Volume 5
277 One Against Four?

"Oh, you"re targeting me?" I looked at Cang Ming with mock interest as I pointed at myself.

Cang Ming nodded. "That"s right. You"re my target."

Si Luo did not wish for my conversation with Cang Ming to continue as he spoke quickly, "Why"re you targeting her? Isn"t Du Yue the one responsible for Bian Ying"s condition? Are you just trying your luck here?"

Cang Ming smirked. "I"m not in a rush to take my revenge on Du Yue right now, and I"m the number one doctor in the Split Zone, so I don"t have to try my luck on anything. It"s not difficult to wake Bian Ying, but the challenge here is to cure her completely. I"ve looked for so many methods, but there really isn"t any method to save someone who has an incomplete personality and who had lost half her soul.

"I had originally given up, but I"ve heard something interesting recently. I heard that this woman has a unique ident.i.ty and she"s a miracle in the Split Zone. I"ve also heard that her second personality has immense power. If I can capture that second personality of hers, together with Huai Du"s demon cultivating technique, I just might be able to cure and save Bian Ying."

Si Luo raised a brow. "So your main goal is still to save Bian Ying, but you"re eyeing Li Shen for that?"

Cang Ming answered boldly, "What else did you think it was? You really think that someone like Du Yue is worth taking the time to travel to the Gate of Heaven just so I can exact my revenge on her?"

I found this funny. To capture Cang Ming, Du Yue was observing everything from somewhere nearby. I wonder if she could hear everything.

The reason Du Yue wanted us to go against Cang Ming was because she feared his power. She also thought that Cang Ming would hate her and turn revengeful towards her because of what happened to Bian Ying. These were actually the reasons behind why she enlisted our help to go against Cang Ming. However, Cang Ming was not targeting Du Yue at all. Would she still have the need to go against Cang Ming in this case?

Impatience got the better of Cang Ming as he pointed at me. His defined muscles could be seen under that blood-red robe as he waved it. "You, get out and follow me. I"ll wreak this whole plaza if you don"t."

Look at him. It"s no surprise that he would be able to appreciate Gaoqin Jiuye. Both of them were so audacious.

"I guess a fight is inevitable today." Si Luo looked at Cang Ming.

Cang Ming shrugged, looking fearless about it.

I tried to spot Du Yue, but she was nowhere to be seen. What"s going on? I should have been able to sense it if Du Yue was nearby, and she was definitely nearby, just not extremely close. Why isn"t she making herself known?

Can we really get out of this cage if she doesn"t appear?

For some reason, I began worrying about the situation we were in. It felt as if we had walked right into an ambush.

Seeing none of us move, Cang Ming lost his patience and grabbed the bars on the cage. Two iron bars were easily bent with what seemed like a casual pull.

What a convenient way to create doors. Si Luo was the first to step out. All of us followed behind him and everyone was out shortly. I looked back at the cage in wonder.

I didn"t understand what was so special about this cage. It looked like a pile of sc.r.a.p metal at this point. Why did Du Yue insist on locking us up in here?

"How about you turn back into yourself? It"s awkward looking at you. Are you going to act like that girly man?" Cang Ming pointed at Nie Zun.

Girly man… Was he referring to Guan Nie…?

If I were to be objective about it, Guan Nie"s beauty did make him look like a woman, and he spoke effeminately as well, but I was sure he wasn"t gay. He was pretty manly during battles.

While my mind was in a world of its own, Si Luo waved a hand in front of Nie Zun and turned him back into himself.

I guess these people have all been doing useless things. Everything was undone so quickly, whether it was this cage or Nie Zun"s "disguise". It all seemed meaningless to me.

Why is Du Yue still not making herself known? Wasn"t she going crazy looking for Nie Zun? Is she really not going to show herself? Was she leaving Cang Ming to us just like this?

Jiao S suddenly spoke. "I think we"ve been tricked."

What?

I looked at her questioningly, but she looked emotionless, as usual.

Nie Zun, who looked like himself now, nodded. "It"s definitely a trap if we continue going like this."

