On the scene, six people surrounded Gong Xiaohua in an encirclement attack. The assassins made the first move, raising their swords simultaneously and attacking from above. Gong Xiaohua bent back at a ninety-degree angle, her left hand planted into the ground to support herself, while her right hand swung her blade upward, blocking the five longswords horizontally from below. With a loud "clang", the collision of blades made a huge ringing sound.
Leveraging the strength from her left hand, Gong Xiaohua gave a hard push. Her body sprung up instantly, and at the same time, her right hand pushed forward forcefully. The power was transmitted from her blade to the assassins' swords, then from the swords to the assassins' tiger mouths. Their tiger mouths numbed from the vibration, and the swords were almost shaken out of their hands.
The assassins looked at Gong Xiaohua in disbelief. They did not expect her to be able to repel them all by herself. Having traveled the Jianghu for many years, this was the first time they had seen someone with such great strength, not to mention she looked rather slim for a woman.
After repelling her opponents, Gong Xiaohua took the initiative to attack. She charged towards her right side first, stabbing straight at one of the assassin's throat with her single blade. Her strike was extremely fast.
The assassin barely dodged the sharp knife by tilting his body. At the same time, with a sword in hand, another assassin thrusted towards Gong Xiaohua's armpit. Gong Xiaohua evaded nimbly, and sent a swift left kick towards the hand that the assassin was holding his sword with. The assassin was kicked back forcefully with his whole body reclining. The sword dropped to the ground.
Then Gong Xiaohua spun in midair, landing a heavy kick at the assassin's neck. The assassin's facial muscles shuddered violently as if detached from the rest of his body, before he crashed heavily onto the ground unconscious.
All these happened in an instant. Every move and every style contained immense strength and speed.
Seeing this, the other five assassins charged towards her simultaneously. Gong Xiaohua rushed to meet them aggressively. She took a step and leapt into the air. With both blades lifted over her head, she hacked down forcefully at the two assassins in front.
With alert reactions, the assassins dodged swiftly to both sides. At the same time, one of them stabbed towards Gong Xiaohua's throat while the other stabbed towards her waist. Gong Xiaohua turned both her blades over, countering both their strikes simultaneously with different postures. Just then, the other three assassins came around to surround and stab her from other directions.
Gong Xiaohua tilted her head backwards. Abandoning her left blade, she spun her body around with her left hand seizing one of the assassin's wrist. With a jerk that dislocated his bones, a cracking sound of the joint being pulled out of place could be heard, and the excruciating pain distorted the assassin's face.
Borrowing his force, Gong Xiaohua spun up into midair, landing behind the assassin. Her foot stomped heavily on his back, sending the assassin stumbling forward. At the same time, the assassin who was previously stabbing at Gong Xiaohua's waist lost his leverage and tumbled forward by momentum, colliding into the stumbling assassin, his abdomen pierced straight through by the blade - dead with his eyes wide open.
Gong Xiaohua somersaulted in midair before landing lightly in a crouch with bent knees. She rolled away forcefully a few more times to distance herself from the assassins once again. Blood flowed freely from her sword-wielding tiger mouth, yet she was completely oblivious to the pain.
Six eliminated, four to go. These men proved more difficult than she had anticipated. A glance towards the commanding officer showed large numbers of enemies swarming them. Wei Country guards were fighting desperately to protect them, though their numbers were dropping sharply.
Gong Xiaohua frowned. She discarded her other blade and unsheathed an extremely slender soft sword from her waist. This sword was custom made for her with Qin Chuyuan spending a fortune. It had double-edged blades that gleamed icy-cold brilliance, capable of cutting steel like mud.
The two parties clashed once more, only this time both sides were armed with swords. Like a spiritual snake, Gong Xiaohua's soft sword threaded up one assassin's wrist. Wincing painfully, he dropped his sword which did not fall to the ground but instead got entwined by Gong Xiaohua's soft sword. With his hand held up midair, she jerked her sword, spinning the entwined blade like a flying dagger and sending it shooting forward. The assassin was caught unprepared. He collapsed onto the ground and died.
The assassins observed Gong Xiaohua wielding her sword, instantly killing one of their comrades. They realized her swordplay could be even more formidable than her knifework. They changed their strategy and engaged her more cautiously.
After several more rounds and Gong Xiaohua took down one more assassin, the Third Prince of Wei Country finally prevailed over his opponent too. He promptly went over to help her. Seeing the blood drenching Gong Xiaohua's body, he asked with concern, "Are you alright?"
"Not dead yet."
