When Wuyi was certain that the situation was totally under his control, he deactivated his Statue of Shadow, ceasing his concealnt. The sudden shift startled Gao, who opened his eyes to find Wuyi standing before him.
It took Gao a mont to recover from the shock. Finally, he spoke, his voice tinged with disbelief, "Bastard, you're still alive?"
Wuyi stared at him, his eyes devoid of emotion, sending a chill down Gao's spine. Wuyi did not waste ti talking.
A loud crash echoed through Gao's chamber, followed by a yelp so loud that it reverberated through its walls. Every being in the fort heard it. Wuyi grabbed Gao by the hair as his hands were not big enough to pull him by the neck, but with his muscle forged, he had enough strength as he dragged Gao.
Gao wanted to fight back, but his emotions were in chaos, his mind only half aware. Wuyi, with deliberate intent, led Gao to the training grounds of the Luyao clan, a place where battles of strength were customary between warriors.
Under the veil of dusk, he infused his hands with Qi and targeted one of Gao's vital acupoints. With a deft press, Gao yelped like cattle being slaughtered, and then his body slackened, succumbing to unconsciousness.
The wait was short. The killer responsible for the demise of Boluo and Chao was the first to arrive, his arrival almost silent.
It was Yun Feng. He had heard the loud noise in the castle, and then the clan's jade that he had brought with him, which was used by clan mbers to locate each other, gave him an indication that the boy was back in the fort.
When Yun Feng arrived at the training grounds, the sight before him was, for lack of a better word, unsettling.
The youth he was sent to eliminate was there, yes, but the context was all wrong. Wuyi sat calmly beside an unconscious Qi cultivator who was supposed to be his master, his gaze fixed and devoid of fear.
For a fleeting second, a shiver ran down the cold-hearted killer Yun Feng's spine, an instinctual reaction he quickly suppressed, convincing himself of the boy's supposed demonic nature. With his saber drawn, Yun Feng charged, a predator closing in on what he believed to be easy prey. Yet, before he could reach the boy, a figure materialized, interposing himself between the assassin and Wuyi.
The newcor was adorned in the attire of the Yunjing clan, a sword in hand, his stance unyielding.
"I am Yun Ming," he declared, authority lacing his tone. "Sent by the inner elder of Yunjing to check on the heir of Xuan. I urge you to cease your advance. Whether the child is demonic or not is not confird; our clan treasure would have alerted the elders otherwise. Depart now, lest it be too late for you."
Yun Feng's brow creased with concern. Abandoning his mission ant losing the elders' support; he just needed so more contributions to enter the inner clan. Besides, this child was sothing he knew he could not leave alive; the resolve in the child's eyes hinted at a relentless pursuit of vengeance that would follow. He would be the first of the boy's targets without any doubt.
He was certain that the boy had found out sohow about the death of his guardians.
Despite Yun Ming's imposing presence, duty, fear, and the greed of entering the inner clan bound Yun Feng to persist. Gripping his saber more firmly, he lunged forward, initiating an assault.
Yun Ming t the attack with his sword, and soon, the training grounds beca an arena for a fierce battle between two adept warriors of the Yunjing clan. All the while, Wuyi observed quietly, his emotionless eyes missing nothing.
So distance from the arena, in his chambers, Lord Congming was ditating.
But the ditative silence of the chamber was shattered by the clamor from outside. Rising from his state of contemplation, he demanded of his guard, "What is this disturbance?"
The sounds of a fierce duel resonated through the fort's walls in the silent night.
"My lord, I cannot say," the guard replied, his voice tinged with uncertainty.
Congming, leaving his guard behind, moved swiftly toward the commotion, his entourage of guards quick to follow. As they reached the training grounds, the scene that unfolded before them was one of chaos.
Two Yunjing clan mbers were locked in intense combat, their exchanges blurring the air with the speed of their strikes.
The disturbance had drawn the attention of the entire fortress; from Zhengli to Wangzhe, from Jianyu to Mistress Jizao, and all the soldiers, cooks, and gardeners who inhabited the fort were arriving to see what was going on just the night before the spring fest.
Lady ixiu, freshly returned from her mission, was among the new arrivals.
First, they were trying to figure out what was going on - why there was an intense battle between the two powerful warriors.
Then their collective gaze was drawn to the child at the training ground's edge, sitting with a hauntingly empty gaze beside the unconscious Gao. The absence of emotion in the child's eyes was more alarming than the battle itself.
Lady ixiu was the first to react, her abilities unveiled as she leaped into the fray, aiming to separate the combatants. Wuyi, witnessing this, realized that Lady ixiu was actually a Qi adept of the bone forging level. With such strength, she could easily assu a good position in any clan, for example, Congming was a lord, yet she chose to serve soone within Yunjing.
Lord Congming, alongside Lady ixiu, intervened; while she held back Yun Ming, Congming confronted Yun Feng, even though Congming was not stronger than Yun Feng. Seeing the interruption, both warriors halted the clash.
The arena fell silent, the tension palpable.
Lady ixiu's frown deepened as she was the first to speak, "WHAT IS GOING ON?"
But her question hung unanswered in the air. Yun Ming turned away, positioning himself away and not speaking, while Congming averted his gaze, unwilling to explain.
With the silence continuing, Lady ixiu turned her commanding presence to Yun Feng. "Speak now, I command it as a mber of the inner clan mber of Yunjing," she insisted.
Yun Feng, under the pressure of her authority, confessed, "My lady, we received word from Lunjingbao that this child had strayed into demonic practices. I was sent to fulfill the orders of the elders."
It was then that a voice cut through the tension, "That will do, pig."
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