196 Chapter 195: Shameless Hypocrites (1/2)

While I counted, Pang Feng and Pang Yun watched Tang Qi Hong intensely. I had to admit, I was also focusing on her honey-brown eyes, wondering vaguely if she would choose to go with the Pang siblings or stay and fight with me.

Of course, the latter option would certainly entail a high chance of death, but I knew Tang Qi Hong well enough to be confident that she would rather choose to fight to the death to protect her sect, even if the effort proved to be futile. The Nine-Tailed Fox Sect was her home, and Sect Leader Zi Shou De and Sect Lady Zi Da Ji were her adopted parents, and Zi Xiao Ji her adopted sister. There was no way she was going to abandon them!

Once I reached ten (yeah, I know I ended up counting up instead of down, but let's not sweat the details), Tang Qi Hong suddenly blinked once.

Pang Feng and Pang Yun relaxed, joy spreading across their faces. I scoffed inwardly when I caught sight of their expressions. Weren't they happy too soon? Then again, I couldn't help but feel a bit of tension. What if I had been mistaken?

”Yeah, in the face of death, no one will be able to maintain their calm,” Pang Yun murmured to herself. I had to confess that she had a point. In the end, most people would want to live. Honor and love were concepts that, though noble, were intangible at best. Whereas if you were dead, then it was over for you. Honor wasn't going to keep you alive – rather, it was more often than not going to cause your death. As such, it wouldn't be surprising if Tang Qi Hong chose to live over nobly sacrificing herself for her sect, obligations be damned.

However, I knew Tang Qi Hong very well, and as such I said nothing while inwardly suppressing both a smirk and a slight tinge of worry that I might possibly be mistaken. Unlike me, the Pang siblings were completely confident.

From their point of view, Nine-Tailed Fox Sect was most definitely doomed. There was no way we would survive the invasion of ten different sects, and we would certainly be destroyed and our assets divided and distributed among the other sects.

Despite me pointing out that it was highly unlikely that the other sects would kill Tang Qi Hong because she was too talented a blacksmith for them to wastefully kill off, and that would defeat their purpose of invading the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect in the first place, the Pang siblings believe that Tang Qi Hong would trust their words over mine. That was why they thought she would immediately jump at the chance for survival.

They were extremely rude, clearly thinging something along the lines of ”as long asTang Qi Hong wasn't stupid, she would naturally choose to follow the Pang siblings, and choose to continue living with them.”

The stupid ones were them, but I tactfully refrained from saying that. I had to continue counting to thirty, after all.

As I expected, Tang Qi Hong didn't blink again. She continued to stare at me, almost fiercely, as if demanding that I hurry up with the counting. I forced myself to calm down and count accurately, and for good measure, even after I reached thirty, I counted another ten, to forty.

Tang Qi Hong did not blink a second time.

”There you have it,” I said with a shrug as I turned to the Pang siblings. Tang Qi Hong relaxed and exhaled wearily, finally allowing herself to blink.

”Impossible…”

”No way…”

The Pang siblings were absolutely flabbergasted. They exchanged a stunned glance, and then turned back to Tang Qi Hong, who glared at them defiantly. The premature celebration died down on their faces, their joy replaced by utter disbelief.

I told you bastards so. I told you she wouldn't go with you. Inwardly, I was relieved to confirm that I knew Tang Qi Hong a lot better than the pair of idiots.

”Are you really seeking death?” Pang Feng blurted out, but obviously Tang Qi Hong couldn't answer. She merely glared at him stubbornly, rage boiling in her usually warm eyes. Pang Feng couldn't mistake the displeasure in her expression and his heart sank.

Pang Yun was also not satisfied with the outcome, and she spoke up, raising her voice. ”Senior Tang, only my brother can guarantee your life! If you refuse to come with us, then you might not even survive tonight!”

”Don't you get it?” I asked, my tone dripping with contempt. ”Qi Hong does not want to become a slave, imprisoned by your sect and forced to forge Spirit Weapons for them. There are more important things to a martial artist than one's life. Like honor, values, moral code, freedom, independence, and integrity. One would rather die free than live like a slave under tyrants!”

