Chapter Fourteen: Oriole in the Rear (Four)

  Hu Yi originally had no confidence in defeating Liu Sheng, but when he saw that Liu Sheng was not using Japanese martial arts, but rather Chinese martial arts, he was overjoyed. This move, Snowflake Covering the Top, was actually one of the most ordinary moves in the Kanto Hu family knife method. And Hu Yi was precisely the legitimate heir of the Hu family knife method.

  Yagyu used exactly the orthodox method of the Hua family knife.

  It is said that practice makes perfect, but familiarity can also breed complacency.

  Two people came and went, fought for less than a dozen times, Hu Yi found that Liu Sheng's understanding and grasp of the Hu family knife method were deeper than his own orthodox successor, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of fear.

  It's actually determined by the boundary of two people. Just like doing the same question, teachers stand higher than students, so they have a more comprehensive understanding and grasp of the question.

  Yuzuki's first move was "Willow Swallows Fly in Unison", his sword slash went from left to right, transforming into a blur of sword light that swiftly chopped towards Hu Yi.

  Hu Yi naturally knew that this was a very ordinary knife move, according to the "Hu Family Knife Method", he should have used "One Rain Like a Curtain" to counter it, with a single wave of his knife making three cuts, while also retreating several steps. However, just as Hu Yi finished using "One Rain Like a Curtain" and was about to retreat, Liu Sheng suddenly took a few steps forward, dropped his knives, transformed into fists, and struck directly at Hu Yi's chest with his feet. At this time, Hu Yi's knife momentum had already dissipated, and his strength was also in the state of old force having been spent but new force not yet sprouting, completely unable to defend himself.

  Hu Yi knew that what Liu Sheng was using was a kind of technique from the Hu family knife method that had already been lost, not a move. This technique can be connected with various martial arts moves, and it is an internal training method, the key is to control the change of power.

  But this thing called "Konghua Shu" is something that even Hu Yi's master wouldn't know, and Hu Yi had only heard his master mention it occasionally, it should be a kind of inner skill.

  Yagyu dropped his sword and transformed into a fist, both fists ruthlessly smashing onto Hu Ye's chest, sending him flying four or five steps back before crashing to the ground, coincidentally landing right in front of Miyamoto.

  Miyamoto swiftly drew his samurai sword, completely disregarding Yagyu's loud shout of "Don't hurt him!", and viciously swung the blade down towards Hu Ye.

  Hui Yi fell to the ground, his heart churning with a mouthful of blood that he forcibly suppressed. Seeing Miyamoto's sword slicing through the air like wind, he felt no strength left in his body and closed his eyes, feeling an inexplicable sense of desolation in his heart.

  Li Xue's heart was filled with despair, as originally Hu Ye had defeated several Japanese people and pulled everyone back from the gates of hell, but now Miyamoto's knife, shining with a cold light, crushed the only hope in everyone's hearts.

  The despair of death gives people an unprecedented longing for life and infinite nostalgia for the past.

  Suddenly, a clear shout came from outside the hall: "Miyamoto, you're really despicable!"

  With this cry, an object flew through the air and knocked the knife out of Miyamoto's hand. The object also fell in front of Hu Ye. It was a small flag with an ancient shape, its somewhat worn-out body wrapped around the flagpole. Suddenly, Hu Ye picked up the flag with both hands, knelt down on both knees, and respectfully held it above his head.

  Miyamoto looked up towards the entrance and saw a young man with a calm face and slightly thin build step in, followed by dozens of armed soldiers. After entering, they quickly occupied various parts of the hall, and the windows were also simultaneously smashed open, with several machine guns mounted at the window openings.

  Before Miyamoto could speak, the young man smiled and introduced himself to everyone: "Ladies and gentlemen, I am Yang Ke, the captain of the Youxian guerrilla team. This is my deputy captain, Miss Li Ying. And this is Nan Weiren, the captain of the special warfare team of the guerrilla team. As for him," he said, pointing to a man with a square face wearing a National Army colonel's uniform behind him, "I believe many people recognize him. He is Wang Xuehua, the big manager of the 27th Army of the National Army."

