Chapter 13: The Canary in the Back (Three)

  Wang Tienuo looked at Li Xuerong with a face full of apology: "Lian Zhang, you saved my life before, I shouldn't have betrayed you. But our personal matters are private, and today is a matter of life and death for the brothers. Forgive me, brother, but I cannot follow your orders."

  Shi Fengtian burst out laughing: "Li Xuerong, as the ancients said, 'those who gain the Way are many, those who lose it are few', 'the utmost in gaining help is to have the world follow you; the utmost in losing help is to have even relatives and kin turn against you'. Today, you've reached a dead end. I advise you to just surrender and follow me in serving the Japanese. With your skills, as long as we leave this old mountain, wherever we go, you'll be treated like a treasure."

  Li Xuerong sat on the chair with great disappointment: "I, Li Xuerong, will not surrender to the Japanese, but if these brothers are willing to go, I won't stop them; if there are those who are unwilling to go, I hope you can consider that we all share a common ancestry and spare their lives. How about it?"

  He hadn't spoken yet, when He Jingxiang suddenly interrupted: "It seems that you brothers have been forced to a dead end by the supply difficulties. Here, as the Chief Liaison Officer of the First War Zone, I guarantee to you brothers that if you just hold on for two more days, two days! If General Fu's supplies still haven't arrived after two days, then you can eat me, He Jingxiang, for dinner! How about it?" He Jingxiang looked at the crowd of National Army leaders behind Shi Fengtian.

  Shi Feng Tian sneered, "He Jingxiang, who doesn't know that you can't spit out ivory from your mouth? Don't try to stall for time. Honestly, I'm telling you that the Japanese will take over this place tonight. I've gone to great lengths to persuade Li Xuerong because he's a talented individual. What are you, anyway? Once the Japanese arrive, you'll be the first one they kill."

  "Then I'll let you die first!" Hu Yi said coldly, standing behind He Jingxiang, raising his hand and firing a shot. No one saw how he drew his gun, it was as if the gun had been in his hand all along, but in fact, his gun had always been hidden at his waist.

  Quick shooter, Hu Yi was a famous quick shooter in Jianghu, Fox Flying Sky. This was only known by Yang Jiong later on.

  Just as Hu Yi fired the gun, a black shadow burst in through the window and blocked Stone's head, if not for this black shadow blocking, Hu Yi's bullet would have drilled a hole in Stone's head.

  A dark shadow fell on the ground, and only then did everyone realize that it was the corpse of a National Army soldier, which had been thrown in from outside the window, just in time to block a bullet for Shi Fengtian.

  Outside the door came a burst of loud laughter, and two Japanese men walked into the hall, chatting and laughing, followed by five or six Japanese rascals. Shi Fengtian couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat, and hastily ran forward to bow and smile at the Japanese man on the left: "Mr. Miyamoto, you've arrived! Thank you for saving my life!"

  Miyauchi burst out laughing: "Haha, good job, Shi Jun. Hand over Li Xuerong to us."

  "Your Excellency, Li Xue-rong's usefulness is great. If you want to..." Shi Feng-tian was about to say something when Yagyu raised his hand to stop him and said in fluent Chinese: "You don't need to say any more. The more he refuses to surrender, the greater his use will be, and the greater the damage he will cause to our Imperial Army." Turning to Li Xue-rong, he said: "General Li Xue-rong, I am Yagyu Shizuka, a warrior of Japan's Iga school of martial arts. I've heard that your Chinese kung fu is very powerful, and I hope to have the good fortune to engage in a match with you. You now have only two paths: surrender or fight! Please choose for yourself and your men." As he spoke, he bowed slightly towards Li Xue-rong and looked at him calmly.

  Ryūsei's movements revealed a high-handed and intoxicating style unique to masters, which Li Xue Rong could naturally see that among these Japanese people, Ryūsei's martial arts were the highest.

  Li Xue Rong saw that Liu Sheng was less than thirty years old, but he had an astonishingly calm and composed demeanor. The several ronin behind Liu Sheng were mostly in their twenties, with faces full of excitement and eagerness to try. Miyamoto was over forty years old, with a face full of cunning and experience.

