Their original plan was perfect.
They would ambush Lian Cheng and the two others, and with their eight-man strength, they were sure to catch them. No escape was possible.
However, the situation went against their expectations. The second disciple of Huashan, who was a young man, was using the Purple Mist Inner Strength. His movements were incredibly fast. He wielded two swords in harmony, and his power was that of a top-tier master. This shocked them even more.
Furthermore, this young man was decisive. He was willing to get hurt to break through their encirclement, allowing the young nun to escape, and then he single-handedly held them back.
This was truly troublesome!
Not only did the young nun escape, but their identities had been exposed!
“What do we do?” one of them asked.
“What else can we do? Kill him!”
Someone answered, “This kid is a monstrous genius. He must be Yue Buqun’s most beloved disciple. If we kill him, Huashan will be severely weakened!”
Another person chimed in, “Exactly! There is no evidence to link us to this. What can the old nun and Yue Buqun do?”
Someone else said, “In that case, let's attack with all our might and end this quickly. If we wait for the old nun, we will have missed the best opportunity!”
The eight black-clothed men exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.
They then surrounded Lian Cheng once again, choosing not to pursue Yi He.
Lian Cheng, upon seeing this, felt a sense of relief. He was safer on his own. He may not have been the strongest, but his Lingbo Microsteps could be used for escape.
Only two of the black-clothed men, the ones with top-tier strength, could possibly catch him. The rest were only second-tier, and he could easily leave them behind. Thus, he didn’t need to worry too much right now.
However, he still needed to delay them to prevent them from going after Yi He.
He raised his dual swords and kept his eyes on the two top-tier masters. The second-tier ones were not worth his attention.
“Songshan Sect, you dare to ambush me? Today, I will show you my self-created Lian Cheng Swordsmanship! First move, Fengqiao Yebo!”
“Moon sets, wild geese cry, frost fills the sky, / River maples, fishing fires, confront my troubled sleep. / Outside Gusu city, Cold Mountain Temple, / Midnight bell sounds reach my guest boat.”
As he recited the poem, Lian Cheng launched his attack. His right hand wielding the cold-light sword thrust towards one of the top-tier black-clothed men, while his left hand, wielding the long sword, used the Jade Maiden Eighteen Styles to attack the other top-tier man.
Upon seeing this, the two top-tier black-clothed men immediately met his attack with their own swords.
The three men and their four swords clashed, exchanging blows in a flurry of movements. In a blink of an eye, they had exchanged more than a dozen moves.
Lian Cheng's Left-Right Dual-Wielding Technique had reached a level of mastery. He effortlessly combined his two swords, and the two exquisite swordsmanship techniques complemented each other seamlessly, allowing him to fight two opponents at once without falling behind.
The two top-tier black-clothed men were shocked. They never expected Lian Cheng to be so powerful. Using different sword techniques with both his left and right hands was already extraordinary, but the fact that he could also combine them flawlessly to unleash the power of seasoned top-tier masters was simply astounding.
For a while, they were unable to subdue Lian Cheng.
As for the remaining six second-tier men, they didn't dare join the fight. Their strength simply wouldn't allow it!
The second-tier black-clothed man who had been thrown off by Lian Cheng earlier wanted to join the fight and avenge himself. However, Lian Cheng suddenly used his strange body technique and launched a sneak attack, piercing the second-tier man's shoulder. Had the two top-tier men not intervened in time, the second-tier man would have been killed.
This kid, he was incredibly powerful!
Huff! Huff! Huff!
Lian Cheng was not feeling too well either. Combining his two swords, while effective, consumed a lot of inner strength.
He was already panting heavily. If he ran out of inner strength, it would be the end for him. So, he couldn't panic and had to conserve as much inner strength as possible.
However, if he ran out of inner strength, he would fall behind against the two top-tier men.
And he also had wounds. Prolonged combat was out of the question.
It seemed like an unsolvable dilemma.
“Yi He Shijie (Sister Yi He), please run as fast as you can. Once you are far away, I won’t need to hold back these guys, and I can just run away myself!”
Lian Cheng muttered in his heart, but he continued to engage the two top-tier black-clothed men. However, as he fought, he noticed that the swordsmanship used by the two men suddenly became familiar.
“Songshan Swordsmanship?”
It made sense. They were under Zuo Lengchan, so it was normal for them to know Songshan Swordsmanship.
They probably felt that they couldn’t defeat Lian Cheng with standard swordsmanship, so they chose to use the more powerful Songshan Swordsmanship. Their identities had already been revealed, so there was no need to hide anymore.
However, what they didn't know was that Lian Cheng had learned the Cave Swordsmanship.
The Cave Swordsmanship contained swordsmanship from all five sects of the Five Peaks, as well as techniques to counter them. Even though the Songshan Swordsmanship had been modified by Zuo Lengchan, the core principles were still the same, and the countering techniques were naturally similar.
Lian Cheng’s heart filled with joy. The purple aura on his face faded slightly as he pretended to be out of inner strength.
He was actually reducing the consumption of the Purple Mist Inner Strength and secretly recovering his power.
The two top-tier men were overjoyed. They immediately intensified their attacks. However, they soon realized that their Songshan Swordsmanship, every move and technique, seemed to be seen through by Lian Cheng. He even countered them in strange ways.
For example, the technique Open the Door and Meet the Mountain, a large and powerful move with a fierce and violent attack. But Lian Cheng often used his sword as a staff, deflecting the sword technique back every time. It was as if he was saying, “You want to open the door and meet the mountain? I’ll bash your head with a stick, and see if you still want to meet the mountain.”
This was incredibly frustrating!
After dozens of moves of Songshan Swordsmanship, they felt less satisfied than when they used their standard swordsmanship earlier!
One of them immediately said, “Stop using sect swordsmanship. This kid seems to have seen through the flaws in our swordsmanship and knows how to counter it. We need to switch to other sword techniques.”
The other man quickly agreed. “Good! This kid is about to collapse. Let’s push harder!”
The two of them immediately changed their swordsmanship. As expected, they were no longer countered by Lian Cheng. Their attacks became fierce again.
Fortunately, Lian Cheng had reduced his output earlier, so he had recovered somewhat and wasn’t defeated by this fierce attack. But the situation was still precarious.
He secretly calculated the time and figured that Yi He should be far away.
Then, his eyes lit up. He looked into the distance and cried out in delight, “Master, save me!”
The eight black-clothed men were startled. They subconsciously turned their heads to look, but saw nothing but scenery. There was no master, no Yue Buqun!
Damn it! This cunning little bastard!
Lian Cheng had already taken advantage of their moment of distraction. He unleashed his Lingbo Microsteps and charged towards the second-tier black-clothed man who he had injured. In the man’s terrified eyes, he quickly sealed his acupoints, then grabbed his throat and lifted him up. He slammed the man into the two top-tier black-clothed men.
The two top-tier men had no choice but to catch their teammate, but they found him limp and lifeless.
They saw that his throat had been crushed.
They then looked back at Lian Cheng, who had already taken this opportunity to dart a great distance away. Relying on the speed of his Lingbo Microsteps, he fled towards the county.
“Damn it! Chase him!”
The seven black-clothed men immediately gave chase. Then, they quickly split into two teams. The second-tier men were simply too slow and were quickly left behind by the two top-tier men.
The two top-tier men didn’t care. They focused all their strength on pursuing Lian Cheng.
If they let Lian Cheng escape, they wouldn’t be able to explain themselves when they went back.