Chapter 162 - Truth and Deception

TL-Checked by NamiZaki & Sa.s.systrawberry; Edited by Animeart

His tone was frosty, and his breath was also cold, as frigid as his hands and scabbard.

The dark scabbard finally pressed against his lips, unmoving.

It was bone-chilling.

Lin Shu raised his hand to grab onto the scabbard, pushing it away.

Plip, plop.

There was blood continuously running down from below Xiao Shao’s eyes and falling onto the ground.

Lin Shu looked at Xiao Shao.

Xiao Shao’s scabbard trembled very slightly.

The mask covered most of his face, and his expression could not be seen clearly. That feeling of wanting to get closer, yet with the att.i.tude of holding himself back; Lin Shu could not describe it.

Lin Shu raised his hand again and tried to remove Xiao Shao’s mask.

He thought, ‘Xiao Shao is in front of me, what does it signify?’

Is he an illusion created by my own innermost thoughts, or is it Xiao Shao himself?’

If this person was indeed a figment of his imagination, then… it signifies that he had always carried doubts about his relationship with Xiao Shao.

However, if this was really Xiao Shao, or a Xiao Shao who had been influenced by the illusions, it would signify that although normally he did not have any outward expression of it, within his heart he actually was deeply bothered by the matter, to the point of feeling…tormented.

Lin Shu frowned slightly.

Xiao Shao moved his body slightly, moving even closer to him, and said in a low voice, “Not speaking anymore?”

Lin Shu retreated a step.

Xiao Shao let out a barely audible laugh.

A very soft voice, seeming more like a self-deprecating sigh, made Lin Shu feel that the person in front of him seemed to have his feelings hurt.

He did not step forward.

They stood within this dim room, at a stalemate.

After the time it would take half an incense stick to burn, Lin Shu suddenly drew his sword!

He didn’t use any other move, but directly used the “Linger in the Empty Valley” sword style of《Everlasting Yearning》, to stab towards that person!

The sword light was bleak, but the sword intent was abundant, bringing with it the sound of the whistling wind, it was an entirely unrelenting move.

“Ding.”

The Guiltless Blade left its sheath, the “Autumn’s Grief” move, blocked against the “Linger in the Empty Valley”.

Lin Shu was startled.

In that split second where he was momentarily dazed, “Autumn’s Grief” became “The Unchanging River”, sealing off any chance of retreat!

Lin Shu was ruthlessly flung towards the wall by the tremendous force of impact, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

The man then pressed him against the wall, a smile on the corners of his dark red lips.

Lin Shu coughed a few times, his chest burning in pain.

He thought, ‘This person is not Xiao Shao.’

Due to the fact that he thought that the person before him was not Xiao Shao, hence he unsheathed his sword to attack, however….. The person facing him actually used “Autumn’s Grief” and “The Unchanging River”, these two moves were both part of《Solitude》, in this world only Xiao Shao could display these skills.

So is this truly my own illusion?

He didn’t feel it possible.

Then there was only one ridiculous possibility left.

Lin Shu said, “…You are not Xiao Shao.”

The man whispered, “Then who am I?”

Lin Shu decided to stake it all in one throw and said, “You are the Great Wizard.”

The man instead laughed.

“Pavilion Master…” The voice that fell upon his ear gradually changed to a darker tone, “It seems that you still can be considered as intelligent.”

With great difficulty, Lin Shu took a few deep breaths. Looking up at him, he saw that the Xiao Shao in front of him had disappeared and turned into a cyan-garbed Great Wizard.

The Great Wizard’s eyes were a deep red, and the outlines of his facial features seemed to be bland in relief due to his extremely pale complexion, but this was compensated by his dark red lips. At that moment, Lin Shu understood why Xiao Xuan had proclaimed him “not human”.

The Great Wizard asked, “Don’t we look alike?”

Lin Shu shook his head.

Not alike.

The Great Wizard said, “Where is the difference?”

Actually… It was already very similar.

The manner of speech, of action, were very similar, the performance could be said to be flawless.

Particularly those two sword moves, “Autumn’s Grief” and “The Unchanging River”, were extremely authentic.

Seeing that Lin Shu didn’t speak, the Great Wizard tightened his grip on his neck, his tone was intolerant, “k2026;Where is it not similar?”

Lin Shu breathed with difficulty, and with a slight feeling of suffocation he thought, I can’t possibly tell you, that it was just a guess, can I?

