There were faint, distant sighs emerging from the midst of the dark forest.
A few silhouettes in yellow emerged again, carrying the remains of the six corpses into the Temple of Nine Supremes to be properly dealt with.
One of them sn.i.g.g.e.red the moment he emerged from the temple gates. "Lord Supreme Cloud, you clearly live up to your reputation as Supreme Wit with your a.r.s.enal of ingenious attacks. That saber you wield is truly, wondrously, unusual — it has certainly a.s.sisted you greatly."
In other words, he was simply accusing that Yun Yang could easily eliminate the seven men by exploiting the power of his queer weapon. He was hoping that Yun Yang would lose his head due to the ma.s.sive victory and cast the weapon aside from the rash impulsiveness of his youth — that would certainly be too easy for them if that happened!
However, Yun Yang merely replied, "This battle — our final, fatal exchange — was instigated by me. Facing a situation where I am clearly outnumbered, do you think I"d come totally unprepared? Having such a fine weapon is merely just my luck; with such accusations, are you doubting your own leader and his stance about fairness?"
Yun Yang"s response was merely using his own words against him. You attempted to shake my mind by accusing that my victory was due to my fine weapon, then I will incite conflict in your mind by claiming you doubt your own leader"s judgment. Let"s see who will be the one to cave in first!
"There is no need to spout nonsense and incite dispute within our ranks, Supreme Cloud. I"ve had my fair share of these life and death matters over the years. However, the blood feud is still very much present and vivid before us, and this needs to be repaid one way or another."
Yun Yang sneered. "The blood feud still exists and vivid before us? That"s a good one — I am doing exactly as you said."
"It"s a shame that that"s the luckiest shot you could get with your ultimate technique, Lord Supreme Cloud. I hope that my lord will be blessed with such luck again, or it will be a total disaster for you — your blood shall paint our grounds."
With a disdainful snort, that person slipped into the dense forest in a flash.
The ground was covered in patches and splatters of blood, yet once again, there were only two people alive — Ji Lingxi and Yun Yang.
However, they both knew this was the real moment the final battle would commence.
Mr. Nian had used seven lives in that fight earlier to forewarn his men lest they persist in underestimating Yun Yang.
This outcome was greatly caused by Spring Bearer"s dissatisfaction. However, ultimately, if he had not sent men to gauge the situation by trying it out themselves, they would not have been contented. After all, although Yun Yang"s cultivation base might have progressed a lot, and his strength might have seemed impressive, there were not enough significant achievements to prove his prowess. Besides, he was presently caught in the spirit restraining formation, so he should not have had the chance to unleash those seemingly remarkable abilities of his — it was perfectly logical for him to be taken lightly.
However, if they simply ambushed Yun Yang with the mentality of dealing with a novice, Yun Yang and Mr. Nian could confirm a single fact; whether or not Yun Yang could survive this endgame was up to fate itself, but the losses the Four Seasons Tower would incur amongst themselves will definitely exceed far more than a mere seven men!
The slightest misstep would cause the total annihilation of the Four Seasons Tower"s pinnacle forces!
On the surface, it seemed like the Four Seasons Tower had inevitably suffered the loss of seven experts. However, that had stopped the rest of them from underestimating him further!
Everything comes with a cost — it was a worthy sacrifice!
No matter who it was that would face Supreme Cloud now, they would definitely not deal with him using normal means.
Now, the men of the Four Seasons Tower were aware that Yun Yang was a world-renowned expert, surpa.s.sing even Ling Xiaozui"s reputation from the early years!
The situation before them was clear; although his first move was successful, Yun Yang had used a mysterious saber unfamiliar to all and had attacked when least expected; yet, even when the three men banded together at the later stage, Yun Yang could still suppress their forces firmly, and had the entire situation under his control!
Furthermore, even after tearing down three men, Yun Yang did not suffer the slightest sign of injuries — he was not even out of breath!
This meant that even in that fight earlier, Yun Yang had limited the usage of his Mystical Qi. Although it was not particularly little, it would still have a limited impact on the following battles!
If those who came to the above conclusion still could not make out just how terrifying Yun Yang was, the entire Four Seasons Tower could simply just queue up before a tree to commit ma.s.s suicide by hanging themselves already.
…
Light clouds hovered gently amongst the skies. The northern wind reverberated as the sun shone brightly up high. The time had reached precisely midday.
However, it was extremely dim within the woods at Tianxuan Peak. The visibility was frighteningly low.
From afar, where Fu Baoguo and the rest were located, Tianxuan Peak was filled with rising dense fog, obscuring the entire peak and making it hard to see anything at all. The thick fog gradually spread to the sides, and in just a short while, nothing could be seen any longer.
Faint sounds of humming blades could be heard from time to time, signifying that the battle of the century was still ongoing.
…
Yun Yang treads forward slowly in the dense fog. Walking in front of him was Ji Lingxi with a longsword in her grasp.
Ji Lingxi had insisted to walk in front of him to ensure that their plan was entirely foolproof. Unable to convince her otherwise, Yun Yang could only agree to it.
After all, this was the highest form of strategy they could muster. Their opponents had completely hidden away, and they would be an easy target for sure if they had remained in front of the temple gates; hence, they could only move about actively. Although they remained clueless in regards to the location of their enemies, as long as they were constantly on the move, they would not be caught in the worst case scenario of being completely surrounded by all twenty-two men.
With Ji Lingxi taking the lead, this strategy was further improved, having evolved from a pa.s.sive stance into an offensive approach. The Four Seasons Tower might be able to gauge her uncannily strong powers from her actions, aura, demeanor, or her various aspects — they might even be able to tell that these powers far exceed Yun Yang"s own — but they couldn"t have known about her ultimate trump card, which was the defensive red gleam!
After all, to Ji Lingxi, it was no longer the matter of whether she would be a.s.saulted — she was more worried that she would not!
Just as the two of them stepped onto a dense patch of long gra.s.s, the ground collapsed without the slightest sound.
This unforeseeable event happened suddenly. The collapsed area had a circ.u.mference of almost a hundred feet long!
Almost immediately, two flashes from each of all four directions came whizzing towards them at the speed of lightning, still completely soundless!
All these happened like a pantomime in complete darkness!
The entire process was completely noiseless, yet filled with fatal intent.
Already on their guard, both Yun Yang and Ji Lingxi leaped upwards and levitated themselves the moment the ground beneath their feet gave way.
However, they seem to have set themselves up as targets for their enemies by levitating in midair, for chilling flashes of light came soaring simultaneously from all directions with perfect timing — clearly they had antic.i.p.ated Yun Yang and Ji Lingxi"s next move, and had already laid out the next fatal blow in store for them.
However, facing the sudden a.s.sault from all four sides, Yun Yang and Ji Lingxi exhibited no signs of panic at all. They did not stop levitating, one on the left and the other on the right, taking this chance to extricate themselves. They were equally noiseless, just like demons and ghosts!
Yun Yang"s silent retaliation came abruptly. He brandished Upended River of Blood, and the saber light which was seemingly hovering in mid-air blocked all incoming fatal flashes in no time, leaving only the clinking shards of breaking fragments behind. In that brief moment of deadlock, he counterattacked at full throttle with Reincarnation under Saber!
The saber light glowed with a flourish, followed by a swis.h.i.+ng movement that caused a pitch-black path to emerge in the midst of the thick, milky fog. However, its sides were lined with layers of skulls — ivory bones adorned with ebony flowers between the cracks, blooming in macabre bits and pieces. The path led to the faraway distance without a view of an end, filled with an atmosphere of dead, netherworldly silence.