After bowing, Boh Tan-ping quickly moved to Tu Liong's right side, swinging his trusted weapon more rapidly, following the path of Tu Liong's sword slash.
Tu Liong had his back to Boh Tan-ping's sword.
However, he felt the gust of Boh Tan-ping's sword heading towards his neck.
He also ducked swiftly.
The sword embedded itself firmly into the tree trunk.
Tiny wood splinters flew everywhere.
Tu Liong immediately threw himself to the left to distance himself from Boh Tan-ping.
Boh Tan-ping merely smiled cynically.
He forcefully pulled out his sword, leaving a deep sword mark on the tree trunk.
The two of them stood facing each other again.
Tu Liong pulled out a small knife from under his clothes.
It turned out Boh Tan-ping was not to be outdone; with his left hand, he also drew a small knife that was part of his sword.
The two stood facing each other.
Knife in the left hand, sword in the right.
Suddenly, Cu Siau-thian passed between them.
Wie Kie-hong was still trying hard to injure him.
After they passed, Tu Liong immediately launched an attack.
In the blink of an eye, Tu Liong unleashed a combination of repeated knife and sword attacks towards Boh Tan-ping.
While parrying the attacks, Boh Tan-ping kept stepping backward.
Boh Tan-ping didn't retreat too far.
A large stone blocked his retreating path.
Even while avoiding Tu Liong's attack, Boh Tan-ping was aware of the stone.
After nearly colliding with it, Boh Tan-ping immediately jumped high.
Tu Liong didn't want to let Boh Tan-ping escape that easily.
He also jumped high and continued to strike his sword at him.
Boh Tan-ping somersaulted in the air.
He stepped on a tree branch and used it as a springboard to jump higher and avoid Tu Liong's sword slash.
Boh Tan-ping landed gracefully on one of the tree branches.
Tu Liong stood on a branch opposite Boh Tan-ping.
The second round of fighting paused again.
Sweat began to pour.
Breaths started to race.
It wasn't long before Wie Kie-hong and Cu Siau-thian passed between them again.
They both were jumping from tree to tree, chasing each other like a dog chasing a cat.
After they passed, the third round of fighting began.
Tu Liong leaped towards the branch Boh Tan-ping was standing on, while at the same time, Boh Tan-ping also jumped towards the branch Tu Liong stood on.
They met in mid-air among the dense foliage.
Sword met sword, knife met knife.
Strong and fast slashes occurred in a very brief moment.
The strength of their strikes caused the surrounding leaves to fall.
Making the leaves descend to the earth like rain.
Boh Tan-ping landed firmly on a tree branch.
But when he turned around, he was surprised because Tu Liong was already hurtling towards him again.
Apparently, Tu Liong only used the branch he landed on as a springboard to propel himself back towards Boh Tan-ping.
Tu Liong immediately swung his sword with full force.
Boh Tan-ping was still somewhat surprised.
But he quickly jumped away.
Tu Liong's slash missed its target.
Boh Tan-ping somersaulted as he floated downward.
Tu Liong again kicked the tree branch he was standing on to gain strong momentum to chase Boh Tan-ping.
From his somersaulting position, suddenly the small knife Boh Tan-ping held shot swiftly like an arrow released from a bow towards Tu Liong.
Tu Liong was startled.
He immediately tilted his head to avoid the knife.
But the knife managed to graze his cheek.
Boh Tan-ping had landed.
Now he swung his sword to welcome Tu Liong's attack from above.
The two swords clashed again.
"TRAAANGGGG!" This time, however, Boh Tan-ping yielded and immediately jumped back quite a distance.
Tu Liong didn't miss the opportunity to throw the small knife he was still holding.
The small knife shot like an arrow towards Boh Tan-ping's chest.
Now it was Boh Tan-ping's turn to swing his sword to deflect the incoming knife.
"TRANGG" The knife continued to fly in a different direction, inevitably embedding itself in one of the tree trunks.
The two stood facing each other again.
A tree trunk stood between the two.
This time Cu Siau-thian and Wie Kie-hong were no longer chasing each other.
Cu Siau-thian kept stepping back, avoiding Wie Kie-hong's knife thrusts.
