Chapter Eighty-Four: A Clash Between First-Rate Masters

Chapter Eighty-Four: A Duel Between True Masters

Red Scorpion crouched before the willow tree that had been torn up by the roots and crashed to the ground, his face dark with rage. The hundred scorpion-tail needles that had been about to turn Qiu Yan into a porcupine had all flown off course to nowhere.

This late-arriving intruder left Red Scorpion filled with uncertainty. That earlier punch had been powered by internal strength far beyond that of an ordinary first-rate fighter. Clearly, within the ranks of first-rate masters, the man had already reached the summit; he was one of the very best.

Only now did Red Scorpion understand why Qiu Yan had survived after being struck by the Seven Absolute Palms of Blue Ghost. Only now did he finally realize why Cangying, You, and the others from the Ghost Hall had died without even a sound. So the little medicinal dining house in River East City actually concealed such a master.

Clearly, Qiu Yan’s recovery had something to do with him as well.

Qiu Yan, who had already prepared herself to face death, had closed her eyes. When she heard the tremendous crash of the fallen willow tree, she abruptly opened them, and her heart tightened. Sure enough, Xu Yun had stepped forward after all.

Xu Yun stood barefoot in sandals, empty-handed, between Red Scorpion and Qiu Yan. Drops of water still clung to his hair and fell in steady beats, and the wetness on his body quickly soaked through the hastily donned beach shorts. Yet his gaze remained firm, coldly fixed on Red Scorpion crouched at the foot of the tree, not relaxing his vigilance in the slightest simply because his first strike had landed.

Red Scorpion suddenly pulled back the hood of his coat. Moonlight touched his dark red hair with a strange sheen, and a vicious, sinister gleam flashed through his eyes. He was clearly enraged.

“Red Scorpion. That name really does travel far,” Xu Yun said with a cold laugh. “Five years ago you killed the Northwest Wolf King and shocked the underworld. Three years ago you threw in with Blue Ghost and became the greatest master under his command. More than ten first-rate fighters in the underworld have died beneath your scorpion-tail needles, and you even caused that prison break that stunned the entire country, snatching a major criminal right out of the police’s hands.”

The rumors he had heard about this venomous scorpion were indeed many.

Red Scorpion, who had been crouching on the ground, suddenly rose to his feet. “You know quite a lot.”

Qiu Yan was clearly surprised that Xu Yun could say all that.

“But has anyone ever told you that the more you know, the sooner you die...” Red Scorpion’s killing intent carried a fierce and evil aura, erupting from within him in an instant and sweeping toward Xu Yun like a charging herd of wild horses.

At nearly the same moment, Xu Yun also released a murderous aura filled with ferocity, meeting Red Scorpion’s sinister killing intent with a force like floodwaters breaking a dam. Their clash seemed to disturb heaven and earth themselves. A swath of dark cloud covered the already faint moonlight, and the front of the medicinal dining house sank into darkness.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

Several scorpion-tail needles, silent as ghosts, cut through the dark with a razor wind and shot straight toward Xu Yun’s face.

Xu Yun’s footwork became wondrously light and unpredictable. Relying on the sound of the wind alone, he dodged Red Scorpion’s hidden weapons, then turned and shouted sharply at Qiu Yan, “Back to your room!”

In Qiu Yan’s current condition, it would clearly be impossible for her to evade Red Scorpion’s rapidly fired hidden needles again. Xu Yun, who was giving his all, had no extra energy to protect her.

Though Qiu Yan was also a famed Violent Fox Lord of the underworld, in her present state, leaving the battlefield was the greatest help she could give Xu Yun. Staying would only make her a burden.

Qiu Yan understood what he meant, so she wasted no time at all. Leaping into the air, she sprang straight back through the second-floor window and returned inside.

How could Red Scorpion let the woman he had just driven into a dead end escape? With a flick of his hand, several flashes of cold light followed Qiu Yan toward the second-floor window.

