As Zhu Liu Shi infiltrated the emperor’s harem, he found it strangely devoid of imperial guards, but not dingshes. If the imperial guards weren’t fulfilling their duty, then the dingshes would.
However, he never expected to see Shi Ying here. He was an experienced and skilled warrior in his own right, but Zhu Liu Shi dispatched him with a well-placed strike, after a short exchange.
As he died, a mixture of shock and surprise registered across his face as he crumpled to the ground.
Zhu Liu Shi felt no remorse as he continued his path, taking the lives of each concubine one by one. Their screams barely sounded like feline purrs to his ears as he cut their throats, silencing them with ruthless efficiency.
Not long after, he found himself locked in a duel against Shi Tong and Shi Chen. As hard as he tried to end the fight quickly. He’d realised their prowess had improved drastically over the past sixteen years.
They countered his attacks perfectly. When Tong deflected, Chen was there to counterattack him. It was as if they’d created their own formation, yet, it didn’t feel like a true formation.
“It’s been a while Senior Liu…” Shi Chen said smugly.
Zhu Liu Shi grunted in response, only to feel Shi Tong’s Qi pulsing, readying to flank him from behind.
“Big Brother Liu, its good to see you, have you come back from the dead to rejoin the Cauldron?” Shi Tong asked.
“Once a dingshe, always a dingshe, Tong’er, you know this.”
“Indeed, but tell us Senior, why did you join up with Zhu Mo Shi.”
“Join?” Zhu Liu Shi scoffed. “I was forced into my situation, unlike the two of you. Shi Yusheng lied to me. He told me Master had requested my presence in the library. had I not been filial, unlike him I would’ve been here…and you two with master”
“You can still be j--“
“That time has passed” he said firmly, stopping Shi Chen from finishing his sentence.
As much as he didn’t want to admit it, Zhu Liu Shi was annoyed, annoyed with how easily these miscreants were able counterattack his attacks without much effort.
When he last saw them, they both were of the Mind Awakening Realm. Now, not so much, but they were of the Divination Realm, but fought as though they were of the Accentuation Realm. Its no wonder they are guarding the first prince, it means the possibility of them becoming the next Zhu is high.
As the air grew thicker with tension, He tried to calm himself, as much as he wanted to end this fight. He needed to ensure that he would still have enough strength to deal with the remaining to dingshes that were guarding the emperor, the ones that replaced him and Shi Jiu.
Shi Tong appeared behind and waving his spear in over-arching slash. He stopped mid-thrust, then shifted to a left-hand grip.
Zhu Liu Shi saw the shift, and pivoted right, hitting him the chest with the back of his hand. Shi Tong spun, dragging the tip of the spear across his face, effectively cutting Zhu Liu Shi arm.
He snarled out in pain, dabbing the flesh wound on his right hand, but quickly reorientated himself as Shi Chen appeared in front of him, spear pointed at his chest.
Zhu Liu Shi swirled the Qi within his Mind Dantian, surging it into meridians that led to his eyes.
A ball of Qi rippled to his left, right by his left shoulder, Zhu Liu Shi stopped and waited to see if the Qi-marker aimed at his shoulder would’ve moved.
It didn’t.
Zhu Liu Shi spun violently, and raked his sword in an upward stroke, cutting the tip of Shi Tong’s spear off. The Qi swirling within Zhu Liu Shi flooded it to his legs.
He tapped the ground, performing an Instantaneous Step, spinning and kicking Shi Tong in the chest, then brought his sword down in an overarching slash. Shi Chen appeared, blocking his attack and launched a rapid counterattack, his sword flashing and cutting through the air.
Zhu Liu Shi was forced to parry and dodge, his movements growing increasingly desperate as he struggled to hold his ground against the younger dingshes.
The air vibrated with a palpable energy, the sound of steel-on-steel echoing throughout the first prince palace halls. Zhu Liu Shi’s sword sliced through the air, but missed Shi Chen’s neck again.
Shi Tong’s spear danced around his defences, probing for any weaknesses, but found none…luckily.
The two battled as though in formation, their Qi were synced, but not perfect, but it was still infuriatingly effective, as their movements perfectly synchronize.
If one attacked, the other would defend leaving no room for Zhu Liu Shi to counter. He knew he was running out of time, and the frustration only served to fuel his determination to defeat them.
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As hard as Zhu Liu Shi tried, the momentum if the battle didn’t swing his way as his concentration begun to wane, forcing him to make mistakes by the second, mistakes that hadn’t cost him…yet.
The longer the battle went on, the more he realised. They can’t overpower me…they trying to drain me of my Qi! That’s the basis of their formation. I’m so stupid!
Zhu Liu Shi surged a large amount of his Qi into his sword. He raised his sword above his head and felt his Qi thrum alongst the blade.
Shi Tong and Shi Chen eyes gapped from the sight of the surging Qi and raised their spear and sword in unison.
As he continually charged the attack, he began to envision what he wanted to form at the tip of his sword. The Qi began swirling at the tip, forming into a boulder and once he felt he’d channelled enough, the irises of eyes turned colourless, just like his Qi.
This attack, was one he’d created on his own, he didn’t have a name for it, but it this moment, it came to him, as anything would…naturally. Shattering Boulder Slash!
Zhu Liu Shi brought his sword down with vigorous err. The Qi-Boulder shot across the room swelling as it got closer to the Shi Tong and Shi Chen, beads of sweats running down their faces.
