Chapter 965 Out of the Blue
“What in Heaven’s name— Who’s that?!”
Jiang Buping stopped in his tracks when he heard the voice. His head jerked in the direction of the sky with astoundment.
He was not the only one; Ye He, Ye Ying, and Lin Jingxin all looked up at once.
Wearing long robes of shaded lead, an elderly stranger whose long pale beard and hair gleamed in the sporadic glow of the crackling lightning bolts encircling him floated in mid-air. His eyes flared with snapping electricity, without any warmth, without any emotion—like a G.o.d descending from the skies to exact his judgment upon feeble mortals.
“Master Ming?!”
Jiang Buping gasped the name of the intruder with a deep frown forming on his forehead.
“Of all people…”
Ye He’s eyes betrayed a hint of wariness and dread.
She quietly communicated telepathically with her sister, “Whatever happens later, let me do the talking. Do not say a word.”
Ye Ying did not know who the bald old stranger was. But she recognized the fear and trepidation now fraught in her sister’s eyes and knew better than to question her at a time like this.
Lin Jingxin did not know who Master Ming was.
But the sudden appearance coincided with the chance appearance of another person: Lin Jingxin’s third uncle Lin An who was supposed to be drunk and asleep in bed.
“Uncle?!” Lin Jingxin gasped, “You’re sober?! But how?!”
Lin An snorted and scowled at his nephew, “As if that parlor trick of yours would work against me, you impudent whelp! How dare you pull off something like that on me!”
Lin Jingxin chuckled facetiously. But before he could say anything else, Lin An’s hand shot up. “Just be still and quiet. I’ll deal with this. We’ll see what Master Ming has to say.”
Like Ye Ying, Lin Jingxin too noticed how his uncle had turned into a meek vole in the presence of the elderly stranger now still hovering in the air like a G.o.d of lightning.
“Lord Governor Jiang, where is my master’s apprentice?”
The elderly stranger spoke with a voice reminiscent of a thunder’s rumble, his formidable presence now a weight crus.h.i.+ng down on the entire court complex like an incoming tempest.
What apprehension on Jiang Buping’s steadily vanished as he recovered from his initial surprise. Testily, he said, “The whereabouts of your master’s apprentice are clearly stated in the report from me, Master Ming. I daresay you’ll have access to it soon enough. As to his fate, you have my deepest sympathy. Know that we have done our utmost to—”
“Silence.”
The bald elderly stranger thundered with rage.
Lightning sparked with the crescendo of his wrath, with the stormy weather mimicking his mood, “This happened in this court complex, under your watch! You will provide a fitting explanation.”
“Too much has happened tonight. I’m just an old man, Master Ming. Surely that’s expecting too much of me.”
“I’ve seen the report, Jiang Buping, and the only thing I can confess to feeling is disappointment at your performance. Just one puny intruder like Li Mu, and you have as good as had given him the keys to the city. Is that how far you’ve fallen, Fist of Flame? Or is that only just some feeble theatrics?” snorted Master Ming coldly.
“As I was saying, I’m old. The day now belongs to the younglings, it’s time we acknowledge that,” Jiang Buping responded placidly, “The pair of Divine-Realm champions your master sent forth were killed by him in just the blink of an eye. What would you expect me to do?”
“Others might not see if, Jiang, but I do. You had the intention of letting Li Mu flee all along. You would have been a Divine Realm champion yourself if you so wished but you refused to. So don’t pretend that you could have stopped Li Mu. Especially with the Barrier Ward of the Almighty that guards this court complex; you could have activated all three layers and not even Great Way Realm champions could escape. So how else are you expecting me to believe that you did not intend to let Li Mu go?”
The bald elderly stranger sneered.
“Huh?!”
Ye Ying and Lin Jingxin gaped at Jiang Buping with astonishment.
“Is that true?! That Uncle Jiang is actually that powerful?! And what’s this Barrier Ward of the Almighty!? Does that mean that Uncle Jiang was really thinking of letting Li Mu go all along?!
“But why would he?! He doesn’t know Li Mu!
“Is there some other reason that we don’t know about?!”
Ye He and Lin An, however, looked rather unsurprised as if they knew it all along.
“Li Mu killed two Divine-Realm champions in one fell swoop. Even I was wounded in my fight against him. There’s nothing I could do. As for the Barrier Ward, yeah, it could have stopped his escape, if we have enough sustenance. But we had to sell away whatever we have to have enough money to feed the Drakonid cohort garrisoned here, or would you like to a.s.sess the current strength of the Barrier Ward yourself?”
