Book 4 - Chapter 36: Laying All the Cards on the Table

When he stood up, Su Chen found himself surrounded by four people.

Zhu Baiyu, Zhu Xianyao, Zhao Jingwen, and Ba Lieyuan.

“What are you guys doing?” Su Chen asked.

“You’re not You Tianyang. Who exactly are you?” Zhao Jingwen said in a low voice.

Su Chen squinted his eyes and said, “Zhao Jingwen, what nonsense are you spouting?”

Ba Lieyuan said menacingly, “I am sure that the Long Clan does not have any techniques that can control a Darkness Demon. I have also never seen Young Master You cultivate any kind of secret consciousness technique before.”

Su Chen said disdainfully, “Just because you haven’t seen it doesn’t mean I don’t, idiot.”

Ba Lieyuan replied, “Young Master You wouldn’t talk to me like that either.”

Su Chen coldly laughed. “Your tone almost made me think that you’re the master.”

At this point, Su Chen knew that he had been exposed, so even the way he spoke began to change. He was no longer pretending to be You Tianyang, but he continued to stubbornly insist otherwise.

Zhu Baiyu said, “Enough. Before we even came in here, I was already aware that you were no longer You Tianyang.”

“Oh? What proof do you have of this?” Su Chen countered.

“The proof is that Origin Crystal.” Zhu Baiyu pointed at Su Chen’s sash.

“An Origin Crystal? What’s wrong with an Origin Crystal? Am I not allowed to own a consciousness-type Origin Crystal?”

“Of course you’re allowed to. But you should have taken it out before you used the three vials of Spirit-Sobering Medicine,” Zhu Baiyu laughed coldly. “Spirit-Sobering Medicine is a consumable and disappears once it is used, but you can use an Origin Crystal repeatedly. Under these circumstances, any clear-headed individual would have taken out the reusable crystal first before using the consumable medicines and scroll. But you? You used the medicine first and only pulled out the crystal once you realized that the medicine wasn’t going to cut it. The only reason you would do that is if you weren’t planning on revealing that you had a consciousness-type Origin Crystal. And that is because you were very clear that the more you revealed abilities that didn’t match up with what You Tianyang could do, the more of a risk you would be taking.”

“So you did start to suspect me back then,” Su Chen said with a slight smile. “I’m actually not too surprised; ever since I decided to replace Zhu Xianyao in opening the secret stashes, I knew that I couldn’t avoid all suspicion.”

“But you still chose to do it.”

“Yes. I had no choice. No matter what, opening the secret stashes was the highest priority. If I didn’t take the risk of standing out then, we wouldn’t have been able to get in in the first place.”

“So you’re not denying that you’re not You Tianyang?” Zhu Xianyao asked as she forcefully suppressed her anger.

Su Chen smiled slightly. “Of course not. You don’t seem to like that answer much, do you? Oh, that’s right! That kiss…… you thought you were giving it to You Tianyang, didn’t you?”

As Su Chen spoke, he gently licked his lips and chuckled softly.

“BASTARD!” Zhu Xianyao was about to go insane.

Just as she was beginning to fall for You Tianyang, she discovered that this You Tianyang wasn’t the real You Tianyang. How could she not be infuriated?

Even worse, she had planted a seed of affection towards the other party with that kiss of her.

But now, she discovered that she didn’t even know who she had given her affection to!

How could she not feel like she was going mad?

“I’ll kill you!” she yelled as she unleashed a palm strike.

“I feel like dealing with me should not be your most urgent priority.” Su Chen countered with a palm strike of his own, then leapt backwards towards Zhu Xianyao.

“How bold!” Zhu Baiyu barked. He was just about to intervene when he heard a voice speak. “Zhu Baiyu, your opponent is me!”

Raindrops suddenly appeared, seemingly frozen in midair. As a gust of wind blew by, the raindrops began to fall through the air.

Zhu Baiyu took these ostensibly simple raindrops extremely seriously. He was forced to withdraw his strike against Su Chen and instead howled, unleashing all the energy in his body in the form of a massive shockwave that repelled the raindrops and prevented them from advancing.

“Shi Mingfeng!” he howled.