Pang Feng snorted. ”What bullshit. What use is honor and righteousness if you're dead? If you're dead, everything is over. Your moral code won't bring you back to life!”

”But if you compromise your values, then what is the point of living?” I countered. ”Are you going to live the rest of your life as a villain, at the expense of others, changing and discarding your values as you see fit? What kind of life is that? And you call yourself a martial artist?”

Tang Qi Hong furiously glared at the Pang siblings, as if she totally agreed with me. Her eyes blazed with righteous fire, and I was sure she was telling them that they should be ashamed of themselves.

Evidently, Tang Qi Hong felt betrayed by them. After everything the sect had done for them, nurturing them, investing significant amount of resources in developing them, and protecting them from danger, they turned their backs at the first sign of trouble and abandoned the sect so easily. The callous ingratitude was unforgivable.

With a shrug, I confronted the two Pang siblings. ”I will honor her decision,” I declared, and even though I already knew the answer, it was still a matter of protocol to ask them. And it was polite, too. ”What about you two?”

Pang Yun sighed heavily and shook her head. She glanced at Pang Yun. ”Brother, are you still going to force the matter?”

Pang Feng suddenly moved in front of me, his stature resembling a towering mountain. He cast a dark stare at me and spoke in a low tone. ”I don't care how she looks at me. I just want her to live! That's why, I don't care whether she wants to or not, as long as I believe that my actions will ensure her survival, I will behave accordingly!”

”What makes you think I won't ensure her survival?” I snorted. ”And what right do you have to force your decisions upon other people?”

Ignoring me, Pang Feng issued an order to his sister. ”Yun'er, leave first. Go find Wu Tuo and the rest. I'll only need a moment.”

”All right.” Pang Yun nodded. She knew her brother well enough to realize it would be useless to persuade him. Before she left, she had a request of her own. ”Brother, Junior Fei is the hope of the sect. so please don't kill him.”

She knew how strong her brother was, and thus she was highly confident in his strength. She obviously believed I was no match for him. Hah! What a deluded fool.

”Fine. I promise that I won't kill him.” Pang Feng took a deep breath and stared at me sorrowfully. ”We were friends, after all, comrades who fought side by side. But even so…even if I don't kill him, there will definitely be others who will. There is absolutely no way that he will be able to escape from Tushan City.”

”You underestimate my power,” I sneered in a manner reminiscent of Anakin Skywalker. Of course, neither of the Pang siblings paid any attention to me. Wow, I was really getting pissed off at them underestimating me.

”Whatever, he just cannot die by your hands! I won't allow you to kill even a single person from the sect!” Pang Yun shouted.

”All right, all right. I promise.” Pang Feng relented wearily, surrendering to his sister's selfish wishes.

While watching the scene, I couldn't help but burst out laughing at the two. Shaking my head, I slapped my forehead with my palm.

”What the fuck is wrong with you two?” I was so incensed that I couldn't restrain myself. ”Both of you are such shameless hypocrites! Just listen to what you're saying, and tell me you honestly don't believe you're not being shameless.” I pointed rudely at Pang Yun and mimicked her to the best of my ability, pitching my voice.

”'Don't kill Junior Fei and leave some hope for the sect!'”

Then I pointed at Pang Yun and imitated him, bringing my voice down as low as possible.

”'I won't kill him, but others will.'”

Then I jabbed my finger at Pang Yun again.

”'Okay then. Just don't kill him yourself.'”

Throwing my hands up, I began yelling furiously, unable to contain my anger at the sheer hypocrisy.

”Just listen to yourself! You clearly know that nobody will be alive after your traitorous attacks, and you speak about 'hope' and plead with your brother to 'don't kill'!” what, you think you will be absolved of your betrayal if your brother is not the one who killed me? You are an active and knowing participant in this treachery, and you jolly well know that no one is going to survive this, but it's okay as long as you're not the one who does the actual killing and dirty your hands with blood? Your hypocrisy is just immeasurable!”

While Pang Yun recoiled, shocked by my harsh reprimand, I rounded on Pang Feng.

