271: Chapter 226_2 271: Chapter 226_2 Dugu spoke a phrase incomprehensible to others, a line only Dugu Yan’er could understand.
Lin Dandan deemed that Dugu Yan’er’s brother was mocking their clan members.
“You, go and duel with them.”
Lin Dandan’s words didn’t anger the Dugu brothers, but instead sparked an excitement to duel.
The Dugu brother nodded fiercely.
As the arrow stopped less than a zhang above the ground, he leapt off and with a few bounds, entered the training ground.
The Dugu brother’s actions made Jiang Tang want to stop him, but it was already too late.
Jiang Tang could only sigh inwardly, some of his precious time would be taken away again—he was here to visit, not to bring someone to challenge others.
“Who is this?”
The sudden appearance of a stranger flying into the training ground made everyone practicing halt their motions and watch the newcomer with wary eyes.
In their minds, they all thought this was definitely someone here to pick a fight.
Their martial arts school was often challenged by outsiders, who of course were quickly defeated and sent away.
Others were defeated and frequently harassed them, relentlessly seeking challenges.
“A guest.”
The Dugu brothers spoke their piece, mentioning they were guests, but the men there couldn’t understand.
“Grab him and throw him out.”
Just as they were about to take action, they saw a group of men and women jump in, among them a girl they recognized—the Clan Leader’s daughter, Lin Dandan.
“Miss Lin Dandan?”
The men in the training ground held the daughter of the Elder, such a beautiful lady, in high esteem, as she was like a sister to them.
Like a collateral branch, they shared no blood brotherhood and were separated by more than five degrees of kinship, sharing the same family name yet ineligible for marriage.
They could only secretly admire Lin Dandan.
Some were married and had nothing but respect for this daughter of the clan.
“I was ordered by the Family Head to bring guests here.
They saw you practicing martial arts and some guests said you were merely playing house.
This brother also claimed you were playing, not exuding any martial artist’s majesty.”
It was Lin Dandan’s explanation that made the men inside realize that these people came to the training ground to pick a fight.
The clan invited guests over, and they were originally there to welcome them, not to brawl.
But these visitors came to their doorstep and spoke so harshly, making the men feel that being spoken of like this in front of the third young lady implied they were too weak.
All of them practiced martial arts here, using the same saber techniques, and knew each other well.
Of course, they avoided injuring fellow clan members, which is why their moves appeared to lack power.
They weren’t fighting strangers, their blades weren’t imbued with spells, so how could they radiate any majesty?
Being looked down upon made these men angry.
They couldn’t let these two men and multitude of women mock them.
They didn’t want to stoop to a quarrel with the women, but the two men among the guests, of course, needed a lesson.
Upon observing the two men, they couldn’t discern the cultivation level of one, indicating that his combat power was higher than theirs.
That man had superior cultivation.
Being looked down upon by him was understandable, but the other had a cultivation level similar to theirs—what right did he have to slight them?
In their group of many men, they of course wouldn’t gang up to overwhelm with numbers.
One stepped forward and chose the easiest target.
“Come, you…
let’s have a match.”
“If I duel with you, can I use any means necessary?”
Of course, the Dugu brother wouldn’t forsake using his Worm Poison; it was their clan’s strength.
Why wouldn’t he test it on an outsider?
His words were incomprehensible to the Lin clan, everyone looked around perplexed, and then someone said:
“Miss Lin Dandan, what is he saying?”
Asked by the others, Lin Dandan couldn’t understand either and turned to ask Dugu Yan’er.
Upon hearing Lin Dandan’s question, Dugu Yan’er understood his elder brother’s intention to establish prestige using their Worm Poison outside.
“My elder brother is asking if any means are acceptable for the duel?”
The men in the crowd inquired again, “Miss Lin Dandan, what ability does this person have?”
Someone thought of the saying, “Know your enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.” These people all knew they were using broadswords, so what were their opponents using?
And from what families were these opponents?
They were clueless, and employing underhanded tactics would result in an unsightly defeat.
“Let me introduce you,” the speaker said, “these women are from the Top Ten Clans, with representatives from every clan, and this man is from the Gu Sect Dugu Clan.
