536 The Underworld Visits, The Haunting Temple as the Provenance (1/2)
With Yun Yang's current cultivation base and assistance from others, like Bai Yixue, he was not too worried despite the sticky situation he was now facing. He had inferred the other two assassin organizations' combat standard based on what he understood about the Concourse of the Underworld's capability. Even if they were to really engage in a violent duel, Yun Yang's side might not be at a disadvantage, especially when he shared a somewhat familiar relationship with Concourse of the Underworld; there was a huge chance that he could win them over.
But with the addition of the Four Seasons Tower, the three assassin organizations had become less significant.
”Pay close attention to the princes' actions. Watch the residences and houses of higher authorities closely, don't let even a minuscule move slip past your attention,” ordered Yun Yang.
”Yes.”
Shui Wuyin understood the situation perfectly well.
So many top-notch assassins had come in unison, forming an unprecedented level of risk. Those killers were trained to wait for the perfect chance, lurking in the dark, and would not usually enter big cities so quickly – to them, entering such a bustling city would greatly increase the possibility of them being exposed. Now, however, they had appeared simultaneously in the city! The seriousness of this issue couldn't be clearer.
It would be bizarre if no one had employed them! But that begs the question, who had employed these people? And who was their target?
The answer was blatant!
When night came, Yun Yang received Shui Wuyin's ceaseless supply of information.
Experts from certain schools had suddenly emerged. Those travelling in the night had suddenly increased in number. Someone had landed outside the city riding a flying mystical beast before they disappeared. A one-eyed man had come, it seemed like he was carrying a strange looking weapon.
The constant messages brewed a storm within Yun Yang. When midnight came, he was still silently waiting for any updates in his study.
A thick fog engulfed the Residence of Yu out of nowhere. Outside of the window, a ghostly wind billowed as a voice spoke, ”Young Master Yun, long time no see…”
Yun Yang smiled faintly and got up to open his window.
The ghostly mist that surrounded the house was suddenly churned up as the silhouette of a person abruptly appeared. The person wore a high hat, nodding at Yun Yang, ”Does Young Master Yun still remember me?”
First Court King Qinguang! An old enemy he had not met in a long time indeed!
Yun Yang let out a breath of relief when he saw who had come, saying, ”Your Highness King Qinguang, I actually feel relieved now that I see you're here safely.”
King Qinguang's face looked bitter, he would rather not look back at the past; drifting into Yun Yang's room, he picked up the teapot off the table and gulped its contents, shaking his head. ”It's a long story!”
Yun Yang sipped his tea grimly and said, ”The world is unpredictable. There are pros and cons. Your Highness' cultivation base now has improved leaps and bounds. Other than being surprised, I'm also very happy for you.”
King Qinguang rolled his eyes and replied, ”That's thanks to the trouble I got myself wrapped in previously. The Four Seasons Tower is not yet off our backs and we have to risk the advance, the process is more than deadly. Young Master Yun, this is all thanks to you.”
Yun Yang laughed and sipped his tea. ”No hurry. My time today is all yours. Let's talk through the night, from how it all began, in detail.”
King Qinguang snorted.
As he recounted the tale, Yun Yang finally understood why the Four Seasons Tower was so quiet and inactive for this time being.
”I'd rather not look back on the past! That time… that time, you really put me in a fatal spot.” First Court King Qinguang sighed, emptying the pot of tea in his hand, and continued glumly.
”You weren't there to personally experience it– how could you possibly understand that the attackers from the Four Seasons Tower that day were f*cking nuts. The Four Venerable Lords led their team of Four Seasons Tower's secret experts and wiped out every Concourse of the Underworld base in the whole martial world. Once it was discovered, it was an extreme battle of death.”
First Court King Qinguang said grimly, ”Do you know? We initially had one hundred and eight Gold ranked assassins in the Concourse of the Underworld. The fame and reputation of the concourse is largely from these people's efforts but in just this short half a year, a hundred and four of them were killed. The few lucky survivors only managed to stay alive by sheer dumb luck – all of them were severely injured!”
The corners of Yun Yang's lips twitched.