  Li Xue-rong's gaze shifted from Liu Sheng's body to the National Army corpse on the ground, a soldier in his thirties. From his slightly neat military uniform, it could be seen that he was killed by someone with a single knife, without having time to make too much resistance, a very fast move, and from the wound, it could be seen that the person who made the move had been practicing knife skills for at least ten years.

  Li Xue-rong also noticed that this tall corpse was thrown in with one hand.

  "Did you kill him?" Li Xue Rong looked at Liu Sheng and asked.

  "Not yet. It's still not necessary for me to take action." said Ryūsei calmly.

  Li Xue Rong knew that today he had encountered the most formidable opponent of his life. He said to the guards behind him, "Bring me my sword!"

  The crowd in the hall understood that Li Xue Rong's character would not surrender easily, so they retreated to all sides and cleared out the empty space in the middle.

  "General Li, to be frank with you, the Imperial Army of Great Japan has already taken complete control of Lao Ye Mountain. We're doing this to give you an opportunity, General Li. So let's make a wager: if you can defeat Ryūsei Jōei, we'll let you dispose of us and our army that controls Lao Ye Mountain as you see fit. But if Ryūsei wins, you must surrender unconditionally with your troops. What do you say? Are you brave enough to take the bet?"

  Li Xue-rong was about to respond when he suddenly heard He Jing-xiang shouting behind him, "No! We can't fall for this Japanese trick. How could the mountain defense fortifications be breached without a single shot being fired? It's impossible that the Japanese have taken it over silently."

  Before Miyamoto and others could speak, as if in response to He Jingxiang's words, a sudden and earth-shaking cannon shot came from afar, followed by the calls of various firearms.

  Li Xue-rong was someone who had crawled on the battlefield, and suddenly heard that the initial cannon sound was his own mortar, and later there were the whizzing sounds of Japanese infantry cannons and grenade launchers.

  Miyaamoto and others were taken aback, then burst out laughing: "Mr. He, this time the Empire mobilized a large team of people and horses, your old mountain is at most a regimental force, how can you do it?" Miyaamoto had reason to say this, in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, often a Japanese battalion would chase after a Chinese division. This time, because they were attacking mountain fortifications, in order to be absolutely sure of success, Miyaamoto requested the mobilization of a large team of troops.

  He Jingxiang heard the cannon fire and was frightened, his face turned pale, his whole body trembled slightly, knowing that there were indeed a large number of Japanese troops attacking the mountain, and he was really scared.

  Li Xue listened quietly for a while, then sneered: "Mr. Miyamoto, I think things aren't going as you thought they would. What can you hear? From what I heard, it seems like we have the upper hand."

  Although Miyamoto couldn't hear the details, he could tell from the expressions of the people present that something was amiss. These were all old veterans of the battlefield, and just by listening, they could tell who had the upper hand. Miyamoto took one look at Li Xuerong and the person behind him, then looked at Shi Fengtian's group, and immediately understood that Li Xuerong was not speaking idly.

  But Li Xue-rong was somewhat puzzled as to why their firepower combination was so fierce, and the cannon fire had never been as swift as it was today.

  "Mr. Li, don't be too happy yet," Miyamoto said with a cold smile. "With all of you, I'm afraid there won't be an opportunity to see the result of victory or defeat."

  "Yagyu!" Miyamoto had already decided to teach Li Xuerong a lesson.

  Before Liu Shengjing could respond, Li Xuerong shouted loudly: "It's not certain who killed the deer! Tiger son!"

  As soon as Li Xue Rong shouted "Tiger", Shi Feng Tian's heart skipped a beat, and before he could react, he felt a sharp pain in his back, and a mouthful of blood spurted out. His body immediately slumped to the ground. It turned out that as soon as Li Xue Hu heard Li Xue Rong's signal, he stabbed a dagger into Shi Feng Tian's back, twisting it with force, tearing Shi Feng Tian's heart to shreds. He then rushed to Li Xue Rong's side, shouting "Fire!"

