"Tianshan Tonglao is coming to assassinate me?"
Qin Zheng looked at Granny Chen, who had come to report, his face etched with bewilderment.
Granny Chen nodded with a grave expression. "It should be true. Over a dozen people have seen her. They say her martial arts are exceptionally high, and her face is veiled in light gauze so no one can make out her features.
"Chief, should we transfer some formidable elites over here? I specialize in gathering intelligence, not in martial arts."
Qin Zheng was taken aback. "You specialize in gathering intelligence? Don't you specialize in cooking up bawdy gossip?"
Granny Chen started slightly and muttered in frustration, "Chief, can't we speak properly for once...?"
Qin Zheng gave a hearty laugh. "I've been Emperor for this long, and finally someone is coming to assassinate me. Thinking about it gets me a little excited!
"Pass down my imperial decree: grant everyone in the palace seven full days of leave. We shall duel Tianshan Tonglao one-on-one!"
Granny Chen was speechless.
*So you actually remember you're an emperor!*
Granny Chen cast him a helpless glance and went off to convey the order, having everyone completely evacuate the temporary traveling palace.
When Li Qiushui slipped inside under the cover of the dark, windy night, she found not the slightest stir around her—there wasn't even the faintest aura of a living person.
Seeing such an eerie scene, her heart skipped a beat. *Not good. Could I have walked into an ambush?*
Stepping cautiously toward the grand hall, she came up close, looked at the plaque hanging above the palace doors, and stopped in her tracks despite herself.
Three large characters were inscribed upon the plaque: White Tiger Hall!
She regulated her breathing, rested briefly on the spot, and then glided inside like a specter.
Fixing her gaze forward, she saw the White Tiger Hall was likewise utterly empty—except for a white tiger squatting in the corner. The sight left her rooted to the spot.
*There's actually a white tiger inside the White Tiger Hall?!*
While she was still in a daze, the tiger spoke, asking, "Who are you?"
"Ah!"
Li Qiushui let out a startled cry. "You can speak human tongue?!"
The white tiger gave a disdainful sneer. "What's so novel about that? You can speak human tongue too, can't you!"
Li Qiushui's scalp tingled. "How could that be the same?! I was human to begin with, but you certainly aren't!"
The white tiger seemed to have an epiphany. "Oh, if you hadn't mentioned it, I would have nearly forgotten. Then I shall communicate with you in tiger language. Meow~"
Li Qiushui froze for an instant before finally realizing something was amiss. Clenching her fists in fury, she raged, "Playing tricks! You're no tiger at all! Whose tiger ever meows like a cat?!"
Qin Zheng whipped off the tiger skin draped over him and retorted tit for tat, "And you're no Tianshan Tonglao! Whose Tianshan Tonglao grows this tall?!"
Li Qiushui was caught off guard at first, then burst into hearty laughter. "Well said! Very well said indeed! Tianshan Tonglao truly is a pint-sized runt; I couldn't possibly imitate that!
"Tell me where Qin Zheng is. Seeing how clever your tongue is, I'll spare your life!"
Qin Zheng nodded. "Fine. Since you're so generous, I'll take you to find him."
With that, he led Li Qiushui into the inner chamber and stopped before a large bronze mirror. Pointing at the mirror, he said, "Qin Zheng is right inside!"
Li Qiushui scrutinized the bronze mirror for a moment, her brow furrowing slightly. "This secret chamber is crafted with miraculous craftsmanship. From the exterior, not the slightest flaw can be seen. Do you know how to open the entrance?"
With a complicated expression, Qin Zheng replied, "Uh, I honestly don't know that. Why don't you look for it yourself?"
Li Qiushui studied it for a good while, and finally unleashed a palm strike toward the bronze mirror.
With a thunderous crash, the bronze mirror and the wall behind it shattered together, revealing a gaping hole leading straight into the adjacent room.
Qin Zheng offered a considerate reminder: "Now Qin Zheng isn't in the mirror anymore."
Li Qiushui suddenly realized what was going on. Turning her gaze sharply upon Qin Zheng, she demanded, "You are Qin Zheng! Why don't you look anything like the portrait?!"
Qin Zheng asked with curiosity, "What do I look like in your Western Xia portrait?"
Li Qiushui pulled out a wanted portrait. On it was a burly, broad-shouldered brute with a face full of whiskers and a hairy mole on his cheek.
The moment Qin Zheng saw the portrait, he burst out laughing. "His name was Yuchi Li, a notorious highwayman from Longxi. Because he went around killing and looting under my name, I killed him a year ago."
