Chapter 0469: Lingering Affection
Chapter 0469: Lingering Affection
Under the watchful gazes of the two Sword Immortals, the Imperial General, the 10 or so Shushan Sword Sages and Yan Huang Generals, as well as the millions of sword cultivators and countless Yan Huang Immortal Soldiers, Wu Yu had decisively smashed the joint assault of Beishan Mo and Nangong Wei.
With a mere nonchalant gesture, all of his clones in their Immortal Ape forms returned to his body in perfect condition.
These clones were the precise reason why Wu Yu could so effortlessly defeat the two unparalleled geniuses of Shushan.
The key thing was, Wu Yu used to be a Shushan disciple as well, and had even been expelled from the sect, no less. If not for the Ursae Sword Immortal's intervention, he would probably not have been able to survive till today.
As he faced the Mizar Sword Immortal, Wu Yu smiled faintly. This calm demeanor was his chosen response to the Mizar Sword Immortal.
He had successfully avenged himself.
At least from now on, the Mizar Sword Immortal would always be considered a laughing stock whenever people talked about the events that occurred today.
In the entire Shushan, there was no one shining more brightly than Wu Yu at this present moment!
Nangong Wei and Beishan Mo had become his stepping stones to fame and glory, dull and unremarkable beside him!
Beishan Mo lay before him, utterly devastated. He struggled to get up from the ground, pale-faced and struck by occasional spasms of pain. The countless stares of the crowd falling upon him exacerbated the state of his emotional turmoil; it was as if his world was crumbling before his eyes. He had lost the battle he could least afford to lose, and was even vanquished twice in a row. Looking at the current Beishan Mo, he was indeed a pitiful sight. Even the Green Depths Sword Emperor's spirit remnant that he had always relied upon had been obliterated by Wu Yu.
Wu Yu deliberated over whether to end Beishan Mo once and for all. He was naturally unmoved by the sorry state of Beishan Mo. After all, if Wu Yu had lost today, the pitiful one would have been him instead. The only source of his dilemma was Nangong Wei. If he killed Beishan Mo, she would definitely hate his guts. Now that their romantic fate had been shattered once and for all, he did not think it worthwhile to build any future relationship with her based on mutual enmity.
Having achieved victory, Wu Yu looked towards Nangong Wei. In his eyes, she was just like a rebellious, strong-willed little sister. Tears were falling from her eyes after having been taught a harsh lesson.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not as weak as you imagined. You probably could never have predicted that I would win today. But I never meant to hurt you. At this stage, I only hope that you can pick yourself up from here and continue on your pursuit of your dao as an even stronger person in the future."
Picturing how she looked in her childhood, Wu Yu could not bear to see her despairing countenance now.
In fact, the Mizar Sword Immortal and the rest of Shushan were the most nervous ones at the moment. Nangong Wei had already broken the rules of the duel by teaming up with Beishan Mo. Now that even their allied assault had been crushed by Wu Yu, there was no way they could conveniently interfere if Wu Yu were to kill Beishan Mo on the spot. After all, the Imperial General was here precisely to ensure impartiality in the duel.
Now that Wu Yu didn't seem interested in killing Beishan Mo, the Mizar Sword Immortal and the rest could breathe a sigh of relief.
Moreover, Wu Yu's words seemed to indicate that he wished Nangong Wei well, and for her to be able to resume her cultivation towards immortality without being overly affected by her defeat.
Hearing this, Nangong Wei bit her lip. Her eyes shone with malevolence as she laughed suddenly before replying, "Now that you've won, you've indeed started flaunting your status to instruct others as if you're so superior. You won, so you can show off all you want, but you're not qualified to care about my future. You were the one who abandoned me at the start, so don't act all kind and caring here. You only won today because you're stronger, but that doesn't mean that you're right, and it all the more doesn't give you the right to show such false concern for me!"
Perhaps it was especially irksome for her to hear these words from him after his victory. After all, she had lost even after teaming up with Beishan Mo. The results of the duel meant everything to her right now, and anything else Wu Yu might say at this point would just seem to be a hypocritical show of affection.
Nangong Wei's tone was indeed piercing when she was worked up.
Of course, this was due to the fact that she was still immature; her personality was like searing flames.
Wu Yu was startled. He had initially wanted to take the opportunity to chat a little more with Nangong Wei, but that was just his wishful thinking. Given her character, his words would only serve to provide further humiliation now that she had been defeated. After today, she would probably view him with even more hostility than before.
This was not what Wu Yu had set out to achieve.
Hence, he shook his head. Since she was being as defensive as a hedgehog, it was pointless to say more.
Nonetheless, Nangong Wei was obviously much more agitated than Wu Yu. She was too young and had experienced too few of life's setbacks compared to Wu Yu, so the shame that she had to endure now caused her to lose all reason and descend into a partially crazed state. Clenching her fists, she slipped past Wu Yu and appeared beside Beishan Mo, reaching down to support him. She stared at Wu Yu with bloodshot eyes, saying through gritted teeth, "Wu Yu, I'll admit that you've won today, but this is just the beginning. One day, the two of us will definitely crush you!"
Sometimes, the threshold between love and hate could be crossed in just an instant, like so.
This loss had clearly dealt a severe blow to Nangong Wei, to the point that she had even become slightly incoherent.
Wu Yu could not be bothered to speak any further. Whatever she chose to do, he would just shut up. It was none of his business from now on anyway…
Just as he was turning his back on them, Nangong Wei glared vengefully at him and assisted Beishan Mo to his feet before addressing the crowd all of a sudden. "From today onwards, Beishan Mo and I will be dao companions and follow the same dao in life or death. There is nothing left between Wu Yu and I, except for hate! The two of us will surely defeat you some day and rise to attain immortality hand-in-hand!"
