Reunited after being apart for a long time, Ding Hao and Xie Jieyu remained silent under the bright moonlight. Sitting in the Void side by side, they saw the glistening Mirror Lake extending for thousands of miles, the frosty moon, and the scattered stars in the vast sky. Between heaven and earth was silence. Even those evil beasts and insects around were too scared by the great battle to make any noise.
Ding Hao had peace in his mind. He held Xie Jieyu’s tiny hand in one hand and reached out the other to draw on the dark void.
Still we heard hidden grief and vague regret concebeerd. Music expressed then far less than silence revebeerd.
The words hopped in the void like golden elves, releasing a soft light which dissipated the darkness around them while circling around the pair like a bunch of mischievous children. The golden flame shone on Xie Jieyu’s face, so exquisite and unparalleled as if she were a child of Gods left in the earthly world, taking people’s breath away.
“How pretty!” Xie Jieyu gently stretched out her hand. The little figure from the word “Music” jumped swiftly onto her palm.
With a faint smile on his face, Ding Hao felt unprecedentedly tranquil.
One hour kicked by and neither of them spoke much.
Xie Jieyu’s long black hair dangled in the void like a waterfall. Still in her crimson armor, the fair color between her slender white thigh and waist are indescribable temptations. With her exposed arm gently circling around Ding Hao’s waist, she had fallen asleep soundly on his shoulder, breathing sweetly with a few dewdrops on her long eyelashes, crystal clear and gorgeous.
At that very moment, Xie Jieyu was not the usual Phoenix looking down upon the Snow Province and keeping others in distance as the cold goddess of iceberg. She was more like a little girl curled up in the arms of her lover with her vigilance down and a sweet smile hanging at the corner of her lips.
This side of Phoenix was rarely seen. Any master’s eye would pop out if they saw this scene. Ding Hao was the only one fortunate enough to see the Female Warlord of Snow Province soft and tender like water.
On that long night, for the very first time, Ding Hao didn’t practice.
Nobody knew how much time had passed.
When the first ray of the golden sunlight sliced open the darkness of earth in a distance, Female Warlord Xie Jieyu woke up to the warm sensation on her face after a whole night’s sleep. She opened her eyes slightly and turned to look at Ding Hao by her side. A natural smile climbed on her face.
She stretched gently and said, “So good. I haven’t slept so safely and comfortably for a long time.”
“Stay at Swordsmanship-seeking Mountain Villa and rest for a few days.” Ding Hao’s heart ached for this maiden in his arms.
She was only 15 or 16. When other young girls like Huang Rong were enjoying a peaceful life under the wings of their parents, Xie Jieyu was trekking in the deep mountains and waters of Snow Province, killing monsters and experiencing storms and wounds no less than him. Each and every well-known top expert of Snow Province had overcome difficulties and hardships beyond people’s imagination.
Xie Jieyu stuck out her tongue and answered, “My master will beat me hard if I become lazy.”
Ding Hao deliberately said, “Who is this fierce master? Give me his name and I’ll kick his ass. You know I now have real power of the sect, in charge of the Sword-hidden Peak. Even the head of the sect must show due respect to me.”
Xie Jieyu laughed with her mouth covered, “Hehe. Don’t talk so boldly. My master even shows no due respect to the sect head.”
Ding Hao curled his lips.
To be honest, so far Ding Hao had no idea who Xie Jieyu and Feng Ning’s master was. The Swordsmanship-seeking Sect valued the inheritance of Blood Battle Body warriors very much. They were trained and treated differently from ordinary disciples. Their master should be a Blood Battle Body powerhouse himself.
Being able to stand out and even suppress the Blood Battle Body, Ding Hao was a very special case in thousands of years.
They joked a bit more until the red sun slowly rose to the sky in the distance.
Xie Jieyu gazed at Ding Hao quietly for a while, and suddenly came over and gently pecked on Ding Hao’s cheek. Before Ding Hao could come back from the warm and sweet touch, she had transformed into a red stream of flowing light and vanished in the distant sky.
Ding Hao sat quietly in the void alone for a while before flying back to the Inviting-moon Pavilion.
…
“Brother Hao, please forgive me if Jieyu makes some mistake someday.” The Astral Wind in the sky blew up the Female Warlord’s long black hair. Looking back at the direction of Mirror Lake, Xie Jieyu had sorrow at the corner of her eyes.
…
“The man who ditches friends for a girl has finally returned.” “As soon as Ding Hao landed, Huang Rong, who had been waiting for a whole night, jumped out with doubts in her eyes to begin a tough interrogation. “Hey, bro. Tell me. The girl in red last night is your chick?”
My chick?
That sounded a little uncomfortable.
Noticing weariness on Huang Rong’s face, Ding Hao couldn’t bear to scold her. He gave a perfunctory answer and the pair left the completely destroyed Inviting-moon Pavilion for the Strolling in the Moon Palace. Huang Rong kept on nosing around about Xie Jieyu along the way and Ding Hao responded with laughter and more perfunctory answers.
“I can see it. You would definitely ditch friends for a girl. We are supposed to be best mates. Hmm!” Arriving at the pavilion of the Strolling in the Moon Palace, Huang Rong gave Ding Hao a severe glare and added, “Whatever. For the sake of your saving my life last night, I forgive you this time. I’ll order someone to bring you breakfast. You fought all night. Have some rest.”
After, she turned and walked away.
Ding Hao smiled gently. He liked Huang Rong very much for her coming straight to the point without beating about the bush.
…
Ding Hao sat down slowly on a cushion in the practice room and began to reflect on the battle last night with his eyes closed.
