Ch.238: Bloody Sought Flower; Vicious Battle Against White No-Face 3
Guoshi shouted towards Hua Cheng, “YOUNG MAN, DON’T UNDERESTIMATE YOUR OPPONENT! His form now is even more difficult to deal with than White No-Face! Besides, you had the advantage of a better weapon earlier, but not anymore!”
Sure enough, all of the wounds on Jun Wu’s body vanished in one sweep, and he was restored from head to toe. He glanced at Guoshi and smiled, “To teach others on how to face me in front of me, I won’t kill you, but you’re becoming more bold.”
That smile was laced with a tone of warning. Guoshi stopped speaking, but stared back at him.
Xie Lian spoke up, “Don’t you worry, San Lang has never underestimated his opponents.”
He was more than clear on this. Even if the smile on Hua Cheng’s face was fearless and brazen, his hands would never relax.
Jun Wu gazed at the sword, speaking softly, “Zhu Xin, long time no see.”
Fang Xin – or rather, it should now be called Zhu Xin, was emitting a deep, quiet moan in his hand.
Xie Lian had always thought that Fang Xin was too old so it wasn’t easy to use, who knows if it’d just pass away one day, yet he had never thought that in the hands of its once master, its aura and power was completely different than when it was in his own hands!
Each time Zhu Xin and E-Ming clashed, the entire Heaven Crossing Bridge would shake, as if it would collapse and plummet into the lava at any moment. Compared to earlier, Jun Wu’s strength, force, and speed were distinctly greater. While Hua Cheng still matched his pace, still his brows knitted slightly, his expression growing even sharper. The few watching the fight from afar were also stunned and anxious.
Since, every one of Jun Wu’s strikes were aiming straight for Hua Cheng’s right eye!
Hua Cheng blocked twice, but both times were alarmingly close, and soon he discovered Jun Wu had been repeatedly using the same attack, as if he had determined the right eye was Hua Cheng’s weakness, and was going to dig for it again. Every time he lunged, naturally Hua Cheng defended with all he had, and blocked repeatedly. But with this development, wouldn’t they have sunken into a tug of war with nothing to be accomplished?
It was as if the eye of E-Ming had sensed danger, and was furious. The black jade-like blade came striking again and there was a crisp CLINK! – Hua Cheng hadn’t raised the sabre to parry, but Jun Wu had withdrawn his sword.
Clad in all white, Xie Lian had blocked in front of Hua Cheng.
Earlier, it was his using the force of rebound to flick away the chilling blade of Zhu Xin!
Xie Lian still couldn’t sit back after all, and entered the fight. He was skilled in the art of catching the blade with bare hands, but it was still the first time he had ever encountered such a malicious sword. With only a light flick, half of his arm was almost numb, especially his palm, the feeling only returning after he backed away for a few steps and shaking it off. Behind him, Hua Cheng spoke up, “Gege?”
“Let’s do this together!” Xie Lian said.
The two stood back to back, aiming their will to battle against the other party. Seeing this, Jun Wu’s smile grew bigger, “Oh?”
Xie Lian said quietly, “You take the top and I’ll take the bottom!”
Just as his words ended the two split, one going up and one going down, swiping towards Jun Wu. Xie Lian knew fairly well of Jun Wu’s style of attacks, and could vaguely guess how he would attack next, so he blurted, “Hook!”
Hua Cheng followed, and the scimitar made a return. Sure enough Jun Wu almost fell for the trick, and Xie Lian then instructed, “Blast!”
Hua Cheng followed again, and this time he didn’t use the sabre, but used his bare hand to churn his spiritual powers and blasted out. Sure enough Jun Wu’s shoulder was hit, his figure dipping for a moment, and if it wasn’t for his wicked speed, those two moves would’ve probably hit him fatally. As they battled, Xie Lian suddenly snapped to; Hua Cheng was a Supreme of their time, with his skills, why would he need Xie Lian’s recommendations? What a terrible offence, his old habit had come out, and he quickly apologized, “I’m sorry! You don’t have to listen to me!”