Jiang Bu said very calmly.
The last sentence, however, was a veiled threat; enough to make the bald stranger still floating in mid-air felt the slightest tinge of fear.
“Is that your way of saying that you wish to be an enemy of the Master and the Sons of Lightning?” the eyes of the bald stranger squinted with animosity.
“Oh? I thought the one who’s arrived as an enemy and speaking as one is you, Master Ming,” Jiang Buping said frostily.
“Very well,” said the bald stranger, not wanting to prolong this banter. “We shall leave that quarrel aside for now. But I’ll take away anyone involved in this Li Mu episode. Surely you won’t object to that, Jiang?”
“What do you mean?” Jiang Buping yelped.
The bald stranger did not answer. Instead, he reached forward. Countless tendrils of lightning spewed from his opened palms. The torrents of electricity took on the forms of two gigantic hands and they zoomed down from the sky, aiming for both Ye Ying and Lin Jingxin.
It was all a ruse! The imperious tone was only to intimidate Jiang Buping into not wanting to resist his attempt of wanting to take both the young captains of the Trailblazers away!
Rumble!
The gigantic hands of electricity burst into sparkling cinders.
Ye He and Lin An both destroyed the hands to protect their kin.
But Ye He’s right sleeve was singed by the lightning bolts, incinerating enough fabric to reveal her fair milk-white arm.
Meanwhile, residual lightning bolts danced around Lin An’s hand. The corners of his lips twitched with the throbbing stinging on his hand, and he channeled his powers to dispel the lightning force from his body.
The exchange alone showed that they were no match for the bald stranger.
“What’s the meaning of this, Master Ming?!” Ye He demanded coldly, “Are the concessions that House Ye has made not enough to prove our loyalty?!”
“It appears that Master Ming is more enraged than embarra.s.sed at the moment,” quipped Lin An, giving his sore hands a shake. “Is it because of how Lei Cang is killed? Looks like you’re going to be in the hot soup yourself for losing him. But here’s my advice, Master Ming: quit wasting your time with us and go out there to hunt for Li Mu. You won’t do much good dawdling here.”
Still bristling with electricity, the bald elderly stranger let loose a wave of lightning that swept far and wide around him. Beasts of lightning, each in myriads of forms and shapes, emerged from the purplish sea of crackling bolts, baring their fangs menacingly at the people far below on the ground. “It’s exactly because of Li Mu that I’m here… It’s exactly because of Li Mu that I want them both… If Li Mu would dare to endanger himself for the sake of a figure of small import like Xiao Jianfei, what would do he for Ye Ying and Lin Jingxin if they become arrested?”
“That’s what you want to do, Master Ming?! To use Ye Ying and Lin Jingxin as bait?!” Jiang Buping uttered, the frown on his forehead showing his displeasure.
“You can go on dreaming about that, old man,” Ye Ying refused flatly.
A cold smirk formed across Lin Jingxin’s lackadaisical face.
Ye He s.h.i.+elded her young sister behind her back. “House Ye has done enough, Master Ming. We’ll never agree to this demand!”
“You’re expecting too much, Master Ming,” Lin An cracked into a stiff and unfriendly smile.
“I would have left them both alone,” said the bald elderly stranger. “But here they are, back here to inquire about Li Mu. That shows that they shared a bond with him. Blame this not on me, but on them instead!”
Without warning, Master Ming attacked.
The sea of violet electricity contorted into a vortex; a gigantic lance bearing down on both Ye Ying and Lin Jingxin.
Master Ming clearly spared no expense this time, unleas.h.i.+ng might many times more potent than what he had demonstrated earlier.
To meet this overwhelming menace, Ye He and Lin An both summoned their powers; the former’s long flowing hair flailing in the tossing winds churned up by the unnatural storm caused by the imminent attack and the latter emitted a rattling noise from his larynx like a form of warning…
“THIS IS MY DOMAIN, MASTER MING, NOT YOURS!” Jiang Buping bellowed in turn.
But before anything else could occur.
Out of the blue.
WHOOs.h.!.+
The shadow of a round ring came out of nowhere from inside the darkness of the night. Before anyone could react, it plowed through what innate defenses of Master Ming and smashed into him from behind!
Splitch!
That was the sound of a watermelon being squashed.
All that power and defensive aura meant nothing at all to the ring. The seemingly undefeatable and invincible servant of the Sons of Lightning did not even manage to withstand the blow. The ring smashed the bald elderly stranger’s body into smithereens.
