Chapter 422
Whispers Abound (VI)
Zhou Yun felt regret the likes of which she never felt before in her life. If she had known this would be her fate, she would have scratched and clawed and bit to run away on her own, away from her father, from the city, and especially from these people that promised her 'safety'.
Was this safety?
She'd just been kidnapped in broad daylight by a slew of extremely powerful cultivators that were clearly Elders of one of the Holy Lands, as there were more than a few dozen people who witnessed the whole ordeal yet did nothing to help. Even if the three kids managed to get away, what of it? She was doomed to die, a casualty of some other kid's arrogance.
Speaking of them, she turned her head to the side and saw that they all were rather relaxed. All of them had been tossed into some kind of a dungeon bereft of Qi through a set of arrays, with just a mortal torch burning past the steel bars as the only source of light.
Especially the boy, whom she thought rather handsome at some point. But he was just an arrogant ass who was going to lead her to death!
"New sister, are you scared?" the youngest boy suddenly crawled over toward her and asked, a bit of blood and dirt smeared across his face.
"N-no, of course not!" She tried to be strong as she didn't want to see him panicking. "We're going to be fine, don't you worry."
"I'm not worried," the boy replied. "Master will come save us."
Zhou Yun forced a smile, trying to agree but failing to voice the words. They would not be saved; if they even ignored the Alchemist's identity, they would ignore the identity of a random man without a sect. The Holy Lands only listened to other Holy Lands, and even that rather tentatively.
That Elder felt crossed, and there was only one outcome for those who caused him to feel that way: death.
"Brother Tao, she is scared," the little boy announced, causing her to wince.
"Nothing wrong with being scared, Little Feng." It wasn't 'Brother Tao' who responded, but rather the other boy with them.
"Are you scared, too, Brother Rayce?"
"Ho ho, of course not. I have you to protect me, no?"
"Heh. Of course! I will protect Brother Rayce no matter what!"
"I feel much safer already."
"Hah," a callous sneer broke out from the darkness. "You lot truly are rotten to still have not shown a shred of remorse." It was that same Elder Zhou Yun recognized. "Well? Why are you so quiet? Where is the bravado you showcased that day?"
"Six Little Empyrean Arrays," 'Brother Tao' finally spoke up, having not uttered a word ever since they were kidnapped. At the same time, he slowly stood up and walked over to the steel bars, his fingertips tracing over them. "Twelve auxiliary Qi-drenching arrays. And a few resoundingly pathetic attempts to replicate the Heaven-Sealing Array. What a joke."
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Zhou Yun's eyes widened as she watched his finger press forward rather gently, and yet, under even that little pressure, the entire set of bars melted into sludge and ash. She immediately felt Qi rush through her meridians as it flooded the dungeon.
"I've warned you on that day," Brother Tao continued. Oddly enough, the Elder stayed rooted in place, not speaking. No... looking at him, Zhou Yun realized it wasn't that he didn't speak; it was that he couldn't. His entire body appeared sealed in a thin prism of light. "And yet, you came back. I had always wondered how insipid morons like you live for as long as you do. Why does Dao, in its endless wisdom, allow you to live? To thieve away from it?"
Brother Tao walked up to the old man who stood about a head and a half taller than him--not for long, though, as the latter suddenly plummeted to his knees, kicking up the dirt and yelping.
"Immortal Sword Haven," Brother Tao mumbled, his voice wholly perfused with mockery. "I suppose any dog these days dares call themselves immortal. Do you even know what that word stands for? There are only four places anywhere that deserve that name, which the likes of you, I imagine, have never even heard of. And yet, here we are, in some depthless backwater of children dubbing themselves immortal. You know what an immortal would never do, you waste of life? They'd never twist their hand onto a child. They'd never gloat like malignant tumors. And, most of all, they'd never kneel. Not unto death."
Each word, spoken with abject apathy, was like a blade thrust into Zhou Yun's heart. The way that boy spoke... it was as though all of this was unworthy of him. As though the entire concept of holy lands were a mere joke. He didn't seem to hate them, not even the elder who kidnapped them; it was more that he was just... bemused.
"W-w-w-who... who are you?" the Elder finally spoke up, likely because he was finally allowed to.
The boy's expression dropped even further, his gaze full of scorn.
"That's it? That's your question?" he said.
"What a dummy," Little Feng sounded out in the midst of it. "It's Brother Tao! We said it many times!"
"Stupid Feng," the youngest girl sounded out immediately after, with Zhou Yun thinking she was reprimanding the boy for revealing Brother Tao's identity. "It's Senior Brother Tao."
"A-ah! Yes! Forgive me, Senior Brother!"
Was... was this why they were so relaxed? So indifferent to being held hostage by a Holy Land? Was it that they knew this somewhat handsome boy held the ability to simply free them at a whim?
"Forget it," Brother Tao sighed, with a sword suddenly appearing in his hand. "I've wasted too many words on you."
"W-wait, Brother Tao!" Zhou Yun voiced out in panic, prompting him to look back at her with a quizzical look. "D-don't, don't kill him!"
"... why?"
"W-why? Because... because he's an Elder of a Holy Land!" she exclaimed.
"So?"
"So... why would you anger them just before we enter the Secret Realm? Do you want to paint the target on us?"
"That's cute." His lips twisted into a grin as he slashed. She didn't see it--not the action, just its aftermath. The head flew off clean, blood spraying out yet stopping imminently before dirtying the boy's robes, the droplets continuing to float midair for a moment. "It's not us who are the targets, little one," he added, putting away the sword. "They are."
She felt a shudder tear through her body, her limbs giving out. Had she been standing, she would have no doubt faltered and fell.
"Should we kill them all, stupid Tao?" the youngest voiced out as she got up and joined him at the front. Oddly, she had no marks on her--not a drop of blood or dirt or dust.
"No," he said. "Let's go back to Master. He's probably worried."
"... we caused Master undue worry. If you knew that, why did you let them take us?!"
"You let them take us, too."
"I was following your lead!" she whined.
"And I was following yours."
"... humph. Wait until I tell Master! You deserve a beating!"
"Why... why did you let us get taken?" Zhou Yun dared to ask, realizing that there was no coming back from this. They were effectively at war with Immortal Sword Haven Sect from here on. "You clearly could have stopped it."
"Before you judge an entire sect," he replied. "You examine the breadth of their actions. It's clear this moron found a few of his friends and paid them off, and the Sect itself left largely uninvolved."
"O-oh."
Does... does that mean that if the entire sect 'was' involved, he was... he was ready to kill them ALL?
She had to run.
Not from the Holy Lands, not from her father, no.
She had to run from these people.
Harbingers of chaos.
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