Late at night, the moon is dim and the west wind whispers.
On the deserted hill, there are still two people standing.
The two men, one with a sword and the other with a sword, looked at each other and stood silently.
That sword is a Japanese sword, which is a relatively low-grade Japanese sword, mostly used by wandering samurai.
At that time, there were often Japanese pirates or pirates from Japan in the Weihaiwei generation, so both the officers and soldiers and the common people were very familiar with this kind of knife.
Relatively speaking, relatively high-grade Japanese swords or samurai swords were extremely rare in the Great Osamu Kingdom at that time, because those kinds of swords were generally only owned by famous nobles in Japan, and those who had There is no reason for a wealthy and famous warrior to come all the way to Dazao to become a robber.
The sword is a long sword, nearly twice as long as an ordinary sword.
A person who uses this kind of sword to travel around the world is undoubtedly a person of great renown.
"Qingtian Sword" Fang Jinghai - just looking at his nickname and name, it seems a bit powerful, right?
But it’s not...
This Brother Fang can neither hold up the sky nor shake the sea. His swordsmanship can only be said to be average, barely second-rate or above. Level it.
However, due to his unique weapons, he may be more difficult to deal with than those swordsmen of the same level as him.
But his opponent is different.
That "Japanese swordsman", according to the standards of the Central Plains martial arts, is at least a quasi-first-class master, and he is also superior in weapons.
Some people may be surprised, isn't it said that he used a low-grade samurai sword? Why do you still have an advantage against this person's unique long sword?
Everyone, when I say "low-grade", it is a vertical comparison... If compared horizontally with other weapons, the performance of Japanese swords is much better than those common swords in the Central Plains martial arts. Of course, the cost is also high. Much more - putting aside the craftsmanship, the material resources required to make a Japanese sword are enough to make several ordinary swords; in addition, the samurai sword also has high follow-up maintenance costs, and the more sophisticated ones need to be regularly maintained. Applying pine oil is not just a matter of dipping it in some water and rubbing it casually.
In addition to being used as collectibles, this kind of weapon was almost exclusively created for single combat or small-scale infantry combat in actual combat (it is basically useless in horse battles and is not as good as the most common long-range weapon). (hand weapon), even if it is a low-grade Japanese sword, its lightness, toughness, and sharpness are unmatched by ordinary weapons in the Central Plains... When the two compete, the usual result is that the latter "is unable to defeat a long-ranged soldier, and a short-ranged soldier is ineffective". If you don’t pick it up, your body will be broken in two parts.”
Fang Jinghai’s sword is longer than an ordinary sword, but its toughness is not as good as a spear or a stick... Once it hits a Japanese sword, it will definitely be broken in five blows.
Of course...he doesn't know this.
If Fang Jinghai had some idea of the opponent's strength or weapon gap, maybe he wouldn't come tonight.
He came simply because he thought he would win.
Then you want to ask him if there is any reason why he has to come? Yes, and no...
No, because he has no enmity with his opponent and is a stranger to him.
To say that there is, it is still the same saying "people are in the world, and they can't help themselves".
As a swordsman, when someone challenges you to compete with you, you cannot just refuse.
Unless the other party's reputation or martial arts are far different from yours, your rejection can be regarded as a kind of withdrawal, and in the world of martial arts, sometimes a simple withdrawal may make you unable to fight again. Get a foothold.
"Are you Terashima Yasuhei?" After a moment of confrontation, Fang Jinghai broke the silence first.
His tone was a bit arrogant, and it was obvious that he still felt that he was stronger than his opponent at this time.
"Exactly." Terashima is an authentic Japanese, but he has been dealing with Central Plains people for a long time, so even though his accent is thick, he can speak Central Plains quite well.
"I heard... In the past two months, you have killed fifteen swordsmen from our Central Plains martial arts community and also taken away their swords?" Fang Jinghai asked again.
"Not bad." Terashima replied.
"Can I ask why this is?" Fang Jinghai said.
"Entrusted by others." Terashima replied.
“Oh?” Fang Jinghai said, “Then can I ask who entrusted you?”
“No.” Terajima said, “And, yes There is no need for me to say so much for a person who is about to die."
Fang Jinghai was not as witty as Lin Yuancheng. After hearing this sentence, he not only did not continue the rhetoric, but he was also angered. , so he snorted coldly and replied: "Hmph... I'm just afraid that it will be you who dies soon, and the dead can't talk anymore."
Hearing this, Terashima's expression did not change. Any change, after all... He has heard similar words at least ten times.
