However, Tiong Li was not as patient as his master.
"Si Golok Naga! I understand why you intend to kill me and my master. I have seen that you have killed four leaders of the major sects and I have heard that you are the thief of the ancestral sword from the Palace! You do not want these facts spread, do you? You vile thief, having already stolen, you still want to frame others."
"Die, you damn brat!" roared Si Golok Naga, rushing forward with his hands formed into claws. The fingers of his large hands forming those claws were extremely dangerous. If those claws managed to grip Tiong Li's head, his skull would surely be crushed and he would be dead!
However, Tiong Li was no longer the five-year-old he was ten years ago. He had become a highly skilled teenager who was able to dodge the attack by leaping to the left. When the black giant pursued and slapped with his right hand, Tiong Li deflected it with his left arm, exerting his sin-kang energy.
"Dukkl!" Tiong Li's body shuddered backward, but the black giant also retreated two steps.
"Well done, it seems you have some skills!" roared the black giant and now he attacked recklessly with extremely powerful blows. Tiong Li fought back, dodged, blocked, and even counterattacked with equal fierceness. This young man had learned high-level martial arts from the old hwe-sio and had also amassed quite a strong magical power.
The fight between them proceeded intensely and evenly. Pek Hong San-jin, wanting to see his student's progress, deliberately did not assist his student even if he was in danger. The black giant felt extremely vexed. After twenty moves, he was unable to overpower Tiong Li and the fight remained balanced.
He did not want to use his weapon because he felt embarrassed to use a weapon against a teenager who was unarmed. However, it seemed that the living skull accompanying Si Golok Naga was growing impatient. He thrust forward with his hands twice and a chirping sound was heard. Even Pek Hong San-jin was startled by such a powerful long-range strike. He was about to parry, but it was too late. Tiong Li was suddenly pushed back by an extremely powerful force and he staggered backward.
Si Golok Naga seized this opportunity to strike him with his left hand, accurately hitting Tiong Li's chest. The young man was thrown back and collapsed, unable to move again and fainted.
Meanwhile, Pek Hong San-jin had parried the second long-range strike, also with a push of his hand, and both of them were repelled backward. The living skull made a high-pitched ringing sound and then attacked the old hwe-sio with open hand strikes that produced chirping sounds.
However, the old hwe-sio countered with pushes of his own hands. Seeing his fellow black giant fighting the old hwe-sio and the young man already down and surely dead from his left hand strike, the black giant then charged at the old hwe-sio, ganging up on him with the living skull. Knowing the old hwe-sio's skill, the black giant had drawn his formidable weapon, the Dragon Saber!
The old hwe-sio remained calm, but his movements were incredibly swift. He easily evaded all the saber strikes, which greatly irked the living skull. He was renowned as a powerful figure, the master of the Dragon Saber, and now he had to gang up on the old hwe-sio with his student! Gathering his strength, he pushed forward with both palms, letting out a piercing scream.
"Hieeeeeehhhhhhh !!"
"Omitohud...!" Pek Hong San-jin exclaimed in shock, and he countered the push from the living skull's two hands with his own. His right hand met the skull's, and they locked. They pushed against each other in a tense contest of sin-kang strength.
Seeing this golden opportunity, Si Golok Naga did not want to waste it and he jumped forward, raising his saber high and chopping towards the head of Pek Hong San-Jin.
However, Pek Hong San-jin moved his left hand, pushing towards the attacker and before the saber could hit his head, Si Golok Naga was hit by the push from his left hand. He was thrown back three spears' distance and fell heavily. When he got up again, his face turned pale and his mouth grimaced in pain.
)o-dw-o(
At that moment, Pek Hong San-jin exerted his strength and pushed his right hand, which was locked with the living skull's hands. As a result, the living skull was thrown backward, and blood flowed from his mouth, indicating that he had also been injured internally.
Without saying much more, the black giant and the injured living skull left the place with stumbling steps, afraid to continue the fight against the powerful old hwe-sio.
Tiong Li regained consciousness and he stood up, somewhat unsteady. However, he heard his master coughing and, without caring about his own injuries, he approached his master. The old man swayed and fell, sitting on a bench, then vomited a considerable amount of blood. His master had been severely wounded!