  As Li Xuehu's shout, Wang Tienniu led the bodyguards to open fire. It is worth noting that Li Xuerong's guards were equipped with German-made Mp38 submachine guns, which were originally the equipment of the 100th Division of the Nationalist Central Army's German-made weapons. The 27th Army also had a share of this equipment. Before they could be equipped to the troops, they were scattered and retreated by the Japanese army, and these equipment were stored in Lao Ye Mountain. Li Xuerong also accidentally discovered them and equipped his guards with some of them. For this reason, he even quarreled with Wang Xuehua, who was responsible for keeping these equipment, and almost fought, before finally getting some of them.

  The firepower of the MP38 submachine gun was beyond doubt, with a burst of flame and rapid sweeping shots, like a sickle harvesting wheat, cutting down the crowd behind Ishikawa Tatsuya, as well as newly arriving Japanese.

  Yagyu was just about to push Miura down when he suddenly pushed Miyamoto instead, and himself pounced on Li Xuehu. However, the subsequent gunfire made Yagyu immediately understand the severity of the situation, and his body seemed to disappear into thin air. Almost at the same time, two of the five or six Japanese ronin who came with Miyamoto also disappeared from view, while the other ronin dodged and counterattacked. The cries of the guards who were shot followed.

  The battle ended quickly, and all 26 of Li Xueyong's guards, including Wang Tienu, were killed. Two of the ronin who followed Gong Ben came with him were also shot dead, as well as more than a dozen National Army officers recruited by Shi Fengtian.

  The two masters who appeared in the air with Ryūsei are his younger brother Ryūsei Seiun and his wife's younger brother Akiyama Yūhon.

  Ninja technique! And only the heavenly ninja among ninjas can disappear into thin air.

  Li Xue-rong knew only this much.

  Miyamoto took a step forward, pressing Li Xuerong: "General Li, I'm afraid you've also seen Liu Shengjun's martial arts skills. How about it? Do you think you can keep these people alive before your men arrive?" As he spoke, he looked at Li Xuerong's back with extreme disdain, "Want to make a bet? The stakes remain the same."

  Li Xue Rong stared at Miyamoto's eyes: "You're so confident? Alright! We'll bet on it today, but just the two of us brothers, you can also send two!"

  "No. Just one Yagyu is enough." Munenori said with a satisfied smile.

  Yagyu took a step forward, bowed to Li Xue Rong and his brother: "I've long heard that in Chinese martial arts there is a style of combat practiced by two brothers together. Today I'm fortunate enough to witness it, please instruct me."

  "Ha! Ha! You've come to our doorstep, how can I not give you a few more pointers? Tiger, let this Eastern devil take a look at the Two Forms Sword Technique!"

  As they spoke, Li Xue and Li Xuehu stood on either side of Liu Sheng, each holding a sword in their hands. Li Xuerong made the first move with "Lion's Road Exploration", his long sword swooping forward to challenge Liu Sheng head-on. Meanwhile, Li Xuetu's sword moved along the edge of the peak, slanting towards Liu Sheng's side and rear.

  The Two Forms Sword Technique originally consisted of one yin and one yang, one attacking and one defending, taking the two forms to generate four phases, and the four phases generating eight trigrams, thereby extending infinitely changing intentions. The Li brothers' Two Forms Sword Technique is obviously different from the general Two Forms Sword Technique. Only seeing Li Xuehu's large body becoming extremely light and agile after opening his sword stance, as if transformed into a gentle breeze. One sword flew up and down, and his shadow swayed back and forth, fluttering like a clear wind. And Li Xuerong seemed to become much clumsier, the sword in his hand seeming to hang with a thousand catty weight, every move and style extremely clear, the sword moving slowly, his body heavy as a mountain.

  If Yang Qi were here, he would definitely be full of praise. The Li brothers' Er Yin swordsmanship contains moves from the San Cai sword formation, and even their footwork has a hint of the San Cai sword formation.

  Li Xuehu's swordsmanship is just using one to change two, and then Li Xuerong has a leisurely attack.

  Yuan stood still, defending more and attacking less, calmly watching the two people's swordsmanship unfold. He appreciated Li brothers' swordsmanship as if it were a kind of exotic art. He was surprised to find that if he weren't such a super master, probably no one could resist these two men's attacks. Li Xuehu's massive body could transform clumsiness into agility, which was almost at the level of perfection; while Li Xuerong could make lightness seem heavy, which was a symbol of strength in itself, much more difficult than making heaviness seem light.

