Martial King's Retired Life

Book 15: Chapter 114

“Insolence!” thundered Night Sparrow.

While Night Sparrow’s articulation was still echoing, a thin silver strand of hair had entered her view of vision. If it were not for the sun still being out, it would have been invisible. She barely shifted her spear in time to create a vacuum that sucked the hair strand to her spear shaft and then swung in a horizontal motion to displace it.

By the time Night Sparrow had completed her swing, Tang Ni had already reached the shaft and started unloading finger feints, forcing Night Sparrow to retreat. As soon as she spotted an opportunity, she executed her own counter, prompting Tang Ni to retreat out of range.

Night Sparrow did not expect Tang Ni to be so explosive without relying on internal energy because developing his level of physical explosiveness took a long time, not to mention it being an inefficient method if someone was smart. Having said that, focusing predominately on training internal disciplines before training external disciplines did reduce the burden on the body. Anyone who mastered Dark Prison was someone who was physically powerful even if they did not possess an appearance that suggested so.

“Catch your breath. I’ll fight him!” A short man leapt out from the crowd, rolled across the ground, then thrust his sword towards Tang Ni.

As a former bandit, Ghost Cart knew better than to give away the initiative, so he aimed to subdue Tang Ni before the latter could build momentum. As Ghost Cart expected, Tang Ni had to dodge. However, as he bridged backwards, Tang Ni fired needles from his right sleeve with a flick of his right arm. Ghost Cart deflected the needles aimed at his vitals. Although Ghost Cart was prepared to counter, Tang Ni’s counter did disrupt his rhythm. The fact that Tang Ni fought Night Sparrow fair and square, yet tried to catch him with a hidden weapon rubbed Ghost Cart the wrong way, angering Ghost Cart into a blinding rage.

“Take th-” Ghost Cart suddenly felt his chest throb as if an army of ants was crawling about within his chest cavity and biting. His facial veins rose to the surface and wriggled as if they were insects. Despite his steel will, he lost his grip on his sword and dropped to the ground in a foetal position as he grimaced and groaned.

Tang Ni did not poison the needles he shot. It was the hidden black needle in his left hand he hooked that caught Ghost Cart. Besides being almost too thin to be visible, the black needle didn’t instigate pain when it hit. Its secret was Tang Clan’s proprietary gu venom that very few of their members were allowed to take out of the clan boundaries. Had Ghost Cart not hurt and humiliated Li Zizi, Tang Ni would never have used the gu venom in the pugilistic world.

“Didn’t you say the pugilistic world is a rough place? That’s how it feels.” Tang Ni sounded particularly cold over the top of Ghost Cart’s cries.

Night Sparrow and the rest of them charged towards Tang Ni because they were destined to be doomed if Ghost Cart ended up in that state. Disabling Ghost Cart significantly reduced the team’s combat power, but Tang Ni was also fighting against time – not just in terms of the approaching troops but also the burden on his body.
Using his foot, Tang Ni flicked Ghost Cart’s sword up to catch.

There was a misconception that Tang Clan’s martial arts emphasised variation. In reality, they simply combined everything over their long history. Unfortunately, there was first the clan exodus that cost them many adepts. As a result, their predecessor’s “Nine Unorthodox Songs” was split into two parts – namely “Alarmed Wine Classic” and “God Slayer”. Even their clan heirlooms were lost. The children of the patriarch from two generations ago, Tang Jingyuan, were also exiled, which eventually led to the brother and sister duo returning and going on a killing spree to usurp power. As a consequence of their constant internal conflicts, their disciplines continued to deteriorate.

Tang Suchen, current patriarch of Tang Clan, was ranked as one of the Supreme Ten Saints and instated as the greatest of South’s Six Greats. Alas, the disciplines he employed were “Pure Hands”, “Burn” and “Masterless Blade”, three of his own creations, not Tang Clan’s passed-down disciplines.

Tang Suchen’s elder sister, Tang Feiling, was said to be the Tang Clan member who mastered the most of Tang Clan’s disciplines. She was able to overcome innumerable mental demons to master “Alarmed Wine Classic”, which empowered her to take back her late father’s leadership and establish herself as a force to be reckoned with. Ever since her passing, nobody knew the clan’s disciplines any longer.