Channeling her internal energy, Li Qiushui tore the portrait to shreds, grinding her teeth. "What on earth are Duan Yanqing and Li Yanzong doing with themselves?! How could they fail to update the portrait for so long?!"
Qin Zheng said meaningfully, "They're busy trying to achieve the restoration of their kingdoms; how would they have time to bother with trivial matters like this? One wants the Dali throne, and the other wants to restore Great Yan. Didn't you even know about that?"
Li Qiushui's gaze turned chillingly cold. "They concealed their identities... I'll kill you first, and then go settle scores with them!"
With that, Li Qiushui thrust a palm strike straight at Qin Zheng's chest.
Qin Zheng traced a circular arc with his right hand, causing her curving White Rainbow Palm Force to loop around him in a wide circle and turn straight back toward Li Qiushui.
Treading upon Lingbo Weibu, Li Qiushui easily dodged out of the way. Her form advanced and retreated with airy grace, gliding like wind skimming across water. Interweaving her movement with the White Rainbow Palm Force to harass and pin him down, she briefly left Qin Zheng dazzled.
"Flashes and frills!"
Qin Zheng raised his right hand and pushed out a palm. Countless fine needles condensed of true qi shot forward in an overwhelming torrent.
With nowhere to dodge, Li Qiushui chopped out several successive palm strikes before finally neutralizing Qin Zheng's offensive.
Right on its heels, Qin Zheng closed in. With every move he unleashed, his true qi felt like tens of thousands of sharp blades, cutting Li Qiushui's skin until it stung.
This was the first time Li Qiushui had ever encountered such bizarre true qi. Circulating her Minor Formless Skill to its utmost limit to protect herself from the cutting qi, she swept both sleeves in unison toward Qin Zheng's chest and knees.
This move, Cold Sleeves Acupoint Striking, was Li Qiushui's exclusive specialty. Sweeping across acupoints from a distance, it could seal an enemy's true qi.
Yet what Qin Zheng's Primordial Chaos Force feared least was precisely this kind of wide-area attack. Before her sleeves even drew close to him, they were guided away by his protective true qi and slid off to both flanks.
Li Qiushui felt as though her sleeves had struck a smooth sphere, finding no point of leverage whatsoever. Drawing her arms back, she employed the Minor Formless Skill to emulate the Shaolin supreme art, Tala-Leaf Finger.
Her ten fingers fluttered like blooming tala blossoms, snapping forward as swift as a torrential downpour. The sharpness of her finger force was enough to tear through copper and iron or shatter boulders!
Facing such condensed, solid finger force, Qin Zheng dared not take it head-on. Stepping through celestial-cycle star positions, he twisted and shifted to evade dozens of her finger strikes, remarking as he did, "Those decades of your cultivation are truly not to be underestimated. If it were Jiumozhi in your place, he probably would have run out of steam by now."
Believing she had spotted Qin Zheng's weakness, Li Qiushui laughed with self-satisfaction. "If you were given another ten years to build up your internal energy, I might very well keep my distance upon merely hearing your name. Too bad you won't get that chance!"
Qin Zheng clicked his tongue twice and said, "Have you ever heard of an evil art that can rapidly boost one's cultivation, called the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Art?
"As long as one executes this martial technique, their internal energy instantly surges more than threefold!"
Li Qiushui's heart gave a jolt. Not doubting for a moment that Qin Zheng actually possessed such an evil art, she hardened her tone and said, "And what is the price? An art this terrifying surely shortens your lifespan, doesn't it?
"Would you really abandon your imperial throne to fight to the death against an old woman who already has half a foot in the grave?"
Qin Zheng let out a sigh. "The price indeed consumes lifespan. But it doesn't consume mine—it requires someone else to willingly offer up their own essence and blood to help me cast the technique.
"That is precisely why I drove all my subordinates away. Some among them have heard me talk about this art, and they truly are capable of doing such a thing."
Li Qiushui asked in confusion, "Since you can't use it, why bring it up to me?"
Qin Zheng said, "I mainly wanted to tell you that over the past few years, I fused the Beiming Divine Skill with the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Art to create a technique that can absorb an opponent's attacks. I'd like to ask for your guidance on it!"
With that, Qin Zheng's aura underwent a sudden transformation. The true qi around his body rotated at blistering speed, forming a true qi vortex centered upon him.
The finger force Li Qiushui struck into the true qi vortex was absorbed in an instant, expanding the vortex's circumference by a full ring. The sight made the hair on her neck stand on end, sending goosebumps rippling across her entire body.
*Just what kind of monster is standing before me?! Can the Beiming Divine Skill even be used like this?!*
Chapter 51