481 Die, Should You Be In My Way! (1/2)
Yun Yang snorted in defiance, ”What are you saying? I say that what we agreed on will stay as it is! On what basis are you assuming that we don't owe each other anything if you let me pass through! I won't agree to it anyway, anyone with half a brain wouldn't agree to it; I can't decide if you fellows are too smart or too stupid for your own good to even suggest something this ridiculous. If all of you want to suffer from heaven's punishment, then go ahead with your 'don't owe each other anything'. Let us see what destiny says about it. As the saying goes, good and evil are always in rotation; who has heaven forgiven? Considering that you men from the Four Seasons Tower are so tyrannical, maybe the gods won't dare to punish you guys. Why don't all of you give it a try?”
The Four Venerable Lords were feeling increasingly uncomfortable.
The order they received was that no person could pass through this way; any and all trespassers were to be killed. It was already a show of great mercy that they had not already killed him, what more, were even allowing him to pass! Yet this child was still persistent in demanding free passage without a shred of gratefulness for what they were prepared to offer him.
In spite of this, the Four Venerable Lords could do nothing against him. They had indeed made a promise back then with Yun Yang and although they wanted to bring an end to the agreement, it did not matter because the other party refused to agree to the terms. Yun Yang had his reasons and also his right to the freedom of choice; both of which could not forcibly be taken away from him.
Yun Yang broke the thick silence, ”I'm being reasonable, am I not? Even if you fellows let me pass through, you fellows still owe me!”
Upon receiving no reply, he yelled ”Goodbye!”
Yun Yang mounted his horse, mumbling to himself and looking indignant. With a blow of his whistle, the horse galloped away. The rapid sound of the clip-clop of its hooves faded away quickly as it sped towards the direction of the Fortress of Resilience.
The men from the Four Seasons Tower exchanged exasperated looks, feeling like they were on the edge of exploding in anger at what had just happened. Those few experts who had not been at Tiantang City were glaring especially hard at the Four Venerable Lords.
”Four Venerable Lords, what is going on today? Could this be any more absurd?” one of them demanded.
”Being ridiculed for no reason together with all of you... what's worse is that we can't even say anything,” one of them exclaimed. ”This is certainly new for us!” another added sarcastically.
”To add to that, why did you fellows even make a vow with Yun Yang in the first place? Don't you have better things to do than make random promises to people?”
”I feel so wronged today; my dignity is in jeopardy. This little child who's not even fully grown has been toying with us and that makes me mad!” another shouted out in anger.
Another one added more fuel to the flames, ”This is the first time in my life I had to force myself to be so docile, all because of a young junior.”
The group loudly expressed their discontent, utterly vexed about what had happened.
”You fellows have no idea,” Venerable Lord Snow began. He heaved a long sigh, ”Things happen for a reason; it was an emergency back then, a situation of life and death; we had no choice but to compromise. If not for the fact that one of our brother's life was on the line, why else would we have done this? Do you think we're happy about what's happened today?!” he snapped back at them.
Venerable Lord Frost said huffily, ”This child is really audacious. He's from a noble family, a royal descendant, but he likes holding a handle against people. He talks about your promise, talks about our reputation, and refuses to give in at all. It's just bad luck that we had to meet such a character.”
Venerable Lord Ice continued from this brother in a cold voice, ”It looks like your information about this child is incomplete. It's true that he comes from a noble family and is an aristocrat but he also has a famous nickname – the head of Tiantang City's top three popinjays. What a fitting name! He displays the mannerisms of a popinjay. I'm afraid we won't be able to avoid a similar situation if we ever meet Yun Yang again!”
The few others looked surprised as they commented, ”Do you mean to say that if we, the Four Seasons Tower, were to meet him again, we'll have to run in the other direction? Or face being blackmailed by him?”
Venerable Lord Frost and Venerable Lord Snow both sighed with resignation.
The group was speechless. ”What on earth? Even Ling Xiaozui, would never have enjoyed such gracious treatment.”
…
Yun Yang hastened along his journey, marveling at his good luck on finally making it through that obstacle. The joy, however, was short-lived because his heart was also filled with an ever-growing sense of anxiety. He wished in his heart, ”Fortress of Resilience, Old Marshal Qiu, Fu Baoguo, all of you must persevere!”
