Legend Management Bureau Chapter 79

[ … words ]

Zhan Qisheng looked at Du Yu in confusion. “You…?”

“Don’t misunderstand.” Du Yu gritted his teeth, resisting the freezing cold in his hands. “I’m not your romantic rival. It’s just that I must bring back the person I brought here.”

Zhan Qisheng glanced down. Both his and Du Yu’s hands were being eroded by the frigid energy and had begun to freeze over.

Yingning hadn’t expected the situation to turn out like this. Unsure whether her heart ached more for Zhan Qisheng or Du Yu, she hastily waved her hand to dispel the ice sword. Both men let out muffled groans and pulled their arms back.

“What happens between Yingning and me is none of your business,” Zhan Qisheng said, shooting Du Yu a displeased glare.

“Yingning is currently my artifact. As her master, I naturally cannot allow her to be harmed.” Du Yu refused to show weakness, standing his ground against Zhan Qisheng. However, he felt a strange sensation stirring within his body, and his state of mind suddenly grew chaotic.

“You are Yingning’s master?!” A trace of fury suddenly flashed across Zhan Qisheng’s face. “Since when did you force your way between Yingning and me?!”

“Zhan Qisheng, don’t be so unreasonable! You made Yingning wait for five thousand years! You…” Du Yu wanted to say more, but he felt his body slipping out of his control as a surge of extreme, explosive wrath erupted from his heart.

Zhan Qisheng froze. He could distinctly sense an utterly terrifying aura radiating from the man in front of him, yet this person clearly lacked the cultivation base to produce such power.

A moment later, Du Yu threw his head back. His eyes turned pitch-black, and the aura of a malicious spirit completely took over his body.

He stared coldly at Zhan Qisheng.

“I am very angry,” Du Yu declared.

“Angry…?” Both Zhan Qisheng and Yingning turned to look at him. Du Yu’s appearance was bizarre, and even his voice had shifted into that of a woman.

“If you tell a girl to wait for you, she will cross even a river of several millennia to do so,” Du Yu said in a chilling tone, taking slow, deliberate steps toward Zhan Qisheng.

“Who… are you?!” Zhan Qisheng couldn’t help but take a step back as the suffocating stench of death washed over his face.

“But you said nothing at all, leaving her to wait in bitter agony for five thousand years. Have you ever experienced that kind of hopeless despair? Have you ever known what it feels like to huddle in a dark corner, utterly alone and helpless?” Du Yu continued to advance, those pitch-black eyes sending shivers down Zhan Qisheng’s spine.

“You aren’t that mortal operator. Who exactly are you?!” Zhan Qisheng instinctively manifested two wind blades in his hands. He had the overwhelming sensation that if he didn’t fight back, he would die in the very next second.

“I am merely a woman who crossed two thousand years to finally reach the end, awakened in fury by the tale of a heartless man like you.” Du Yu thrust a hand toward Zhan Qisheng. “Your mistake was leaving this girl on the other side of the river.”

The moment those words fell, a mass of black mist erupted from Du Yu’s hand. It surged toward Zhan Qisheng at a speed invisible to the naked eye, detonating against his abdomen in an instant.

“Urgh!” Zhan Qisheng cried out in agony as he was sent flying backward.

Clutching his stomach, he slowly scrambled back to his feet, staring at Du Yu in absolute disbelief. “Such power… is simply terrifying…”

Du Yu slowly walked forward and waved both hands. Dense, suffocating clouds of black energy materialized behind him, slowly gathering in the air. If such a massive concentration crashed down, Zhan Qisheng would undoubtedly be blown to pieces.

“No…!” Yingning suddenly rushed over, throwing herself in front of Zhan Qisheng. “Don’t kill him!”

The movement of Du Yu’s hands paused. “Don’t kill him? On what grounds? Little sister Yingning, do you really want to spare the life of a heartless man like this? If you cannot bear to strike the blow, I will do it for you.”

Yingning felt as though Du Yu had become an entirely different person. Before, he had seemed approachable and gentle with everyone. Now, however, he gave off an incredibly dangerous vibe, as if saying a single wrong word would result in certain death.

“I don’t want to kill him… I…” Yingning shook her head, bursting into tears. “My sole motivation for surviving these past five thousand years was the hope that, one day, I might be able to look at him just one more time…”

Du Yu paused upon hearing this, unsure of what to do. There were so many deeply devoted women in this world, and right now, there happened to be two of them occupying the same space.

“Now that your wish is fulfilled, you wish to end your own life,” Du Yu murmured. “If you promise not to seek death, I will stay my hand against this man.”

“I… I understand…” Yingning nodded through her tears.

Seeing Yingning nod, Du Yu’s pupils instantly reverted to normal.

“Huh?” Du Yu blinked, feeling incredibly disoriented. Had Zhongli Chun just possessed him? Since when had her cultivation become so profound?

He quickly closed his eyes, searching for Zhongli Chun in his mind. ‘Little Zhongli, are you there?’

Du Yu’s inner world was exceptionally quiet; surprisingly, no one answered. He slowly walked forward and discovered that Zhongli Chun had fallen asleep on the ground, looking terribly weak.

“Little Zhongli…” Du Yu gently stroked her hair. “Did you use up all your strength just now?”

After confirming that Zhongli Chun was merely exhausted and had no other issues, Du Yu slowly opened his eyes.

“Yingning, what the hell are you doing?!” Du Yu snapped the moment his eyes opened. “Do you realize there are still people in this world who care about you?!”

“Ah…?” She looked at Du Yu in astonishment. “Why did you suddenly…”

At this moment, Du Yu was back to his usual self. Although a bit sharp-tongued, he felt very gentle.