“That’s me.” Shi Mingfeng appeared with a slight smile. Rain continued to drizzle down, seeping into every crack and chilling down to the bone. Zhu Baiyu felt a bit of panic creep into his heart.

He wasn’t panicking over Shi Mingfeng but over the fact that their mission had been exposed. This meant that the opponent would have made even more preparations.

Indeed, after Shi Mingfeng appeared, the Immortal Temple’s experts also began to appear one after another.

Zhu Xianyao stared fiercely at Su Chen. “So you belong to the Immortal Temple!”

As she spoke, she jabbed out with her finger.

Heavenly Fox Finger!

She had immediately opened with a killing move, demonstrating her hatred for Su Chen.

It wasn’t just because of Su Chen’s deception. Actually, it was more so due to the seed of affection.

The only way to uproot that seed was to kill the person to whom it had been given.

“I hope that doesn’t make you unhappy,” Su Chen laughed.

He clenched his right fist and punched out at the finger. This seemingly simple punch was actually enveloped in a transparent illusory image — this was Su Chen’s Primordial Blood Incarnation, but his control over it had become much so precise that he could even gather it solely to one part of his body.

Boom!

The fist and finger jab collided. Both Su Chen and Zhu Xianyao simultaneously took a step back.

The Slyheart Demonic Emperor’s Heavenly Fox Finger was the Zhu Clan’s strongest killing technique. Even though Zhu Xianyao wasn’t particularly well-known for her combat strength, this strike was not something that just anyone could defend against. Yet even so, Su Chen had blocked it relatively easily and was not disadvantaged in the slightest. He even had the strength to try and counterattack.

An instant later, he reached out and grasped at Zhu Xianyao.

Zhu Xianyao hurriedly retreated in shock while Su Chen charged forwards in hot pursuit. As one fled while the other chased, they continued to exchange more blows between the two of them.

At this point, it was clear who held the advantage.

Even though the Heavenly Fox Finger and the Primordial Blood Incarnation had drawn even, the Heavenly Fox Finger was Zhu Xianyao’s ultimate trump card. Su Chen’s punch, on the other hand, was just a normal move. He hadn’t even imbued it with Shadow Flame.

As such, every time Zhu Xianyao attacked, she had a relatively long recovery period. In comparison, Su Chen could unleash blow after blow after blow, each one with the same amount of power behind it. Zhu Xianyao barely had any time to catch her breath.

This person was that powerful?

Zhu Xianyao was totally stunned as she stared at the face that was perfectly like You Tianyang’s.

She had a Demonic Emperor Bloodline and was a Yang Opening Realm cultivator, but she was still being suppressed by these seemingly basic punches.

How could she not be surprised?

Thankfully, Ba Lieyuan and Zhao Jingwen charged over at that moment.

“Where is my Young Master?” Ba Lieyuan howled fiercely as his massive axe swung forward at the same time that Zhao Jingwen’s Cloud-Sundering Spear pierced forwards.

“Of course he’s in my hands,” Su Chen replied as the Mountain-Beheading Blade appeared.

The blade cleaved through the air.

Ba Lieyuan and Zhao Jingwen felt as if the air in front of them was distorting. This would only happen once a blade strike was sharp enough and it implied that normal barriers wouldn’t stand a chance against it.

The two of them were both stunned. Where had this expert suddenly popped out from? They simultaneously withdrew their attacks to defend themselves. The collision unleashed a scintillating light before the three of them separated.

However, Su Chen was only forced back a single step. A massive, human-like illusory image had appeared behind his back, towering over them like a mountain. This transparent humanoid image had only needed to take a single step back to neutralize the momentum of their attacks. The Mountain-Beheading Blade almost instantaneously grew in size and slashed again at Ba Lieyuan and Zhao Jingwen.

This blade strike exuded an overbearing amount of pressure that seemed to swallow up mountains and rivers. This kind of power could only belong to the peerlessly powerful.

In that instant, Zhu Xianyao felt that her opponent wasn’t just a normal Origin Qi Scholar but rather a Light Shaking Realm expert or even someone with a Primordial Beast Bloodline.