Yun Yang had thought about it before, that Concourse of the Underworld would face the Four Seasons Tower's revenge after that episode, but he had never expected the situation to be so devastating! In fact, Yun Yang had been following the battle between the tower and the concourse but these two parties were exceptionally talented. Before they came to the ultimate outcome, there was hardly any intel regarding their number of casualties. It wasn't until King Qinguang's narration that Yun Yang now knew for certain how crushing the battle between both the parties truly was.
His initial intention was to utilize the Concourse of the Underworld, and all their violent fighting, to ensure that the Four Seasons Tower would suffer immensely. Even if the Concourse of the Underworld was annihilated in the process, such an outcome would absolutely benefit Nine Supremes!
In spite of this, one must not only think about oneself – if he had only thought about being safe himself, the Concourse of the Underworld would only need to toss the fact that Yun Yang was the Nine Supremes' remaining Supreme Cloud and this information would suffice in erasing all grudges they had with the Four Seasons Tower; they could even milk the tower for whatever they could and the Four Seasons Tower would easily comply. Yet the concourse had willingly shouldered the grudge themselves – this was the greatest kindness they could have possibly shown. If Yun Yang did not requite such kindness, he would be a disappointment indeed!
”There's no need to be so shocked. It wasn't only us who suffered from damages, the Four Seasons Tower didn't have it going well for them too. Their forty-eight top-notch experts, besides the Five Venerable Lords and Four Supreme Lords, are about half gone now, killed by us. No more than ten of them are left now. We've even broken the meridians of Venerable Lord Ice from the Four Venerable Lords connected to his heart – he won't live for long.”
”We've also killed as many as three of the accompanying experts of the Four Seasons Tower who are said to be on par with the Five Venerable Lords. They're really tough characters, parallel to the Five Venerable Lords, as their men were really impressive.”
Hearing this, Yun Yang asked in concern, ”To make Four Seasons Tower suffer such damage, I believe the Ten Court Kings must have also suffered losses, other than losing most of your one hundred and eight Gold ranked assassins?”
Yun Yang had asked the question in earnest. From a certain perspective, he felt a sense of loss from the massive casualty of the concourse's Gold ranked assassins but it would be worst if the Ten Court Kings, alongside King Qinguang, had suffered any reduction of members. Although Yun Yang had only met the Ten Court Kings once, not even long enough for a proper conversation, they had a left a deep impression on him; Yun Yang shared a special emotional connection with the Ten Court Kings, just like the reflection of his Nine Supremes brothers. Brotherhood was always the weakest and most vulnerable part of Yun Yang's being. If King Qinguang were to say that there was really a loss of members among the Ten Court Kings, the blow to Yun Yang would be about the same as when he heard his Nine Supremes brothers' passing!
”Don't worry. Who are we, the ten kings of the underworld – we're all still here, no one's missing.”
King Qinguang looked proud but his face fell immediately after his words, as he continued, ”I'm telling you, kid, don't even think about tricking my brothers. Ten of us are alive but we're all heavily wounded. Those who still have intact combat power now are only two brothers and me.”
First Court King Qinguang sighed, ”The Concourse of the Underworld, that's usually so renowned in the world and is always referred to as the top assassin organization, is now ruined after this battle. The average combat power we have now is not even a fragment of what we used to be.”
Yun Yang coughed and asked in surprise, ”What do you mean? You just said that so many from the Four Seasons Tower have died while the ten kings of the concourse are all alive and well. You guys have obviously gained the upper hand here! Don't wallow in self-pity– we weren't that familiar with each other previously thus I thought only of utilizing you and be done with it. But I won't do the same now or else I would look down on myself too!”
First Court King Qinguang chuckled, but it was void of humor, ”I'm really not pitying myself. The reason all ten of us brothers could survive is because we've paid a huge price for it. Our master, to make sure all of us survive, he's gone against the Four Seasons Tower's Autumn Wind, Summer Thunder, and Winter Snow alone in the Annihilation Valley battle. He gave his all and it ended in a devastating outcome for both sides – the enemy retreated with injuries while my master…has fallen into a comatose state since that day until now.”
”The current Concourse of the Underworld is really left with ten of us tattered brothers and four Gold ranked assassins. Our forces right now can barely withstand another attack. Furthermore, this martial world has nowhere else for us to go!”