First Entry into the Spirit Void 112. A Household with Three Treasures

Gao Yunxiang said, “Then I simply won’t speak. Now that matters have come to this, I can only leave everything to fate.”

Yang Yifei snapped, “No! If I tell you to speak and you refuse, I’ll kill you myself.”

“People ought to keep their word. Didn’t you just promise to do as I said?”

“Didn’t I already tell you? I’m the eldest young lady. What was true then was true then; what is true now is true now.”

Gao Yunxiang let out a long sigh. “Very well, Young Mistress. I’ll do as you say, all right?”

Yang Yifei gave a light, mocking laugh. “That’s more like it. Hurry. I’m certain their situation has already reached the brink between life and death.”

Meng Biyu, Li Hao, and Feng Jiezhen were surrounding the Wine-and-Meat Monk, Luo Mingyuan. Earlier, Luo Mingyuan had been bewitched and confused by the phantom demons. His inner power had refused to obey him, and he had narrowly escaped danger several times, until fury finally overcame him.

The delusions clouding his mind vanished in an instant. Once his movements began to flow, they were terrifyingly powerful. Golden radiance spread across the space around him, enveloping an area several yards wide. Meng Biyu and the others could not approach him at all.

Li Hao was consumed by the desire for revenge. He cared nothing for danger; even if he had to die alongside his enemy, he would not retreat. He rolled across the ground and entered the ring of light. Before he could strike, Luo Mingyuan hooked him up with his golden Buddhist staff and sent him soaring high into the air.

Meng Biyu cried out involuntarily, “Third Brother is finished!”

Feng Jiezhen hurriedly leapt forward and caught his falling body in both arms. “Third Brother, are you all right?”

Fortunately, Li Hao’s skin was thick, and his internal organs had not been injured. He could not speak, but he shook his head.

Feng Jiezhen breathed a sigh of relief. “That was too close! The demon is incredibly formidable. We must not risk attacking him recklessly again!”

Meng Biyu let out a cry of alarm, revealing their weakness. The lives of all three now hung by a thread.

The Wine-and-Meat Monk, Luo Mingyuan, threw back his head and laughed thunderously. “You bewitched me and made me suffer quite a bit. Now I’m going to take your lives!”

As his voice fell, he swung his golden staff. A fierce streak of golden light shot toward Meng Biyu.

Seeing him attack, Meng Biyu hurriedly dodged, leaving herself no opening to counter.

Luo Mingyuan brandished his staff and pressed his attack, saying as he did so, “You female ghost have a fine figure. This old monk would like to see your face and find out whether you’re as pretty as you are shapely.”

As he spoke, the golden staff in his hands contracted and extended. With a sharp burst of force, it swept toward Meng Biyu’s head. Her black veil was torn away piece by piece and scattered into the air.

Meng Biyu trembled violently in fear. She thought, The demon’s martial arts are beyond belief. He truly means to take my life. With that single move, my head would have been split apart.

Luo Mingyuan laughed loudly. “What a beautiful oval face—white with a flush of red, so delicate that one could almost prick it and draw blood. Anyone would pity such a beauty. To kill you would be to throw away a treasure bestowed by Heaven. Stay with this old monk for the rest of your life. Whatever you want, I’ll give you!”

Meng Biyu was so enraged that her face flushed crimson. She unleashed a move called “Wind Sweeps Away the Remaining Snow,” bringing herself and her sword down in a slash toward the monk’s legs.

Luo Mingyuan casually raised his golden staff and deflected the sword as it closed in. His left arm shot forward, fingers spread like a claw, and his hand descended with the speed of lightning toward Meng Biyu’s shoulder.

Seeing her eldest sister in danger, Feng Jiezhen rushed forward without regard for her own safety. She flung her brush with her right hand, sending a dense shower of scarlet poison droplets toward Luo Mingyuan’s massive face.

Luo Mingyuan caught the smell of blood and realized that the liquid was highly corrosive. He hastily withdrew his hand and swept out the wide sleeve of his monk’s robe. Every drop of poison was caught and flung aside by the sleeve.

With the support of her fourth sister, Meng Biyu escaped the demon’s clutches. She sprang forward again and unleashed “The Phoenix Spreads Its Wings.” Her sword flashed with a cold gleam as it swept down from Luo Mingyuan’s left shoulder.