Considering Tang Ni’s young age, if he trained in Tang Clan’s disciplines, at most, he would have learnt “Pure Hands”, “Burn” and “Masterless Blade”, yet he had been using purely swordplay thus far. Tang Clan’s swordplay stressed speed and viciousness, meaning to strike without hesitation and to ensure blood was spilt each attack, which he had yet to show thus far. As such, Night Sparrow assumed his swordplay was amateurish, but she soon comprehended what the saying, “Swordsmen and martial artists are not the same” meant – among truly great swordsmen, there were those who did not utilise internal energy.

Never had Night Sparrow laid eyes upon such magnificent swordplay. Each time he attacked, Tang Ni was able to pierce break bones, sever tendons, dismember arms or separate legs, yet nobody died. Night Sparrow forged past her downed men to reach Tang Ni, yet he managed to repel her attacks each time as though he knew where the chink in her attack was. They only fought on equal footing once there were only six people left standing, including Night Sparrow herself. Even though they were hurt, her remaining subordinates showed no signs of fear.

Despite his dominance, Tang Ni did not appear to care one way or another.

“Ghost Cart!”

Even though he knew it was bad news, Tang Ni pull his leg away in time, but Ghost Cart clinching his thin leg was not the reason he was surprised; it was Ghost Cart still being able to grip so tightly notwithstanding the gu poison that was unexpected. Instead of wasting time looking down, Tang Ni, gaze on the approaching six, stabbed downwards, slicing deep enough to reveal Ghost Cart’s wrist bone. Ghost Cart gritted his teeth to fasten his grip.

As much as Tang Ni wanted to sever Ghost Cart’s arm, he did not have the strength to even if he used both arms. Nevertheless, he had seen worse to panic over something so minor. Since he had a handicap, all he had to do was be more ruthless as he took down Night Sparrow’s subordinates one at a time, making sure to stab their vitals.

Unlike Night Sparrow, Tang Ni was drenched in his own sweat. He bent back at the waist upon seeing her thrust at his head whilst thrusting his sword through her forearm and into the shaft of the spear to stop it. Unfortunately for him, she still had a free hand, which meant that she could control him as long as she was willing to sacrifice an arm.

“How much did Feng Jiutian pay you for you to be going so far?” smugly questioned Tang Ni.

“What do you think my motivation for apprehending you is?” questioned Night Sparrow, in a breathy voice that suggested she was buying time to catch her breath. “My superior’s orders were to interrogate you on Tang Clan’s ploys.”

“You can’t oppose your superiors?” Tang Ni asked with disgust.

“If it is world domination that you seek… no!”

Tang Ni smirked. “So you knew I’m Tang Ni, yet you want to capture me? Aren’t you underestimating me?”

“You think you’re easy to find?” Night Sparrow chuckled.

“You’re spent, though. I’d be happy to be your captive on account of your temperament. Sadly for you, you’re all fatigued. Even if you’re willing to sacrifice an arm, you don’t even have the strength to chop it off now, do you?”

Tang Ni placed his blade up against Night Sparrow’s arm. Despite the burning sensation that went through her arm, she did not have the strength to move it.

“But there’s still me!” Ghost Cart brayed.

Detecting Ghost Cart’s attempt to move, Tang Ni stepped on his arm, not that it was enough to prevent Ghost Cart from pulling out a dagger from his sash and severing the lower half of his pinned arm. His white face proved that the gu poison impacted him, but his guts got him to his feet. Before he lost consciousness, he managed to swing once more and confirmed he cut into flesh. Alas, he no longer had the strength to cut through or pull his dagger out. He did manage to draw blood from Tang Ni’s shoulder, but the damage was limited.

“Consider that my reward for your demonstration of mental fortitude. I shall forgive you for your impudence towards Zizi,” smugly declared Tang Ni, before throwing a back kick flush on Ghost Cart’s chin that sent the latter soaring away. “You have a trick up your sleeve or not?”

Gaze pinned to the puddle of blood left behind from Ghost Cart’s severed arm and yelled, “Mist Oriole, are you helping or not?!”

“You have backup? I’m not going to play if you do.” Tang Ni sensed someone approaching – fast – at the same time as the environment changing for the worst.

Blinding white mist started to spawn from thin air without end until all that was visible was whiteness.

“I’m coming, I’m coming. Hi, hi, I’m Mist Oriole.” He dressed in oversized pink and black garments, yet he plunged his sword through Night Sparrow without any hesitation in order to reach Tang Ni.

“You…” Night Sparrow was furious and in disbelief.