"Master. !" He approached .
Pek Hong San-jin lifted his face. He had used excessive force against the two powerful individuals and had suffered severe injuries without his two fleeing adversaries knowing. He looked at his student and smiled! .
"You are not hurt, Tiong Li ...?" he said with a very weak voice .
"No, master. But how about you, master? You vomited so much blood."
"Omitohud . . . . those two .... so strong. It's a pity such prowess... is used to commit evil ... ! Tiong Li, do you remember all my advice.....? Never ... never use your skills for evil."
"Of course, I remember, Master .. "
Tiong Li was very worried seeing his master's face so pale as if he were a corpse, to the point that he forgot about his own serious internal injuries.
"But master. . . . , let me help channel sin-kang into your body."
His master shook his head and said softly, "It's no use anymore.. "
"Master.......!" Tiong Li exclaimed when he saw his master slump. He quickly held his master to prevent him from falling off the bench.
His master looked at him with a smile still on his face. It was heartbreaking to see his bloody lips smiling!
"Tiong Li, do you remember our conversation
earlier..., about death? Death is not
the end, Tiong Li....... and is determined by God, we just have to surrender.... to God's will!"
"Master. ! "
"I just request........ that my body be cremated along with this hut....." His head slumped and he took his last breath.
"Master!" Tiong Li laid the lifeless body on the bench and he too collapsed, fainting on the ground. Tiong Li opened his eyes and blinked. His face was wet with sprinkled water and he dimly saw the face of a teenage girl and a beautiful young woman.
He remembered his master's death, remembered the black giant and his lips moved, "Si Golok Naga. !" then he collapsed and fainted again.
The woman was indeed very beautiful. She was about thirty years old, but she looked like a twenty-year-old girl. Her lush black hair was neatly combed and tied up, adorned with a beautiful, and surely expensive, piece of jewelry in the shape of a phoenix made of gold and gemstones.
A few strands of hair dangled down her smooth white forehead and her eyebrows were small, long, and black, perfectly arching over her piercing eyes. Her gaze seemed to penetrate everything she looked at, and sometimes her eyes narrowed like a bloodthirsty animal! Her nose was small and pointed, and her mouth was sweetly shaped with a pair of lips that were always moist and red.
Her face was oval-shaped. Indeed, a very beautiful face, but the gleam in her eyes and the pull of her mouth sometimes hinted at a horrifying ferocity.
Her body was also enticingly firm, moderate and slender. This beautiful woman, once she introduced herself, would certainly shock the martial arts world. This extremely beautiful woman was in fact a notorious figure in the martial arts world known as the heretical elder, with the nickname Ban-tok Sian-li (The Poisonous Goddess)! Not only was her martial arts highly advanced and extremely skilled, she was also famous as a poison expert, and rumors had it that a mere scratch from her fingernails could kill a person from poisoning!
Even her residence had become a terrifying place, located in the valley of the Yang-ce River, a valley so feared that it was named the Valley of Death.
The teenage girl accompanying her was her disciple, named The Siang Hwi, only fourteen years old, but she had also inherited the high-level martial arts from her master, who was as beautiful as a goddess but could be as cruel as a demon.
When Ban-tok Sian-li and The Siang Hwi happened to climb the peak while investigating the Dragon Saber, they found an old hwe-sio already dead on a bench and a teenager fainting beneath it. Her disciple was instructed to find water and splash it on the young man's face to revive him and then ask what had happened.
Glossary
- Si Golok Naga: A character in the story, it translates as "The Dragon Saber".
- Sin-kang: A term referring to inner strength or energy in martial arts.
- Hwe-sio: Honorific term for an elderly man, often used to refer to a respected elder in martial arts.
- Pek Hong San-jin: The name of a character in the story, Tiong Li's master.
- Tiong Li: The name of the story's protagonist.
- Ban-tok Sian-li (The Poisonous Goddess): The nickname of a notorious female character in the story, known for her beauty and deadly skills.
- The Siang Hwi: The disciple of Ban-tok Sian-li in the story.