Chapter 304: 313 Violent Rage

Facing the figure sitting as still as a mountain in the shadows, Tang Zhao said word by word: "Shi Chunqing! You are actually hiding here!"

In the shadows, Shi Chunqing remained motionless and said: "I have always been here. You really did come. I had long been prepared to be found by you, but you never came, and only now... you truly disappoint me. Tang Shidi. And... Master."

That old man, who was Xue Xianyun, said slowly: "Shi Chunqing... you still call me Master?"

Shi Chunqing's expression was calm as he said: "Of course I call you Master. You taught me knowledge, like a master; you raised me, like a father. If I don't call you Master, what should I call you?"

He was so indifferent that Xue Xianyun was momentarily unable to speak, while Tang Zhao sneered: "Looking at you like this, not even willing to move your body, you have not the slightest appearance of a disciple. Are you here to make a show of force?"

Shi Chunqing showed a hint of surprise, as if puzzled by Tang Zhao's aggressive words, and said: "I am waiting for you. Waiting for him, and waiting for you."

Tang Zhao said: "Waiting for me? What are you waiting for me for?"

Shi Chunqing said slowly: "You should know what I am waiting for you for; if you say you don't know, that would be too disappointing."

Tang Zhao laughed and said: "Yes, I know what you are waiting for. You are waiting for this..." He reached out and pointed.

Shi Chunqing looked instinctively, and suddenly a sense of crisis descended upon him; before he could think, he rolled off the bed and tumbled a few steps.

Boom—

A Light Beam shot out from downstairs, instantly piercing through the bed boards from bottom to top, and then transformed into a pillar of light, enveloping the entire bed within it.

Shi Chunqing rolled away very timely and very dangerously; the pillar of light grazed past him, taking away half of his sleeve. If he hadn't had some premonition in the dark, he would have been swallowed by the attack and would certainly not have had a good end.

His reaction was truly fast; although he was still half-lying on the ground, he didn't know what technique he triggered, but his body turned ethereal, he vanished on the spot, and reappeared out of thin air not far away, already holding a sword in his hand, held horizontally before him.

Tang Zhao had intended to take advantage of his disarray to follow up with a sword strike, but seeing Shi Chunqing calm in the face of danger and already prepared to fight, he sighed and said: "Huh, didn't hit."

It was a pity he had pretended to turn on the Lamp downstairs and hidden a mechanism, aiming the light at the bed, just waiting for a sneak attack; who knew Shi Chunqing actually had such an unreasonable thing as a sixth sense.

The light faded slightly; the bed on the second floor was gone, and a large hole had appeared in the floor, leading all the way to the roof, a large section of which had been blown away, revealing the gloomy night sky.

Shi Chunqing held his sword, no longer calm, his forehead veins bulging with rage, and he gritted his teeth: "You... you ambushed me? You knew I was here early on? And you still ambushed me?"

Tang Zhao said: "Of course I knew you were here early on. You can call it an ambush; I call it striking first to gain the advantage."

Of course he had come specifically to corner Shi Chunqing; with the Gaoyuan Marquis acting personally, how could he not track Shi Chunqing? He had only pretended to encounter him by chance to lower his guard.

Although the first strike didn't land, he had finally cornered him here. Then there was nothing to fear.

Shi Chunqing muttered: "You guessed I was here early on, and the result was just to ambush me?"

Tang Zhao said: "Otherwise?"

Bloodshot eyes appeared in Shi Chunqing's sockets, and he said: "You—you disappoint me too much."

Tang Zhao said: "I am also disappointed, disappointed that you didn't die."

Shi Chunqing slightly restrained his angry expression, stood up, and said: "Hmm, I originally thought you were different from others, which is why I waited for you. It seems you are also a fool. Enough, let it be destroyed."

Tang Zhao suddenly smiled and said: "What exactly are you waiting for? You are waiting for me to calculate that you are lingering here, waiting for the dead of night, for me to come alone to find you, pour a cup of wine, listen to you speak your heart, and pour out your soul. Clearly cherishing each other, yet our paths are different and we cannot conspire together. Angry and ashamed, sad and sighing, and finally sighing, 'Your feelings are pitiable, but your heart is punishable.' Then we cut our robes and break our sleeves, sever our friendship and righteousness, and then draw our swords against each other, fighting a magnificent battle as a final conclusion?"