“Night Sparrow, what a cunning fellow to hurt you so bad! I shall avenge you!” Mist Oriole spoke needlessly loudly as though he wanted the world to hear him and feel his “anger”.

At that point, Tang Ni realised that Mist Oriole was one of the four elites and that he would have been in trouble if the three of them worked together, but Mist Oriole knowingly chose to not show himself when he was aware of Night Sparrow and Ghost Cart’s struggle. Mist Oriole was after the spoils and Feng Clan’s reward money.

Ignoring the pain in his gut, Tang Ni sneered. “Guess it’s true when they say it’s better to not see your heroes. How are you even one of the four?”

Mist Oriole smiled. “Dang, didn’t stab deep enough, huh? Guess I should go for the head to be safe.”

As he watched Mist Oriole draw his blade and swing for his neck, Tang Ni lamented under his breath, “… I can’t keep my promise to you… to not kill.”

Mist Oriole violently cut through a wall of mist. He had done his homework on Tang Ni and prepared as best as he could to steal the credit. Nobody could withstand poison; even if they could overcome death, there was the fatigue of enduring it.

“It must be challenging to maintain your condition. Why be so stubborn? My superior never told me to kill you. Why can’t you just surrender and save everyone the trouble?”

Considering the level of regard for his ally, Mist Oriole’s sincerity was self-explanatory. That said, he knew Tang Ni would not buy it; he wanted people who still had their awareness to hear him.

The slit-eyed man created his white mist using a combination of a formation and contraption. He was confident in his ability to steal the kill because he was the only person who had clear vision in his mist. As fast as Tang Ni was, he was worn out.

Standing in the mist, there was a maiden with her long hair splayed, adorned in bloody clothing, yet when she lowered her head, it was as if she was amongst the moon and snow in the midst of summer. Mist Oriole never knew that Tang Ni was a girl. Although it slowed him for a split second, his swing went unhampered.

“First question: what did I leave Tang Clan for?” Though Tang Ni never sought an answer to the question, the answer she suppressed had surfaced.

Tang Ni left Tang Clan due to not seeing eye to eye with Tang Suchen. Tang Ni was Tang Suchen’s youngest child, but Tang Ni was consigned to Dark Prison because she did not get along with anyone. The “Ni” name fitted her rebellious nature like a glove.

By the time Mist Oriole had an answer to the question, he had lost his target and could not find her, inciting unease.

“Second question: what did I steal Nirvana’s bloodmarrow for?”

The answer was written on the wall. Tang Clan obviously would have had dispatched a task force to either capture or punish Tang Ni on the spot. She could not have been older than sixteen, so there was no way she could have reached a high level of mastery in martial arts. Nirvana’s bloodmarrow was supposed to make up for the deficit.

“Third question: Why is this piece jade empty?”

The question made Mist Oriole go from frustrated to mentally stumped. When the jade pendant landed at his feet, he immediately took a step back. Based on the shape, he suspected it was the jade pendant that contained Nirvana’s bloodmarrow, except it was not red and did not contain a flickering flame within. Upon feeling that someone was grinning, he looked up to see a female death god under the moonlight.

Even though Night Sparrow had zero visual of what took place inside the mist, she experienced an unnerving sensation that she could not shake of – one that she had only experienced in the presence of Yingfeng.

“What happened here?” Night Sparrow heard someone robotically ask from her side. Despite the young age of the enquiry placer, her voice provided reassurance. The maiden taller than even herself looked extra tall due to her narrow shoulders and waist. To Night Sparrow’s amazement, the maiden could somehow see through the mist.

“Let me borrow it for a moment.” The maiden took Night Sparrow’s spear faster than the latter could react.

Owing to the risk of swinging an extra heavy spear without the proper training, Night Sparrow went to warn the maiden, but the maiden raised it up singlehandedly as if it was a twig.

“This mist is a bother.” Swinging the heavy spear with one arm, the maiden dispersed the mist, revealing a scared-witless Mist Oriole standing with his back to Tang Ni. “Young one, you’ve gone too far.”

As soon as Tang Ni harboured the thought of riposting, “What does it have to do with you?” the air around her, the objects, everything around was seemingly sucked into “stillness”. Tang Ni had no clue the maiden lived by the adage, “Lay them out first.”

“Stop for now.” As soon as her eyes glowed, a huge gale spawned.

When Sir Bao arrived no long after, he found the place in ruins. By no stretch of the imagination could the mayhem have been the work of a human being.

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