Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
“I didn’t expect that you could get here even after we ambushed you. It seemed like my decision to take Yan Xiu hostage was right!” At this moment, another man in black walked out from behind the teal stone, with his hood covering his face.
However, Fang Zhengzhi didn’t reply, or rather, he wasn’t listening to him at all, because he was only focused on Yan Xiu, looking at his pale expression. Be it in his previous life, or the current one, Fang Zhengzhi was never a merciless killer. Yet now, for the first time, he was feeling a strong desire to kill someone.
“Crack!” He clenched his fist tightly. Instead of running forward, he was standing on the spot quietly, not caring a single bit about the hundreds of people who were coming for him.
“You seem to be very angry?” The man behind Yan Xiu smirked when he saw Fang Zhengzhi’s reaction. From his expression, the man knew that he had made the right choice.
Just as rumored…Fang Zhengzhi and Yan Xiu were very close friends. Of course, to the man in black, such a friendship was a joke for an expert who was trying to survive in the Holy Region.
“Hmm?!” The man was about to say something, but he saw something that kept his mouth shut.
This was because, there was such a huge commotion that he couldn’t help but notice it.
At the meantime, hundreds of people appeared before him. More importantly, he saw a few familiar faces.
Three Heaven Dao Pavilion’s elders?
This was enough to take him by surprise.
Just as the man in black was shocked, so were the elders and the disciples of Heaven Dao Pavilion.
They were shocked that Fang Zhengzhi had stopped running, because wasn’t this the perfect opportunity for him to escape?
However, their question was soon answered, because they all saw Yan Xiu, who was kneeling beside the teal rock.
“Yan Xiu? There are…Five of you?!” The Second and Fourth Elder looked toward each other, both sharing the same expression.
The Sixth Elder stopped moving as well.
They had to deal with Fang Zhengzhi for destroying the Divine Rain Pond, but he couldn’t ignore the five men who showed up here.
After all, if five sages showed up below Heaven Dao Pavilion’s Sword Peak at the same time, something serious must be going on.
“Who the hell are you guys? Why did you have to attack Yan Xiu? He is just a normal person now!” The Sixth Elder exclaimed angrily.
He was already stunned that four sages had ganged up on Fang Zhengzhi, but now, they even held Yan Xiu hostage.
Normally, an expert would never do something like this, unless they had received a do-or-die mission, a mission that they must complete.
“Big brother!” Two of the men behind Fang Zhengzhi bowed towards the person beside the teal rock shamefully.
“It’s ok.” The man behind Yan Xiu waved his hand, turned towards Yan Xiu, and said with a smirk, “Yan Xiu, I didn’t lie to you, did I? If you died too soon, how could you know if your friend would abandon you?”
“Ahh!!!!!” Yan Xiu roared. His expression became ferocious, sweat dripped down his forehead, and he slowly stood up.
The man behind turned slapped Yan Xiu’s shoulder cruelly when he saw that.
“Crack!” The sound of bones breaking was heard, but Yan Xiu never knelt down completely. Even against the attack of a sage, even though his legs were almost distorted, he still gritted his teeth and kept quiet as he bled profusely. He didn’t ask for Fang Zhengzhi’s help, not once.
“Yan Xiu, don’t move! Trust me…Trust me!!!” Fang Zhengzhi’s eyes turned red as he knew what Yan Xiu was trying to do.
If he was in the same position, he would seek death as well. That was right, Yan Xiu was seeking death.
However, how could he let Yan Xiu die?
He knew well that he wasn’t the one in the worst pain, it was Yan Xiu, who had become a hostage.
To someone like Yan Xiu, who would rather die than to be threatened, the mental torture was much worse than the physical pain he suffered.
“Trust…” Yan Xiu’s body trembled at this moment. He looked towards Fang Zhengzhi, his face still pale, but when he saw Fang Zhengzhi’s bloodshot eyes, he eventually nodded his head softly.
“Who the hell are you guys? Why do you have to set Yan Xiu up below Heaven Dao Pavilion’s Sword Peak? Do you guys not care about your reputation at all?” The Sixth Elder clenched his fist as well, obviously disgusted by the fact that they were holding Yan Xiu hostage.
“Reputation? That’s right…How could I forfeit my reputation?” The man raised his head slightly and continued, “I was a reputable man, but it’s a pity that Heaven Dao Pavilion ruined my reputation!”
“Heaven Dao Pavilion ruined his reputation?”
“What does that mean?”
“Who is he?”
The disciples of the Heaven Dao Pavilion looked at each other, all looking confused.
Meanwhile, the man became somewhat emotional as he continued, “It seems like…We can’t continue to hide our identities anymore!”
“Big brother!” The other two men sounded desolated as well.
“Second brother, Third brother, since our reputation had been ruined already, we can’t care about it anymore, or else, this bastard might set us up against each other and become the ultimate victor!” The man paused at this moment and looked at his brothers, and they all nodded at the same time.
Just as he had said, if Fang Zhengzhi had not set them up against each other, there was no way he could have escaped from the four of them.
“Yuan Rong, representing the Three Brothers of Black Moon Island, pays his respect to the Second, Fourth, and Sixth Elder of Heaven Dao Pavilion!” As he said that, the man removed his hood, revealing his aged appearance.
The other two men also removed their hoods and revealed their identities at this moment.