His Divine Awareness had reached the Body Oven Realm, on par with Li Jianyi and other super experts if not better. He once tried secretly to release his Divine Awareness towards Li Jianyi and Li didn’t notice at all. For this, he thought even higher of the Invincible Fighting Method.
Of course, Ding Hao couldn’t figure out Li Jianyi’s strength via his Divine Awareness. It felt like a bottomless abyss where his Divine Awareness couldn’t ever reach the end. He knew it was because Li Jianyi’s strength exceeded his too much.
Powerful Divine Awareness allowed Ding Hao to achieve many things that even grandmasters like Li Jianyi couldn’t accomplish.
For instance, ever since his arrival at the Swordsmanship-seeking Mountain Villa, Ding Hao enjoyed tempering his Divine Awareness by radiating almost the entire villa and observing its inscriptions, arrays, and defense forces. It would be no exaggeration to say that nothing in the villa could escape his surveillance.
On that day, stepping out of the meeting hall, Ding Hao habitually released his Divine Awareness to search his surroundings and heard some sneaky voices discussing how to deal with him coming from a rockery 100 meters away.
These people were obviously no strangers to the villa.
They soon came up with a plan to use the simple and innocent Huang Rong as their weapon to gain information.
Ding Hao played along and deliberately disclosed his performing of the Beast Transform to Huang Rong to lure snakes out of the hole.
…
Later, things progressed and these men put the Rambling Powder into the food Huang Rong had prepared for Ding Hao under the supervision of his Divine Awareness. Ding Hao prepared himself well and gained some knowledge about the murder plot devised by Jiang Disheng. He had no idea who was to assassinate him but it was definitely from the nine sects.
He was not a risk-loving man and didn’t think he alone could kill his opponents.
After giving it some thoughts, Ding Hao chose to reveal this news to the sect head.
Li Jianyi took it very seriously. In fact, the consecutive changes on the Snow Province Hidden Genius List had stirred up a huge wave within the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect. The sect elder Qi Su, who originally believed the ordinary being Ding Hao was inferior to the Blood Battle Body, made up his mind to put all his effort into training this disciple of miracles.
To not alert the enemy, Li Jianyi didn’t task those reputed senior masters of the sect; instead, he called back the well-hidden Phoenix and Purple Hair Silver Eyes and stacked the deck. It worked and then gained an overwhelming victory.
It was followed by a game played between the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect and the Tranquility Academy and Leiyin Sect.
Double Wind and Lightning were rare talents and the leaders of the young generation of the Leiyin Sect. The Leiyin Sect certainly couldn’t just sit and watch. To get back these two disciples, blood-shedding events seemed inevitable. On the other side, the Tranquility Academy took Jiang Disheng but was in the wrong after all. If it was exposed, severe punishments would be ordered by the Holy Palace of Mysterious Frost that was known for attaching great importance to young talent cultivation.
These two sects went for wool and came back shorn on this matter.
The Swordsmanship-seeking Sect took the initiative. It could pinch the painful spot of the Leiyin Sect and plan around it. When the new Holy Palace of Mysterious Frost inspector came and the sect Grading Meeting was held, the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect would certainly have the upper hand.
Ding Hao rendered meritorious service in this process. Whatever gains the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect could get, Ding Hao would be rewarded handsomely according to the sect rules.
Of course, this would be a later story.
In possession of the great wealth of the Black Serpent Ring, Ding Hao was in no rush for the sect rewards.
The moonlight shone through the window into the practice room, coating a layer of silver glow on Ding Hao who was meditating like an elderly monk. Breathing evenly and slowly, Ding Hao was glowing, his clothes puffed up without wind, his body bright and pure. Each and every pore of his was inhaling and exhaling.
After a while, a stream of pale red wicked mist was slowly released from Ding Hao’s body into the air.
Ding Hao suddenly opened his eyes and squeezed out a handprint. Like a whale sucking water, he drew the red wicked mist into his hand and compressed it into a bright red pill of the size of a soya bean. It moved on his palm aimlessly.
“This is the toxin from the Rambling Powder.”
Having a spot on the Snow Province Odd Poison List, the Rambling Powder was an extremely terrifying poison made of extremely rare materials. To make this soya-bean-sized little pill, countless precious herbs were required, many of which were so rare that one couldn’t purchase with money.
Last night Ding Hao was indeed poisoned by the Rambling Powder. Any other man in his situation might have fallen into an illusion and had no power left to offer any resistance. Fortunately, Ding Hao had broken through the Mind Essential and entered the Body Oven Realm. Like a massive alchemy stove, his body could absorb all materials from outside, refine invading foreign energy, and squeeze it out.
As soon as the Rambling Powder entered Ding Hao’s body, it was suppressed by the power of the Body Oven Realm into the middle dantian Heaven Fire Qi Seed in his chest. It didn’t affect Ding Hao’s combat strength at all. Then it was pushed out of his body and collected by the mystery of the Body Oven Realm. The rare poison didn’t exert the slightest power.
It sounded simple and easy but was actually extremely dangerous.
The boldness of execution stems from superb skill. Ding Hao had mastered the secret skill of the Mind Essential thus could complete this as if it were no big deal. Even Li Jianyi and Master Fang Xiaoan of the Tranquility Academy would be in serious trouble once invaded by the Rambling Powder.
At this time…
“Hmm… This is precious. Little Chap Ding, let me teach a trick to refine it into a treasure and it will be of great use in the future.” In his head, Saber Master suddenly spoke in a strange tone.
