Chapter 650: The Ambush That Shouldn’t Have Happened!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
If Sir Bi had known that he was Supreme Cloud for a long while, he would not have sent only sixteen men over to murder him. It would have been Mr. Nian who would want to personally lay his hands on him.
Why then?
When was his identity as Supreme Cloud verified? That would have been the more pertinent question to ask.
Yun Yang felt as if a thick fog had blanketed his eyes.
Nevertheless, he was imbued with a sense of clarity - as long as the thick fog lifted, it would be clear, bright, unclouded sky!
Yet how could he unveil it?
He peered at the Go game before him, stroking the manual in his hand. His brows furrowed and he was silent for a long while.
…
On the other side, Ling Xiaozui and Dugu Chou formed a formidable pair as they rushed down from the peak of a mountain with all their might.
Ling Xiaozui had Feng Xiange on his back while Dugu Chou carried Heaven's Inquisition, Gu Chaliang.
Both Feng Xiange and Heaven's Inquisition were already covered with blood and had a mass of cuts and bruises. Gu Chaliang could still strain to stay awake, while Feng Xiange, at this point in time, was already senseless, and had lost consciousness.
"Be sure to dash down to the bottom of the mountain!"
Heaven's Inquisition said in a tenuous voice, "The forest below could conceal the astral providence… If we made it there, we would have a chance to live, and the right to say anything else!"
Dugu Chou's chest was caked with blood. He nodded his head in agreement and then increased his speed.
In the past, the four great experts had plotted against Mr. Nian and the mysterious man in black, Liang Canghai, thus gaining the upper hand; they even had planned to stalk them. How could the circumstances have deteriorated into such an inferior state? They seemed to be in the most unpropitious situation of being hunted down!
The answer was indeed fairly simple. Behind the two men, there were no less than seventeen or eighteen figures. Each was a killer akin to demons that sprang up from the underworld, following in hot pursuit. The group of men converged into a column of air of massive grandeur, stirring the winds and clouds in the sky into fragments.
Along the path of the deadly pursuit, the areas where the sword energy perfused had caused the mountains to fall into ruins and the earth to crack asunder.
Ling Xiaozui and Dugu Chou sped forward in desperation. Green light coiled around their bodies. They remained unruffled and did not show a trace of choleric disposition in the face of extreme adversity.
The long swords in their hands constantly exuded the air of sword energy, halting mass attacks of the enemy's sword energy. The movements of their feet were not at all impeded, and not the least bit sluggish. Their movements remained natural and skillful, and the speed was blistering to an indescribable extent. Moving separately in two directions, the intervals of their motions allowed them to eventually converge once again.
"This way!"
Ling Xiaozui took the lead and bolted out like an arrow from a bow. This time, he forged through directly at a breakneck pace in order to arrive at the destination at the highest speed and in the shortest time possible. His cultivation base was thoroughly exhausted after the sprint which was at high velocity. The reason Ling Xiaozui dared to do so was that Dugu Chou had turned around to ward off the attacks on them that came from behind him, without missing any one of the deadly strikes.
The seventeen or eighteen men in the intense chase were outstanding. Despite Ling Xiaozui and Dugu Chou's amazing cultivation bases and absolute power, they could not get the men off their tails.
Needless to say, the other side's unrelenting pursuit and attacks in full force, likewise, were incapable of closing the gap, and unable to breach Dugu Chou's line of defense.
The chase had crumbled mountains and split the earth all along the way. It was a scene of utter devastation.
Although Ling Xiaozui and Dugu Chou were temporarily safe and had not gone amiss, they were truly abashed. It had been a long time since they had been such embarrassments. It was indeed a disgrace to their identities as two generations of the Unrivaled Experts.
"This is odd…" Ling Xiaozui could still crack a joke, "Heaven's Inquisition, how could we still be ambushed even we're in battle together? Is this a surprise? What about the divine providence that you always talk about?"
Gu Chaliang's face turned crimson. "The entire mountain they were located at was full of formations. It's of an omnidirectional, extensive scale that indistinguishably veiled the astral providence. How could I have anticipated that someone in this world would have been able to pull off such a convoluted scheme? This is not the crime of war."
