He had barely dodged the first dagger when the second one arrived hot on its heels!
Terror flooded Zhang Yang's eyes. He twisted aside, his movements clumsy and desperate, then scrambled backward without pause. Only after putting more than ten meters between them did he stop, his heart still pounding wildly. He wiped his right cheek, smearing away tiny droplets of blood. Had he been even half a heartbeat slower, it wouldn't have been just a shallow scratch on his face.
Bai Yunfei pushed off the ground with his left hand, arresting his fall. With a slight flex of his arm, he rose back to his feet. His gaze settled on Zhang Yang, who stood opposite him, staring back with wide, frightened eyes. A flicker of disappointment crossed Bai Yunfei's face, as if lamenting his failure to finish the job moments ago.
"He did it on purpose! Again! How is this possible?! Could he have seen through my move? Damn it!" Zhang Yang's mind screamed, his eyes glued unwaveringly to his opponent. "No good. I'm no match for him. I can't keep fighting… I have to run! If I can just get outside… if I can just attract attention… help will come soon enough…"
His decision made, Zhang Yang's eyes darted around the room. A spark of hope flared within him. He found himself positioned less than five meters from a window!
Bai Yunfei tensed, ready to move against Zhang Yang, but the Young Master acted first!
Determination hardened Zhang Yang's gaze. He feigned a forward lunge, taking a single step, then abruptly mimicked Bai Yunfei's earlier move – he hurled his ornate dagger with all his might towards the other man. Without waiting to see the result, he pivoted sharply, his entire body lunging towards the window on his right rear side.
Bai Yunfei merely sidestepped, letting the thrown dagger whistle harmlessly past. The evasion cost him a fraction of a second, however. Watching Zhang Yang bolt for the window, a trace of mockery flashed in Bai Yunfei's eyes. His right hand flicked twice in rapid succession. Twin streaks of cold light shot forth, aimed unerringly at Zhang Yang's fleeing back.
Zhang Yang hadn't forgotten his opponent's throwing skills. Even as he sprinted at top speed, part of his focus remained locked on Bai Yunfei. Seeing the two daggers hurtling towards him, he violently altered his trajectory, veering sharply to the side in a wide arc. Despite the detour, he still managed to reach the window!
Without breaking stride, he crashed through the glass, half his body already thrusting into the open air outside. He risked a glance back into the room. Bai Yunfei seemed poised, perhaps too late to throw again. A cold sneer touched Zhang Yang's lips. He pushed off the windowsill with his right foot, launching himself fully into the open air.
Suspended in the air, Zhang Yang's heart finally began to settle. Reach the street, and I'm safe. Even if he chases, all I need to do is lead him towards help… Then the hunter becomes the hunted!
And then he saw it. Bai Yunfei's right arm snapped forward violently, clearly intending another throw.
"Hmph! Still think you can stop me from escaping at this distance?" Zhang Yang thought, a surge of arrogant confidence washing over him. "Even if you throw a dozen knives now, I can dodge them! You've already—" His internal boast died unfinished. The arrogance vanished from his eyes, replaced by bottomless, primal terror.
As Bai Yunfei's arm swung, a flash of blue light appeared. Its speed was incomparable, utterly dwarfing the velocity of the previous daggers. It seemed to materialize and cross the distance between them almost simultaneously. It caught Zhang Yang mid-air, piercing clean through his left knee before he could even react!
Zhang Yang, still airborne and nearing the ground, registered only the sudden surge of terror before a sharp pain lanced through his left leg. An intense, bone-deep cold followed instantly, plunging his entire left leg into complete numbness.
Though the description is long, it all happened in a split second. Zhang Yang's body finally hit the ground. But standing was impossible. His left leg buckled grotesquely beneath him, and he crashed down with a heavy thud.
Zhang Yang lay there, dazed. He forgot to brace himself, forgot the agony of his pierced leg, forgot even to think…
Only when he sensed someone approaching did he snap back to horrifying reality. He looked up into Bai Yunfei's mocking eyes. Panic surged anew. Scrabbling backward with his hands, a terrified shriek tore from his throat: "Y-You can't kill me! I'm the Young Master of the Zhang family! I'm a disciple of the Frost Sect! You can't kill me!"
Bai Yunfei seemed not to hear him. He bent down, grabbed Zhang Yang by the front of his robes, and hauled him roughly to his feet. With a powerful heave, he flung Zhang Yang bodily back towards the room. The Young Master sailed through the air in an arc, passed through the shattered window, and slammed heavily onto the hall floor. He skidded for over ten meters, finally coming to a stop only after overturning several chairs and stools.
The knee of Zhang Yang's left leg was completely punctured, yet strangely, only a trickle of blood seeped out. He clutched his thigh with both hands, seemingly trying to halt the spread of the chilling cold emanating from the wound. He poured all his soul force into resisting the icy energy. Despite feeling frozen to the core, beads of sweat the size of peas rolled down his face.
Footsteps echoed on the floorboards. Zhang Yang looked up in renewed terror. Bai Yunfei had re-entered the room. In his hand, he held a short, blue spike that emitted a faint, chilling glow. Step by deliberate step, he closed the distance.
