Urban Martial Saint

Ye Qing looked at Wu Zishi and laughed. ”If I don’t put on an act, how am I supposed to lure out an old fox like you? If I don’t put on an act, how am I supposed to land a hit in one go? Wu Zishi, to deal with you, Brother Lin and I really did rack our brains quite a bit!”

”You two…” Wu Zishi stared at them in shock and said, ”That’s impossible. I… the matter of me disguising myself as a corpse, absolutely no one knew. You… you couldn’t possibly have known. My sneak attack was so sudden, he didn’t even have time to gather his qi to resist. How… how could that be faked?”

”What you said there is wrong.” Ye Qing said, ”Actually, from beginning to end, we were faking it. When Brother Lin sat down just now to ’regulate his breathing’, he wasn’t regulating his breathing at all—he had already started cultivating and was guarding his vital points. That strike of yours, Brother Lin completely deflected the force. It didn’t injure him in the slightest!”

”From beginning to end it was all an act?” Wu Zishi was once again stunned. ”You… how did you know I was here? How did you know I’d disguise myself as a corpse? Who leaked the information?”

”Wu Zishi, you’ve always been selfish and vicious. No one could ever trust you. As for this whole setup, I’d wager that other than you, absolutely no second person knew of it. Who could have leaked anything?” Ye Qing said. ”We simply guessed that you’d be hiding here, so we deliberately laid this trap to draw you out!”

”You guessed?” Wu Zishi’s expression shifted again. ”How is that possible? How… how could you possibly have guessed?”

”It’s very simple.” Ye Qing said. ”You wanted Brother Lin to exhaust his strength, then make a move to kill him. If that’s your plan, you have to grasp the timing perfectly—strike the very instant Brother Lin’s strength runs dry. That way your chances of winning soar. And to grasp that timing, you must observe from close range, waiting for your moment to act. But your skill is inferior to Brother Lin’s; at close range you’d never escape his notice. So the only option is to disguise yourself as a corpse and hide here. That way we wouldn’t pay any attention to you, and you could calmly wait for Brother Lin’s strength to be exhausted. Plus, buried among this pile of corpses, so close to us, you’d have more than enough opportunity to launch a killing strike against Brother Lin at the first possible moment. Put it this way: if it were me, I’d absolutely choose to disguise myself as a corpse and wait here too!”

Wu Zishi was dumbstruck. Ye Qing’s analysis was precisely what he himself had planned earlier. He’d set this whole arrangement up for the sake of dealing with Lin Tianyou—disguising himself as a corpse to strike at Lin Tianyou. And exactly because of the circumstances Ye Qing described, he had to hide here as a fake corpse. What’s more, he had a unique method of feigning death that could even fool Lin Tianyou’s inspection, so he’d dared to change his appearance and remain here in disguise. Yet he never imagined that Ye Qing and Lin Tianyou had already seen through his method and even lured him out.

Now things were the opposite of what he’d intended: instead of assassinating Lin Tianyou, he’d ended up injured by Lin Tianyou. Looking at the situation now, the idea of killing Lin Tianyou was basically impossible; whether he could even keep his own life was highly doubtful. After all, Lin Tianyou had already said just now that he was ”beyond saving”—clearly Lin Tianyou truly meant to eliminate him.

In fact, Lin Tianyou had already given Wu Zishi a chance. Just now Lin Tianyou had pretended to be injured, watching Wu Zishi’s reaction. And the result was Wu Zishi spewing madness—if Lin Tianyou didn’t hand over Divine Doctor An Shiping’s inheritance, he would slaughter even more innocents to force Lin Tianyou’s hand. Lin Tianyou did give Wu Zishi a chance, but Wu Zishi failed to grasp it and instead grew even more violent. Under such circumstances, Lin Tianyou naturally had to obey the command left by his Master, Divine Doctor An Shiping, and kill Wu Zishi.

”Wu Zishi, you truly deserve to die.” Ye Qing drew in a deep breath and said, ”To obtain Divine Doctor An Shiping’s inheritance, to kill the Divine Doctor’s successor, you actually murdered so many innocent people. Forget Brother Lin—if it were me, I wouldn’t let you go either. Today is the day your evil deeds finally catch up with you!”

As he spoke, Ye Qing casually tossed a dagger to Lin Tianyou. ”Brother Lin, leaving someone like this alive only harms society. Better to kill him and be done with it.”

Lin Tianyou didn’t take the dagger. Instead he slowly walked toward Wu Zishi and said, ”Mr. Wu, I respect you as the head of a sect. Do it yourself.”

Wu Zishi looked at Lin Tianyou, then at Ye Qing. The muscles on his face were trembling uncontrollably. After a long time, he took a deep breath and pointed at Lin Tianyou. ”I… I can die. But if some things aren’t clear, I won’t be able to rest in peace even in death!”

”What else do you not understand?” Lin Tianyou asked.

”You saved so many people just now. Even if you’re a Peak Master, your strength should have been almost completely spent.” Wu Zishi took a breath and said in a low voice, ”Yet when we fought just now, your power was still so full, as if you hadn’t used any at all. How… how did you do that?”