  Every time Li Xue Rong's sword came, Liu Sheng could feel the pressure of a mountain rushing over, as if his sword had a huge magical power that was not present in Japanese swordsmanship. Li Xue Hu's sword was light and terrifying, fast like lightning, and light as a feather.

  Yagyu was just about to carefully study the changing rules of this swordsmanship, when he suddenly heard Miyamoto call out "Yagyu!", Yagyu understood that Miyamoto wanted him to end the fight quickly.

  Miyamoto heard the distant gunfire gradually thinning out and knew that the battlefield was about to see a decisive outcome. Miyamoto instinctively realized that the Japanese army might be at a disadvantage, so he hastily urged Yagyu.

  Yue Shi saw Li Xuehu's sword stab coming, his body was as light as the wind and drifted back with the sword momentum. Behind him, Li Xuerong had just taken a few steps to Yue Shi's back, his sword momentum was like water, surging and chopping towards Yue Shi. However, everyone watched as Yue Shi disappeared under the sword tips of the Li brothers. The huge inertia almost made the two brothers kill each other.

  Just as the two were stunned, Liu Sheng's samurai sword had lightly slashed across Li Xue Rong's back, a two-foot long gash appeared, and then with a fierce kick on Li Xue Hu's chest, he kicked him flying.

  Yūshin's movement from concealment to appearance was only a matter of an instant, and truly knew Yūshin's body method were only a few people. Most people only saw Yūshin's body flash by, then they saw Li Xuerong injured and Li Xuehu kicked.

  Yagyu never intended to hurt the two brothers in his heart, so Li's brothers were not seriously injured.

  Miyamoto smiled and walked forward: "General Li, you have lost. Surrender!"

  Li Xue Rong pushed away the two guards who came to bandage him, enduring the intense pain, and coldly laughed at Miyamoto: "Miyamoto, I Li Xue Rong am a dignified Han man, how can I be a person who speaks without keeping his word? But if you want me to surrender to your Japanese devils, this kind of humiliating affair that disgraces my ancestors, the Lis have not learned yet. Life and death are trivial matters, losing one's integrity is a big matter. I Li Xue Rong have lived a life of adventure, the only thing that can make me feel regretful is today's affair. Brothers, Li certain is incompetent, cannot protect you all, I will take my leave first, we will meet again in the next life." As he spoke, he raised his hand to commit seppuku.

  Miura glared fiercely at Li Xuerong, knowing that today would not end well. Just as he was about to order Yagyu to slaughter everyone, a loud voice suddenly rang out: "Brother Li, wait!"

  Only to see Hu Yi walk out of the crowd, take away Li Xue Rong's sword in one move, and say to Miyamoto and Yagyu: "Mr. Miyamoto, I am Mr. He's bodyguard, Hu Yi. If this Mr. Yagyu can defeat me, I have a way to make Brother Li surrender."

  Miyamoto's eyes lit up and he exclaimed: "Really?!"

  "Mr. He can be a guarantor!" Hu Yi nodded towards He Jingxiang.

  He Jingxiang didn't think Hu Yi was a match for Liu Sheng, but he knew that if Li Xuerong died, his own fate would only be more miserable. Seeing Miya Moto look at him, He Jingxiang nodded tensely.

  "Alright! I'll trust you guys one more time!"

  Hu Yi grasped his sword with both hands, in the same manner as a Japanese samurai holding a katana, and said to Yagyu: "Mr. Yagyu, are you ready?" Yagyu nodded slightly. Suddenly, Hu Yi's sword flashed once, and with one move, it transformed into three swords, slashing towards Yagyu.

  Hu Yi's sword move, although not fancy, completely sealed off Liu Sheng's retreat. Liu Sheng had no choice but to leap up and flip backwards. Just as he saw Hu Yi take a step forward, his body turned right, the sword in his hand moved with a slashing motion from top right to bottom left. Liu Sheng's body was still in mid-air when he realized that if he landed, he would fall right into Hu Yi's blade. In a panic, he used his knife to deflect and flipped out again.

  Hu Yi's movements were very clear. Seeing Liu Sheng leap up, he calmly turned his body 360 degrees with his left foot as the axis, took a step and a half forward, with his left foot in front and right foot behind, raised both hands holding the sword, and slashed towards Liu Sheng with great force.

