The momentum of fighting for one’s life is entirely different. The Flying Eagle Gang members, who had thought victory was absolutely certain, became a bit flustered. Despite being the dominant side, they actually experienced a sense of chaos under the counterattack.
Mu Aotie, who launched the counterattack first, naturally bore the brunt of it. He was instantly surrounded by several people. However, with a sword in his hand, he parried left and right, responding with agility and speed. Although he could not knock anyone down, he actually managed to barely block the joint attacks of several people, which also surprised those who were surrounding and attacking him in the chaos.
This was exactly the reason Yu Qing had winked at Mu Aotie earlier. He was telling Mu Aotie, “I am going up to catch the ringleader first, can you hold out?” Mu Aotie nodded to show he had no problem, and only then did Yu Qing feel reassured enough to go alone, ignoring everything else.
At this moment, Yu Qing had already broken through the obstruction alone and fought his way onto the roof.
The two falcons resting on the roof were startled once again and flew into the night sky. The Left and Right Protectors of the Flying Eagle Gang were greatly alarmed and hastily stepped in to intercept.
As soon as they made their move and engaged in close combat, the two Protectors regretted it. They knew they simply could not block the sword in Yu Qing’s hands. The changes were too fast, and yet they did not lack ferocity and power.
It was not just for show. In their entire lives, the two had never seen such sharp swordsmanship. It was soul-startling to come into contact with it. Only then did they realise their vision in the night was flawed, and they had not clearly seen their opponent’s strength beforehand.
For internal use by Xiaoshuoxia only,
It took only a single clash. The two Protectors immediately abandoned their duties, left the Gang Leader to his fate, and flew off to the left and right.
But they also left a little something of themselves behind.
Gong Ziting, who had rolled on the roof, pushed off the ground with both arms and flew away. He was a head shorter, as his two legs were gone. Even so, upon landing on the sand, he still flew away without hesitation, not even looking back, only feeling a burning pain in his back.
An Tianyin, who was flying away, left a spray of blood and water behind. After jumping from the temple and landing on the sand, he felt pain in his chin. The pain was so severe he could not move his feet to fly up again, and he felt the internal energy leaking from his body.
He raised his hand to touch his chin and felt a bloody gash. Suddenly, there was a rustling sound from his body, and a pile of things fell to the ground.
It was his intestines. He looked down and saw them, only then realising his stomach had been sliced open. He dropped to his knees with a thud, his face full of unbelievable terror.
Duan Yunyou watched helplessly as the Left and Right Protectors disappeared from his sight. He sucked in a cold breath, realising he had run headfirst into an iron wall.
How could this be? He could not quite figure it out himself. He also knew that those who came to Tianji Mountain to seek adventure and fortune had some skills, at least to some extent. But it was rare for someone to be as strong as the man before him. Charging into a group of Xuan level cultivators was like chopping melons and cutting vegetables. It was simply the difference between a fierce tiger and a flock of sheep.
A person with such strength would have a bright future wherever he went, and would never lack cultivation resources anywhere. Why would he run to Tianji Mountain to take risks? And moreover, as a subordinate in the Scorpion Gang.
The key point was that just earlier, he had been acting submissive and accommodating right in front of him. Where was the temper of a master?
He felt he might have been played for a fool.
However, there was no time to ponder too much at this moment. Before the sword light could strike, he waved his hand and flung his cloak. Several streaks of cold light shot out.
Yu Qing, who was rushing in to kill, had his sword light flickering and surging in a chaotic manner. It struck out a series of clanking sounds, and the several streaks of cold light were knocked flying in all directions.
Duan Yunyou was greatly shocked. He had thought that at such a close distance, it would at least be enough to catch the opponent off guard. Who knew that the opponent’s speed of closing in was hardly affected at all? The momentum of a sword strike to seal the throat was still arriving in the blink of an eye.
Despite the imminent danger, he stood firmly in place without any evasion. He was only seen quickly raising his hand to block his throat.
Clang! A ringing sound. The sword light that arrived in a flash struck the palm of Duan Yunyou’s hand.
Duan Yunyou stood on the roof ridge, immovable. Cracks appeared on the stone beam beneath his feet.
