Chapter 65: Wind and Thunder Swift Dance

The Furious Banana

Darkness surged forward.

The moment the shout "Who's there?!" escaped his lips, a sword gleam flashed out of the darkness, accompanying a rapidly charging figure. But it was just a fleeting light; he couldn't discern where the sword had struck. Only three rapid "clack-clack-clack" sounds registered as it swept past him. The figure seemed to brush past the galloping horse ahead, leveraging its body for an instant. With a second step onto the carriage shaft, it had already sliced past him. Then, the horse in front flew into the air, the carriage wheels lifted off the ground, and it began to tilt. A third step landed on the now-tilting carriage body, and the figure vanished into the distance.

Horses neighed loudly—

Song Xian abruptly pulled open the carriage curtain. Flames streaked across his vision, and his constricted pupils reflected the scene ahead. In that instant, the carriage ahead was in mid-air, its wheels spinning wildly and tilted precariously. One of the galloping horses was already flailing its four hooves. A sword gleam had swept from the front, across the flank of the beast, and extended past the soldier driving the carriage. Blood erupted skyward, appearing to rush towards them like a torrent due to the high-speed motion. Most prominently, the black figure that had leveraged the tilting carriage body was now magnified in mid-air, both hands gripping the sword in a full-force striking pose. Leaping over twenty meters, the figure rapidly closed the distance as the carriage sped onward.

The driver beside Song Xian had already drawn his saber with full force, yet before he could even assume a defensive posture, metal clashed. A spark flashed, and the force instantly slammed back into his chest.

With a thunderous crash, the figure tore through the carriage like a cannonball. Half the carriage splintered and flew across the long street. Two figures tumbled to the ground, rapidly increasing their distance from the carriage. One, a female figure, rolled several times before standing upright, weapon in hand, and stepping forward. The other body, struck by the immense impact, was utterly disfigured, bones shattered and flesh pulped, left far behind on the road. Thick blood spread outwards.

The two carriages continued to hurtle forward, but the horses were now terrified. One horse from the leading carriage had half its body cleaved open, and the other horse, also affected, tumbled violently. Driven by tremendous momentum, the overturned carriage slid forward along the long street, clattering and overturning various vendor stalls, wooden stands, and leftover trash used by hawkers during the day. The carriage's axle snapped in half, and a wooden wheel flew directly backward, crashing violently into the carriage shaft. Still propelled by inertia, the carriage continued to speed along, constantly breaking apart. When the impact of the two carriages finally ceased, nearly a hundred meters of the long street lay in utter disarray.

Scattered across the street were disintegrated carriage bodies, undercarriages, axles, and wheels. Various wooden stands and debris that had been on the street were now affected. Trails of blood stained the ground, along with trash like vegetable leaves. Dead horses, their entrails exposed, lay nearby, and wounded individuals, some lightly, some severely, struggled to rise from the ground.

The wind swept in from the far end of the long street. The woman, clad in black, lowered her sword tip slightly and walked at a leisurely pace. It was summer, and the night wind gently stirred her garments. Her slender figure was as graceful and delicate as any ordinary woman's, showing no hint of the ferocity with which she had just shattered two carriages with what seemed like a single blow. Her face was concealed by a black scarf, and above it, her gaze upon Song Xian was indifferent and icy. After a moment, she lightly flicked the sword's blade with her finger, and the sword hummed with a clear, lingering sound, vibrating softly.

Ahead, Song Xian stood up, his long saber in hand. After all, his martial arts were superior, and he was not significantly injured at this moment. He simply tilted his head, gazing at the indifferent figure.

"Song Xian, I told you last time." Under the cover of night, her voice was clear and cold. Nearby, a wounded personal guard who had lost his weapon grabbed a wooden stick and charged forward with a yell. The sword blade moved, a sound like swiftly tearing cloth, and intersecting lines of blood flew into the air. The woman simply walked towards him.

"I will definitely kill you!"

"Lu Hongti—"

On the long street, Song Xian roared in a deep voice. Then, sparks flew as violent clashes of metal began to light up the street...

