Chapter 275 - Loot!
First Court King Qinguang felt that Yun Yang had nothing much going for him other than his outstanding looks. He was a scheming rascal, and King Qinguang would only suffer further losses if he continued to dally with this man.
He had too straightforward a character, as such, he was unfit to argue with this rogue!
The more he spoke the higher the chance of getting tricked again.
First Court King Qinguang kept quiet and sent out his messages.
A while later, nine people arrived consecutively, bringing He Hanqing’s belongings along. It seemed that they had genuinely brought everything that they had picked up, even the smallest piece of paper. Yun Yang suspected that this group of assassins might have even spring-cleaned the Residence of He upon killing He Hanqing.
"These are my subordinates. They’re pretty senseless. If they’ve offended Young Master Yun somehow, I shall teach them a good lesson upon returning," First Court King Qinguang said triumphantly.
His words instantly asserted the determination of his nine ‘subordinates’ to give him a good trashing the moment they returned home!
First Court King Qinguang continued, "We’ve exhausted ourselves this time. Children, this is Young Master Yun, the man who has assigned us the mission."
The way he called the 'children' had the nine men gritting their teeth, but they chuckled and went forward to greet Yun Yang.
"Young Master Yun has the looks of a talent indeed, outstandingly handsome. No wonder you can assign this mission to us, even though it was a trap…"
"I’ve heard so much about you, Young Master Yun."
After exchanging pleasantries, King Qingugang left with his nine subordinates.
A cloud of eerie fog rose quietly; the ten men disappeared instantly the moment they blended into the mist.
Seeing that the Concourse of the Underworld group had left, Yun Yang subconsciously scratched his head. He still felt that everything was not quite right; perhaps, they were not right at all!
"This isn’t right… I’ve tricked them into walking into a trap. Even if they don’t find fault with me before killing He Hanqing, now that our collaboration ends with the death of He Hanqing – how can they still hold back their fury and willingly help me without asking for anything? The only way they chastised me was with First Court Kingqinguang’s mocking words. Even if his words were considered my lesson, they were certainly very easygoing with me..."
"Why is this so?"
Lao Mei walked out. "Young master, these people aren’t simple at all."
Yun Yang smiled faintly and said, "First Court King Qinguang is hilarious, assuming I’m stupid. The nine people who came later have cultivation bases which are not far from his, even exceeding it. Of course, they must be the other nine of the Concourse of the Underworld’s ten court kings!"
Lao Mei was stunned.
It was the Concourse of the Underworld’s ten Yama Kings who came in unison?
"They have sent things over to me together… This is just not right. There’s a very subtle yet genuine sentiment, it’s like… they’re here to see what I look like but they have no ill intentions."
"This is so odd."
Shui Wuyin walked out with a messy head of hair and his expression turned even more bitter when he saw the courtyard full of assorted items.
The things collected the last time had occupied him up until today and he had finally managed to find some clues within. It would seem like these things here would have to go to him once again!
"Although it’s odd, young master doesn’t have to be too taken aback."
Shui Wuyin said, "Since the opposite party didn’t opt to turn hostile but showed their friendliness instead, then the Concourse of the Underworld must be wanting to make acquaintances with young master. Although they must have their reasons for doing so, we need not care about it for now. Those will be for later. Young master only needs to observe the changes and the truth will eventually unfold."
Yun Yang said pondering, "This is right. We indeed have no room to think about this."
"However, from today onwards…" Shui Wuyin said smiling, "Young master has the unexpected additional assistance of a strong force. The Concourse of the Underworld has killed He Hanqing, but has no further grievance against us. This means that they’d be holding a deadly grudge against the Four Seasons Tower, there’s simply no room for things to take a better turn. Whether they’re willing or not, we’re locusts tied to the same string…"
"You’re the locust! Stop making irrelevant metaphors!"
Yun Yang glared at him and continued, "See these? These are all He Hanqing’s possessions. They belong to you now, go through them quickly! See if you can find new clues."
Shui Wuyin let out a pained moan. "I knew that'd happen…"
Yun Yang was already nowhere to be seen though, leaving only his words, "The few of you, I don’t care what methods you use, whether you risk your life or otherwise, break through and increase your capabilities within the coming period of time. Just get to your individual limits of advancement!"
"The Four Seasons Tower’s hysterical revenge will come soon!"
In the secret chamber, He Hanqing’s head was placed properly on the table. His white hair flowed; there seemed to still be remnants of fear in his eyes.
The Four Seasons Tower’s Supreme Lord Spring Frost who had once intimidated the world, who had sinned heinously his entire life and killed countless people, someone with endless brutal tactics; he was truly a sinner – would he have felt fear before he died?
