Unparalleled Double Harmony

Chapter 617 Instant Defeat
Even Gu Qiying herself didn't expect that at this moment, the "excitement" of suddenly taking a step towards the goal of revenge would take precedence over "anger".

Furthermore, the demonic power within him surged and churned uncontrollably like a frenzy under the stimulation of this emotion.

Some might wonder how Gu Qiying could be so sure the two people in front of her weren't lying. What if they were just impersonating the Hunyuan Star Gate?

To put it simply, Old Gu's information and understanding are far behind the current version.

As we mentioned earlier, in the past few years, Gu Qiying had been living a half-human, half-ghost life in the mountains because of her unhealed internal injuries and changes in her appearance.

Until last year, by chance, he discovered the death scene of the Five Extremes Venerable and the Undying Demon King, and obtained some of their "legacy". This cured his internal injuries and also greatly improved his power.

However, healing and practicing martial arts all require time, so he stayed in the mountains for a while longer.

It was two months ago, in the spring of the twenty-second year of Yongtai, when he was reborn as "Zheng Dongxi" and returned to the world. The incident at Shaoshi Mountain happened even before Gu Qiying came out of the mountain.

By now you should understand: after Gu Qiying left the mountain, his understanding of the martial world, including the intelligence he obtained from the remaining strongholds of Youying, was still based on what he had seen a few years ago.

From these old intelligence reports, Gu Qiying could indeed find some villains that the righteous martial arts world could not find, and also find a lot of evidence of Jiang Shouzheng's utter nonsense... But the matter of "Hunyuan Star Gate" could not be found in these old records.

After all... Sun Huang's debut and Gu Qiying's retirement happened at the same time.

Of course, Gu Qiying, who was driven by revenge, was not only acting as "Hero Zheng" to uphold justice, but also taking every opportunity to inquire about Sun Huang.

But information obtained through such "inquiries" is clearly not the same as intelligence gathered and verified by your own secret organization.

Gu Qiying inquired around and all she heard was that these two were all over the place: one day they were hanging out with the Imperial Guards, the next they were flirting with the young master of the thatched cottage; one minute they were joining some kind of Hunyuan Star Gate, becoming disciples of a man surnamed Zhang and a sorcerer who called himself an old immortal; the next minute they were helping someone in the Green Forest Road choose a leader… The most outrageous thing was that Huang Donglai had developed a habit of killing people in latrines in recent years, even going so far as to kill the imperial son-in-law; and then that man surnamed Sun even forced the Grand Tutor of the court to commit suicide… In the end, the two of them got away scot-free and were even rewarded with the title of “meritorious protector of the country”…

After all that inquiries, Old Gu just wanted to ask one question—is this still China? How come the martial arts world has become so ridiculous and absurd after I've been away for three or four years?

However, in the short term, he really didn't have the energy to investigate more things, because... being a "hero" is really busy.

In order to quickly become a chivalrous figure like "Jiang Shouzheng" who could command a large following and influence public opinion, Gu Qiying not only had to constantly perform acts of chivalry to build his reputation, but also had to do a lot of socializing and superficial work.

For the past two months, he has been working non-stop, running around every day, doing this and that... with countless people and things to deal with.

Furthermore, it is currently inconvenient for him to directly purchase information about Shuang Xie from an intelligence organization like Tingfenglou, because his appearance and rise as "Master Zheng" was too abrupt. Compared to Shuang Xie, Tingfenglou is clearly more interested in him personally at this stage.

Gu Qiying himself had worked in intelligence in the past, so he must know that it would be unwise to take the initiative to contact organizations like Tingfenglou during such a sensitive period. If his investigation led to the deduction of his true identity, it would be very troublesome. Not only would it possibly render the account "Zheng Dongxi" useless, but it would also make it much more difficult for him to create a new account.

In conclusion, in the short term, Gu Qiying can only rely on "experience," "common sense," and "inquiries" to process information related to the Hunyuan Star Gate.

As we all know, a lot of information, especially information we hear from people, often changes with the current public opinion environment.

Just like some people, events, and things on the internet today, once they have a major negative public opinion event, countless negative voices will immediately emerge with this wave of popularity, creating a huge wave. This wave of voices will not only impact the current event, but also cover up, even deny, and overturn many of their past deeds. Of course, this wave comes and goes quickly, usually not lasting more than a week. Conversely, positive public opinion is also like this, only relatively less frequent.

Therefore, it's easy to imagine the kind of public opinion Gu Qiying heard when she inquired about the Hunyuan Interstellar Gate "in the last two months".

Even those in the martial arts world who had some connection with Shuang Xie couldn't be sure whether Hunyuan Xingjimen was framed after the Shaoshi Mountain incident, let alone Gu Qiying, one of the "Four Great Enemies" who had been away from the martial arts world for several years.
Therefore, looking at the two highly skilled martial artists in front of him who were clearly about to kill him, Gu Qiying would never even consider the possibility of "framing someone."

Meanwhile, Zi and Bai were thinking: Jiang Shouzheng is no threat, and keeping him alive can help us frame someone, so we don't need to bother with him; but this Zheng is a pillar of the Central Plains martial arts world. If we don't take this opportunity to get rid of him today, he will definitely become a major threat in the future.

Zi and Bai, who had been sworn brothers for many years, naturally had an extraordinary understanding. After Zheng Dongxi finished saying those five words, they exchanged glances and immediately understood that the other's thoughts were the same as their own.

So, the next second, without even replying to Zheng Dongxi's words, they took only a breath to adjust before launching a surprise attack.

