Shui Wuyin was quiet for a moment as well before he continued with clear diction.
"There mustn"t be any carelessness now. I trust all the Nine Heavens Dictum brothers, I trust that they see death as their end, I trust that they"re loyal. Unfortunately, the reality is that… there are those who can"t take it. That is why we lost nineteen brothers."
Shui Wuyin softly sighed. "Actually, there were only seven of them who had initially exposed themselves by accident. These seven people were the most external circle of the Nine Heavens Dictum. What they know is limited. If they could have kept it in, there wouldn"t have been any loss afterward."
"Nonetheless, they couldn"t keep the secret, and their supervisors were identified. They, in turn, couldn"t take the torture as well, so their supervisors were discovered. Eventually, it became the current nineteen casualties."
"I"ve made the command clear once the first batch of uppers was traced. Then, everyone was instructed to go into hiding. That"s how we lost only nineteen people."
Shui Wuyin said coldly, "If I were a step late, I"m afraid that even I would have been the Four Seasons Tower"s captive."
"That would mean thousands or even tens of thousands of lives lost. I don"t want to carry such a responsibility!"
Yun Yang was solemn when he replied, "You don"t have to explain it to me. I totally understand the reason for your decision. It"s just a little hard to accept it in such a short time. If it were me, I"d have made the same decision with you."
He sighed softly. "It"s a pity… Those nineteen brothers."
Shui Wuyin was quiet for a long time after hearing what he said. Finally, he slowly spoke up, "Yes. After all… the torturing methods of this martial world are far more cruel than the imperial ones. In this world, there are many who accept death as their final destination, but there are those who remain faithful to loyalty… far too few."
He said without warmth, "The brothers… As long as they didn"t seek death at the first moment, it"s expected that they can"t endure it in the end. It"s well within reason. I can hardly blame them. The staunchness of the Nine Heaven Dictum brothers is the highest of standards that I"ve seen this lifetime."
Yun Yang kept mum for a bit and said, "I understand. Accepting death and staying true to faith has never meant the same thing."
When one was dead, everything ended with their death. As a martial world person, the majority of them could still accept death despite being scared of it. What most could not take was endless torment that hauled one between life and death without a choice!
To speak of it, a man was but a body made of flesh and blood.
"The families of the nineteen sacrificed brothers… Take care of them well. The Nine Heavens Dictum is responsible to nurture their children into talents without any negligence," Yun Yang paused before saying.
"Whether they could withstand it or they couldn"t take it… they"re all Nine Heavens Dictum brothers, unchanged despite life or death," Yun Yang said in anguish, "Unable to persevere through the Four Seasons Tower"s torture… isn"t a shame. If it had been you or me, we may not carry on to the end either."
To which Shui Wuyin answered, "I understand. I"ll make the necessary arrangements."
Then, he asked, "What should we do now? How do we continue from here? The overt and covert have switched places. We are at a terrible disadvantage!"
Yun Yang answered, "The Nine Heavens Dictum need not make any more moves. To battle with the Four Seasons Tower… the standard is too high. Even collecting intelligence no longer has its meaning… What I mean is, continue hiding, until… this matter comes to rest before we discuss this further."
"Comes to rest?" Shui Wuyin questioned.
Yun Yang said grimly, "Yes, comes to rest. Meaning, either I die, or the Four Seasons Tower is completely destroyed! The Nine Heavens Dictum now, to me, to Supreme Cloud, is no longer of use but…"
"Indeed it"s become a burden… I"ve realized it too. The a.s.sistance the Nine Heavens Dictum can provide to you now is reducing, almost insignificant. It"s become only a burden. The compet.i.tion among proficient cultivators is truly beyond our capability," Shui Wuyin said after some silence.
Yun Yang was quieter than Shui Wuyin, a heavy sense of silence rested between them for a long time.
After an extended period of silence, Yun Yang heaved a long, long sigh and looked into the sky, murmuring, "It"s still possible to be of help to me but doing so… it"s definite that only less than fifty from over nine thousand people will Nine Heavens Dictum will be able to survive."
"Even their family members will be added to the count. That"d be fifty to sixty thousand people worth of famine. Wuyin, you know this."
Shui Wuyin nodded slowly. "I do. That"s why I also understand why you opted to run the organization remotely all along and why you pa.s.sed the authority to me while you wholly put it aside, almost separating yourself from the internal workings of the Nine Heavens Dictum…"
Yun Yang was silent for a beat and said, "Whether it"s the Nine Supremes or Supreme Cloud… they can"t exist eternally. No matter how true my intelligence lives up to the name Supreme Wit or the brain of Supremes, I have my shortcomings. One mistake could overturn everything there is to be overturned."
"Especially when you"re also still worried about the bow being cast aside after the birds are hunted?" Shui Wuyin chuckled mockingly.
Yun Yang smiled and said, "Not now anymore… because this bow of mine can no longer be contained by anyone. There"s only one reason that the Nine Supremes and Supreme Cloud could not exist eternally all along."
"It is because Yutang is our country. We can"t ever be the source of unrest ourselves. That"s all there is to it," he said slowly.
Shui Wuyin said mockingly, "You have quite the sense of awareness then."
"You"re not happy?" Yun Yang asked, smiling faintly.
"It"d be a miracle if I"m happy!" Shui Wuyin retorted angrily, "You f*cking threw such a heavy load on me and acted like you"re leaving at any time, you could be leaving at any time. What do I do? I can"t move forward, I can"t quit. I can"t go with you. Tens of thousands of people are counting on me, how do you expect me to be happy? You and all of the Nine Heavens Dictum are Yutang"s people. Nonetheless, your father isn"t. All of you talk about patriotism, about sacrifices – what"s that has to do with your father? Your father is helping you because of Ji Lingfeng – because of my Brother Feng! Do you really think I"m so n.o.ble?"
"You can leave after accomplis.h.i.+ng your great feat, but how about so many of the Nine Heavens Dictum members after you do? I can"t give them the official t.i.tles publicly, everyone won"t be happy switching to martial world men – there"s really no way forward nor back. And you want me to be happy? Where"s your wit? The brain of the Supremes? More like no-brain of the Supremes!"
In the entire Tianxuan, whether in front of people or alone in isolation, there was n.o.body else except Shui Wuyin who dared to say "no-brain of the Supremes". There was surely no one before him nor a second person after him!
After a tense moment of silence later, Yun Yang said, "The terminus of everyone in the Nine Heavens Dictum is indeed what I wanted to discuss with you. If you want to continue with it, I"ll leave everything completely to you. The Nine Heavens Dictum will be under you alone from now on, no longer belonging to the Nine Supremes. On the other hand, if you don"t want to go on, I can find ways for everyone."
He smiled with pride. "Those under me, whoever I tell to take care of them, they"d never mistreat them during this lifetime!"