272 - I will step onto the peak
Who is next?
These three words, had an unshakeable momentum.
The surroundings were completely silent.
Perhaps people from merchant companies and financial organisation would not realise just what the Emptiness monk represented. But the people of Jianghu, was clearly aware that the strength of the vicious Emptiness monk had already reached the fifty Spirit springs tens of years ago. On the North East side of the Empire, he had killed and robbed, murdering entire families. He was a famous murderer, and the copper alms bowl he used was tens of thousands pounds in weight. When it struck out, wind and lightning would accompany it. His strength was extremely terrifying.
But an infamous person like him that had existed for tens of years, was killed in just nine of Ye Qingyu's punches.
His copper alms bowl, was like a broken vase from the impact of such punches.
Fifty Spirit springs, was another seperator in the Spirit springs cultivation stage. Below fifty and above fifty were utterly different stages.
For Ye Qingyu to kill the Emptiness Monk so easily, his real strength was....
People could not understand what they saw.
The evaluations that had been made about Ye Qingyu and spread throughout the pass, seemed to have been proven to be completely ridiculous by this incident.
Who is next?
Ye Qingyu asked again for the third time.
The surroundings were quiet.
When this was repeated for the fourth time, a figure arrived. In a similar fashion to the ripple that was caused by a goose's flight, this figure landed on the arena.
"Lin Ziru, pays his respect to Marquis Ye.”
A white haired middle aged man, with a tall and sturdy figure, stood there. His arms were at his knees, it seemed that his upper body was even longer than his lower body. When he stood upright, he seemed to resemble a violent monkey. HIs aura seemed calm, not demonstrating or exhibiting any strong yuan qi fluctuation. But Ye Qingyu was able to sense an extreme sense of danger from him faintly.
"Lin Ziru, the previous poison king of the Five Poison Sect?" Ye Qingyu pupils dilated.
Lin Ziru's name was not that famous in Jianghu.
But if you mentioned the previous Poison King of the Five Poison Sect, this was an existence that would make people's’ faces go pale at the mere mention of this title.The poison arts he possessed could be regarded as divine. It could take someone's life without any signs whatsoever. It was said that he always had three hundred and sixty five ways of killing someone using poison on his body. If he wanted to kill some, he only needed to exert a breath to turn his target into a puddle of acid.
"For a noble like Marquis, to know of my background. I feel honoured."“
The middle aged man Lin Ziru smiled and bowed.
A faint grey aura, extended from the back of his palm as he bowed. Like a sharp sword, it shot towards Ye Qingyu.
"Good techniques.”
Ye Qingyu smiled slightly, extending his hand like a claw.
This grey mist was caught in his hands, then was instantly frozen into a ball with ice crystals on the outside and ash on the inside.
"I heard that the Poison King has already retired and does not interfere in the affairs of the world anymore. Why have you come out into the Jianghu again?" Ye Qingyu crushed the ice ball into pieces that tranformed into wisps of frost. The poison inside had already been completely neutralised.
"I had no choice. Someone killed my disciple, so I have to find some sort of justice."
There was a multicoloured mist around the Poison King that gradually seeped out.
"Oh, the Five poison Gongzi?" Ye Qingyu nodded his head. "That seems logical. Originally you've killed countless people when you were active. Fourty one years ago, you ambushed and killed eleven sentries of Youyan Pass. Thirty eight years ago, you killed thirty seven people under the command of Jiang Xiaoyu of the Qingjiang relay station in the North east. Thirty three years ago, Shen Chun the rich man of Jiangnan his entire family of three hundred and ten people all died by your hands...."
Ye Qingyu recounted the great crimes that the Poison King had committed in the past.
Those age old crimes where dust had already settled, was recounted one after another by Ye Qingyu. No matter whether it was when it happened, where it happened, how many died, or other information, it was all incomparably accurate.
"Originally there were the hidden forces of the Right Minister protecting you in the Empire, so you could escape from the law. Afterwards, you hid yourself in the background, so your death could be prevented and you could enjoy the rest of your life. But from what it sees like, retiring in the woods was a lie, but acting stealthily in the background was real." Ye Qingyu smiled. "Since you've come today, then don't leave. So many crimes in these years, it's time for you to be executed."
"Haha, Marquis must be joking.”
Lin Ziru coldly sneered, strands of multicoloured mists seeping out from different parts of his body into the air. It was like different coloured flames that strangely danced, as if it was will-o-wisps from the depths of hell.
Beneath his feet, there were faint strands of mist that were like poisonous snakes. Without any noise, they headed towards Ye Qingyu's direction, surrounding him.
"It's a good opportunity to experience the poison of the Poison King."
Ye Qingyu faintly smiled.
Snowflake after snowflake began floated around his body, like silver Sprites dancing happily.
An extreme cold will, spread out in all directions.
Zhi!Zhi!Zhi!
The sounds of things being frozen was indiscernible.
Benearth Ye Qingyu's feet, frost began spreading out in all directions. Everywhere it passed, it turned into a layer of silver ice. The entire arena was covered by a thin layer of silver ice. The ice crystal patterns were beautiful, like hexagonal snowflakes joining together one after one, painting a breathtaking painting of frost.
When the frost and poison met, a gale was born.
There were the faint sounds of explosion in the air.
Then there were sparks.
Invisible energies collided.
The Poison King Lin Ziru's expression changed slightly. The five coloured poison qi he emitted became thicker and thicker, covering his entire person. The multicoloured poison shot up tens of metre in the air, like a strange pillar reeking of a stench. One could faintly hear the tragic cry of all sorts of poisonous beasts and bugs biting into each other, like the wail of a hundred ghosts. It stole one's concentration, causing one to be disrupted.