When Zhang Yang saw the Frost Spike Dagger in Bai Yunfei's grasp, fear warred with a surge of hysterical disbelief. He couldn't help but scream: "A soul artifact! Another soul artifact!! How?! Soul artifacts are incredibly rare! Even I, a prominent disciple of the Frost Sect, don't possess one! How can you have so many?! Are you from the Artifact Refining Sect?! No… impossible!"
Bai Yunfei seemed momentarily taken aback by his words. He stopped two meters away, looking down at Zhang Yang sprawled on the floor. The mockery in his eyes remained sharp. "Oh? Does Young Master Zhang truly not remember me? Ah, true, it has been over a month since that incident. How could you possibly remember a mere 'lowlife' like me…"
His voice grew colder, yet his tone remained deceptively light, almost conversational, like friends catching up. "Then… do you remember Old Wu? Ah, but 'Old Wu' means nothing to you, does it? He was the old man who tried to cut you down with a knife… because his granddaughter was taken by you. Unable to endure the shame, she died by your hand!"
"Later, you had him dragged into your 'Beast Pit'. He was killed by that 'Ferocious Wolf' under your command…" Bai Yunfei's gaze pinned Zhang Yang, his words deliberate and heavy. "And the youth who was with him… the one who merely offended one of your women unintentionally the day before… he was also thrown into the Beast Pit… Do you remember him?"
Zhang Yang's face paled drastically the moment Bai Yunfei mentioned Old Wu and his granddaughter. By the time Bai Yunfei finished speaking, his expression was one of utter disbelief. "It's you!" he gasped, recognition dawning with horror. "It's actually you! No… how?! How could you gain such strength in just over a month?! Even with Young Master Zheng Er helping you, it's impossible!"
"Remembered now?" Bai Yunfei gently stroked the Frost Spike Dagger in his hand. "So… are you prepared to pay for everything you've done?"
The color drained completely from Zhang Yang's face. He pushed himself backward with his right hand, left hand flapping frantically in front of his chest like a trapped bird. "Wait! Don't kill me! Please don't kill me!" he babbled desperately. "Whatever you want! I'll give you anything! Gold, women, anything… name it!"
"Oh? Anything I want?"
"Yes! Anything! Just name it! Riches, beauties, whatever—"
"I want Old Wu and his granddaughter back alive. Can you give me that?"
"This…"
"Then never mind. I'll choose something else."
"Okay, okay! What do you want?"
"I want your life. Give it to me…"
"You… you're toying with me!"
"Exactly. I am toying with you. Now, pay with your life for Old Wu and his granddaughter!"
"Wait!" Zhang Yang yelled, a sudden, desperate idea striking him in his final moments. "Old Wu's family! They're in my hands! Kill me, and they all die!"
Bai Yunfei froze. "What did you say?!"
"I said, Old Wu's family is in my hands!" Seeing Bai Yunfei's reaction, Zhang Yang felt a sliver of relief. His voice lost some of its previous panic. "His family actually dared to seek revenge! I captured them! I was planning to arrange… the same kind of 'entertainment'… for the next Beast Pit event…"
He quickly added, as if fearing Bai Yunfei wouldn't believe him: "After what happened last time in the Beast Pit, my father was furious. And my best 'combatant,' Ferocious Wolf, was killed by you… so it hasn't reopened since…"
"Spare me," Zhang Yang pressed, seeing a flicker of hesitation in Bai Yunfei's eyes, "and I swear I'll release them immediately upon my return! Old Wu lost his life saving you in that pit! You can't just abandon his family to die!"
Bai Yunfei's eyes flickered, seemingly locked in a fierce internal struggle. The hand holding the Frost Spike Dagger slowly lowered. His gaze drifted away from Zhang Yang, becoming distant, as if lost in painful memories.
In that exact moment Bai Yunfei's attention wavered, Zhang Yang's eyes blazed with boundless malice and venom. A look of pure hatred twisted his features. His right hand, hidden behind his back, snapped forward with lightning speed, something small and deadly poised to fly from his grasp.
But in the split second Zhang Yang's expression changed, Bai Yunfei, who had seemed lost in thought, suddenly snapped his head up. Sharp light flashed in his eyes. His lowered right hand swept forward in a fluid motion. A streak of blue light shot out, later in action but faster than Zhang Yang's throw. It intercepted Zhang Yang's half-raised hand. A soft thunk sounded as the blue spike pierced clean through Zhang Yang's right palm, pinning it momentarily before embedding itself deep into the wooden floorboards with a spray of crimson.
Two three-inch-long, pale blue needles clattered to the floor from Zhang Yang's now useless hand. He stared dumbfounded at his impaled palm. Several seconds of stunned silence passed before an agonized, hysterical shriek erupted from him. Clutching his right wrist with his left hand, he screamed, a mixture of shock and fury: "You! You weren't fooled! How?! You couldn't have known I had the soul artifact Frost Soul Needles! How could you possibly see through—"
"—See through your plan, you mean?" Bai Yunfei finished for him, watching Zhang Yang's contorted face. The corner of his mouth lifted in a slight, disdainful curve. "Did you truly believe your lies and acting were so flawless?"
"Are these so-called Frost Soul Needles your final trump card?" Bai Yunfei's voice was icy calm. "If you have any other hidden aces… now is the time to play them."
"Otherwise…" The chilling blue light of the Frost Spike Dagger glinted in his hand as he took a final step forward.
"Prepare to pay the price for all you've done!"