"These men are the top assassins from enemy countries. They are difficult to defeat."
"I can tell. We'll do them one by one; ends it quick."
They charged at one assassin each, not taking Gong Xiaohua too long to overpower hers with the Second Prince injured and enduring intense jolting throughout. Seeing the other two still engaged with their opponents but not facing much trouble, she headed straight for the assassins' leader.
Just as the leader was about to step into the fray after witnessing the near annihilation of the ten top assassins he had brought along, the thunderous clip-clop of charging horses approaching could suddenly be heard from the left.
About ten to twenty black warriors on horses, herding ten to twenty steeds ahead, came galloping into view. They bulldozed straight into the archers on the left flank, tearing an opening through them and crashing right into the scene.
Qin Yi rode his horse slaying a path to Gong Xiaohua and stopped before her, "Young Mistress, your horse." He leapt down and yielded the horse to her.
Without time to ponder, Gong Xiaohua jumped onto horseback, hauling the Second Prince onto the back in passing as well before charging away. The Third Prince also managed to mount a horse under the protection of the other Qin family members and gave chase behind Gong Xiaohua.
Everything transpired in a split second. The assassins' leader had wanted to stop them from escaping and had just prepared to leap forward but was obstructed by an attacking warrior in black who charged up. With no choice but to deal with him first, the leader, whose martial arts skills ran deep, soon sent the man flying.
By then the targets were already two hundred meters away, galloping off at full speed. The assassin leader seized a bow from one of his men as he mounted a horse to pursue them, barking coldly as he left, "Kill them."
Ghost Eunuch had wanted to tail Gong Xiaohua and the princes too but was surrounded and blocked off by another wave of warriors in black with no opportunity to slip away. Hearing the assassin leader's order, and concurring that those enemy men ought not be spared, he stayed behind battling it out with the black warriors and Ye Country forces.
The trio of Gong Xiaohua, Third Prince and Second Prince rode their horses hard forward but with two sharing one horse, their lead over the pursuers gradually narrowed. Not daring to abandon them, the Third Prince guarded them closely on the side as arrows began raining on them from behind.
When the horses drew close enough, Gong Xiaohua promptly grabbed the Second Prince and ruthlessly flung him onto the Third Prince's horseback, "Catch him, I'll stall them."
The already injured Second Prince had endured immense jolts throughout the rough ride. Now with such a violent throw, he desperately clung onto consciousness through sheer willpower.
Gong Xiaohua slowed her horse and lay flat on its back. Right before the assassins caught up, her soft sword unexpectedly drew a swift horizontal arc from the ground upwards, kicking dirt into the air. The assassin leader raised his arm to shield his eyes but his horse was less fortunate as clouds of grime flew right into its eyes. The horse reared up painfully, whinnying loudly and bucking in agony.
The assassin leader got thrown off his ride. Watching Gong Xiaohua about to flee on horseback, he was enraged. With astounding speed, he forcefully drew his bow taut and fired off an arrow that plunged squarely into her back with such close distance and his superb horseback archery.
Yet this seemed to hardly deter her escape as she continued galloping off leaning on her horse.
Soon, the backup team of the leader's archers arrived on horseback. He promptly mounted a vacant horse from his men and chased after Gong Xiaohua's trio.
In the end, Gong Xiaohua and the two Wei princes were cornered by the cliff's edge near the turbulent river - no path forward whatsoever while enemies closed in from the rear.
An arrow lodged in her back with blood drenching that entire area coupled with the rough ride thus far pushed her already taut body right up the edge. She no longer had the strength to fight.
Seeing the bloody mess of her back, the anxious Third Prince exclaimed, "You've got shot!"
"Still not dying!"
Sensing any exchange now to be futile, the Third Prince surveyed their hopeless situation surrounded on all sides at front with the river below and prayed for luck.
He declared, "Death awaits us both ahead and behind, yet I would rather plunge to my death in this river water."
The Second Prince then turned a ghastly pale face towards Gong Xiaohua with a wry smile, "To have a beauty's company before death is worthwhile this life."
"You wish to die, I don't," Gong Xiaohua retorted, her eyes filled with utter disdain.
With that, she leapt right off the cliff edge without another word.
The two Wei princes shared a knowing smile - still displaying such attitude even at this hour. Looks like she truly detests them.
Ah well, their next meeting could only be upon the battlefield then. Romantic affections would but hurt all parties involved.
And so he too jumped after them, thinking that if the people who had died hadn't actually died, how could they die so easily either, believing that heaven would not block off all paths for man.
