249 Unable to Die in Peace! (1/2)
Yang Botao looked crestfallen, his smile cheerless. ”If it had been anyone else, I wouldn’t have believed it, but it was my father! My blood father! My father made me check his dantian. Upon feeling it, there really was a nine-leafed plant within it. It was also in that probe that I felt my cultivation base improve quickly. If there weren’t such a magical item, how could it have been so incredible?”
”My father also said that there were two choices. One was for me to consume that herb so I can be immortal. But that rainbow herb is an item of a god’s jealousy, it has to be plucked before the host dies. In addition, the host can’t commit suicide before it is extracted. In other words, I had to kill my own father to obtain this Nine-Beam Rainbow Herb. As for the second option, it was to use the Nine-Beam Rainbow Herb in exchange for the Nine Supremes’ help. The reason my father had been stricken with the karmic injury was all because he had nourished this herb. The heavens were jealous of this herb; all nine powers had to be gathered to rid my father of this catastrophe and keep him alive. After explaining, my father asked me to choose between the two. No matter how I chose, he would understand.”
The more Yang Botao spoke, the more ecstatic he became and the smoother his words flowed. His pale face was tinged pink.
Yun Yang sighed. He knew that Yang Botao was already in terminal lucidity; he would keel over at any time now.
”Speaking of which, I’m ashamed. I actually hesitated, imagining momentarily the utmost glory of being an eternal immortal…”
Yang Botao chuckled humorlessly. ”However, I decided at once that I wanted to save my father, no matter what it took. I had to help him stay alive. Until then, the Nine Supremes Lords who had acquired the Nine-Beam Rainbow Herb would increase tremendously in their abilities and truly become Yutang’s legend, forever guarding Yutang…”
Yun Yang was stunned as he heard Yang Botao’s narration up to this point.
He had never expected the inception of this entire incident to have such a plot twist. Was this not an uncanny turn of events?
This was the initial intention of conspiring against us nine brothers?
”I told father my decision and father said that before I could locate the Nine Supremes for help, I needed to find a mystical medicine called the Inconsolable Odium. Once the location of the Nine Supremes was known, he’d consume the Inconsolable Odium and suppress his injury temporarily. He would then seek out the Nine Supremes to talk and once it’s done, his dantian could be cut open to retrieve the Nine-Beam Rainbow Herb when the Inconsolable Odium’s poison attacked. Nine Supremes would consume it and deliver their spiritual force to remold my father’s skeleton and blood, and to restructure his five elements. His death seal could then be discarded and everyone would have walked away happy.”
”Besides, father wanted me to make an oath. If the Nine Supremes refused to help or nine of them couldn’t gather together, he wouldn't be able to live as the timeframe for Inconsolable Odium’s consumption was short, but I wasn't to blame it on the Nine Supremes. After all, we’re all Yutang’s men. The Nine Supremes are too important, I can’t resent them for a personal issue.
Yang Botao looked uneasy.
”I believed my father’s words wholeheartedly then. I was even worrying all the time that if the Nine Supremes didn’t agree to it, wouldn't my father have to die then? I’d become an orphan again, the grief of being unable to serve my father would always haunt me.”
”It was from that day onwards that I began collecting all of the news and information on the Nine Supremes. It was anything and everything about them… I’ve even bribed a few people to get hold of it.”
”I’ve always wanted to talk to the Nine Supremes but I didn’t have the chance after all. Finally, when I exited the palace one day, I coincidentally heard that His Majesty wanted to meet Supreme Earth…”
”I expended my means to wait in the palace to finally manage to speak to Supreme Earth, ‘Lord Supreme Earth, I wonder if it’s feasible for you to help me with something?’.”
”Supreme Earth replied with shock and then said, ‘What is it that has brought Marshal Yang to me? I shall find you at your residence later.’.”
”I went home happily to wait for Supreme Earth’s arrival so I could complete what had been weighing me down all this time. But Supreme Earth didn’t come that night. Instead, I received His Majesty’s decree to admonish me, penalizing half a year of my salary and contributing merit to shoulder my wrongdoing.”
”That time, I finally knew that it was impractical to solely wait for a chance. Someone in the palace told me that the Nine Supremes were going to do something big in a few days time. I knew then that my chance was here; if I missed it, I wouldn't have another shot at it.”
Startled by his admission, Yun Yang asked, ”Who told you this?”
”Minister of Imperial Household, Jiang Zhong!”
Yang Botao gritted his teeth in resentment. ”How could I have missed this ultimate opportunity? So I went around to find out where the Nine Supremes Lords were going. It was also then that someone else found me and told me that the Nine Supremes were bringing eight hundred warriors to complete this mission. It was Fu Baoguo. We were chatting at the Board of Wat and mentioned it casually, he didn’t speak anymore after saying it. I only felt thrilled then, thinking that heavens will always bless the kind, thinking that God was taking pity on me; I, who wanted to save my father so much. That was how I got the information!”
Yun Yang honestly did not know what to feel now.
All these loops surrounding Yang Botao… They were intricate and secure to a fault.
Yang Botao had been collating information about the Nine Supremes and these people were close to him; of course, they would help him. No matter if it was intentional or otherwise – even if they had leaked the information to Yang Botao, there was no proof that these particular people were spies of the Four Seasons Tower!
Such a plan was eerily disquieting.
”My only thought then was to find the Nine Supremes. Mobilizing eight hundred people is not the same as when the Nine Supremes move alone; there would be tracks left behind. I’m a marshal of a side of directions, after all, it was rather easy to know about such mobilizations. After observing the situation from several aspects, I finally confirmed that there was a squad exiting Tiantang City towards the east. That squad would definitely be where the Nine Supremes were!”