Even more so, I can’t say that I don’t think Xiao Shao would ever lay a hand on me.

If he spoke these aloud, he would truly come across as overly spoiled and arrogant (due to being doted on), and Lin Shu felt slightly embarra.s.sed.

Admittedly, there was actually nothing wrong with the Great Wizard’s portrayal.

However, Xiao Shao was not the kind of person—— not the type of person who would question him with “You don’t like me”.

This matter, would be a long story if told.

However since Great Wizard’s grip strength was not really considered very powerful, he would not be able to strangle him to death within a short period of time, so Lin Shu had a bit of leeway to collect his thoughts.

In truth, all this time, with regards to communicating with others, he really hadn’t made much progress. It was only Xiao Shao, including Xiao Shao in various guises, who was the exception —- the only person whom he could interact with, without feeling any pressure.

In truth, this person had extreme mood swings and possessed a bad temper, and he did fear the Big Miss greatly.

However, fear aside, even from the very beginning, he knew from the very beginning that this person was very forthright and upright.

If you do something that makes him angry, he will blow up into a pufferfish.

However, the key point was that, when he blew up into a pufferfish, he would tell you the reason for his anger.

After which, as long as changes were made, the pufferfish would go back to its original state (deflate).

Therefore, he didn’t find it difficult to get along with Xiao Shao —— he didn’t need to second-guess how he had upset someone, and he didn’t have to waste time or effort contemplating how he had caused someone to dislike him.

An example would be in the beginning, in the Ghost village where they had first met one another, the Big Miss had wanted to throw this filthy little fool out.

Later, the little fool got clean, and was not tossed out.

Another example, he was unaware of the marriage agreement, making the Big Miss so furious that she almost drew her blade. In the end, when he admitted the error of his ways, they still made up.

He felt that if Xiao Shao truly held reservations with regards to the Heartless Dao, he would long have turned into that weak little phoenix, slowly groaning it out.

Alternatively, even if Xiao Shao hadn’t said anything, and chose to quietly stew over it, then he….. perhaps would have already died of dehydration in the Phoenix Mountain Villa due to excessive weeping.

But what was the reason that Xiao Shao didn’t bother with this matter?

Lin Shu suddenly felt a little afraid, after turning it around in his thoughts for a while, he couldn’t come to any conclusion and worked himself into a tizzy.

He closed his eyes and decided not to think about it, he then opened his eyes again to face the Great Wizard.

The Great Wizard was indeed rather stubborn.

The Great Wizard continued to ask, “Where is it not similar?”

Lin Shu replied, “You are not him.”

The Great Wizard let go of his hand without expression.

Lin Shu had been suffocated for a long time, being suddenly let go, his four limbs were weak, and he slid along the wall to the ground, coughing laboriously.

Bang!

The wall on the other side of the door was shattered by a blow, obviously broken into by someone.

Following which there was the sound of footsteps.

Afterwards, there was someone who hugged him from behind.

“Baby?”

Lin Shu leaned into the embrace of the person behind him.

He felt that this was the real Xiao Shao.

He coughed a few more times and clarified the situation to Xiao Shao, “The Great Wizard…”

Because the Great Wizard had held his throat in a chokehold earlier, his voice was a little hoa.r.s.e.

“Be good, don’t speak first.” Xiao Shao smoothed his back. “I heard everything.”

Lin Shu stopped talking, and let himself be hugged.

Just that he felt a little despondent.

You heard everything?

How on earth was this illusion constructed?

Xiao Shao spoke quickly and explained to him in a low voice, “Phoenix blood is immune to all poisons, and the illusion has little effect on me. Just now I was investigating, this is an array with a mirage at the core, which is actually similar to a dream. But I fell under the control of the Great Wizard, hence I was late.”

Lin Shu nodded.

Then he began to observe the Great Wizard and Xiao Shao staring at one another.

Xiao Shao said, “Your Excellency asking such questions of him, what are your intentions?”

The Great Wizard said lightly, “It was just momentary curiousity.”

Lin Shu, “?”

Momentary curiosity?

Momentary curiosity made you masquerade as Xiao Shao to ask me whether I like him?

He relaxed for the moment, once he felt that his breathing was smooth again, he then tugged on Xiao Shao’s clothing.

Xiao Shao understood, let go of him, then drew the blade out of its sheath, and the tip of the blade was raised diagonally and pointed towards the Great Wizard.

Lin Shu reminded him, “He could execute《Solitude》.”