Shi Chunqing was slightly startled, appearing somewhat dazed.

Tang Zhao said coldly: "Did I guess right? It seems I know you just as you thought. But do you know me?"

"Shi Chunqing, have you ever thought about what kind of person I am?"

"I think you don't know; you are an extremely selfish person who doesn't understand others at all. Let me tell you, I am not the person who hates you the most, but I am the person who dislikes you the most. Because I hate traitors with crooked minds the most. You feel that no one knows you, you think you are unique, so everyone wants to understand you, and you wait for others to come and ask you with tears in their eyes, begging you for an explanation. Let me tell you, ever since you defected, you and I are enemies, not friends; I am no longer interested in your inner journey. Anything else you say is bullshit!"

"Go to hell, Shi Chunqing. If you really have a belly full of words to say, you can leave a last will and testament. When you are on your last breath, if you manage to dig out the words in your belly, I might listen. Now, listen to the sound of the sword!"

In the night, the black sword pointed straight at Shi Chunqing.

Shi Chunqing's expression was very calm, but his eyebrows twitched, clearly not having calmed his anger, but merely suppressing it to the extreme, and he said: "Good. Well said. Thinking about it this way, it was indeed my own wishful thinking. You have always appeared more humble than Jiang Shenyi, yet your talent is even better than his; I should have thought that people like you are arrogant and self-righteous to the bone, and it was just a cultivated demeanor to fool people, not worth expecting from the start. Is this the sword you newly forged?"

Tang Zhao said: "Exactly."

"You want to use this sword to fight me? Could it be that you are already a Sword Student and have matched with the sword?"

"No need to match; the sword was always mine."

Shi Chunqing smiled, the corners of his mouth curving into a strange arc, and he said grimly: "Good sword, a good sword; this is a good talent bestowed by heaven. If I had your talent, I could also stand here now, speaking grandly and waving my arms just like you. Tang Zhao, why didn't I notice how annoying you were before? I came to the wrong place this time. Go to hell together!"

The battle erupted almost suddenly!

Both sides' swords thrust toward each other almost simultaneously, the Momentum of the swords fierce, both intending to pierce the other through with one strike.

The two swords crossed, sounding like gold and jade!

The room was very narrow, with almost no room to maneuver; the only light was a bit of starlight filtering down from the hole in the roof, almost a night battle, and both sides had sharp blades, making it almost the most dangerous close-quarters melee.

However, neither side in the battle was a Martial Artist best suited for this dangerous environment. Shi Chunqing went without saying; his martial arts structure was very stable, focusing on defense, with attacks hidden within the defense, airtight. As for Tang Zhao, ever since he was enlightened by Ant Strength, he had followed the "great strength creates miracles" path. Later, he switched to cultivating the Qi of the Sunlight System, which still focused on powerful attack power.

The battle between the two was intense, but also very conservative; the swords only crossed at the very beginning, and later it was mainly defense and occasional attacks looking for flaws.

Hidden within the conservatism was danger; those probing attacks, if one landed, could almost instantly end the battle.

This stifling battle lasted for a moment, and Tang Zhao took the initiative to exert force, a ray of brilliance thrusting forward, but it was Qi attached to the sword,

At the same time, a layer of Qi was also attached to Shi Chunqing's sword, appearing like Qi, but more like a thick fluid, at the same level as Qi, just like...

"Phantom?"

In the moment Tang Zhao was startled, the sword touched the fluid slightly, and a cold, sinister intent climbed up along the blade; it was indeed the feeling of a Phantom. Almost the next moment, his sword shone brightly, the brilliance recoiling, causing the flow of the Phantom to dissipate like melting ice and snow, while the Qi on his side moved Like Splitting Bamboo.

However, just at this moment, a soft 'chi' sound was heard from behind, followed by a 'crack', and blue light flared brilliantly.

Tang Zhao didn't need to look back, having already reacted—someone was attacking from behind! He directly held his long sword horizontally to protect his front and retreated two steps.