After a breath, Terashima continued calmly: "Today you and I have a fair duel. Life and death are determined by destiny. The winner can get the weapon of the dead... If you have no objection, please feel free to take action. ."
"Okay!" Fang Jinghai responded, getting ready to attack.
Almost at the same second, Terashima also pulled out the Japanese sword from his waist, held it in front of him, and waited intently.
Huh-dang!
When the killing atmosphere was at its peak, there was a clanging sound.
The Qingtian Sword opens and closes widely, using its length to overcome its shortness. Although the sword's cutting edge is slow, it has a wide range and is powerful and heavy. It can cause damage outside the "interval" of the opponent's weapon. ; If the opponent only defends, he is using weakness to defend against strength. The more he fights, the more passive he becomes. If the opponent wants to counterattack, he must take two more steps... The distance difference between these two steps is enough to make up for Fang Jinghai's lack of speed. .
However, Terashima did not take these two steps. He chose to stand where he was, attacking with attack, chopping with the blade, and defeating the upper one with the lower one.
The Japanese sword rose, the long sword fell, the blade flashed, and the sword broke in two.
Fang JingHai Ye has been fighting in the arena for more than ten years and has considerable practical experience. Therefore, after the sword was broken, he was only briefly shocked. Then he calmed down, took advantage of the situation, changed his moves, turned around, and used The edge of the broken sword made another horizontal slash.
Unexpectedly, Na Si Dao lowered his head, ducked forward, ducked into the gap under Fang Jinghai's arm, and slashed upward with his backhand.
At that moment, a broken arm, holding a broken sword, rose into the air...
Fang Jinghai screamed, and blood spattered five steps.
He instinctively wanted to retreat, but Terashima's third knife had already caught up with him, but when the blade passed by, Fang Jinghai was slashed from his ribs to his neck.
The instant blood loss caused by this knife was enough to make Fang Jinghai lose consciousness and fall down.
Terajima, who was standing in front of him, seemed to have been soaked in a blood bath, his whole body was dyed red. Of course...he was already used to this.
After a while, Terashima silently took out a white towel from his arms while looking down at the cold body in front of him.
He did not use this white towel to wipe his face, but carefully began to wipe the blood on the knife... His movements were so gentle, as if he were caressing the skin of the woman he loved. .
After wiping it and sheathing the sword, he walked over and picked up Fang Jinghai’s broken sword.
For some reason, Terashima actually plunged the broken sword into the heart of the dead Fang Jinghai, soaking the sword with the blood of its former owner before pulling it out. take away.
When Terashima turned around, someone had quietly come to him.
This man is tall and burly, with a fierce look on his face. He has also appeared in the previous document...
After seeing this, you must have guessed that he is The bandit leader "Kang Haijiao" who was entrenched in the "Dragon King Cave" at the beginning.
When we talked about him last time, this guy was blinded by Sun Yixie with lime powder, and then Brother Sun used the "buried in the ground to hold the sky" move in Dragon Dog Boxing. Throw him down a steep slope.
In the Dragon King Cave, there were many rugged roads and huge height differences, and the place where Kang Haijiao fell happened to be a long steep slope that led directly to the underground river; he rolled down all the way from there, and not only did all the bones in his body break. There were more than a dozen of them, and even the skin and flesh had been torn off by the sharp rocks protruding from the slope.
But he... miraculously survived.
Even though he was covered with bruises after the fall, because Kang Haijiao kept curling up and holding his head, his head was not seriously injured.
As for his eyes being blurred by lime powder, it was no problem in the already dark underground river. He could not see anything when he opened his eyes.
So, he lay in the underground river for a day and a night. By the next day, he was really thirsty, so he endured the pain and felt the dark, crawled to the river and drank a few drinks. Saliva; fortunately, there was not so much water pollution back then, and this groundwater was almost the same as well water., and the water quality may even be better, so it won’t be a big deal if he drinks it.
Of course, to say the least... Even if the water is dirty, he will still drink it - he can't see it anyway, so out of sight is out of mind.
Since Kang Haijiao had multiple fractures all over his body, and the slope he rolled down was very steep, it was basically impossible to climb up from the original path, so he could only prepare for "long-term survival."
There is not much to eat in the underground river. Although there are fish in the water occasionally, he will definitely not be able to catch them at first; let alone catching them in this dark environment. It is difficult to catch fish from the stream with bare hands in broad daylight.
So, in the first month, Kang Haijiao basically kept eating rats, scorpions, and various kinds of bugs and mushrooms that he didn’t know what kind they were, and they were all grown by washing them in the water. The kind he eats...
