Chapter 35: Chokehold

Chapter 35: Chapter 35: Chokehold

The instinct for survival overrode everything else. A glint of madness flashed in Zhou Yi’s eyes. He abruptly jabbed the index finger of his blood-soaked left hand fiercely toward the center of his own brow.

"Qiankun Borrowing Technique!" Zhou Yi roared hoarsely.

Chen Yue was about to step forward, but he couldn’t help but pause, his gaze fixed on Zhou Yi’s brow. A sudden sense of alarm rose within him.

He had always maintained the utmost caution regarding the Martial Dao of this world, especially its strange and Secret Techniques. ’Who knows if this guy, who looks like he’s at the end of his rope, has some wicked trick to take me down with him?’

In the instant Chen Yue hesitated...

SWOOSH!

Zhou Yi used all his strength and leaped diagonally backward. He hooked an arm over the nearby wall and vaulted cleanly into the neighboring courtyard.

After landing, he gritted his teeth against the intense pain in his right shoulder and fled for his life without looking back!

The corner of Chen Yue’s eye twitched slightly. He knew he’d been bluffed by the other man’s strange, last-ditch act, but it didn’t matter.

Pushing his Floating Light and Shadow Technique to its limit, the true terror of his Body Technique at the Great Success Realm was finally revealed. In a blur, Chen Yue appeared at the base of the low wall.

He tapped his toes lightly on the wall’s surface, his body soaring into the courtyard like a great roc. A single glance was all it took to lock onto the back of the frantically fleeing Zhou Yi.

Two steps later, Chen Yue was already less than ten feet behind Zhou Yi, the sound of his clothes whipping through the air clearly audible.

Zhou Yi felt that heart-pounding chill from behind close in instantly and couldn’t help but glance back. He saw Chen Yue moving like lightning, his speed now even a notch faster than when the three of them had been chasing him, and his movements seemed even more effortless.

’He... wasn’t even using his full strength before?’ The thought flashed through Zhou Yi’s mind, making him feel as if he’d been plunged into an icy abyss.

It turned out he never intended to flee from the start. The so-called escape toward the Chen Family estate was just a ploy to separate them or find a more secluded place to make his move.

His goal all along was to turn the tables and kill them! To wipe them all out!

Despair flooded his heart, but a cornered beast will still fight. Zhou Yi roared, forcefully suppressed his fear, and channeled all his strength into his right arm. He spun around, his long saber swinging with desperate ferocity at the neck of Chen Yue, who was now right behind him.

Chen Yue’s eyes lifted slightly. He raised his long saber and gave it a light flick.

CLANG—THUD!

The clang of metal was followed by the dull thud of a blade sinking into flesh. Zhou Yi’s desperate, life-or-death strike was easily deflected by Chen Yue’s simple parry. But Chen Yue’s long saber, its momentum unchecked, continued its downward arc and chopped into Zhou Yi’s right shoulder.

"Aaargh!"

Zhou Yi let out a bloodcurdling scream. The long saber tore through skin and muscle, embedding itself deep in his shoulder blade. Blood gushed out, instantly staining half his body red.

The long saber fell to the ground with a CLANG. Zhou Yi was sent staggering backward by the immense force, his face as pale as paper. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and his gaze toward Chen Yue was now filled with nothing but boundless terror and pleading.

Chen Yue took a step forward. His left hand shot out like an iron pincer, fingers clamping around Zhou Yi’s neck and hoisting him up until his feet dangled just off the ground.

"Urk... ghk..."

Zhou Yi’s face instantly went from white to red, his eyes bulging. Guttural, choking sounds escaped his throat as he tried in vain to pry Chen Yue’s fingers away, but they felt as if they were cast from steel, unmoving.

Just as he felt his eyeballs were about to pop, the grip on his neck suddenly changed.

THUD!

Chen Yue threw the nearly suffocated Zhou Yi to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Zhou Yi curled up, coughing and dry-heaving violently, feeling as if his entire body was about to fall apart.

