Chapter 424: Tricks Within Tricks
Translator: chuchutrain Editor: DavidT, Rock
Ling Tian's face grew suspicious, as his eyes roved around. He soared up, landing beside the footprints of the fifteen people. Revolving his strength, he stamped hard on the ground with close to 70% of his strength. However, this 70% already caused his two feet to firmly sink deep into the limestone surface!
Ling Tian shook his head as he extricated himself. Comparing his footprints, his face grew grave as he said, "Just based on the strength of these fifteen people, Justice would never have been pressured to this extent! Even if they joined forces against me, it would be a narrow victory for them, and the moment I revealed my cards they most likely would be annihilated in return! They didn't have the strength to even pressure Justice, but they were not only confident just now but also arrogant."
"What does this mean? The battle was already an unfair one to begin with, and then more experts were added in?" Li Xue suspiciously replied, "But if that's the case, then where are the footprints of those experts? To face off against someone of Justice's caliber, how could they not use the power from their feet?"
Ling Tian didn't answer, but instead soared up, flying over the whole area, flitting from tree to tree. In an instant, the trees around his immediate surroundings were scanned. Shaking his head, he proceeded to the second ring of trees surrounding them before exclaiming, "Yes, it's here!"
Li Xue also activated her movement technique, soaring over. She only saw a thick tree branch, with a patch of white cambium where the bark had disappeared.
Pointing to the area where the tree was devoid of tree bark, Ling Tian suddenly faced the site of the battle, before suddenly revolving his full strength and kicked off from the tree! As he launched off, there was simultaneously a 'kacha' sound, and a piece of tree bark was scraped off, revealing a similarly white patch that looked like an identical twin to the spot he just pointed out!
An earth-shattering bang was heard below! Ling Tian borrowed the rebound force and somersaulted a few times, before landing back beside Li Xue, smiling as he asked, "Did you see it?" Li Xue was just about to reply, but she heard Ling Tian add another sentence cheekily, "Was my posture extremely cool?"
"Cheh!" Li Xue couldn't help but roll her eyes. She originally thought that Ling Tian wanted to ask her about the mark left on the tree, but to think that he was actually more concerned about his style! His mindset was still as unrestrained as before, always speaking the most appalling words when least expected. However, Li Xue understood that Ling Tian had already known what would be the effect when he performed his action and so didn't ask her about it.
Such an obvious mark, was there actually still a need for a reenactment of the scene? Ling Tian was probably just showing it again for her. As her thoughts reached this point, Li Xue suddenly felt some anger bubbling within her as she thought, So it seems like I'm still that ignorant little lass in his heart! At the same time, a layer of frost appeared on her face as she stared unhappily at him!
Ling Tian scratched his head helplessly, Why did this Li Xue flare up now for no reason? She was all tender loving and smiling a moment ago, but suddenly she was acting as if she had suffered a great injustice… but he didn't do anything to her! Really nothing! Ling Tian could only sigh inwardly to himself, Ai, women, women! A mysterious organism that I will never be able to fathom!
"Are you clear now? There should be at least a top expert lying in ambush over here, and his skills should be way above those fifteen below, maybe even on par with us." Ling Tian sighed. The reason why he displayed another scar was for Li Xue, in case she continuously pestered him with questions. However, somehow this little grandaunt got all riled up, and while he didn't understand the reason, he could only choose to go back to the main topic so as to divert her attention. If she ended up crying again, then he would totally be at a loss.
Ling Tian claimed that he was fearless, however, the thing he was most scared of was actually a woman's tears. The most troublesome part of a woman was also her crying, to cry for no reason at all at times, how irritating! Do you think you're a water tank? Able to open the spigot and cry as and when you like?
This would probably just end up drowning all the men around you!
"I have eyes, do I still need you to tell me?" Li Xue pouted with an icy cold face.
"Aii!" Ling Tian suddenly stood up, posing as a distinguished scholar as he recited, "Today we have the maiden Li Xue, whose two streams of tears can touch all in the four directions. The audience will dismay and wither just like bare mountains, and the heavens and earth would rise and fall because of her… it comes just like furious thunder, with the momentum of the yellow river itself. Out of the millions of beauties in the world, Li Xue's tears still rank first." Ling Tian took the original and altered it to fit his context, reciting in such a sorrowful tone that would make people shake their heads and sigh, not knowing which handsome prince charming was the one who was constantly tortured by his women's tears.
"You… you… are really really annoying!!!" Li Xue was both angry and embarrassed, unable to maintain her angry image. She could only stamp her foot, and this caused the tree bark below her to break off!