“Are you saying… you care about me?”

“No, I… don’t misunderstand. I meant Goddess Houtu…” Du Yu explained awkwardly.

“Goddess Houtu…” Yingning muttered softly. “Yes, Her Ladyship is still here… I… I can’t let her be sad…”

“Goddess Houtu?” Zhan Qisheng was taken aback. “Yingning, have you gone mad? You are working for Goddess Houtu now?”

Seeing Zhan Qisheng’s attitude, Du Yu suddenly grew annoyed. “What’s the matter? Is there something wrong with working for Goddess Houtu? It’s much better than waiting at the bottom of a lake for a heartless bastard like you!”

“You…!” Zhan Qisheng was at a loss for words. “You don’t understand the hidden circumstances. Regardless, Yingning absolutely cannot stay by Houtu’s side.”

“Keep being stubborn!” Du Yu pointed a finger at Zhan Qisheng. “If you don’t have a valid reason, then stop trying to sow discord here! I’ve seen with my own eyes how well Goddess Houtu treats Yingning. She’s leagues better than you!”

“There is no point in saying more,” Zhan Qisheng shook his head. “If you are an operator, you should understand the logic behind this even better!”

“Forget it,” Du Yu sighed helplessly. “I’m not going to argue about this with you. Zhan Qisheng, let me ask you: are you going to keep fighting?”

As if suddenly remembering something, Zhan Qisheng’s eyes snapped open wide, and then he slowly lowered his head.

“There’s no need. I no longer have a reason to fight…” His tone sounded deeply defeated. “Old He tricked me. He said he had found Yingning, and as long as I did one thing for him, he would let me see her.”

Du Yu blinked, feeling like he understood a piece of the puzzle. However, such crucial information absolutely could not be discussed in public. Right now, there was still another matter to take care of.

“You two wait here for a minute! Let’s deal with the immediate problem first, and then we’ll find a quiet place to talk properly!” Du Yu patted them both on the shoulder and sprinted straight toward Zhang Qian and Zhang Jian.

The two men were a little lost regarding the current situation. Just a moment ago, they had seen those three clashing with earth-shattering momentum, but they had abruptly stopped fighting after only a short while. Now, Zhang Zhen was running toward them. Had something changed?

“Stop fighting, you two!” Du Yu yelled as he ran over, pointing at Zhang Qian. “Don’t push your luck, kid. The backup you hired is my friend, his client is my boss, my artifact is an old acquaintance of his, I am Zhang Jian’s teacher, Zhang Jian is my boss, and my mission objective this time is to protect Zhang Jian. Do you understand?!”

Zhang Qian looked thoroughly confused after hearing Du Yu’s tirade. “N-not really.”

“In other words, we are all very powerful, and if you make a move, I will beat you to death. Is that clear enough for you?”

Zhang Qian froze, then suddenly revealed a vicious expression. “Zhang Zhen, it’s not like I don’t know what kind of trash you are. You’ve been bluffing this whole time, and you expect me to just back down? I worked painstakingly to plan this for an entire year. How could I let you talk me out of it with just a few words?!”

“Oh? So you really want to do this the hard way?” Du Yu’s eyes turned cold. “Do you think that just because that immortal and ghost aren’t interfering, you can defeat the stronghold leader and me by yourself?”

Zhang Qian scoffed coldly. “Even if I can’t win, I still have to fight! I’m a dead man either way now, so I might as well go all out and take a gamble!”

‘This guy is completely different from me,’ Du Yu thought. ‘He truly is a ruthless bandit worthy of the name.’ Without hesitation, Du Yu channeled a fierce gale of palm wind and struck at Zhang Qian. Having just noticed that the martial prowess of the man in front of him had suddenly spiked to terrifying levels, Zhang Qian had no choice but to leap high into the air to put some distance between them.

“Stronghold Leader! Now!” Du Yu shouted back over his shoulder.

Zhang Jian snapped back to reality and quickly formed hand seals. The blood scattered around the area began to pool together, condensing into a long spear before his eyes in mere moments. He pointed at Zhang Qian in the air, uttered a sharp “Go,” and the blood spear shot forward.

Seeing that the situation was turning grim, Zhang Qian immediately chanted an incantation mid-air. Towering trees sprouted out of thin air from the empty ground beneath him, placing themselves directly between Zhang Qian and Zhang Jian to intercept the speeding spear.

Du Yu sneered as he looked at the massive trees springing up. “I knew you’d use that move.”

With that said, he unleashed his physical strength and threw a heavy punch into the trunk, snapping the tree cleanly in half. This left Zhang Qian wide open. The blood spear howled past. Unable to chant a spell in time, Zhang Qian could only twist his body in the air, resulting in his left arm being severed by the bloody aura of the spear.

Zhang Qian let out a bloodcurdling scream as he crashed to the ground, his severed left arm landing a short distance away.

“Bastard!” he cursed loudly, attempting to form hand seals to cast another spell, but he suddenly heard the sound of rushing wind from behind.

Zhang Qian whipped his head around in panic, only to see a fist rocketing straight toward his face.

Before he could even scream, the impact sent him flying.

Zhang Jian acted decisively, roaring, “Take Zhang Qian down!”

Hearing Zhang Jian’s order, several bandits immediately rushed forward. A few wood-attribute cultivators summoned thick vines to bind Zhang Qian securely.

Seeing that Zhang Qian had been brought under control, Zhang Jian slowly spoke, “Listen well, all brothers of the stronghold. Stand down now, and I will pretend none of this ever happened. But if you stubbornly refuse to see the error of your ways, do not blame me for being ruthless.”