Unfortunately for him, he didn't notice the tree trunk behind him.
Cu Siau-thian was startled when he bumped into the tree trunk.
Wie Kie-hong immediately stabbed his knife towards Cu Siau-thian's neck.
"STOP!" Suddenly, a high-pitched voice echoed through the forest. At the same time, a shadowy figure flew towards them.
It turned out the person was Thiat-yan. If the person giving the stop order had been Tu Liong, perhaps Wie Kie-hong would have listened and stopped his attack.
But now Wie Kie-hong lowered his knife.
It seemed Thiat-yan’s command had a significant impact on him.
At this moment, Cu Siau-thian was standing with his back against a large tree trunk, and if Thiat-yan hadn't come out to stop the fight, maybe he wouldn't have been able to avoid Wie Kie-hong's attack; the knife would surely have been lodged in his neck.
Was Thiat-yan's shout really meant to save Cu Siau-thian? If indeed it was to save Cu Siau-thian, why would she do it? Let alone others, even Cu Siau-thian himself was confused.
Of course, Thiat-yan could see the big question mark reflected in Wie Kie-hong’s eyes.
But she didn’t immediately provide an explanation.
She simply turned to Boh Tan-ping and asked, "Uncle Boh! Why are you here?"
"They both kidnapped me here," Boh Tan-ping pointed at Wie Kie-hong and Tu Liong.
"Why?"
"They kept insisting that I know about Wie Ceng's whereabouts."
"Do you know?"
"Of course I don't know."
"Alright then, you should head home first, uncle."
Boh Tan-ping just stood there without moving.
"Uncle Boh, what are you waiting for?"
"I'm waiting for you to go home with me."
"No need. I'm grown up; I'm not a child anymore." Thiat-yan's words held a double meaning. "I can take care of myself...."
"Alright then, I'm leaving now."
Cu Siau-thian didn’t try to stop Boh Tan-ping.
Even though he had a relationship with Boh Tan-ping, he still felt uncomfortable preventing him from leaving.
Wie Kie-hong and Tu Liong didn’t obstruct him either.
It seemed they all understood what Miss Thiat-yan meant by her words.
Boh Tan-ping walked away, his steps very slow.
But no matter how slowly he walked, eventually, he walked out of the forest.
Thiat-yan watched Boh Tan-ping until his figure was no longer visible.
Then she turned around and spoke softly to Wie Kie-hong.
"Wie Siauya, do you know why I tried to stop your attack? I stopped you because Cu Siau-thian must not die."
"Oh...?"
"This time I came to Pakhia to search for my father's relics. If Cu Siau-thian dies, where will I look for them again, where will I ask?"
Cu Siau-thian just stood there without moving at all.
Now the situation had become one against three.
But he seemed calm.
"Cu Taiya!" Thiat-yan walked closer to Cu Siau-thian, "now you'd better start explaining to me...."
"Miss Tiat!" Cu Siau-thian spoke coldly to her, "I told you that the leather suitcase might now be in the hands of Leng Souw-hiang. If you don’t believe me, I promise to help you find out. But I won’t get any results like this."
"It seems the words you just said are not worthy of a gentleman; one must dare to act and dare to take responsibility. I am of the younger generation; if I don't seek to know the real incident, will I still dare to come looking for you here?"
"Miss Tiat, you are too modest. As soon as you arrived at Pakhia, you immediately injured many people, what wouldn’t you dare to do?"
"Are you trying to make me hesitate?"
"No need to be like this." Thiat-yan turned to Tu Liong and Wie Kie-hong. "Can you leave us alone?"
From the start, Tu Liong had remained silent.
Now he joined the conversation.
---
**
Glossary:**
- **Boh Tan-ping:** A character in the story.
- **Tu Liong:** A character in the story.
- **Cu Siau-thian:** A character in the story.
- **Wie Kie-hong:** A character in the story.
- **Thiat-yan:** A character in the story.
- **Wie Ceng:** A character mentioned in the story.
- **Pakhia:** A place referenced in the story.
- **Leng Souw-hiang:** A character mentioned in the story.
- **Wie Siauya:** A respectful title used for Wie Kie-hong.
- **Cu Taiya:** A respectful title used for Cu Siau-thian.