Luo Mingyuan shifted to one side and reached back to seize the blade. At that moment, after recovering his breath, Li Hao tested his circulation. The blood flowed freely, with no obstruction. He lowered his body, then shot two or three yards into the air. With all his strength, he swung the brush whose tip had been soaked in poison. The liquid fell from above Luo Mingyuan’s head like a sudden downpour.

Luo Mingyuan shook his golden staff, conjuring a whirl of golden light, and shouted, “You three wretched ghosts! You dare provoke this old monk with such childish tricks? You truly overestimate yourselves. Watch me take your lives!”

“The waves behind drive on the waves before them, and heroes rise among the young! You’re an old bald man now. As for whose life will be taken, that remains to be seen!”

Following the voice, a strange figure shot toward them. Before the words had even faded, the figure had appeared before them. It was Gao Yunxiang, with Shi Yazhi carried on his back.

When Meng Biyu saw the person on his back, she was startled and warned him, “Second Brother, the demon must not be underestimated. Carrying someone will hinder your movements. Be extremely careful.”

Gao Yunxiang laughed. “Ha-ha-ha! Eldest Sister, you don’t understand the advantage of it. Just wait and see.”

Luo Mingyuan saw him arrive carrying someone and still dare to challenge him. He had heard the young man address a beautiful girl as his elder sister; she appeared to be no more than twenty, while the youth himself seemed barely more than a child. Luo Mingyuan thought, What a newborn calf, utterly unafraid of the tiger. And his behavior is so bizarre that it is almost laughable.

Gao Yunxiang steadied himself and shook the soft whip coiled around his arm. It was more than ten feet long and lined with backward-facing hooks.

He smiled. “Wine-and-Meat Monk, today we fight to the death for supremacy. If I kill you here or capture you alive—ha-ha-ha!—then I’ll inherit your reputation throughout the martial world. Will you attack first, or shall I? You decide.”

Luo Mingyuan glared at him. “You cunning brat. If I say you attack first, then you’ll attack first in any case. Why bother asking me?”

“Fine!” Gao Yunxiang flicked the soft whip, then suddenly stopped and asked, “Are we counting moves to determine victory, or do we fight until one of us dies? That too is for you to decide, Wine-and-Meat Monk.”

Luo Mingyuan swept his eyes over the group. “Now that all of you have revealed yourselves—including the one on your back—there are five ghostlike creatures in total. If you attack me together, it makes no difference how many moves you use. For every move you make, whether offensive or defensive, I will count one move whenever my arm moves. Once the total reaches one hundred, if you are still alive, I will surrender my reputation in the martial world to you.”

Gao Yunxiang smiled. “You may be a cruel and unprincipled monster, Wine-and-Meat Monk, but I believe you will keep your word.”

Luo Mingyuan snorted. “Enough talk. Attack.”

Gao Yunxiang raised the soft whip, then drew his arm back before his chest. Force surged into his right arm, and he snapped it outward. With a sharp crack, the long whip lashed toward Luo Mingyuan’s waist.

Seeing the elegance and ferocity of the attack, Luo Mingyuan thought, This boy must be the disciple of some renowned master.

The whip swept toward him. Luo Mingyuan merely raised his golden staff and lightly blocked it. The body of the whip was stopped and could advance no farther, but because it was flexible, the tip retained its momentum. It curved around the staff and hooked the monk’s outer robe and inner garment without his noticing.

Gao Yunxiang suddenly pulled back, changing his move. Two long rips tore through the air. The backward-facing hooks had ripped open Luo Mingyuan’s robes and torn away a large section of cloth. When Gao Yunxiang jerked and shook the whip, the shredded fabric caught on the hooks and flew high into the sky.

Luo Mingyuan had roamed the martial world for years and had never suffered such humiliation. His murderous intent flared. He swung his staff and unleashed exquisite techniques, attacking Gao Yunxiang with frenzied speed.

Gao Yunxiang’s soft whip could display its full power only when he maintained a certain distance. At close range, it was difficult to use.

Luo Mingyuan was a master of martial arts who understood the properties of every kind of weapon. He abruptly rushed forward, forcing Gao Yunxiang’s whip into a cramped space where it could not be used effectively. In such a clash, strength alone was not enough; one also needed cunning to overcome the enemy.

He swung his staff in a sweeping blow. With a roar, the fierce wind reached Gao Yunxiang before the golden staff itself.