Just as Qin Waner, who had thrown on her clothes and rushed out of the room, happened to see Qiu Yan leap upstairs, she rubbed her eyes hard, thinking she must be seeing things. Qin Waner hurried over to Qiu Yan, wanting to know exactly what had happened outside.

“Down!” The moment Qiu Yan’s feet touched the floor, she pressed the running Qin Waner down onto the ground.

A burst of cracking sounds rang out, and the windows in the second-floor corridor shattered with a crash! It was easy to imagine just how terrifying the force of Red Scorpion’s needles must have been. To shatter glass with needles was no simple feat.

Qin Waner looked stunned. What on earth was happening downstairs?

“Red Scorpion, your opponent is me. What kind of man bullies women?” Xu Yun’s voice came from outside the window. “I don’t care what your objective is. If you want to finish it, you’ll have to kill me first.”

Then Red Scorpion’s icy voice drifted in as well. “Good. Then let me see just how formidable the fox lord’s backer really is!”

...

Qin Waner stared at Qiu Yan, eyes wide. “When did Xu Yun go downstairs?”

Qiu Yan’s face had gone pale and green. She had just begun to speak when she coughed up a mouthful of blood.

“What’s wrong with you?” Qin Waner was nearly frightened out of her wits. She had never seen anything like this.

Only then did Qiu Yan feel the stabbing pain in her right chest. She was startled. Sure enough, a scorpion-tail needle had pierced straight into her body. It seemed she would not escape this time.

Xu Yun, everything else will depend on you now... Qiu Yan had no one left she could truly trust. She only hoped Xu Yun could hold on, then take Guoguo and leave, as far away as possible.

“Waner...” For the first time, Qiu Yan called Qin Waner by name.

Qin Waner froze, still not used to it. “What is wrong with you? I’ll take you to the hospital!”

Qiu Yan grabbed her hand. “It’s no use. I only want to ask you one thing... You must help me...”

“Tell me what you need. If I can help, I will!” Qin Waner nodded. In her mind, taking Qiu Yan to the hospital was the only way she could help.

“In the drawer in my room there is a card holder... Tomorrow, please give the cards inside to Guoguo. The password is her birthday... Thank you...” Qiu Yan was growing weaker and weaker. The scorpion-tail needle, soaked for forty-nine days and nights in poison, was indeed unimaginably toxic, and it had already begun to invade her heart and lungs.

Qin Waner’s eyes went blank. “What did you say? You... why don’t you give it to her yourself?”

Qiu Yan showed, for the first time, that calm and open smile. “I’m afraid I won’t make it to tomorrow. Waner, please, you must help me... Help me tell Xu Yun to take good care of Guoguo... Better yet, take her away and never look back... This place... one day, sooner or later, he won’t be able to protect it either...”

Qin Waner was truly frightened. “What are you talking about? I don’t understand a word of it. Qiu Yan, stop scaring me, all right? I’ll take you to the hospital right now, wherever you feel bad—just don’t keep scaring me like this! No joking, okay? Don’t lie to me. I’m very timid.”

“I’m not lying to you...” Qiu Yan forced down the blood surging up in her chest. “Promise me!”

“Promise you what? I’m not going to let you die!” Qin Waner shook her head hard. Although Qiu Yan had always treated her coolly, and she had always kept a wary distance from Qiu Yan, they had nevertheless lived together for many days. However thin the bond, it was still a bond.

Qiu Yan could not hold it back and coughed up another mouthful of blood. She no longer had the strength to speak.

Qin Waner was stunned. Like a madwoman, she crawled to the window and tried to shout for Xu Yun’s help, but the scene before her shocked her completely.

At a glance she recognized the man facing off against Xu Yun as indeed the one on the wanted posters. The two stood opposed like armies on the march.

Every punch Xu Yun threw was vast and thunderous, but Red Scorpion was by no means inferior. In an instant the two exchanged more than a dozen moves. Their fists struck each other, and both of them were forced back several steps.

Hu... hu...