  Wang Xuehua nodded politely to the crowd: "I have already handed over these materials to the Yu County guerrilla troops who are really fighting against Japan, so you don't need to fight for them. Now many villagers nearby have started transporting the materials."

  Wang Xuehua's words were light, but when they came out, they were like a thunderclap in the air, stunning Miyamoto and Li Xuerong, He Jingxiang, leaving them stunned.

  "You, you, what are you talking about? Who did you hand over this batch of materials to?" He Jingxiang pointed at Wang Xuehua with his hand and said loudly in surprise, "What do you rely on? What qualifications do you have to dispose of this batch of materials?"

  Li Xue Rong was about to say something, but Yang Jiong interrupted him: "Now is not the time to discuss whether we have the qualifications or not. The key is that we have already started accepting it, so you all don't need to worry about this matter anymore."

  Li Xue Rong thought to himself, "That's right, it's already been accepted, what can be said is too late. What? The guerrilla team has started accepting the supplies hoarded by Old Master Shan?! Is the defense of Old Master Shan's mountain really going to be quietly lifted like this?"

  Miura shouted loudly: "Impossible, impossible! My great Japanese Empire's whole division can't even beat a small guerrilla band?"

  Yang Jie smiled meaningfully at Miyamoto: "The soldiers of the Great Japanese Empire are all good fighters, huh? Well, today I'll give you a chance. If any of you can beat me, I'll let him go; otherwise, it's death." Yang Jie imitated the tone of a Japanese military officer from the movies, causing Li Ying to stifle a laugh.

  A ronin behind Yagyu shouted "Hah!" and charged at Yagyu with his sword, Yagyu stretched out his hand behind him: "Sword!" Nanpori handed a samurai sword to Yagyu from the body of the ronin who had been shot down, Yagyu stared intently at the enemy rushing towards him without blinking an eye, his right hand lightly drew the samurai sword from Nanpori's scabbard and suddenly took a step forward, completely ignoring the opponent's slashing sword light, the sword in his right hand "swished" and suddenly swept from back to front, drawing an arc, striking the ronin who was charging towards him.

  This sword was an extremely ordinary samurai sword, this move was an extremely ordinary action, this technique was an extremely simple style, in the eyes of the crowd, it wasn't even comparable to Hu Yi's knife momentum.

  But it was this extremely ordinary action that made this night an unforgettable one for a lifetime, and in an instant, destined to be the moment when people would wake up with a start in their dreams.

  Everything seemed to have stopped when Yang Guo used this extremely ordinary knife to make that extremely ordinary move, yet creating an extremely astonishing effect. Everything stopped, including people's breathing and heartbeat.

  In that instant, people finally understood that what flashed through the air was not an ordinary warrior's sword, but a bolt of lightning that illuminated the night sky, a scythe of death that could reap life, and a gust of autumn wind that chilled the heart.

  In that instant, people finally understood that a simple step forward was not an ordinary footstep, but a step that transcended life and death, transformed the decay into something magical, and shattered dreams.

  Because of Yang Jue's knife, the later one arrived first. When the rogue's knife was less than three centimeters away from Yang Jue's head, he had already been split in two by Yang Jue's massive knife momentum, from head to toe, from front to back, along the middle of the nose bridge, neatly cut in half. Due to the speed of the knife being too fast, it wasn't until Yang Jue swung his sword in a circle in the air and threw it into Nan Wei Ren's scabbard with a "whoosh" sound that people realized the person in front of Yang Jue had started bleeding from the middle, and soon more and more blood came out. Yang Jue still smiled and said, holding the knife that stopped above his head: "You're the one who killed Cui Hua and A Tung, aren't you? Is dying painful?"

  As he pushed the knife back, the corpse fell to the ground and split in two. Fresh blood, internal organs, and brain matter splattered everywhere. Even a seasoned swordsman like Hu Yi couldn't help but feel nauseous at the gruesome scene before him.

  Many people in the hall have already vomited.

