A Scroll of Infinite Glory

Chapter 97 Thinking of Jiangnan, Sitting for a Long Talk

It was past sunset, dusk was falling, and a gentle evening breeze was blowing.

After saying those words, Yan Du flicked his dragon-headed steel crutch, removed it from Derusen's shoulder, and stabbed him in the throat.

As blood gushed from Derusen's throat and he collapsed backward, the mastermind behind Chaotianhui, who had been hiding there, finally died completely.

The metal limbs surrounding Yan Du fell one after another, and his men gathered from among the broken arms and ruins.

These people all showed signs of fatigue after a hard battle, but also possessed a cold and sharp edge refined from the tempering of their killing intent.

"This is truly unexpected."

Guan Luoyang's gaze swept over each of them, and he responded in a low voice.

Yan Du threw away the steel pipe in his hand and was about to turn and leave.

Guan Luoyang suddenly called out to him, "Wait."

Yan Du stopped and looked over: "Oh, is there anything else? Have you changed your mind and want to choose this location and move the time to today?"

He didn't care about that. The three battles today had indeed taken a toll on his stamina, but he hadn't been injured and it hadn't affected him much.

However, his subordinates were clearly unwilling to accept this assumption. Their steps were heavy, their eyes were fixed on Guan Luoyang, and their expressions grew increasingly hostile.

Guan Luoyang ignored these people and said, "From what you just said, it seems you made a special trip to Singapore and Malaysia to help me eliminate the leaders of these three families, in order to reduce my distractions?"

Yan Du said, "Wasn't what I said just now clear enough?"

"ha!"

Guan Luoyang smiled and said, "I must admit, your actions surprised me greatly. Although we are both ruthless individuals operating in the underworld, your integrity in this regard is truly admirable. In that case, let's make this duel even more straightforward, shall we?"

Yan Du asked with great interest, "More pure... how so?"

Guan Luoyang raised his left hand, spreading his index finger to his little finger in sequence: "It's just a matter of courtesy first, then force. The date of September 19th doesn't need to be changed. The location of the battle will be set here. Let's chat first, and then start fighting on the appointed day, so you can be fully prepared."

"what?"

Yan Du frowned slightly, a puzzled sound coming from his nose. He shook his head and said, "Your suggestion is rather strange. We are merely opponents about to go to war. This is our first face-to-face conversation, and we have never known each other before."

"And there are still six whole days until September 19th, where do we find so many topics to chat about?"

Guan Luoyang didn't rush to answer his question, and casually took a few steps to the side.

This place could easily be called a battlefield, with the smell of blood and gunfire, damaged buildings, mangled human bodies, and bright red traces remaining in the dark tones, and even some bullet holes that were still smoking.

Such a scene can create an atmosphere of increasing urgency and pressure, both visually and olfactorily.

But Guan Luoyang walked leisurely and calmly, as if he were strolling along the riverbank planted with flowers and grass, picking out a scene from the dim, drooping shadows with his own eyes.

There was a corpse leaning against the wall, its eyes bulging out.

"When you kill this person, first use the strangulation force of your arm to break his ribs, then use your fingers to pierce into his left side to ensure that you destroy his heart and lungs."

"The whole movement is like a snake bite, which should be derived from a kind of figurative boxing, perhaps the Bancasila that is widely spread in East Kalimantan."

Guan Luoyang looked back with a questioning look in his eyes.

Yan Du seemed to understand something and nodded.

Guan Luoyang pointed again, and at the end of his left hand, there was a person in a star shape, embedded in the wall.

"To make an object crash into a wall, you only need a large enough impact force. However, the human limbs have hundreds of joints, and the strength and flexibility progress inch by inch. When you hit a person against the wall, you need to make their limbs spread wide and sink in at the same time, with the back and wrists sinking to almost the same depth. You can't rely on brute force alone."

"There were no marks on his body from being hit by a direct, heavy blow, so he must have been sent flying by a movement similar to that in Tai Chi, where the whole body is pressed together."

Yan Du smiled and said, "That's right."

Guan Luoyang added, "When I arrived, I also saw two corpses at the main gate of Nianjiangnan..."

"I slashed their calves with my foot blade, dislocating their knee joints in their metal lower limbs and igniting the circuitry. Then, I simultaneously attacked their chests with a jumping knee strike, sending them flying backwards through the door."

Yan Du nodded thoughtfully. "I understand what you mean. We are not only rivals, but also share a common identity."

—They are all people who are striving on the path of martial arts.

