The bloody message inevitably drew the attention of a good portion of the city. Those who didn't know about the scope of the Liangyu family were a bit curious how a conflict could already reach a state like this, but those who knew the truth about the Liangyu family wondered just what sort of suicidal fool had dared to make a move. As for the fool that had been the one to make a move, Huang Ying, he acted as if the rumours that were spreading had nothing to do with him.
"He's yet to leave, yeah?"
Huang Ying was moving through the irregular streets of Cliff's Convergence, mentally contacting Li Jun. His current target was outside the range of his perception so he had to rely on Li Jun's senses to make sure that he didn't randomly leave while Huang Ying was approaching. Li Jun had sworn an oath, and his precarious position made it so that the obvious and smartest decision was to be obedient, that was how it was when one's life was hanging on by an uncertain thread.
"Yes, he's currently looking at a jagged chunk of ore that someone's trying to sell, you should be able to see him shortly. I'd recommend waiting until he's about to leave and then launching a sneak attack, there are a few suitable places for that around the area. But you won't do that, will you?"
Li Jun knew Huang Ying, he knew him better than anyone, he had been with Huang Ying since his birth, seen his life and death, and his subsequent rise. He knew how he thought, how he moved, how dangerously and suspiciously simple it all was. He had lived a long life before he ended up trapped in Huang Ying's soulsea so he had plenty of experience, he knew better than most what sort of fates people like Huyang Ying usually faced. Either they would die early and be labelled as fools, or they would survive through it all and end up being labelled immortal monsters.
Huang Ying didn't bother answering Li Jun's question, not verbally at least, but the rising curve of his mouth was the only answer anyone would need to realize the truth. He picked up his pace slightly, and sure enough, his target entered his sight before long, even before he entered the range of his perception.
The target, an old man with a short faded grey beard, was standing in front of a blanket that had been haphazardly placed in an empty spot on the street. Another man, who was likely trying to enter the Forge of Heroes, had placed several items on the blanket, offering them to whoever gave the best offer.
The brown-haired old man wasn't someone that Huang Ying had met before, but he had been present in the memories of the two women he had killed earlier, the women he had nailed to Liangyu Shao Zhe's house. He was the man who had given the two women the order to go to Huang Ying so that they could either convince or kill him. Huang Ying didn't try to hide so the man heard his footsteps, his expression not even wavering when he saw the curvature of Huang Ying's mouth.
"...They were trained quite well, I didn't expect them to talk even if they were tortured. Tell me, how was their end?"
The man didn't even try to play the fool, it was blatantly obvious that Huang Ying had tracked him down because he already knew the truth. But just as he said, those two girls had been trained with exceptional care, even the most horrid of torture shouldn't have been able to move their tongues. But what a shame it was that Huang Ying never even needed to rely on torture.
"Boring, nothing but disappointing and boring."
That was the only thought Huang Ying had about those two girls, one died before she was even able to provide him with the slightest amount of fun and the other lost her nerve and cool in the face of death and tried to flee with all her might. And it was with hopes of finding the exact opposite of those emotions that he had tracked down this old man.
"In one hour, I will step onto the stage of the closest arena. I can't fight that master of yours there since we both have this pesky mark, but there shouldn't be anything stopping you from stepping up, no?"
Huang Ying had the mark of the Fierce Flame academy on his robes, signifying that he was one of the chosen members of that academy. and per the rules of this competition, the chosen students were forbidden from fighting each other before they actually entered the Forge of Heroes. Of course, the students that hadn't been chosen were more than free to attack the chosen students, if the selected students were able to be killed by those who hadn't been chosen then it just showed that they weren't worthy of bearing their marks.
Huang Ying hadn't tried to extort the man or learn anything about why they had targeted him, all he did was challenge him to a fight. But the simple and straightforward way he did it made the old man's eyes narrow slightly, it was quite far removed from what he had expected Huang Ying to say.
"You want to fight me? And you're even dumb enough to tell me ahead of time so that I can prepare? No wonder you had the gall to challenge Adjunct Zhe and Master, you're impulsive. Did you even for one second stop to consider that I may bring along multiple other people and beat you using numbers?"