  However, the warriors who came with Yang Guang, including Li Ying, did not feel sad. Because they had already seen the cruel methods of the Japanese ronin slaughtering Chinese soldiers earlier, and it was nothing new to them.

  Although Yang Jiong's words to the corpse were light, everyone still heard them. The most violent reaction was Li Xuerong, who shouted "Cuihua, you--" and fainted; The one who was most surprised in his heart was Zheng Junguo, he was surprised that Yang Jiong and he only looked at this person and killed Cuihua and Ah Tong with a single stroke, but Yang Jiong judged the identity of his opponent with just one knife, this kind of martial arts cognition made him amazed by Yang Jiong as a heavenly man.

  The most shocking thing was Liu Sheng. As soon as he heard Yang Jie's words, Liu Sheng immediately understood that when the two people were killed by the ruffian on the road earlier, Yang Jie had already harbored murderous intentions. At that time, Liu Sheng was also vigilant, but later suspected it to be just the wind at night. Now, looking back, it seemed that the murderous intention must have been from the current commander of the guerrilla team, Yang Jie, without a doubt. After Liu Sheng understood this point, he not only felt shocked but also deeply fearful. Before coming to China, his master, San Gui Tarō, had repeatedly warned him that Chinese martial arts culture was vast and profound, with countless masters. If one encountered someone who could inspire fear of death in China, they should never oppose them, lest they invite humiliation. Admitting defeat in front of such a person was not shameful; on the contrary, underestimating oneself would be laughable. The hidden body technique that Tian Rěn relied on would be useless against this kind of person.

  Yue Shi came to China, had seen many martial artists, but never met the master's mentioned high-handed person, so it was not surprising. Unexpectedly, today in this remote Lao Ye Mountain, he saw the legendary super high-handed person.

  Yang Jiong did not know that those few soft words had a greater impact on Liu Sheng than his powerful sword.

  Among the crowd, the one who was most frightened was Miyamoto, because the person Yang Qi had killed with a single slash was a young man named Kobayakawa Toshiki, who like Ryōsen had the status of Ten'nen. Moreover, Miyamoto knew that Kobayakawa's martial arts skills were not much lower than Ryōsen's, yet he hadn't even been able to withstand his opponent's first move. Miyamoto felt a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.

  What truly frightened everyone was the astonishing killing intent that accompanied Yang's single knife, the air in the hall seemed to have solidified at that moment, people's hearts felt as if they had a stone pressed on them, an inexplicable sense of fear crept up from within each person, every soul seemed to be intimidated by some mysterious power, and involuntarily trembled.

  This is different from the fear that Hu Yi and others had for Liu Sheng, which was a kind of despairing terror at the unknown mystery that came from the depths of their hearts. Although it only lasted for an instant, Yang Jue immediately broke the suffocating oppression with laughter, but this fleeting moment like a dream did not make anyone doubt its reality, and some people even decades later would wake up in the middle of the night, recalling with terror the moment that had been branded into their soul.

  Yang Jie's laughter quickly freed people from their repression, and the wind blew straight in from the entrance of the hall, mixed with a faint smell of gunpowder. "Mr. Miyamoto, your Imperial Guard was annihilated by my guerrilla troops in one fell swoop, not a single one escaped. What do you say now? Surrender or final battle?"

  Miyamoto asked Yagyu in Japanese: "Yagyu-san, are there any warriors who surrender without a fight?"

  "No!" Yagyu replied calmly, "But for him, it's an exception. My master, Sandayu, specifically instructed us that if we were to encounter a master of his caliber, it would be the honor of our lives, and we are to treat him with the respect due a teacher."

  "But now he's our enemy and we must eliminate him!" Miyamoto bellowed, "Is this how you treat the entrustment of Ono Kikanjo?"

  "He is your enemy, not ours. San Shi Shifu still has questions for us to ask him. If you have a way to eliminate him, please do so first." Liu Sheng replied calmly.

  Miura's heart was in a great flurry; aside from Yagyu, who else could withstand Yang Guan's swordsmanship?