"Ha. Ha. Ha." Ling Tian laughed out three times slowly, before saying, "Li Xue, the strength of your foot is really great, so it seems like you didn't bind your feet in this life? Having a nine-inch foot has so much more strength compared to a three-inch one!" It was a needless question; even if all the ladies in this world bound their feet, Li Xue would definitely choose not to.
"You!" Li Xue exploded, throwing herself towards Ling Tian.
Ling Tian burst into laughter, his body slipping through the trees like a fish in water. He flitted from branch to branch, dodging from Li Xue while she chased relentlessly with gritted teeth. She was determined to hunt him down and teach him a good lesson today. To think that he was so addicted to teasing her, did he think she was a saint?!
"Wait!" Ling Tian suddenly stopped, staring straight at the spot on the tree in front of him. "There's another spot here! Indeed, it seems like more than one person was involved in the ambush!"
Following his gaze, Li Xue saw a similar looking scar on the branch of the tree, looking as though the tree bark was pared away. This sort of tiny scar was probably something that could be overlooked even if a person was searching for it nearby, but Ling Tian could actually spot it from such a distance! Li Xue was really filled with respect for him.
It was no wonder that he afford to be insufferably arrogant in both past and present lives, to be acclaimed as a heaven-sent genius in their past lives and even a person who could be said to control and winds and rains in this content. To even be able to pay attention to such small details, who could be said to be his match in this world?
Li Xue was so distracted that she totally forgot she was angry a moment ago, immediately recalling Ling Tian's words of 'Indeed, it seems like more than one person was involved in the ambush', and she couldn't help but ask, "How did you know that there was more than one person? To actually use the word indeed?"
Ling Tian pursed his lips, then said, "Look towards the hole."
Turning her gaze over, Li Xue found nothing out of the ordinary, then asked again, "What's different about it?"
"If you look based on the hole there, it seems to be the place that Justice has taken a defensive stance. Then we ask, based on Justice's skills and personality, why would he want to be on the defensive? If there were only two enemies, then Justice would be able to avoid the blow by moving to the other two directions, before countering. Since he chose to remain on the spot, it means that all routes of retreat were sealed! If Justice were to rush indiscriminately without reasoning, then he would only reveal weaknesses for his enemies to exploit, hence he could only remain at the same spot! Thus, we can conclude that Justice was actually being besieged from all directions at once!"
"No wonder!" Li Xue was totally floored by the reasoning! She didn't know if the admiration stemmed from Ling Tian's explanation or from Justice's peerless martial skills, though!
"Let's go to another direction, I estimate we can at least find another sign of two of the enemies there." Ling Tian smiled. However, a hint of worry appeared in his eyes. Facing such a disastrous situation, an attack without any retreat, even a top-tier expert would still land into a precarious scene!
Justice, are you still alive?
Even after so many days of relentless pursuit, Ling Tian held no hatred nor grudge against this Martial Order Medallion owner who wanted his life, but instead a certain sort of connection and understanding! While he would be equally heartless and ruthless to Justice if he obtained the opportunity to silence him, in Ling Tian's inner heart he only held respect for this man who single-mindedly pursued the pinnacle of martial arts.
As for the loneliness Justice felt, Ling Tian even had some sort of envy. For a practitioner of martial arts, how much did a person have to sacrifice in order to obtain the sort of lonely feeling that comes from standing at the peak? This was one out of a million!
Ling Tian innately prayed that Justice wouldn't die just by this ambush from his enemies. He would rather that he unlocked the secret to achieving perfection in his cultivation, before personally killing Justice, rather than Justice dying under the blade of a scheme! He believed that Justice had the exact same thought! However, this scene showed that the unwelcome possibility might exist and that even if Justice didn't die he would probably be seriously injured!
Ling Tian sighed again. It was only in the early morning, but it was not known how many times he had already sighed. However, this sigh meant that first, he had confirmed his suspicions, and second that he was also worried for Justice. This was because he had indeed confirmed his suspicions by finding a third scar on the opposite side of where he originally saw the second!
There were actually three experts joining hands in ambush!
A face-off with fifteen first-rate experts, as well as three top-tier experts waiting for an ambush!
What an insane line-up!
Ling Tian could completely imagine the danger his 'brother-in-arms' faced! If Justice's position were to be swapped with him…. Ling Tian shivered a little.
This was the strength of Above Heavens, profound beyond compare! Just this lineup of eighteen men was something that even the Yu Family, with a millennium of martial arts, couldn't easily employ!
Ling Tian sat inside the hole, falling into deep thought. If he was in Justice's position, what would he have done in order to escape? After his calculations, Ling Tian's eyes dimmed as he projected that even with his prided movement techniques as well as exquisite internal energy, he would only have a 1% chance of surviving such an encounter. Even if he were to manage to escape, he would be at his last gasp and would be crippled soon after!