Chapter - 376 East And West are Forever APart Like Orion And Antares (10)

"Did you say Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi theory?" Zhang Wuji wondered.

Listening to these dozen or so characters, Zhang Wuji felt as if among the black clouds in the sky suddenly he saw a flash of lightning; but after the lightning passed, the sky was still dark. Nevertheless, this flash of lightning gave him hope, that in the midst of a five-'li' dense fog he could see a glimpse of a way out. His mouth muttered, "Reacting to the left is actually to the front, to the right is actually to the rear …" He tried hard to integrate these cryptic lines with the Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi theory he already mastered. Several times did he think he see the connection, each time it appeared right but actually was wrong; in the end everything was still dark to him.

"Gongzi, watch out!" suddenly he heard Xiao Zhao calling out, "They are issuing an order: the Three Win and Cloud Emissaries are to attack you, Qinxiu Wang, Zhen'E Wang, and Gongde Wang, three kings are to take Pingdeng Wang back."

Xie Xun heaved the Pingdeng Wang and held him across his chest, while tossing the Tulong Dao to Zhang Wuji and said, "Just chop them up with this Saber."

Zhao Min also took the Yitian Sword and handed it over to Zhou Zhiruo. This time they were on the same boat sharing the same fate; fighting a common enemy together was more important than their differences.

Zhang Wuji took the Tulong Saber, and absentmindedly inserted the Saber to his waist, while his mouth was still mumbling, "Three voids, seven solids, something exists out of nothing …"

"Idiot!" Zhao Min anxiously said, "This is not the time to ponder some martial art theory; quickly prepare yourself to face the enemy."

Before she finished speaking, Qinxiu, Zhen'E, and Gongde, three kings had already jumped over with their palms extended to attack Xie Xun. They were afraid to injure Pingdeng Wang, hence they did not dare to use weapons. They were hoping that by attacking with their palms and fists, they might have a chance of snatching him back as soon as one man managed to get hold of Pingdeng Wang's body.

Zhou Zhiruo was standing by next to Xie Xun; each time the situation was critical, she would hack down her sword to Pingdeng Wang; forcing Qinxiu Wang, Zhen'E Wang, and Gongde Wang, diverting their attack toward Zhou Zhiruo to prevent her sword from harming Pingdeng Wang.

On the other battlefront, Zhang Wuji was fighting the Wind and Cloud Three Emissaries. These four people fought cautiously; each side had suffered some hard beating from their opponents, nobody dared to be careless. After fighting for several stances, Huiyue Shi's tablet came down to strike; according to basic martial art principle, this move should strike Zhang Wuji's left shoulder. Who would have thought that the Sheng Huo Ling changed its course halfway; it made a very strange turn and 'slap!' it hit the back of Zhang Wuji's neck.

Zhang Wuji felt a burst of severe pain, but it was as if his mind was as bright as snow. "Reacting to the left is actually to the front, to the right is actually to the rear, that's right, that's right!" he shouted excitedly. In this short period of time, he suddenly realized that the Wind and Cloud Three Emissaries' martial art was based on the first level of the Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi; only the Sheng Huo Ling was inscribed with the marvelous, almost fantastic, variations on the usage of these stances. His mind was churning, and straightaway he understood the four lines of secret Xiao Zhao uttered earlier. Only he had not been able to penetrate the secret of 'the heaven square, the earth round' part. He thought he had to take a look at the inscription on the Sheng Huo Ling to thoroughly understand the essence of the Persian martial art.

Suddenly he let out a clear whistle and his pair of hands, using the 'three voids, seven solids', reached out to grab two Sheng Huo Ling from Huiyue Shi's hands; while with 'something exists out of nothing' he took away the two Sheng Huo Ling from Liuyun Shi's hands. While the two of them were still in shock, Zhang Wuji had put the four Sheng Huo Ling into his bosom, and then separately grabbed them by the back of their necks and threw them back into their ship.

Amidst the shouting yelling of the Persians, Miaofeng Shi turned his body around trying to escape. By this time Zhang Wuji had understood clearly the basic principle of his opponents' martial art. His comprehension of the details was somewhat limited, but Miaofeng Shi's martial art had lost its mystery in his eyes. Once his right hand reached out, he grabbed Miaofeng Shi's left foot and pulled him back from midair. With one hand on the Sheng Huo Ling in Miaofeng Shi's hand, Zhang Wuji lifted up Miaofeng Shi's body and smashed him toward the top of Zhen'E Wang's head with the other hand.

The three kings were shocked; making hand signals to each other, they hurriedly leaped back to their ship. Zhang Wuji sealed Miaofeng Shi's acupoint and threw him down near his foot.

This victory of his came so quickly that in a blink of an eye from being under-handed he suddenly gained an upper hand. Zhao Min and the others were no less surprised and they all asked him how he did it.

Zhang Wuji laughed and said, "We might still be in trouble if not of mistakes arising out of chance that Pingdeng Wang suffered this mishap. Xiao Zhao, translate the inscriptions on these six Sheng Huo Ling for me; quick, quick!"

They looked at the Sheng Huo Ling, and noticed that they were neither made of metal nor jade, but of very hard substance. The size of six of them varied, some were big, some were small, some were long and some were short. The surface seemed translucent, but also seemed opaque. There seemed to be a faint image of blazing fire dancing around inside the tablet, but actually it was a reflection of the ambient light on the tablets, on which color fluctuated. Each one of the Sheng Huo Ling was inscribed with a lot of Persian characters; to translate them would take a lot of time, not to mention Zhang Wuji would have to interpret their very profound meaning. But he realized that if he wanted them to survive this current situation, then he had to understand the essence of the Persian sect's martial art.

"Miss Zhou," he said toward Zhou Zhiruo, "Please place your Yitian Sword on Pingdeng Wang's neck. Yifu, please place your Tulong Saber on Miaofeng Shi's neck. We have to buy as much time as possible." Xie Xun and Zhou Zhiruo nodded their compliance.

Xiao Zhao took the six Sheng Huo Ling, and picked the shortest one, an unremarkable blackish green tablet with the least characters inscribed on it, and she started translating it. Zhang Wuji listened attentively, but he did not understand even a single sentence. He pondered deeply but still could not make any sense of what he heard, and could not help but feeling very anxious.

"Xiao Zhao Meizi," Zhao Min said, "Why don't you read the Sheng Huoling that struck Pingdeng Wang."

Her words had reminded Xiao Zhao; she busily checked the inscriptions on the other tablets, and found it to be the second longest. She translated it immediately, and this time Zhang Wuji could actually understand 70, 80% of it. Once she was finished, she took the longest one and translated it. Zhang Wuji only heard several sentences when he happily said, "Xiao Zhao, these six Sheng Huo Ling, the longer ones contain the shallowest sentences. The one you just read was the rudimentary theory of their martial art."