Chapter 157 – Yan Buhui
If it was in normal times, Liu Zongyuan would definitely not abandon the resources and materials of these two huge eagle battleships. Even if he needed to drag it, he would take them back meter by meter to Youyan Pass. Besides, on the two demon battleships, there were so many corpses of experts of the Demon Race. They would definitely contain some secrets of the Demon Race. If they carefully searched through the ships, they would absolutely profit greatly.
But right now, they needed to flee for their lives.
Furthermore, on the formation airship, there were tens of snow white maps that recorded down the arrangements of their military bases and terrain of the Explosive Snow Glacier as well as the Snow Ground Demon Court.
On the significance of strategy, the importance of these scrolls were much more important than the two eagle battleships.
After returning to the formation airship, Liu Zongyuan ordered for the ship to speed on utterly, not delaying in the slightest.
Boom!
The airship broke through the cloud layers, leaving a trail through the skies, travelling like a ray of light.
The two huge eagle battleships that were like two spirits very quickly disappeared behind them.
“Below is the den of the Snow Dragon that we have passed previously,” Liu Zongyuan pointed below. He could not help but be somewhat emotional. “This time, we have really escaped from death. Who would have thought that we would be discovered by a flock of boar bats? I guess that boar bat battalion should have been coincidently passing by that area and discovered the traces of us by accident. They only decided at that moment to ambush us. This was our misfortune…”
Ye Qingyu smiled, not saying anything.
He surveyed below him.
Above the ice plains, everything was peaceful.
It seemed that the Snow Dragon had already hidden deep beneath the icy grounds, in some sort of half hibernation state. They did not see the strange scene of the Snow Dragon turning over again.
“But it is not right to say our luck was bad. It is as if something is protecting us from the background. The Demon Race on those two huge eagle battleships died in such a strange and peculiar way. Otherwise, we could not escape so successfully…” Liu spoke more than he normally did. Even though he was well-experienced, and was a famous warrior that had undergone a hundred battles, his emotional fluctuation was still very evident after escaping from disaster.
Ye Qingyu was about to say something, but suddenly frowned.
He looked at the icy plains under them. There was a strange shaped icy peaked that looked slightly familiar. Thinking about it carefully, his heart could not help but be confused.
Did they not just pass this icy peak?
Why would this icy peak suddenly appear beneath them again?
Ye Qingyu’s memory was exceptional, with the ability to not forget things he had seen. He could confirm that about ten breaths previously, the airship had passed by this icy peak before. According to the current speed of the formation airship, the distance they had passed since then was more than ten kilometers. It was absolutely impossible for them to return…
In an instant, cold sweat seeped out from Ye Qingyu’s back.
He glanced at the excited Liu Zongyuan, and without any expression, continued to observe and take note.
Another ten breaths of time.
Ye Qingyu’s expression became extremely troubled.
Right now, he was a hundred percent sure that an inexplicable matter was occurring on the formation airship.
Because that strange shaped icy peak had already appeared for the third time below the formation airship.
In other words, the formation airship’s speed seemed to be extremely rapid, but in reality, there was no difference from walking in a fixed position. They were not able to fly out from the fifty kilometer radius around the strange shaped icy peak. Right now, they seemed to be inexplicably travelling in circles.
Ye Qingyu did not dare tarry, giving the results of his observation and informing Liu Zongyuan.
“What? This… how is this possible?” Liu Zongyuan was extremely shaken. He could hardly believe this.
At this time, a voice came from behind them—
“Patrolling envoy Ye is not wrong. We are just running in circles at a fixed position. Officer Liu, tell the formation airship to stop and not to waste the energy of the Origin crystal.” It was the voice of the [Painting Saint] Mister Liu.
Mister Liu had already appeared behind the two at some unknown time.
Ye Qingyu rushed to ask, “Could it be that Mister has discovered something?”
Mister Liu’s lean face had a trace of a bitter smile. “Only by listening to the words of Patrolling officer Ye did I realize this fact. We have already mistakenly entered into a seal formation, if we are not able to break it, we will forever be trapped here, with no method to get free. No matter how fast we fly, we will just be travelling around in circles… although the formation airship is fast, but the laws of space in this area has already gotten disordered. We have no way to leave from here purely by relying on speed.”
Ye Qingyu and Liu Zongyuan looked at each other, their hearts extremely shaken.
How was this possible?
Just when had this occurred?
Just what kind of sealed formation was it, that they had not noticed anything and entered into it?
“Then what should we do now?” Liu Zongyuan asked with a frown.
He had already begun to calm down gradually.
“I also don’t know… Let’s first observe, perhaps there is still a chance…” Mister Liu had bitter smile on his face, shaking his head, about to say something.
But at that time, he suddenly saw something inexplicable and incredible. He stood fiercely dumbfounded where he was, as if his entire person had fossilized. Only a while later did he react, then he was as if he saw a ghost, his gaze emitting a disbelieving light. Lifting his hand to point far away, his body began shivering violently. Saying nonsensical words, “You… Him… This is… It’s him, so it was him……”
Ye Qingyu followed along Mister Liu’s gaze with confusion. He could not help but be dumbfounded.
He could see in the air a hundred meters away, without knowing exactly when, a figure had appeared.
