Chapter 102 – I’m Taking Back Our Pride
Every beast has its weakness.
The biggest difference amongst fighting beasts, was that the weaknesses of powerful beasts could not be found, while it could be easily discerned for inferior beasts.
Strengthening-type beasts did not seem to have any weaknesses on the surface; neither did they have any attack usage limits like elemental-type beasts, nor were they unable to protect their owners while attacking like fighting-type beasts. As for special-types, most of them belonged to the living category, deemed by many to be the worst of the worst and were even less worthy of comparison. Strengthening-type beasts appeared to be the most superior, as they could merge with their owners and augment their strength…but everyone in the Soaring Dragon Continent knew that strengthening category beasts definitely had a fatal weakness. As long as this fatal weakness was attacked, no matter if it was the beast or the owner, they would definitely suffer severe damage.
When fighting against enemies that possessed strengthening-type beasts, the only thing to be done was to discover its weakness and ruthlessly attack it.
This was exactly what Yue Yang was doing!
Yue Yang initially had little understanding about strengthening-type beasts, but while at the sky pavilion, the knowledgeable Master of Luo Hua City had been keen on imparting some knowledge regarding beasts to the foolish thief who did not know even the basics….
Amongst all the knowledge she had shared, the weakness of an Iron-clawed Bear had also been mentioned!
After invoking support from the Iron-clawed Bear, the owner would have skin as tough as the Iron-clawed Bear’s hide, bones as solid as iron, claw-like fingernails, would be impervious to weapons, and would also possess extraordinary strength.
However, it had an obvious weakness, which was the white, crescent-shaped mark on its chest. If this mark was to be attacked, both the owner and the beast would sustain injuries that were several times greater than normal.
“Hong!”, The Torture Chamber Elder’s huge bear claws swiped at thin air and heavily smashed down onto the ground.
The stone slabs on the road immediately cracked extensively and crumbled. Deep cavities and spider web-shaped cracks appeared on the once level road.
“Die!” The earlier strike had only hit an afterimage of Yue Yang. Yue Yang who had already went berserk had a movement speed that far surpassed what the Torture Chamber Elder’s eyes could perceive. He did a midair spiral flip, borrowing the spiralling force to drive a chunk of broken spear heads deep into the chest of the transformed Torture Chamber Elder. While the Torture Chamber Elder miserably howled at the pain of having his weakness heavily attacked, Yue Yang’s fists followed; throwing left hooks, right hooks, uppercuts, and jabs, relentlessly attacking and sweeping with elbows in all directions. Yue Yang then leapt up like a panther, and tightly pressed the Torture Chamber Elder’s bald head with his hands while madly kneeing the Torture Chamber Elder’s face, which was gradually reverting back from its transformation. Every single one of the Torture Chamber Elder’s teeth were shattered and sent flying out of his mouth.
Blood splattered out from the Torture Chamber Elder’s face, causing him to look abnormally horrendous.
The Torture Chamber Elder felt so much pain that he wanted to die and discovered that his weakness had been broken through, while his beast was nearing death. He immediately panicked, wanting to flee in retreat and not bother about anything else.
But in his disoriented state, he started moving towards the beautiful woman inside the horse carriage… The two-red robed officers watched with a dumbstruck expression and could only feel powerless towards their superior. It was fine if he didn’t beg for forgiveness or ran away while at death’s door, but he instead wanted to kill the Fourth Mother who Yue Yang wanted to protect the most?
Did he want to drag someone down with him in his death?
Even if he was violent and vengeful, he couldn’t be so contemptible as to do this, right?
If he really did this, he was practically forcing his opponent to kill him… Since he could not defeat him head-on, he actually decided to hold his opponent’s mother and sister hostage. Wasn’t this simply going overboard?
In reality, in their opinion, if the Torture Chamber Elder had not forced the situation so stubbornly, this useless Third Young Master would probably not have gone on a rampage. Even if he did, he would probably not become as enraged as he was now, and would probably not be so adamant on killing the Torture Chamber Elder! The situation right now was very clear. The Third Young Master had actually been training his martial art skills diligently all along. He had been training in secret and had always stayed low-key without letting anyone from the Clan know of this secret. After he contracted a grimoire, he had probably wanted to return to the Clan to wash away his reputation of being a useless person, but he just had to meet with this kind of situation. Hence, it was difficult for him even if he hadn’t wanted to go on a rampage!