Hua Cheng however, only smiled happily, “Everything gege tells me is the best decision, so why wouldn’t I listen?”
Suddenly, the bridge caved in, and Hua Cheng suddenly lost his footing, looking like he was about to fall. Xie Lian stepped onto the poles of the bridge and casted RuoYe out, wrapped it around Hua Cheng and pulled him back. The next second, he felt chill on his neck – Jun Wu had blitzed to his back, resting a hand on his shoulder, “Xian Le, good skills.”
He was too close, Xie Lian could feel his hairs stand. Hua Cheng exclaimed, “Gege!”
He flung his left hand, and E-Ming came flying through the air. Xie Lian reacted incredibly fast, lowering his head, and E-Ming brushed the top of his head as it flew by, slashing towards Jun Wu who was behind him. Only then did Jun Wu release the hand on his shoulder, and Xie Lian used this chance to leap back to Hua Cheng’s side. E-Ming then boomeranged back to Hua Cheng’s hand. The two worked together seamlessly, and those on the side only saw three shadows appearing here and there like lightning, so fast it was unimaginable and made one suffocate. Meanwhile. Jun Wu’s laughter resounded overhead, throughout the lava cave, like he was encouraging them, “Good. Very good! Continue!”
Mu Qing strenuously dodged where the bridge was caving in, all the while speaking in horror, “Guoshi! Is… is he mental? He’s laughing?”
“I already said!” Guoshi said, “He’s worse than mad, he’s happy! This is only the beginning!”
On the other side, having obtained Zhu Xin, Jun Wu was like a tiger with wings. Xie Lian saw he continuously wielded the sword to attack viciously at Hua Cheng’s right eye and felt both terror and alarm. Whipping out RuoYe, Xie Lian tangled the hilt of Zhu Xin. Yet unexpectedly, Jun Wu reversed the grip and yanked, and Xie Lian’s entire person was flying towards him.
Xie Lian was startled at first, but he soon regained calm. He was going to snatch the sword at first anyway, so there was nothing to be scared of, going straight for the blade, his mind playing out all the hundreds of possible moves that they might exchange in an instant. Yet unexpectedly, halfway through the air, another hand caught him and pulled him back. Xie Lian landed and looked back, and saw Hua Cheng was shielding in front of him, a black jade sword piercing through his heart.
Seeing this picture, Xie Lian almost passed out choking, “SAN LANG?!”
Hua Cheng’s face was slightly dark. Jun Wu was still waiting for Xie Lian to impale himself against the blade of Zhu Xin, but seeing that it was blocked, he pulled the sword and backed off, looking rather disappointed. Xie Lian had completely forgotten that Hua Cheng was a ghost, so even if a giant hole was punched through his chest he could still jump around all lively, and even now he was still worried, both his hands covering over that unbleeding wound on Hua Cheng’s chest, “San Lang, wh… what were you doing, so suddenly?! …”
Hua Cheng responded, “As if I’d allow you to be stabbed by it again in front of me!”
For some reason, his tone was a little over extreme, and Xie Lian was slightly taken aback, but Jun Wu’s gentle voice came, “Why ache so, Xian Le? It’s not like he’d feel the pain. He’s nothing but a deceased man.”
“…” And he dared to remind Xie Lian of this!
Xie Lian whipped his head around to glare at him, his heart ablaze with fury, “And isn’t this all your fault?!”
Jun Wu however, only sneered, “Is it all my fault?”
Having heard this reversed question, Xie Lian was suddenly stumped.
Jun Wu changed the subject, “Perhaps. But, Xian Le, have you remained in the mortal realm for so long that you’ve forgotten what you’ve done? Do you still remember what you did after Xian Le had fallen?”
“…”
A deeply meaningful smile appeared on Jun Wu’s face, and he said slowly, “Do you still remember, a ghost named Wu Ming?”
Xie Lian’s face suddenly lost all colours, and he blurted, “DON’T!”
Guoshi sensed things were going wrong and exclaimed, “Your Highness, what’s he saying?
What did you do after Xian Le fell?”