Xiao Shao frowned slightly.

The Great Wizard’s smile was a little secretive. “I have no intention to fight with you.”

Xiao Shao, “I am intentionally picking a fight”

The Great Wizard coughed a few times, his face had some sort of sickly white pallor, and said slowly, “My cultivation is in the Land Immortal realm.”

Xiao Shao smirked and said, “As is mine.”

Lin Shu, “…”

Nirvana and rebirth.

The biggest trump card of the Phoenix cultivation method was to allow someone to forcibly reach a higher cultivation realm.

Xiao Shao was currently at the Crossing the Tribulation realm, so he could reach the Land Immortal realm.

A ghost of a smile also appeared on The Great Wizard’s face. “You, Little Phoenix… Your wings aren’t even fully grown, you should not have come here.”

Xiao Shao, “You manifested within an illusion, not in reality, with the intention to cause disturbance in our states of mind, to win without striking a blow…… I expect that your true self is extremely feeble, today will be the day you die.”

Lin Shu silently listened to their conversation.

Xiao Shao’s words were learnt from a past cla.s.s.

In the beginning, there were many courses in the Academy, one of which taught disciples how to talk to the enemy.

The Great Wizard said, “If I am able to gain victory within this illusion, why should I personally strike a blow?”

Lin Shu felt that the Great Wizard had also attended the same cla.s.s.

They then spoke for a while, a flood of babbling banter.

Watching in silence, Lin Shu suddenly felt that from a certain angle, the figures of these two people were somewhat similar.

But upon a second look, the differences were again very great.

He was about to take a closer look, these two people already stopped bantering, and it was unknown who had made the first move, perhaps they had both made their moves at the same time —— there was no more rambling, nonsense banter, each had drawn their blade.

Both blades were the Guiltless Blade.

Fiendish Qi and Blood Qi, filled the room in an instant.

The demon blades meet with a clang, black qi entangling.

Xiao Shao used “The Unchanging River”.

The Great Wizard blocked with “The Unchanging River”.

Xiao Shao used “Autumn’s Grief”.

The Great Wizard replied with “Autumn’s Grief”.

These identical moves were all from 《Solitude》, but the styles of execution were very different. Xiao Shao’s way was bleak and solitary, while the Great Wizard’s moves were extremely evil and fiendish, heavy with malicious Qi.

Why did the Great Wizard know how to use these blade skills?

Lin Shu was certain that with regards to the last few moves of 《Solitude》, even he had never witnessed them.

In a flash, he suddenly saw Xiao Shao alter his moves!

The trajectory of this trick was extremely difficult to describe, untraceable and undetectable, completely integrated and mysterious, br.i.m.m.i.n.g with energy, akin to a hundred rivers flowing back to the sea, or an exhausted bird returning to its nest.

In the midst of this fierce battle, as if riding the waves, this slash was like a brushstroke from Heaven, directly cutting towards the Great Wizard’s face.

Lin Shu recognized the move.

This style is called “Homeward Boat”, and it was not a blade technique from《Solitude》, nor was it part of the inheritance of Phoenix Mountain Villa.

This was a set of blade moves Xiao Shao created on his own many years ago.

And it… was created because of him (Lin Shu), he (Xiao Shao) said that it was because Lin Shu was quiet and obedient, causing his (Xiao Shao)’s state of mind to be pacified significantly, bringing him some inspiration that allowed him to create this set of blade techniques.

The Great Wizard obliquely retracted his blade and drew a strange trajectory to block this move.

The glare from Xiao Shao’s blade changed direction, blade Qi descending quickly in a flurry, like a snowstorm moving forward, sealing off any areas of retreat for the Great Wizard.

With a stroke of the Great Wizard’s right hand, countless blade shadows materialized mid-air, colliding with Xiao Shao’s blade glare, countering it!

This move was also familiar to Lin Shu, it was called “Snowy Night”, and the inspiration for it arose from the time that they had roasted mice together during a snowy night, many years ago.

The moves of the Great Wizard were unknown.

He lightly breathed a sigh of relief.

As Xiao Shao stopped using 《Solitude》 and other advanced swordsmanship of Phoenix Mountain Villa, and instead used the miscellaneous techniques and his own creation from earlier years, the background of these two people now did not look like they came from the same source.

Although the outcome was still unknown, at least it wasn’t as… strange as previously.

After facing each other for a quarter of an hour, the two had crossed thousands of moves. After a stalemate, Xiao Shao’s impeccable martial arts skills suddenly showed a flaw.