Like me, Si Luo looked at the both of them, obviously not understanding the situation.

Nie Zun explained patiently, "If Cang Ming wasn"t targeting Du Yue, that means there was no reason for Du Yue to put on any defense. He wouldn"t be looking for her, and Du Yue would definitely not go looking for trouble on her own. But why would Du Yue do this? She isn"t an idiot who rushes into things. She wouldn"t do anything if she didn"t have some confidence in succeeding.

"If she was telling us that we had to go against Cang Ming, it meant that she had planned everything. Even if Cang Ming wasn"t targeting her, he would end up being on opposite sides with Li Shen because of her unique ident.i.ty. In this case, Cang Ming would end up fighting Li Shen, and when that happens, Du Yue can sit back and collect all the benefits."

Though I was slightly confused, I got the gist of it. Du Yue might have already known much earlier that my second personality could possibly save Bian Ying. In fact, she might have been the one who actually spread the news about it.

She hoped that Cang Ming would come looking for me, and she also took the opportunity to form an alliance with me to go against Cang Ming. She"d then end up being the final winner in our battle.

Being as careful as she was, there was no way she would prepare to engage in a huge battle with Cang Ming if she didn"t already take into account that the possibility of Cang Ming looking for her to take revenge was slim.

This meant that Du Yue already knew what my second personality could be used for, and whether or not that was true, this would lead to compet.i.tion for it.

She also considered how Cang Ming would react to the news. She knew that he would come looking for me, and this was why she gathered all of us here to wait for Cang Ming"s arrival. This would give Cang Ming the impression that there really was something about me and that my second personality was as valuable as the meat of Tripitaka, since the rest were all helping and protecting me when so many others were eyeing my second personality. (T/n: Tripitaka refers to the Buddhist monk who is a central character in the Chinese novel, Journey to the West, where his flesh is rumored to grant immortality to those who ate it.)

By gathering the four of us, we"d look like we were waiting for Cang Ming"s arrival. This huge act would then create an impression that there really was something valuable hidden in me.

Jiao S continued after Nie Zun, "If the situation ends up like this, there would be a huge battle ensuing right after, and of course, Du Yue wouldn"t be a.s.sisting. We"re currently in a totally foreign place where it"s not advantageous to us at all.

"With Cang Ming"s abilities, we"d end up fighting a bitter battle where both sides would end up getting hurt badly. Du Yue would then appear to collect her benefits. Furthermore, this is Du Yue"s territory, and who knows how many others are working for her here. At that point, we won"t be able to defend ourselves and we"d be simply left to her devices."

Cang Ming could hear everything clearly as the both of them spoke at a normal volume and they did not bother trying to hide these deductions.

However, he smirked at this, not wanting to form any alliance with us. "How troublesome it is looking at you guys a.n.a.lyzing the whole situation. To me, no amount of tricks can change the fact that one isn"t strong enough to win others. Whether or not Du Yue is hiding in some corner observing this, I"m telling you that we"ll be fighting each other. How about we just be quick about it. If any of us wins, we wouldn"t end up being twirled around Du Yue"s little finger, would we?"

Anyone who says something like this is definitely r.e.t.a.r.ded. But, of course, there was another possibility where one party had overwhelming power.

He wasn"t worried about getting hurt if he engaged in a battle with us. To him, there was no need for brains in a fight. It was just a ma.s.sacre where he killed one after another, and it did not matter who he killed first.

People like that were usually extremely confident of their own abilities.

Though it sounded extremely audacious, for someone to be able to say something like this when he was going up against four others did create some sort of fear and worry in me.

Furthermore, the four that he would be going against were no easy opponents.

Out of the four, three of us were District Commanders. Si Luo was the strongest out of all of the Eastern, Western and Southern Districts, and Nie Zun had that demonic side in him now. Jiao S and I were no weaklings either.

Oh no, I"m someone with zero MF now. I guess I"m the only weakling among them.

Even so, this spoke volumes about how confident Cang Ming was in his own abilities since he was so sure he"d be able to face Du Yue even after facing us, together with other possible enemies from the Gate of Heaven. Just how powerful is he?