When he gave him the item, the Taoist had specifically instructed that if he encountered trouble in Xiang Ma Town, he could use it, and soone would co to his aid.
Today was a desperate situation, and if not now, then when? Yang Xiao took out the signal arrow and set it upright, unscrewed the cap on the back, and a short hemp rope fell out, which he pulled, sending a blaze of fire straight into the sky. At several tens of ters high, it exploded with a "bang".
Seeing this, the White-clothed Scholar was also taken aback. A second later, a murderous intent flashed in his eyes. He hadn’t expected Yang Xiao to have such a thing. If he couldn’t deal with Yang Xiao before the Ghost Slave from the hotel arrived, then today might end in failure.
Yang Xiao naturally understood what the other was thinking. He lifted his Human Bone Staff and aid two blows at the scholar while rapidly retreating to buy ti.
"Quite the lad, I’ve underestimated you!"
Before being hit by the two strange fluctuations, the scholar stiffened and fell backwards into the ink beneath his feet with a "plop", disappearing.
Yang Xiao dared not be careless, noticing that the two waves of energy emitted from the Human Bone Staff hadn’t dissipated but moved irregularly along the surface of the ink as if searching for a target.
The ink under his feet covered the entire courtyard, thick as tar, greatly limiting Yang Xiao’s movent.
"Plop."
A light splash sounded behind him; Yang Xiao reacted swiftly, turning around while swinging his staff, and sure enough, the White-clothed Scholar erged from the pitch-black ink, hurling a square inkstone straight at Yang Xiao’s face.
If this blow struck him, he would be at least half dead, but retreating now would expose his weaknesses, leaving him likewise dood. In a split second, Yang Xiao chose to trade blow for blow. While swinging his staff down, he turned his body to the side as much as he could, not reducing the force in his hands.
"Bang!"
"Crack!"
The first sound was of Yang Xiao’s Human Bone Staff hitting the White-clothed Scholar’s shoulder, while the second was of the scholar’s inkstone hitting Yang Xiao’s left arm.
The White-clothed Scholar took a step back, his head uncontrollably shaking a few tis, while Yang Xiao was sent flying by the force of the inkstone, his left arm snapping with a crisp sound of breaking bone.
Yang Xiao crashed heavily into the knee-deep ink, and the green fla of the Ghost Lantern also extinguished; without the Ghost Lantern to counteract, the black ink visibly sped up in enveloping Yang Xiao, dragging him deeper as his perception of the world vanished, making him feel as if he were in a deep, abyssal black lake.
He struggled with all his might, but to no avail; just as his strength was waning, and he was slowly sinking into an endless abyss, suddenly, the pitch-black surface cracked open, and an arm precisely grasped his collar, pulling him out of the water.
Having regained his ability to breathe, Yang Xiao knelt on the ground, gasping for breath. Only then did he clearly see who stood before him—an unusually short Taoist Boy.
At the Taoist Boy’s side, the pitch-black ink withdrew as if pushed away by so mysterious power, forming a circle with a diater of 4 ters, exposing the ground. Both he and the Taoist Boy were inside the circle.
"Not dead, are you?" the Taoist Boy turned his head, his aged voice tinged with a sharpness, and wearing a Character "Li" Mask, indeed the Taoist who had given him the signal arrow.
Struggling to stand, Yang Xiao’s left arm bone was broken, hanging limply and unable to be raised, he gave a one-handed salute, "Thank you... thank you, Taoist, for saving my life!"
The Taoist Boy nodded slightly, then looked towards the not-so-distant White-clothed Scholar, staring coldly at him and snorted, "Pingxi Marquis, you’ve got quite the nerve, still daring to kill after soone issued the order?"
"You heed the command and halt at the ban, do you not understand this rule?" Although the Taoist Boy was alone, he didn’t show any sign of fear when facing the White-clothed Scholar of the You Generation, and a host of envoys from the Li and Yuan Generations.
The White-clothed Scholar had been disturbed in the middle of sothing significant and was naturally quite displeased, yet he managed to keep his composure perfectly. Holding a book in one hand, he smiled and said, "I wondered who it was, so it is Daoist Qingfeng who graces us with his presence. My apologies for not having greeted you from afar, and I hope you will forgive ."
"Quit playing dumb with , Daoist. I am asking you a question!" Despite his small fra, Daoist Qingfeng’s imposing manner as he questioned him was profoundly startling.
Seeing this, the White-clothed Scholar stopped pretending, placed the hand holding the book behind him, and pointed at Yang Xiao with his other hand, "This man took advantage of the dark and windy night to murder and rob, and the victim was an employer who paid my respect money. If I had not acted, who would trust in the future?"
"Moreover, I rember that the rule in this town is that people should accept their fate in conflicts within the town boundaries, and they should cease fighting imdiately at the sight of the Lantern Order. But barging into soone’s ho to commit murder, and annihilating their entire family — this does not fall within the Lantern Order’s scope. If we talk about breaking the rules, it was this murderer who broke them first. If such a villain is not punished severely, how could we command respect in the future?"
Daoist Qingfeng paused for a mont, turned his head to glance at Yang Xiao, and spoke with a hoarse voice, "How did you co to be here? Were you deceived? Tell everything; I am known for my fairness and tolerate no shielding."
With this statent, how could Yang Xiao not understand his cue? He imdiately retaliated, "Please, Daoist, take my side. I was tricked into coming here. They said there was a treasure to be traded, but when I arrived, these damned people ambushed . If not for so skills I possess, they would have had !"
"You’re talking nonsense!" One of the experts from the Li Generation couldn’t help but curse.
As if realizing the true situation, Daoist Qingfeng slowly nodded, "Tell , who was it that tricked you into coming here?"
"Daoist, it was the owner of Xinjin Pawnshop, whom the townspeople call Hao Laojiu," Yang Xiao replied politely.
"Where is he?"
"He ambushed just now, and I accidentally killed him."
"Was anyone else present?"
"There were so clerks from the pawnshop."
"And where are the clerks?"
"I’m ashad to say, I accidentally killed them too," Yang Xiao said, sowhat embarrassed.
Hearing this, Daoist Qingfeng looked around and then concluded, "Hmm, the truth is clear. It was Hao Laojiu who sched first, but he was no match and got what he deserved. The matters of today end here; you all may disperse."
Upon hearing this, the previously speaking expert from the Li Generation could no longer hold back. This was clearly blatant lying, "Qingfeng, we are contemporaries, do not overstep! It was clearly this man who murdered to silence others. If he is not punished severely, I will be the first to object!"
Daoist Qingfeng turned his head to look at the expert in the green long robe from the Li Generation, and a hoarse, owl-like laugh escaped his lips. The next second, he swayed and rushed forward, raising his left foot and stomping down. Simultaneously, a massive crippled foot appeared in mid-air, aiming for the Li Generation expert.
But the opponent was not ordinary either. He drew a wooden ladder from behind, which grew against the wind and managed to support the massive foot. Although the ladder severely bent under the pressure, it did not break, resulting in a stalemate for a mont.
However, as Qingfeng flicked his sleeve, a golden pouch embroidered with intricate scriptures flew out at a high speed and landed over the head of the Li Generation expert.
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