Lin Shu just wanted to speak, but swallowed his words back down.

In the whole world, aside from his own martial arts abilities, the martial arts skills that he understood the best, were Xiao Shao’s.

This person was doing it (showing a flaw) on purpose.

He saw Xiao Shao suddenly slashing horizontally to the right, his move bringing with it the momentum of wind and thunder, in the same manner that he had used to break down the walls, aimed at the room next door.

What was in the next room was that ‘Shen’ creature.

The ‘Shen’ let out a low hissing, the entire tower suddenly trembled and shook.

Lin Shu understood the intentions, and immediately drew out his sword, with the sword aura cleaving asunder the wall, revealing a huge hole.

After which, he proceeded to kill the ‘Shen’.

The shaking of the tower intensified, and the illusion was about to break.

The figure of the Great Wizard also began to fluctuate in an illusionary manner

Xiao Shao, “Who are you?”

The Great Wizard, “You are determined to kill me?”

Xiao Shao, “I am determined to kill you.”

The Great Wizard smiled, “Then… this humble one would have no choice but to be determined to kill you.”

The sound of his voice fell, and the surrounding environment was utterly destroyed. Everything in front of Lin Shu’s eyes spun crazily, and when he once again opened his eyes, he was already standing on the fifth floor of the tower, next to a dead ‘Shen’.

The Xiao Shao standing next to him was still Xiao Shao, and not the Miss Danzhu of reality.

Lin Shu, “Is this still an illusion?”

Xiao Shao, “Does not seem like.”

The stairway that had originally disappeared, once again appeared in front of them. The wooden staircase was very long, twisting and turning upwards, leading towards a deeply secluded stone gate.

This tower originally only had six floors – if they ascended one more level, it should be where the Great Wizard’s true body was.

In accordance with Xiao Shao’s speculation earlier, the Great Wizard’s attempt to repel them with an illusion…. might portend that this person’s true body might really be weaker.

Lin Shu took out the bronze dice, using his true body to enter, confirming that Qingming Cave could be entered normally.

His Elder Martial Brother was still floating about in the hall and after seeing him, greeted him, “Junior Martial Brother!”

Lin Shu replied with a “Senior Martial Brother”, with the intention of exiting, but was stopped by the cry of “Junior Martial Brother don’t leave!”

Lin Shu. “Hmm?”

Senior Brother waved his finger towards the corner. “Your cat sneaked in without my noticing it! It’s trembling over there (in the corner), could it be sick?”

Lin Shu looked at the corner.

In the dark corner, with two glowing green eyes, came a feeble cat sound, “Miao.”

Then the cat walked haltingly and hesitantly out.

Lin Shu, “Are you going to follow me?”

The cat’s voice trembled, “Miao.”

Lin Shu picked up the extremely frightened black cat and returned to reality.

Xiao Shao looked at the cat. “Don’t be afraid.”

The cat buried his face into Lin Shu’s chest, terrified.

They continued to ascend the stairs.

The flight of steps was very long, seemingly endless.

Xiao Shao suddenly said, “The Great Wizard asking about your Heartless Dao, it was probably intended for me to hear, using this to affect my state of mind”

Lin Shu thought for a while and asked, “Does it bother you?”

Xiao Shao halted his footsteps.

Lin Shu looked up at him.

Xiao Shao said, “With regards to this matter, of course you wouldn’t be aware.”

Lin Shu tilted his head.

Xiao Shao’s eyes were filled with a slight smiling intent, “Baby actually likes me very much.”

Lin Shu, “Why so?”

Xiao Shao said, “Come here.”

Lin Shu leaned against him.

Xiao Shao took the shivering scaredy cat from his arms, placed it on the handrail of the stairs, and then tugged on his hand, “If you like someone, do you know what you should do?”

Lin Shu shook his head.

“Before I came into your life, many years ago,” Xiao Shao said softly, “No one liked you, therefore… My Baby would not know what to do in case he liked someone”

Lin Shu looked towards Xiao Shao.

Xiao Shao’s voice was a little hoa.r.s.e, and gathered him into his embrace, saying, “When you don’t know what to do, you will be obedient, that’s why you are so well behaved.”

Lin Shu quietly leaned on Xiao Shao’s chest, with nowhere to put his hands, he gently grasped the hem of Xiao Shao’s clothes.

His heart was blank, seemingly understanding, yet seemingly not.