  Miyamoto seemed to throw away the knife in his hand with a sense of helplessness, put his hands in the wide sleeves of his kimono, and knelt down on both knees facing Yang Jiong: "I surrender."

  Miyamoto's words were beyond everyone's expectations, and Yagyu looked at him with suspicion, greatly puzzled in his heart. From his understanding, Miyamoto was a staunch supporter of the holy war and would never surrender.

  However, the response to Miyamoto was a crisp gunshot. With Li Ying's "bang", Miyamoto fell to his knees and slumped sideways, with his right hand holding an extremely delicate Browning pistol slipping out of his sleeve. A sinister smile still lingered on Miyamoto's face, but it had forever frozen.

  Yang Jie looked at Li Ying gratefully and said to Liu Sheng: "Liu Sheng, my request is only one, put down your weapons, you can leave."

  In fact, Yang Jue's request was already extremely excessive. A warrior regards his sword as his life; when the sword is gone, he is gone.

  As expected, Yagyu shook his head, "A sword is everything to us warriors, I'm afraid it's impossible."

  Yang Jie smiled and said: "If your master San Gui Jun wants to keep your swords, what will you do?" Liu Sheng did not speak.

  "San Gui Jun didn't ask you to treat me with the courtesy of a teacher, but you can't even do that, how hypocritical!" Yang Jie said discontentedly, "If I'm going to guide you, it's going to cost tuition."

  Yusheng hesitated for a moment, then bowed respectfully to Yang: "We can leave our swords behind, but you must defeat me within three moves. That's what our master did."

  "It's easy to defeat you within three moves, but if that's the case, I can only leave this sword as a trophy, so think carefully."

  "I understand." Yagyu said without hesitation, "Please."

  After finishing speaking, his figure flashed and immediately made his most proud "Ghost Style Triple Slash", the warrior's knife turned into a heavy knife shadow, pounced on Yang Jiong.

  Yang Jiong smiled slightly, took a step forward with his left foot, and stretched out his right hand straight into the dense knife shadows. As soon as Yang Jiong's hand entered, Liu Sheng's unpredictable body method and knife shadow suddenly stopped. Before everyone could understand what was happening, the warrior sword in Liu Sheng's hand had already been taken by Yang Jiong. Liu Sheng stood there with his right arm stiffened, not moving at all.

  In fact, Yagyu had only used half of his move.

  Yang Jue's step forward not only avoided Liu Sheng's attack, but also perfectly caught Liu Sheng's changing body. As soon as Liu Sheng made a move, Yang Jue's hand climbed up his arm and pressed on, and Liu Sheng felt a numbness in his right hand, and the knife in his hand was already snatched away by Yang Jue.

  Apart from Li Ying, everyone in the hall was stunned. The unpredictable Liu Sheng couldn't even block a single move!

  Li Ying once asked Yang Wei after the African military confrontation competition why Yang Wei was so familiar with Japanese martial arts. Yang Wei said that one of his ancestors' concubines was a Japanese ninja master, who was taken in by his ancestor on a chance encounter and later left behind a book on Japanese martial arts. During summer vacation, Yang Wei found this book while searching through the family's collection and thought it was very different from Chinese martial arts, so he started studying it.

  Yang Jie's great-grandfather wasn't Yang Shijie's father? That is to say, Yang Shijie's mother was that Japanese concubine?! Li Ying was shocked by this inference.

  Yagyu Munenori, after being defeated by Yang Jwing-Ming, sincerely collected the swords of several warriors and handed them over to Yang with great respect. Yang nodded for someone to take them away.

  Liu Sheng invited Yang Jie to sit down and stood respectfully beside him, asking in a soft voice: "My master..."

  Yang Jie raised his hand to block it and stretched out his hand in front of Liu Sheng: "Tuition!"

  Yoshida knew that Yang Kun was dissatisfied with his behavior just now, so he slightly showed punishment and didn't get angry at all. He quickly took out an object from his bosom. Yoshida Jingyun took a look and exclaimed: "Brother!"

