HSSB280: Yan Zhaoge’s three sentences
Shi Songtao came to where those captured Broad Creed Mountain martial practitioners were, raising his head to look at Shi Tie.
A low, hoarse voice resounded, “Now, there are seven on my left, and fifteen on my right.”
Shi Songtao raised his head to look at Shi Tie, “If I say that I will wipe out all of those on one side, which side do you think it would be better for me to choose?”
Shi Tie’s eyes emanated a cold, pressuring light, his palm that was on the surface of the golden tower moving slightly, but not shifting away.
He extended his free hand towards Shi Songtao, but was blocked by Sima Chui’s attacking lance.
Shi Songtao said in an indifferent tone, “With your cultivation base, if you stop suppressing the formation’s core, even with the ‘Scaly Dragon King’ blocking you, you would be able to kill all of us over from this distance.”
“However, you can’t not care about the grand formation guiding the descent of the Nine Underworlds, right?”
Shi Songtao swivelled his head to look towards those Broad Creed Mountain martial practitioners, “Your predicament now is like mine that year.”
“As compared to the consequences that the descent of the Nine Underworlds would bring about, possibly killing twenty thousand, two hundred thousand, two million people or even more, the lives of you twenty or so people, in Shi Tie’s heart, appear insignificant.”
Of those Broad Creed Mountain martial practitioners, some bore complicated expressions, while others stubbornly glared furiously at Shi Songtao.
Shi Songtao looked at Shi Tie, “In that case,, I already know your answer to my question.”
He looked left and right, “Seven people and fifteen people-you would definitely wish to secure the fifteen.”
Shi Songtao laughed lightly, “The side with more people, right?”
Looks of despair instantly surfaced on the faces of the seven Broad Creed Mountain martial practitioners to his left.
Still, Shi Songtao was not in a hurry to make his move as he instead swivelled his head to look towards his right, “But with these fifteen remaining people, if I were to split them into five on one side, and ten on the other, which side would you choose to secure?”
Shi Tie’s gaze hardened.
Shi Songtao said mildly, “Still the side with the more people? That means securing ten, and forsaking five?”
“Very fitting with your style, but…” Shi Songtao spread his hands towards the sides as he said coldly, “That way, the people who lived would be ten, and the people who died would be twelve. Which side would be more, and which side would be less?”
Shi Tie looked at Shi Songtao, not speaking for a long time.
Shi Songtao’s gaze similarly focused on that big figure hovering in mid-air.
“Senior apprentice-brother Shi, I’ll interrupt you for a moment,” Yan Zhaoge suddenly said, “My words are not many, only consisting of three sentences.”
“The first sentence is that many a time, in many matters, it is not a simple choice of more or less. With eldest apprentice-uncle’s personality, if he really were to choose, I feel that he would not choose to sacrifice the greater number, nor sacrifice the smaller number, and would instead choose to sacrifice himself.”
Yan Zhaoge looked at Shi Songtao, “There is an old saying that it is none other than the father who knows the son best. Flip it around and it still holds some meaning. I feel that your understanding of eldest apprentice-uncle should be deeper than mine.”
Shi Songtao’s gaze moved from Shi Tie over to Yan Zhaoge as he remained coldly indifferent and silent.
Yan Zhaoge met his gaze calmly, “The second sentence, is actually a question.”
“Sister Yuzhen and Jun’er-are they already dead, or are they like how you are now?”
Shi Songtao’s wife, surnamed Ying, named Yuzhen, was a solitary practitioner by birth. Having gotten acquainted with Shi Songtao, the two had gotten on splendidly, eventually getting married, living happily together.
Afterwards, the son they had borne had been given the name Shi Jun. It was still a name that the old Chief, Yuan Zhengfeng had helped to come up with.
The days after Shi Jun had been born had been the happiest times for Shi Tie’s and Shi Songtao’s family.
Sadly, the good times did not last, as that disaster befell soon after.
Shi Songtao’s family of three all encountered danger, and disappeared without a trace, making recovering their bodies not possible at all.
Today, Shi Songtao had reappeared once more, but Ying Yuzhen and Shi Jun were still nowhere to be seen.
As Yan Zhaoge, Shi Tie and Xu Fei looked at Shi Songtao’s appearance which resembled that of a wounded lone wolf, their hearts all sunk.
