“I was just about to catch him! I was just about to put him to death…. Why? Why did this have to happen?!?!” Master Cloud Lightning felt like his head was about to explode.
He wouldn’t have believed it was true at all, except… that Du Lingfei simply stood there looking shocked, not offering a single word of rebuttal. In fact, what was worse was that a slight flush could be seen on her face as she looked over at Bai Xiaochun, a slight glare visible in her eyes.
The look on her face dashed any last strand of hope Master Cloud Lightning had left. Of course, there was no way he could have noticed the strange glint that flashed through the eyes of the young man when Bai Xiaochun mentioned that the Celestial was his father-in-law.
Bai Xiaochun was getting more excited at how stunned Master Cloud Lightning looked. At the same time, he wished that he could go on with more information and explain that he also had a demigod for a father-in-law, and that his apprentice was the Hell-Emperor. That would probably scare Master Cloud Lightning to death!
“Hmph! Now do you dare to provoke me?” The frustration and fear he had felt during the chase had now vanished, to be replaced by joy and delight.
He had truly been put into a bad position by Master Cloud Lightning, and had been unable to escape. In fact, he had nearly met his death, only to make a stunning comeback in which he seized the ultimate advantage.
“Things are not over between us, Master Cloud Lightning!” he said proudly, swishing his sleeve. “Were it not for the fact that I didn’t want to reveal my identity, I would have long since killed you. And yet you repeatedly bullied me over and over again! I will not forget this. You just wait and see what happens in the end!”
As Bai Xiaochun spoke, louder and louder, Master Cloud Lightning’s face drained of blood, and his eyes began to turn blank. To him, it was like existing inside of a dream.
“I… I offended the Celestial’s son-in-law….” He was afraid, truly afraid, so much so that he wanted to cry! After all, the Celestial was basically the emperor of the lands of Heavenspan, which meant that his son-in-law was essentially on the same level as a demigod. Master Cloud Lightning, on the other hand, was a lowly deva, a person who could be disposed of by a mere thought from a person like that.
“I….” Considering his current mental state, Master Cloud Lightning was incapable of maintaining his combined form. His two halves split apart, and then, ashen-faced and despairing, stepped forward with clasped hands. Bowing, they tried to offer explanations.
At around that time, the young man next to Du Lingfei cleared his throat and continued along as he had been before, completely ignoring Bai Xiaochun. Du Lingfei had recovered, and gave Bai Xiaochun an enigmatic smile. Then she turned to Master Cloud Lightning, the smile gone. Looking extremely lofty, she said coolly, “Fellow Daoist Cloud Lightning. Xiaochun loves to play pranks, so don’t take him too seriously. In terms of whatever grudge you have with him, the best thing would be to resolve the matter as soon as possible.”
Her words were spoken in a very formal tone, and seemed to imply that Bai Xiaochun’s words from moments ago had been a joke.
But Master Cloud Lightning didn’t take them that way. After all, he didn’t miss the fact that Du Lingfei had addressed him as Fellow Daoist Cloud Lightning, but had referred to Bai Xiaochun as… Xiaochun.
That revealed the truth about everything, and sent a tremor through Master Cloud Lightning. As for Du Lingfei, she was apparently worried that her message hadn’t come across clearly enough. Therefore, she walked over to Bai Xiaochun, straightened up his clothing, and then whispered a few words into his ear. Then, she ignored Master Cloud Lightning as she caught up to the young man and the special guards.
The matter couldn’t have been more clear now to Master Cloud Lightning, whose vision was beginning to go dim from the shock and terror.
As for Bai Xiaochun, he simply stood there and blinked a few times. Du Lingfei hadn’t said anything special to him moments ago, just to stay safe, and that she still had some important business to attend to.
However, he was very pleased with the show she had put on. Crossing his arms, he stuck his chin up and looked arrogantly at the twin Master Cloud Lightnings.
The twin Master Cloud Lightnings were feeling completely overwhelmed with bitterness. They exchanged glances, neither of them quite sure about what to do now. They had been caught completely unprepared by this unexpected turn of events. In one moment, they had been shouting in triumph as they closed in for the kill, only to find the situation completely reversed the following moment.
Both of them howled with grief in their hearts, extremely displeased with how Bai Xiaochun had blatantly led them on. After all, if they had known the truth from the beginning, they would never have ended up in this horrible situation.
“This Bai character’s true trump card isn’t that fist strike, or that blood mist which causes him to lose consciousness. It's not even those weird medicinal pills of his. It’s his relationship with the Celestial!
“What are we supposed to do now…?” As the twin Master Cloud Lightnings stood there feeling torn about what to do, Bai Xiaochun casually remained in place watching them, arms crossed. Occasionally he would snort coldly, but wouldn’t say anything. In that way, he allowed the pressure to build up for the twin Master Cloud Lightnings.
Under normal circumstances, they would have just turned and left. But they knew that they had offended Bai Xiaochun too deeply. Now that his identity had been revealed, they had to take their sect into consideration as well.
“Um… Bai, old pal, that was just a misunderstanding earlier….”
“Yeah, exactly. Hahaha! Our Nine Heavens Cloud Lightning Sect has been good friends with your Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect for a long time….”
Both of the twin Master Cloud Lightnings felt very embarrassed at this point. Very rarely would they ever give up face in this manner, a fact which was obvious from both their words and the way they pursed their lips.
Bai Xiaochun’s eyes widened into a glare. Obviously, the twin Master Cloud Lightnings were not being very sincere. However, he knew what to say and how to say it. These two were feeling very bitter about their loss, and therefore, it was probably best to quit while he was ahead. He cleared his throat.
“Very well. Since it was a misunderstanding, there’s no need to bicker. However, that little chase of ours left me in pretty bad shape. I also lost a deva soul, as well as a manual for something called the One Hundred Cloud Lighting Forefather Transformations. Ai.” Clearing his throat in meaningful fashion, he looked over at the twin Master Cloud Lightnings.
The twin Master Cloud Lightnings’ hearts crumbled, and inwardly, they cursed Bai Xiaochun for his shamelessness. The divine ability to which he referred was a secret magic from the north, and wasn’t something they could simply hand over to him, not even if they were in a passive position like they were now. However, they also realized that if they didn’t surrender it, the situation would be difficult to resolve. Therefore, one of the twins produced a crystal from his bag of holding, within which was sealed a deva soul.
“Eee? Oh, you did find my deva soul!” As it turned out, the Li Xiandao method actually worked quite well. Bai Xiaochun took the deva soul, examined it briefly, then frowned. “Fellow Daoists Cloud Lightning, you shouldn’t have! Oh, by the way, in addition to the lost deva soul, I also happened to lose a bunch of spirit stones. And seven or eight precious treasures. Plus a whole bunch of medicinal pills!” With that, he looked up unblinkingly.
The twin Master Cloud Lightnings felt like they were about to explode. However, they had no choice but to suppress their anger at the excessive demands.