It seemed to be a human, around eighteen to nineteen years of age. He should be a male, very young, a lean figure, but his face was incomparably handsome. His skin was like jade with a strange radiance, and his face was so pretty that it did not seem real. He was wearing a long white robe and there was a shocking wound at his waist. He was nearly cut in half at the waist. On the wound, there was an amber-like liquid wriggling, as if it was helping him recover his life force…
This person had his eyes tightly closed, his long eyelashes fluttering in the wind
He was laying on a white cloud, his chest slowly rising and falling. His expression was calm and gentle, as if he was sweetly asleep.
But without knowing why, the moment he saw that person, Ye Qingyu suddenly had a feeling that was like the fear and trepidation one felt before a disaster.
The white clouds floated.
The young man silently lay on the white cloud.
His countenance was so peaceful, it as if he was a scholarly noble young master sleeping on a jade bed.
In the silence, there was strangeness contained within.
As if time had stopped at this moment.
After a long time.
Mister Liu finally let out a long breath, as if he had just woken from a terrifying nightmare.
“So it was him, it really is him…” Mister Liu bitterly smiled, shaking his head. “Such is fate, such is luck.”
A sense of dread and misfortune could not help but be born in Ye Qingyu’s heart as he heard this. Ever since meeting Mister Liu, Ye Qingyu’s impression of him was that he was a person that would never be shocked by anything, an extremely stable person. Before, even when they met with the boar bats, the black crows and the huge eagle battleship, this [Painting Saint] had always maintained a hard to describe calm expression. But at this moment, the person that was sleeping on the cloud, just what was his background that it made Mister Liu lose his composure like so.
“Mister knows that person?” Ye Qingyu could not help but ask.
Liu Zongyuan also had a face filled with questions, looking towards Mister Liu.
Mister Liu let out another long sigh, nodding his head. He had an agonizing expression. “I know.”
“Who is he?” Ye Qingyu asked again.”
Mister Liu was silent for several breaths of time. At last, he seemed to have made his determination, his mouth lightly spitting out two words—
“Yan Buhui*!”
Yan Buhui?
He had never heard of this name before.
Ye Qingyu was blank saying, “It’s the name of a person? What’s his background?”
Before Mister Liu could reply, Liu Zongyuan’s expression greatly changed after hearing these words beside him. This person did not lack for bravery— even when he faced death directly, he would not even feel the slightest trace of fear. But his body began shivering uncontrollably at this instant. There was a shocked expression contained within his eyes…
Ye Qingyu was greatly curious.
“Officer Liu also knows that person?”
But Liu Zongyuan still had not calmed down from the demons of his dreams.
It was as if he had not heard Ye Qingyu’s words. His gaze was still fixed on that young man lying on the white clouds.
Mister Liu breathed deeply in. “Yan Buhui… is that person.”
“That person? Which?” Ye Qingyu had yet to realize.
But as these words were spoken, a flash of insight suddenly flitted through his mind. He suddenly understood the meaning behind these words. He could not help but ask, “Yan Buhui… is that person? It’s the greatest traitor in the history of the Human Race that Mister Liu spoke of, the person who betrayed the empire and his race, the once peerless genius of Youyan Pass?”
“It is him.” Liu Zongyuan had finally recovered from his stupor.
He spent a great deal of effort to calm himself down. Then he said, “The name of Yan Buhui is really the nightmare of countless people of Youyan Pass. After so many years has passed, there is still no one who is willing to mention such a name, whether they are a soldier or an officer. That name is like a nightmare to us. When that matter happened in the past, I was only a little soldier. I have never seen him before, but I have heard his name far too many times. Who would have thought… that today, I would truly encounter him.”
Ye Qingyu’s heart was massively shaken.
He was finally greatly disturbed.
Subconsciously, he could not help but look again at the young man laying there.
Could it really be that young person?
The person seemed to be kind and handsome, like a rich young master, seeming to be somewhat thin and weak. He was pretty like a girl. Was he really the greatest traitor in the history of Snow Country? A person that had once killed countless soldiers of the Empire? A person that had nailed countless soldiers of Youyan Pass on the pillar of humiliation?
Ye Qingyu had previously imagined what he looked like.
But he absolutely had not imagined that he would have such a face.
Just what kind of heart was hidden beneath that peaceful and young face?
Long and painstaking effort had been taken to plan this operation by the [Youyan army]. It was all for this person. Did Mister Liu not say that the front lines was about to succeed. Why was it that he appeared in such a place?
Seeing the frightening and disturbing wound at Yan Buhui’s waist, Ye Qingyu vaguely realized something.
It seemed like the [Gale Operation] of the front lines had not succeeded. They had injured Yan Buhui, but they were not able to kill this traitor.
Wind blew again.
The atmosphere was strange and tense.
Yan Buhui silently lay on the cloud. If not for the movement of the wound of his waist, if not for the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed, it seemed like he was really dead.
Arrows and cannons aimed at him.
But Liu Zongyuan did not have the courage to order them to attack.
Mister Liu remained silent for a long time. Finally, he took a step forward, opening his mouth, “Buhui, long time no see.”
His tone, was as if reuniting with an old friend and reminiscing about old times.
“Mister Liu, it’s been a long time since we last met.” The young man on the white clouds had his eyes tightly closed. His tone was gentle, without the slightest killing intent whatsoever. He had not yet opened his eyes, but evidently he had discovered the existence of everyone, and recognized Mister Liu.
*His name can be translated literally to mean, never returning to Youyan Pass.