243 Chaos! (1/2)
If looks could kill, Yang Botao would have died many times over.
Yang Botao was sallow, more ashen than the dead. Since Supreme Wind had appeared, he knew that he was doomed; any sense of hope had all turned into popped bubbles.
Supreme Wind had put himself in danger to take him down!
How could one shy away when witnessing such staunch resolution and unfaltering intransigence! The heroism, the wholehearted devotion, what was to do and what was never to do had always been like that!
”Why? I have nothing to say to that.”
Yang Botao sucked in a soft breath and chuckled humorlessly. Raising his head to look at Supreme Wind perched on the flagpole, he said gruffly, ”I know an apology doesn’t mean much but I still wish to say it. I am truly sorry.”
Behind the mask, an icy smile was sculpted on Yun Yang’s face.
That was eight hundred and eight brothers’ lives!
A sorry?
What a tremendous sorry of yours it was!
”Yang Botao, you’ve been a recipient of His Majesty’s grace and have enlisted in the military since youth. You’ve fought hard in the battlefields, going through hundreds of wars and accumulated more than enough merits to become a marshal. These are real, a truth that can’t be ignored. I do not intend to cross them out.”
Supreme Wind’s voice was vehement amidst the cold breeze. ”I wonder though, if Marshal Yang still remembers the saying that circulates among Yutang militants – You live as Yutang’s man, you die as Yutang’s ghost!”
Silence permeated the crowd; the soldiers were somber.
”I am reluctant to wipe Marshal Yang’s merits away because I believe that Marshal Yang has once lived with this saying!”
Supreme Wind’s tone was dripping with confusion. ”It’s also because of this that I am puzzled. Why? No matter which angle that you look at it from, you have no reason to betray us! How can a sorry end this entire story?”
Yang Botao laughed dryly. ”Other than sorry, I have nothing to say. I don’t have any further explanation to Lord Supreme Wind either.”
He inhaled deeply and stood up to say loudly, ”Now that this is how things have become, any arguments or defense will only be an absurdity. As a man in this life, I’m ready to be accountable for what I’ve done. What happened then has been my doing!”
Before Yang Botao finished the last of his words, a roar of condemnation sounded from below as words of hatred were thrown his way.
Yang Botao wanted to continue speaking but was abruptly cut short by a voice. ”Go!”
One could still hear the sound but three silhouettes had catapulted faster than rays of lightning from three different directions, charging for Supreme Wind on the flagpole while two faint silhouettes sprung up while hollering, ”How dare you, you despicable one!”
At the same time, there were dozens of people who leaped towards the direction of the stage like tigers freed of their constraints. These people were initially spread out across the square, so the large movement had affected the ordinary citizens who were watching around them all the way to the stage. The group’s charge had flung some of the people away, lighter injuries consisted of broken bones or pulled tendons while more severe ones had brought about death.
Tie Zheng, who had been keeping watch, roared, lifting his huge saber of twenty-four feet while barreling his way over with bloodshot eyes. ”Do not let Yang Botao get away!”
The army who had been on guard moved at the same time, reacting to his command.
Yun Yang, who was perched on the flagpole and was faced with an ambush from all four directions, was calm and composed. He had been prepared, knowing fully well that there would be danger awaiting his arrival. To truly harm him though, was a question up for debate!
When Yun Yang had known that the open trial would be held in Tiantang Square, he was even more sure of his assumptions and countermeasures.
Even if the Four Seasons Tower could plan all sorts of tricks below the stage, they could not do anything to him as long as he stayed on the flagpole and prepared his support earlier.
As long as he did not descend and land first, he would be fine without having to fear for his life, no matter how complicated a scheme the Four Seasons Towers had planned out.
He had everything within his fingertips, but seeing Yang Botao shouldering all his mistakes, Yun Yang could not help but sigh.
It would seem that his hope to haul Jiang Zhong and Fu Baoguo in one go using Yang Botao as a pawn would not work now.
Yun Yang could see it clearly. Yang Botao wore the determination to die right where he stood; he would put an end to himself and stop the traces of hints right there and then after he finished speaking what he wanted to.
It was not something Yun Yang was glad to see as it meant that he had lost the chance to chase after the other traitors.
However, what happened next was out of Yun Yang’s expectation.
Yang Botao’s death would put a halt to the investigation of other traitors and guaranteed their confidentiality – it was what the Four Seasons Tower would go for exactly, but they had actually made their move first to ambush Yun Yang!