This was simply leaving someone with no choice!
(Ignis: The original saying is to force the tiger back up the mountain. The author probably meant that it is forcing a situation where there is no other way but to return back.)
“Ha, ha, ha, ha!” In order to survive, the Torture Chamber Elder slashed his claws at random in every direction without taking note of his surroundings and ran straight forward.
“Stubborn chap, I will rip you to pieces!” When Yue Yang saw that the elder wanted to drag the beautiful woman along with him to death, his anger rose to the point that it could burn away half the sky. He chased after him with lightning speed, deeply digging his five fingers into the Torture Chamber Elder’s back. Yue Yang had wanted to dig out his heart and instantly kill him, but the Torture Chamber Elder, not wanting to die, fled from Yue Yang with all his might. That had actually allowed him to escape from Yue Yang’s attack, while he rushed to the side of the horse carriage.
Yue Yang was so angry that his face was distorted like a demon.
He rapidly shot over, wrapping both of his legs around the right leg of the Torture Chamber Elder and did a handstand, driving the Torture Chamber Elder’s body into the air.
Yue Yang then jackknifed his body forward and flung the Torture Chamber Elder’s body into the air. The Torture Chamber Elder flew in a high arc… even before he hit the ground, the thoroughly angered Yue Yang had drew the Crescent Blade from the carriage and pounced forward.
“Vicious, violent, wanting to pull someone along with you in your death, wanting to have someone accompany you in your coffin!” Yue Yang yelled, punctuating each phrase by repeatedly slashing the Torture Chamber Elder with his Crescent Blade, causing flesh and bones to splatter. As soon as the Torture Chamber Elder fell to the ground, the furious Yue Yang hacked away his four limbs and madly landed tens of slashes on the seemingly disappearing bear transformed body. The Torture Chamber Elder looked like a dead pig under a butcher’s chopper, with his body parts scattered all over the place. When the blood soaked Yue Yang lifted his Crescent Blade one last time, preparing to behead the Elder, there was a sudden shout from someone in the distance: “STOPPP!”
“Stop…there is still hope if you stop now!”
A rosy-faced old man with white hair was quickly riding toward them on a huge deer. He had not yet arrived, but his voice had already reached Yue Yang.
Seeing this person, Yue Bing’s face turned into joy and her expression turned emotional, “Fifth Grandfather, you have to uphold justice for us! We are not wrong, they were the one who forced Brother to fight, they bullied us first…”
The deer-riding old man arrived and saw that the whole area had turned into a slaughterhouse. The strong stench of blood filled the air as countless casualties laid on the ground, moaning and crying. He was speechless and could only stare dumbstruck for a moment.
Even though he was someone with an abundance of life experiences, he could not help but jump in fright.
How had things become such a mess?
It looks like the Fourth Household had landed themselves in a huge predicament!
“San-er, no matter whose fault this matter was, you should put down your weapon first. If you kill the Torture Chamber Elder now, no matter how right you were in the beginning, and no matter how many grievances you had suffered since the beginning, you would only be in the wrong at the end! Listen to your Fifth Grandfather’s advice, put down your weapon before this matter takes a permanent turn for the worse! Elder Brother Hai (Clan Master) is not around and the three Grand Elders are in isolation. A-Shan (Yue Shan – First Master) is the acting Clan Leader right now, you wouldn’t be able to go against him with brute force! Listen to your Fifth Grandfather, put down your weapons and wait for me here while I call Elder Brother Hai back…If you feel that you are right and are not afraid of arguing with the others, Fifth Grandfather will support you guys. However, you must not kill the Torture Chamber Elder. He might just be another pawn. You are a smart kid. I think that you should understand what I just said!” The deer-riding elder immediately advised Yue Yang.