The two men crossed each other, and thrusted their sword and spears and began attacking Shattering Boulder Slash as if it were a real boulder, threading their swords and spears through, after eighteen strikes.
The Qi blast dissipated into wisps of Qi, fluttering around the room like mist, leaving Zhu Liu Shi infuriated…but mostly shock.
Zhu Liu Shi growled, feeling his Qi reserves were drained, making him unable to perform an instantaneous step in hopes of flanking them. Damn that Shi Hai, if she hadn’t wasted anytime listening to her, my concentration wouldn’t have lapse to this level. I need to retreat!
Defiance, that’s all he had left, so that’s all he could give.
Zhu Liu Shi raised his hand to the sky and fired a blast of Qi into the air. The roof exploded above and splinters of wood, shedding and splinters dropped from the ceiling halting Shi Tong and Shi Chen’s charge. He swirled himself around, then charged at the wall located at the south.
The wall crumbled from Zhu Liu Shi shoulder barge the moment he struck. If there was a time for him to be celebrating the site of candles and stairs. It would be now.
He leapt down the stairs, falling into another secret passage way under the Dragon Palace. As he sprinted, he could feel Shi Tong and Shi Chen aura swirling behind him, their weapons singing through the air as they chased him down.
Zhu Liu slid across the ground, then ran up the wall. A dinging thunk echoed beneath him. He turned, noticing Shi Tong’s spear had barely missed him by a whisker.
He looked up, checking the top of the passage way and raised his hand once more, unleashing a much more powerful Qi blast.
A loud reverberating groan echoed through the passage way as the roof began to collapse. Zhu Liu Shi surged more Qi into his meridians, feeling them began to get hot, but he didn’t care, he needed to follow the First Prince.
He knew the prince had retreated down the secret passage way and Shi Tong and Chen were meant to slow him down, but now with a tunnel collapsed, he was in the clear to finish off the prince.
As he sped through the tunnels, he swirled the Qi within his Soul Dantian and nurtured it to his Core and Mind Dantian, then he practiced his internal arts, hoping his Qi would alliterate some of the strain of his battle.
This method of practice wasn’t an adapt form, but with the battles that he’d just went through, he couldn’t afford to sit down and meditate.
The deeper he got into the tunnels, the more cautious he became, but he needed more than caution. He needed an edge. An edge that’ll cost him.
Zhu Liu Shi swirled the Qi within his Mind Dantian and allowed his Qi to flow into his meridians that led to his eyes. Despite how drained he was, he still persisted in using his Qi Perception eyes. It allowed him to follow the faint traces of Qi left by the first prince.
Eleven traces of Qi appeared within the tunnels. The traces were of varied width, with one large one, centred. Why is there such a large Qi trace here? He mused. “That doesn’t look good.”
Zhu Liu Shi followed the Qi traces for over a thousand meters, making his trek more arduous than he anticipated, especially with how the tunnels twisted and turned in a labyrinthine manner.
He could feel his Qi reserves depleting, but he pressed on, driven by his determination to fulfill his mission.
As he rounded a corner, Zhu Liu Shi caught sight of the first Prince, he doubled back, ensuring he didn’t make a noise and pressed his back up against the wall.
“Langeng, you’re lying, Jin’er can’t be dead!”
“I saw his body!” Langeng huffed.
“Master Hao,”
“Yes Young Prince, the young prince has been killed, but fear not, one of the Imperial Guards got revenge for you.”
“Revenge?”
“Yes, he claimed the assassin’s head, sacrificing himself in the process.”
“What do you mean?”
“To kill the assassin, the guard had to get within the assassin’s blade length. Once he was within range, he then took the assassins head, then died when his heart was pierced.”
Shi Jiu…is dead?
Rage.
That’s what roiled through Zhu Liu Shi’s mind. He and Shi Jiu never saw eye to eye, but during their isolation within the last sixteen years, respect had blossomed between them.
Zhu Liu Shi knew the bitterness the enshrouded Shi Jiu’s heart. Out of the three of them, his burns were the worst, which made him melancholic at times.
It also made Zhu Liu Shi feel a great pity for him.
But that pity…had turned to revenge!
Zhu Liu Shi swirled all the Qi from his Soul, Core and Mind Dantian and used an instantaneous step, appear a few meters short of the first prince.
The three guards that surrounded Prince Sheng, were cut down in instant, as he waved his sword through the air like a leaf. He took another step, feeling his meridians tingling from the stress.
Zhu Liu Shi thrusted his blade at the prince, but an Imperial Guard jumped in the way. “GET OUT OF MY WAY!” He growled, spinning and decapitating the guard’s head from his body.
Prince Sheng turned left, and saw Zhu Liu Shi streaming towards him like the wind. The fright painted across his face was like any other Zhu Liu Shi had seen. His feet were stuck to the ground, making him the perfect target.
Zhu Liu Shi raised his sword above his head and brought it down. It didn’t have the malice and anger, he felt within his mind. He was as calm as sea, the little wind that flowed within the tunnels, fluttered past his ears, then he brought the sword down on the first prince’s head.
A loud song of metal rang out, deafening the ears around them. Zhu Liu Shi gnashed his teeth, feeling his meridians getting hot from over using his Qi, he spun, kicking the man wearing a blue and white Taoist robes and then brought his sword in upward slash. “RUN LITTLE PRINCE, I’LL HANDLE THIS MADMAN!” He shouted.
“If you value your life Taoist, you would walk away and leave the prince’s life in my hands,”
“…that’s just not something I can do…assassin.”