”And you! If you're going to pull this fucking bullshit, then why even go to the pretense of listening to Qi Hong?”

I tried to mimic him.

”'I love Tang Qi Hong and will listen to her choice.'”

Then I gestured toward Tang Qi Hong, who was still lying on the ground, immbolized, and probably taken aback by my yelling and antics.

”She clearly told you to fuck off, and how do you respond? 'Okay then. I will take you by force.' Really? You have no honor. You can't keep your word, can you? And you call yourself a man?” I threw my hands up in exasperation. ”What the fuck is wrong with both of you?!”

The Pang siblings gaped at me for a moment, looking like the utter buffoons that they were. Then Pang Feng closed his mouth.

”Hurry and go, Yun'er,” he instructed severely. Pang Yun snapped out of her stupor and nodded. She glanced at me and Tang Qi Hong one last time before she sighed heavily and turned around to leave as quickly as she could.

The moment she disappeared, the imposing aura that shrouded Pang Feng's body suddenly felt several times heavier. He stood in front of me like a towering mountain, and I was somehow reminded of an immovable object.

Well, if Pang Feng was an immovable object, then I was an unstoppable force. I couldn't help but wonder what would happen when we clash.

But before that happened, I couldn't help but feel disappointed. Even though I was somewhat aware of what the outcome of this would be, I was hoping that it would deviate somewhat. After all, Tong Xue did not follow the Yi Yuan route and betray the sect. Instead, he renounced Smart Shadow Sect and stayed true to Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, which was the complete opposite of what Yi Yuan did in the original story. Furthermore, Tang Qi Hong and Lian Rou weren't complete idiots like the original characters in Spirit Realm and engaged in unnecessary, ridiculous angsty teenage romance drama, and then decided for some unfathomable reason to go back to a dangerous place where Tang Si Qi had been attacked by Gray Shadow and Black Shadow months ago when the sect was currently at war with Dark Shadow Tower. You know, a lot of the scenes and events in Spirit Realm were pretty contrived and absurd, now that I thought about it. Thankfully, reality did not work that way, and the kidnapping and betrayal inevitably happened, it wasn't identical to the contrived and forced manner in which Ni Cang Tian hammered his plot through. There were plenty of differences, and I was hoping against all odds that Pang Feng would take a leaf out of Tong Xue and Tang Qi Hong's book and behave sensibly like them instead of pulling this ridiculous stunt.

But I guess everyone wanted to see me fight him, and so the story had to develop in a way that we would have a reason to fight. I was really reluctant to fight against my friend, someone I had trusted and fought alongside over the last year or so, but if he insisted on being brain dead, then there was nothing I could do.

I picked Tang Qi Hong up and placed her on a safe place in a distance, while closing my eyes briefly to feel for any nearby martial artists. It would be utter stupidity if I fought Pang Feng to defend Tang Qi Hong, only for someone to swoop by and abduct or assassinate her while we were too busily battling each other. Thinking for a bit, I activated my Snow Aegis and used it to shield her, the Spirit Armament hovering above her protectively.

With that settled, I then turned toward Pang Feng and cocked my head. My shoulders slumped when I realized that this was the first time we were in a fight, for real. I mean, we did spar, but we never disagreed to the extent where we actually came to blows.

”Fei Wu, I shall ask you one last time.” Pang Feng looked at me seriously. ”Will you not hand her over to me?”

”Qi Hong has clearly made her decision,” I replied somewhat coldly, glancing at Tang Qi Hong, who nodded in confirmation. ”She doesn't want to go with you, and she doesn't want to be enslaved by Cloud Sky Mountain. I will respect her choice.”

”To seek life is the right choice. To seek death is ignorance!” Pang Feng yelled.

”Don't give me that bullshit,” I snapped irritably. ”Let's be honest, you're just 'in love' with Qi Hong because you want her body. You should stop the nonsense about wanting her to live and be honest with yourself.”

”You…!” Pang Feng's face turned red. A terrifying surge of qi burst out of his body, coalescing in a golden light. I merely sighed and waited for him to charge at me.