The only two rules in this place were that marked students couldn't fight each other, and that combat was prohibited in the territory of the Domecliff Cove. As such, if you warned your opponent ahead of time and gave him the chance to scrounge up helpers that would help him as you fought then you would only have yourself to blame.
The old man didn't even try to hide the threatening intent in his voice, he had reached the 3rd Ascended Stair so he was three small realms above Huang Ying, but that didn't mean that he was above employing all possible means to get rid of those that challenge his superiors. But Huang Ying didn't look the least bit bothered by it, the curve of his grin even grew a bit.
"What does it matter? It's all just another leg of lamb for the feast."
Sheer madness and insanity, that was the only words the old man, Yao Peng, could use to describe the light in Huang Ying's eyes, the glint reflected by his revealed canines. Huang Ying had accomplished what he came for so he walked past Yao Peng, his steps pointing towards the closest arena.
"One hour. Don't disappoint me, Yao Peng, it really would be a shame if you also ended up being boring."
Huang Ying only left behind a few simple words as he left, but Yao Peng's eyes narrowed sharply as he watched Huang Ying's departing back. It was easy to mistake madness for confidence, and while Yao Peng could easily chalk it up to Huang Ying being filled with the former, he couldn't rule out that his words were driven by the latter. The fact that he had managed to kill both Wue Qing and Ling Fue at the very least showed that he wasn't useless in a fight, he probably wouldn't have become one of the chosen disciples if he was.
"...Adjunct will tell me to fight anyway, I should start preparing."
Yao Peng knew that he couldn't get out of this fight, Shao Zhe would order him to fight since the Master they served would not be willing to let Huang Ying run around freely once he learned the truth. And if it came out that he and Shao Zhe hadn't done everything they could to maintain the inviolable reputation of the Liangyu clan then things would certainly get a bit ugly.
--
Whether it was by the hands of Shao Zhe or just a coincidence, rumours that the one who had strung up the two corpses was going to fight the people of that house quickly started to spread out. Or rather than say that rumours of a fight were spreading, rumours of an upcoming massacre were spreading. The people of the house, Shao Zhe and the others, were apparently so offended that they would challenge and decimate the one who dared to challenge them, it was perfectly in line with the undefeatable image that those in the know had of the Liangyu clan.
Thanks to the promise of a good show, the arena that Huang Ying had picked out was starting to fill up rapidly, all the elevated seats around the circular stone stage quickly getting occupied. And while they didn't know that Huang Ying was the one that was going to be fighting, Chen Hong and the others were among those that filled up the seats.
He had coincidentally met up with Lang Zan and the others that Huang Ying had befriended during his trip into the nest of the Dragonfire Eagle. The only one of his acquaintances that had yet to arrive was Ming Chang, her academy wasn't in a rush to arrive since they had more than enough spots for chosen disciples. Ying Feixu had also arrived, sitting a bit away while looking somewhat disinterested, but most of Chen Hong's attention was on Song Yi, his green eyes sweeping her face a bit worriedly.
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"You good? You don't look too hot. Well, maybe saying that you look terrible is better, you really look like you need some rest."
He hadn't seen Song Yi for a bit since he had to focus on securing his own spot in the upcoming competition, but what he saw from her now was far from promising. Her heterochromia eyes were a bit sunken in, deep and dark bags clearly visible beneath them. Her black hair was left untied and had become unruly, heavily contrasting her sickly pale skin as she sat there, almost looking a bit lifeless as she observed the stage beneath them.
"Yeah...Sorry, I've... encountered a bit of trouble in my cultivation so I haven't been doing too well. I hope that it'll be solved soon, then I'll be able to get some rest."
Song Yi couldn't tell him the truth, she couldn't tell him that she knew who was going to be fighting, that she was the one who was the cause of this battle, that she had pointed Shao Zhe towards Huang Ying. She had done it so that he could help her kill them, tear them apart and ruin them for what they had done to her, but she felt like she was going to collapse the moment she actually committed the act.
