Chapter 6 The Star-Shielded Body

Coward as he was, Huang had been loyal to Lance Loong for six years. Lance Loong had been good to him as well. Whoever was behind this kidnapping had provoked Lance Loong. Huang still had family and parents to take care of; Lance Loong would beat himself up if anything bad happened to Huang. He tore the note into pieces and stormed out of the Yang’s house toward the Sunrise Tavern without a word! The Sunrise Tavern was near the Jade Building, Lance Loong speeded up, sweeping through the walking crowd on the street like a wind leaving not a trace! The bright light of the tavern was radiated from above as Lance Loong getting closer. Pedestrians in the front slowed him down. Door was within his sight now. At the exact moment, a carriage hauled by four horses ran through the cursing and dodging crowd at its full speed with no sign of slowing down. A kiddo standing at its route burst out crying at the sight of the rushing carriage. Lance Loong could have just jumped off. With the carriage rushing forward, the kiddo must be a dead meat at its impact. In stead of evading it, Lance Loong held the kiddo in his arms, turned his back on rampaging carriage and horses, dedicated his Chi to embrace for the impact . With a big bang, they were both knocked into the air as one of the horses hit his back. Everyone was screaming and pitied on Lance Loong and the kiddo’s high chance of death. Lance Loong took back his control during the trajectory, landed steadily. Without comforting the scared kiddo and taking in the worship the frightened crowd, he had gone and continued his mission in search for Huang. Leaving the chaos behind, Lance Loong walked into the Sunrise Tavern with a thread of dull pain on his back. Just as Lance Loong set foot on the threshold, a young lad with a stunning look almost bumped into him. At his 14 or 15, a bit younger than Lance Loong maybe, this young lad’s appearance was too delicate and pretty to be real. If not for the distinct Adam’s apple, Lance Loong may have mistaken him as a lady. He examined Lance Loong as Lance Loong stared at him. "Are you a lady or a lad?" Without thinking, Lance blurted out the words. Surprisingly, he did not take Lance Loong’s word as an insult; instead, by pointing at his Adam’s apple, he replied earnestly : "I am a man." He was too earnest in expression as his voice elegant; Used to the brothel woman's sweet grumble, Lance Loong was aroused by the elegance in his voice. On second thoughts, he blamed himself for being so skin-shallow, he still bore the mission of rescuing Huang. Leaving him behind his sight and thought, Lance Loong strode into the Sunrise Tavern. "Just saw you save a child, a life on the street..." Young lad was trying to say something to Lance Loong, but Lance Loong did not give him the chance. Taking in the view of Lance Loong’s back, the young lad appreciated his kindness. "He shares the same Chi of star as my elder brother, faint but perceptible. He must have practiced the fighting skill of star. I myself haven't used ‘Star-Shielded Body’ for a while..." The young man looked at Lance Loong fading away and said to himself. Lance Loong received a glare of fever the moment he stepped in. Zhan Yang was sitting at the corner of window, facing a pretty woman. "Zhan Yang is here? Is he responsible for the kidnapping?" Seeing the woman in front of him,Lance Loong shook off his speculation , "There is no need for him to go so low. Besides, he must be flirting with the woman here..." Lance Loong went directly to the second floor of the Tavern at the thought. Room Peony No. 1 , just as mentioned in the note! At the sight of this, he could no longer contain his anger but to blink to the door and thrust it open. The room was in total darkness. He could sense the coldness of the steel blade as he set foot in the room. He got the whole view of the room as he dodged the attacking blade in a swift move to the side. The attacker closed the door behind him, his eyes beaming cold light. Huang, on the other side of the room, was tied in robes firmly. He cried piteously and soundlessly with his mouth plugged and his face strained with nervousness and grief. Next to him stood another man; both masked, they had an aura of bloody cruelness . They were the identical two who attempt his assassination the other night; it came to the realization of Lance Loong, but still, why? Why to a little figure like him? “Who are you? And why do you go after me? "Money talks, not you! Lance Loong, prepred to die!" Two steel blades hacked at Lance Loong. The wind was split in half, letting out a bone-chilling sound of howl. “ Their Chi is well-matched to mine but, way fiercer than Lou, they were veteran assassins. If I don’t go all out, I may not able to resist their attacks.” “ Look like they are good at combo attack. If I could crush one of them first, I could cripple their attack!" A cold light of Lance Loong’s eyes pierced the dark night; with a flexible roll, Lance Loong dodged both approaching blades. Missing target, both assassins raised their blade coming after him. "Gale Blades!" “Hula!” With a sharp yell, the blade of the assassin in front was upon Lance Loong! Seizing the void of their positions, Lance Loong gritted his teeth and controlled his Chi. And, instead of coiling backwards to shun the blade, he dashed toward them. "Shooting Star Fist!” A spark of starlight flashed in the darkness of the room, these two assassins and their aggressive blades were bounced back by a strong blow of Chi. Bang! Assassin in the front spat out drops of blood and hit on the the other one. In a blink, Lance Loong was beside one of the assassin seizing his blade. With a roar in the dark, the blade pierced through his heart. Blood gushed out of the opening and drenched his face and cloth. The kill looked simple but was actually thrilling. The spark of starlight did surprise Lance Loong as it did to blackout the enemy. As the intermediate fighting techniques of yellow rank, Shooting Stars had reach the third stage of dragon-veins. That’s why the blow was strong enough to hurt the assassins and