Unable to whip around and entangle the golden staff, Gao Yunxiang could only drag the soft whip behind him as he retreated according to the sequence of the Eight Trigrams. From the Yang position of the Two Principles, he withdrew to the Lesser Yin position of the Four Symbols. Not even the hem of his robe was touched by the violent wind of Luo Mingyuan’s staff.

At that crucial and deadly moment, Yang Yifei, who was carried on his back, suddenly asked, “Hey, are you planning to take a concubine someday?”

Gao Yunxiang answered irritably, “At a moment when our lives hang in the balance, why are you asking me something completely irrelevant?”

Yang Yifei became petulant. “If you won’t answer me, I’ll cover your eyes.”

True to her word, she wrapped both arms around him and covered his eyes, treating their lives as though they were a game.

Luo Mingyuan’s first strike missed, and he immediately transformed it into a move called “Flying Hammer Strikes the Bell.” The golden staff shot forward like lightning and smashed toward Gao Yunxiang’s chest.

With his eyes covered, Gao Yunxiang was in an extremely difficult position. He shouted, “Let go! Otherwise we’ll both die beneath the Wine-and-Meat Monk’s golden staff!”

Even as he spoke, he listened to the sound of the staff cutting through the air. His feet shifted, and he retreated from the Lesser Yin position to the Separation position.

Luo Mingyuan had intended to smash Gao Yunxiang’s bones into disarray and reduce his internal organs to pulp. After launching the blow, he feinted with another strike, only to see Gao Yunxiang evade it with ease—even though his eyes were covered by the person he carried on his back.

Luo Mingyuan roared, “You little bastard! What kind of trickery are you playing?”

With his shout came another move, “The Strongman Breaks the Cauldron.” It was swift and tremendously powerful. Had it struck, both Yang Yifei and Gao Yunxiang would have been crushed into bloody pulp.

Gao Yunxiang paid no attention to the ferocity of the monk’s staff. He did not even try to think about it. From the Separation Three position, he moved to the Exchange Two position, then to the Heaven One position, before stepping into the Greater Yang position of the Four Symbols.

Luo Mingyuan attacked him with five moves in rapid succession, yet failed to touch a hair on his body. His opponent remained directly before him, but whenever he struck, the image of his enemy had shifted elsewhere. Luo Mingyuan had to turn before attacking again, and by the time his next blow arrived, Gao Yunxiang had already slipped away.

Yang Yifei still kept her hands over his eyes. “You said that our lives were joined as one. If you don’t answer my question, I won’t let go!”

From the Greater Yang position of the Four Symbols, Gao Yunxiang returned to the Yang position of the Two Principles, then took a long sideways step to the Yin position of the Two Extremes.

He said, “I haven’t even taken a wife yet. How could I possibly talk about taking a concubine?”

Yang Yifei replied, “If you have any intention of taking a concubine, I’ll strike you in the temple.”

Gao Yunxiang said unhappily, “You aren’t my wife. Whether I take a concubine has nothing to do with you. You disregard your own life and death, yet insist on meddling in whether I marry another woman. What exactly do you mean?”

“A man who takes a concubine harms both himself and others. That is why I hate men who take concubines!”

Gao Yunxiang’s feet never stopped moving. From the Yin position of the Two Principles, he stepped into the Greater Yin position of the Four Symbols and asked, “Why do you feel so strongly about it?”

“My father took a concubine, and it destroyed our family.”

“Was your father’s second wife young and beautiful?”

Yang Yifei snapped, “You really are a stupid ox. Why do you even need to ask? Once, I passed through a place where I heard people say, ‘A household has three treasures: barren fields, torn blankets, and an ugly wife.’ Do you understand what that means?”

Dodging the Wine-and-Meat Monk’s ferocious attacks, Gao Yunxiang answered, “Of course. Barren fields cannot be sold, torn blankets cannot be pawned, and no one will covet an ugly wife. She is safe and will always belong to you.”

Meng Biyu, Li Hao, and Feng Jiezhen wanted to come forward and help, but Yang Yifei stopped them with a glance. They did not know Gao Yunxiang well enough to understand what he was doing. In a life-and-death duel against a powerful enemy, why would he allow someone to cover his eyes? They could not guess the reason. Since Gao Yunxiang did not appear to be in danger, they could only wait and watch, ready to rush in and rescue him if the situation became critical.

Yang Yifei asked, “You understand now, don’t you? Was my father’s second wife beautiful or not?”