Yun Yang glanced at his head coldly for a moment before looking at the important items He Hanqing brought with him when he fled.
Only these things would reveal He Hanqing’s real secrets – these were things he truly cared about.
The first item to greet Yun Yang’s eyes was a piece of jade pendant.
The jade pendant was ocean blue, like the color of the deep ocean when the sun shone the brightest.
It was ethereal yet mysterious!
Holding it closer to his eyes, Yun Yang saw glimmering specks of light within it. He could vaguely feel that they seemed to be the blinking stars of the night sky.
The edges of the jade pendant felt smooth to the touch, an obvious sign that this jade pendant must have been toyed with in He Hanqing’s hands for an immeasurable amount of time.
In this world, jade was mostly yellow, green and white; red and black jade were fewer in between while blue jade was simply even rarer. For a jade to be this blue and even had unknown light specks flickering within it, it was almost acceptable to say that it was the only one of its kind. Yun Yang had never even heard of it anyway.
When he toyed with the jade pendant in his hands, the touch was no different than a piece of ordinary jade but there was an odd feeling in Yun Yang – this jade pendant was nothing simple!
Musing for a moment, Yun Yang decided to press it with his hands instead. He did not use much force and could do nothing to the piece of jade; upon increasing his exertions, nothing happened. Finally, when Yun Yang had used a tenth of his cultivation base, the jade pendant had still remained the same.
Yun Yang was shocked.
With the strength he had now, he could at least leave distinct marks if not mold even a piece of Stellar Steel. Yet the jade pendant was not reacting to his strongest force.
What was this?
Changing his mind, Yun Yang took out a short sword to try cutting it only to find it a fruitless exercise. He then switched to a sword made from metal, cast a hundred times and infused it with his cultivation base, slashing the jade pendant with the sword energy but the results remained disappointing. Ultimately, Yun Yang went all out and retrieved a small hammer to pound it with all he had…
It shattered. However, it was the hammer that shattered; the jade pendant looked exactly how it had looked like since the start – there was not the slightest bit of damage!
"So hard?"
Yun Yang was rather taken aback now.
What was this thing that could be so tough? Stubborn Yun Yang retrieved the Divine Edge.
The Divine Edge was the sharpest blade that Yun Yang had ever known. It was peerless. No one, nothing, nor even any skill prior to this could defend against a blow from this saber. Even Venerable Lord Saber who was so formidable had sustained injuries from this saber; Yun Yang did not believe that the Divine Edge could not cut this strange jade pendant open!
Holding the saber in his hand, Yun Yang hesitated momentarily before he swung the blade with all his strength.
Clang!
The Divine Edge sprung up; there was still no traces on the blue jade.
The Divine Edge that had never failed before suffered from a futile attempt against this piece of jade pendant!
Yun Yang checked the blade of Divine Edge at once. When two strong forces went neck to neck, the damage would basically fall upon another party if one party was completely intact. The small hammer earlier had succumbed to the jade pendant, broken into bits.
Luckily, there was no damage inflicted on Divine Edge’s blade as well.
Yun Yang suddenly sucked in a cold breath.
It was expected if the weapons in this world could not wreck this piece of jade, but for the Divine Edge to fail was unthinkable.
Did this mean that the jade pendant existed in the same realm as the Divine Edge? How could He Hanqing have something so impressive with him?
Looking at the smooth plane of the jade that had come to be from being held, Yun Yang could imagine that it must no less than tens of years, a lifetime, probably, for He Hanqing to hold onto this pendant.
He Hanqing must have known that this jade pendant was nothing secular. That was why he had always had it with him, studying the item at all times. Until he died, he did not find out anything.
"Emmie!"
"Ayaya…"
"Look at this jade pendant." Yun Yang tossed the item in.
It landed at Emmie’s roots.
"Ayaya?" Emmie stretched a tendril curiously, grabbing the pendant and flipping it over. Observing it for a long time, it did not share its opinions.
"Ayaya?" Emmie lifted the jade pendant and wrapped its tendril around it, looking like a child who brought an item it was curious about to the front of its eyes to look upon it.
Thrums of life force caressed the jade pendant.
Yun Yang watched with widened eyes.
This was probably the first time in a long time that Emmie had not ingested a valuable directly once it had gotten it. It was not only Yun Yang who was dumbfounded though, Emmie was as well. The stone was obviously valuable, better than anything it had received in the past – why can’t I absorb it?
In the next moment, something that shocked Yun Yang and Emmie even more occurred.
The dense rush of vital life energy Emmie had released right onto the jade pendant had all vanished.