Chapter 438: I Am Who You Long to Kill!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Yun Yang racked his brain in desperation.
"He has moved from the south to the north, so he won't be committing the same mistake twice. I believe his next wave of attacks will be in the southern direction."
"Wherever he has directed his assaults isn't safe any longer. I can't linger here anymore."
As Yun Yang was making up his mind, his wind form continued to travel northward. Sword light flashed ominously again in the south, brightening the sky for at least a dozen times in succession before it finally stopped.
In that time, Yun Yang had already moved tens of thousands of feet away. Seeing that the attacks had ceased, he immediately slowed himself down. Peering intently into the distance, the southern quadrant only enjoyed a moment of peace before the sword light blazed in fury again.
"The time gap is far too short. Mr. Nian is still suspicious over there indeed. It doesn't fare well for me, seeing as to how efficiently he is reacting to this."
Yun Yang sighed in despondency.
Yun Yang entertained the possibility of escaping. As long as he could put fifty thousand feet of distance between himself and Mr. Nian's sword-energy controlled area, he could flee! However, he would never be able to do that within such a short span of time. The moment he made a single misstep or if Mr. Nian got lucky, the situation would turn dire indeed!
After Mr. Nian had leveled his power in the southern direction twice, he changed his sights once again; Yun Yang guessed that it would be a free-ranged attack and the only relatively safe position now would be the very place where Mr. Nian had earlier unleashed his fury.
Yun Yang flew with utmost haste, rushing over to the area that had just been blown apart by the sword light.
It was a battle of wits.
Both of them were intelligent men and the only that set them apart would be that if Mr. Nian had made a wrong guess, Yun Yang would have the chance to escape. It was only a chance though; if Yun Yang guessed wrong, he would end up within Mr. Nian's targeted area of sword light and meet an untimely end.
Yun Yang was in a high-stakes battle; he was wagering with his very life.
Even as attempted to maintain control over his deific consciousness intricately, cautious with his manifestation in order not to give himself away, he was also trying to sidestep the force from the sword energy that lingered in the air.
He was like a moth that flapped towards the fire; charging headlong into its demise. He had to move very quickly, yet if he got careless in his haste, he would accidentally be killed by the sword lift. If he were to be a split second slower, he would then be caught in Mr. Nian's trap!
The calculations needed for the execution of such an outrageous plan was staggering.
While the lingering sword light was still gleaming like silver snakes, Yun Yang was already approaching the border of a black hole slit open by the energy.
Like a promise made earlier, the sword light disappeared right away the moment Yun Yang stepped into the area.
It was a close call; Yun Yang barely made it into the vicinity of the black hole. The crackling in the void slowly recovered while Yun Yang, who was in the form of a breeze, could barely be detected.
On the other side of the void, a free-range attack of the sword light covering a massive area arrived as expected – Mr. Nian had struck again!
Mr. Nian had obviously poured a lot of energy into this latest attack and Yun Yang was acutely aware that this moment might be the only hope at survival he had in this battle. If he continued staying at a high altitude, his opponent would force him out sooner or later.
The only way out now was to risk everything; he would land to escape the high altitude trap. Only then would he think about the aftermath.
Yun Yang bolted downwards like a meteorite. Right behind him, the sword light wreaked havoc once again; the falling snowflakes and grey clouds were torn asunder, shattered by the dense sword light that stabbed from all sides.
Thousands of trails of sword light and sword energy glimmered, crisscrossing in the air like endless waves of spectral wonder.
Yun Yang was already within five hundred feet from the ground, but at that exact moment, the tyrannical sword light suddenly halted, without warning.
Immediately, the sword light flashed again, but this time, it had made a U-turn, heading towards the ground. With a loud concussion, the accumulated snow on the ground was thrown into the air, the snow turning into sharp sword energy accompanied by a loud cry. The energy spread out over an area of ten miles, setting the ground alight in a crisscross pattern; the fervor of the attack was even more intense now than it ever was!