Sometimes, the deeper the extent of love, the more hysterical one would become when that love turned to hate.
Wu Yu had not even intended to kill Beishan Mo for fear that she wouldn't be able to get over her grief and move on with life, yet her public announcement now drove him to genuine anger.
He spun around, golden flames dancing in his eyes!
Nangong Wei's abrupt decision came as a shock to Beishan Mo as well. Perhaps the sudden joyous news seemed too good to be true, so he stared at her in a daze, unable to react for a long while.
The millions of sword cultivators exchanged awkward glances. A large proportion of them were older than Nangong Wei and knew that her words were just born from impulse. Given her young age and burning desire to win, she would be willing to go to any lengths just to spite Wu Yu.
Yet this outcome was precisely what most of the Shushan disciples had desired to see.
They once felt that it was Wu Yu's meddlesome interference that had prevented Shushan's perfect couple from being together, that he was just a contemptible, inferior clown that had shoved himself in between them.
And now, Wu Yu had beaten the both of them together! He had leapt ahead of them.
For Nangong Wei to announce such news now, it would surely feel like an outrageous act of retribution.
No wonder Wu Yu would be this angry! His fiery gaze fell upon Nangong Wei's slender frame as he said sternly, "Wei Er, a loss is a loss. Who hasn't tasted defeat before in their lifetime? At the very most, we can just duel again someday. But you should never, ever debase yourself and make such rash decisions just because of the outcome of a duel! Using such methods now won't hurt me, it only makes me see how childish you are. Don't rush into a decision that you'll regret just because of me."
This was his responsibility.
Whether or not they had chosen to sever ties, he did not wish to see Nangong Wei persist so wilfully.
However, she merely laughed coldly, "Still acting like a nice guy, you hypocrite? You think you care so much for me and understand me so well? How do you know I'm making a rash decision right now? Is Beishan Mo not better than you? He's willing to brave any danger to accomplish whatever I want. And you? Look at how selfish you are. In your eyes, it was always only about you. You wouldn't even kill a demon for my sake, and you still dare to use your dao as an excuse! I should have chosen him a long time ago."
There were barbs all about her.
Having said that, everyone could tell nonetheless that this decision was being made in a moment of anger. If she had intended to do so earlier, she would not have treated Beishan Mo so coldly all along.
"I think you really should calm down. Your impulsiveness now will only serve to destroy you in the future," Wu Yu said gravely.
How could there be a genuine connection between their hearts if she were to become dao companions with someone she didn't even love? How could they even hope to progress together hand-in-hand? Once she started down this path, as long as she felt even a shred of inner conflict, she would be ruining her own future.
It was extremely tiring to speak to an immature person, especially now, when Wu Yu's concern would just be mistaken as an insult.
The crowd was dead silent at this point, until the Mizar Sword Immortal decided to speak up. "Wu Yu, what they choose to do is purely a Shushan internal matter and has nothing to do with you. Now that you've won and are done strutting your stuff, it's time for you to leave."
Wu Yu ignored him.
For one of the Seven Immortals of Shushan to be disregarded by Wu Yu in this manner, it was truly an embarrassment.
Wu Yu wanted to see if even now, there was any possibility of Nangong Wei realizing her mistake and changing her mind.
In her eyes, Wu Yu saw only her hatred for him, flaring intensely, especially at this moment. She leaned in towards Beishan Mo before saying vehemently, "I, Nangong Wei, will have nothing to do with you in this lifetime, no matter what path I choose to walk. You've already won, now you can scram. And by the way, we'll be going to the Immortal Pair Hall in 10 days, but don't even dream about getting an invitation."
The hatred welling up within her made her seem like a maniac. The fires of vengeance in her heart met with the flames of fury burning within Wu Yu, and erupted to a level that was impossible to extinguish.
Hearing her words, Wu Yu shut his eyes.
He had made a decision.
When he opened his eyes again, a glowing, golden sigil had unexpectedly appeared within each of them! The sigil was exceedingly complex, and struck trepidation into the hearts of the crowd as soon as it appeared! In that instant, Beishan Mo gave an agonized scream and fell to the ground, struggling, although he was being supported by Nangong Wei. His eyes were turned up to their whites, and in mere seconds, his body ceased to move. The paramount genius of Shushan's younger generation, the great hope of Shushan's future, now lay still on the floor, transformed into a motionless corpse!
Wu Yu had used the second tier of the Eyes of Fire and Gold, the Purgatory Chains, to set his spirit aflame. Together with his severe injuries, this was enough to destroy him completely.
Even the Imperial General could not have expected that Wu Yu would take such an action. Simple, direct, and violent - this was his usual style.
To him, Nangong Wei was headstrong and childish, but that did not mean that he was unable to deal with her. After ending Beishan Mo's life once and for all, Wu Yu looked at the pale-faced and stunned Nangong Wei before calmly saying, "Marry this corpse then."
He did not wish to say any more.
He turned and soared up into the sky in the direction of the black warship.
Wu Yu was now the focal point of everyone's attention. His decisiveness and conviction in killing Beishan Mo had impacted the audience deeply and reinforced the impression that Beishan Mo and Nangong Wei were truly two childish, rebellious, and stubborn kids in front of Wu Yu.
"Wu Yu!" the Mizar Sword Immortal yelled after him, eyes streaked with red in his frenzied rage.