The Villain's Counterattack

Chapter 519: The Fish We Caught Was a Grandmaster-Level Fish

In the center of the Yalu River floating arena, an old man with white hair and youthful face, dressed in linen, is sitting cross-legged. He holds an ancient long sword in his arms, his eyes slightly closed. Ten large ships are lined up in a row a hundred meters behind him, fully equipped with weapons and silent.

There were three sampans, a stone tablet, and more than ten corpses on the east bank of the Yalu River.

There is a line of large characters engraved on the stone tablet: Break the sword, break the knife, break the spear, break the whip, break the rope, break the palm, break the arrow, break the qi, break the barbarians.

Goguryeo sent more than ten cavalrymen to attack, but they were all killed by the old man in hemp clothes who walked on the water and wielded a sword alone. These more than ten cavalrymen were all good fighters, and half of them were first-class masters who had broken through to the innate level. Although they were not masters, they were also rare elites of Goguryeo, and no one could match them in the hands of the old man in hemp clothes.

On the first day, except for more than ten riders who died, no one responded to the challenge.

On the second day, an old man from Goguryeo came to fight. His swordsmanship was quite impressive and he was at the level of a half-step grandmaster, but he was killed by the old man in hemp clothes in three moves.

On the third day, several middle-aged men came together to fight the old man in hemp clothes, but they were unable to move freely due to the restrictions of the arena and were killed one by one by him.

On the fourth day, three swordsmen from Goguryeo who were famous for their combined attacks came to challenge the enemy. The three of them joined forces but were defeated in ten moves by the opponent, with two dead and one injured.

On the fifth day, a assassin came on stage and attacked with poison and hidden weapons, but was easily killed by the old man in hemp clothes.

On the sixth day, a team of hundreds of Mohe cavalry came galloping and fired more than ten waves of arrows at the water arena. After the old man in hemp clothes easily defused them, they ran away and soon disappeared without a trace.

On the seventh day, three thousand Goguryeo troops attacked. Before they could get close to the river, ten warships suddenly launched an attack, and arrows from bows and crossbows rained down. Then, more than twenty innate masters rushed forward and killed them all.

At nightfall, a figure flew onto the ring on a sampan. Without any warning, he drew out a sword that gleamed with cold light and slashed fiercely at the old man in hemp clothes (either Dugu Qiubai or Yang Xuyan).

A faint smile appeared on the corner of the old man's mouth. The long sword in his arms had been unsheathed at some point, and under the dim starlight, it pointed directly at the other party's wrist. "Finally, a master fighter has arrived. All my hard work over the past few days has paid off. Brother Ying's promotion to master has finally been funded."

The seven Yang brothers were not without talent, having been born into an imperial family with abundant resources. Due to Yang Guang's suppression in the later years, they felt a sense of crisis and worked hard. However, their inherited War God Art required a lot of battle experience, and they were constantly imprisoned and restrained, preventing them from achieving breakthroughs. Since Yang Xuyan rescued them, Yang Yu and Yang Jun have continued to cultivate the War God Art, fighting bravely in the Western Regions. They are now also Half-Step Grandmasters, but they cannot achieve breakthroughs without major battles.

Yang Yi and Yang Ke, who had practiced the Sunflower Manual, finally broke through to the Grandmaster level after a year of fighting with the Sword Master Fu Cailin. Their breakthrough time was even earlier than that of Yang Xuyan.

Yang Shao practiced the Yi Jin Jing diligently but it was impossible for him to break through in a short time, while Yang Gai and Yang Ying were already half a step away from becoming grandmasters and on the verge of a breakthrough. However, their success and failure were both due to the Bei Ming Divine Art. Although it was easy to master quickly, there were great obstacles at every breakthrough and they needed to force their way through.

Yang Xuyan originally planned to use the masters from Jingnian Zen Temple to help them break through, but he could not find an opportunity. In the entire Jingnian Zen Temple, there was only one senior master, Master Kong. There were many other innate masters, and there were seven or eight half-step masters, but there was no other master, which disappointed him greatly.

After confirming that there was no way forward before Yang Gai and Yang Ying broke through, and that he was unable to break through on his own in a short period of time, Yang Xuyan set his sights on the Goguryeo's master. Before Yi Zhiwende was killed, his master's behavior made Yang Gai successful. At this moment, this new master swordsman, although not dead, had already been labeled as Yang Ying.

