Book 14: Chapter 70
Slimeball Among Slimeballs Among Slimeballs (Part 6)
For some reason unbeknownst to the rest of his allies, Song Chi shelled up and refused to clash with Liu Shan Men. In other words, he planned to sit back unless the safety of his allies was compromised. Nevertheless, Xun Feng was no slouch in a strategist role.
They were fully aware that chariotry would be the most challenging event for them. Tang Ye was correct in his assessment that they didn’t excel at horse riding in spite of them growing up around martial arts. They had the basics down, while he had gone beyond the basics. That, however, didn’t mean they were limited to only a contest of speed.
While the drugs did play a role in creating the big distance between them at the start, it only delayed Tang Ye by a smidge. The formation Xun Feng designed was actually what kept Tang Ye at bay. At the right distance, the three of them formed an invisible qi barrier. It was a popular practice for martial artits to don an armour of qi, but only advanced practitioners of internal disciplines could deflect blades from a distance with their qi armour. Xun Feng, Bai Yumo and Ling Shaoxuan were all in the advanced category.
To maximise their combination, Xun Feng arranged for Bai Yumo’s broadsword qi to act as the vanguard, while Ling Shaoxuan released waves of sword qi towards the rear. Xun Feng used his temple’s discipline to synthesise their internal energies into a single source since he was the best among them at delicate control of internal energy, empowering him to adjust as needed. Xun Feng used their qi barrier to reduce the wind resistance they experienced, thereby compensating for their lack of skill in addition to blocking attacks from the rear.
“I never expected them to be capable of this.” Tang Ye flicked stones at the trio from Su Xiao’s horse multiple times to no avail.
To erect that barrier was proof of competence, but Xun Feng pioneered a new level when he synthesised three different disciplines’ qis simultaneously.
Tang Ye was so focused on trying to hinder the trio that it was too late when he realised Su Xiao had mentally veered off track. Su Xiao had forgotten the contest, even the fact that he was on horseback, and was dead set on verifying one suspicion – was Ling Shaoxuan Six Blades’ Bronze Mask?
Because of his conversation with Xiang Baxian, Su Xiao couldn’t stop imagining Bronze Mask splitting Ming Feizhen in two. He slowly released his hold on the reins and stood up on the horse. Unlike his hair blowing against his cheeks and billowing clothes, he didn’t wobble whatsoever.
Tang Ye grabbed the reins in a hurry, took over the driver role and looked up at Su Xiao. He looked ready to go to hell and back.
“Ling Shaoxuan! Take this!” Su Xiao whipped out a silver streak with Ancient Cold.
Not only did Su Xiao’s slash tear down the barrier upon impact, but it also unbalanced them. However, only one person fell off his horse – Ling Shaoxuan. The other two’s horses frantically ramped up their pace.
Although he didn’t know what Su Xiao did, Tang Ye decided he couldn’t let Su Xiao’s efforts go to waste, so he sped past the Ling Shaoxuan and Su Xiao, who fell to the ground, as well.
Nobody was more flabbergasted than Xun Feng. He never detected the incoming attack from behind. He only reacted after Su Xiao’s attack cut through the barrier. He vividly remembered feeling a chilly sensation down his spine from his neck. Even after he and Bai Yumo rode some distance away from the zone of the attack, he still couldn’t stop his trembling.
The barrier’s primary purpose was to prevent the wind slowing them down, so it didn’t cost much true qi. For that reason, it wasn’t particularly suitable for defending against strong attacks. If the three of them were stationary, Tang Ye would’ve taken five palm strikes, at most, to break it. That said, Xun Feng would’ve realised the barrier was under attack. If there was someone who’s internal energy was ten times more potent than his, then he’d sense their attack due to the magnitude of incoming energy. Nobody was denying that there were people who could get in and take out a target without anyone realising, but that was just compressing qi to the point that the target couldn’t react in time. The moment the barrier went down, though, he’d still be alerted, yet Xun Feng never realised what happened until Ling Shaoxuan fell. It’d even be reaching to say that all Divine Realm adepts could’ve pulled it off using their Eclipse.
Xun Feng had been to Shaolin, met the Western Regions’ top monk… the supposed greatest in all the lands, Di Shitian. His shifu was also one of the top martial artists in the world. Still, Eclipse wasn’t sufficient to explain Su Xiao’s attack. Eclipse concealed presences, but it didn’t magically change the method for breaking a qi barrier. Therefore, mayhap he would’ve realised his barrier fell a little later than usual, but that wasn’t the problem. The scariest part was how Su Xiao broke the barrier. Google search 𝐟𝓇𝘦𝒆w𝚎𝐛n𝐨ν𝙚𝚕. c𝚘ｍ
Rather than describe it as Su Xiao breaking the barrier, it was more as though… he sucked the barrier into oblivion or… it was cancelled out when the two energies came into contact, so the trio couldn’t have reacted in time even if Su Xiao attacked the barrier while they were watching. It was unscientific from a martial arts standpoint. Or rather, it was impossible to understand if viewed through a martial arts lenses.