Xu Yun steadied his breathing as he went, secretly adjusting the channels of his internal energy, his blood and qi, and his state of mind. Throughout the fight with Red Scorpion, he had remained wholly focused, daring not to be distracted for even a moment, yet he had not expected that the best he could manage was still a draw.

Red Scorpion looked at the person before him with surprise. He had not underestimated Xu Yun. After all, Xu Yun had blasted him away at the very instant he had been about to end Qiu Yan’s life; the man was definitely a first-rate master. But Red Scorpion had never imagined that this man’s skill would actually surpass Qiu Yan’s by so much. At the very least, Red Scorpion had gained no advantage whatsoever.

Both men had now steadied themselves. Xu Yun could clearly hear the beating of his own heart.

Red Scorpion suddenly lowered his whole body to the ground, his right leg raised behind him, like a venomous scorpion poised to strike at any moment. He had fully entered his attacking stance. Xu Yun knew very well that this was Red Scorpion at his most terrifying. The scorpion-tail needles launched from his right leg were far stronger in both speed and force than those fired from his hands.

Seeing this stance, Xu Yun did not dare be careless for a single instant. As expected, Red Scorpion’s body suddenly contracted into a tight ball on the ground, then exploded outward, firing a dense storm of needles straight at Xu Yun!

Xu Yun was startled. Such a net of attack was truly fearsome. His figure flashed as he dodged behind a willow tree by the roadside. Even with his exquisite footwork, several scorpion-tail needles still sliced the skin of his right arm.

The unusual sting made Xu Yun keenly aware of just how vicious the poison on those needles was. This bastard was truly a troublesome one!

Red Scorpion let out a cold laugh. “I am surprised you can escape my net of silver needles, but I’ll tell you this as well: no one has ever escaped my move, Rain of Pear Blossom!”

“Red Scorpion—such a fine name, and you use it, tarnishing it like that?” Xu Yun sneered from behind the willow tree. “Let me see how many scorpion-tail needles you really have!”

“Hahaha!” Red Scorpion threw back his head and laughed. “Then I’ll tell you. Scorpion-tail needles are as fine as hair. I carry hundreds of millions on my person. I’ve only used a tiny fraction of them. You want to win by exhausting my scorpion-tail needles? Hahaha, what a daydream in broad daylight!”

Hundreds of millions? Damn it, are you selling needles or what? Xu Yun nearly cursed aloud. This bastard was truly shameless!

Xu Yun drew in a sharp breath. It seemed that if he did not pay a greater price, he would end up in this bastard’s hands today. He looked down at the flip-flops on his feet. Fighting in these things was a terrible disadvantage; they did not stay on well at all.

Red Scorpion watched the willow tree where Xu Yun was hidden with complete concentration. The moment Xu Yun came out, another Rain of Pear Blossom would surely turn him into a porcupine!

Suddenly, two flashes of white appeared. Without hesitation, Red Scorpion swept out with his right leg, and the dense scorpion-tail needles nailed the pair of flip-flops firmly to the tree!

Xu Yun suddenly leaped down from the treetop and kicked viciously at the Red Scorpion lying close to the ground. Red Scorpion was alarmed and rolled swiftly aside, but he was still a step too late. Xu Yun’s heavy kick landed mercilessly against Red Scorpion’s left chest.

At the same time, Red Scorpion was not polite either. Several flashes of cold light shot directly at Xu Yun’s face. Xu Yun dodged sideways at once, yet he was also struck in the back by Red Scorpion’s heavy palm!

The two men again retreated several steps. Red Scorpion could not help but spit out a mouthful of bloody pus.

Xu Yun clearly had not come away unscathed either. Though he forced himself to endure, a trace of blood still spilled from the corner of his mouth.

Watching from upstairs, Qin Waner was so frightened that her legs went weak and she collapsed onto the floor. What kind of monstrous battle was this? No wonder Xu Yun had repeatedly warned her not to provoke this wanted criminal.