Chapter 111: Zhao Xiaoyu

　　It seemed like just with a clap of the hands, the opponent could easily lose his precious life.

　　That was a depressing feeling, but he did not let it hinder him.

　　Without closing his eyes, he allowed the fear to creep through his body. He remained unmoved.

　　All of a sudden, the pressure was released. He was relieved, but a palm was right in front of him, at a distance of an inch. He lifted his left leg and leaned backward. He came in at an extremely acute angle towards the opponent’s elbow. It felt his body was light like feather, which was what allowed him to perform such a move.

　　This movement too existed in Shen Lian’s previous life. It was similar to what was known as Yoga. Yoga’s primary focus was the three meridians and seven cycles. Unlike the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, it was another body of cultivation.

　　Shen Lian’s spiritual consciousness observed that in the middle of the opponent’s body, there was a blue Qimai. It was the main path of his energy source, and it was almost aligned with the spine.

　　The opponent’s speed was as fast as lightning, but under Shen Lian’s senses, it was played at a much slower speed.

　　Shen Lian easily dodged the opponent’s perfect leg sweep. At the same time, his palm went like “Yecha exploring the sea”, which landed on the chest of the man with staged eyebrows.

　　He fell hard to the ground and landed on his back and bum. With the momentum, the blue Qimai has almost blown away entirely. Without the protection of the mystical power, the fall was even more painful. He could not help but moan.

　　Shen Lian laughed at how the man lost his composure and said, “This move, “Fall of the Bum like a Crane” is pretty amazing.”

　　The weird-browed man was extremely irritated. He could not gather Qi in his body. He stood up using his hands as support and said, “You can treat me however you want since I lose today. However, my master wants to invite you over tonight at the North Lake Cuiyun Pavilion for a drink. Would you be willing to go?”

　　North Lake was the red light district of Shendu City, which was all about sensual pleasures. Places like brothels, theatres were everywhere. Some people even claimed the even the water of North Lake smelled like women’s fragrances.

　　“Since I am invited, why not?” Shen Lian smiled.

　　The weird-browed man initially thought that Shen Lian would release his anger on him and reject the invite. He did not expect Shen Lian to say yes.

　　This person was indeed powerful. He should have listened to his master to not test the waters. He still could not tell how deep his power could go, but Shen Lian could easily spot his Achilles heel.

　　The weird-browed man took out an invitation card. The fragrance was still lingering. It was a pleasant smell – it was the smell of Otherworldly.

　　Otherworldly was a precious spiritual item. When cultivators practiced Qi, by lighting up one of those Otherworldly incense, it could help calm the spirit and also the circulation of inner Qi. Over time, it could help improve the spirit.

　　The invitation card was obviously brought out from a silent room that had a burning Otherworldly. One should not underestimate such a person who could afford such luxury.

　　The reason why Ye Liuyun was seeking to kill Bai Yunfei was because he stole the Otherworldly. Even with accumulation throughout the years, the Otherworldly was still rare at the Mingjian Peak and was rarely used.

　　The weird-browed man could consider above average in Jianghu, but he was merely a servant. It explained how powerful his master was.

　　For someone who did not know any manners, Shen Lian thought that some punishments were appropriate.

　　The invitation card wrote the following:

　　“It is a good night for moon watching, hence I invite you over for a drink. Please don’t turn it down. Signed by, Zhao Xiaoyu.”

　　Shen Lian was looking at the rather neat handwritings of the host. It expressed the relaxed demeanor of the writer. He could imagine the person who wrote this, did it in a room filled with smoke, behind some silver curtains and used a pen which was probably was a brow pen – a cosmetic tool for ladies to fill in their brow.

　　Shen Lian had his reason to attend. It was not because the host was a beautiful woman, but since she took notice of him, they would have certainly crossed path. He could take the chance to know about the person better.

　　He answered, “I will attend.”

　　The weird-browed man nodded, but he did not leave.

　　Shen Lian asked, “What more do you want?”

　　The weird-browed man asked in a curious manner, “Are you letting me go just like that?”

　　“Do you wish that I would kill you out of anger?” Shen Lian laughed and lifted his hand as if he was going to do something.

　　The weird-browed man stepped back instinctively and said, “Why shouldn’t you? That was what I was thinking before.”

　　“Are you not afraid of death?” Shen Lian asked.

　　The weird-browed man said, “I am not.” He was not trying to act tough, but he never had the thought of being afraid of death.

　　Shen Lian put down his hand, and said, “Well if you’re not afraid of death, why should I kill you? You can go.”

　　Shen Lian believed him and went into the clinic.

　　Since Shen Lian applied spiritual pressure on the weird-browed man, he realized while this man expressed fear, but he was not affected by it. He was also indeed, not afraid of death. Survival was every living being’s instinct, but it seemed that there were other instincts in his body which replaced the one for survival.

　　It was the first time for him to encounter such situation.

　　There were many cultivator families other than Qing Xuan. There were other good families which had crazy tricks that Shen Lian could never imagine. It seemed that there were some mysteries still within Shendu City.

　　Shen Lian filled the basin up with clean water. He threw a paper rune inside and the water reflected someone’s silhouette. It was shaking for a bit, but it looked like the weird-browed man and he was circling in the city.

　　The moment when the weird-browed man was hit, Shen Lian had planted his spiritual consciousness in him. Later, he used the talisman to follow him from afar. Although he was not a part of the land immortals, he could still see up to a perimeter of a thousand miles. Nothing escaped his eyes. If one reached the level of Daoist Master or Buddha, just by using the mental perception, nothing would be left out, up to the Nine Heavens and down to the Nine Underworlds.

　　It was the first time he used this trick and it seemed the effect was decent. The only concern was that the image was a bit blurry and the quality was bad.

　　Looking at the basin filled with water and the image inside it, Shen Lian remembered how in his past life, this was something like a surveillance camera.

　　Ruoxi was squatting at the side and watching the image. She found it to be rather amusing. She was much smarter than any average kids. She did not put her hand into the water, nor asked a lot of questions.

　　Lastly, an image of a mysterious lady appeared. Her face was covered by a thin veil. She suddenly appeared in front of the man with staged eyebrows. She swung her arm and the image disappeared. There was only the talisman left in the water.

　　Shen Lian frowned as he felt that he heard this, “You will be able to see me tonight, why are you so nervous?”

　　It was indeed impressive that she could detect his tricks.

　　****

　　The moon was beautiful at night and there were little stars scattering around in the sky. It was softly lit. There was a bright moon in the middle of the lake, and it matched well with the lanterns around.

　　There was a Hua Fang in the lake; sounds of singing, and the melodies from musical instruments.

　　Some fishes in the lake too occasionally surfaced to swallow the little sprinkles floating on the surface.

　　A small boat came out from the Hua Fang, and stopped somewhere.

　　

1. 夜叉探海 － A move in martial arts.