting at the table with a book in his hands.
He had changed into his usual dark robe, his crown and sash removed, his long hair loosely bound with a few strands of gold thread. The candlelight cast a soft shadow on his face, imbuing his otherwise handsome features with a quiet warmth.
Hearing the door open, he raised his head and looked over, a faint smile spreading across his eyes.
"Miss Qing," he was about to speak.
Then his eyes fell on her and his smile suddenly disappeared.
Shen Juansheng's face turned pale in an instant.
He stood up suddenly, and the chair fell backwards with him.
"you……"
He rushed to her in one step, his voice unsteady. He reached out his hand, wanting to touch her, his fingertips trembling violently just an inch from her wound.
Qing Guiyu ignored him and just slammed the bone token, still stained with blood, on the table in front of him.
"They're from Northern Xinjiang," she said succinctly, her voice a little weak. "They just sneaked in. I took care of them."
Shen Juansheng's gaze didn't fall on the token at all, but was fixed on the wound on her lower abdomen.
He pulled her to sit on the edge of the couch, trembling, and reached out to untie her belt.
"I'll do it myself." Qing Guiyu held his hand down, and the pain from the wound made cold sweat break out on her forehead.
He didn't insist anymore, but just stood aside, staring at her wound.
Qing Guiyu tore open her clothes. The wound wasn't deep, but it was long and narrow, with the skin and flesh tucked up, looking a bit scary. She took out the medicine from her bosom and was about to apply it when Chen Jiansheng took the medicine bottle from her hand, poured out the powder, and carefully spread it on her.
The fingertips are cold, but the movements are gentle.
The whole room was so quiet that only her suppressed breathing could be heard.
"Why,"
Finally, he bandaged her wound and tied a neat knot before he spoke slowly, his voice very soft.
"No one asked for help?"
Qing Guiyu was stunned by his question.
Yeah, why?
She usually didn't have the habit of traveling with others, and during the fierce battle just now, she was only thinking about how to defeat the enemy and survive, and she actually forgot about it.
No, not all of it was forgotten.
Junior brother is recovering from his injuries, so we can’t disturb him.
This thought was almost subconscious at the time.
Seeing that she didn't answer, Shen Juansheng's face turned even colder. He squatted down and raised his head. This clever and dangerous disaster was looking at her so close.
"You don't want to alarm Brother Lu, right?" he said lightly.
Qing Guiyu felt uneasy when he looked at her, so she simply turned her head away and didn't look at him.
"My senior brother is injured." This was the only excuse she could give.
"Hmm," Shen Juan replied in a low voice, his voice blurring out emotions.
He was silent for a moment, and the air in the whole room seemed to be frozen by his silence.
Then, Qing Guiyu heard him ask in a very light voice, so light that it seemed like it would break at any time.
"What about me?"
"Miss Qing," the young man's voice began to tremble, "I'm right here."
"I can kill him, but I can also protect you and prevent you from getting hurt."
"Why... don't you want to call me?"
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