(Ignis: Yue Yang is addressed as San-er as he is the Third Young Master. It is a more affectionate way of addressing the younger generations)
“I was once an orphan, as well as trash, bullied by everybody. I had no support and in order to survive, I had to grit my teeth and endure. However, after Fourth Mother took me in, I once again had a mother and a warm little family! Since then, I was determined that if anyone was to harm my home, or my mother, even if he was the Emperor, I will definitely kill him!” Yue Yang’s gaze was ice cold, and continued: “Today, let me, this trashy Third Young Master, tell the world using blood. It’s fine to bully me, so long as your fist is bigger than mine, and you have sufficient reason to do so! But, whoever thinks of harming my family members, I will kill without regard!”
Yue Yang lifted his blood coated Crescent Blade, and with a determined gaze, slashed it downwards.
Fresh blood surged from neck of the Torture Chamber Elder, who had been on the brink of death. The deformed Torture Chamber Elder’s head rolled a few metres away on the ground.
As the Deer-riding old man saw this, he bitterly shut his eyes in grief and shook his head, sighing deeply: “San Er, I know that you feel indignant, but is this really worth the trouble? With this one slash of yours, the situation has become difficult to salvage!”
The demon-like Yue Yang who was soaked with blood from head to toe started laughing maniacally, “As a dignified man, would I still be called a man if I couldn’t even protect my own family? Don’t even mention this Torture Chamber Elder who absolutely deserved his death and is unable to pay for his crimes by dying. Even if it a more powerful person, or the strongest Ranker, I would still have killed him without mercy! Whoever wishes to touch a strand of hair on my family would need to step over my dead body first!”
On hearing what her son said, the beautiful woman was instantly moved and began to cry loudly.
Even the usually obstinate little lady, Yue Bing, hid her face and cried. Tears fell like pearl beads from a broken string, through her fingers.
As the deer-riding elder heard what Yue Yang said, he nodded his head and sighed. It seemed that he felt very vexed. Finally, he steadied his nerves, and advised: “San-er, since you have decided, Fifth Grandfather will not say much. I hope that you will remain here and wait for Elder Brother Hai to return and take charge of the situation. San Er, your temper is like your father’s, but being too aggressive is not good. Back then if he had not… You should all just wait here, and not respond to anyone’s provocation or fall into others’ traps. I will immediately go and find Elder Brother Hai!”
“Thanks. However, what I, this useless Xiao San, wants to do right now is not to await death but to use my strength to tell the Clan to not treat our tolerance as our weakness! Today, the Fourth Branch will not tolerate your tyranny anymore. I want to bring Fourth Mother, Bing-er, and Shuang-er to the Yue Clan Castle! It does not matter if the Yue Clan welcomes us or not, we will still return home and take back the pride that belongs to us… I have said it earlier, regardless of whom it may be, I will treat those that blocked our path as enemies and kill them. Let’s see who has the guts to stop me from bringing Fourth Mother home!” Yue Yang bellowed loudly. The Yue Clan Guards that were watching from a surrounding distance were so frightened that they began to flee in all directions.
“If you are like this, how could you go to the Yue Clan Castle? San-er, did you know that some of the Clan’s members actually desire for you to do so!” The deer-riding elder painstakingly continued to advise Yue Yang.
“It does not matter if it’s against a mountain of daggers or a sea of flames, I will still charge! My Fourth Mother was very kind and forbearing, but I, as her son, will not simply stand by while watching her getting bullied by others! It is only because Fourth Mother was there in the past that I am able to stand here today. Hence, today, I will be here for Fourth Mother!“ Yue Yang held a blade in one hand, while he pulled the ropes off the corpses of the dead horses with another.
(Ignis: to climb a mountain of daggers or go through a sea of flame is a chinese saying that means to go against all odds)
He slung the blood-dyed ropes over his shoulders and pulled the horse carriage, trudging forward slowly .
Dignity cannot be bestowed upon you by another person.
It had to be fought for, using one’s own hands and power…
Under the complicated gaze of the deer-riding old man, and the supervision of the red-clothed executioners, the blood-soaked Yue Yang pulled the carriage and slowly walked past the Yue Clan Village, towards the Yue Clan Castle.
Wherever he passed by, all the Yue family guards and kinsmen would disperse quickly in fear!
Yue Yang looked up at the majestic Yue Clan Castle, located halfway up the mountain in the distance. He then looked at the sky, and a burst of passion coursed through his veins, ‘Pitiful guy, are you watching this? I really hope you can see this. Here, I will stand on your behalf and take back the pride that you lost!’