Guilt, hatred, regret, and pain swirled around within her without end, agonizing her so that she couldn't even sleep. But the deed was done, the die was cast, now she could only await the end-result, as well as her punishment. Xun Zhi felt that the atmosphere was starting to become a bit heavy so she quickly changed the subject, gesturing towards the filled seats all around them.
"Man, this battle really has drawn some attention, huh? Seems like the people who were challenged have quite the reputation, can't say I've personally heard of them though. So, how about we make some bets? A complete sweep, a tough battle, mutual destruction, or voluntary surrender, how do you think things are going to end?"
She didn't know what sort of people would be fighting, but with how much attention had been drawn she felt that there were a few standard paths for how things could turn out. For all they knew the two sides may have already settled things outside of the arena and were only using this as a means to heighten their own reputation, it wasn't unheard of. But what she hadn't expected was that the first one to respond would be Ying Feixu, snorting disdainfully and darkly.
"Hmph, how things are going to end? A massacre, nothing more. If he wasn't even capable of something like that then I would have already gotten to take his rotten head."
Her words drew the attention of the others, but she simply stretched out her arm and pointed towards the stage, her crimson eyes narrowing dangerously. They may not know, but she could definitely sense Huang Ying and thus knew that he was one of the fighters. And since her goal was to kill him, she also knew his strength far better than any of them. Whoever they sent out, it would just be a massacre, that was the sort of being Huang Ying was, and that was the sole reason that his head was still attached to his neck.
The others followed her outstretched arm, their gazes landing on one of the entrances that could be used to reach the stone stage. Huang Ying came sauntering out from the entrance, his black hair hanging down freely over his fresh blue robe. Hei Ya and Hong Yi followed at his side, but he ushered them away as he hopped onto the stage, clearly showing that he intended to fight solo. Just like there were no rules about bringing up more fighters at once, there was no rule against using your pets to fight, so he could technically bring along the wolf and sparrow if he so desired.
Huang Ying didn't have to stand around and wait for long, Yao Peng entering the stage not long after Huang Ying. But perhaps as was to be expected from a man who had to win no matter what, he hadn't come alone despite having a higher cultivation realm. He had brought along nine other people, all of them ranging from the 1st to the 3rd Ascended Stair, a force that should be able to easily and cleanly wipe the floor with Huang Ying.
It wasn't that they didn't have any stronger cultivators on their side, but they couldn't just ignore the pride of the cultivator. If they brought someone too strong to fight Huang Ying then it would displease that cultivator and the Liangyu clan may lose a potential powerhouse. Of course, if worst came to worst then they would just have to do it anyway, but Yao Peng had a different trick up his sleeve that he would rather use first.
"Oh, you've scrounged up a good few people. But tell me, have you made sure that they aren't going to disappoint me? If they turn tail and run then it really would be too boring."
Huang Ying didn't show even an iota of care as he looked at the ten people that stood opposite of him. In fact, his black eyes were gleaming with undisguised excitement, his fingers moving softly as if he couldn't wait to begin the battle. Yao Peng felt a slight sense of discomfort as he looked at Huang Ying, but what he thought to be dissatisfaction was actually what prey felt when it came face to face with a predator. They had entered the ocean, and the leviathan was getting ready to hunt them all down. But he didn't let that emotion get to him, maintaining his calm as he stood there with his arms behind his back.
"Say, Wue Qing, what did you do with her head?"
Two corpses had been nailed to their house, one had been bisected from the chest and up and the other one was missing its head. The head contained a person's soulsea, the home of the soul, some religions believed that getting buried without a head meant that your soul wouldn't be able to enter reincarnation. Yao Peng didn't personally believe this, but some of the people working for him did so it was a question he had to ask for formality's sake. But the person he was questioning was Huang Ying, and that meant that he was doomed to not get the answer he wanted.
"If I tell you that I ate it, what would you do?"
