Chapter 59: One Does Not Know What Year It Is in the Heavens This Evening
“Don"t you dare!”
Duan Xilai was already regretting his words as soon as he uttered them. A member of the Duan family had been instkilled before he had even said that, so Master Thirteen had basically forced him to eat his words even before they had come out of his mouth, thereby putting him in a very awkward situation.
His threat hadn"t even been delivered before it was thrown back into his face.
Many people were astonished by Master Thirteen"s determination. One had to realize that Zhang Wuleng was present, and he represented the mayor"s forces. To a certain extent, he was an amba.s.sador of the kingdom"s laws. Killing someone right in front of him was the equivalent to disregarding the law. The Duan family had intended to do the same thing, but no one had been as direct as him; how could he just kill someone in the blink of an eye, without even batting an eyelid?
What was even more shocking was that no one could see how Master Thirteen had attacked. He didn"t even appear to have moved at all, but was able to instantly take one"s life.
Such unfathomable a.s.sa.s.sination methods were much more terrifying than the two fearsome tigers in the sky.
The only ones who had an inkling toward what was going on were Duan Xilai and Duan Hongxue.
The two of them stood in the air with solemn expressions, and activated their divine sense at the same time. Through doing so, they were able to use divine sense communication, which was an ability that only warriors at the Spirit Martial Stage or above could use. It basically allowed them to communicate with their will, without anyone noticing any conversation going on between them.
Duan Xilai: “Uncle, did you sense that? The thing that Yan Thirteen used to kill was most likely his Battle Spirit.”
Duan Hongxue: “I did sense it a little bit, but it was too faint and I could only detect an indistinct killing intent. His Battle Spirit is very rare; it"s virtually invisible to the naked eye, and also very difficult to detect through the use of divine sense. Even though it doesn"t possess ma.s.sive power like our Beast Battle Spirits, it"s very mysterious and fearsome… He may not be able to instkill everyone from the Duan family, but taking out several dozens at once is definitely not beyond him!”
Duan Xilai: “Then, what do we do? If we can"t eliminate Yan Thirteen… then we are in a very bad situation!”
Duan Hongxue: “What else can we do? We can only concede! From the looks of it, he"s intent on protecting Qi Ying, and that Qi Ying is no ordinary kid either. To top it off, that blind woman feels even more dangerous than Yan Thirteen to me. When Qi Ying was injured, I sensed a power emanating from her body that sent chills down my spine… Perhaps it was an illusion, but I feel like it"s best not to push them any further today. We"ve already lost Gucheng and Jinhong; our Duan family can"t afford to incur any more losses!”
Duan Xilai was unwilling to give up. “So we"re just going to run away?”
Duan Hongxue: “It"s just a tactical retreat! We can think of ways to take them down in the future. After all, our Duan family has more people and more resources. In contrast, Yan Thirteen"s forces can"t be displayed out in the open, so we hold the advantage here. Let"s retreat for now and devise a course of action first!”
Everyone stared intently at the three people in the sky with bated breath. They didn"t know if an epic battle was about to take place. Many people had lived their whole lives without witnessing a battle between Spirit Martial Stage warriors; if it really were to eventuate, it would be a spectacular sight to behold!
From what they could see, Duan Xilai and Duan Hongxue"s expressions became grimmer and grimmer, and all of a sudden, the two ma.s.sive black tigers in the sky disappeared. The two of them then descended onto the ground in succession.
“Members of the Duan family, we"re going home!”
Duan Xilai"s dejected voice sounded.
Whoosh!
Duan Xilai supported Duan Gucheng to his feet before carrying him into the air. Everyone else from the Duan family shared looks before helping each other up. They carried the bodies of Duan Jinhong, and all of their other fallen comrades, before departing from the scene.
“Let"s go!” Zhang Wuleng turned to Qi Ying with an intrigued expression before also commanding his subordinates to leave.
“All disciples, return to the academy!” Gu Shiwei issued a command, and all of the elders and teachers ushered the disciples back.
An Ruyi hurried over in Qi Ying"s direction, but An Ping stopped her once again. “Let"s go back as well, young mistress! These matters are far too chaotic for us to intervene.”
Anyone with a brain could tell that the Duan family only conceded as they were fearful of Yan Thirteen"s mysterious a.s.sa.s.sination methods, and they didn"t want to engage in a battle to the death. However, a grudge had well and truly been established between the Duan family, Qi Ying and Yan Thirteen. A time would definitely come when a victor emerged, while the other party died. If anyone were to get too close to one of those parties, it would be like playing with fire. As such, it was best to stay away from them and a.s.sess the situation from afar.
Soon, only about a dozen people were left from the ma.s.sive crowds that had gathered. Those people consisted of Lu Feifei and her entourage, as well as Master Thirteen and the four black-robed guards.
Lu Zuo and Lu You brought out their pills and meditated to facilitate recovery. Lu Feifei"s other servants and the black-robed guards helped Qi Ying up before carrying him into the courtyard, where they administered treatment to him. Thus, there were only three people left.
They were Xuan Yu, Yan Thirteen, and Lu Feifei.
Lu Feifei appraised Yan Thirteen and that woman with curiosity in her eyes.
She discovered that the woman wasn"t particularly stunning; she could only be said to be very beautiful, and seemed to grow more appealing the more one looked at her. Even though she was in quite a disheveled state at the moment, one could still sense a refreshing disposition emanating from her.
She had seen countless men, but even more women, and she had never found anyone on her level, with that refined and elegant air about her. The only ones with similar dispositions were those who were well above her in status, and comparing herself to them struck her with a sense of inferiority.
Yan Thirteen made his way over to that woman and appraised her carefully, as if he were trying to recall something.
Meanwhile, the white-robed woman stood on the spot without moving, and there was a hint of a smile on her face.
After a while, Yan Thirteen abruptly broke the silence. “When did the bright moon first appear? One raises their cup and asks the clear sky.”
The woman replied in a gentle voice. “One does not know what year it is in the heavens this evening.”
Whoosh!
Yan Thirteen suddenly fell to his knees with an animated expression, and even his voice was trembling a little. “Thirteen pays his respects to Mistress Yu Xuan!”
Lu Feifei looked on in astonishment at the scene unfolding before her eyes. Who could that woman be, to make the mysterious and powerful Yan Thirteen fall to his knees? And he was referring to her as “mistress”…At that moment, something suddenly rushed into her mind, and her field of vision darkened. Her consciousness suddenly blurred, and she swayed before falling headfirst onto the gra.s.slands beneath her.
When Qi Ying was carried away by the black-robed guards, his body fell completely limp and he couldn"t muster up so much as a shred of strength. That familiar sense of debilitation returned, and he fainted on the spot. After a long period of murkiness, his consciousness finally returned to him, and he opened his eyes. He discovered that he was back in Lu Feifei"s room, and lying on that same soft bed. There was a thin blanket covering his body, which was completely nude.
He raised his left hand and his arm was still a little sore. He pulled his left arm out from under the blanket to find that his glove and spatial ring had both been removed. There were two boards tied to his arm as a makeshift cast, and those were wrapped in bandages. At the same time, there was also a layer of bandages strapped to his left leg.
“Phew… Is it all over?”
Thinking back to what had happened on the mountain behind the academy, Qi Ying still felt as if he were in a dream.