Dugu Chou roared with laughter and said, " Human capabilities are sometimes limited. Today, I finally realized that. Heaven's Inquisition does not know everything. In fact, it's a whole new experience to be fooled occasionally. Today is yesterday's pupil after all."
Ling Xiaozui cracked up. "Absolutely correct, absolutely correct. It's a pity Feng Xiange was tricked completely this time. They beat the living daylights out of him. How tragic! How awful!"
Gu Chaliang flushed scarlet and said, "Perhaps it is truly God's will…"
"Nonsense! If it's really God's will, then God must be intentionally having a hand in this!"
Ling Xiaozui and Dugu Chou squeaked at the same time, "How could you still have the nerve to talk about the so-called God's will?"
The two bantered on, but they felt somewhat strange.
The occult art of concealing astral providence was perhaps exceptionally exclusive and unattainable in the eyes of an ordinary person. Nevertheless, these men were more shrewd and experienced than ordinary men and did not take the matter too seriously. Each of them had a clear idea about what was going on, and only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches.
However, there was a more peculiar fact; how did the Four Seasons Tower know that they would come around?
In their previous pursuit, they had leap through many hurdles to figure out their way here. It was by no means an easy feat.
Finally, before the four of them could even lift a finger, they were immediately surrounded.
Eighteen men bobbed up from eighteen different directions. The four men were hemmed in closely, just like wrapped dumplings that were enclosed tightly.
Moreover, it was not the most significant sign that God's will was veiled since they had been ambushed. There was always a good reason for that, and that cause and effect were progressive. Still, what really concerned Ling Xiaozui and Dugu Chou and astounded them was the cultivation bases of the eighteen men who encircled them. Each one of them was, surprisingly, almost on par with the duo!
The reality was comparatively sensational. It was simply startling and staggering!
Since when were there so many top-notch experts in this world?
'Why haven't I heard of this before?'
Seeing this line-up, the status of the two as the Unrivaled Expert for two generations did not seem so richly deserved; perhaps they would no longer live up to the name!
The four men had no plans to fight head-on against such a lineup and battle formation; fighting head-on was certainly courting death and seeking doom. Furthermore, they honestly had no thoughts of accomplishing their initial target this time. They turned to escape the ambush directly; it was more crucial that they break out of the encirclement and escape with their lives immediately.
Gu Chaliang's cultivation base was slightly weaker and he had been successfully intercepted by the other party during the getaway. Were it not for Dugu Chou's constant attention to his condition which allowed him to rescue the man with a perfect joint of his sword, he would almost have been slashed to death by aimless sword blows. However, he was grievously injured after all and was unable to fight again.
As for Feng Xiange, he was in a far more wretched state. His cultivation base had been the weakest among the four, and he suffered most severely when they besieged Liang Canghai earlier on. Inopportunely, he was also the leader of the operation and was in the forefront among the four. When they beat a retreat, he naturally became the one to cover the rear. Regardless of Feng Xiange's physical condition, his true cultivation base was impossible to fulfill the mission of covering the withdrawal or handling anyone from the opposition. Unfortunately, this was true even it was just one-on-one combat.
There were no more than two confrontations in total, and he had already collected a gash, a slit, a few jabs, and kicks; his body had almost snapped. Ling Xiaozui diced with death, making ferocious strikes to break through the opponent's ten-men siege solely with his strength; only then did he manage to carry Feng Xiange out.
Having fled this far, their thoughts were in turmoil all along the way to seek refuge.
"This ambush was too unanticipated and too abrupt."
"It shouldn't have happened at all!"
Ling Xiaozui and Dugu Chou had been around the martial world for eons. They exchanged a glance and did not speak a single word that was on their minds, and scooted off silently all the way.
In a fraction of a second, both of them had already pierced perfectly straight into the white mist like a meteor catching up with the moon; behind the shroud of white mist was a lofty cliff. A mere peep would make one shudder and tremble with fear. The mere sight of it would scare one out of his wits, let alone jump off the cliff. Nonetheless, the two had not manifested the slightest bit of hesitation and promptly plunged off the side.
The eighteen pursuers at the back were hot on their tails and almost on their heels. Then, they uniformly stopped at the edge of the cliff and did not continue the chase.
"I believe by coming here, that should be about it?"
"Almost."
"Let's head back then."
"Yes!"