Chapter 52: Shaking

The old ape moved in a flash before the maiden, raising his arm and clenching his fist, he swung it in a wide arc towards the maiden's head.

The maiden parried with her green-sheathed narrow saber, the blade pointing directly at the old ape's wrist. Simultaneously, her longsword swiftly thrust towards the old ape's heart, the tip aimed at a precise point.

Unexpectedly, the old ape transformed the crude momentum of his descending arm, his five fingers nimbly grasping the blade of the saber. At the same time, his other hand, in a move utterly characteristic of his nature, seized the tip of the sword.

Clearly, the feigned murderous intent was a ruse to lure the maiden into a reckless sword strike.

Having hailed from the sword art sanctuary of Eastern Treasure Bottle Continent, the Mountain Moving Ape recognized the sword's extraordinary nature at a glance.

To this end, the old ape did not hesitate to expend a second surge of his vital energy.

Even though the sword tip had already pierced his chest skin, just an inch away from his heart.

Seeing the perilous situation, Ning Yao decisively released her grip on the sword hilt. Simultaneously, she forcefully attempted to withdraw her saber, the blade scraping against the old ape's palm, emitting a series of ear-piercing metallic sounds.

After withdrawing her saber, the maiden leaned back, her feet moving ceaselessly, swiftly retreating.

As expected, the old ape turned to the side, flinging the sword tip he grasped backward, sending the longsword flying dozens of yards away.

He then kicked out towards the maiden.

The maiden raised her right hand, which had been holding the sword, and was struck squarely by the old ape's kick. With a resounding crash, the maiden was sent flying twenty or so feet, her back slamming heavily against the ground. She tumbled several times before using her saber tip to brace herself, the blade digging a foot deep into the road, forcefully halting her sliding momentum. Fortunately, the soil of the streamside path was soft and loose, and the occasional pebbles were rounded and not sharp, preventing the maiden's back from suffering a bloody mess.

Giving the maiden no chance to catch her breath, the massive figure plummeted from the sky.

This time, the maiden did not even attempt to draw her narrow saber, retreating again and again.

The old ape did not pursue the maiden. After landing, he stood in place, one foot raised high, stepping on the hilt of the saber stuck in the road. When the maiden knelt on one knee and looked up, the old ape increased the pressure on his foot, driving the entire narrow saber deep into the ground until the hilt was level with the earth.

Wisps of purplish-gold energy slowly circulated on the old ape's face, appearing particularly dazzling in the deep night, as he mocked, "Practicing both saber and sword, neither donkey nor horse, neither fish nor fowl, such is your pathetic fate!"

The maiden stood up, forcefully swallowing a mouthful of blood. "Is that all you've got?"

The old ape shook his head and chuckled, "I was merely giving you another chance."

Ning Yao took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "In my homeland, in a life-and-death battle, no one cares who your parents are. If you have the ability to kill me honorably, it will be my own lack of skill. If my parents learn of the reason and the process in the future, at most they will come to Eastern Treasure Bottle Continent to trouble you, and will absolutely not implicate Zheng Yang Mountain. So you can rest assured and fight without holding back..."

This was the first time the old ape had heard the maiden speak so eloquently, a far cry from the aloof, veiled maiden he remembered.

Therefore, the moment the back of the old ape's neck felt a chill, he suddenly turned his head.

A white streak grazed past his neck, the sword's edge leaving a shallow wound.

If he hadn't turned his head, even if it hadn't pierced his neck in one go, it would have been a serious injury. He would have truly capsized in a gutter, one wrong step leading to many more. The thought of prematurely revealing his true form and losing the moral high ground, leaving him with no room to bargain with Qi Jingchun and Ruan Shi, possibly endangering his young mistress to face various crises alone in this world, finally ignited the Zheng Yang Mountain old ape's fury for the third time.

The flying sword did not return to its sheath but circled around the maiden, spinning rapidly, seeking favor from its master.

Seeing this scene, the old ape laughed in extreme anger, roaring with laughter, "Good, good, good! I wasn't satisfied with that fight with Song Changjing anyway, so I'll play with you properly next! I just wonder if you know if your few pounds of flesh and bones can withstand a few heavy blows?!"

The maiden carefully observed the purplish-gold energy on the old ape's face, her brows furrowing slightly. Contrary to her expectation that things would not go beyond three times, the old ape still had some energy to spare even after using his supernatural powers three times, not to the point where the embankments of his major acupoints collapsed, forcing him to display his true form. Moreover, the matter of lifespan reduction was extremely fatal to human cultivators below the fifth realm, and it was certainly painful for a Mountain Moving Ape, but not as fatal as it would be for others.

The maiden's fingers twitched slightly, and the longsword spun lightly in response. She smiled and said, "No wonder my father said that your Zheng Yang Mountain of Eastern Treasure Bottle Continent is not worth mentioning, known for its big talk, low sword dao, foolish people, and shallow sword energy."

The old ape's beard and hair stood on end as he roared, "Courting death!"

He pounced on the ignorant and arrogant maiden.

Ning Yao did not engage in battle, fleeing north.