”Heh…” Lin Tianyou gave a faint laugh and exchanged a glance with Ye Qing beside him. ”You know that he’s Ye Qing, so you should also know the relationship between him and Shen Family Manor, right?”

”What about Shen Family Manor?” Wu Zishi asked in surprise.

Ye Qing said, ”Shen Family Manor has something called the Ziyu Chenxiang Pill. Have you heard of it?”

”Ziyu Chenxiang Pill!?” Wu Zishi’s expression changed. He stared at Lin Tianyou in shock. ”You… you took a Ziyu Chenxiang Pill?”

Lin Tianyou smiled faintly. In truth, everything just now had been deliberately staged by him and Ye Qing for Wu Zishi to see. Before saving anyone, he had already taken two Ziyu Chenxiang Pills. Though the Ziyu Chenxiang Pill’s efficacy isn’t as dramatic as the Devouring Demon Flower, at least it doesn’t have the Devouring Demon Flower’s side effects. Two Ziyu Chenxiang Pills slowly replenished the strength Lin Tianyou expended. So even after saving so many people, his power hadn’t actually diminished much, because the Ziyu Chenxiang Pill was constantly restoring his strength. That was the key that allowed him to turn the tables on Wu Zishi.

This Wu Zishi was extremely shrewd. If Lin Tianyou had saved fewer people, Wu Zishi would have assumed that Lin Tianyou hadn’t used his full strength and therefore wouldn’t casually strike against him—making it impossible to trick him. With the Ziyu Chenxiang Pill, that flaw in the plan was completely patched, leaving Wu Zishi thoroughly deceived.

”You hadn’t even figured out our situation and yet were scheming so hard to deal with us.” Ye Qing said coldly. ”As the saying goes, ’Know yourself and know your enemy, and you’ll never lose in a hundred battles.’ Wu Zishi, you’re far too conceited.”

Wu Zishi’s face turned impossibly ugly. He truly hadn’t paid any attention to the matter of the Ziyu Chenxiang Pill. If he’d known that Ye Qing carried Ziyu Chenxiang Pills on him, he would never have made a move against Lin Tianyou, but instead would have chosen to flee immediately and spend the rest of his life hiding from Lin Tianyou. But now, this one miscalculation had not only completely ruined his plan, it was about to cost him his life.

”If you have any more questions, ask them all at once.” Lin Tianyou said. ”If you don’t, then I’ll carry out my Master’s order.”

”One last question…” Wu Zishi glared at Ye Qing and Lin Tianyou. ”Since the two of you knew I was certainly disguised as a corpse hiding here, why didn’t you simply search each corpse one by one? I must have altered my appearance—just wipe off what’s on my face and you’d immediately be able to recognize me. Why go to all this trouble to lure me into a trap?”

”That’s a very good question.” Ye Qing smiled. ”Searching one by one is indeed one method. But here’s the key: there are over a hundred corpses here, and your strength isn’t weak. If we searched them one by one, you’d definitely run at the first opportunity. If you bolted when we were caught off guard and managed to escape, it would be very hard to catch you again in the future. So we might as well use this method—foolproof.”

Wu Zishi was completely lost for words. He let out a sigh and said, ”You truly went to great lengths to deal with me.”

”And to deal with us, when have you not gone to great lengths yourself?” Ye Qing looked at the corpses nearby that had yet to be revived. ”Wu Zishi, putting aside everything else, just based on what you did today, even dying a hundred times wouldn’t be enough to atone!”

”Hmph, don’t spout that moral grandstanding at me. In this world, it’s the law of the jungle—this is nature’s instinct!” Wu Zishi said loudly. ”Today your strength is greater than mine, and I lost, so I have no complaints. But whatever I do, I do without regret!”

”Just for your own selfish desires, you’d slaughter so many people.” Ye Qing said in a deep voice. ”Wu Zishi, do you still feel no guilt even now?”

”These useless trash only squander resources by living. If killing them can let me obtain Divine Doctor An Shiping’s inheritance, that would be their honor!” Wu Zishi shouted.

”What kind of bullshit logic is that!” Ye Qing retorted furiously.

”What do you know!” Wu Zishi shouted. ”An Shiping’s medical skill is supreme, yet he refuses to take disciples. He hoards his medical arts, leaving them idle. Even if he spends his whole life saving the dying and healing the wounded, how many can one man save? Hmph, selfishly hiding away life-saving medical skills—this is the conduct of a ’Divine Doctor’? Ye, Lin Tianyou, I have no quarrel with you wanting to kill me. But if you want to stand on the moral high ground and condemn me, I refuse to accept it. An Shiping’s selfishness—how is it any different from my killing?”

Ye Qing furrowed his brows. Wu Zishi really was full of twisted arguments; after all that, he even dared to accuse An Shiping of wrongdoing.

”Done spouting nonsense?” Ye Qing looked coldly at Wu Zishi. ”Now, you can kill yourself and atone.”

”Hahahaha…” Wu Zishi threw back his head and laughed. ”The victor is king, the loser is the villain—that’s how it is. My skill is inferior, and dying here, I have no complaints!”

With that, Wu Zishi suddenly raised his hand and slammed a heavy palm into his own forehead!