Chapter 68 — A Terrible Stone!

"Whoa—whoa—" The riders of the White Horse Camp reined in hard, afraid of trampling their leader's corpse.

A phantom shape shot through the ranks of cavalry and came to the body. It was Fourth Master Hong, his face ugly to see. He felt at his beloved disciple's neck, examined the hole in the armor on his back, and thought with a private shock: "What hidden weapon could pierce two layers of armor, front and back?"

Raising his head, he fixed his eyes on the two Wang brothers in the distance, his gaze like a viper's: "I never thought the three Wang brothers would have help."

Hidden weapons are hard to master.

To become a master of them, one needs sufficient wrist strength and a peculiar method of channeling inner force.

"Brothers, close in and slaughter them," Fourth Master Hong said in fury. "Neither of these Wang brothers escapes today." With that, he took up his long saber, became a blur, and flew at the two Wang brothers.

"Kill!"

The White Horse Camp cavalry spurred their horses into a gallop once more, racing along the roads inside the stronghold. After all, the Iron Mountain Gang's lair was a great fortress large enough to house several thousand men, and often used for drilling large bodies of troops and galloping horses. It measured several li in either direction.

"Haha, old Hong, you had best watch out for my brother's hidden weapons!" Wang Tieshan, struck by a sudden inspiration, shouted with a great laugh.

Fourth Master Hong's face turned cold and sinister. He made no answer at all, only pressed closer in pursuit.

Just then many of the White Horse Camp cavalry had already galloped past ahead of him; one after another they leaped from their horses, and armored as they were, closed in on the two Wang brothers from every side.

"Eldest Brother, this looks bad," said the second chief, Wang Tiefeng, in alarm.

"Then kill, and keep killing." Wang Tieshan licked his lips, a wolfish ferocity in his eyes. "There is a master helping us in secret. Whether it is we who die today or that old man Hong — that is not settled yet."

At the thought of that hidden weapon, confidence rose in Wang Tiefeng's heart as well.

From the attic, Teng Xuanji watched the two Wang brothers being hemmed in from afar. The rest of the White Horse Gang's men were busy plundering and killing Iron Mountain Gang men on every side, so that the Iron Mountain Gang's people had no way at all to help the two Wang brothers.

"This Fourth Master Hong is truly wary; even in pursuing the two Wang brothers he dares not drop his guard for an instant." At a glance Teng Xuanji could see that Fourth Master Hong's speed was markedly slower than at the start, and that his eyes slid toward this direction from time to time — because the hidden weapon had been shot from here.

Only, the weapon had flown too fast; no one knew from exactly which spot it had come.

"Don't fret, old fellow. Wait a little, and I will send you on your way." Teng Xuanji slipped quietly out of the attic.

For Fourth Master Hong and his men had already run into the maze of nooks and corners among the crowded buildings, and from the attic Teng Xuanji could find no opening at all.

As for killing Fourth Master Hong —

Teng Xuanji was full of confidence. In his former life, a throwing knife hurled with all his strength struck harder than a bullet. A stone thrown was a notch weaker, yet still close to a bullet. If the stones he threw in his former life were like pistol bullets, then the stones he threw in this life were like armor-piercing rounds.

Even steel plate — he could shoot through it with ease.

When speed reaches its utmost, even a flying leaf can kill, to say nothing of a stone.

In the alleys among the crowded houses, a bloody slaughter was under way.

"Haha, all of you die!" Wang Tiefeng roared, whirling a pair of red-bronze hammers madly. A White Horse Camp bravo had barely thrust his spear at Wang Tiefeng when one of Wang Tiefeng's hammers left his hand and smashed straight into the man's skull. Even with a helmet for protection, the skull burst, blood pouring out; he died on the spot.

Wang Tiefeng's pair of red-bronze hammers guarded his whole body perfectly.

Compared with Wang Tiefeng, Wang Tieshan was more terrible still.

That mountain-cleaving saber, nearly a man's height, when swung was like a great straw-cutter: a single stroke infused with inner force could split an armored bandit clean in two.

"There is nowhere for you to run."

A cold voice rang out. Fourth Master Hong, his face dark, came flying at them, and the long saber in his hand in an instant became nine blade-shadows, slashing at Wang Tiefeng all at once.

"Clang!" "Clang!" "Clang!"

Wang Tiefeng whirled his pair of red-bronze hammers so tightly that no wind could pass, and bellowed at the same time: "Eighteen Mountain-Shaking Hammers!" Hammer-shadows flew, clashing again and again with the long saber; fierce inner force sprayed outward, and the walls of the surrounding houses broke out in holes and cracks.

And then, uncannily —

The blade-shadow twisted, traced an eerie arc, and slashed at Wang Tiefeng's throat. Wang Tiefeng's face changed drastically.

"Clang!"

A mountain-cleaving saber suddenly thrust in and blocked that fatal stroke — it was his elder brother Wang Tieshan who had saved him. Wang Tiefeng bellowed, and one of his red-bronze hammers left his hand, shooting at Fourth Master Hong ahead. Fourth Master Hong swiftly drew back his saber and turned, easily dodging the hammer.

"Second Brother, get on the roof!" Wang Tieshan shouted.

With that, Wang Tieshan and Wang Tiefeng at once leaped up onto the roof.

"Hm." Fourth Master Hong's face darkened. "On the roof, that hidden-weapon master can see me easily, and then I am in danger." Though he struggled with himself for a moment, out of confidence in his own strength and his determination to kill the two Wang brothers, he hesitated only briefly, then leaped onto the roof as well.

The roof was not particularly sturdy, but all three were masters of inner force; they roused their inner force and each moved light as a swallow.

"Pfft—"

"Pfft—"

Many men of the White Horse Camp thrust their spears up from below at the two Wang brothers on the roof; the brothers dodged narrowly again and again.

"Eldest Brother, up on the roof we are in plain sight of the whole White Horse Gang — we are in danger too," Wang Tiefeng said anxiously, at the same time knocking aside an arrow that flew at him. By now more and more of the White Horse Gang were gathering around.

"Up here, that hidden-weapon master can see old Hong and kill him," Wang Tieshan said in a low, sharp voice. "Never mind anything else now — we run northwest, and if we reach the Dayan Mountains, so much the better." Both Wang Tieshan and Wang Tiefeng wore armor, but armor is good only against ordinary arrows.

Against the heavy, powerful thrust of a spear, it could not hold.

A White Horse Camp rider, say, of two hundred, charging with the momentum of his warhorse — the force of one thrust could pierce clean through steel. Even without a warhorse, at the strength of a White Horse Camp warrior, one spear-thrust was not to be made light of.

"Eldest Brother, the old thief is upon us," Wang Tiefeng said urgently.

"Whoosh."

A swift blade-shadow shot at Wang Tiefeng like a waterfall. Wang Tiefeng bellowed and smashed at it with his red-bronze hammer. At that very instant Fourth Master Hong's eyes turned cold, his face flushed violently red, and the long saber in his hand dropped abruptly, slipping past the hammer — and at the same time the saber's speed surged to a terrifying pitch.

Whoosh.

A gust of wind seemed to sweep past, and Wang Tiefeng stood there blankly, a crack opened in the armor at his waist and belly, blood seeping out in a gurgle.

The two red-bronze hammers crashed down, smashed through the roof, and fell.

"Second Brother!" Wang Tieshan's face changed utterly.