761 A Resounding Victory! (1/2)

As the members of the Concourse of the Underworld entered the Haunting Temple in a single file, the fog-shrouded gates slowly sealed itself close. The whole mountain shook with a series of quivers, and in no time at all, the Haunting Temple sank into the ground. Not a sound could be heard from it anymore.

Yun Yang was completely speechless. A man as wise as him would never have dreamt that such a thing could happen.

Hen Bieli and Hong Zhan…

Both the leaders of the Merciless Tower and the Hall of the Crimson Blade had been accepted into the ranks of the Concourse, just like that.

They had even taken the initiative to give themselves up.

No matter how magnificent or sincere-sounding their reasons were, Yun Yang still felt that something was not right.

These reasons could not have been sufficient to cause Hen Bieli and Hong Zhan to make such a resolute decision, could they?

What was the real reason behind it?

Yun Yang racked his brains for an answer, but he failed to discover anything conclusive, and was still left in a state as clueless as before.

”Tsk, whatever. This has been delayed long enough. Now that I'm finally relieved of any duties for the moment, I should probably take a look at the ongoing battle in the west immediately. I hope there are no accidents.”

Yun Yang took off and headed towards the west.

…

”Hen Bieli, what was the real reason behind this?”

”The real reason? … It's simple. In my recent practice sessions, just as I was pushing myself to the extreme as I attempted to break though my own limitations in order to attain even higher forms of enlightenment, I heard someone whispering to me, as if on cue, 'Life or death — only the Concourse could determine such; if you desire longevity, go straight to the Underworld!'”

Hen Bieli smiled bitterly. ”It was like a call from fate itself; initially, I always thought it was just an illusion stemming from my own demons, but Hong Zhan had also received similar news, confirming the existence of such a message. Moreover, after our confirmation, we were sure that the message was not from an external source, but a queer thought that stemmed from within ourselves — it was very much real, and not made up whatsoever. ”

”We've had a thorough discussion before we made the decision to seek you out.”

”Why didn't you bring this up just now?”

”In truth, we've been here for the past few days already. With our own eyes, we've witnessed how you seized the dragonhide treasure maps, and how you returned the maps to Young Master Yun… We knew that this whole incident was an act that was staged by Young Master Yun…”

”Although it didn't matter how this whole thing started, Young Master Yun was still our savior in the end, but…”

”Well, to sum it up, we were feeling extremely conflicted. We were even worried that this was a secret of the Concourse. If it really was one, and if we somehow revealed it… well, that's why it's complicated.”

First Court King Qinguang and the rest broke out in bellowing laughter upon seeing their conflicted expressions.

They finally understood the complicated and conflicting feelings that had been plaguing these two fellows.

If they were in their shoes, they would feel conflicted as well, when faced with such a situation.

”So, do you despise Young Master Yun?”

”If there wasn't an ounce of hatred at all, we'd be deluding ourselves, so… perhaps just a little. Sigh.. just thinking about how we've played right into his hands, or being part of his scheme since the start, only to hustle and die… in the end, we still had to be grateful towards the mastermind of this all, and take our leave in gratitude — it certainly makes one feel out of sorts…”

”Hahaha…”

”We actually did think of eliminating the Mediocre King — the former crown prince — on our own. Alas, we didn't expect to be one step too late, and the former crown prince had been butchered before we could get to him… sigh.”

Hen Bieli let out a sigh. ”In truth, a void filled our hearts when we got to know that fellow was dead. We don't know what to occupy ourselves with in the future — which was why we had a sudden resolution…”

”Yes, that's the way to put it,” Hong Zhan added.

”The Haunting Temple is shaking!”

”We're here!”

Earth Treasury's eyes glimmered with interest.

Everybody came to a stop.

As they directed their gazes forward, a massive temple appeared before their sight, oozing continuously with abyssal fog…

”There are now fifteen positions of the Underworld that have tentatively been filled tm…” Earth Treasury took a deep breath as he recalled the many ranks within the Concourse's legacy, and could not help but mutter, ”Heavy responsibilities, and a long way to go...”

…

On the same day, the forty-million strong army led by Wang Yunzhu had already slaughtered their way into the the empire of Ziyou's inner city. Miles and miles of land were ravaged as fire from the battles burned and pillaged through them.