Chapter 224 - Impasse
Looking at the pristine state Yun Yang was in, without even the tiniest hole on his black clothes, Shen Yushi knew that the opposite party had not even been scraped by the terrifying arsenal of hidden weapons.
His gaze bored into Yun Yang who was seated on the chair as he raised his question word by word. "Who are you?"
Yun Yang smiled faintly and replied, "I should be asking you this instead. Shen Yushi, who are you?"
"Friend, a straightforward person does not make insinuations."
Shen Yushi stood with arms behind his back as he spoke faintly, "Since you can find your way here, I believe you have some sort of purpose; you can speak of it frankly. Since you know that this reputed one is from the Four Seasons Tower, you should know full well what sort of existence the Four Seasons Tower carries!"
He continued slowly, "Even Ling Xiaozui, as the Unrivaled Expert back in the day, had to avoid going against Four Seasons Tower. As for whether or not you can afford to provoke the Four Seasons Tower, you should consider it thoroughly."
"Oh?"
Yun Yang smiled faintly. "So you are really from Four Seasons Tower?"
"Is there any point trying to prove this now?" Shen Yushi scoffed.
Swiftly, his expression changed into one of menace as he said, "Speak of your aim directly. If it's not overboard, I can let you go; I'll take it as... making a friend! If it were to be anything else, friend, wait for the assassination from the Four Seasons Tower!"
Yun Yang tilted his head and replied, "Sir Shen... Deputy Minister Shen, are you that confident that the Four Seasons Tower can hold me accountable?"
"I have seen your cultivation base. Perhaps I am not your opponent as it's indeed peculiar and worthy to be prideful of, but you still have no hopes of making me stay today!" Shen Yushi said composedly.
One of his hand remained on his back as the other pointed around, saying, "Since you could make it here, I bet you also know the wonders of a sally port like this... There are a total of ten tunnels in this secret chamber, all of them extending out from different directions."
"Even though I can't fight you, I can still defend myself and you shall never keep me here! As long as I exit from any one of these tunnels, I can guarantee that from now onwards, there shall never be a day of peace in your life until you're dead!" Savageness tinted Shen Yushi's face as he uttered each word.
"What a strong threat indeed."
"I'm actually afraid. A curse of a nightmare to last a lifetime! What do I do?" Yun Yang said.
His tone was relaxed, not at all frightened, despite his words.
A flip of Shen Yushi's wrist had a long emerald sword emerging in his hand; he said indifferently, "Since you're heedless of my kind words, don't accuse me of being brutal."
Yun Yang was still seated, waiting. He said smiling, "You know that you're not my opponent yet you're not thinking of fleeing right now but to fight me. Obviously... there's another purpose."
Shen Yushi's expression changed.
"Let me guess what your purpose is." Yun Yang said airily.
Menace flashed in Shen Yushi's eyes. With another flick of his wrist, his long sword had suddenly turned into a flash of lightning. He clearly did not plan for Yun Yang to finish his words.
Yun Yang executed the steps of the Destiny Form, cruising through the sword light that was like a dragnet as he continued nonchalantly, "Your purpose... there's something you care very much about in this secret chamber or some important thing that can't be seen by an outsider, so you can't leave."
"Even if you wanted to flee, you have to conjure up a fight - even if you're not my opponent, you need to find an opportunity to destroy those things or take them away. Only then will you be able to leave without worry, right?"
The more Yun Yang spoke, the uglier the expression was on Shen Yushi's face, and the more frequent the sword light was emitted until it scintillated with energy.
"Let me guess what it is."
Yun Yang's Destiny Footwork hastened in urgency as he continued cruising through the tightly woven net formed with the sword.
However, the sword air generated only grew in intensity as faint noises of friction and wind were heard. With a screeching sound, a green light flashed on Yun Yang as a hole was torn through the hem of his black robe.
A wave of cultivation skill finally showed itself.
Shen Yushi was taken aback before he chuckled coldly and said, "And here I was still thinking which almighty person it is. So you're only a sixth peak juvenile? You think you can do anything with just this little peanut's worth of peculiar cultivation skill?"
It was just moments ago when Shen Yushi had attacked with all the strength he possessed that he managed to coerce the revelation of Yun Yang's true ability with his eighth peak pinnacle capability.
After affirming Yun Yang's true ability, Shen Yushi was relieved. He was no longer thinking of retreating but was resolute to make Yun Yang stay in this chamber forever!
The longsword stirred a ruffle of sword light before it was brought to the front of Shen Yushi's chest, the emerald radiance shining brighter, waiting to pounce.
Shen Yushi wore absolute confidence on his face. "Child, take off your mask quickly and speak of your origins. Otherwise, this reputed one's sword will send you to the underworld!"
With the retraction of Shen Yushi's sword, Yun Yang could clearly feel the intense sword air around him vanishing. All of it had concentrated entirely at the tip of the sword in his hands!
