Chapter 192 — Section 194: Guizhao's Answer [First Update]

Hoo... hoo... hoo...

The crowd stood like statues, rhythmic snores filling their ears, audible near and far. In the very center of the hall, Tang Tang lay face-up in deep slumber, mouth wide open, drool running from the corner of his lips.

Xia An was like a charred statue, utterly motionless. In his chest gaped five holes punched clean through, a horrifying sight. His eyes were wide open, and there was no breath in him at all.

Guizhao straightened up with an indifferent expression. His ashen eyes held a keener edge than usual—like a rusty blade ground down through layer after layer of corrosion, revealing the sharpness within.

He turned and walked toward Tang Tang. Thud—the sound of Xia An collapsing came from behind him.

Guizhao did not pause for even a step. Beneath his placid face, his heart churned without cease.

The colors of that scene beneath the sky of years past had not yet faded... the vow once spoken in the wind still echoed at his ear... You must keep living... You must fight with everything you have...

Guizhao, are you willing?

Even if you are broken and incomplete, even if you are old and blunted in your twilight years, even if everything is like flowers in a mirror and the moon in water—blurred, indistinct, out of reach—even if in the end it all comes to nothing?

Guizhao, tell me, are you willing?

Tell me... say it... say it aloud...

To the sky you remember, to the earth that will bury you, to your own heart—broken, incomplete, silent, dead—

Say it aloud!

As Guizhao paced toward Tang Tang, it was as though a flame burned in his chest, scorching him until he found it hard to breathe. No—how could he possibly breathe?

Guizhao tugged at his stiffened face. And yet... this feeling was truly wonderful!

I am still alive...

Truly, genuinely alive...

He halted abruptly. The wind he had stirred up crashed against his back and burst outward with a roar. Two hoarse, stiff words rode those surging currents, resolute as a written challenge, carried to the sky, to the earth, to every corner of his own heart.

"Come on!"

He paid no heed to the stunned gazes around him, nor to the lingering echoes drifting in the wind. The surging flame abruptly subsided to stillness, and he set forth once more.

Guizhao, your war has begun.

Are you afraid? Frightened? Craven?

Silent and wordless, in the dead hush, Guizhao came to Tang Tang's side, turned, and swept his gaze across the hall. That biting gaze was strong liquor splashed across a blade's edge, cowing the assembled hosts just as it had in years gone by.

He closed his eyes, lowered his brows, and sheathed the cold blade.

A collective sound of relief actually rippled through the hall. The pressure Guizhao exerted was too great—that formless weight pressed upon every heart with almost physical force, leaving them all short of breath.

The elders Marquis of Wu and Marquis of Ming wore unchanged expressions, yet inwardly they too were shaken.

Grandmaster-level martial technique!

That gaunt old man just now had most certainly used a grandmaster-level martial technique. Both the Marquis of Wu and the Marquis of Ming were Heaven's Path-rank martial artists, and the two elders' strength was even more unfathomable—yet even so, not one of the four had mastered a grandmaster-level martial technique.

A grandmaster-level martial technique demanded both talent and diligence in equal measure; thus those who mastered one were exceedingly few. Every single person capable of mastering a grandmaster-level martial technique was a genius among geniuses.

"Doesn't it look like the Fire Sickle Ghost Claw of the Radiant Inkstone?" Elder Yun asked Elder Lin in a lowered voice.

Elder Lin nodded at first, then shook his head. "It looks very much like it. But the Fire Sickle Ghost Claw ranks third among the Radiant Inkstone's fifth-rank claw techniques—do you think this looks like a fifth-rank claw technique?"

"It doesn't!" Elder Yun shook his head decisively. "A fifth-rank claw technique could never have such power! Even if Guizhao himself were here, it would be absolutely impossible to wield a fifth-rank technique to such a degree!"

"Mm, I don't think so either." Elder Lin's voice was low. "This claw technique is at least sixth-rank; I suspect it might even be seventh. But it could never be fifth—I refuse to believe the Radiant Inkstone would make such a mistake."

"That one holding the bronze flute—I keep feeling I must have seen him somewhere, but I can't place it for the moment." Elder Yun's eyes drifted toward the Magic Flute again and again.

"You'd best not say it—now that you mention it, I think I have some impression too." Elder Lin's expression was grave. "In that case, the soul general with the bronze flute is likely no nameless figure either."

"That frame-type mechanism duo should be the Southern Cross Legion's bronze war armor. That they could get their hands on such a thing—their methods truly reach the heavens; their backing runs deep." Elder Yun shared the sentiment, and suddenly found the problem rather thorny.

The factions within Black Soul were as numerous as hairs on an ox, even more exaggerated than the Radiant Inkstone, and there were many hidden factions besides—ones even those inside Black Soul often could not make clear.

Black Soul was a place where dragons and fish mingled, its personnel of exceedingly complex origins, and its internal competition far fiercer than anything without. This had to do with Black Soul's philosophy of survival: Black Soul revered competition, more so than the Radiant Inkstone. And Black Soul's history was immeasurably long; for ages beyond reckoning, Black Soul had dwelled more in darkness and shadow.

Only in backwater corners like the Tianxing Star Cluster would Black Soul pour in effort, treating it as a low-tier base.

Black Soul's influence was hidden more in darkness and shadow. Through vast, invisible webs they seized astonishing wealth; their silhouettes could be faintly glimpsed in nearly every great historical event.

Their organization seemed loose, yet in truth it was exceedingly tight.

This too was why they could contend with the Radiant Inkstone, why they had survived across such an endless span of years. No one knew where Black Soul's headquarters lay; no one knew who Black Soul's core figures were. Black Soul itself was layer upon layer of fog.

Actual territory held little meaning for Black Soul.

Even if a base like the Tianxing Star Cluster were discovered by an enemy, the loss to Black Soul would be pitifully small. To the elders, the loss would be even smaller—the higher one stood, the more one knew, the more one dreaded and grew cautious of this world.

The two elders could not fathom Tang Duo's origins, and so grew all the more cautious.

They knew well how vast Black Soul was, how vast the world was. They had come here on a mission; they would complete it, earn their points and reward. If not for the decent pay and lack of danger, who among them would be willing to come to such a remote, unknown corner?

Even if the Tianxing Star Cluster were destroyed, to them it would merely mean a failed mission—no need to offend a family scion who might have deep backing. For that would usually mean battle, and they did not like battle.

"Then let us wait," said Elder Lin, thoroughly seasoned. He was advanced in years and full of patience.

"Agreed!" Elder Yun concurred as well.

What the two feared most was that the other party bore hostility toward Black Soul, in which case conflict would be unavoidable. At their age, further gains in strength were exceedingly difficult; they had come here merely to coast along, and battle was something to be avoided whenever possible.

Guizhao's grandmaster-level martial technique a moment ago had overawed them.

The two elders, of noble standing, waited there obediently, and everyone else did not dare so much as breathe aloud.

The scene was utterly bizarre.