“It’s you guys! The three sages of the Black Moon Island!” The Sixth Elder finally understood what Yuan Rong meant earlier.
“So, they are the three sages of the Black Moon Island…”
“No wonder…”
“It’s them…”
The disciples of Heaven Dao Pavilion also quickly realized what was going on.
Just as the leader of the three sages of Black Moon Island, Yuan Rong, had said, their reputations were indeed destroyed, and the culprit was obviously Chi Guyan.
The Second and Fourth Elder looked at each other again. Given their prowess in logical deduction, they naturally figured out why the three sages had to fight dirty, and even hold Yan Xiu hostage, in order to kill Fang Zhengzhi.
Just as they had suspected, this was a do-or-die mission given to them by Nine Pinnacles Mountain, and it was likely their last chance.
The only thing left was…Who were the other two men?
Before the Second and Fourth Elder could ask that question, they already removed their hoods and revealed their faces. It was an old man and a middle-aged man.
“Shi Fan?!” The Second Elder’s expression changed. Instead of looking at the old man, he fixed his gaze on the middle-aged man.
“His surface is Shi…Shi Fan?!”
“Could he be the one from the Yin Yang Hall…”
“Yes, Shi Fan…There’s no doubt about it, he’s Yin Yang Hall’s Ninth Elder!”
All the disciples stared at the middle-aged man when they heard the Second Elder.
If the appearance of the three sages of Black Moon Island was within their expectations, then Shi Fan’s appearance was definitely something that they didn’t expect. This wasn’t entirely due to his identity, but also due to his strength.
“Shi Fan, as an elder of the Yin Yang Hall, how could you…”
“First, I’ve to clarify that I’m more than an elder of the Yin Yang Hall, I’m also Wan Lei’s first master when he joined the Yin Yang Hall!” Shi Fan waved his hand and interrupted the Sixth Elder, before continuing, “Since Wan Lei died in the Heaven Dao Pavilion, don’t you guys owe us a reasonable explanation?”
“This…” The Sixth Elder’s expression changed, for he didn’t know about Wan Lei and Shi Fan’s relationship.
The Second and Fourth Elder also creased their brows. They weren’t too worried about the three sages of the Black Moon Island, but they had to be wary of the Yin Yang Hall’s Shi Fan.
To put it simply, since Nine Pinnacles Mountain Leader Tian Xing died in Heaven Dao Pavilion, the grudge between the two sects couldn’t possibly be resolved. There could only be a stalemate.
However, if Yin Yang Hall became part of the conflict, the situation would change completely. After all, the misunderstanding between Heaven Dao Pavilion and Yin Yang Hall was resolvable.
The infighting between the five sects of the Holy Region had always existed. Even the Heaven Dao Pavilion couldn’t make too many enemies at once.
“Now that we’ve revealed our identities, I’ll make it short and simple. I’m here to avenge Wan Lei, so Fang Zhengzhi has to die. Whether Heaven Dao Pavilion wants peace or war, is up to you!” Shi Fan looked at the Sixth Elder and said.
“What about the Yin Yang Hall? Do you guys want peace or war?” The Second Elder’s eyes lit up.
“Haha…can’t the Second Elder tell what’s going on? If we wanted a war, how would we hide our identities? Let me put it this way, if the Heaven Dao Pavilion doesn’t interfere with this, we’ll bury the hatchet. Trading Fang Zhengzhi, who isn’t even the Heaven Dao Pavilion’s disciple, for our Yin Yang Hall’s top disciples, is as sincere as we could be!” Shi Fan smiled.
“We need to discuss about this!” The Second Elder nodded, but he didn’t give a reply right away.
“That’s fine. Is 15 minutes enough?” Shi Fan didn’t push it too far, because he knew that once they revealed their identities, Heaven Dao Pavilion would make the easy choice.
“Yeah!” The Second Elder nodded and landed on the ground with the Fourth Elder, before joining up with the Sixth Elder.
“Old Six, you’re the one who looked after the Divine Rain Pond, why don’t you tell us what has happened?”
“Ok, the Divine Rain Pond is destroyed…” The Sixth Elder briefly updated them about the incident at the Divine Rain Pond.
“I see…” The Second Elder nodded seriously after he heard the news.
“Second brother, since Fang Zhengzhi would be killed anyway if we bring him back to Heaven Dao Pavilion, why don’t we…Go with the flow?” The Fourth Elder expressed his opinion.
“Old Six, what do you think?”
“We have to defend Heaven Dao Pavilion’s reputation! Although Fang Zhengzhi would die anyway, but if we allow them to kill him at our doorstep…”
“I got it, I’ll handle this!” The Second Elder nodded again.
“Ok!” The Sixth and Fourth Elder agreed.
The Second Elder slowly turned around, looked at Yan Xiu and Yuan Rong, then he turned towards Shi Fan.
“We’ve discussed about it, you guys can do whatever you want with Fang Zhengzhi, but we have to bring his corpse back to the Heaven Dao Pavilion. Additionally, you can’t harm Yan Xiu, and you have to treat his wounds. After this, the three sages of the Black Moon Island will follow us back to the Heaven Dao Pavilion and explain to our Master about this!” The Second Elder exclaimed.
Hearing him, Shi Fan looked towards Yuan Rong. After Yuan Rong nodded, he smirked and said, “Well, we’ll do as the Second Elder said. In that case, could the people of the Heaven Dao Pavilion back off, because I’m about to start killing!”