Martial King's Retired Life

Ming Feizhen gave Tianhu a wink. “Aren’t you asking the obvious? Aren’t you here to save me?”

“… No,” answered Tianhu, after a think.

“Aren’t you being a bit too cold? Come on, bro, we’re too close to be playing these games, no?”

Ming Feizhen went over and draped his arm over Tianhu’s shoulder. Though Tianhu tried to shrug Ming Feizhen off his shoulder, his small shrug was powerless against Ming Feizhen’s shamelessness. Ming Feizhen went off on a tangent, reminding Tianhu of the beautiful times in Nanjiang and their deal. While Ming Feizhen was in high spirits, Tianhu’s mood kept plummeting and plummeting.

The stupefied Gongsun Chu couldn’t determine what their relationship was classified as. One of them made it seem as though they were best buddies, while the other appeared to be at the mercy of the shameless one.

“I heard you were coming. If I wasn’t so busy listening for you, Jiang Chen wouldn’t have been able to creep up on me and almost end me.”

It’d take a while to reach their location from “Pain of Parting”. Assuming Ming Feizhen heard Tianhu’s presence from then already, then he arguably had the best ears among all living men.

Upon glancing down at the person Tianhu threw aside before, Ming Feizhen cried, “Ya! Ya! Yayayaya!” as he walked over and pulled him up. “Oho, Yuan Kou, you still alive?”

What could Yuan Kou do at that point besides forcing a chuckle when his attempt to hide his face failed. “Your subordinate is glad to see you safe and sound. He cannot be forgiven for disobeying his superior.”

“Come on. I wouldn’t hold a grudge over something so trivial. You good? What happened? How are you still alive after getting hit with such a strong venom?”

“It was all thanks to your subordinate’s training in Pure Yang One Qi granting him high immunity. Your subordinate expelled it from his body while he was still breathing.”

“I remember you dying.”

“You outnumbered your subordinate. Since he could not win against all of you anyway, he decided to make use of his underwater breathing training from back home to…”

“Tsk, tsk. So, you’re caught now?”

“That seems to be the case. While I was in the middle of expelling the poison, he came in. I tried to catch him off guard with a ferocious, I mean, gently tap him, and I was captured. I only found out he is one of The Ultimate Three afterwards…”

“Don’t worry. I got you.” Ming Feizhen thumped his chest. “Tianhu and I are buddies. I’ll put in a word for you. I promise you’ll be treated well.”

Tianhu was an honourable man. The only time he’d flout the law was when it was for the sake of his own interests, so how could he look happy when he heard he was being asked to flout the law for someone else?

“Shut up. Did I say I was here to save you?”

“Tianhu, don’t say that. It’s no big deal if you don’t save me, but think about it: if people heard you managed to reach the enemy’s base, yet some half-dead guy managed to kill me, what would people think of you?”

“You have a point.” Tianhu glanced over to Gongsun Chu.

Gongsun Chu went flying into a stone wall. Merely seeing Tianhu in his sights was enough to make his wounds hurt more. He was always ready for a hard fight, but fighting Tianhu was just getting into a one-sided slaughter. That was exactly why he buried his fear and tried to remain as calm as possible. Even with a ghastly pale face, he didn’t let himself look defeated. “… It seems my death is unavoidable.”

Tianhu didn’t hear any quit in Gongsun Chu’s tone despite the choice of words.

“Ming Feizhen, you can be proud of yourself. I’m in this predicament all because of you,” stated Gongsun Chu.

“Of course!” responded Ming Feizhen.

Gongsun Chu wiped the blood on his lips, shook himself out, then got up. “Tianhu, there is no doubt that you are fearsome. Perhaps there is only one person I’ve met who could match you.”

Gongsun Chu already realised Tianhu was prideful, wayward and inherently a lot more eager to fight strong opponents than his appearance suggested.

“Who? Just know that I’m still detaining you even if you do tell me. I know several people who match your description; I just haven’t had the chance to cross paths with them.”

“No need to go far. He’s right in here.” Gongsun Chu smiled for he came up with an idea that would grief Ming Feizhen if he couldn’t finish him.

“Hmph, don’t even remind me.”

“You’re trying to sow discord, aren’t you?! Tianhu, go! Kill him!” exclaimed Ming Feizhen.

“Now I have to hear what he has to say,” replied Tianhu.

Although Gongsun Chu wasn’t privy to the details, he did know where to steer the conversation. “… He’s just lost all his strength at the moment.”

Tianhu widened his eyes.

“For some reason, he’s lost all his strength, but he’ll recover it all soon. If it’s a challenging opponent you seek, he is the one you’re looking for. He’ll be an opponent you’ll never forget.”

“Oh…”

Tianhu didn’t say anything when he looked to Ming Feizhen, but even Yuan Kou could sense the threat that emanated from his eyes. Likewise, Gongsun Chu knew he had achieved his goal.

Ming Feizhen looked at Tianhu, then glared at Gongsun Chu.

“Ming Feizhen.”

“What?!”

“… You were careless.” Suddenly, Gongsun Chu’s lowered hand spawned a threatening red energy.

Tianhu casually cancelled Gongsun Chu’s sword spirit with a wave of his hand.

“I told you: you were careless,” Gongsun Chu was heard saying after the sword in Ming Feizhen’s hand flew out from his hand – his special flying sword technique!

Tianhu caught the short sword, but a torrent of arrows from above, left and right flew towards them. Tianhu clad himself in his unique glow to deflect all the arrows whilst pushing Ming Feizhen out of harm’s way. At the same time he was protecting Ming Feizhen, smoke started emanating from the bottom of the stone walls, separating them. Since Tianhu pushed Ming Feizhen away, Ming Feizhen was now some distance away. Tianhu managed to pass his aura through the wall and catch Ming Feizhen, but he couldn’t pull the latter through a solid wall.

The stone walls fused together.

Gongsun Chu once fought off dangerous opponents here when he was separated from his wife. He remembered where all the traps were and what they did. This closed-off zone littered with traps was his last resort.

The exit was to the rear.

Three of them were trapped together – powerless Ming Feizhen, badly injured Huang Yuzao and armed Gongsun Chu.