Chapter 548: News Delivery – Bad News
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Seeing the crystal clear bone that was like a piece of jade, Sword, Snow, and Frost were shocked as if they had just been struck by a lightning bolt; three pairs of eyes widened into round circles of disbelief. Venerable Lord Sword who was sitting in meditation was staring wide-eyed before he spat blood, his face flushed. Venerable Lord Snow's lips trembled, his face turned snow-white, befitting of his name, while Venerable Lord Frost shuddered where he stood, frozen like a zombie.
It was a very small and extremely short piece of bone. If it were to be implanted into someone, it would probably only made up one small section of a person's spine.
Yun Yang gazed at the Bone of Ice God in his hand, his expression was that of longing, as if he was reluctant to hand it back to the Venerable Lords. However, he stretched out his arm, placing the bone on the table with a light 'dong' sound.
The noise was very soft but it snapped the other three men's attention immediately back to reality.
All three of them focused their gaze back onto the Bone of Ice God on the table.
"This is what Venerable Lord Ice commissioned me to do before his death." Yun Yang sucked in a deep breath and continued, "Honestly, I didn't want to help. But as someone who is also in the cultivation journey, I don't have the heart to reject the final commission of a venerable force."
The three of them did not speak, merely staring unblinkingly at the piece of bone, completely silent.
"Venerable Lord Ice had entrusted a total of two and a half requests to me," Yun Yang said. "One of it was to send this Bone of Ice God back, specifically to his brothers and not the Four Seasons Tower; this is also one of the main reasons I'm happy to comply with his request."
Even when the Four Seasons Tower and the Four Venerable Lords had previously promised not to make war with Yun Yang based on outstanding circumstances, the Four Seasons Tower had always remained against Yutang. This was clear to everyone who was aware of it. Besides, the Four Venerable Lords knew very well that Yun Yang was a person who prized the concept of brotherhood and with his current cultivation base, experience, and knowledge as a heaven realm cultivator, he would know that the God Bone was a marvel that would immensely benefit cultivation despite not knowing its origin; therefore, it was a huge favor that he was willing to send the bone back.
The three Venerable Lords trembled, the moisture in their eyes glinting, it spoke volumes of the weight of the grief they each carried.
"Another favour that was asked of me was to inform you to avenge your brother!" said Yun Yang.
Venerable Lord Sword panted harshly, his breathing labored like a wind box.
"Who has killed him? Who?" Venerable Lord Snow's tone was void of its usual coldness. His hands were shaking so much that he almost failed to grip them into fists. As he forced himself to grab onto the Bone of Ice God and felt the iciness of it, his tears finally broke through the dam and gushed forth.
Piercing frost soared from Venerable Lord Frost as he turned around abruptly and demanded, "Who killed my brother? Was it the Concourse of the Underworld!?"
This was clearly the first direct judgement from all three Venerable Lords. With the unrivalled reputation of the Four Venerable Lords, there were barely a handful across the world who could achieve such a feat; and even when there were people with such capacity, they would not actually go all out to kill a Venerable Lord because of fear of the Four Seasons Tower's revenge.
The only logical option would be the Concourse of the Underworld who was currently in a deep conflict with the Four Seasons Tower and had even besieged Venerable Lord Ice prior, causing the latter to be severely injured; it was, therefore reasonable to pursue and annihilate him afterwards.
Yun Yang said, "This person is a famous assassin in the martial world too but he's not from the Concourse of the Underworld. That person is from the Hall of Crimson Blade's, Hong Zhan!"
"Hong Zhan!"
Venerable Lord Snow bellowed, his agony mounting while his eyes brimmed with savage rage.
Venerable Lord Sword's eyes were trained on Yun Yang. "You said two and a half requests just now. My brother, what's his half request?"
Yun Yang replied, "This… uh, it's a shame to speak of it actually. Venerable Lord Ice only left a confusing line. Something about… let my brothers see my last words first before making a careful decision."
"It was just this random line. I don't know if Venerable Lord Ice didn't finish his words before his death or if this really was all he had to say. This is the third request that I mentioned was only a half" Yun Yang said carefully.
This was added by the youth himself. In spite of it, he strongly believed that Venerable Lord Ice would only relay relevant information to them based on their brotherhood. Yet Yun Yang was also worried that they may not perceive the information due to the current ensuing chaos, thus he made a gentle reminder here while the opportunity was available.
Once what said was said, the three Venerable Lords exchanged looks with each other, their gazes vaguely contemplative.
"Hong Zhan… Hong Zhan… Hong Zhan…" Venerable Lord Frost lowered his head as he mumbled. The sense of begrudging vileness within his repetitive murmur was so thick that entire rivers would not be able to wash it away.
Venerable Lord Snow gripped the God's Bone tightly, his tears rolling down his neck like a broken pearl necklace. He raised his head and murmured, "Five of us brothers… we've roamed this world for decades together, parting less when we're together and almost never separated from each other.
Who knew that Saber would perish earlier, grief has struck us all, and today, another one is gone!"
He closed his eyes, tears coursing down continuously. At that moment, his initially smooth face was adorned with lines of wrinkles. The half black and half white hair he had turned full snow-white in the blink of an eye, not a single different shade was present!
Seeing Venerable Lord Snow's aged look shocked Venerable Lord Sword and Venerable Lord Frost.
"Snow!" Both of them cried out simultaneously.
Venerable Lord Snow remained deaf to the cries but his aging process continued. He breathed in deeply and heaved an equally long sigh, his tears never stopped flowing. There was a strong sense of powerlessness that exuded from him without being hidden.
Venerable Lord Frost and Venerable Lord Sword watched Venerable Lord Snow in stunned silence. Struck with realization, they finally realized how much Venerable Lord Snow cared about the truth of the God's Bone.
The blow from this matter was exceptionally heavy on him.
It could be said that while Venerable Lord Ice's demise brought Venerable Lord Snow much anguish, the truth of God's Bone that had suddenly become a reality, had killed his last hope. The combination of both matters caused all of Venerable Lord Snow's life principle to collapse just like Venerable Lord Sword's!
The agony was nothing that an outsider could empathize with unless one had personally gone through the experience.
Yun Yang watched them with indifference, unaffected from the very start. He was never a cold-blooded person but when he looked at the Venerable Lords' grief, there was only a sense of gratification in Yun Yang.
"You're finally tasting the feeling of your closest brothers' death, eh?"
"How is it? Nice? Does it feel good?"
"You finally feel a sliver of what it felt like when my eight brothers died, right beside me back at Tianxuan Cliff…"
"You can barely handle it when only one of your brothers has died?"
"What about me?"
"Who can understand my pain?!"