第十七章

General Lou whirled around, his face contorted with fury. He dismissed his spell and launched into a flurry of rapid strikes at Jing Yuan. Fortunately, Jing Yuan had maintained enough distance earlier, buying himself time to react. He dodged left and right, ducked and weaved, barely avoiding the relentless assault. Seizing the moment when General Lou's momentum faltered, Jing Yuan grabbed the incoming fist and used the force to flip behind the general's back.

The move was executed in one smooth motion. A Xu and Little Wu clapped and cheered loudly. Hearing their applause, General Lou grew even angrier. He tore off his armor, rolled up his sleeves, and suddenly materialized a long spear out of thin air.

"Holy shit, that's cheating!" Jing Yuan exclaimed, startled, and dodged away with a series of backflips. Xu Haoyue cursed under his breath a couple of times. He reached out and patted Su Heng in front of him. "Hey, Su Heng, they've pulled out their weapons. How about lending us something too?"

Xiao Ai and the others chimed in their agreement. Su Heng snapped back to attention and hurriedly summoned his silver sword. Xu Haoyue took it and quickly tossed it to Jing Yuan. Catching the sword, Jing Yuan glanced at the opponent's long spear, then at the significantly shorter silver sword in his hand. Suppressing the urge to swear, he gritted his teeth and blocked the thrusting spear from General Lou.

The sword was sturdy enough, but the impact sent a painful shock through Jing Yuan's hand. After dodging away, he quickly shook his hand to relieve the sting.

Xu Haoyue and Youyou had been observing General Lou for a while and finally spotted a weakness. They shouted loudly in their hometown dialect, "Old Jing, his lower body! Aim for his lower body, his stance isn't stable!"

"Got it!" Jing Yuan sneered twice. After parrying General Lou's spear with the silver sword, he launched a series of slashes and chops from left and right to disrupt the general's vision. Then, catching him off guard, Jing Yuan suddenly attacked his lower body.

General Lou managed to dodge a few times, but his stamina began to wane, and his movements lost their initial agility. Sensing the danger, he let out a loud roar and began spinning his spear, creating a swirling vortex of light.

Even though everyone knew these kinds of spells were useless against them, the spear spun like a powerful fan, making them a bit nervous. Jing Yuan decided to retreat temporarily and ran halfway around, planning to strike from General Lou's side.

However, General Lou, his face fierce, suddenly hurled the spear directly at him. Jing Yuan, momentarily distracted by the intimidating light vortex, couldn't dodge in time. The now spell-less spear-fan clanged loudly against the back of his head. General Lou, who had been on the defensive, finally scored a point. His subordinates, who had been frustrated for so long, seized the chance and erupted into wild applause for their general, the noise so loud that Xiao Ai and the others covered their ears.

"Ouch! Damn it!" Jing Yuan yelled in pain. "You can play it like that?" Inspired, he simply imitated General Lou and threw Su Heng's silver sword straight at him. It was a complete fluke, entirely unexpected by General Lou. When the sword flew toward him, he didn't react in time and tried to swat it away with his hand, only to get cut. This made General Lou even angrier.

Seizing the opportunity, Jing Yuan slid into a sweeping kick aimed at General Lou. When it missed, he used the momentum of his spin to flip behind the general again. As he rose, he jumped and drove his knee down, pinning General Lou to the ground from behind.

Fearing General Lou might still have fight left in him, Jing Yuan scrambled up and swiftly applied a chokehold. The battle was decisively won. Xiao Ai and Youyou led the way in cheering nonstop.

After General Lou's deputy announced the result, Jing Yuan finally let go. He stood up and even performed a few gentlemanly bows, like an actor taking his leave in a stage play. A Xu and Little Wu rushed over and threw their arms around him, reminding him with a laugh, "Brother Jing Yuan, you're using the wrong etiquette here. Let's go, let's go! Let's get into the palace!"

Although General Lou was extremely unwilling and displeased, he had lost in front of so many people. His face flushed red with anger, but he had no choice but to wave his hand, signaling his subordinates to let them enter the palace.

Su Heng, following at the back of the group, also looked happy. As he passed by General Lou, he felt a bit embarrassed and bowed slightly to him. Then, turning away without any further burden, he cheerfully followed the others into the palace.

The palace was enormous. It wasn't the kind of resplendent grandeur described in novels, nor the red bricks and green tiles they often saw in TV dramas. Beneath their feet lay long, paved stone slabs. On either side were vast, empty grounds with nothing but a few trees planted here and there. Just walking from the outermost gate to the second inner gate took over ten minutes.

Along the way, Fatty and Xiao Ai chattered incessantly, pointing at various places within the palace. Little Wu and A Xu were busy hovering around Jing Yuan, saying nice things and begging him to teach them the unfamiliar moves he had demonstrated earlier.

Youyou, however, was consistently enthusiastic about taking photos with her phone. This time she was smart; instead of using her own phone, she had collected everyone else's. She would take a few shots with one until the battery dropped a little, then quickly turn it off and switch to another.

Only Xu Haoyue adjusted his glasses and strolled leisurely alongside Su Heng, putting on a refined and slightly pretentious air. It was as if they weren't touring a palace at all, but just taking a casual walk in the park near their homes.