Turning his head, he saw that old man Xue with Thunder Light flickering in his hands, clearly having just struck to repel the attacker behind Tang Zhao. And the person who launched the sneak attack... was actually another Shi Chunqing!

That Shi Chunqing had a faint smell of burnt flesh on his body, clearly having been attacked by lightning, and he stumbled a few steps toward the stairs he had fallen down.

And looking ahead, the Shi Chunqing who had been fighting Tang Zhao had vanished without a sound.

Tang Zhao was not surprised, turning directly to face the Shi Chunqing who had suddenly appeared behind him, and said: "Sure enough... you are already a Spirit Official? Your Spirit Image is exactly the same as yourself; that is rare indeed. At that time by the swamp, they all said your Disappearance was strange; thinking about it now, you never came at all, and what came was just a Spirit Image that looked like a real person. A Spirit Image, of course, can disappear at any time."

Generally speaking, Spirit Images are naturally the opposite of the person themselves; even if a turtle bandit can change their appearance, there is a process, first revealing the natural Spirit Image, and then adjusting the appearance. Moreover, the texture of a Spirit Image is always different from a real person, which can be distinguished by the naked eye. But Shi Chunqing's Spirit Image was exactly the same as himself the moment it appeared, and it was even more like a body of flesh and blood, just like a clone; it seems it is another special classification of Spirit Official.

Because his Spirit Image was special, he was able to escape easily by the lake back then, and even a killer with as much experience as Hua Qian felt it was miraculous.

While he was talking to himself, Shi Chunqing acted as if he hadn't heard, staring straight at the "old man Xue" whose hands were glowing with Thunder Light, and said word by word: "Even you—are not him?!"

That old man Xue sneered coldly, simply wiping his face to reveal a young and handsome appearance; who else could it be but Jiang Shenyi? He sneered: "You thought it was our mentor? You are not worthy to see him!"

Shi Chunqing said in a low voice: "Even you lied to me. You all—" His face was already livid, clearly angry to the extreme, and he shouted: "You are all liars! You all came to lie to me! Tang Zhao, you actually stooped to such a level! Why won't he come to see me? Does he not want to see me? Hurry and call him to see me!"

Jiang Shenyi sneered, "By what right do you think you can see whoever you want? You, a traitor, are still trying to order off a menu? The two of us sending you off is already giving you enough face."

Tang Zhao continued, "Why would Master want to see you? Or is it that you want to see him, still coveting his things? Aren't you already a Spirit Official? You've chosen your path, can you really turn back? What are you still clinging to?"

Shi Chunqing grinned hideously, "What path or no path? Was the path not set for me? My mother was a generation's Sword Hero, my father is a supreme Spirit Official; the paths of the world should naturally be mine to choose. Of course I can see whoever I want to see; you should be paying respects to me instead. You dare to be so rude to me, you lowly commoners, do you know who you are talking to?"

Tang Zhao and Jiang Shenyi, who had removed his makeup, looked at each other, both seeing the astonishment in the other's eyes: Has he been driven mad by the stimulation? Has he started spouting nonsense?

What father is a high official, mother is a Sword Hero? Is this something an orphan would say? Shi Chunqing was solitary and wretched, growing up only following Xue Xianyun, who doesn't know that? Could it be he missed his parents too much, fabricating his own background in his dreams, surrounding himself with wealth, honor, and a noble house, until he deceived even himself and cannot wake up?

Seeing he could no longer control himself, Shi Chunqing roared, "Base wretches, get away from me! Xue Xianyun, come out and see me! Xue Xianyun, come out and see me!"

He repeated this sentence over and over; Tang Zhao felt a chill in his heart, gripping the unsheathed new sword in his hand, determined to deliver the final blow to this madman.

Amidst the frantic screaming, someone outside the window sighed.

This sigh was very faint, yet it was like a thunderclap; not only did Tang Zhao and Jiang Shenyi both turn their heads in alarm, but Shi Chunqing also seemed to have flipped a switch, his eyes regaining clarity.

The three of them looked toward the window together.

Outside the window, Xue Xianyun stood in the air, behind him the spread feathers of a white crane. He looked at Shi Chunqing quietly, as if draped in a faint light.