816 Cloud In The Skies, A Saber In The Clouds! (1/2)
An hour was not exactly a short period of time, but it was not exactly long either.
However, to those who were waiting down below like Fu Baoguo and his troops, a few days would seem like years!
Every moment felt like the passing of a year. As the tea brewed, and joss sticks burned down, with the sudden whisk of time — everybody was anxious to the very core of their being!
Lord Supreme Cloud had been in the mountains for a good length of time now. It has been almost half a day, why hasn't there been the slightest action?
What's happening up there?
No matter how much confidence they had in Lord Supreme Cloud, the crowd was still incredibly restless. Everybody was wearing a myriad of worried expressions and nobody was spared from concern.
Fu Baoguo, who was standing in one corner, had an expression of restlessness clearly etched on his face. His usual steady and weathered composure as a great general was nowhere in sight.
He clearly wore for all to see the expression of anxiousness. He paced around restlessly, and from time to time he would raise his head and direct his gaze to the mountains, heaving sighs between his breaths.
”What's going on?”
”Why isn't there the slightest bit of action going on up there?”
”If this is the ultimate battle, what more a battle between pinnacle practitioners, how can it be so silent?”
”Has the battle not commenced yet, or has it ended already?”
”I've heard that when real experts fight, every move and motion happens within seconds. Perhaps…”
Every soldier beside him also had their hands tied, wishing that they could just march up the mountains to grant themselves a look.
After a long, long time…
”Marshal! Why don't I march up there to have a look,” a general offered, anxiety etched across his face. ”I really can't stand waiting it out here like this.”
”That's a good idea…”
The words had just left Fu Baoguo's lips; the sound of his voice had not yet dissipated, yet suddenly, a roar filled with a murderous, ominous intensity broke the sheer silence, originating from the peak of the mountains. ”Mr. Nian, let's fight!”
”That's the voice of Lord Supreme Cloud!”
Upon hearing that, Fu Baoguo stood up with renewed vigor, perked up and inspired.
Everybody else had an invigorated look in their eyes as well. They felt themselves trembling involuntarily with excitement from merely hearing this voice!
It was followed by an equally violent crash as if thunder had struck the land itself. The ground quivered, rocks split open and the skies ripped themselves apart — although there was a good thirty-mile distance between them, everybody could still clearly feel the immense quivers beneath their feet.
Some of the soldiers were even flung up by the force of the trembling, crash-landing onto the ground almost immediately.
Yun Yang's voice could be heard soaring through the air again. ”Fu Baoguo, have your troops pull back thirty miles! The lives of the soldiers who defend the Fortress of Yutang cannot be sacrificed here in vain. Obey this command at once, nobody is allowed to go against it!”
Fu Baoguo straightened up, wearing a respectful expression as he proclaimed solemnly, ”This one will do as you command!”
Although they were far apart, and although he could not see the other person at all, Fu Baoguo's behavior was as if Supreme Cloud was standing just before him — he stood tall and formal like he was receiving a direct order, not a single hair out of place.
”Fall back, men — quickly!”
At this moment, loud, thundering roars erupted incessantly from the peak.
The ultimate battle had finally commenced!
…
As Yun Yang and Ji Lingxi stepped out of the gates of the Temple of the Nine Supremes, they found seven men standing before them, each of their beings looming with an intense, murderous aura.