Death… and me

The stranger felt something was amiss. The more he looked at Chu Yang, the more he looked like… He could not figure out. Chu Yang shared the same annoying demeanor as the person on his mind. The stranger in blue sighed once more as he swung his arm all of a sudden at Chu Yang. A ray of purple light flew in Chu Yang's direction and he was taken aback. "Here, take this. It's a small gift from me to you."

As the stranger walked away, he turned back to look at Chu Yang's face once more. He shook his head in disappointment and took in a deep breath. After much contemplation, he stomped his foot on the ground and disappeared into thin air. "See you later!" the stranger shouted and he was left just like that. A few moments later, a faint voice was heard from afar. "… going through a thousand mountains without pause, a heart filled with regrets; the vast road is foggy… getting drunk everyday… hard to rid of sorrow…"

The empty voice was filled with so much anguish that it was left lingering for a long while in the snowy sky.

Chu Yang stared blankly in the direction where the stranger had disappeared. He could not figure why he felt so depressed. It was as if his emotion had become blurred like just like the snowy sky. Chu Yang felt like everything was surreal and he was in a state of utter confusion. His memory of what had happened became foggier and foggier.

He revealed a piece of purple jade lying in his right hand, shining brightly with a pristine radiance. It looked like an ordinary genuine pure purple jade without any engravings on the inside.

He sighed as he kept the jade piece aside, pondering a deep-rooted question on his mind: Who was that stranger?

"Big Brother, are you feeling alright?" Gu Du Xing and the others ran towards him hastily with a worried look on their faces.

"Yes, I am fine. Let's…let's head back" Chu Yang stuttered as he forced a laugh. He did want them to worry for him although he felt very despondent at that point in time. He mounted his horse and cracked his whip tacitly. The horse let out a subtle neigh and rushed forward against the cold wind and into the snowy plains.

Gu Du Xing and the others stared at each other. They knew something was amiss as they all witnessed the concerned look in each other's eyes. Without a word, they all mounted on their horses swiftly and chased after their leader, Chu Yang. The five horses galloped forth into the icy wind and quickly disappeared amongst the white misty air.

Snow continued to fall relentlessly, forming a thick layer on the ground. It was only a matter of seconds before the traces left by Chu Yang was erased. The dense snow covered everything so evenly that Gu Du Xing and the others were left stranded in the middle of nowhere as they were unable to identify any road signs in sight. To make matters worse, they could not even trace the previous routes taken by other people. They had no choice but to travel aimlessly according to their gut feeling.

The stranger in blue flew away so quickly that it seemed like a stream of light in the blasting snow. He flickered regularly and disappeared, overtaking a great amount of distance each time.

Suddenly, he stopped and muttered under his breath, "Hold up, something is amiss."

He stood in the snow in deep thoughts. Upon sudden realization, he smacked his forehead and murmured to himself. "How daft you be? He is only a weak Martial Master, he would not dare to carry such a treasured object on his body. Just because it's not on his body, it does not mean that he really does not have it!"

He sighed in agitation as he realized how gullible he was, to trust the mere words of a weak Martial Master. " When I asked about his father, that jerk still said, 'My father? He passed away a long time ago.' It made total sense because there is no way that such intense hatred would exist if it wasn't a lie. He is definitely not the son of the huntsman! I must find him and find the truth for myself!" Even though the stranger was literally shouting at himself for his stupidity, there was no one near him to witness it as he was all alone in the snowy cold plains.

Knowing that he does not have much time to lose, he turned and flew in the direction where he last met Chu Yang. Needless to say, Chu yang was long gone by now.

Standing at the spot where he last met Chu yang, he turned around once more to check his vicinity. However, the heavy snow had covered Chu yang's tracks and the stranger was furious.

"Wow, I must have underestimated you. You are unbelievably fast." Thinking out loud, his mouth curled up with a sinister smile thinking, "What about the jade I gave you?" He smirked, as he thought of a brilliant idea.

He closed his eyes while activating his martial energy and felt the energies around him carefully. He had left a trace of his own energy inside the jade. It meant that no matter where the jade was, as long as it was not more than three hundred miles away, he would be able to locate the jade piece by simply activating his martial energy.

It has been many years on this futile search for the special someone. He had given hundreds of such jade pieces for the sake of the search and though the results were all disappointing, the method had never lost its efficacy.

After a short moment, the stranger's eyes widened in joy. "That is strange! Why is it that I cannot sense anything at all? Even if he was riding a horse, he would have covered only a few dozen miles at most!"

The stranger realized that the energy in the jade piece must have already completely disappeared as if it had never existed on this earth.

The stranger was baffled. "What on earth is going on?" The stranger in blue pondered deeply as he slowly picked up his steps. He walked with a perturbed look on his face. This was his first encounter of losing all traces on the jade and he felt that this has become an impossible search, just like a search for a needle at the bottom of the ocean. He had no idea where to start searching for.

"Alright, I will spend a few days to look for him. If I am still unable to find him, I will have to go back to report." The stranger thought to himself, as he felt a migraine arising due to the situation he was facing. He thought about how giving away hundreds of pieces of jade had provoked the clan each and every time. He was reprimanded severely for every failure he met and this thought made him shudder in utter fear.

"Motherf*cker! This is indeed torture!" The more he pondered, the more he regretted the actions he had taken. He could not help but curse out loud. "Motherf*cker! You people managed to lose a child who was not even a month old and you make me search for him. Motherf*cker! How many people are in this Nine Heavens? Isn't this like searching for a needle at the bottom of the ocean? What's worse is that you take out your anger on me every time the search fails. Are there any heavenly laws and fairness on this anymore?"