The small arena could not limit the performance of the master-level strongman. The master swordsman had deep internal strength and superb swordsmanship. Sometimes he used one hand and sometimes he used two hands, and various exquisite and fierce swordsmanship were continuous. Yang Xuyan put his left hand behind his back, holding the sword in one hand and easily pointing at the flaw in the opponent's swordsmanship. Not only did he not give in, but he pressed forward step by step, forcing the opponent to retreat step by step and circle around the arena.

"This move is not bad, it has some structure to it, but unfortunately it still has some flaws."

"This sword strike is a little off the mark. It's neither attacking nor defending, which is weird. I'll punish you with this sword strike." When Yang Xuyan was dissatisfied, he would leave a sword mark on the swordsman's body. When he was satisfied, he would make a brief comment. After a hundred moves, there were more than a dozen sword marks on the opponent's body, and blood dyed the arena red.

The swordsman roared repeatedly but could not find a chance to escape. Yang Xuyan not only had profound internal strength and superb swordsmanship, but also had too strong mental strength to lock him tightly. The swordsman master had a strong intuition that if he dared to turn his back to him, he would be pierced through the heart by a sword and would have no way to escape.

He gritted his teeth and retreated repeatedly, soon reaching the edge of the ring. He took the sword attack head-on and thrust the sword in his hand towards Yang Xuyan, but Yang Xuyan cut his wrist with the sword and severed the tendons in his right hand.

The swordsman was also a ruthless man. He suddenly reached into his arms with his left hand and threw a handful of poison needles towards him. However, Yang Xuyan did not perform the Arrow Breaking Style. Instead, he flashed his body and used the Magical Body Skill to instantly appear behind the swordsman. With his left hand, he launched a series of fingers, pressing several of his major acupoints.

The sound of fighting alarmed many people. The ten large ships were brightly lit. Yang Yi, Yang Ke, and Yang Ying came together, while Dugu Feng was left on the warship. Her martial arts skills were still a little lacking, and she was not good enough to intervene in the life-and-death duel between the grandmasters.

"Has the fish taken the bait?" All the brothers of the Yang family knew the original intention of Yang Xuyan to set up the arena. He knew that Fu Cailin would not accept the challenge, but he still set up the arena in this place with great fanfare. His purpose was very clear. On the one hand, it was to show off his strength and hit the morale of Goguryeo, and on the other hand, it was to fish.

What kind of fish are you fishing for?

The fish he was hooking was a grandmaster-level fish, and it was the final sprint for Yang Ying's breakthrough. Yang Ying's strength had already reached the limit of a half-step grandmaster, and his internal strength was pure and powerful. Even if he used the "Northern Divine Art" to absorb all the internal strength of an ordinary half-step grandmaster, it would be difficult for him to break through. Only a higher level of internal strength could help him. Just like Yang Gai used Yizhi Wende as food to break through to the grandmaster level, Yang Ying also needed a grandmaster as a sacrifice to quickly break through.

This is the reason why Yang Xuyan wasted so much time here even though he knew Fu Cailin would not show up. He knew that this situation had dealt a huge blow to the morale of Goguryeo. Ordinary innate and half-step masters would either return in defeat or die on the spot, which would inevitably attract powerful masters.

Grandmasters were renowned in Goguryeo, and there was no such thing as a so-called Grandmaster-level hermit. Therefore, knowing the strength of Dugu Qiubai (Yang Xuyan), no one would have wanted to be defeated openly, and a sneak attack was more likely. Unfortunately, Yang Xuyan was born into the Bu Tian Dao, and besides Shi Zhixuan, no one in the world knew more about assassination than him. This Grandmaster swordsman fell headfirst into a pit, from which he could never escape.

Yang Xuyan completed a full set of massages on the sword master's acupoints and casually handed it to Yang Ying. He then said, "This man's swordsmanship is sharp and domineering, only slightly inferior to the tyrant sword master Yue Shan. His internal energy is strong and authentic, so he is most likely not a casual cultivator."

"It's impossible for Master Yijian Fu Cailin to have such a master. Apart from the royal family, only the Jin family and the Yuan family may have such a master. After all..." Intelligence comes first when two armies fight, and the same is true when two countries fight. Goguryeo is a small country with only a handful of well-known masters. The brothers of the Yang family know it well.

Yang Xuyan deflected Yang Yi's hand and said helplessly, "Even though everyone knows who he is, why must we reveal it? Compared to the so-called aristocratic treatment and generous ransom, I prefer to let Brother Yao break through and advance."

Yang Yi was slightly taken aback when he heard this, then nodded in agreement and said, "My little brother, what you said makes sense. We nobles have our own set of rules. If we don't see each other, we don't have to follow them. But if we do see each other, it would be bad to break them. It's really true that ignorance is rare. It's my brother's fault for being so naughty."