The snowflakes dancing next to Ye Qingyu become more and more frantic.
Snowflakes shot out likeshooting stars that ripped through the air with whistling noices, like the signs of the howling snowstorm that was about to arrive. It was as if he only needed to wave his hands, and an avalanche would come to meet him.
The aura of the two fiercely began to rise.
A pure and saintly clean ice qi.
A multicoloured poison qi. 一
A Poison King whose infamy was already known to the world ages ago.
A new young noble that had not yet met his opponent.
A person that wants to take revenge for the death of his disciple and to get rid of the eyesore of the forces he belonged to.
A person who wanted to suppress the Jianghu and seek justice for the people who died because of such people.一
Enemies met face to face.。
There would definitely be death.
Next to the Bright Moon Lake. Countless eyes were gazing fixatedly at the arena, staring at those two explosive globes of light. They silently waited for their aura of the opponent to reach its peak before they would prepare another ambush.
One breath passed
Ten breaths passed.
Thirty breaths passed.
The expected mountain like strike did not come as imagined.
The aura of the two gradually become weaker.
Then the frost and poisonous that was throughout the air, starting to disappear. Ultimately, nothing remained.
Lin Ziru's face had an expression had a sinisterness look of success.
"Marquis, do you feel that your inner yuan is not flowing well?" His gaze, was like he was looking at a chick that was about to died being grabbed around the throat. It was filled with a merciless and mockery. “
Ye Qingyu nodded his head.
"People who have been poisoned with the Dispersing Yuan powder will have such a feeling." There was a sneer in Lin Ziru's smiled.“
Ye Qingyu gave a little sound of acknowledgement.
"Did you feel that you were safe, that you've already prevented anything poisonous from entering your body. But you were still poisoned, do you think this matter is logical?" The Poison King asked with a delighted tone.
Ye Qingyu nodded his head.
"You are still too young." Lin Ziru's smile was somewhat merciless and violent.
He walked closer and closer, step by step.
"I am known as the poison king. I can poison anyone anytime I want. There's many things you can go do, but the thing you shouldn't was to start defending against me after you've given your little speech.....Haha, when you didn't even know who I was, the disappearing yuan powder had already been spread around throughout the area. It has no colour, it can enter throgh all pores,. They don't needed to breath it in, but it only needs to touch the skin. Even if it is only little speck, it's enough for you to suffer greatly."
Ye Qingyu pretended that he was enlightened.
"I heard that when you killed my disciple, your methods were cruel and merciless. From start to finish, he was not able to exhibit his poison arts at all. Today, for you to die by the poison arts of the Five Poison Sect, can be counted as karma." By this time, the expression of the Poison King was as sinister as a vicious ghost.“
"Karma, is not like this. "Ye Qingyu finally opened his mouth." If you do evil, than you deserve to die. This is karma, to stop the evil from spreading. If you are like me, this is virtue, there won't be karma. “
Ye Qingyu took a step forward.
"It seems like you truly do not understand the reason why your disciple died. Perhaps those people did not tell you my true methods, for you to come to your death so easily." Ye Qingyu smiled. "Someone must feel that the Right Minister of the Empire will definitely be enraged if I kill two people of the Lin family. That my Marquis position, will definitely be endangered......In truth, it must have been really hard for them. I've only emerged for less than a year, but they have to use such a long winded method to target me, it seems like they have already turned scheming into their second nature.“
"You..."
The Poison King Lin Ziru finally sensed that something was not right.
"Look, I only played along with you for a little bit, but you were so proud of yourself. You didn't even notice that your meridians has been frozen till it fracutured." Ye Qingyu's face was cold as he shook his head. "You’re so old and you've experienced so much, but why is it that you don't even have a sense of cautiousness. Your reactions are so slow. If you don't die, who is going to die?"'
"Impossible, I..." The Poison King was instanlty alerted. As he sensed inside his body, the colour of his face rapidly changed.
"Do you finally sense it?" Ye Qingyu let out a faint smile. "I've finished speaking already. If you want to hate someone, then hate the people who gave you false information. They seemed to be aiding you, but in reality they are just using you as cannon fodder. They can only benefit from their deaths."
The Poison King Lin Ziru was deathly white, coldly laughing.
He was too over confident in his dispearing yuan poison. At the same time, he also underestimated Ye Qingyu's cultivation. He was misled from the very start, that’s why he was defeated so easily.
In the Jianghu, defeat, was tantamount to death.
"Haha, Marquis Ye, I'll talke a step first then. I'll wait for you beneath the Nine Springs. The Jianghu, is not only made up of the sects, it is also a temple. As long as you take a step into the path of Jianghu, you can never truly be free from it. Even if your martial skills can be compared to the heavens, there will eventually be a day that you will fall too. Haha, hahahaah...."
Before he had even finished.
The Poison King's figure suddenly froze, a terifying cold qi exploding from the within his body. White vapour was being spat out from his nose and mouth that constantly turned into white flag paper.
His entire person was immediately turned into a ice sculpture, that exploded. Shards of ice struck the ground with a clink, spreading everywhere.
The cold qi rose to the air.
White vapour was everywhere.
"I have never thought of leaving this path. Only a coward would retreat, brave people will head on regardless. There will eventually be a day, that I will walk this path to its very peak. " A spark of the Supreme ice flame can to lit up Ye Qingyu's finger.
With the Supreme ice flame in his hands, no poison could pose any threat to him .