Chapter 681: Eliminate The Treacherous Ones!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In the afternoon, Yun Xiaoyao led Yutang's experts from his usual position, standing with his hand resting on his sword.
At Tie Zheng's command, three thousand and five hundred soldiers swept into the east district to collect dead bodies. The Yutang army was doing much better in collecting the corpses now compared to the past. They no longer needed to search for the deceased over a large area; their task was greatly simplified as they only needed to search near the center of the location.
The count of the deceased reduced gradually, decreasing in number. After all, those who could still stay alive since the beginning of the great fight until now, whether they were the assassins who were being attacked or the martial world artists outside, could be said to be cream of the crop. Almost everyone who was alive was a tough character who was difficult to kill.
Based on this premise, the search for corpses became evidently easier than before. The three thousand people who had entered to do the recovery work retreated after a while.
Yun Yang, who was manifested as a cloud cluster, studied the soldiers one by one carefully but did not find anything suspicious.
Dusk colored the sky. The coppery scent of blood in the city's eastern quadrant was accompanied by the aroma of hot meals, spreading throughout the vicinity. As the aroma drifted, Yun Yang jolted. A wisp of a breeze materialized from the clouds and traveled into the area stealthily.
His vision was greeted by a street that was teeming with people. There were hundreds of individuals calling out noisily to sell wine and dishes, rice and other food items. Their true identities, however, were Tie Zheng's elite Steel Cavalrymen who had gone through hundreds of wars.
Yun Yang maintained his facade as a strong wind and released his divine sense, ensuring that everyone was within the coverage of his deific consciousness. His divine sense was like a soft, caressing breeze that carefully roamed over everyone to inspect them with utter attention. He checked their faces, their auras, the color differences of their wrist, arms, and fingers as well as their necks, shoulders, and faces; he looked at their arms, their calves, the skin color of their entire body – to see if there was any unusual parts or mismatched spots, if their gaze and aura matched each other, if there were any differences between the two…
Yun Yang understood that the blind angle of a disguise lied within these spots.
Tie Zheng had sent a total of seven hundred people this time around, establishing a large-scale trade site by the kitchen work army.
Yun Yang's search already bore fruit before he reached the two-hundredth man. The gain was not that he had found or secured the suspects who could be Ouyang Xiaoshe, but he had found seven impostors instead!
"It looks like the blind spot is really a blind spot indeed; there are so many that were missed out!"
Yun Yang felt like slapping himself.
The large numbers of those who had slipped through meant that his plan was not all-rounded enough and that his set-up was not secure. Seven hundred men had come in – there were still seven hundred men now, but there were already seven impostors before he even reached two hundred!
Where were the original Steel Cavalrymen? This was but a rhetorical question.
The impostors could be martial world practitioners, the assassin league's killer, or… Ouyang Xiaoshe himself!
If Yun Yang had not left a discreet marking on the two pieces of dragon hide treasure map using the Endless Divine Art, making certain that the two pieces of the map were still within the ranks of assassins, Hong Zhan and Hen Bieli could very well be among these impostors!
If he had not been struck with the sudden realization today as he thought about the blind spot, there could have been an even bigger loophole!
Thinking of this, Yun Yang grew more cautious and paid close attention as he continued filtering the trading army. He went through all seven hundred men present and finally discovered a total of thirty-five outsiders mixed in with the troops.
He sucked in a deep breath.
He could only hope that Ouyang Xiaoshe was among these thirty-five people. It was no longer just about Ouyang Xiaoshe now; all thirty-five impostors here had to die!
…
On one end of the street, two soldiers clad in military uniform, armored and helmeted, were stationed behind steamed buns piled up like a mountain. Beside them, there were about seven to eight more people who were selling cooked food, braised dishes, and wine.
Yun Yang, who was hovering in the air, appeared with the wind manifestation. He flicked his wrist quietly.
Three beams of golden rays shot out, threatening to tear the sky into a vacuum as they catapulted towards the three soldiers' throats. A brilliant radiance was left in their wake, the golden blades that cut through air actually leaving faint trails of smoke due to the intense friction.
The speed of the flying daggers was unimaginable. If it had been any ordinary Steel Cavalryman, it would have been impossible to escape such a fatal attack. Only death awaited them.
However, right as the three daggers arrived before the three targets, all three men tilted their heads almost in unison, causing the daggers to stab right into the wall behind them. The three daggers that were released with such an intention to kill had actually completely missed their targets.
At the same time that the three daggers had missed and embedded themselves into the wall, three silhouettes flocked over and began attacking the three targeted soldiers.
These were Yun Xiaoyao, Lao Mei, and Fang Mofei. Each one of them took on an opponent, their eyes burning with rage.
"Brazen and treacherous ones, return the lives of our soldiers!"
The three soldiers let out a peculiar laugh and sprung up simultaneously. "Yutang officials certainly live up to their names indeed; you actually see through our disguises!"
Before their words echoed in the air, they were already brandishing their hidden swords and sabers, fighting with Yun Xiaoyao and others above the street.
It was too bad the battle could not last long.
One of them had just deflected Fang Mofei's sword and was about to counter only to suddenly feel his legs tangled up. Upon lowering his head to check, there was nothing. Then, he dropped to the ground like a deflated sack.
Was someone pulling him underneath the ground? I don't recall seeing anything!
The person was absolutely frightened but he had no way to react, thus, he cried out in panic. Fang Mofei's sword waved, a head flew up into the sky. The victim's head and body were separated, dead.
On the other side, Yun Xiaoyao, who was the most skilled among the trio, performed his best once he entered the duel, cutting his target into eight pieces without hindrance. As for Lao Mei, who had the lowest cultivation base in the group but was still more capable than his target, he took the upper hand once the duel began; it was only a matter of time before his target succumbed.
In spite of this, any concern about time was invalid because a mysterious force had appeared and forcibly tangled itself onto the neck of Lao Mei's opponent. The man's eyes bulged and he stood on the spot, frozen. Lao Mei did not slow down, hacking his saber and severing the man into two halves.
The three targets had perished in a handful of techniques but everyone around the area was filled with lost and confused gazes. The targets were probably killed too quickly that no one understood why Yutang officials would do such cruel things to their own people.
A few Steel Cavalry generals stepped forward furiously and hollered, "What is this for? Why are you killing them so mercilessly without asking anything, King Xiaoyao?"
When Yun Xiaoyao, Lao Mei, and Fang Mofei came upon the three corpses and removed their disguises to reveal the men's original appearance, all Steel Cavalrymen wore simultaneous expressions of shock after a shared glance.
They did not know any of these three men.
In fact, a lot had already been stated when these three men had launched their counterattack against Yun Xiaoyao, Lao Mei, and Fang Mofei first as well while wearing their various disguises. It was not that the Steel Cavalry did not see those, it was just that they had not thought of it in time and were even more reluctant to believe it.
"Do you understand now? These three men have masqueraded as your people and muddled in with ulterior motives," Yun Xiaoyao explained in a gentle tone.