Xie Lian felt an odd sense of terror, and he looked at Hua Cheng, then at Jun Wu, and what was fury earlier had now transformed to uncertainty. Hua Cheng instantly grabbed hold of him, and soothed with a low voice, “It’s fine, Your Highness, don’t be afraid.”
Feng Xin also called out, “Yea, hold steady!”
Mu Qing on the other hand, was sharper, “What did he mean? A ghost? What ghost?”
But how could Xie Lian hold steady?
Those were the most unkempt days of his life, and he committed a deed he regretted the most.
Even he himself didn’t dare to think back on it much. Whenever that pale, crescent-eyed smiling mask surfaced in his mind, he would suffer no sleep, and curl into a ball, desperate for no one to ever see him again.
Hua Cheng had seen a Xie Lian basking in glory, had seen a defeated Xie Lian after losing a war, had seen a foolish, silly Xie Lian, had seen an impoverished and beggard Xie Lian. Those were all nothing.
But, he had probably never seen a Xie Lian who rolled in filthy mud, a Xie Lian who yelled and swore, a Xie Lian full of resentment and hate, a Xie Lian who was set on annihilating the Kingdom of YongAn for revenge, a Xie Lian who would go as far as creating the Human Face Disease for the second time!
That period of his life was too obscene to be looked back on. If this was the past, if White No-Face wanted to drag it out, then whatever. But now, Xie Lian didn’t want to find out at all what face Hua Cheng would show when he learned that Xie Lian had gone through such a period in his life.
Because he wasn’t as good as Hua Cheng thought him to be. He wasn’t untainted by filth, saintly and pure. Even if Hua Cheng might only show a sliver of disbelief after learning the fact, Xie Lian would probably never be able to live with himself, and would never have the face to see Hua Cheng again!
The moment he thought of this, Xie Lian’s face turned steely pale uncontrollably, cold sweat rolling from his forehead, and his hands trembled. Seeing how he was reacting, Hua Cheng’s grip on his hand grew tighter, and he said with grave assurance, “Your Highness, don’t be afraid.
Remember? The one basking in infinite glory is you; the one fallen from grace is also you. What matters is ‘you’, and not the state of you. No matter what’s happened in the past, I will never leave you. You can tell me anything.”
To end, he added gently, “You told me this yourself.”
Xie Lian steadied himself slightly, but Jun Wu puffed a laugh and said slowly, “‘No matter what happened in the past, I will never leave you.’ My most faithful believers, my bestest friends, they also told me that once.”
Guoshi’s face changed, and Jun Wu also swept him a look, “But, in the end, as you see. No one was able to truly do as they promised.”
It looked as if Guoshi couldn’t bear to look at him anymore and turned his head away. Hua Cheng begged, “Believe me, Your Highness. Won’t you?”
It’s not that Xie Lian wouldn’t believe him.
It’s that he didn’t dare to try.
In the end, Xie Lian swallowed with difficulty and forced himself to chuckle, then he felt he shouldn’t be laughing and hung his head, his voice trembling, “…San Lang, why don’t you… I’m sorry, I, I might…”
Hua Cheng gazed at him for a moment, then started, “I actually…”
Before he finished, a wave of intense killing intent came lunging, and the two leapt apart.
Senses returned to Xie Lian somewhat, and some colours returned to his face, “What’s with him? Why is he even more…”
Faster, stronger?
Compared to the form of White No-Face from before, now, Jun Wu’s speed and power had all been doubled, and it was still growing; they could sense very clearly this horrifying surge with every attack!
Mu Qing also noticed another thing, and he shouted, “Your Highness! BE CAREFUL HE’S CHANGED TACTICS! HE’S NOT ATTACKING CRIMSON RAIN SOUGHT FLOWER ANYMORE… HE’S NOW ONLY ATTACKING YOU!”
Naturally, Xie Lian also noticed this. There was only RuoYe in his hand, and when RuoYe saw Fang Xin it’d shrink back, unable to attack head on. Fortunately, E-Ming had flawlessly blocked every move Jun Wu used against him.
———
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