The skills he inquired about may be related to their Worm Poison techniques.”
The men from the Knife Sect Lin Clan had already figured out that the Dugu brothers intended to use Worm Poison for an underhand attack.
“Hmph, we Knife Sect Lin Clan are not afraid of you,” one of them declared.
“Whatever skills you have, just bring them on.”
Knowing the skills of the opponent, of course, meant figuring out a way to defend against them.
“Go ahead!” The Dugu brother gestured with an inviting hand.
“I’ll go…”
The man who had spoken hesitated for a moment, then one of the other men stepped forward.
He wielded the broadsword and had also procured a Fire Spirit Talisman.
He then cast a circle of light before himself as a shield against the enemy’s Worm Poison.
The two sides began to fight.
This was the first time the Dugu brothers had journeyed far from home and the first time they engaged in combat with someone from the Knife Sect Lin Clan.
They demonstrated their abilities and even employed their family’s secret techniques.
The Knife Sect man was tall and sturdy, a practitioner of Body Cultivation in his twenties, at the Nascent Soul Early Stage—identical in Cultivation to the Dugu brothers.
His attire was the same loose-fitting martial artist’s clothing that everyone in the training ground wore.
His broadsword was no longer colorless as before.
His imposing broadsword emitted beams of murderous aura, slashing toward the opponent.
In the current contest, there was no consideration given to the fact that the opponent was a guest; the techniques used were even more ruthless and venomous.
A careless move could result in the other being poisoned and possibly even result in death.
Had the two sides even agreed on whether or not they would be responsible for injuries or death inflicted during the fight?
Driven by impulse, what they called a match was far more than simple sparring.
With swords so sharp and Magical Treasures so powerful, how could they emerge from a true test of skill completely unharmed?
Thus, they fought with all the realism of an actual battle.
Dugu Yan’er worried about her brother, having earlier mocked others for playing.
It turned out that they hadn’t been using their true abilities.
The Saber Technique of the Knife Sect Lin Clan was indeed extraordinary, and their own brother had of course employed their magic and their best moves.
The Lin brother, on guard against being poisoned, frequently cast Spirit Fire Talismans to suppress the release of the Dugu brother’s Worm Poison.
The Worm Insects released by the Dugu brother were extremely venomous, but their greatest fear was fire.
The flames unleashed by the Lin brother made the Dugu brother’s Worm Insects hesitant and were further thwarted by the opposing light circles, rendering them unable to do harm.
Besides Worm Insects, the Dugu brother of course had other Magical Treasures at his disposal.
His Magical Treasure was a small sword.
The small sword faced off against the broadsword with no advantage nor disadvantage in length.
The opponents used the light from their swords and spells to confront each other, standing at a distance without engaging in close combat.
The Lin brother cast one light circle after another around himself, preventing close quarters combat and defending against the use of Worm Poison.
Unable to get close to the opponent, who kept casting Fire Spirit Talismans, the Dugu brother could only produce a series of defensive circles around himself.
Their magical battle seemed intensely fierce, yet neither side managed to cause any injury to the other for the time being.
Both had approximately the same Combat Power and were evenly matched, unable to gain a definitive advantage over the other with either their physical prowess or their magical techniques.
The Dugu brother lacked experience in combat, failing to fully exploit the advantage of his secret techniques.
The Lin brother, wary of Worm Poison, did not use his Body Cultivation abilities to engage in close combat.
Jiang Tang, watching the fight, analyzed their moves and techniques, considering which matched the spells in the secret manuals he had seen.
As an onlooker here, he felt he was just wasting time.
It seemed that their challenge to each other had not yet resulted in a victory or defeat, thus squandering his valuable time.
He wanted to leave this place.
“Dugu Yan’er, you stay here and watch your brother.
I must leave now; I have other matters to attend to,” he said.
“No, I want to come with you…” Dugu Yan’er felt her brother was not in any danger here.
If these people didn’t mount a joint attack, the duel between her brother and the man might take forever to conclude.
She understood that Jiang Tang had come here on business and did not want to waste time just watching.