In that instant, two figures shot out simultaneously.

Silent footsteps echoed as shadows shifted, yet tangible energy coalesced into a deadly array.

"watch out!"

"Die!"

With these two sharp shouts, Zi instantly arrived at Zheng Dongxi's right front and used both hands to strike out twenty-four finger shadows like a whirlwind, aiming directly at twenty-four acupoints on Zheng Dongxi's body; while Bai came to Zheng Dongxi's left rear and used his healed dominant hand to unleash a full-force punch, the fist wind bringing with it a thunderous roar as it tore through the air.

Faced with this pincer attack, Zheng Dongxi dared not be careless. After all, these two were from the "Hun Yuan Star Gate". Who knew if they might have some despicable "first-meeting kill" method hidden, or suddenly display amazing martial arts talent far exceeding his expectations.

Old Gu had suffered losses at the hands of Shuang Xie and Lin Yuancheng before, and he didn't want to repeat the same mistakes due to carelessness or overconfidence.

So he went all out, and just before the pincer attack landed, he took a step forward, his figure leaving many afterimages, and moved half a zhang away from where Bai was like a ghost.

As Bai felt his fist meet something, Zheng Dongxi's figure solidified from the ethereal and landed at the position of the first afterimage.

Zheng Dongxi's right hand, in a posture that was not fully extended and seemed to be somewhere between gathering power and exerting force, met Bai's fist.

This was the third time Bai had engaged in a direct, head-on clash of fist and palm techniques since arriving in the Central Plains...

The first time he faced Sun Yixie, Bai underestimated his opponent and was injured in his dominant hand by the bizarre martial art "Door-Pounding Fist".

The second time, facing Master Jifu, the head of the Bodhidharma Academy, Bai hesitated because his hand injury had just healed and he hastily switched hands, which made him less powerful during the exchange and caused him to suffer some internal injuries.

This third time, the one right now, he really has no excuse—his dominant hand is completely healed, and now it's two against one, so he's not underestimating his opponent at all.

However... Zheng Dongxi's punch had an effect that was as exaggerated as "Sun Yixie's attack multiplied by Master Jifu's attack".

This strike was not only powerful and fierce from the front, but it also contained a hidden, gentle force that penetrated Bai's body like a bone-corroding agent, drilling straight into his internal organs.

When the force of the punch was fully released, the remaining power of the move unexpectedly created a three-foot-long ring of dust on the ground around Zheng Dongxi and Bai.

With just this one strike, Zheng Dongxi caused Bai to suffer multiple fractures in his forearm, as well as severe internal injuries.

Zi's ​​attack completely missed due to Zheng Dongxi's seemingly short movement...

"Shifting positions, inch-force punches... There are such figures in the Central Plains!" In that instant, Zi's face was filled with panic as he stared at Zheng Dongxi, the thought of abandoning his brothers and running away alone already taking root in his mind.

Fortunately, Zheng Dongxi did not give him the opportunity to betray his promise and desert his post...

The next second, with a tearing sound of clothes ripping through the air, Zheng Dongxi used the momentum from his previous punch to turn back.

His movements were as swift as lightning and as fiery as fire. Even though Zi was on edge, she couldn't fully see her opponent's actions. Left with no other choice, Zi could only roar and swing her arms again, launching several attacks to try and defend against her opponent.

Zheng Dongxi's next move completely exceeded Zi's comprehension. His swift and elusive figure from a moment ago transformed into a solid, mountain-like stance in the next second. Then, his right leg, like a steel whip suddenly extended, swept towards Zi's unprepared lower body.

In the blink of an eye, a loud "bang" was heard, an explosion that seemed impossible for a human to produce, announcing that Zi's left thigh bone had been "kicked in two." His trouser leg and the flesh on his leg also exploded under this "whip," scattering into the air along with a large mass of blood, flesh, and bone fragments.

At this point, it wasn't a question of whether Zi wanted to run away or not, but rather that Bai, who had just recovered from the "fist fight," wanted to run away after seeing this.

As luck would have it, just as Bai turned around, he saw Jiang Shouzheng, whom they had been ignoring, suddenly lunging at him.

At this moment, Jiang Daxia reacted very quickly. Seeing that Zheng Dongxi had easily defeated the two masked men, he thought: "These two probably aren't that good at martial arts. Didn't I get beaten up like this by Zheng a few days ago? I could do that too..."

So, based on the principle of "I'll help whoever wins," Jiang Daxia immediately got going, rushing behind Bai, ready to seize the opportunity to make a quick buck and show off.

But he didn't expect that, a moment later, Bai, who had already suffered internal injuries, slapped him away like a fly...

Of course, this is normal. Bai was already seriously injured and desperately trying to escape. He was physiologically on the rise with adrenaline and psychologically he was in a state of desperation. In this situation, it was only natural for him to slap Jiang Shouzhen away.

As for Zheng Dongxi, he didn't pay attention to Bai's side for the time being, because given Bai's current injuries, even if Zheng Dongxi let him run for a few minutes, he would be able to track him down and catch up with him later.

On the other hand, after defeating Zi, Zheng Dongxi suddenly revealed a thoughtful expression. After thinking for a few seconds, he looked down at him and said, "Your martial arts are very strange..." He paused, "At first glance, it seems that you have reached the threshold of the 'pinnacle,' but in reality... it's just a 'false realm' created by some special method, right?" He smiled again, "Heh... I can only say that you're unlucky. This kind of trick might fool others, but it can never fool my eyes..."