The tip of his sword formed a huge whirlpool like a black hole, sucking even the air in this secret chamber; Yun Yang began to feel suffocated.
"You should know that with your cultivation base of the sixth peak, it can never withstand One with Myriad attack of my sword." Shen Yushi faced Yun Yang, taunting him with utmost confidence.
He was scared witless by the fellow’s trick of coursing through the secret chamber earlier. He had thought that the man must be some sort of otherworldly expert. In truth, he was but a trickster with an exceptionally unique cultivation skill.
No matter how amazing his skill was, however, Shen Yushi’s sword had sealed all the space within the secret chamber. Even if a mosquito were to possess the speed of a lightning, it could never escape from him, what more a living man.
This black-clothed man would definitely die.
Since this was the eventual outcome, he might as well vent the frustration he had felt from being frightened just now. Recalling that he actually almost turned to flee just now, Shen Yushi felt inexplicably furious!
If the secret chamber did not hold his secret as mentioned by the man, he might really have fled from the fright!
This was an utter humiliation that he could not accept.
Shen Yushi was ready to lash out, the assurance within his gaze sparkling brightly; he was utterly confident that he could end this person with a slash of his sword – there was no chance of escape since the enemy was already locked down by his aura.
Within such a close distance and an uncanny observation of his opponent, he was sure that he could chop even the strand of hair from the enemy's eyebrow if he so much as twitched – that was how confident he was.
Naturally, everything else was within his grasp with the rocketing confidence he felt; of course, he could play the opponent as he wished to wash away the humiliation of being at the lower hand earlier.
Even when Shen Yushi understood that it was just an illusion of being shocked from Yun Yang’s peculiar cultivation skill, his fury knew no bounds; he had to do something about it.
He had always been a petty person, his anger was already surging.
Yun Yang remained seated on the chair steadily and said, "Kill me? Sir Shen, are you that confident of yourself?"
"Try me." Shen Yushi smirked cruelly.
He really wanted Yun Yang to move right now, to keep moving, to keep facing failure, and to keep feeling the terror of death; he would toy with him to his heart’s content, play with him until he died!
Yun Yang sighed, "I’ve been found out…"
"Do you think you can deceive me?" Shen Yushi laughed coldly.
Yun Yang stood up slowly to the unmoving tip of Shen Yushi’s sword; the hundreds of thousands of shards of sword air had already coagulated to a solid essence, licking about in fumes.
Moving around the table, Yun Yang moved forward step by step until he was three feet before the tip of Shen Yushi’s sword. He halted then, saying faintly, "It looks like I won’t be able to escape today."
The sadism in Shen Yushi’s eyes grew like a vulture in the desert, replying quietly, "Since you’ve gotten here, I suggest that you keep this sense of naivety."
"I guess this secret chamber will be my burial ground…" Yun Yang said in disappointment, to which Shen Yushi replied, "It's good that you know this."
"I can’t intimidate you but I can accede to an impasse instead. It’s fate. Before I die though, can Sir Shen quell my doubts?" Yun Yang sighed.
"What doubts do you have?" Shen Yushi asked, feeling in total control over Yun Yang’s entire being.
Yun Yang raised his doubts. "I won’t be enlightened without asking. I don’t feel good not saying this aloud. If Sir Shen can answer me, then I shall tell whatever Sir Shen needs to know unreservedly!"
"But you will still have to die. There’s no way out other than death for you now. Not a single piece of information can be exchanged for your chance to live!" Shen Yushi said coldly.
"I understand that you have to kill me, of course. I don't mind dying, but if I can become a ghost of clarity upon death, that would be the best," Yun Yang said without the slightest tremor in his voice.
"Then let me first see your sincerity, take off your mask!" Shen Yushi said coldly.
Yun Yang plucked his mask off easily, revealing a middle-aged man in his forties with a thin, sculpted face.
There was no fear written on that face.
"Actually, I don’t have too many doubts. My first question is… what Wu Lie’s family had gone through… has it all been your doing?" Yun Yang asked.
"Wu Lie?" Shen Yushi frowned suddenly. "Did that fellow send you? If he did, that’s rather surprising…"
Yun Yang did not reply but Shen Yushi answered himself.
"No, it could never be that prude. Firstly, that prude doesn’t have that kind of fortune and secondly, he’ll never do something like this. Instead of saying he sent you, I’d rather believe that you’ve unintentionally encountered his tribulations before looking for me because of it, triggering today’s encounter!"
Yun Yang remained wordless as he looked at the man who was rambling to himself.
Shen Yushi was not exactly wrong; he was at least half correct. If it were not for Wu Lie, Yun Yang would not have dealt with him as quickly.
"If you’ve come for Wu Lie, I might as well admit that I was the one behind everything to do with Wu Lie! It's just unfortunate that you simply can't do anything about it."