--------------------------------------------------------------Chapter 17 Three the hardway-------------------------------------------------

The Chiyoumen guard surrounded Guizhang and Ren, both of whom who were ready to strike at anytime. Ryo struggled to break free from the handcuffs that bind him so, but to no avail. Instead he watched as one of the guards charged at Guizhang, only to be met by a well timed roundhouse kick to the chin, sending him flying to the ground.

Ren evaded left and right dodging punches from one of the guards who seem bent on taking him out with one shot, his erractic movements left an open in which Ren capitalize on. Ren stunted to the right, and followed the movement up with a left hook to his opponent's chin, sealing a paralyzing blow. The guard staggered back, before hitting the floor.

"Watch out!" Ryo shouted---

--Indicating another attacker who tried to siezed the opportunity from the rear. Ren shifted all his weight to his rear leg, and shot it backwards about waist level, nailing the guard about center level with a stunning blow. Ren quickly turned around and finished him off with a forearm to his face, sending him in the direction of a glass table.

"Yarrrrrrgh!" Screamed the guard as he crashed through it unconscious after impact.

Unable to react to his next opponent Ren was tackled from the side onto the ground. Guizhang noticed this even though he was tangling with three guards at once. Guizhang used every evasion skilled he had mastered in the diving swallow style. But these Chiyoumen guards were leaving little room for error in this close quarter battle fight.

Guizhang realized even though he was outnumbered he would have to be aggressive, he charged in grabbing the guard by the collar, at the same time he swept the man's legs from under him, sending him towards the ground at a deadly speed. The guard smashed intot he ground, in the same motion Guizhang brung his right heel down upon the guard's throat, disabling him. This victory was short lived as found himself blocking the next guard's jab, instantly throwing his counter punch in which the guard seem to deflect with ease. Guizhang could feel a menancing precense to his rear, he ducked and rolled just barely evading a slicing kick from the rear; who had seem be plotting him with that move since the beginning.

The battle intensity didn't slow down as the forward guard charged into him catching him in a grapple, Guizhang smirked.

"That was stupid."

Guizhang slammed his dominant leg into his opponent's shin, causing him to grunt out in pain; he let go with one arm and slouched to the damaged side. Guizhang immediately slammed that same leg across his stunned opponents face, causing his dazed opponent to take flight to the other side of the room. Guizhang turned his attention to the last of the three, evading a poorly thrown punch by the guard. He quickly stepped in with a back hand fist, connecting with the man's jaw in almost slow motion; knocking the opponent back. His opponent tried once again to attack; Chen flowed into the punch catching it halfway, he then used the opposite force to flip the man onto his back. Guizhang initiated the finishing strike to his weary opponent's neck, incapicitating on contact.

"Ren can you handle it?"

"I was just resting." Ren said trying to keep his pride.

The guard was saddled upon Ren, but the Heavens leader had been in this position many time before. He shifted his weight to the left, then quickly to the right causing the guard to go off balance. Ren siezed the moment, and shifted once more to the left causing a rotation of force, the guard flew to the left and on his back with Ren now on the topside. Ren begin pummeling the mounted guard with a flurry of punches rendering the guard unconscious.

"Oooooooorrrrrrreot!"

Was the loud grunting noise coming from Ryo as he broke free from the handcuffs. Niao Shun turned around somewhat shocked, but still Ryo could see no fear in her eyes.

"Like clockwork......Good Ryo is free, Lets make this woman talk" Ren said still breathing heavily from the fight.

"Won't be so easy as it sounds." Guizhang insisted.

"Tch, why you say that, she is just a woman. I'll make her talk."

Ren walked within three feet of her only to be met by a spinning kick to the face, sending him across the room.

He hit the ground viciously, holding his head in a daze.

"Ren!" Ryo cried out.

"Niao Shun, powerful martial artist. How else would you reach such a high ladder in the Chiyoumen. You must had to face a lot adversity huh?" Guizhang questioned.

She begin to laugh hysterically, before she would answer that.

"You've done your research." She said smiling.

Ryo stood up fully now, he looked at Guizhang, then to Niao Shun.

"Give me back the Phoenix mirror, or I'll..." Ryo challenged.

"Don't threathen me, I'm more in willing to fight you..." She said in a firm tone.

"Fine, Guizhang I'll handle this."

Ryo stepped in front of here, and got in his ready stance.

"Ryo be careful." Guizhang warned.

"I won't underestimate her....." Ryo said reassuring Guizhang.

"Hey, that's my line...." She said taunting him.

"It ends here...."

-------

Lan Di sat shotgun, while Shenhua sat in the back, guards on both sides of her. She was nervous, and afraid, all she could wonder if Ryo was ok. The man that had took her had this omnious aura constantly surrounding him. She did not know what his motive was, but she knew it was evil. Getting out of the situation she was in wasn't probably going to happen. But she had no intention in helping this man, willing to die she was. A masterful plot, and she was in to deep, without a clue to what it was about.

The car came to a sudden stop in the middle of an unknown dirt road, an almost silent drizzle beat against the ground, like a silent drum chatter. Many trees lined this road, but they did little to keep the mud dry, which turn to a thick clay again once the sun came out. A man stood in the shadows, one could make out an average size man, his hair a long brilliant dark ebony, his eyes shrouded in mystery. Upon his body he wore a vest made of silk, a Chinese character across the back. It seem only Lan Di could see what the others couldn't, as he exited the car, walking in the direction of the shadow.

"We are so close, but something is wrong." The man in the shadows said to the approaching Lan Di.

"What is wrong?" Lan Di asked in a sterile voice.

"The prophecy, it troubles me Lan Di. The part about the Tiger." The man went on.

"The Tiger? I destroyed the Tiger in Japan."

"But, what if he wasn't the Tiger. What if..." He stopped.

"His son..? He couldn't be....his skill is............" Lan Di begin to ponder.

"Hmm, but he did defeat Don Niao. I say, when you told me about that, I was impressed. Where is he now?"

"Niao Shun is interrogating him about the mirror back at the hotel." Lan Di answered.

"Then perhaps, I'll pay him a visit as well."

"You do that, I'll finish my investigation with the cave."

"The Hidden Dragon Cave:Yinlongyan." A sinister smirk crept across his face.