Chapter 28: Sword Fighting Under the Moon
The moonlit night was hazy, and the quiet streets were deserted. Liu Xunyi and Tang Afu stood apart, staring at each other solemnly, sizing each other up and being wary of each other. The four mottled characters written on the archway, "Good weather and good harvests", became somewhat ironic in this situation.

Tang Afu raised his eyes slightly and stared at Liu Xunyi with a cold gaze. A breeze blew by, bringing a few strands of black hair around his eyes. He said, "Are you also Shen Dongshan's running dog?"

"I am not Shen Dongshan's man, but I am Miss Bai's friend." Liu Xunyi replied calmly, "I can see that you have a grudge against Shen Dongshan, but Miss Bai is innocent. Although you can't kill Shen Dongshan, you don't have to embarrass a woman."

"Shen Dongshan's lackeys and the guards of the Jiangnan Lu family are mostly as stupid as pigs." Tang Afu said coldly, "You are the only one who can find me among so many people. You are quite capable."

It was the first time in his life that Liu Xunyi was praised in such a sinister tone. He couldn't help but laugh and said, "Don't misunderstand, sir. We met by chance and have no grudges. I didn't come here for you, but for Miss Bai. As long as you are willing to let Miss Bai go, I will never interfere in the feud between you and Shen Dongshan."

Liu Xunyi's words made Tang Afu snort coldly, then he lowered his head to look at Bai Shuang, then turned to Liu Xunyi and said, "Could she be your mistress?"

Liu Xunyi frowned and said, "Why are you speaking so harshly? What do you mean by mistress or not? Why are you saying it so harshly? Miss Bai and I are innocent friends, and Miss Bai is not Shen Dongshan's woman. Please don't kill a good person by mistake."

"Humph!" Tang Afu sneered and said disdainfully, "You are even better at sweet talk than Shen Dongshan. You think you can trick me into releasing the person with just a few lies. Do you think I am a three-year-old child?"

Seeing Tang Afu being so unreasonable, Liu Xunyi couldn't help but lose some patience and said in a deep voice: "I have said everything I should say. You don't have to vent your anger towards Shen Dongshan on innocent people. Please let him go!"

Tang Afu frowned, a hint of provocation flashed in his eyes, and said, "What if I don't let you go?"

"Let Miss Bai go, and we'll go our separate ways." Liu Xunyi said fearlessly, "If you're stubborn, don't blame me for being rude."

Tang Afu seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world. Looking at Liu Xunyi's serious expression, he couldn't help but sneer. He pointed the ruthless sword in his hand forward and said with a smile: "Did I hear it right? You want to fight me?"

"I have long heard of the name of the ruthless swordsman. He is a top-notch master among the young people in the martial arts world. But if I have no choice, I will have to ask for your advice beyond my ability." Liu Xunyi stared at Tang Afu without blinking, with his hands folded across his chest, and the sword never came out of its sheath.

Tang Afu's eyes flashed coldly, and he said, "It's a pity that you are seeking death at such a young age!"

Before he finished speaking, Tang Afu kicked the tiles hard and shot out, waving his sword in the air. In an instant, a sharp sword energy swept out, stirring up a ripple of energy in the night sky that was invisible to the naked eye.

Facing the sudden killing move, Liu Xunyi tapped the eaves with his feet and his body immediately soared into the sky. Just as Liu Xunyi's feet flew away from the archway, a sharp sword energy cut off the eaves on the archway, and even left a deep sword mark on the plaque, cutting the four characters "风调雨顺" horizontally in half.

Liu Xunyi was shocked when he saw this. He never expected that Tang Afu would use such a ruthless killing move against a stranger. Fortunately, Liu Xunyi had just seen Tang Afu's methods in Sushui Pavilion, so he was on high alert and did not dare to be careless. Now he couldn't help but feel lucky. If he had been careless just now, he would have been beheaded.

After the shock, anger followed. Liu Xunyi showed some courtesy to Tang Afu, but it brought him a fatal disaster. How could he not be angry? In mid-air, Liu Xunyi swung his right hand, and the scabbard flew high. With a light "swoosh" sound, the cold light came out of the scabbard, and he immediately performed a cross-chasing soul move. This was a sword move that Liu Xunyi had figured out himself. Two streams of energy swept out from the sword tip, crossing and shooting towards Tang Afu who was rushing towards him.

"Well done!"