Yu Qing, who had stepped and flown over the sloping roof, struck a sword from mid-air.
The scene of the two men, one standing and one flying up, seemed to freeze in an instant.
Yu Qing saw the bright silver gloves on the opponent’s hands. These chainmail gloves seemed familiar, except that the fingertips had sharp claws added to them.
He watched as Duan Yunyou’s clawed hand closed. Just as the sword struck the opponent’s palm, his sword blade was also grabbed by the opponent.
A cold sneer floated on Duan Yunyou’s face. His hand claws locked onto the prey like eagle claws. With a twist, he was about to snatch the sword.
How could Yu Qing be controlled by this? The Dragon Capturing Hand exerted force suddenly. The sword body twisted and bounced back. Swish! He pulled the sword back in one go.
A look of surprise instantly flashed in Duan Yunyou’s eyes. He had not expected his eagle claws to fail after succeeding, and he also felt that the explosive wrist strength of the opponent was even stronger than his own.
At the same time, he once again felt the extreme speed of the opponent’s sword. The moment the sword blade slipped from his grasp, it immediately pointed at his chest.
Clang! Another ringing sound.
Yu Qing’s face showed shock. He had thought this sword strike would be enough to kill the Gang Leader. Who knew the sword blade would meet hard resistance and could not advance a single fraction.
He had not expected the opponent to be invulnerable to blades and spears. Meanwhile, Duan Yunyou was no longer willing to tangle with him. Using the force of this strike, he quickly drifted backwards, as if he had been knocked away.
How could Yu Qing let him go? He tapped his foot on the eaves, intending to pursue and kill again. However, he saw a surging, angry shadow attacking his face. He immediately defended himself. His sword light stirred in a chaotic mess. A rapid and dense tearing sound rang out, along with some clanking sounds.
Pieces of torn cloth, like butterflies, danced in the moonlight. Some pieces of cloth struck the roof rapidly, making a crackling sound, revealing the hidden weapons nailed into the roof.
The offensive was thwarted. Yu Qing focused his eyes and saw that Duan Yunyou, who had flung out his cloak, had already quickly landed and fled into the desert. It seemed he had even looked back.
Yu Qing wanted to pursue and kill, but he turned his head to look at the noise of shouting and killing behind him. He saw Mu Aotie being surrounded. Without too much hesitation, he directly turned around and flew towards Mu Aotie, giving up the pursuit of the bandit leader. Protecting Mu Aotie from being lost was more important.
With his joining, although the Flying Eagle Gang had a large crowd, they instantly scattered like birds and beasts.
There was no other way. Even the Gang Leader and the two Protectors had been beaten and driven away. What the hell were they still holding out for here? They could not stop that expert anyway. Naturally, it was most important for them all to flee for their lives.
The morale of the Scorpion Gang members soared, and they actually took the initiative to scatter and pursue the enemy.
Duan Yunyou, who was flying rapidly through the desert, ran headlong into a group of people approaching. They were precisely those Flying Eagle Gang members who had previously attacked and killed Xu Fengji.
The two groups collided and stopped. The leader of the approaching group asked, “Gang Leader, why is there still the sound of fighting over at the temple?”
He felt it was strange. The fighting was still ongoing, so how had the Gang Leader left alone? Duan Yunyou did not answer this question. He glanced at the number of people on the other side and frowned, saying, “Why are there only about thirty people left?”
The leader hurriedly said, “The other side had no fighting spirit. Most of them were wiped out by us. Only five or six escaped. We suffered no casualties. It was that bitch Xu Fengji who ran fast. Over a dozen brothers went after her.”
Duan Yunyou was not surprised by this. This was also the reason he had let Tong Zaitian return to the Scorpion Gang. He coughed and said, “I am afraid they will not be able to catch up. Last time, they even killed Boss Cao, yet they let that woman escape. I have to say, that woman has a set of skills for escaping in the desert. I estimate that putting their base in the desert is related to this.”
The leader nodded. His gaze suddenly turned towards the temple, and he let out a sound of surprise. “The fighting seems to have ended. Who is coming over?”
Duan Yunyou did not know who was coming over either. He vaguely saw several figures flying over and directly waved his hand, saying, “Go!”
