Feng Kong hadn't yet given Shao Yi an answer when the man on the fake mountain just snickered, his tone utterly cold.
"You wanna run?
"You've had your chance…"
The air around them seemed to heat up as these words fell, so much so that even the rainwater started to fizzle and immediately evaporate.
Shao Yi was shocked, but it wasn't what was happening in their surroundings after the man's words that shocked him. What shocked him was what the man said.
"Run?" he thought.
"Who the h*ll is trying to run here?
"I'm not even thinking of running!
"Wait, no…
"Oh, don't tell me…"
He then looked at Feng Kong in fright, unable to believe his eyes that his partner, who was usually so confident, was so frightened that he wanted to run.
Feng Kong turned to meet his gaze, and Shao Yi was shocked to find that there was a different look in his eyes.
"Wait, he's getting scared?"
A killer running out of confidence right before the fight. What kind of a fight could there be anymore?
Shao Yi, who'd been composed this whole time, was now utterly terrified.
…
"Shao Yi's getting scared? He's thinking of running?" This was Feng Kong's inner thoughts.
He turned to look at his partner, and found that the terror in his eyes had grown. He knew right then and there that the situation had gotten completely out of control.
"Shao Yi is being led on!" he thought.
"He might've gotten intimidated, or it could be because of me…
"If it's the latter, boy, that guy over there really is something." Feng Kong was feeling unsettled.
One way or another, no fight could be had at the moment anymore.
The man on the fake mountain was simply too sure of himself and had just the right handle on how to play mind games. The time he'd given the two of them was only enough to unsettle them for a brief moment. It wasn't enough to give them more time to think.
It'd even gotten to the point where he and his partner were now mentally desynchronized.
Just when he was figuring out what to do, he caught the man on the fake mountain flap his sleeve, then shroud his hand with [Fire Elemental Spiritual Source].
"[Spiritual Source]?"
Feng Kong felt like his soul had practically left his body and like he'd been cast in some icy hell.
"[Spiritual Source]!"
"He's not Xu Xiaoshou!" Shao Yi's telepathic message was one of utter, unconcealed terror.
Xu Xiaoshou might have been able to immediately make a breakthrough into Spiritual Cultivation Level Nine right after the matches were over, yet regardless of how much of a genius he might be, there was utterly no way that he could then make yet another breakthrough into level 10 right after that and even break into Innate Stage.
That man before them, whom they guessed to be at level nine of powers, was actually able to conjure [Fire Elemental Spiritual Source]. That meant that he was definitely someone at Innate Stage who had concealed his powers.
He fooled both of us!
He definitely isn't Xu Xiaoshou!
"Run," Feng Kong lowered his tone and said.
Shao Yi immediately retreated and caught up with his partner.
"Do you really think you can run away?" the man on the fake mountain chuckled. Both of them felt that everything around them was shaking before they could even get out of the compound, so much so that even rainwater from the sky seemed to be suspended midair, making the scene utterly harrowing.
Crack, crack, crack!
A vortex was seen on the water collected on the ground. Bubbles popped one after another. The water was actually boiling.
Xu Xiaoshou wanted nothing more than to have them run as far as they could. It'd be best if they could run all the way to the ends of the world and never return, yet he had to do something to make sure that they stayed around.
If he were to simply stop attacking right after the two of them ran, it would blow his cover.
Furthermore, he somehow felt that the cunning one among the two was setting him up by running.
He couldn't afford to give the other party a chance to do something.
As such, he had to make a move, yet it couldn't be something that would make them unable to run away.
That was because everything he'd done before was actually just pointless bluffs.
He pulled [Infernal Heavens] on them by heightening the temperature around them, adding to the pressure, to make them mistake him for someone powerful enough to affect the weather whenever he got angry.
He then pulled [All Things are Swords] on them, causing everything around to shake, so as to create a harrowing scene that said "I'm about to hit you" without exposing his [Sword Will].
"So...
"Was all that enough to scare them off?"