Tang Afu praised loudly, and then danced several sword flowers with the ruthless sword in his hand. With a few "swoosh" sounds, Tang Afu's sword actually broke Liu Xunyi's cross soul-chasing in an instant. Tang Afu's attainments in swordsmanship far exceeded Liu Xunyi's expectations. Facing the sword tip that shot straight at him like a meteor, Liu Xunyi, who was caught off guard, had to turn his waist and horse, step his left foot on his right foot, borrow the power from each other, and flip his body diagonally. He turned over more than a dozen somersaults in the air before he barely avoided Tang Afu's sword.

"Where to run!"

Seeing Liu Xunyi retreating, Tang Afu became more and more excited, and he jumped towards Liu Xunyi. The two of them landed on the archway one after another. The narrow archway was only six or seven meters long and only a foot wide. Liu Xunyi and Tang Afu stood on it and fought hand-to-hand. The sword shadows were heavy and the fight was very fierce.

Bai Shuang in the attic was unable to move due to the acupuncture points, so she could only lie quietly in the distance and watch the two people fighting on the archway, with an indescribable worry in her eyes.

"Your swordsmanship is so strange." Tang Afu asked as they fought, "The first move was exquisite and unparalleled, but the second move became bland and weak, like a tiger with a head but a snake with a tail. Could it be that you didn't learn the skills well enough? You only learned the sword moves, but didn't get the essence of the latter part? Or did your master hold back when teaching you?"

Tang Afu was an expert swordsman, and he saw through the strengths and weaknesses of Liu Xunyi's swordsmanship at a glance. In fact, this couldn't be blamed on Liu Xunyi. When fighting with Tang Afu, he didn't dare to use any of his sect's swordsmanship, and could only piece together his own random swordsmanship, which naturally led to the current ridiculous scene with a strong start but a weak finish.

If Liu Xunyi only had this half-baked swordsmanship, he should have died under Tang Afu's sword. Fortunately, Liu Xunyi had a solid foundation in martial arts, and his internal and external skills were very solid. In the seemingly clumsy sword moves, he inadvertently displayed some exquisite body movements, footwork, boxing, and leg techniques. When combined, although the fight looked very clumsy, the actual power was not weaker than Tang Afu's ruthless sword.

"Since you can't kill me, why don't you agree to release Miss Bai and turn hostility into friendship?" Liu Xunyi sincerely admired Tang Afu's martial arts, so he made a suggestion.

"Once my ruthless sword is unsheathed, blood will be drawn. Now you ask me to retract it. It's a huge joke!" Tang Afu said as he changed the sword moves in his hand, from stabbing to sweeping, and instantly knocked away the sword in Liu Xunyi's hand. Then Tang Afu followed suit and thrust the ruthless sword forward. In a flash, the tip of the sword pierced through Liu Xunyi's robe on his chest. Fortunately, Liu Xunyi reacted quickly enough and fell backwards in time, so the sword did not hurt his flesh.

Liu Xunyi's body leaned back almost parallel to the archway. He stepped back quickly with his feet, and the sword in his hand danced repeatedly to block Tang Afu who was getting closer and closer.

In a moment, Liu Xunyi had retreated to the end of the archway, with nowhere to retreat. Seeing that the situation was not good, he felt that he was at the end of the road. He immediately clasped his left hand downwards, and his five fingers directly inserted into the plaque. Then, with his left hand as the center, he suddenly turned his body outward, and the whole person flew 360 degrees around the eaves at the end of the archway. Then he kicked out in the air and went straight to Tang Afu's ankle. Liu Xunyi wanted to kick Tang Afu off the archway with this move. Liu Xunyi knew how to fight back in a desperate situation, and Tang Afu was not just a name for nothing? At the moment when Liu Xunyi kicked out, Tang Afu had already jumped up with both feet, and then he turned over in the air with a kite, his body turned upside down in the air, and fell down like a meteorite with his head upside down. At the same time, the ruthless sword was aimed at Liu Xunyi's shoulder. In the blink of an eye, Tang Afu could cut off Liu Xunyi's left arm that supported his whole body with one sword.

"Not good!" Liu Xunyi was horrified when he saw himself in danger again. He thought to himself, "Do I have to use my usual martial arts to save my life? But if someone recognizes my moves, wouldn't that be troublesome..."

Liu Xunyi wanted to hold back, but Tang Afu obviously had no intention of leaving him any chance of survival, and in an instant, the ruthless sword was already on Liu Xunyi's arm. At this critical moment, Liu Xunyi could no longer care about anything else, and he made up his mind to try to save his life.

"Whoosh!"