If you ask him why he didn’t die of poisoning or acute gastroenteritis infection, I don’t know.
Perhaps something he ate happened to be a rare "natural treasure", or maybe this guy was born with a strange physique and his immune and digestive systems were extremely developed. In short... Not only did he not die , his body was getting better day by day, and the wounds on his body did not do any special treatment except washing them with water, and they all healed up.
As for the lime powder on his face, he had already rubbed it away with mucus "extracted" from animals and plants, but in the dark, even if his eyes were opened, it would not do much. .
To make a long story short, after this month, Kang Haijiao's other senses besides vision have become sharper. His hearing, smell, touch... have all become extremely developed without realizing it; he is originally a water person. Born as a thief, he relied on water for food. Soon after his senses were strengthened, he mastered how to catch fish with bare hands in the underground river, which could be regarded as improving his own diet.
Halfway through the second month, the bones in his body had basically grown, and he felt it was time to escape from the underground river.
The slope where he fell was too long and steep, and it was too difficult to get up without tools. Kang Haijiao didn't have any light skills and couldn't "swim up the wall", so he decided to go downstream along the river. Go ahead. If you're lucky, you should be able to find an exit connected to a well or mountain stream.
However, if you are unlucky... it is really hard to say. Some underground rivers can stretch for tens of kilometers, and there are many branches in them. It may take you several days to walk along a branch. I found that the road ahead suddenly became too narrow to pass.
Kang Haijiao walked along a road for more than ten days before encountering this "bad luck" situation.
As he was walking that day, he suddenly found a stone wall blocking his way in the darkness. There was only a very narrow gap under the stone wall through which water could flow out.
Kang Haijiao felt very unhappy when he "hit the wall". Before turning around and turning back, he clenched his fist and knocked on the stone wall reluctantly. Unexpectedly, his knocking triggered some mechanism... …The thick stone wall seems to be rotatingThe door turned over.
When the dazzling sunlight outside the stone wall shone into the dark river, Kang Haijiao, who had not seen light for almost two months, almost went blind. Fortunately, the stone wall was quickly resealed after being turned over. Blocking the river and blocking the sunlight allowed Kang Haijiao, who was kneeling with his face covered, to relax.
Later, when he "flipped" out of the stone wall and readjusted and regained his sight, he discovered that he had accidentally arrived at a cave in the middle of the cliff.
This cave has obviously been artificially modified. On the flipping stone wall, one side is an ordinary stone, and the other side is engraved with martial arts techniques.
I think the person who lived in seclusion here must be a very cautious person. He has already hidden in such a place to practice, and he has not forgotten to add an extra layer of insurance; if Kang Haijiao did not enter this place from the other side of the river, If you enter the cave from the cliff side, you may not be able to discover the secret behind the stone wall.
No matter what... At that moment, Kang Haijiao, who was a blessing in disguise, couldn't help but look up to the sky and smile, shouting "The sky has eyes".
Not only did he escape death, but he also had this kind of adventure.
Such an experience naturally greatly expanded his ambition and ambition. He could no longer be content with being an ordinary thief. He also wanted to make a name for himself in the martial arts world.
Of course...before that, he still had to practice the skills in front of him first.
So what martial arts are carved on this stone wall?
Superior Qinggong - "Climbing the Sky Crossing".
Actually, you should have guessed a thing or two from the location of this cave. This place... people without a certain level of Qinggong will not be able to get in unless they use a rope ladder.
Just like Kang Haijiao at this time, although he discovered the hole, he still could not return to the outside world; because for him, the entrance to the hole in front of him was halfway up the cliff. He fell to his death, and the stone wall behind led to an underground river. Entering it would mean returning the same way... There was no way out anyway.
So, he practiced in that cave for several months. As for food, he still had to go to the underground river to find it.
A few months later... Like the "red plum bird" in the previous document, this Kanghai Jiao also wanted to "destroy the cave and eliminate the traces" before leaving the place of adventure; at that time, he had already betrayed After making up his mind to "climb the sky" and practicing to a certain extent, he destroyed the stone wall, swam up the cliff and ran away.
You want to ask how this person who only learned the best Qinggong destroyed the stone wall... Then I can remind you that we mentioned this guy when he first appeared on the scene, he is "born" "Extraordinary brute strength", the master is so strong that he can pick up the mast of the ship and drive it into the mud.