Xu Xiaoshou extended the range of his [Sense] to the limit. His heart was beating so fast that it felt like it was about to leap out of his chest, but it eventually calmed down instead.
He saw that the cunning one that wasn't wearing the hood had halted the other one's movements right after the both of them had gotten to the door, stopping in place.
"My cover's blown?" he thought.
"Did I do something wrong?"
He immediately stiffened.
[Doubted, Passive Points +1]
[Doubted, Passive Points +1]
"…"
Lines rolled over and over on his Information Bar again. Something was definitely amiss.
He wracked his brains and processed the hundreds of possibilities abound, and was still unable to find the problem.
At that moment, he felt his skin crawl.
…
"He set me up!
"He was bluffing!" Feng Kong thought.
Feng Kong didn't care for the puzzled look in Shao Yi's eyes. His mind came back to work yet again.
The man on that fake mountain looked terrifying and had managed to make the scene as terrifying as he could. Yet, the most puzzling thing was that he was still trying to scare them, even when they were about to run.
But then again, there was one thing that was the most puzzling of all.
He still wouldn't turn around.
Feng Kong smirked. "Hah! Got you now!"
His act of taking Shao Yi and running was in itself a ruse. The fact that the other man wasn't doing anything to attack him, who had already slowed down, was a sign that something was amiss.
All the doubt he'd had before was immediately dispelled. He could now say with certainty that this man was Xu Xiaoshou.
Feng Kong then told his partner telepathically, "Shao Yi, keep up with my rhythm, we first…"
"Have both of you forgotten that this is my turf?" An eerie voice was heard, cutting off Feng Kong.
Vooom!
The array in the compound was activated. The barrier shrouded the entire place, and the door snapped shut.
Feng Kong got tongue-tied right there and then. He looked at the barrier, which was well within reach, and felt his mind twist into knots.
"Isn't he Xu Xiaoshou?" he thought.
According to his judgment, that man was indeed Xu Xiaoshou.
Yet, he wondered why that man would dare to trap both of them inside if he were indeed Xu Xiaoshou.
Shutting the door after invaders had gotten inside was one surefire way of getting oneself killed.
Feng Kong was dumbfounded, and tried his best to think.
"Can it be..."
"That he isn't Xu Xiaoshou?
"Or that…
"He's Xu Xiaoshou, but he managed to guess what I guess what he guessed what I guessed?
"…"
"This is ridiculous!
"Who the h*ll would go about guessing like that in such a stressful environment?"
Feng Kong was completely thrown into disarray. The activation of that array had truly messed up his thoughts.
"There are still ways around this, so long as we umm… stay focused!" Feng Kong's eyes were filled with nothing but visible tension.
Shao Yi was totally oblivious just how many thoughts were zipping through his partner's mind in that instant and simply got excited after hearing his partner tell him to keep up.
Kong finally regained his composure. "This is great!" he thought.
He immediately asked telepathically, "Kong, what do you mean rhythm? You…"
"Shut the f**k up!" Feng Kong shouted in a rage.
Shao Yi was completely dumbfounded, wondering what had just happened.
Feng Kong turned his head, and his eyes were completely bloodshot. He had almost been able to streamline his thoughts again, making sense of what that man on the fake mountain was trying to do.
Yet, that one line from Shao Yi had trashed everything so badly, that there was simply no recovering his thoughts again.
"It's over."
"We're done for."
All that was seen in Feng Kong's eyes were panic. He had lost it.
He'd lost all sense of judgment.
Before Feng Kong could process what was going on, the voice behind him came so near that he felt like it was right beside his ear.
"Turn around. Look at me."
Feng Kong's heart almost immediately stopped beating, and he wondered if he knew what he was thinking.
That was the only thing that Feng Kong felt sure of—that the man on that fake mountain wouldn't dare to turn around. That was the only thing that he relied on.
Yet, the other man had seen right through him just when he was in a mess.
He wondered if that man had actually been able to pinpoint his thoughts all along.
Feng Kong wanted to turn around, yet his neck seemed to have stiffened, as he was unable to move at all.
After all...
To a killer…
Being seen meant death.