Rather than Xu Fei or Shi Tie, this question was finally still asked by Yan Zhaoge.
Hearing it, Shi Songtao abruptly sucked in a deep breath, the rage and pain within his gaze more visibly intense than before.
Looking at Shi Songtao, Yan Zhaoge slowly said, “The third sentence…”
Now, Yan Zhaoge suddenly moved!
The cloak formed of the feathers of cranes on his shoulders abruptly flipped open, transforming into two massive wings, which shook as he shot towards Shi Songtao’s group at lightning speed!
Yan Zhaoge’s right eye flickered with the purplish-green light of lightning. The next moment, a round purple orb appeared above his head.
An old, ancient aura emanated as flickering with the light of thunder, the orb suddenly moved!
Resembling a human eye, it lightly blinked.
Rumblerumblerumblerumble!
With the intense roar of lightning, the sphere of light transformed into a thunderbolt, instantly ripping space apart!
The speed of the thunderbolt was such that no one was able to react to it at all, as it shot towards that white-haired old man who was a late Spirit Vessel Martial Grandmaster.
Resembling the descent of heavenly thunderbolts, destroying all taint and evil!
The moment Yan Zhaoge moved, that white-haired old man was alerted to it.
The acupoints of his entire body pulsed as his aura-qi circulated, in an effort to flash away and evade.
However, the thunderbolt was truly too fast!
It was so quick that his mind and his body were completely unable to react at all. He was left with no time to think or make judgements, and not even the most instinctive of reactions were able to be executed!
Following Yan Zhaoge’s ascent to the Martial Grandmaster realm, when wielding the Eye of the Thunder Emperor fragment and fully blazing and unleashing An Instant’s Thunder, his power truly skyrocketed!
Rumblerumblerumblerumble!
The thunderbolt exploded over the white-haired old man’s head, shattering the aura-qi guarding his body, shattering the armour guarding him.
It went on to quickly reduce his highly-tempered fleshly body, even tougher than most metals, into a gory haze of blood!
Instakill!
Direct instakill!
A martial practitioner at the third level of the Martial Grandmaster realm, at the late Spirit Vessel stage, directly killed on the spot by An Instant’s Thunder!
From Yan Zhaoge having moved to the moment when the white-haired old man’s body was blown to smithereens, not even the time it takes to blink an eye had passed!
And extending the Immortal Crane Wings, Yan Zhaoge was instantly before them all.
A green sword-light that resembled an azure dragon crossing the heavens flashed by.
Of the five Martial Grandmasters of the Decimating Abyss, following the white-haired old man, another of them, an early Spirit Vessel Martial Grandmaster, was nailed to death on the spot!
Having already received reminders from Yan Zhaoge earlier via sound transmission with his aura-qi, Xu Fei and Ah Hu also rushed out, each dealing with one of the two remaining Decimating Abyss Martial Grandmasters.
At the same time, Yan Zhaoge arrived by Shi Songtao’s side.
Dim light shone in Shi Songtao’s hands as he struck out at Yan Zhaoge with a sword.
Intercrossing his hands, Yan Zhaoge shifted his body, continuously exerting force with his feet, resembling the shifting of stars as he instantly maneuvered behind Shi Songtao.
He hacked out with his left hand. With the rumbling of thunder, resembling a massive heaven-splitting blade, it hacked down on Shi Songtao’s sword-wielding arm!
As a muffled snapping sound resounded, Shi Songtao’s left elbow instantly fell limp, the sword within his hands falling to the ground.
“I will be offending you,” At the same time, Yan Zhaoge kicked out, stomping down on Shi Songtao’s knee.
Resembling a lumberjack hacking down a great tree with the swinging of a mighty axe, he directly forced Shi Songtao’s down onto the ground on one knee!
Yan Zhaoge extended his right hand, fingers forming a claw, as he grabbed onto Shi Songtao’s neck from behind, suppressing the latter till he was completely unable to move.
“The third sentence…” Yan Zhaoge exhaled, “Of my twenty-two fellow disciples here, senior apprentice-brother Shi, you will not be killing a single one of them.”
Accompanied by his words, only now did the white-haired old man’s flesh and blood, smitten by the thunderbolt, splatter down onto the ground in an all-encompassing rain of blood!