What was more amazing was how every bit of lightning and electricity was sapped by the obsidian-black ring like a black hole.
In just the blink of an eye, the night sky returned back to its usual peace and serenity with only the silvery orb of the moon hanging overhead.
A phantom—one that bore the likeness of the bald elderly stranger—appeared, basking in the pale gossamer moonglow.
His face was replete with extreme panic and fear.
Master Ming’s spirit.
The lineage of the Master and the Sons of Lightning was also a pantheon made up of many G.o.ds and this bald elderly stranger called Master Ming was one of them. Just like Lei Cang, his name was also recorded on the Roll of G.o.ds.
The phantom immediately spun around. The spirit of Master Ming must have realized what a potent and dangerous weapon this ring really was and how he had been ambushed from behind.
But before he got any further, a golden flash of steel zapped across his sight.
Swis.h.!.+ Swis.h.!.+
The phantom’s limbs—his legs and his arms—were easily sheared off like carrots.
Down below, Jiang Buping’s eyes shot wide with recognition and surprise.
“T-That! That’s something that could destroy even spirits?! That golden flash of light! Is that one?!”
He could barely prevent himself from quivering slightly with antic.i.p.ation.
“Has the day finally arrived? Has our long vigil finally bore fruit?”
“HAHAHAHA! Useless mongrel! Kill me, you say? Better luck in your next life!” a laughter familiar to Ye Ying and Lin Jingxin pierced across the night sky. Like a phantom himself, Li Mu emerged from the darkness. He waved a hand and the Earth Ring returned back to its rightful position on his left wrist. In his other hand was the mangled torso of the bald elderly stranger. Li Mu picked up his spectral prey like a tiny little chicken and hissed, “Thwart me and you shall pay most dearly—no matter who you are.”
“What the h.e.l.l just happened?!”
Ye He and Lin An both jumped in shock.
They knew how dangerous and powerful Master Ming was. Whatever concerted efforts they put together to resist him, they had not even the teensiest inkling of confidence that they would succeed. “Yet with just one blow by something—or someone—he’s already dead?!”
As their gazes s.h.i.+fted to the unknown person who had just struck down Master Ming with the ease of slaughtering a chicken, their minds wondered who the young man could be.
But Ye Ying and Lin Jingxin who were just beside them articulated the very answer to the question, “Li Mu?!”
The hearts of both Ye He and Lin An raced wildly like a horse out of control.
“Li Mu?!
“This is Li Mu?!”
“How dare you, Ye Ying and Lin Jingxin… So be it then… The Trailblazers who were slaughtered like dogs at the staging station… Their deaths will not be for naught… The injustice that they had suffered, I will return the favor to those who had wronged them… As for you two, know that the reckoning will come…”
Li Mu glared at Ye Ying and Lin Jingxin. In spite of his threatening message and tone, he winked at them. A playful wink. Next, he was gone, melting into the darkness of the night like cotton sinking into the depths of a pond and taking the mangled spirit of Master Ming with him.
Ye He and Lin An could barely move anything more than twitch their brows. They wanted to soar up into the skies and stop Li Mu from leaving, yet as if bewitched by some unknown force, they just couldn’t even lift a finger.
That was not all; Jiang Buping, whom they expected to be first to spring into action, had somehow elected to not lift a finger at all! Were their eyes deceiving them, both wondered, for the Lord Governor of Lauffeuer city—once one of the most feared and most powerful figures in the Military—was practically shaking/ Was that fear or panic or something else, they would never know.
If there was anything that they were certain about, that would be how both of them could barely move at all—petrified by the surprise of Li Mu’s unannounced appearance and at the same time, mesmerized by the charm of his manner.
“Is this really Li Mu!? Such invincibility!
“If only we knew! Then we need not be so worried about him!
“Why didn’t he tell us earlier!?
“The reckoning will come, eh?
“Heh heh heh…”
Lin Jingxin and Ye Ying’s lips curled into wry grins.
They saw his playful wink at them. On the surface, it sounded like he was laying the blame for the Trailblazer’s deaths on them, but they both knew the truth. It was Li Mu’s way of a.s.suring them. The theatrics was only for the benefit of the Military and the Sons of Lightning.
Both of them could barely tell if Li Mu really was a good person or not. But they just couldn’t forget him.
They barely knew him, yet he just has some sort of pull that could make them feel attached to him.
And for this, the two young captains were thankful and relieved that they had come tonight.
If not, they would have missed the most valuable friends.h.i.+p they have ever made in all their lives.