At this moment, a sound of breaking air suddenly sounded from mid-air, and then when the Merciless Sword pierced Liu Xunyi's sleeve, a black shadow the size of a bullet had accurately hit the sword tip. With a light "ding" sound, the Merciless Sword suddenly stabbed out. Taking this opportunity, Liu Xunyi hurriedly flew up and landed on the archway again.

"Who?"

Tang Afu only felt a burst of numbness and pain in his right hand holding the sword. It was obvious that the sudden hidden weapon just now contained a huge internal force.

"Wonderful! Wonderful! It's really wonderful!"

Following a hoarse laugh, a short and thin old man in black was seen riding a donkey in the distance, approaching slowly. The old man was about sixty years old, not very good-looking, with bald eyebrows, triangular eyes, rosacea, a big mouth with almost no chin, and a few white and gray hairs on his head, which were wilted and stuck to his scalp, looking like dead grass, lifeless.

The old man was holding a wine gourd in his hand. Even though Liu Xunyi and Tang Afu were standing on the archway, they could still smell the pungent smell of alcohol.

"Little boy, I just saved your life, why don't you return the old man's gourd cover?"

Hearing the old man's words, Liu Xunyi was stunned at first, but soon he realized that the "child" the old man was talking about was himself. He felt stunned, but out of gratitude to the old man for his timely action, Liu Xunyi still lowered his head and looked around. Sure enough, he saw a wooden plug the size of a fingernail under his feet. It seemed that the "hidden weapon" that had just deflected the Merciless Sword was this thing.

Liu Xunyi threw the cork down from the archway, and the old man took it and covered the wine gourd. It was strange to say, but with just a light cover, the rich smell of wine in the world disappeared without a trace in an instant.

"Thank you for your help, senior!" Liu Xunyi bowed to the old man.

But the old man didn't seem to pay attention to his meaning. He still looked up at Tang Afu with a drunken look and said leisurely: "Quanzhou is now full of upright people. People from Jueqing Valley should not appear here. If they stay here, they will eventually die!"

"Old man, you are being too arrogant, aren't you?" Tang Afu said with contempt, pointing the ruthless sword in his hand downwards, and said coldly, "I want to see how capable you are to dare to boast like this!"

Just as Tang Afu was about to provoke the old man, there was a faint light in the distance of the street, accompanied by the bustling noise, and dozens of figures were approaching here quickly. Obviously, the masters of Jiangnan Lu Mansion and Shen Dongshan's guards heard the fighting here and were rushing to help.

"Come on!"

Before Tang Afu could speak, Liu Xunyi suddenly said, "No matter how powerful you are, you are no match for the many masters of the Lu Mansion, not to mention Shen Dongshan's guards. Maybe if they raise their arms, all the martial artists in Quanzhou will hunt you down. Instead of staying here and showing off your courage for a while, it's better to leave early!"

Tang Afu was stunned by Liu Xunyi's advice. He looked at Liu Xunyi in confusion and asked, "Are you saying this to let me off the hook?"

"I have no grudge against you, and I have no friendship with Shen Dongshan, so there is no need to help him, and there is no need to harm you." Liu Xunyi said, "You should leave now!"

"Kid, if you promise to give this old man a pot of wine, I can keep him for you." The old man riding a donkey said to Liu Xunyi, "If you kill him, your name will spread all over the world tomorrow. This is a good opportunity for many people to become famous. You have to think it through! Hehe..."

"Thank you for your kindness, senior. However, I have no grudge against Wuqing Swordsman, and I don't want to use you to cheat. He may have committed many crimes and deserved death, but he should not die in my hands. As for the grudge between him and Shen Dongshan, it has nothing to do with me, and they should settle it themselves." Liu Xunyi bowed his hands to thank him, and then said to Tang Afu seriously, "Although you tried to kill me, you mistakenly thought I was the person sent by Shen Dongshan to kill you, and you said it was a misunderstanding. I said I came here only to save Miss Bai. She, like me, was also misunderstood by you, so she should not die under your sword for Shen Dongshan. As for you... whether you leave or not has nothing to do with me, please do as you please!"

After saying that, without waiting for Tang Afu to answer, Liu Xunyi leaped onto the attic and untied the acupoints for Bai Shuang.

Tang Afu first glanced at the old man riding the donkey, then looked up at the crowd approaching in the distance, and finally cast his gaze on Liu Xunyi. After pondering for a moment, he turned around and jumped, and disappeared into the end of the night in a few flashes.

When Liu Xunyi rescued Bai Shuang and was about to thank the old man on the donkey again, he found that the old man was already humming a little tune to himself, shaking his head and riding away on the donkey.

……

(End of this chapter)