Death… and me

Everyone's breathing became rushed.

Everyone was panting, and their faces were gradually becoming flushed! Scorching fury burst from their eyes as they clenched their fists tightly.

They were all proud and arrogant, so how could they be reconciled to be belittled by someone like that?

Chu Yang stared at them coldly and said, "You guys can't accept that? Will your unwillingness do anything for you?"

He paused for a moment, and his expression became increasingly grim and harsh, as if his face masked with a thick layer of frost.

Nobody uttered a word for a long time, and only the sounds of thick and heavy panting remained.

"I have tailor-made a goal for every single one of you!" Chu Yang said plainly, "If you want to reach this goal, then you have to put in a hundred times more effort than before!"

"I will say it out one at a time, and it's your problem whether you can do it or you can't!"

Everyone felt their spirits lifted.

"Mo Tian Ji arranged for Dong Wu Shang to go to the Three Higher Heavens because Dong Wu Shang is protected by love, and he has the Pinnacle of Saber, so he doesn't need a goal anymore!"

"I won't talk about Gu Du Xing, because his entire life has nothing else besides his sword! He doesn't need a goal!"

"Ji Mo!" Chu Yang shouted at the top of his voice.

Ji Mo shivered as he straightened his back and said, "Boss!"

"You are lively by nature, and you have no patience at all. You're not focused on your tasks when you're completing them, and you are only passionate about something for several days no matter what you do. Once this passion dies down, you'll push these things to the back of your mind! That's because you are very openminded – therefore, if you continue on like this, you will never reach the pinnacle for your entire life."

"Therefore, from now onwards, you have to emphasis on changing that aspect. I will hand a plan to Aobo in a while, and I will make her responsible for urging your transformation!"

Mo Tian Ji almost spit out the wine in his mouth.

Huyan Aobo to urge Ji Mo… Chu Yang's move was truly a masterstroke.

"You can't possibly focus on swordplay, but you will always place more emphasis on the sword. Your goal is – chase Gu Du Xing! That's the goal for your entire life! No matter what level Gu Du Xing reaches, you will chase him as hard as you can! Remember, I will only allow to lag behind by three ranks! You will see what happens if he is three ranks above you."

Chu Yang's voice was very cold.

Ji Mo felt a rush of hot blood surging from his heart. "I will no longer need to live if second brother Gu exceeds me by four ranks!"

"You are four ranks below him now. Furthermore, Du Xing can beak through to become a Grade 4 Sword Emperor within roughly half a year! Therefore, you have to break through Martial Emperor within half a year, and then you have to try for Grade 2 Martial Emperor!"

"Du Xing, if you wait for him because of brotherhood, then you can go to hell too!" Chu Yang said.

"I will torture him! I will let him know that chasing me is something that he has to pay a price for!" Gu Du Xing smiled faintly.

"Shit… Seems like third brother Ji will no longer have time for sex…" Luo Ke Di squeezed his eyes a few times.

Huyan Aobo immediately blushed and glared at Luo Ke Di.

"The two of you will finish your marry right away after you guys go back, so that Aobo can hasten you as effectively as possible!" Chu Yang continued, "Mo Tian Ji will be the matchmaker, and Gu Du Xing will be the mediator. Quickly finish your business after both families have communicated."

Everyone was astounded and rendered speechless.

Chu Yang changed his target. "Luo Ke Di! Your goal is even simpler – you have to keep up with Ji Mo, and the two of you have to advance shoulder so shoulder! If you allow him to be two ranks above you, then you can go home and sleep. You are truly useless if you can't even keep up with Ji Mo. You won't have any future even if you continue mixing with your brothers."

Chu Yang said coldly and callously.

Luo Ke Di's face turned ghastly white before he flushed red. He seemed as though he had been thrown into and icehouse before he was scooped out and sent into volcanic magma.

"How can I not keep up with third brother Ji! Big brother, don't disregard my abilities as if they're nothing!" Luo Ke Di burst out furiously.

Chu Yang answered coldly, "Whether you can keep up with him or not is not about words."

"You? You think you can keep up with me?" Ji Mo chuckled coldly, and his eyes were full of disdain.

Luo Ke Di erupted with anger, and he glared at Ji Mo.

Mo Tian Ji felt a wave of admiration in his heart. Chu Yang didn't talk about the Three Higher Heavens at all, and he didn't talk about dominating the Nine Heavens, because such goals were too distant. Those goals could easily frighten everyone and impede their progress instead.

Chu Yang was only setting targets with their brothers, those who they are most familiar with!

He wanted them to feel that those goals were within reach.

And only then would they work multiple times harder than before.

In other words, Chu Yang was using the everyone's brotherly love, that which they cherished most, and forcing everyone to change! If you didn't change and you didn't improve, then sorry – you would have to withdraw from our circle of brothers!

If Chu Yang had said this one year ago, everyone would feel bad, but they wouldn't think too much about it. But now, they were in life and death together over this period of time, and they were spending every day together. These brothers had already become a group that couldn't be separated from each other.

If somebody had to leave shamefully leave from this group because he or she wasn't strong enough…

Mo Tian Ji was confident that not a single person could accept that.

Mo Tian Ji began to sweat in his palms.

Chasing Gu Du Xing as a target was technically realistic, but in truth, that was harder than dominating the Nine Heavens… Gu Du Xing was a Sword Emperor, something that was hardly seen even once across one thousand years.

"Ao Xie Yun," Chu Yang turned around, "Since you treat me like a brother, then I will devise a plan for you as well!"

Ao Xie Yun said calmly, "I will always follow your words, big brother!"

"There are too many distracting thoughts in your head, and that's not good for cultivation! Therefore, you have to renounce them all! You have the same rank as Ji Mo and Luo Ke Di, and you guys have the same standard. Therefore, your goal is – no matter when, you can't be one step behind either one of them!"