The group was stunned, not knowing what the Gang Leader meant by leaving this place behind. But they still followed him together. The leader chased after him and asked, “Gang Leader, where are we going?”
Where to? Duan Yunyou looked into the distance and casually replied, “We will talk about it later.”
He truly had no mind to answer. He was even somewhat anxious in his heart, and more regretful. He regretted telling Gong Ziting about the clue to the Qilin Ginseng. Now he was a bit worried that the injured Gong Ziting would fall into the hands of others.
The place he was now leading everyone to was precisely the escape route of the Left Protector, Gong Ziting. He wanted to find Gong Ziting as soon as possible.
The leader said again, “Gang Leader, a Tianya Pavilion has popped up over there. That mountain porter feels a bit off. When we launched our attack earlier, that guy seemed to deliberately make a noise to send a message to the Scorpion Gang. Should we go and investigate?”
Duan Yunyou asked, “Did it affect your ambush and killing?”
The leader replied, “Not really, it just felt disgusting, felt wrong.” Duan Yunyou said, “Since it did not affect your actions, it means the Scorpion Gang could not understand the signal. There is no need to make trouble with the mountain porter.”
He directly suppressed the idea. He had no mind to create extra branches now, nor did he dare to easily make a move against the mountain porter.
The Scorpion Gang members who had scattered to pursue the enemy gradually returned to the temple. When they left, they were in the high spirits of pursuing victory. As a result, they sobered up quickly. They did not chase too far and quickly shrank back.
The strong smell of blood at the scene made everyone who returned feel that the surroundings were unsafe. They all gathered around Yu Qing and Mu Aotie.
The two senior and junior martial brothers dragged over a heavily injured but still alive Flying Eagle Gang member and forced him to tell the sequence of events.
The fellow honestly confessed. Only then did the group know what the cause and effect were. It turned out that this place was actually the old nest of the Scorpion Gang. They had truly been fooled like fools by the Scorpion Gang.
After the interrogation was complete, Mu Aotie finished off the confessor with one sword strike and searched for the valuables on his body.
Someone immediately followed suit. Yu Qing’s gaze fell upon them, and he was immediately displeased. He waved his sword to point at them and rebuked, “None of you are allowed to move. Without me, you would all be dead. The money on them belongs to me. If you bite the hand that feeds you, ask the sword in my hand if it agrees!”
The person pointed at shouted, “We just want to help you drag the corpses over.”
Could they have such good intentions? Yu Qing did not believe it. However, he felt they could not make any trouble right under his nose. For convenience, he swung his sword blade and said, “Then move them over. Do not think about playing any tricks. My eyes are on you.”
Having finished speaking, he directly jumped onto the roof of the temple, overlooking and monitoring them from above.
He saw that the group indeed helped out, gathering the corpses around Mu Aotie, who was busy searching bodies.
Looking like this, Yu Qing discovered that there were over forty corpses left at the scene. A small portion of them were from the Scorpion Gang, caused by the Flying Eagle Gang’s siege. Now, including the two martial brothers, only eleven people were left alive. The busy Mu Aotie did not have time to organise the looted valuables at this time. He just stuffed anything valuable he saw into his arms.
Yu Qing continued to hold his sword and be responsible for keeping watch, preventing anyone from being greedy upon seeing the wealth and plotting something evil. Besides, he had already discovered that some people were secretly meeting and conspiring about something.
Three people who had just finished their secret meeting suddenly walked over together. The one in the middle stood below, cupped his hands towards the roof, and shouted, “Brother Zhu, what are your plans for the future?”
This was also the person who had previously said he would help move the corpses. Yu Qing could not remember his name, but felt he was quite active, which made him slightly uneasy. Thus, he rudely said, “What business is it of yours?”
The man said with a mix of crying and laughing, “I have no malicious intentions. I just feel that Brother Zhu is full of skills and is no ordinary creature in a pond. Why submit to others? The head of the Scorpion Gang died at the hands of the Flying Eagle Gang Leader, and the Flying Eagle Gang Leader fled in defeat under Brother Zhu’s hands. May I ask, in what way is Brother Zhu inferior to them? Why not establish yourself as the master?”