that bought Lance Loong the chance of kill. Witnessing the partner’s death, the other assassin jumped out of the window recklessly out of dread. While Lance Loong was to track him down for further intelligence, the door was burst open. Out of the door stood Zhang Yang who was frowning at the dead body and Lance Loong covered in blood " Savage, who gave you the gut and power to start killing in Sunrise Tavern? Don’t you know I am good pal to the owner of Sunrise Tavern?” Lance Loong ignored him completely; he turned to untie Huang and said: "Leave here! We would talk about it later!” Two assassins, one escaped, one died and now this hostile Zhan Yang? Huang was fearful and worried. But he knew he could be more helpful by asking for help out there than sitting idly here. So he just ran as told. The neglect of Lance Loong did provoke Zhan Yang; his face twisted gradually. Behind Zhan Yang stood a fat, pale-faced man dressed gorgeously and peeking at the bloody scene inside. " Young man, the mess you are causing here is too much! Such a bloody scene scared away many of my customers and sabotaged my business greatly.” The duet these two men were playing right now upset Lance Loong a bit. Lance Loong was still in the mood of killing. Engaged in the eye contact with him, Boss Qing was taken aback by his anger. He still did not intend to engage in the fight with Yang, who was at the fourth stage of dragon-veins and highly experienced in the actual combat skills. Not a match to him yet, Lance Loong had to hold his temper. Facing Lance Loong’s concession, Zhan Yang did not seem to ease his anger at all. Lance Loong had always been a thorn in his flesh. The bullied had now gained some power and even humiliated him by wounding his man, Lu Chen! Now was the time Zhan Yang taught him a lesson and let out of his grudge. His eyes had burst out a killing intention. "...Last time you managed to get away with wounding Lu Chen, but today you had tarnished the reputation of our Yang family, again? It seems that I really have to teach you a good lesson in case your overweening pride ruin you in the future!" With a few steps forward, a strong flow of Chi pressed upon Lance Loong . "This guy...Is so strong." The fourth stage was not a joking matter. The fierce gaze was like a tangible mountain pressing on him. Lance Loong was forced backwards again and again. With blade in hand with blood dripping down on the floor and his eyes glaring with fierceness, his presence was nothing weaker against Zhan Yang. This tit for tat provoked him even more; gnashing his teeth, Zhan Yang snorted: "Good! You bastard have the gut to confront me; today, you either kneel down to lick my toes, or you perish!" Looking at him plainly, Lance Loong did not respond. He knew that if Zhan Yang continued to push, he would fight back with his life. Witnessing the deterioration of the situation, the pretty woman sitting behind Boss Qing fell backwards a few steps with her face pale as paper. " Bro Zhan, don't do this, let’s get outta here..." Taking back his Chi, Zhan Yang turned to the woman and back at Lance Loong, exclaiming fiercely, "All right, another living day for you. Tomorrow morning, I’ll come take your life." Then he held the girl in his arm and left. Longchen breathed a sigh of relief and the blade fell to the ground. "Zhan Yang, I am keeping records of your bullies. Now I have almost broken through the third stage. When I am stronger than you, you will become the victim of your own evil deeds..." The assassin survived and ran away, leaving his dead partner and the confusing Lance Loong. What’s more to come? Thinking of that, Lance Loong decided to leave the troublesome place. Downstairs, Huang was anxiously waiting for Lance Loong; he just breathed a sigh of relief seeing him untouched. " Mr. Lance, a pretty young lad wanted me to give you this; he said he appreciated you, but he had to leave.” Lance Loong frozen for a second with the thought of that pretty young lad, his elegant sound and too-much earnest expression; he took over the book and opened the hard cover of it: "Star-Shielded Body". "The lad said, ‘ This techniques is a good match to your Shooting Stars. He saw your good nature by rescuing a random kiddo on the street. So he decided to give it to you since he doesn’t need it anymore.” Lance Loong nodded and examined the "Star-Shielded Body"carefully. "It is a book of intermediate yellow rank..." “ Simply judging by a random action of me saving a poor kids, he gifts me such a book. His background must be so profound; he should not be from the local, but from some other great forces of other places..." "Well, destiny ties us together. I happen to need it urgently now. I will return the favour when I can.” Lance Loong smiled and returned to Yang's house after sending Huang back. "...Absorb the power of stars, blend it into skin, bones and flesh... Refining it day and night, with perseverance will mould the Star-Shielded Body..... Sweeping through the sand and walking on the stones, your each and every random punch,bear the limitless power of combat..." “ How amazing! This Star-Shielded Body technique is a cultivation method, even more precious than other attack method I have learnt. ” "There are altogether two stages of Star-Shielded Body, which are stage I and stage II. It looks complicated and hard to comprehend,but not to me. I need to borrow the starlight of tonight and start working on it. I count my fight with Zhan Yang upon this. With its combat power, I am confident in surviving the fight, or maybe even better, in matching him fifty-fifty!" Yeah, the Star-Shielded Body wasn’t that difficult for Lance Loong. Besides, the bright starlight are of great benefits to his practice. For some time, he was like a star himself glowing a pale light he borrowed from the sky. Lance Loong opened his eyes all of a sudden. " The practice of Star-Shielded Body has not been finished yet, but the soul-stirring fight of today, the starlight coverage of now and the mysterious jade on me are all playing a vital role in peaking the Chi. It is time for me to break through the Stage Three!"