The moment the clash erupted, one of the men panicked.
"Boss, your arm's still injured!"
Xing Honglang barked a laugh. "Erchun's arm isn't injured, is it?"
Everyone: "…well…"
"Don't any of you dare interfere with Lao-niang settling this old score."
With her uninjured left hand, she yanked out her waist-blade.
Erchun roared and did the same.
Turns out their last messy fight in the chaos had left both of them chopping each other's right arms, so now they were stuck fighting left-handed — basically the bandit-world version of trying to duel while writing with your off-hand.
Erchun bellowed, "Xing Honglang, today either you die or I die!"
Xing Honglang snarled back, "You gutter-trash with zero jianghu manners — men of the greenwood only get a bad name because of idiots like you!"
"ROAR!"
Erchun lunged forward, blade flashing.
Xing Honglang met him head-on.
Within seconds the two were genuinely going at it — blades bursting with sparks, chopping wild arcs through the air. Their followers, private salt smugglers by trade, wanted to help her, but violating Xing Honglang's direct order meant certain death… so they turned around and kept hurling logs and rocks down the ravine, muttering prayers that she didn't die while they were busy following discipline.
The shouting on this side carried all the way to Cheng Xu's position.
Gao Chuwo stiffened, glanced at Xing Honglang's direction, then forced himself to look forward again. He wanted to say, "I'm going to help her," but after days of training with Gao Yiye, his brain had been beaten into a single mantra:
Obey commands. Do NOT act like a giant impulsive disaster.
Cheng Xu noticed his agitation, raised a brow, and glanced toward the foot of the mountain.
Sure enough — Fanshan Yue's troops had begun to spread out and climb.
Cheng Xu lowered his voice. "Gao Chuwo. I give you the time it takes to bicker fifty lines with Zheng Daniu. Run over, help Xing Honglang, and immediately return. No delays. Can you do that?"
Gao Chuwo: "…How long is bickering fifty lines?"
Everyone: "…"
Cheng Xu sighed. "The time it takes for you and Daniu to argue fifty sentences. Now go."
That, Gao Chuwo understood instantly. Bickering fifty sentences? Easy. He could estimate that perfectly — just pretend to argue.
He suddenly shouted, "Daniu! You're so dumb. You don't understand anything."
Everyone blinked.
Then he mimicked Zheng Daniu's voice: "You're the idiot! I'm the smart one!"
Everyone: "…"
One sentence of bickering.
While finishing those two lines, Gao Chuwo had already sprinted several zhang away.
"Daniu! You messed up — this mechanism piece goes on that side!"
Another two or three zhang vanished under his feet.
"I'm right—you're wrong—!"
By the time the line finished, Gao Chuwo had vanished behind a hill.
Everyone sucked in a cold breath. "This guy…"
Cheng Xu roared, "Stop staring at that idiot! Fanshan Yue is climbing! Prepare the logs and rocks!"
"Yes, sir!"
Fanshan Yue's men were indeed spreading out, climbing like hired madmen. The front ranks were all fearless brutes who scrambled up, ducked behind rocks, peeked at the ridge to see if logs were flying, then bolted forward again.
Cheng Xu simply laughed. "Let them hide. We've got more logs than their grandmothers had excuses. DROP THEM!"
Flat-Rabbit, of course, was the first to act. He shoved down a giant log the size of a small boat, letting it thunder down the mountain path…
…
Xing Honglang and Erchun had already exchanged more than ten moves.
Real combat is not like wuxia novels bragging about "hundreds of moves." Real fights finish in seconds — especially when both people are injured, panting, and left-handed like awkward schoolkids trying calligraphy.
Erchun roared with every swing.
Xing Honglang stayed icy calm, cutting with precision.
After another few moves, she finally caught a flaw — a flash of steel — slash — her blade opened Erchun's side.
He screamed and toppled backward.
Xing Honglang's eyes lit. She strode forward and raised her blade toward his neck—
When suddenly a roar burst beside her.
A mountain of a man charged in. Two smugglers tried to block him and were immediately sent flying like chickens hit by a carriage.
In the next heartbeat he was upon Xing Honglang, swinging a heavy staff down at her skull.
"Sui Fengxiong!"
Xing Honglang's eyes widened. She lifted her left-hand blade to block— clang — she barely held the strike, but with only one hand, she couldn't match his brute strength.
Her wrist numbed. The blade flew out of her hand.
Sui Fengxiong roared and swung again, aiming to break her waist clean in half.
This is bad… I can't dodge this…
Li Daoxuan took a step, ready to intervene—
Then a shout erupted behind them:
"Daniu, you idiot! You kicked over the water bucket again!"
Xing Honglang: "???"
Sui Fengxiong: "???"
Before either could process the words, a giant armored figure slammed into the battlefield like a human battering ram.
BOOM.
Sui Fengxiong staggered back five whole steps before managing to stand.
He blinked at the mountain of muscle in armor.
"Who the hell are you?"
Gao Chuwo puffed out his chest. "I'm not the idiot — you're the one who kicked the water bucket."
Sui Fengxiong: "???"
Xing Honglang: "???"
"What in the—are you sick?!" Sui Fengxiong roared.
Gao Chuwo ignored him. "Daniu! Hold your side steady!"
Sui Fengxiong: "??????"
Then Gao Chuwo charged.
His fist roared through the air like a hammer thrown by the gods. Even before it landed, the wind alone could scare the soul out of a normal person.
As he punched, he muttered:
"Chuwo… your toes have an earthworm stuck between them…"
This fatal combination — terrifying visuals + deranged dialogue — tore Sui Fengxiong's brain in half. His mind stalled. His reflexes froze.
Gao Chuwo's fist slammed into his face.
Sui Fengxiong's features caved in. His neck snapped. As he fell, he vaguely heard Gao Chuwo adding:
"Daniu, I've lifted my end — now you lift yours."
Then he was off to meet the King of Hell.
At almost the same moment, Xing Honglang chopped Erchun's head clean off.
She turned, ready to thank Gao Chuwo.
But he stared deeply into her eyes like some lovestruck ox and said:
"Daniu… you're really smart."
Xing Honglang's anger meter instantly maxed out.
"What in the nine hells are you babbling about?!"
Footnotes
Left-handed blade fighting — In historical combat, switching to the non-dominant hand drastically reduced speed and precision. Many fighters died the instant they were forced to switch.
Fanshan Yue's climbing formation — Scattered climbing in small bursts was a real tactic used to avoid mass casualties from defenders dropping heavy objects from above.
Combat ending in seconds — Historical duels, especially with blades, were short and lethal. Novel-style "hundreds of moves" is pure entertainment tradition.