In addition, when he was twenty years old, he had been in the Cao Gang for several years, and he had learned some boxing and kicking skills. He already had the basics, so destroying a stone wall was really nothing to him. The problem is, it's just that for an expert, it can be done with three punches and two palms, but he has to put in more effort.
The first thing Kang Haijiao did when he saw the light of day again was of course robbery. Needless to say, there was no need to go into details. After he finished the first act, he immediately thought of returning to Chenjia Village in Ant Mountain to find the man. Help the villagers "settle accounts".
Because in his opinion, Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai who came to carry out his "business" must have been hired by the villagers.
However, he is also rough and subtle. He will not rush directly into the village to arrest people for questioning; last time, he was just a little impulsive and almost died in Sun Yi's case. In the hands of humor - people must learn a lesson after making a mistake, otherwise they are stupid.
So, Kang Haijiao pretended to be a passerby and entered the village as usual. He drank in the village tavern and chatted with other guests and the waiter.
Originally, this group of villagers had never seen this "Dragon King" from beginning to end, so it was impossible for them to know that the man in front of them was the leader of the thieves who had framed them; Well...it's really relaxing, because during this period, it happened to be when the reputation of "Eastern Harmony and Western Poison" was rising. These villagers in Chenjiacun were helped by Sun and Huang, or had contact with each other, so they naturally wanted to take it out. When someone talks about something, even if Kang Haijiao doesn't ask, they might take the initiative to say it.
Only when Kang Haijiao heard this, he realized that it was not the villagers who invited the people, but those two guys were just passing by and minding other people's business.
When he heard it again, it turned out that in the past few months when he had experienced adventures, Sun and Huang first defeated Shen Youran in Luoyang, and then helped Jin Yiwei get rid of the shadow remnants in Wuchang. During this period, they also There are many anecdotes, big and small, true or false, that have been added to by the common people, and each one is more terrifying than the last.
After listening to this, Kang Haijiao thought... Why don't I take revenge for this? I can't afford to offend these poisonous things... It's okay to sprinkle lime powder, but I have never heard of such a thing as sinking someone into a manure pit. As the saying goes, killing can only be done with a nod of the head, and these two methods are simply not the work of humans. It's a matter.
Thinking like this, he really gave up on revenge and began to wander around the world.
Up to now, this Kanghai Jiao has successfully clung to a "big tree" and has become the subordinate of a certain big shot in the world.
Of course, it would be difficult for someone from the "lower five sects" like him to get into the elegant hall. He can only be like the Japanese pirate Terashima Yasuhei... doing some unspeakable things for the boss. For "dirty work", one cannot tell the outside world who his master is and what he is going to do.
"Jiao-kun, I should have said it many times, don't appear behind me silently like this." After Terashima turned around, he paused for two seconds, and then wiped the blood-stained hand from his hand. The broken sword was handed to the other party.
"Hmph... I came here very normally, so you can't hear me, so can you blame me?" Kang Haijiao replied with some pride, "Do you want me to stand on your feet?" Attach two bells?" As he spoke, he took the sword from the opponent's hand and loaded it with one that had been prepared.In a good long narrow wooden box.
"Then next time if I instinctively slash you with a knife because I see someone suddenly appearing behind me, don't blame me for not warning you." Terashima continued.
"Are you scaring me? Hehe... you can try..." Kang Haijiao sneered. It seemed that the relationship between him and Terajima was not good, they just had to do things together.
"I will remember your words." Terajima replied.
"It's up to you." Kang Haijiao said, "Anyway, this is already the sixteenth game. There are still four games left before we can deal with the 'master'. After this mission is completed, you and I may not be able to do it." Continue to cooperate."
"Speaking of this... I hope you can help me find a more powerful swordsman next time." Terashima said, "The purity of their swords is as good as today's. "It's too low. I don't think the master will be too satisfied if you hand over something like this."
"Ha!" Kang Haijiao said with a hint of disdain, "Kill a few Ersan." You bastard, are you so crazy? Do you really think you are such a great master? If I really invite that skilled swordsman to come, you won’t be the one who is afraid of death?”
Terashima heard this. , his expression suddenly turned cold: "I can't pretend I didn't hear what you said... How about you and I compete now?"
"No need, I don't have to risk my life with you." Kang Haijiao couldn't even think about it. If he didn't want to, he rejected the other party, "You want to act like a big-tailed wolf, right? OK, I'll find someone powerful next time, but if you make a mistake, don't blame me..."
"Hmph..." Terajima also sneered, "If I make a mistake, it won't make any difference to you, right? Just give my beloved sword and blood to the master."