The enemy had correctly guessed Yun Yang's plan.
It was fortunate that Yun Yang had already expected such an attack to happen, and was ready with a countermeasure. Despite his best efforts at readiness, he still felt as if his body was being sliced and diced when the attack washed over him, leaving him feeling worse than being cut during torture.
The accumulated energies were surprisingly and devastatingly dense despite the fact that it covered such a large area.
Of course, what was more important was that Yun Yang was still struck as expected; this was one of the points in escaping this battle!
Yun Yang fought back the sudden onset of unconsciousness and landed on the ground quietly, throwing out a tidal attack before executing the Holy Water Charm immediately. Water droplets melted, as if from the abrupt change occurring to the underground snow, and sunk into the lower layers of ice.
The sword energy in the sky stabbed into the forest. Every inch of earth was thrown in the air by the intense sword light, while each snowflake that came into contact with the sword energy shattered daintily. The trees covered in thick snow were not saved from the attacks as well; they all shattered and exploded into smithereens, as if in the aftermath of a natural calamity.
A faint voice could be heard calling from the sky, "Supreme Cloud, I know that you are here, somewhere!"
Yun Yang was currently buried underneath the snow; although he had seeped deep into the earth, being manifested as water, he still felt new wounds being added to his body incessantly. He gritted his teeth (or at least, imagined that he did) and endured it, Emmie's unending air of vitality replenishing and healing him.
He pointedly tried to ignore his weakened state, lest he fainted. The loud noises outside might as well have been pins dropping to him. If he had fallen unconscious at this time, his enemy would have the final say; he would only have bragging rights if he made it out of this one alive.
The snow above crunched, hinting that someone had landed on it and was walking over at a slow and graceful pace.
The voice was still talking. It sounded elegant, an authoritative sense that overlooked the entire world was laced deep within it. The aura of superiority gave the hint of a man who had already grasped the power to kill or pardon all lives on earth.
"You are truly intelligent, even your spiritual sense is very sharp as well. You can actually sense the danger beforehand. I admire this very much."
As the person spoke, rich sword energy was still being unleashed in hisses of fury.
Just as Yun Yang had expected, he could not pin-point Yun Yang's exact location, but his wide-spread attack had still included Yun Yang within it. He was certain of his enemy's rough position, that he was fifty thousand feet around him, thus he did not expend his energy any further than that.
It was as if he was completely affirmed that Supreme Cloud must be within this boundary that he had singled out.
The clear voice was still speaking, like two old friends who were having a conversation over hot tea.
"Such a spiritual sense is very precious. People who possess such inclinations whom I've met in my life will definitely be an unparalleled expert if they were to be in the martial world, a marshal of their time if they were in the military, and a reputable official if they were to be in the imperial court."
"This sort of spiritual sense is the most precious present the God bestows upon us humans. Nothing can replace it."
"Everyone possesses this spiritual sense innately, but there are only hundreds in this world since the beginning of time who can use it efficiently. It's even rarer in this century of ours."
"Your second strength is intelligence! I've rarely seen a young one who is as clever, as wise, as tactical, and as foresighted as you are! You've done well, very well indeed."
Despite the congratulatory note in his voice, the sword light was still hissing loudly as it stabbed through the air, trying to annihilate its target.
"However, being clever doesn't mean being wise, while being clever and wise doesn't equal to being tactically sound. It is rare to find one who is foresighted and scheming enough to possess all three… but you are the exception."
"The brains of the Nine Supremes, you remain true to your reputation indeed."
"You managed to catch my men one by one and wipe them out successively when you were still only mildly capable. This is already very valuable but what I prize even more is that you've maintained the secret of your identity even after all these actions. Even I will have to say that I'm impressed by you."
"If our positions were to be switched, I might not have the confidence to have done what you did."
