Chapter 415

Chapter 415: A Deliberately Left Flaw

[So because my family ties are thin, I finally found them only to bring them death? So they died because of me?]

She walked a path tied to fate-believing it and defying it. She could change other people’s fates, but she couldn’t change her own. The warmth of family had been too bright, making her forget that her fate held no lasting kin. She had forgotten that when fate says “no,” you must not force it.

A familiar voice cut in, lazy and cruel: “Yu Zhi Yi, you look just like a dog right now.”

Yu Zhi Yi didn’t know when You Bing Yue had appeared before her. Kneeling as she was, it looked like she was bowing to You Bing Yue. A man stood behind You Bing Yue, his aura thick and heavy-stronger even than Immortal Qing Feng’s. When facing Immortal Qing Feng, Yu Zhi Yi could still summon a little resistance; seeing this man, she felt not even a spark of it.

Hopelessness pressed in, yet Yu Zhi Yi’s tone stayed calm as she looked at You Bing Yue: “You always manage to find terrifyingly strong men to back you up.”

You Bing Yue lifted a brow, smiling: “Because I deserve it.”

Yu Zhi Yi pointed at the mountain of bodies: “Did you do all this?”

You Bing Yue admitted openly: “Yes.”

Yu Zhi Yi’s fist clenched: “I was the one who offended you. Hatred shouldn’t spill onto the innocent. Now that you have a powerful backer, killing or humiliating me would be easy. Why drag in people who did nothing?”

Hatred surged in her chest.

You Bing Yue let out a sharp laugh: “Why? You’re asking me why?”

She laughed like she’d heard a joke, the beautiful, proud face twisting into something warped. “In a world where the strong eat the weak, who needs ‘why’?”

“I’m strong, so I do what I want. Do I need to report to you?”

“And you, right now, are just a loser waiting to be beaten and killed. What you should do is kneel at my feet and beg for mercy. If I’m in a good mood, I might even spare your life.”

Yu Zhi Yi ground down on her back molars: “So before they died, is that what you told them too?”

The thought of her family kneeling and begging before this woman-only to be refused, mocked, and then killed-made pain explode in her chest. In her mind she saw her mother knocking her head hard on the ground, begging You Bing Yue to spare her daughter.

As if reading her mind, You Bing Yue chuckled: “Yes. Your mother was useless, but she truly loved you. She gave me a hundred loud kowtows to ask me to spare you.”

She pointed at the mystic Xiao Qing’s body: “See? That wound on her forehead came from that.”

“You don’t even know how funny it was. I’m your enemy. You shamed me again and again, and you even stole my man. How could I spare you?”

“Not only would I never spare you, even skinning you and pulling your tendons wouldn’t ease my hate!”

Then she looked back at Yu Zhi Yi, as if remembering something: “Oh right, I almost forgot-don’t you also have a brother?”

Yu Zhi Yi’s pupils shrank.

Enjoying the change in her face, You Bing Yue smiled wider: “Kneel and knock your head for me. As long as you beg, I’ll spare your brother. How about that?”

“If you won’t kneel, then everything you owe will be paid by your brother.”

Yu Zhi Yi closed her eyes. When she opened them again, her voice was very calm: “Fine.”

You Bing Yue’s smile bloomed: “I knew you were sensible-”

Her words snapped off. She stared down in shock at the wound blooming in her abdomen, then up at Yu Zhi Yi. Her mouth opened and closed, but not a single word came out before she crashed to the ground.

“You Bing Yue!” the man behind her roared as he struck, his palm slamming toward Yu Zhi Yi.

Yu Zhi Yi stepped in with her sword. She swung through the simplest, most basic forms, yet the air howled with each cut.

Before long, the man clutched his neck, blood pouring through his fingers. Fear and disbelief filled his eyes as he rasped: “H-how… how can this be?”

Expressionless, Yu Zhi Yi drew back her blade: “Did you really think I never fell into your illusion?”

He gurgled twice, wanting to speak but failing.

Yu Zhi Yi’s tone was flat: “Lie to yourself if you want. But if you think you can still fool me now, that’s laughable.”

He dropped his hand, staring at her as if pain no longer registered, curiosity burning instead: “When did you realize it?”

Yu Zhi Yi answered: “When you mentioned my brother. And when ‘You Bing Yue’ twisted her face because of De Yi, her features almost flying apart.”

The man frowned, not understanding.

Yu Zhi Yi explained: “At first you did fool me. The illusion was too real. Even though I know a little about illusion arrays, I couldn’t spot a flaw.”

“You can draw out a person’s deepest fear and use it to build a convincing illusion. But your way of shaping people is too stiff.”

“The real You Bing Yue has a strange self-confidence and the pride of a winner. Even when she pushes an enemy to the edge, she doesn’t lose control from excitement. The You Bing Yue you made doesn’t match her at all.”

The man’s brows pulled together: “So that’s it?”

His look turned odd. “I didn’t expect you to rate your enemy so highly.”

Most people, when talking about a mortal foe, would curse them to the heavens. Even the polite ones who praised their foe usually did it with contempt in their hearts. But he could tell this girl truly meant it. If You Bing Yue didn’t live so high in her mind, Yu Zhi Yi wouldn’t have noticed the fake one’s face coming apart and started doubting the scene.

“But just that, and you figured it out?” He was confident in his array; even a Nascent Soul Realm expert would likely fall for it. As for the low-grade illusion at the cave mouth, he had placed it on purpose to mislead intruders. By normal logic, if the entrance array was that low level, any array deeper inside wouldn’t be high level either. With that thought in mind, people got careless.

Yu Zhi Yi said evenly: “The biggest flaw was how you addressed her.”

The man laughed aloud, clapping once: “So you caught the flaw I left on purpose! Good-very good. How interesting!”