https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-4-Riding-Out-of-the-City-Northward-Bound/12535907/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-6-Master-Pan-and-the-Greedy-Ghost/12535910/
Chapter 5: Thousand Hand Asura
Chapter 5: Thousand Hand Asura
Li Xinhuan entered the pass and the first person he encountered was Afei.
Then, at an inn by the road, he killed Zhuge Lei but failed to finish off Jin Sijia.
After that, a trail of deaths followed—the Green-Blooded Double Snakes, the chief and deputy heads of the Gold Lion Escort Agency, the four disciples of the Master of Extreme Joy Cave, Zimen Erlang and Madame Rose, Huafeng, Thousand Hand Asura, Shi Yaoxian and Pan Shaoan. Finally, at Master Mei's estate, he crippled Long Xiaoyun.
It has to be said that the world of Gu Long is far more dangerous than Jin Yong's. Even someone as renowned as Li Xinhuan almost met his end when Zimen Erlang, Sun Kui, poisoned his wine.
Not to mention the subsequent journey to Shaolin Temple, where he was stalked by the Master of Extreme Joy Cave and nearly starved to death.
If this were the world of Jin Yong, he would have cultivated the Nine Yang Divine Skill, rendering him immune to all poisons!
"Can I please go back and cross over into The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber before tackling The Sentimental Swordsman?" Yu Longsheng asked aloud as he rode his horse down the deserted official road, gazing up at the sky.
The heavens remained silent.
The sky was filled with boundless white clouds, offering no response to his question.
"Since that's the case, I must obtain the Manual of Compassion Flower," Yu Longsheng thought to himself. "Wang Lianhua is a grandmaster-level figure in Gu Long's novels, with top-notch skills in identifying and using poisons. With the Manual of Compassion Flower, I'll have an extra layer of protection as I traverse the martial arts world. At the very least, I won't have to worry about being poisoned to death."
To put it bluntly, in a situation where Yu Longsheng doesn't actively seek to kill himself, the Manual of Compassion Flower would be far more useful to him than The Flying Dagger of Little Li.
Moreover, he was a practitioner of the sword.
The Divine Dragon's Nine Bends Sword Technique, a secret manual of the Sword-Hiding Villa, was not to be underestimated. He had also learned the Wind and Snow Seventy-Two Styles from Tian Shan Xue Yingzi, making his sword skills unpredictable and exceptionally swift and fierce, rivaling any sword technique under the heavens.
"Whoa—"
At the fork in the official road, Yu Longsheng pulled on the reins, bringing his steed to a gentle halt. The horse shook its head and neighed softly.
Yu Longsheng looked left and right, his face confused. "Which way am I supposed to go now? How are others able to accurately find their targets? How do I navigate the author's plot? Am I supposed to just pick a direction? This seems rather hasty."
The current situation was rather awkward. While Yu Longsheng knew the plot, he didn't know the specific locations.
Gu Long's novels tended to be stream-of-consciousness, so even having the Xing Yun Manor in Baoding Prefecture was already quite a rare piece of information. As for the location of Zimen Erlang's small shop, who could say?
"Leaving the pass... exiting the pass... the road out of the pass..."
"Hmm, one should take the main road when leaving the pass..."
"If the roads are roughly the same width, I should probably take the one with more horse tracks, right?"
"In that case..."
Yu Longsheng looked toward the left road, and then he heard the sound of hoofbeats coming from behind him.
He turned his head and saw a chestnut-red horse approaching at full gallop. On its back was a strikingly beautiful woman.
The woman appeared to be just past thirty, an age where she still held onto the tail end of her youth, yet possessed a wealth of experience. It was the prime age where a woman's beauty, temperament, and charm reached their pinnacle.
The woman before him was exactly that.
She wore a golden silk dress adorned with pearl inlays on the lapels. A pure white, spotless cape draped over her shoulders, and two pieces of jade hung from her collar. Her exquisite attire accentuated her stunning visage, which carried a hint of masculine charm. Even the coldness and fierceness in her eyes could easily be mistaken for nobility and aloofness.
"Could this woman be...?"
Before he could finish his thought, the woman had already ridden past him and turned onto the right fork in the road.
"Pervert! What are you staring at?"
The woman glared at Yu Longsheng and shouted, then waved her hand. Darts, sleeve arrows, silver needles, iron caltrops, five-spiked beads, coin darts, and jujube pit nails—a total of twenty-two hidden weapons of seven varieties—instantly surrounded him.
After waving her hand, the woman didn't even spare Yu Longsheng another glance. She turned her horse around and left.
"Damn it!"
Yu Longsheng cursed aloud, his long sword unsheathed.
"Chk!"
"Ding ding ding ding ding ding..."
After twenty-two clinks, all twenty-two hidden weapons were deflected by Yu Longsheng's long sword. None of them fell into the snowy ground around him, but instead, they were all knocked to the side of the official road and embedded into the trunks of three large trees.
"Crazy woman! Thousand Hand Asura!"
Yu Longsheng looked at the woman riding off on the right path, then pulled on his horse's reins and followed her onto the right official road, urging his horse to catch up.
Thousand Hand Asura, of course, heard the crisp clinks behind her and couldn't help but turn back, only to see Yu Longsheng chasing after her. Her expression changed instantly.
She hadn't expected that simply by looking at this young man with displeasure and casually killing someone by the road, she would encounter such a formidable opponent.
There were, of course, people who could dodge her 'flowery rain' of hidden weapons, but those who could knock them all away in an instant were few and far between in the martial world.
"A young, formidable opponent! I'm no match for him!"
Thousand Hand Asura's face changed as she saw Yu Longsheng charging towards her, and she immediately waved her hand again.
This time, in addition to the previous seven types of hidden weapons, there were also locust stones, square darts, flying forks, iron thorns, cowhair needles, and meteor chains in the air.
"Damn it!"
Yu Longsheng couldn't help but curse. The rest were still manageable, but the cowhair needles, ejected from a needle tube, numbered nearly a hundred, all of them poisoned. And the meteor chain was aimed straight at his crotch and the white horse beneath him.
He pulled the reins with his left hand and swung his long sword with his right, blocking or dodging the hidden weapons to ensure his safety. But as he watched Thousand Hand Asura ride further and further away, he knew he couldn't catch up to her.
"Forget it, she won't live long anyway. As long as I know the way, it's fine."
Yu Longsheng shook his head and didn't rush. He reached into his pocket, grabbed a handful of black beans, and fed them to his horse, comforting it. Then, he rode his horse at a slow trot, following her trail.
"Speaking of which, why does Thousand Hand Asura want the Golden Silk Armor?"
"She's a woman, so she can't marry Lin Xian'er, and she's getting old. Mei Hua Dao won't target her either; there's no grudge between them..."
"Could it be that she's worried someone will use the Golden Silk Armor against her?"
"Does she have that kind of qualification? Maybe she's just being paranoid."
...
Heading north, the wind grew stronger, and snow began to fall.
Yu Longsheng tightened the furry scarf around his neck and wrapped his sable coat tighter. His eyes, bright as cold stars, scanned the surroundings.
Then he spotted a jujube-red horse—Thousand Hand Asura's mount.
The horse was still there, but the woman was nowhere to be seen.
Obviously, Thousand Hand Asura had discovered something, and to avoid attracting attention with the jujube-red horse, she had abandoned it and left.
Yu Longsheng dismounted and tied his white horse to a tree, then quietly entered the forest, following the traces left by Thousand Hand Asura.
(End of Chapter)
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