”Fu Baoguo, you've sworn to share life and death with the Fortress of Resilience; you have to keep to your oath. It's what you've promised me, you can't break it!” Yung Yang said to himself.
Reddie and Yun Yang sped forward as if they were one. Their sheer speed made it seem like a bolt of red lightning was cutting right through the forest, regardless of the terrain of the land, be it planes or cliffs. A single gallop spanned a hundred feed and some passersby who happened to come across their path would only need to blink their eyes and the horse and rider would seem as if they were already far away; they were here one moment, and gone the next.
Reddie unleashed all of its strength and speed to achieve the highest potential of galloping forward; even exceeding the time when it had contended as the king of horses. In fact, as both rider and horse became as one, it was almost as if Reddie could feel Yun Yang's distress, further spurring it on towards their destination as fast as it could.
In spite of their speed, the premonition that Yun Yang felt did not lessen. It lingered in his mind, refusing to be washed away.
As they approached, Yun Yang's eyes spotted cavalry and smoke, while his ears heard the cacophonous clashing of weapons. With the mountain pass turning just up ahead, the location that Yun Yang most dreaded would be soon before them – Tianxuan Cliff!
Though he had braced himself , Yun Yang's eyes went wide when he saw the place before him, and he recoiled from the sight with a violent jerk, almost falling off his horse in the process. Far ahead, the entire area was filled with rising smoke, like dark ominous clouds gathering in the sky before a storm.
Yun Yang, who was himself a veteran on the battlefield, could easily discern at first glance that such a thick engulfing of smoke was possible only when a fort has been subjugated by outside forces. It was a harsh black smoke that told tales of destruction and burning without partiality. Such a phenomenon had always been considered an ominous sign, that signaled an impending extreme situation.
Another thirty miles later, loud battle cries could gradually be heard.
Yun Yang lowered his body closer to the horse and urged his steed to go even faster, dashing out of the mountain pass like a whirlwind.
What greeted his eyes on the other side was a catastrophic massacre, where crimson blood covered everything within his sight. The area in front of him was a plane thousands of miles in perimeter, but the enemy and friendly ships were already killed in a tangled chaos. Everywhere his glance rested upon were people, horses, and blood.
Looking at the state of the warfare around him, Yun Yang couldn't help but gasp sharply as shock racked through his body.
Yutang was constantly facing wars as its border was always threatened by the enemy; battles had been a legacy of the empire for too long. Since Nine Supremes descended in Yutang, they had also suffered through one too many a battle. Even when Yun Yang was a young boy, he was also a veteran of the battlefield. That said, it was the first time in his life that he had witnessed such a large scale of devastation.
It was a battle of millions – almost two million people; how could it be ordinary? The saying was that once the crowd grew to ten thousand, they were borderless; what more if it had gone up to a hundred thousand and then a million.
Standing at the top of the mountain and overlooking the war scene below, he couldn't see the end of the battle! All he could see was the silhouettes of people growing smaller and fading into a blur, yet the battle still raged on, as violent as if it was nearby.
The war could only be described in one word –extreme! It was by far the most extreme battle of the century!
If there was to be another description, it would have been…
”This is the ultimate battle! The final one! Yun Yang cried out to himself.
Thinking about it, Yun Yang's heart clenched as he hastened his steed to charge towards the battle.
It was not that he had forgotten about losing his manifestation powers or that his mystical cultivation base had yet to recover entirely, but the current state of war did not grant him the luxury of hesitation. As a part of the Empire of Yutang, he could only dive headfirst into the battlefield; resolutely and without regrets!
Yun Yang could see clearly that the side having an advantage on the land was Dongxuan's troop, led by Han Sanhe. The ones scrambling to form a defensive line and hold it with all their might were Yutang's army who would rather die in battle than to draw back and retreat.
This moment had reached a truly critical juncture.
Yun Yang's warhorse whirred like a gale of wind. Upon stepping into the battlefield, they heard a deafening roar coming from the battle formation ahead; it was brimming with unparalleled anger. Yun Yang, who heard the roar, felt vertigo striking his body. For a moment, stars swirled in his vision as he fell off the horse with a thud and rolled dozens of times away; it was an embarrassing position to be in.
The only explanation for the force of this roar was that it came from the countless soldiers all shouting ”Kill all Dongxuan crooks, revenge for the Old Marshal!”