Book 13: Chapter 4
As far as everyone was concerned, even though the elder brother was harsh and violent while the younger brother was smart and kind, the brothers of Mount Taixing were the ultimate duo. Even though Yan Jibei was always giving his younger brother earfuls and ordering him around, he never abandoned the brother he grew up alongside. Whenever they encountered dangerous opponents, Yan Jibei would always charge ahead first and retreat after his brother. Yan Jiangnan wasn’t incompetent by any means, but his brother overshadowed him in the pugilistic world and ruled over him. Everything was cordial between them until it was time for Yan Jibei to marry.
In contrast to Yan Jibei, his wife was lovable, soft and quiet. Though her influence pulled him down a notch or two, he’d still explode once or twice a week. Whenever clansmen said he was scared of his wife, he’d surprisingly blush without flipping out.
Yan Jiangnan remained single even two years after his brother got married. Whenever his brother persuaded him to find a partner, Yan Jiangnan would flip some sort of switch and object adamantly enough for his brother to concede.
One late night, Yan Jibei came back from a job earlier than planned, only to find his wife wasn’t in their room. Her family home was a good distance away, so the only possibility was that she was sleeping at someone else’s place. His brother still had his lights on, so Yan Jibei went over to place and enquiry. Being as close as they were, Yan Jibei didn’t bother knocking and welcomed himself straight in.
“Hey, it’s me. Would you happen to know where…”The first thing to enter Yan Jibei’s field of vision was his nude brother and wife who was pulling up the blanket. Following a short freeze, Yan Jibei drew his blade. “You b******! You disgusting trollop!” Though he had his weapon raised, he didn’t know who to chop.
Yan Jibei’s wife yelled, “Are you going to kill us?!”
“Why… Why can’t I?! I’m going to kill both of you!”
Yan Jianggnan immediately knelt down on the ground to accept the ramifications of his actions. Meanwhile, Yan Jibei’s wife righteously shouted, “The two of us have been in love since we were kids! You’re the one who forced us to break up! What gives you the right to kill us?!”
Yan Jibei’s state of mind was comparable to an untamed horse off its leash. As he looked at his brother’s handsome face, memories of their days from childhood, their training, their life-and-death fights, the games they played together and more came to the surface of his mind. He roared as he took a swing, murdering his wife in a single slash. He thoughtlessly threw away his blade and then bolted out of the house.
In the following year, the brothers never exchanged any words. Unfortunately, they had a lot of enemies, and their clan’s business needed to be maintained, so they were forced to continue operating together. Needless to say, just because something wasn’t mentioned, it didn’t mean it was water under the bridge. The incident became a taboo topic for Yan Jibei.
“Second Brother” and the recount of them working beyond the Great Wall coinciding with the captive’s timeline pointed the fingers to one person – Yan Jiangnan. Whenever the captive showed signs of waking, Yan Jiangnan also insisted on informing Zero – interpreted as an intent to prevent the captive spilling any secrets. Therefore, Yan Jibei glared at his brother whilst smirking, “When we went beyond the wall last year, you had plans in mind beforehand, I see. No wonder why Jiang Chen’s pages didn’t interest you.”
Recognising the smile that was an omen of his brother getting ready to attack, Yan Jiangnan cried, “It wasn’t me, Brother!’
“And now you’re trying to alert someone for help?!” Yan Jibei extended his open hand at the same time he lunged at Yan Jiangnan.
Had it been any other crime besides learning the intricacies of “Sinister Soul Breaker Palms”, Yan Jibei wouldn’t have chosen to take his brother’s life. Howbeit, now that he suspected his brother might’ve surpassed him, Yan Jibei put everything he had into his attack.
Yan Jiangnan: We are brothers, brothers who share the same blood. Even though I once did you wrong, how can you justify killing me at the slightest suspicion?!
Yan Jiangnan denied Yan Jibei’s palm strike with one of his own, then immediately unleashed a second sharp, solid and dangerous one.
Yan Jiangnan always held back against his elder brother because he didn’t want to embarrass his brother. Jiang Chen selected Yan Jiangnan, not Yan Jibei. Frankly, even though he was six years younger, Yan Jiangnan was the only one among them who could master more difficult disciplines. Contrary to Jiang Chen’s wishes, however, Yan Jiangnan never practiced anything he gleaned from the page he spared one look because he didn’t want to “steal” something his brother liked again.
Yan Jibei threw one attack after the next, showing absolutely no intention of slowing down or pulling punches. “Where are the skills you learnt from the manual, huh?! Use them! Use them!”
Yan Jiangnan lost the motivation to live a meaningful life after his affair was brought to light. As such, he gradually reduced his output.
Out of the blue, the captive said, “Second Brother, don’t kill me. I know you and Miss Yu Lian were in love. It was your elder brother pulling strings behind the scenes to convince your father to marry her to him. Don’t tell anyone I told you, or I will be silenced.
“Br-Brother, is he telling the truth?!” Yan Jiangnan repelled his brother’s next three palm strikes. “Sister-in-law, Yu Lian, was supposed to be betrothed to me?”
“So what if she was? And so what if she wasn’t? Dad betrothed the harlot to me, yet she developed feelings for my brother. The shameless wench deserves to die a thousand times and more!”
Yan Jiangnan could read his brothers tone and actions well enough to discern that the captive told the truth.
Yan Jibei always knew his wife and brother were in love, but he also had a crush on her since childhood. He figured that he could win her over if he just spoiled her more and could make it up to his brother in other ways. He had kept it all secret, so he wondered how the captive knew about it.
Big Bro is planning to kill me!
Those seven words were the exact same words that came to mind when Yan Jiangnan was caught in bed with Yu Lian. This time, though, they took on a different tone. Yu Lian poured out her grievances to him and told him all about the abuse Yan Jibei subjected her to. Killing her only carved a reminder into Yan Jibei’s mind, one that he couldn’t erase until he could kill Yan Jiangnan. Now that the captive had given him a justifiable reason, Yan Jibei had the perfect excuse to kill Yan Jiangnan under the pretense of punishing a traitor to the clan.
Finding a desire to live, Yan Jiangnan responded with the identical palm attack his brother utilised, sending his brother backwards. Yan Jiangnan’s superior strength under the same conditions further convinced Yan Jibei that his younger brother had learnt from more of the pages than he did. In turn, Yan Jibei pushed himself to be even more violent. Livid, Yan Jiangnan amped it up, as well.
The captive’s recital of “Sinister Soul Breaker” was actually far from accurate, but the brothers were too fixated on the fact that the discipline was a clan secret. In addition, constantly exposing their secrets evoked so much tension that rational thinking capacity was compromised. His attempt to fan the flames wasn’t perfect, either. The real catalysts for the life-and-death fight were the silences, the apologetic objections and the burdens of guilt. They were two barrels of explosives waiting to explode; the captive just happened to give them a reason to release all their pent up thoughts.
One would have to be delusional to expect the brothers to make quick work of each other. After all, they were close in level and knew each other well. Expecting them to cause a ruckus loud enough to alert other people, howbeit, was easy. Once they were throwing hands at each other with the intent to kill, the last thing on their mind would be the guards outside.
Soon enough, the clicking of the lock outside was audible, and in came Wu Ping, who had his hand on his sword hilt already. “What are you two doing? Brothers shouldn’t be fighting like this. Please cease this at once!”
All of a sudden, the gust generated from someone extinguished all the candles, shrouding the prison in blackness.