Technically, he wasn't lying. He had used his law of devouring to swallow that girl's head, that was where he got the knowledge about Yao Peng. And once he devoured some of Yao Peng's memories he would be a step closer to figuring out how Shao Zhe and the others had gotten to work so quickly, where they had gotten their information.
"You... No, I really shouldn't have expected anything more proper, you really do seem to have a few screws loose after all."
Yao Peng could only shake his head, his pupils having hardened slightly. Dealing with people like Huang Ying was always tiring, you never knew what they would do next so you had to be vigilant at all times and you never knew when they were speaking the truth, it was exhausting. He had nothing else to say to Huang Ying after this, all that was left to do now was to finish this fight and get back on acquiring Song Yi and Ying Feixu for their master.
There was no great signal to start the battle, no judge to declare its opening. Yao Peng and his men simply got into position, forming a spearhead that charged directly at Huang Ying so that they could crush him in the simplest and most straightforward manner. But even though they acted like the battle was already won, the one who led the charge was only at the 1st Ascended Stair. That way, even if Huang Ying ended up having something that could give him this type of confidence, they would only lose one man before the others could finish things.
Huang Ying's lips curved up into a full-blown grin as he looked at the approaching group, it was as if he could already taste the fun they would give him. His finger caressed his interspatial ring, his two-headed spear landing in his grasp, the long and blade-like spearheads glinting in the light of the sun.
He raised the weapon and pulled back his arm, leaning backwards for a moment before throwing the weapon with all his might, his Qi coiling around it and turning into wind that made the flying spear resemble a drill. The pupils of the bronze-haired man at the front of the spearhead shrank slightly, that spear contained more power than he had expected possible from a cultivator at the 9th Mortal Step.
But he quickly reacted and threw up both his hands, armoured gauntlets already covering his arms. He crossed both his arms and blocked the spear, a thin layer of reflective energy coating his arms and drastically weakening the power contained within the weapon. But just as the weapon's momentum halted and the man's gaze slid away from it, he saw that Huang Ying had already reached his front.
He had started running the moment he threw out the spear, the wind aiding him while also silencing his movements. And since the man had been entirely focused on blocking, it was only to be expected that he wouldn't notice Huang Ying as he moved. But in truth, even if he had noticed Huang Ying, it was uncertain how much it would have helped.
Huang Ying grabbed the upper half of the spear and activated the array engraved in it, the weapon splitting at the middle and turning from a two-headed spear into two separate blades. The back end fell to the ground once it disconnected from the rest of the weapon, but Huang Ying pushed the other part a bit upwards and then forwards. It slipped past the man's defensive barrier and into the gap between his crossed arms, Huang Ying bringing the weapon down with all his might.
Huang Ying had devoured plenty of Demonic beasts, their strong bodies getting poured into him and granting him physical strength above what cultivators at his realm should have. The handle of the blade pushed down on the man's two crossed arms and forced them both down and apart, the tip of the blade just barely not reaching the man's body.
But his crossed arms had been pushed apart, leaving his torso completely bare and unguarded. And that, that was all Huang Ying needed. His other arm shot forward at the same time as he pushed the man's arms down, his empty hand straightening out to resemble a spear. Wind coiled around it in the same way it had coiled around his spear, allowing his hand to pierce through the man's flesh and bury itself in his body.
A bit of blood leaked from the man's mouth, but his fate was already sealed the moment the beast got close to him. A sliver of his law of devouring poured into the man, swallowing up his Qi and memories like a hungry monster. And to cover up that devouring Qi, Huang Ying unleashed some more of his Qi, earthen branches appearing within the man's body. They tore through his flesh, crushed his bones and burrowed through his veins before they burst through his skin, turning him into a human pin-cushion from within.
He didn't even have the chance to scream, one second he was blocking the first attack and in the next, he was dead, torn open and shredded from within, a grim way to perish. But Huang Ying simply pulled his arm back and directed his gaze towards Yao Peng and the rest of his men, who were so caught off-guard by the simplicity and suddenness of the death that they had stopped up for a second.
"That's one. So far, disappointing. Come, it's just starting to get fun, don't start boring me now."