Master of The Azure Palace Chapter 18: Rising Dragons (3)

Read chapter 18 of Master of The Azure Palace by AzulConVerde on NovelPedia.

Lán and Shú left the room and stared out the balcony into the hall below. “Say that again!” Batu had stood up loudly and knocked over the table he was sitting in. “I said, that your mother is surely some kind of mutt, a proper Chinese woman would never willingly wed a Mongolian brute” A young swordsman said, he was wearing clothes that identified him as a Plum Blossom Swordsman from Mount Hua, but he wore a patch on his shoulder from a faction Lán did not recognize. “That’s Zhou Yefeng, he’s the leader of a new group within the Mount Hua sect called Steel Sword” Shu said “They are mostly made up of the younger members of the sect and they want the sect to take a more active approach to China's politics instead of their usual policy of isolation” “Go back where you came from” Yefeng heckled, a group of about ten Steel Sword members backed him up, each a talented martial artist in their own right. “Your scabbard seems heavy” a woman said from across the room “It must tire from carrying your sword around all day, since you seem to prefer cutting with words instead of steel” The room erupted in laughter, and Yefeng turned back enraged. The young woman was sitting calmly and drinking a small cup of tea, she didn’t even bother to look back at the man. She seemed of a small stature, perhaps a bit smaller than Lán, but she had the well built body of a martial artist. Yefeng walked angrily towards the woman “Do you want a fight as well?!” he said. The woman stood up and turned to face him, a slight grin on her face. “Leave her alone!” Batu said. He tried to get closer, but the other members of Steel Sword surrounded him. “Then a fight you shall have” Yenfeng said as he tried to unsheath his sword. But the woman was faster, with one hand she struck at the hand reaching for his blade, and with the other, she pulled at the string tying the scabbard to Yenfeng’s waist. The string untied with ease and the sword fell, clattering on the ground. “See. Heavy” the woman replied. Yenfeng’s face filled with rage as he launched into a flurry of palm strikes. Each one was deftly parried by the woman. She practiced a strange style, keeping all of her movements close to her body, slightly shifting her body to avoid incoming attacks without giving ground. A palm strike infused with internal energy launched at her face, she deflected it sideways, delivering a straight punch to the stomach at the same time, then, with the same hand she had defended, she landed a punch to the side of Yenfeng’s face, quickly followed by a second punch that made him stumble backwards. The members of Steel Sword attempted to go to their leader's aid, but as soon as they turned their backs, Batu grabbed one of them by the waist with both arms. Batu pivoted on his back foot as he raised the man from the ground, the poor man went flying, crashing into one of his allies before the rest turned around. Batu grabbed another man by the arm and neck, pulling him sideways into another one of his allies before sweeping his legs from under him. Both men hit the ground before one of them was grabbed by the foot. Batu proceeded to drag the man along the floor, sending him rolling until he stopped by crashing into a pillar. It was a full on brawl now, Yenfeng and the woman continued exchanging blows but he could not seem to find his target. Yenfeng threw a kick at the woman but she raised her leg and pushed on his thigh, stopping the kick before it had a chance to gain any power. She ducked a palm strike aimed at her head, and as she went low, she struck at the side of Yenfeng's knee. Once again Yenfeng was sent stumbling backwards, he picked his sword from the ground angrily and unsheathed it, this time with a killing intent. “Now now children, that's enough” a powerful voice rang through the room, it was filled with internal energy. Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at the entrance of the inn. There stood a man in beautiful robes, the hat he wore indicated he was a high ranki