Hidden Versus Darkness
“… Mr. An?”
Tang Ye could still feel the invasive cold qi in him when he rose. Accordingly, Su Xiao was out cold. Tang Ye owed his ability to move to his two Yang styles and enriched experience in dealing with the cold.
“You’re not Luo Clan’s blacksmith or… Luo Ming’s subordinate, are you? Who exactly are you?”
“Ahahaha, don’t do this to me Ye. Don’t ask the obvious now. Didn’t I already tell you? I’m” – Mr. An waved his limbs around as he skipped over to Tang Ye and leaned in to breathe down the latter’s neck. “…Mr. An… Hahaha.”
The hysterical laughter was identical to A-Ji’s bright smile; Tang Ye wished it wasn’t even though he couldn’t give a reason for why he felt that way. From Tang Ye’s perspective, he watched a bright youth gradually descend into diabolical madness.
“Relax, Ye. I won’t be killing any of you since none of you are a threat to me. This bloke, however, doesn’t get the special treatment.” Mr. An went over to smash Lai Jingzhen’s body with his hand again, wringing out more blood. He then turned back to give Tang Ye a smile. “You think I’m defiling his corpse? While I admit it’s a nice form of exercise, he’s not dead, far from dead.” It wasn’t all sarcasm with Mr. An. There was some genuine respect in his tone at the end.
Up until today, there was no record of Polarisation Style practitioners dying. That being said, it wasn’t a ticket for immortality for whoever picked it up as it chose its student instead of the other way around, and its criteria weren’t something many could tick off.
Polarisation Style once fell into Violet Lotus Sanctuary’s hands. In that era, their patriarch was one of the Supreme Ten Saints, whom Lai Jingzhen is often compared to now. Violet Lotus Sanctuary’s patriarch was known for being humble and only had a desire to learn more martial arts. Once he got his hand on the manual, he spent three months training in seclusion.
When Violet Lotus Sanctuary’s patriarch emerged, there were corpses strewn all over the place. Because there were only corpses of disciples within the sect, it could only mean the enemy was too strong for all their disciples to defeat even when working together. Upon descending the mountain, there were no outsiders present; the ones murdering the sect’s disciples were their very own fellow disciples.
When their patriarch was reciting the manual at the rear of the mountain, he was so focused on it that he didn’t notice his internal energy’s activity. Even though there were walls, he was one of the Supreme Ten Saints for good reason. The mental cultivation he read aloud ended up reaching his disciples. Since they weren’t chosen ones, the thoughts that poured in gradually influenced their minds.
Ever since the event, Violet Lotus Sanctuary has been removed as a sect in the pugilistic world. People losing their minds over something they train is common, but losing their mind over something they heard never happened until then. As a consequence, Polarisation Style was labelled as menacing as Demon Sect’s Spring Wind Rainy Night Art.
“I won’t kill him. First, I can’t kill him when he’s covered in energy; poking him might even wake him. Secondly, as a qualified-exceptional villain, I’m not going to be labelled as the culprit who killed the state preceptor.”
By no account did Mr. An delude himself that Luo Ming was going to keep his secret for him. If he also had to carry the burden of killing the Daoism leader and state preceptor on top of being a sinister villain, though, then things would be different for him.
Mr. An took the sword in Lai Jingzhen’s hand: “After ten years, I’ve finally obtained you. No sword is worthy of a sovereign unless it’s one of the Nine States Enervating Blades… Purple Forbidden Enclosure Dragon Slayer, huh? You haven’t even been sharpened yet, yet you have proven yourself outstanding. I think I can look forward to you impressing me.”
“… I’ve come across your freezing internal energy somewhere before.”
Mr. An stopped playing with the sword to look over to Tang Ye. His eyes were hidden behind his black mask, but the unnerving gaze could be felt through it. “Yeah? Where might that be?”
“Deep inside the palace, specifically… Zhaixing Hall.” Tang Ye’s mention petrified Mr. An. “A sword spirit tried to stop Big Bro and I. I sensed a… freezing qi in there… It was identical to what you emit.”
“My, my.” Mr. An sauntered over to Tang Ye. “You think the two might just be similar.”
“Impossible. I do admit I’m not erudite on internal styles. Nonetheless, I’ve been surrounded by cold growing up. While I may misidentify Yang Realm styles, I will never mistake cold…”
“Ye, Ye, Ye.” Mr. An rested Purple Forbidden Enclosure Dragon Slayer on Tang Ye’s neck. “Aren’t you forcing my hand? What complaints do you have about living? What makes death better? Don’t you want revenge?”
“… An avenger can’t be an upstanding man… I don’t plan to chase the path of vengeance any longer.”
“You’re a true man. Had I met you ten years ago, I would’ve made sure to recruit you. It’s unfortunate I have to turn you into an upstanding ghoul now.”
“Leader told me not to meddle with anything and to just… watch your dumb behind. I thought leader was suffering mental degradation again. Turns out we really do have a big rat to catch.”
Tang Ye couldn’t believe his eyes when Mr. An disappeared into thin air. He heard a couple of collisions between people, and then someone entered. “Brother Hong?”
Panting, Hong Jiu cursed, “Shut up. Does it look like the right time and place for chit chat? You think I also brought a second sister-in-law for you or something?”
“What a surprise. I didn’t think there was anyone watching in. Good job hiding, Hidden Hero.” Mr. An returned to the room that he had now turned into a locked room.
“Who do you think I am? You think I’m fodder like these brats? As long as I’m alive, you won’t be killing anybody.”
Mr. An scoffed, “What difference can you make?”
Someone at the door scoffed in the same tone, “What about if I join the party?”
Purple Forbidden Enclosure Dragon Slayer vibrated. Mr. An turned back in surprise. “… Ming Feizhen.”
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