  At this time, Liu Sheng had just landed on the ground. In a rush, he could only hold up his knife with his right hand and support the back of the knife with his left hand. Hu Yi followed up with a kick, striking Liu Sheng's chest with his right foot. Liu Sheng's strength was focused upwards, but his lower body was unstable, causing him to sit down on the ground. At this moment, Hu Yi's sword also happened to be slashing towards Liu Sheng's chest. Hu Yi changed his slash to a thrust and stabbed at Liu Sheng with one swift motion.

  Liu Sheng's younger brother, Liu Jingyun, hastily raised his knife to block Hu Yi's sword. Hu Yi's eyes widened and he launched a three-part attack with his sword. Liu Jingyun had no choice but to leap out of the way, narrowly avoiding Hu Yi's sword as it flew over his head. Hu Yi then rotated his sword in his hand, gripped it with his right hand, and stabbed downwards from his right flank. Liu Jingyun was forced to jump again, but Hu Yi turned left, took two steps forward, and struck Liu Jingyun with a powerful kick, sending him tumbling to the ground. As Liu Jingyun fell, Hu Yi's sword changed direction, shifting from a slash to a thrust, and stabbed towards Liu Jingyun's chest.

  Akiyama no longer used the sword rack, and the result was the same. He was kicked down by Hu Yi with one foot and stabbed towards his chest with a sword. Miyamoto had no choice but to use his sword to block it. Seeing Hu Yi staring at him with both eyes, he wanted to fight again. Hurriedly shouting: "Mr. Hu, stop!"

  Hu Yi finally let out a breath of relief and retreated to the side. It turned out that once this set of knife techniques was unleashed, it would be unstoppable, with no room for retreat or surrender. This was because the power of the knife technique itself was like a linked ring, extremely natural.

  Yoshida and Ri Gyorin both discovered this problem, when Hu Yi and Yoshida Seiun, Akiyama Yūhon fought, Yoshida was even more amazed at the wonder of this road knife method, which actually calculated all kinds of changes in the opponent, not giving the opponent a chance, and all the knife momentum seemed simple but showed very natural fluency, as if it were born from heaven.

  Yagyu realized that what was truly formidable was the road of swordsmanship itself, rather than Hyouto.

  He Jingxiang was overjoyed to see Hu Yi defeat three people in a row, and he stepped forward through the crowd. He smiled at Miyamoto and said: "Mr. Miyamoto, I think it's better this way. Today, let's just make friends with each other. You lead your men back, and our brothers from Lao Ye Shan won't send you off far."

  He Jingxiang had originally planned to quit while he was ahead. Miyamoto also had no choice but to admit defeat, after all, Hu Yilian's three consecutive victories were a fact, and he himself had no more cards to play. He nodded immediately, preparing to turn around and leave.

  Only then did Liu Sheng suddenly burst out laughing and say: "I understand. Mr. Hu, may I ask you to teach me a few more moves?"

  Hui Yi's heart sank as soon as he heard this, knowing that Liu Sheng had seen through his trick and was intentionally not responding. However, it would be unbecoming to show weakness in front of everyone, so he could only look at He Jingxiang, hoping he would understand his intentions and speak up to resolve the situation.

  He didn't expect He Jingxiang to take advantage of Hu Yi's presence in front of everyone at Lao Ye Mountain, and as soon as he saw Hu Yi looking at him, he immediately agreed without hesitation.

  Miyamoto heard Ryūsei say try again, and said in Japanese: "Ryūsei-kun, do you have a way to win? Don't lose the face of the empire anymore."

  Yagyu's expression changed: "Miyamoto, I just wanted to have a friendly exchange between us and appreciate the wonders of Chinese martial arts. What does winning or losing matter?"

  "No way!" Miyamoto bellowed, "If you can defeat the one with the surname Hu, you must kill him. I will not allow such a person to exist! If you are not confident in defeating him, then you must follow me. This is an order!"

  "It's not your turn to order me around!" Liusheng sneered coldly and switched to Chinese, saying "Mr. Hu Yi, please!"

  After finishing speaking, the warrior's sword in his hand rose up, and a move of Snowflake Covering the Top floated towards Hu Yi.