"Six days and seven nights does sound like a long time, but if we extend this battle beyond this one, and each of us shares our own experiences and insights, debate takes time, and thinking takes even more time. These mere six days and seven nights may not even be enough for me to express all my thoughts."

Guan Luoyang raised a hand, palm open as if inviting, his voice resonant, like the clanging of gold and jade, "Because you gave me an unexpected surprise, I return this gift of purity to you. This is the 'courtesy' in 'courtesy before force,' a gift that must be forged together with the enemy. Are you willing to accept it?!"

Yan Du took a deep breath, having completely abandoned any thoughts of leaving or starting a war.

His sparse eyebrows rose excitedly, he stepped forward, and replied in a long voice, "Good."

A strong wind swept outwards with each step Yan Du took, blowing the scattered debris even further away.

The dust was stirred up like a hazy, light wave.

Two figures stood on either side of the courtyard.

There are still many people here, some dead, some alive, but at this moment, apart from these two people confronting and talking, everyone else has become just part of the background and doesn't need to be paid too much attention.

The conversation just now seemed to be dominated by Guan Luoyang's opinion. This time, Yan Du spoke first.

"You just mentioned the word 'pure,' which is good, but I also need to clarify that my purity is not for martial arts and fighting."

"It is only because what I pursue is the easiest to achieve in this era through martial arts and combat that I am a martial artist and the king of combat."

He began by stating his goal and highlighting his initial motivation: "What I pursue is evolution."

"When I was little, I lived in Hong Kong for a period of time. At that time, Hong Kong's film industry was already very developed, but what I liked was a TV program about animals."

"Autumn goes and winter comes, all things wither and decay, and wild geese fly south hundreds of feet in the sky."

"But why can't wild geese fly north against the cold winter? Wild geese fly north, wild geese cross the river, that's the name I gave myself."

"Lions are confined to land, whales going ashore is tantamount to suicide, and humans cannot fly high, cannot dive deep, and cannot prove their position at the top of the food chain with their bare hands. These are the things I am unwilling to accept."

Yan Du's eyes were high and clear as he spoke eloquently, "So I pursued evolution, and that's how I came into contact with True Spirit Machinery. I made money, learned martial arts, and used that to help one group oppress another, kill those within my own ranks who wanted to control and suppress me, and plunder fame, wealth, doctors, and scholars. All of this was just the building blocks I forged for myself; I have never forgotten the path of evolution."

"When you use the word 'pure,' I certainly mean it."

"So..."

He began asking questions, but the first one had nothing to do with martial arts; it was a direct challenge to Guan Luoyang: "Are you pure enough?"

"Of course I'm not pure."

Guan Luoyang readily admitted this, without the slightest hint of being suppressed, and stated frankly, "I enjoy good food, I love looking at beautiful women, I can't resist the temptation to stay up late, and I can't overcome the weakness of procrastination. If I could, I would want fame, I would want money, and I would want power even more."

"However, although I am not pure, my motivation to practice martial arts and become stronger is no less than yours."

Yan Du said, "Oh?"

"Because my initial motivation was anger, and there are too many things in this world that I can be angry about."

Guan Luoyang lowered his eyelids and said in a deep voice, "Your pursuit mainly stems from your own desires, while my anger can come from many people and many things."

"No matter where you are under the sky, there are always people who tirelessly pursue things that are no longer of any use. Even if it is just for the sake of changing numbers, they are willing to exploit other people's spirits and harm other people's lives."

"It seems that they can derive a sense of accomplishment, honor, and youth from it; it seems that they can always find their own happiness in the suffering of others."

"I also love power and fame, but I really don't want to be compared to those kinds of people, so I can only find pleasure in the suffering of these people who indiscriminately harm others."

"This will spur me on to keep moving forward..."

The analysis of each person's original intentions did not last more than half an hour.

Their conversation then turned to recounting their respective experiences of getting acquainted with martial arts.

While the entire Singapore and Malaysia were in turmoil due to Yan Du's actions, they began a long talk here.

The Black Spire and the Divine Land Brotherhood have sealed off this place, while elsewhere, there are countless remnants of those three families' forces that need to be dealt with.

As night fades and the metropolis greets the dawn once more, the events unfolding here have garnered widespread attention from Singapore, Malaysia, and their allies.

However, those around the world who are paying attention to Gandhi are far more than just those in East Kalimantan and Singapore.

In Berlin, where Leopold XVII resided, many who had challenged the yandere had received related messages.

People who had never interacted with him before but had been following him also received some new information.

(End of this chapter)