I would immediately engage in combat! Our weapons clashed several times. He knew our sword art! I was going to have to draw on the secrets I had learned from Lan Yi's journal. I rarely used this secret art that I had unintentionally inherited.

The masked man moved away from me and wanted to take advantage of the fog to escape me! He jumped on a roof and then on another one. I vaguely heard Wei Ying say something and then I saw him out of the corner of my eye, quickly leaving with the disciples. He had looked worried about them earlier. He had to lead them to safety to take care of them.

I focused on my opponent. Before showing him my "surprises" I had to determine how well he knew my clan's art. But first, I had to get him off the roof and back on the ground, so that I could evaluate him!

If he was counting on the fog, he was going to be disappointed, I didn't need to see my target to find it. I threw Bichen in the direction I had heard him. A sound of tiles breaking followed by a slide, let me know that my target had been reached. I jumped off the roof and landed opposite him. The serious things could begin.

In the distance I saw a group of puppets going up the main street of the city, they seemed to be pursuing something or someone!

My opponent was really strong! Maybe a guest disciple? Or maybe a member of the sect who had left it? There weren't many of them in this case! The guest disciples were more numerous! It was enough to see to what level my opponent was able to counter me!

I saw a black shadow passing in the distance. We were not so alone in this city! A small white shadow, a large black shadow and the masked man, not to mention the "puppets"!

I heard a loud crash in a house about 200 meters from my position. Someone had fallen through a roof! My opponent had heard it too. I took advantage of a fleeting moment of inattention to attack him. He parried me, his level was high, well beyond that of a guest disciple!

It seemed to me that I heard the sound of a qin.... question to the spirits...only SiZhui, in the disciples present at Yi, was capable of it! What was going on? Fortunately, Wei Ying was with them! ...though !!!! Sometimes I wondered if it was a good thing, he could be as hotheaded as that bunch of teenagers!

My opponent tried to escape, he had realized that my swordplay was superior to his! I had not been the best disciple of the Lan clan for nothing ! Here I was again! I should copy 10 more times the rules of humility of the Clan !

2 black silhouettes suddenly crossed our field of vision. Wen Ning was fighting with someone. My opponent took the opportunity to escape over the rooftops. I followed him. A game of hide-and-seek started through the maze of Yi's roof. I lost sight of him. He had managed to lose me.

I stood still on a high roof. I watched carefully every shadow, every movement of the fog to find him. My eyes were drawn to movement in one of the streets on my right.

Wei Ying! And next to him...Xue Yang! I saw him draw his sword and with a rotation of the body, try to cut the head of my love! My blood ran cold and I rushed in their direction. Hold on, my love, I'm coming!

I stepped in just as the sword held by Xue Yang was about to touch my soul mate's throat!

"Should I call it: better to arrive in time than too early? "Wei Ying said with relief.

My eyes fell on the sword held by Xue Yang: ChangHua!

Xiao Xingchen's sword! How did it get into his hands?

I made it come to me. My spiritual energy was more powerful than his! He was furious especially when I refused to give it back to him.

That's when he conjured up Jiangzai, his sword. I told Wei Ying to back off and that there was no need for him to stay. I hoped that he would take cover!

I threw myself at Xue Yang. After several passes, I realized that although his swordplay was inferior to mine, his speed of execution was slightly superior to mine! He was going to be a formidable opponent!

A few meters away from us, on a roof, Wen Ning was fighting against a black figure, with his bare hands; well, almost! Wen Ning was using the chains he wore on his wrists and his opponent was using his Fuchen, a horsehair whip! They passed through a wall.

Then I saw that Wei Ying had joined the disciples! They looked better than before. Whatever you did, it worked!

Xue Yang attacked me. I avoided him. I felt a group of "puppets" behind me. I put them out of action in the blink of an eye! Xue Yang took the opportunity to escape through the roofs.

I heard Wei Ying in the distance saying that they were going ahead! Very well, move away and get to safety.

Our fight became more and more violent, just like Xue Yang. We jumped from roof to roof or crossed paths in the streets. Neither of us wanted to let go first.

Wei Ying shouted my name, what was he doing there? Then the sound of a flute was heard briefly, followed by a loud crash. Out of the corner of my eye, I could finally identify the black figure: Song Lan.

Wei Ying was removing something from his head. A similar image came to mind, Wei Ying doing the same thing to Wen Ning's head!

I suddenly launched an attack by changing Bichen's position and cut the cord that held the Qiankun purse on Xue Yang's belt. With a blow to the side, I threw it towards Wei Yingh!

Xue Yang seemed to care a lot about this Qiankun purse, even more than ChangHua!

Taking advantage of his disarray, I threw Bichen back to him and finally hit him on the shoulder. Seeing that there were two of us now against him, Xue Yang tried to escape in the fog. I threw Bichen again...when she came back to me she was covered with blood!

Wei Ying started to provoke him in order to attract him. He told him about Xiao XingCheng, about how he treated a person who had treated him kindly! He talked about Song Lan and A-qing. I didn't know who the latter was. But Wei Ying must have known!

Xue Yang came out of his hiding place.

"If you hate him as much as you say, why did you kill Chang Ping?

So I was right then, it was not Xiao Xing Cheng who killed Chang Ping but Xue Yang , probably after stealing ChangHua from him! Or even worse!

Xue Yang appeared and disappeared according to the variations of the fog. Wei ying kept provoking him.

I had to be on my guard. His movements were quick and silent. It was difficult to locate him. I had to be even more careful than usual!

What exactly was Wei Ying trying to do with his insinuations? It seemed like he was implying a special relationship between Xue Yang and Xiao Xing Chen! Xue Yang was furious. My love had succeeded. He had always been good at getting people off their backs!!! I had seen the proof with Uncle!

The masked man suddenly appeared over the rooftops! Distracting us for a fraction of a second, Xue Yang threw something in the direction of Wei Ying! Wen Ning intervened before me and crushed the 2 nails intended for my love!

Taking advantage of the situation, the 2 companions disappeared in the fog. Wei Ying continued to provoke him. But it did not work!

I remained on the lookout. But there was no noise, no touching, no movement!

Wei Ying suddenly told me to attack where I could hear the sound of the bamboo stick. Bichen flew faster than lightning! She came back to me again covered with blood. She had hit her target!

I heard blows in the water, I threw my sword once again. It was stuck in Xue Yang's back. At that moment, I saw a girl collapsed in front of him, pierced by Jiangzai.

My love rushed to her and took her in his arms! A fleeting feeling of jealousy came over me when he hugged her.

Xue Yang took advantage of his distraction and rushed towards him. Bichen cut his arm at the shoulder! He fell to his knees. The masked man suddenly appeared at his side and took half of Yin Hufu that Xue Yang was hiding in his robe. The moment he took out a talisman, I knew he was going to run away. I threw Bichen to prevent him from taking Xue Yang with him!

The masked man disappeared. This man was a problem for me. When I evaluated his abilities and looked to see if he was a member of my clan, I found out that he was using a fighting technique from another sect. That of the Jin Clan!

I was talking to Wei Ying when he asked me about it. The disciples joined us at that moment.

Xue Yang was hilarious. His madness was out in the open. Song Lan stood up on his back. Freed from the nails that controlled him, he had come to his senses and was probably about to avenge himself and his cultivation friend Xiao Xing Chen!

The disciples drew their swords but Wei Ying stopped them. He was right.

The rest was Song Lan and Xue Yang's business!

Wei Ying went to pick up A-Qing's inert body and together we left the cursed city of Yi. 

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)