Along the way, she faced perilous situations at every turn. If not for the flying sword having gained two characters from the "Qi Chong Dou Niu" plaque, causing its sword energy and spiritual intent to surge simultaneously, and its possessing a telepathic connection with the maiden, able to react instantly to her thoughts, the sword itself behaving like an unruly entity, it would not have been able to repeatedly thwart the old ape's thunderous attacks, helping its master to narrowly escape death time after time.

If it were a natal treasure painstakingly nurtured by a sword cultivator, possessing such a close connection, the old ape would not have been surprised. But the old ape clearly sensed that the unsheathed longsword was by no means the strange maiden's natal flying sword.

She was more like an ordinary martial artist wandering the world, carrying a handy "divine weapon," only requiring the blade to be sharp enough. She had never followed the path of nurturing a sword heart or cultivating a sword spirit, the great dao of sword cultivation. But the maiden's strangeness lay in the fact that she was not entirely a martial artist. For martial arts masters focused on tempering their physical bodies, they pursued "the collapse of heaven and earth, yet my body remains immortal." If they were overshadowed by weapons, they would be reduced to a kind of unorthodox path.

Throughout the battle, the reason the old ape had been unable to capture the maiden, aside from the flying sword's interference, was that the maiden's skills were very diverse, encompassing sword cultivation, martial arts, and Qi cultivation, her aura pure and long-lasting. The old ape could not figure out which sect in Eastern Treasure Bottle Continent could train such a strange junior, so he became more cautious in his probing, wanting to determine her roots and origins.

In any case, as long as he didn't approach that small town, no matter how mixed the elements there were, the old ape would have no worries here.

The maiden's face, constantly fleeing, grew increasingly pale.

"At the end of your strength!"

The old ape sneered, "Not to mention whether you can hold out until you escape back to the small town, even if you succeed by luck, with someone to meet you, do you really think this old man can't kill you?"The old ape, with a sudden leap, disdained to haggle with the flying sword. He jumped over the girl's head, landed in her path, and turned to block her northward escape. With a single punch, he sent the flying sword hurtling over a hundred yards away. Yet, the relentlessly persistent blade, with a whoosh, returned in an instant, aiming for the old ape's head. Whenever the old ape tried to seize an opportunity to grasp the sword and imprison it in his palm, it would retreat cunningly, as if foreknowing his intentions, never lingering in battle. It flew like the wind, making defense nearly impossible. Despite the old ape's thick hide and resilience to injury, he was starting to appear somewhat disheveled.

Unwilling to confront the old ape head-on, the girl veered off course, running towards the northeast.

The old ape mirrored her movements, constantly posing a threat.

The old ape slapped away the flying sword that was rapidly approaching from the side, swatting at it like a fly. He struck the flying sword so hard that it embedded itself two feet into the ground. The flying sword struggled to free itself from the mud, wriggling like a woman twisting her waist. Finally, it managed to pull itself out, hovering in the air, its blade trembling violently, like an angry wildcat cub. Soon, it was once again hurtling menacingly towards the old ape.

The old ape, becoming increasingly impatient, couldn't help but ask, "Why is this flying sword able to ignore the rules of this place? What is your relationship with Qi Jingchun or Ruan Qiong?!"

Ning Yao was almost pressed into the ground by the old ape’s palm strike. As her body leaned backward, she reached out and gripped the hilt of the flying sword, and was forcefully yanked out of the old ape's reach. It felt like she was being dragged backward by her arm.

After being pulled back a short distance by the flying sword, the girl, for some reason, didn't take this opportunity to retreat into the town. Instead, she stopped, straightened her body, tilted her head, and spat out a mouthful of blood. The flying sword hovered beside her, humming, like an inquisitive child chattering endlessly to an elder, incessantly noisy.

The girl pressed her right hand against her left shoulder.

The old ape suddenly slowed his pace and laughed loudly, "Indeed, this flying sword that recognizes you as its master can disregard the rules. But a flying sword is just a flying sword. No matter how spiritually intelligent it may be, it's still not as good as you controlling it, little girl. It's a pity that your body and soul were severely injured in the town and haven't fully recovered. As a result, you simply can't handle controlling it. Therefore, the attacks are carried out autonomously by the sword, since you never really intended to seriously injure me. However, the defensive moves to save your life, must be controlled by your will."

The girl finally spoke again, "You talk too much."

Her lips were scarlet, her face as white as snow, and she wore a long, ink-green robe.

In the dead of night, the girl looked like a female ghost wandering through the countryside.

The old ape walked forward step by step, tsking, "You possess a good sword, but alas, your physique is weak. A strong branch on a frail trunk, how pitiful! You and that alleyway boy tried your best to make me exhale so as to trigger the backlash of this world. Little girl, now you might as well guess, after I use up this third breath and take a new one, will it provoke the wrath of the heavens? And will I be able to withstand that flood of seawater?"

The girl suddenly wore a playful smile, lightly tapping her toes and leaping backward, no more than a yard high or half a yard away.

The old ape, who intended to give chase, was somewhat puzzled, fearing a trick. He continued to walk slowly, determined to wait and see what happened.