They raced ahead, and it didn't take long to return to the side gate of the Su family residence. As Ning Yi dismounted, Xiao Chan looked at him with a bewildered expression. "Master, what's wrong?"

"Xiao Chan, you go back first. I have some matters to attend to."

"Uh..."

Ning Yi finished speaking and turned to leave, but Xiao Chan abruptly grabbed his clothes. "Ma-Master, what is it...?"

Xiao Chan was clearly flustered by Ning Yi's attempt to send her away. Ning Yi turned back, hesitated for a moment, then patted her shoulder. "Don't worry, it's nothing... Be good, I'll be back soon..."

"But, but..."

Ning Yi walked towards the carriage. Xiao Chan stood there, anxious for a moment, unsure what to say. Troubled, she took a few steps towards the entrance. Just as she stepped over the threshold, the gatekeeper uncle came out. "Ah, Miss Xiao Chan, have you and Master returned? ...Uh, where's Master?"

The gatekeeper glanced outside; the carriage had already begun to move slowly. "Master, he... Master, he... I don't know..." Her mind was a jumble, recalling some words her mistress had said a few days prior: *Master ran off to see some vixen, didn't he?* However, this was just a fleeting, confused thought, and she certainly couldn't say it to the gatekeeper.

"Master..."

The young girl turned around and ran out the door again. On the road outside the side gate, the carriage had already started to accelerate. Xiao Chan clenched her fists, lifted her skirt, and chased after it. At the upcoming intersection, the carriage suddenly slowed down, then came to a stop.

A troop of riders appeared from the T-junction, swiftly galloping past the intersection in front of Ning Yi. These were more than ten personal guards of the Wulie Army, rushing urgently towards the other end.

"How could they be so fast..."

Ning Yi murmured this from inside the carriage, then turned the horse around and pursued the direction where the dozen or so riders had gone.

Xiao Chan also saw the dozen or so riders galloping past the intersection. Then, her master drove the carriage to follow them. She chased to the intersection, her face still a mix of complex emotions and anxiety, a strange feeling subtly rising in her heart. But Ning Yi's carriage had already sped away, vanishing around the corner.

"What is Master going to do..."

Upon reflection, she dismissed the idea that her master was running off to see a courtesan. Her master wasn't that kind of person; even if he were, he wouldn't be in such a hurry now. But she truly couldn't fathom the reason behind this sudden turn of events. The young girl, who had dressed up carefully earlier to watch the performance, returned to the mansion gate in low spirits. She sat on the steps, hugging her knees, occasionally turning her head to look down the road, hoping her master's carriage would return from that direction. Only when the gatekeeper called out to her from behind did she stand up again. Just as she was about to turn, a flare lit up the night sky.

The flare wasn't launched very far away, but it wasn't a celebratory firework either. She vaguely understood its meaning. Instinctively, she took a step forward, tilting her head back to look in that direction. The gatekeeper also walked over. A few seconds later, the girl murmured, "Uncle Bing, that's... what happened..."

"Oh, it looks like a signal flare for the army to apprehend criminals. I suppose some thieves are taking advantage of the night again... How wicked..."

"YAHHHHHHHHHHHH—"

Saber winds howled, and the clang of metal sounded like rain on banana leaves, echoing through the long street, dense and chaotic. That night, the area around the long street suffered greatly. The doors of some shops had been smashed open by flying carriage debris, and in some inhabited rooms, lights were first lit, then quickly extinguished. In the street below, figures chased and fought like a chaotic dance. Clashing metal produced astounding sparks in the air. At times, with a thunderous crash, a body was sent flying into a pile of street debris, left motionless, blood splattering and spreading into pools. Several corpses already lay on the road. A brave man wielding a saber yelled hysterically, brandishing his blade like a net, struggling to survive under the immense oncoming pressure.

His martial arts were originally considered top-tier in the martial world, but at this moment, the woman's swordsmanship was simply too formidable. Swift yet unyielding, it assailed him like a summer thunderstorm. He strained with all his might to parry, still awkward and flailing, as sparks erupted chaotically before his eyes. Occasionally, a move of extreme force would appear in her swordplay, like a howling gale, forcibly smashing aside his fully extended saber.