  Yang Jiong listened and knew that this object was not ordinary, smiled and took it from Liu Sheng's hand with some reluctance, held it in his hand to examine it carefully, and found that it was a jade moon, on the inner arc of which nine bright golden rings were inlaid, the whole ornament was not too big, but extremely delicate.

  Yang Jie thought this must be a token of affection given by some girl to Liu Sheng, so Liu Sheng Jingyun was so shocked. Just about to return it to Liu Sheng, he heard Liu Sheng say: "Sir, don't underestimate this ornament, it is the honor of my life, with it, you can do as you please in Japan, even the Emperor must show respect. This is a symbol of the highest honor. To express my sincerity, I am willing to present it to you, sir, and hope you will not refuse."

  Yang Jie was just joking with Liu Sheng, but didn't expect Liu Sheng to take it seriously and bring out his most precious thing. After a moment's thought, he immediately pretended to be serious and put away the ornament.

  "What is this thing called?"

  "Jade Moon Rhinoceros."

  "Okay, go ahead and ask."

  "My master has been practicing meditation for several years, but recently he always has a murderous intention when sitting in stillness. He is worried that this might be a sign of walking fire entering the devil's lair. Please ask, sir, is this indeed the case?"

  "No. It's as if there is a fire burning in his heart, and it will only be extinguished after he has vented his killing intent." Yang Jie asked.

  "Yes, yes." said Ryūsei excitedly.

  "He must have been practicing the 'Divine Ghost Enlightenment' of the Ghost Gate, a martial art. He has now reached a bottleneck, also known as Wu Zhang, and once he breaks through it, he will achieve great success."

  "Excuse me, sir, how can we break through?" asked Ryūsei anxiously.

  Yang Jie smiled and stretched out his hand, looking at Liu Sheng.

  "Ayun, bring it here!" Liusheng said, stretching out his hand towards Liusheng Jingyun.

  "Brother, have you really made up your mind?" Liu Sheng Jingyun asked in surprise.

  "Bring it!" Yagyu didn't care about Yagyu Jubei's surprise.

  Yūki Shizukumo reluctantly took out a small, exquisitely crafted box from his bosom and handed it to Yūki, who respectfully presented it to Yang Jue: "Sir, this is the treasured family heirloom of my household - the Night-Shining Pearl. It's said to have originated from the imperial palace of your noble country. Now, I offer it to you."

  Yang Jie took it over, opened it gently, and the room was suddenly brightened. A colorful, flowing night pearl appeared in front of everyone. Li Ying had seen all kinds of treasures before, but when he saw this night pearl, he exclaimed: "This is the night pearl that the dragon's mouth holds in the Qinglongxiangzhuan on the desk of the Ming Dynasty emperor's dragon book case! It can adjust the softness of the light and is the most favorite pearl of Zhu Di, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. After the decline of the Ming Dynasty, it was stolen by someone. I didn't expect to see it here."

  Originally, Li Ying's greatest hobby was identifying and appreciating various treasures. As someone with a special identity, she had many opportunities to see all sorts of precious items.

  Yang Jie handed the box to Li Ying and said to Liu Sheng: "Good. You are very sincere. Listen carefully, the way to break through your master's current realm is - I will only say one side, you must listen carefully."

  Yang Jie saw Liu Sheng constantly looking around, suddenly understood Liu Sheng's intention, and smiled: "You don't have to worry, not to mention them, even if it's you, to reach your master's current state, you'll still need another ten years, whether they listen or not is all the same."

  Yuan understood that different realms have different understandings, just like a three-year-old child seeing gold for the first time, he doesn't think it's something good.

  "The method is harmony." Yang said, waving his hand to indicate that Liu could leave.

  Liu Sheng Jingyun listened, what? And, just one word, swindler! However, Liu Sheng sincerely bowed to Yang Ke: "Thank you, sir, for your guidance. I represent my master in thanking you."

  Yang Jie said in a low voice: "If you really thank me, then don't help China beat others again in the future."

  "Remember Mr. Yagyu's teachings." With that, Yagyu led the group out of the hall and disappeared into the vast darkness of night.