Chapter 647: Supreme Cloud, You Didn’t Expect This, Did You?
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The large residence was already consumed by the raging flames.
The roaring fire soared high, impossible to miss in the night, while the waves of heat left everyone drenched in sweat despite the fact that they were standing thousands of feet away.
When Yun Yang and group arrived at the scene, their swift approach came to an abrupt halt, their eyes filled with disbelief.
"Sir Bi's residence is on fire!"
Yun Yang's gaze was honed on the conflagration. "What happened? How did it suddenly catch fire? These flames are terribly out of control, at that."
First Court King Qinguang replied, "Caught fire? How can this raging fire be an accident? It must have been planned. I guess that a long time of preparation must have taken place before such a massive fire could have erupted. Our goal for this trip is destined to fail with this fire in our way. Any clues would have been destroyed within this sea of flame."
Yun Yang scoffed. His lean form charged up into the sky and vanished within the blink of an eye.
It was like heaven's rivers had overflowed as water poured from the sky onto the raging fire. At the same time, water pillars spurted from the three wells in Sir Bi's residence. The waters of both heaven and earth extinguished the all-consuming fire instantly; not a single spark was left, only wisps of smoke that drifted around the vicinity.
However, water from the sky and earth continued gushing into the residence, swiftly washing away the remaining heat that was contained within the ruins.
Yun Yang quickly entered the Residence of Bi.
Despite Yun Yang's speed at summoning the water that had extinguished the fires, it could not salvage the Residence of Bi that had been utterly engulfed by the flames. The entire residence was ruined, pillars were broken and walls were shattered; even the strongest beams that held up the structure had turned into charred remains. The house resembled a haunted edifice.
Yun Yang made a swift round of the house and released his deific consciousness. What he saw was the servants and guards of Residence of Bi succumbing to the fire, scorched, in their rooms or yards…
"Not even one of them managed to escape? Sir Bi is really brutal!"
However, the discovery in the study surprised Yun Yang.
Initially, Yun Yang had thought that this fire must have been Sir Bi's grand escape plan. By attracting everyone's attention with the fire, he could make his escape; he could even use this fire to destroy everything about him. The servants and guards of the residence who were charred corpses were insignificant – as long as Sir Bi could make his flight, nothing else was worthy of further consideration.
Now that Yun Yang saw the four corpses on the floor, he was shocked. The faces of these four corpses were as if they were alive – only their hair had been heated into slight curls from the flame's high temperature. He did not know what approach Sir Bi had used. From the path of the fire's onslaught, the study was where the fire had started, but this was the place that had remained relatively intact amidst the rest of the ruins.
"It's strange. Everything is a mystery. One of these four is undoubtedly Sir Bi."
Yun Yang studied them carefully.
"All four of them have the same face, and it's not a disguise. Even if it had been prepared beforehand, the situation renders this phenomenon hardly achievable – terribly difficult. There's no way…"
The group eventually poured in, falling silent upon seeing the scene.
The legendary, omnipotent Sir Bi who was amazing and intelligent, who had three duplicates, had just died without a struggle? Furthermore, he had died alongside his three duplicates – without an attempt to fight or escape!
Four of them looked unusually calm as if the sudden death was common and expected of them, like the act of going to bed punctually each night.
This massive target whom everyone was overwhelmed by – Sir Bi, who had caused everyone to prepare meticulously, ready to sacrifice themselves to take him down – he had just died soundlessly!
The unexplainable contrast brought everyone there through a rollercoaster ride. It felt strange to have such volatile emotions.
Sir Bi had remained seated primly in front of his study table until his death; there was a white Go stone clutched in his right hand.
The Go board in front of him was already covered in ashes.
Yun Yang blew the dust away with a soft breath. What he uncovered was the incomplete game he had played with Sir Bi the other day. On the side of the Go board, sitting quietly on the table, was a Go playbook.
Yun Yang could identify that it was the Go manual that he had retrieved from Feng Xiange, the very same one which had been snatched by Sir Bi's men.
The study was obviously where the fire had started – it should have been where the fire was the fiercest. If the four bodies were the only intact items, it could have been due to their exquisite cultivation base. Although the basic Qi remaining in one's body upon death could maintain the corpse from being damaged temporarily, even the Go board and stones were intact despite the raging fire. What was even more unbelievable was that the Go playbook was completely intact as well. Yun Yang did not believe for a moment that there wasn't a mighty, mystical working behind this.
He picked up the Go manual – lo and behold, there were writings on the table where the manual had been placed. There were words etched on the table directly by someone's finger.
There were only eight words in total, but there was an eerie and peculiar vibe to them that brimmed with triumph. The seven words were – "Supreme Cloud, you didn't expect it, did you?"
Yun Yang's pupils contracted.
"Supreme Cloud, you didn't expect it, did you?"
'What didn't I expect?'
"Supreme Cloud?"
'Did you just confirm my identity?'
'If so, why didn't you say anything about it earlier?'
'This is an earth-shattering secret. Such confidentiality can be used in exchange for a hefty price tag!'
'Who was it who coerced you to embrace death? More precisely… why did you commit suicide?'
Upon checking the few corpses, Fang Mofei said, "The cause of these people's deaths is all suicide – they died by severing their own meridians. This is certain but… before they severed their meridians, their stores of vitality have been greatly damaged for some unknown reason; their organs showed signs of wilting. It was like they were bound by some peculiar arcane magic and lost their zest in life."
"Yet, their blood showed no signs of withering. Blood is the source of life – when there isn't life, the blood should be the first to lose vibrancy. Somehow, there are no traces of such a thing happening."
"It was only after this that they died from severing their meridians. In other words, they perished together after the fire started!"
"Still, why is this so? This case is terribly full of ambiguities that are hard to unravel."
Yun Yang slapped the table and spoke faintly, "There's no need to cloud your mind with such puzzles. They've died now; things have come to an end right here."
The table was instantly crushed into powder upon the impact of his hand coming down upon it. The handwriting that had disclosed Yun Yang's identity as Supreme Cloud ceased its existence in the world, unseen by anyone else except Yun Yang.
"Search the house!" Yun Yang said calmly, "Bring back everything that's of value in this residence. Pay attention to the secret chambers! Since the target most probably didn't die willingly, perhaps he left some clues behind."
The group worked separately upon receiving the order.
As expected, the secret chambers were quickly found – four of them in total. What came as a surprise was that the rooms were empty, in direct contrast to Yun Yang's expectations.
The raging fire alarmed the royal guards as well. In a short while, a steady stream of men began to file into the residence.