Yet her attacks were not merely with that seemingly clumsy sword. At times, she wielded the sword with one hand; at others, she hacked with both, her transitions swift, natural, and dazzling. Sometimes, just as his saber was parried, the woman's left palm would thrust forward through a gap in his blade's light, striking his face, jabbing at his eyes, or fiercely clawing at his Adam's apple. Her fair wrist and five fingers moved like a dance, making it hard to comprehend that these were such vicious and deadly attacks. He awkwardly sidestepped, only for the sword gleam to stab again. He parried with his saber, but the woman's toe subtly nudged a broken bamboo pole on the ground, silently sending it striking towards his ribs, like a cobra that had lain in wait. This woman could seemingly use any object around her as a weapon at any moment, making it feel as if he were facing three or four opponents, not just a single adversary.

There were only a few personal guards in the two carriages to begin with; by now, some were dead, others wounded. Those with lighter injuries rushed forward to intervene in the battle between the two, only to be instantly hurled out as if passed through a meat grinder. Song Xian fought and retreated, yet the woman clung to him like a shadow, utterly impossible to shake off. Wounds appeared one after another on his body, rapidly pushing his vitality to its limit within a short time of the battle commencing.

At this point, he could only continuously swing his saber amidst his constant roars. At one moment, he snatched a rotten wooden table nearby and swung it. With a thunderous crash, the entire table shattered into flying splinters. The attacking sword gleam abruptly shifted from fierce to soft, silently piercing his arm before being pulled out again.

Ignoring his injuries, Song Xian used his legs to propel himself backward, taking advantage of the still-flying wood splinters. The woman's black figure burst through the chaotic airborne debris, pressing closer without yielding an inch. *Ping!* Again, sparks erupted. Song Xian, bleeding, was sent flying. By now, they were at a street corner where horses' hooves thundered and churned, then engulfed the two figures.

Clang, clang, clang, clang—

Hooves pounded and horses surged past. Sparks continuously flared at the woman's previous position. Then, a galloping horse whinnied loudly as it collided with a body blocking its path. It reared up majestically on its two front hooves. Under the immense impact, the woman's figure was already airborne, yet she seemed to cling to the warhorse's front neck for an instant, making a few swift, rustling movements before being carried along by the warhorse's charge. In that fleeting moment, the woman had actually grabbed the warhorse's reins with one hand.

The dozen or so riders seemed to sweep the woman away with them in a thunderous rush, and in a flash, they had sped far ahead. The woman's figure still appeared to be sent flying by the warhorse's impact, propelled towards a Wulie Army personal guard on a nearby horse. That man swung his long saber, and the two figures merged, crashing onto the ground beside them. When they rose, only the black-clad woman remained standing. Her sword blade dripped with blood; the rider she had seized was already a corpse.

Another corpse now lay on the road behind. It was the rider who had initially driven the warhorse to collide with the woman. As the woman, holding the reins, flew through the air, she swung two swords: one slit his throat, the other cleaved open his chest.

Two riderless warhorses galloped towards the far end of the long street. The remaining dozen or so riders surrounded the woman, their long sabers drawn, radiating a formidable killing intent. The woman stood there, her gaze fixed on Song Xian, who was now at the street corner in the distance.

Song Xian was covered in wounds, big and small, but he still retained his combat ability. He hadn't sustained any serious or fatal injuries; he merely looked desolate. He stood there, long saber in hand, his blood-soaked arms spread wide.

"In the end, I still won, Lu Hongti." He chuckled. "The martial world? You martial artists will never understand how narrow-minded you are. A little cleverness, and you think you've outsmarted everyone? Did you think I didn't know you wanted to kill me? While you were racking your brains trying to get rid of the people around me, countless individuals behind my back were strategizing, preparing to turn your schemes against you..."

He paused, then lifted his head proudly. "This is true power!"

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