After dwelling in it for a while, he stomped off in annoyance and disappeared.

…

At this point in time, Chu Yang had already arrived back in Iron Cloud Citadel. The stranger in blue gave him a piece of purple jade but the sword spirit had sensed a strange energy within it and had forewarned Chu Yang. That energy in the jade has a tracking characteristic and carrying that around is very risky.

After much consideration, Chu yang allowed the sword spirit to absorb this into Nine Tribulations Sword's space. The moment the sword point received this piece of purple jade, it instantly swallowed everything and completely destroyed any traces of information that might reveal Chu Yang's location.

Chu Yang did not expect a small piece of jade for bringing so much trouble. He only felt that the stranger was not a decent man. He did not expect that the stranger would leave a tracker on him. What on earth does he want? Humph!

Tie Shi Cheng's funeral was carried out only for a span of three days. For a ruler of the nation, such a rushed funeral was definitely unexpected and too simplistic. However, it was still understandable as Iron Cloud Nation was currently in a dire state and an extraordinary situation. In fact, the more time they took to carry out the funeral, the more time Diwu Qing Rou would have to recuperate.

After much deliberation, they arrived on a straightforward and unanimous decision.

After Chu Yang returned to Bu Tian Pavilion, Cheng Zi Ang came to report and hesitantly said, "The prince never mentioned Minister Chu…"

Chu Yang politely cut him off casually saying, "You should probably get back to work."

Cheng Zi Ang and Chen Yu Tong backed out hurriedly. Everyone felt that Chu yang was out of luck.

During the funeral, Iron Cloud officials questioned Tie Bu Tian on the absence of the mysterious King of Hell Chu during the funeral. No matter his status, the least he should have done was to attend the funeral.

However, this idea was rejected by Tie Bu Tian. 'What? Minister Chu? Why would he come here for!" He sounded extremely belligerent and furious while saying that.

To add on, Bu Tian Pavilion's work had been assigned by the Judicial Department and not the minister! Everyone must have guessed that King of Hell Chu had fallen of place and of grace.

All the signs as of late were pieces of evidence. It has been a long while since people felt so much joy in them. Some of them even drafted out plans to humiliate Minister Chu once he gets deposed. They felt that Minister Chu deserved all forms of torture as they could barely eat or sleep when he was their leader.

Whenever Chu Yang heard these rumors, he would be thrown into a hysterical fit, He generally understood why Tie Bu Tian would not let him attend the funeral. Tie Bu Tian was furious but he definitely would not turn on Chu Yang. It goes without saying that the more important reason was to keep Chu Yang's identity a secret. Other than that, Tie Bu Tian also needed time to cool down.

One very important underlying reason was that the nation was unable to sustain itself without a ruler even for a day. After the previous emperor died, the new emperor ascended the throne. With a change in regime, there was a mountainous pile of things to do. Tie Bu Tian's schedule every day was very hectic and he truly did not have the state of mind to look over Bu Tian Pavillion.

It was a hard time for the people living in Bu Tian Pavilion as the people did not have the experience of handling the death of an emperor and the ascension of a new emperor to the throne.

As a result, the Judicial Department had to instruct them on what to do and surprisingly, these things were not even related to Bu Tian Pavilion.

Chu Yang understood his plight very well so he was very carefree for a short period of time while he still had some free time on his hands.

Leaving Bu Tian Pavilion, he proceeded to Heavenly Armament Pavillion. Upon arrival, he already received good news: After returning to Bu Tian Pavilion that day, Do Wu Shang immediately cultivated and unexpectedly had a breakthrough in his research.

Everyone was happy for him. Only Dong Wu Shang seemed despondent. He was just a little behind and he became the fourth brother. Instead of the third. No one would be pleased if they were in his shoes.

Dong Wu Shang recalled Chu Yang's promise. Now that he saw Chu yang return, he immediately took the opportunity and asked, "Big brother, remember you said once that I only needed to breakthrough once this month and you would give me a saber?"

Chu Yang nodded his head in agreement. Seeing his eager attitude, Chu Yang could not help but laugh to himself. "What? Can't you wait?"

Dong Wu Shang scratched his head, looking embarrassed. "Then should I head back to the clan and to retrieve some black steel now?"

"Of course, sure!" Chu Yang nodded in agreement.

Upon getting Chu Yang's affirmation, Dong Wu Shang did not hesitate and sprinted out the door. As he was sprinting away, he shouted, "Stay right where you are, I will be back right away!"

Just like that, he disappeared without a trace.

Ji Mo sneaked up beside Chu Yang and said, " Big Brother… Did you say… that I… I only needed to stay here and you would give me a sword?" Ji Mo stood upright with his chest puffed up looking very stern and serious.

Chu Yang was surprised. " I think you remembered it wrong. I said that you only needed to be able to remain here and make a great contribution only will I then reward you with a weapon. On top of that, I only promised Dong Wu Shang because his saber was special. I do not remember promising you anything.

"Beloved big brother! Beloved big brother!" Ji Mo pleaded as he immediately became anxious. His face was twisted and turned as red as a beetroot.

"Big brother…" He pitifully grabbed Chu Yang by his hands and shook them back and forth vigorously, acting no differently than a sulking child wanting some candy.

"My life's only desire is a sword from you! Big brother, please fulfill it for me. Just see it as a good deed or charity… Please…"

"Oh my goodness! Stop! Please stop!" Chu Yang rolled his eyes as he got defeated by this shameless guy. "I will give it to you! Is that enough?" Chu Yang was afraid that if he was to continue speaking, his goosebumps would end up weighing at least a hundred pounds.