Then the girl, still airborne, tapped her toes again. This time, she put a little more strength into it, rotating her ankle as well. So instead of leaping straight backward, she hopped to the right.

It turned out that before the girl's body could fall, the flying sword would swoop in to support her feet at the highest point in the air. Thus, the girl accurately borrowed force each time, continuing to dodge backward and upward.

Even the weathered old ape was stunned by the scene before him, which was strange and comical.

The girl resembled a little fawn hopping between squares, full of light and nimble energy, and soon disappeared into the night sky.

Perhaps worried that the old ape would suddenly launch a sneak attack, the girl's hops seemed extremely erratic, sometimes left, sometimes right, sometimes high, sometimes low, sometimes forward, sometimes backward.

The old ape twitched his lips, his expression complicated, "A true 'deer hanging its horns'." (an idiom for artful elusiveness)

However, the old ape didn't just stand by and watch the girl flee. He flicked his toe, casually picking up a stone, and held it in his hand, before launching it swiftly into the air.

One by one, stones were rapidly picked up from the ground by the old ape. Finally, in the old ape's hand, they gained a momentum like thunder rolling, shooting out.

Although most of the stones missed, seven or eight still posed a great threat to the girl, forcing her to control the flying sword to shatter the flying stones.

A series of booming sounds echoed in the night sky, like spring thunder blooming.

The old ape's eyes turned gloomy.

The girl was either insane, or a simple minded fool. Clearly she could use the flying sword in one breath, ascending to the high altitude where the stones would lose their power.

Instead, she insisted on maintaining a relatively consistent altitude, like light cavalry skirmishing on the edge of a battlefield, enticing the enemy archers to constantly expend arrows and energy.

Unknowingly, she had approached the west side of the town.

The old ape roughly calculated the remaining breath, there was not much left. He specially picked up two stones as big as a child's fist, one in each hand. He took a step forward, swung his arm, and his bulging muscles were raised high, startling. Where the stones passed through the air in his hand, they hissed, mixed with a long string of sparks, different from usual, like a slender fire dragon soaring into the sky.

The old ape shouted, "Get down here!"

A burst of dazzling lightning lit up in the high altitude, followed by spring thunder booming.

The girl groaned, and her whole body began to fall.

The flying sword, crooked like a drunkard, wailed incessantly, but still desperately swooped to its master.

The old ape didn't even look at the girl and the flying sword. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and stared at the rooftops on the west side of the town. When a dark shadow moved, the old ape heavily stepped out with the other foot, and the only stone left in his hand whizzed away. He laughed gleefully, "He who saves others dies first!"

The girl vomited blood and shouted, "Don't come out!"

The girl, already badly injured, couldn't bear to watch. At that moment, she was somewhat desperate. She grasped the sword hilt with difficulty, and when one arm could no longer hold on, she quickly switched hands, repeating this to constantly slow down her fall.

Ning Yao hadn't expected that it was her cleverness that had killed the boy.

The boy wore straw sandals, carried a basket, and a fishing creel, like the wind, he came and went every day, busily earning money and boiling medicine.

Ning Yao felt that it was wrong for such a boy to die like that!The girl swayed, barely keeping her balance after landing. She formed a sword with her index and middle fingers, pressing it against her forehead between her eyebrows. With gritted teeth, she commanded, "Emerge! Cleave this world asunder!"

A faint golden line appeared on the girl’s brow, spreading downwards like a divine eye opening.

Beneath the ancient arched bridge, now a covered walkway, a rusted old sword – its tip pointing into the water for countless millennia – stirred as if awakened from a long slumber, yawning.

The rust-covered tip of the sword trembled slightly.

The covered bridge trembled in response.

The entire stream trembled.

The small world trembled with it.

In a deep mountain range, Qi Jingchun, covered in dust, was leaving the mountains with several companions. This teacher, strolling leisurely along the mountain path, paused mid-stride, chuckled, and gently lowered his foot.

Old Man Yang, in the backyard of the Yang family shop, was dozing off by the oil lamp. Startled awake, he tapped his old pipe against the table.

Song Changjing, a powerful prince of the Great Li Dynasty, inexplicably jumped up and started cursing in his official residence.

In a blacksmith shop’s forging room, Ruan Qiong, who was responsible for hammering, missed his strike, causing the ponytail-wearing girl holding the sword blank to stare in shock.

Ma Kuxuan, the boy from Apricot Blossom Lane whom everyone considered an idiot, suddenly sat up from his rooftop vigil, a murderous aura emanating from him.

Just then, a familiar voice, urgent and hurried, grew louder and closer, "Miss Ning, what are you standing there for?! Run! I'm not dead, that was just a discarded shirt! That old beast is senile, how are you so easily fooled?"

The girl was already becoming confused. Just as the incantation was about to succeed, she suddenly felt herself lifted as if riding on the clouds, carried over someone's shoulder and sprinting through the town's alleyways.

Ning Yao instantly regained her senses. Her body bounced uncomfortably against the youth's shoulder, humiliated and completely bewildered. "Huh?"