"If you can't become stronger than them, then you have failed – if you lag behind them, then you will be out!"

Chu Yang didn't mince his words.

All three of them began to protest against Chu Yang's statement.

"Xie Dan Qiong!" Chu Yang said plainly, "You're different from the others. You may seem clumsy and stupid on the outside, but you're very intelligent and meticulous. You already have your own goal, but you're just not very sure right now."

Xie Dan Qiong said respectfully, "Do advise me, big brother."

"Your face is full of murderousness when you unleash your jasper flower, and your eyes are also full of murderousness! Your entire aura resembles that of a butcher!" Chu Yang continued, "That's the lowest level of jasper flower."

"The lowest level?" Xie Dan Qiong muttered to himself.

"Whenever you can unleash jasper flower with a still heart and calm eyes, then you will have ascended into the next level. When you can unleash jasper flower and feel happiness, then you're in the third level. Once you release jasper flower and you can feel your jasper flower's happiness, then you will be in the fourth level!"

"When you release jasper flower and you can feel happiness in your eyes and across your entire body, you will bloom like the flower itself, and you will be at the pinnacle! When that happens, you will naturally have new discoveries and understandings."

Chu Yang said, "But that target is too distant. You will take it one step at a time."

Xie Dan Qiong contemplated for a long while and said, "I'll remember that."

Mo Tian Ji, Gu Du Xing and the others felt a little nauseous. At face value, Xie Dan Qiong's cultivation was very simple and only his expression and his eyes were changing. But once they thought a little more carefully, they began to feel their skin crawl.

Once the jasper flower was unleashed, it was out to kill and to take lives!

How could the jasper flower kill anyone without any murderous intent at all?

He had to cultivate his jasper flower until he would burst with joy when he unleashed the flower – what kind of mentality was that?

What he had to experience throughout that period of time was enough for someone to make a few trips to and from the eighteen levels of hell.

Chu Yang said nothing else after that.

Xie Dan Feng was waiting for him to speak, but he said nothing at all. She couldn't help but feel a little worried as she asked, "You've talked about everyone, big brother Chu – why aren't you talking about Tan Tan?"

Chu Yang forced a laugh and said, "Tan Tan… has his own path! I can't make a plan for him."

He heaved a sigh in his heart – he couldn't make a plan for Tan Tan, and he couldn't arrange his marriage either.

Who knew how the Sunken King's awakening would be like?

If he forcefully tied Xie Dan Feng and Tan Tan together, and if that would turn out to be a tragedy… what was he to do when that happened?

Chu Yang didn't have any confidence at all about this matter.

"What about me?" Xie Dan Feng asked.

"Follow your heart!" Chu Yang thought for a long time and finally uttered these three words. "However, no matter what choice you make, don't' regret them in the future."

Xie Dan Feng pondered, and her face began to flow as she suddenly hugged Tan Tan's hand and hollered, "I will follow you no matter where you go! I will not leave your side!"

Tan Tan giggled foolishly and said blissfully, "You're so annoying!"

Mo Tian Ji remained silent. He was waiting, Chu Yang didn't say that sentence that he wanted to hear the most from the beginning to the end.

Mo Tian Ji's heart gradually sunk.

He couldn't help ask, "And the Heavenly Armaments Pavilion? What about the Heavenly Armaments Pavilion?"

Chu Yang immediately seemed a little excited when he heard that question. He raised his eyebrows jovially and said, "Tian Ji lives up to his name, and you've seen the crux of the issue with one look. Gu Du Xing will be temporarily in responsible for the Heavenly Armaments Pavilion, and Mo Tian Ji will put forward plans and ideas. Let's work hard together, brothers…"

"What about you?" Everyone asked at the same time.

"I'm going into seclusion!" Chu Yang's face was sparkling, and everyone could see that there was hope and elation in him that came from his heart as he lowered his voice and said, "I've had the most realizations in this trip to the Lake of Death!"

"First, the divine will of the Paragon has enabled me to feel some things faintly and obscurely. That seems to come from Heavenly Dao… it's very illusory only faintly discernible, and I can't grasp it yet. Therefore, I want to go into seclusion at the Lake of Death for a while. I trust that once I understand everything successfully, my strength will improve exponentially. I am very confident about that!"

Chu Yang chuckled.

Everyone immediately shared in his happiness. "Really? That's great news!"

"You want to go into seclusion here?" Mo Tian Ji frowned, and his heart sank.

"Other than that, when Gu Du Xing – that bastard – was breaking through, he actually me into his ideas and conceptions. Therefore, my understanding towards sword Dao has improved."

Chu Yang was very articulate. "Therefore, I will need some time for seclusion this time, but… I will benefit greatly from this!"

"Yes, big brother has told me that before after I broke through." Gu Du Xing nodded.

"So that's the case!" Everyone exclaimed happily when they saw Gu Du Xing nodding his head.

"I need absolute silence during my seclusion," Chu Yang continued, "Therefore, when you guys leave the mountain tomorrow, leave some supplies for me and I will not follow you down. I'll remain on the mountain to cultivate!"

He frowned, and his eyes turned cold. "I'll be blunt – I don't know how long I will need for this seclusion, whether I will need a few days or a few months. But when I'm out, if your strengths are still stagnating! Hmph, you guys understand."

Everyone laughed heartily and said, "We will make you impressed when you're out!"

There was only jubilation in the tent, and everyone was smiling and laughing.

Mo Tian Ji's face was as black as ever. He was holding a wine cup in his hands, and his hand quivered as he felt his heart plummet as if he was falling from a tall cliff.

He felt agonizing pain in his heart!

Had Chu Yang finished addressing and accounting for everything afterwards?