Chen Yue extended his long saber, its cold tip coming to a steady rest right before the center of Zhou Yi’s brow—the very spot Zhou Yi had used for his bluff.

A drop of dark red blood slowly gathered on the tip of the blade, poised to fall but never quite dropping.

"Who sent you?"

Chen Yue’s voice was calm and flat, yet it carried a seeping chill in the silent courtyard. "Why are you only after me?"

Zhou Yi gasped for breath, lifting his head to look at the blade tip inches from his face, and behind it, the young, yet ice-cold, face.

Some of the near-death terror faded, replaced by a cold despair and numbness. He knew there was no escape for him today.

"Ha... *cough cough*..."

Zhou Yi coughed up a few mouthfuls of bloody spittle, a miserable yet slightly crazed smile on his face. "Whether I talk... or not, I’m dead either way, right? So... why should I tell you anything?"

He was making one last desperate attempt to find a sliver of hope.

Chen Yue looked into Zhou Yi’s eyes, silent for a moment, then slowly spoke, "You talk, and I’ll cripple your Martial Arts and spare your life."

Zhou Yi’s pupils shrank slightly. ’Cripple my Martial Arts, but spare my life?’

If Chen Yue had only said, "I’ll let you go," he would never have believed it; it would have sounded too false. But crippling his Martial Arts and then sparing his life... that condition... somehow had a ring of truth to it.

The desire to live, like a weed, began to sprout once more in Zhou Yi’s dead heart. He stared intently at Chen Yue. "How can you guarantee it? What if I talk, and you go back on your word..."

"I can’t guarantee it."

Chen Yue cut him off, his tone still flat. "You can only gamble. Gamble that I keep my word. Or... don’t, and die right now!"

The tip of the blade moved forward a fraction, piercing the skin between Zhou Yi’s eyebrows. A thin, warm line of blood trickled down.

Zhou Yi’s body trembled violently. The struggle in his eyes churned like boiling water. ’Should I die now, or bet on that minuscule sliver of a chance to live?’

"I... I’ll talk!"

Zhou Yi said hoarsely, as if using his last ounce of strength. "We’re from the Divine Flame Cult! The cult is filled with experts, countless powerful masters... Aaagh!"

He was trying to make one last bluff, invoking a powerful name to increase his leverage, but before he could finish, Chen Yue’s blade mercilessly pushed deeper into the flesh of his brow. The sharp pain made him cry out in a short scream.

"Get to the point." Chen Yue’s voice was as cold as iron, without a trace of emotion.

Zhou Yi, trembling all over from the pain, no longer dared to pull any tricks.

"We were capturing you to feed you to the Alchemy Ghost!"

He had originally intended to just say they were capturing Chen Yue for Alchemy, but as the words were about to leave his mouth, he realized that capturing a low-level Alchemy Master like Chen Yue, while ignoring the more skilled Lin Quan, made the "Alchemy" excuse completely illogical.

So, he steeled himself and told the truth.

’Alchemy Ghost?’

Chen Yue’s gaze sharpened instantly. ’It’s related to a ghost?’

He suppressed the chill rising in his heart and continued his questioning. "The time you raided Huichun Hall and kidnapped three Alchemy Masters—was that also you?"

"Yes!" Zhou Yi endured the stinging pain in his brow, not daring to hide the slightest detail.

"Then last time, when you burst into my courtyard and started hacking away without a word, why?" Chen Yue voiced the question that had long puzzled him.

This time, Zhou Yi didn’t hesitate. "Because Li Lie wanted you dead. He specifically ordered us to go for the kill."

’Li Lie!’

Sudden understanding dawned on Chen Yue. Many details that hadn’t made sense before instantly clicked into place.

"So today’s incident was also Li Lie working with you from the inside? He made an excuse to leave the apothecary, creating an opportunity for you?" Chen Yue’s voice betrayed no emotion, but his gaze was as sharp as a blade.