"You are Supreme Cloud, the brains of the Nine Supremes, but you disguised yourself as both Supreme Wind and Flame, reviving your majesty with billowing gales and soaring fire. You've concealed your true form in the fog, giving up your name, without a care for your reputation. Not everyone can do this."
"Still these things aren't what I admire most about you. It was earlier, during the very short encounter we had. You didn't see me nor did I see you but you've grasped my psychology accurately, avoiding my attacks using the blind spots of my thoughts and flirting with death."
"You used the blind spots of my thinking to seek your chance to escape. Our cultivation bases are vastly different, like heaven and earth, but you're able to calculate my every step precisely and got to this current stage. Such skill is rare, truly rare!"
"Supreme Cloud, you're really a genius!"
The elegant voice was sighing as if sympathizing with the "Supreme Cloud" that he had mentioned. However, the hissing sword energy had never stopped throughout the long stretch of monologue. Yun Yang felt the sword energy gliding across his body at least a dozen times during the tirade.
It was a mere touch, but the unintentional gliding was already damaging Yun Yang severely since the injury was dealt straight at his deific sense. The soul's pain went straight to the deeper part of his consciousness, thus it was more agonizing than ordinary physical wounds.
"If I had a choice, I would wish to take you in as a comrade, rather than to waste such talent."
The voice sighed dejectedly, "It's too bad that I have to kill you."
"Our stances are wholly different. To reach such an irreconcilable stage, I wonder if you would like to know why I must kill the Nine Supremes."
Yun Yang's heart almost stopped at this question that had been so casually tossed out in the open. He struggled not to leap right out and reveal himself to ask his opponent face to face – this was the biggest question mark in his heart all along.
In spite of the temptation, he dared not give any reaction right now.
The voice continued to speak, "The Nine Supremes and I, we share no grudges in the past or in the present. Yet, I have plotted, set up traps, including the ambush at Tianxuan Cliff, blatantly intending to annihilate all of the Nine Supremes… how can all this be without a reason?"
"I believe you must be confused about this. Have you always been bewildered?"
The person seemed to be speaking to himself now, but Yun Yang knew that this was all a mind game.
He was purposefully talking about topics he was interested in; his goal was to cause his divine sense to experience turbulence.
With a proficient cultivation base and almighty tricks, a practitioner would be able to sense any turmoil of his emotions immediately. By then, only death would greet him.
Yun Yang suppressed his scattered thoughts so that he could remain unmoved.
The voice continued in a deceivingly gentle tone, "I know you understand what I mean, but you are obviously someone who can control yourself very well. You're very rational, you know what choice is the right one currently in order to have the slimmest chance of survival. Still, I wish to tell you that it's useless."
"You must be wondering how I can be sure that you must be within this boundary."
"Even though you were hidden at such high altitudes, I still confirmed your position within a certain area and kept my attacking range within its limits. Aren't you the slightest bit curious about this?"
"No matter how you try to hide, I will never leave if you are still alive."
The person above was smiling faintly, "As long as you draw breath, I will feel it. This battle will never end."
"I know that you're waiting for me to lose my patience, to be doubtful of my own judgment, and to leave in disappointment. I want to tell you that your wish will never be realized."
"Even if you don't move for a year, I shall watch over this spot for as long as it takes."
The elegant voice was speaking faintly, without any temper and with some sense of amusement, "If one year isn't enough, we can do ten years instead. I can afford it, I truly can!"
"Therefore, there's no luck to speak of for you in this battle. Even if you're a genius, the disparity of our abilities can't be helped! Supreme Cloud, if you come out now, I can answer all the questions you have and allow you to die without regret."
"Otherwise, there will only be one ending if you continue to hide – you will rot where you stand, with your boundless questions and regrets to keep you company."
"I believe you know who I am. Your guess was right all along."
There was a smirk in the voice as it announced, "I am who you long to kill – the Four Seasons Tower's Mr. Nian!"