“Everyone in the Great Leiyin Monastery was almost crazy. Such a scandal had not happened once in tens of thousands of years. Driven to distraction, the elders of all the academies in the monastery sacrificed a Sarira of the former Lord Buddha. With that, an elder Martial Uncle ignited his Power of the Origin to transport across time and space and saw what happened when the four Senior Brothers died. Unexpectedly–in the reversed time and space, the one who killed the four Senior Brothers was…”
While saying that, Golden Cicada began to tremble violently. No one knew if he was angry or afraid.
“It was you, wasn’t it?” Ding Hao finished his words.
Golden Cicada nodded and said, “You’re right. In the mirror image of reversed time and space, everyone saw that I was the murderer.”
Ding Hao sighed and said, “It seems that the real murderer was incredibly powerful. He could distort time and space and create such an illusion. In this way, meeting such a powerful opponent makes your suffering worth a lot.”
A strange brilliance flashed across Golden Cicada’s eyes. He said, “Do you believe that I’m not the murderer?”
Ding Hao nodded and said very seriously, “The Golden Cicada I know will never do such a thing.”
Golden Cicada stared at Ding Hao in shock. After a long while, a smile finally appeared on his face. He immediately burst out laughing. “What a Saber and Sword Addict! You are indeed a peerless man of the era. I know I haven’t misjudged you. Although this world is vast, only a handful of people believe in me, and you are one of them. I have made the right choice to come all the way here to find you.”
Ding Hao suddenly smiled and said, “In fact, I’m just kidding. Don’t take it seriously. What if you are the murderer…”
Golden Cicada was speechless.
Ding Hao roared with laughter.
Golden Cicada felt that he was fooled unscrupulously and shook his head helplessly. However, after being teased by Ding Hao, Golden Cicada was not that depressed.
“What are you going to do next?” Ding Hao asked, “If people of the entire Great Leiyin Monastery were hunting you down, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to help you. Any elder or whatever would be able to kill me with a single finger.”
If it were in the past, Ding Hao would be very confident in himself with the Rusted Sword and the Devil Saber in his hand.
However, since he learned from Ding Honglei about the number of experts in the Immortal Realm on the whole world, Ding Hao had understood that the real masters were all unknown to the public. A holy land like the Great Leiyin Monastery could never have only one expert of the Immortal Realm, the former Lord Buddha. Perhaps the elders and heads of the academies mentioned by Golden Cicada were also experts in the Immortal Realm.
“If the people of Great Leiyin Monastery hunting down Golden Cicada were experts in Immortal Realm, then they could indeed kill me with only one finger.”
Now Ding Hao finally understood why the powerful Golden Cicada would be as embarrassed as a dog being hunted by people. If Ding Hao were him, he would probably be even more embarrassed than Golden Cicada.
Golden Cicada sighed and said, “This time I failed. My four Senior Brothers died and I became the greatest traitor in the monastery. The biggest beneficiary is Sweet Sound. As the last successor, she has now become the Lord Buddha of the Great Leiyin Monastery. She has gathered all the forces in the monastery to hunt me down. Although the world is vast, no place could accommodate me.”
Even an expert of the Immortal Realm would die if he was chased by forces of the Great Leiyin Monastery.
Although the Land of Infinity was vast, no place could accommodate Golden Cicada.
After a pause, Golden Cicada sighed. “It seems that I have to leave this world for the time being. Fortunately, I got this thing on the way to Snow Province.”
He opened his palm, and a triangular stone plate appeared in his hand.
Ding Hao focused his eyes and looked. He recognized the origin of the stone plate at once.
It turned out to be another Sky-fleeing Stone Key.
Although the shape of Golden Cicada’s Sky-fleeing Stone Key was completely different from that of Ding Hao’s, their materials were the same. The Sky-fleeing Stone Key seemed to be made of stone, but in fact, it was made of a unique kind of material. There was no such stone material with a strange aura on the Land of Infinity.
“You want to…” Ding Hao’s eyes lit up.
Golden Cicada nodded. “I heard that there was a chessboard formation in the Back Mountain of the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect, which leads to the immortal land. As long as I have a Sky-fleeing Stone Key, I can activate the chessboard formation. So on the way here, I risked being killed and took a Sky-fleeing Stone Key from the Demon Clan.”
“You are so lucky,” Ding Hao couldn’t help but acclaim.
Under normal circumstances, even if Golden Cicada could hide for a while, he would not be able to hide for a lifetime. Being hunted down by a holy land of martial arts like the Great Leiyin Monastery would only lead to death in the end. But this time, he happened to find the door that leads to the immortal land and happened to get a Sky-fleeing Stone Key, which gave him the best opportunity to escape.
As long as he entered the immortal land through the Sky-fleeing Stone Key, he could escape being killed by the Great Leiyin Monastery.
It was nearly the only chance for Golden Cicada.
If he wanted to prove his innocence, he had to find a way to survive first. When his strength improved in the future, he could redeem everything. Otherwise, once he was caught by the experts of the Great Leiyin Monastery, he would be killed.
However, the reason why Golden Cicada was able to escape to Snow Province in the Northern Region was probably that the people who hunted him had shown him some mercy. Obviously, they didn’t believe that he was a traitor, so they showed mercy. Otherwise, if experts in the Immortal Realm used all their power to hunt him, it would be impossible for Golden Cicada to come here alive.
Ding Hao always felt that there must be something else behind this, but he couldn’t tell what was wrong at the moment.
“Well, it seems that I finally have a companion.” Ding Hao also showed his Sky-fleeing Stone Key.
Golden Cicada seemed to have known it for a long time. He asked, “Have you decided to enter the chessboard formation?”
Ding Hao nodded.
“You’re not being hunted by people all over the world. There was no need to take this risk.” Golden Cicada smiled and said, “Although we’re close to each other, we’re not close like sworn brothers, are we?”
“Of course, I have my reasons,” Ding Hao said.
Golden Cicada did not ask any more questions.
That night, Golden Cicada was arranged to stay in a secret chamber. Ding Hao demonstrate his most skilled aura-restraining formation outside the secret chamber, hoping to seal Golden Cicada’s aura so as not to be discovered by the experts of the Great Leiyin Monastery who were chasing him.
Ding Hao did not tell others about it.
Because Li Lan was too busy, Ding Hao took Ding Tianshuang back to the Sword-hidden Peak thousands of miles away at night. He got the kid off to sleep and sat cross-legged in front of the cottage to practice.
Ding Hao’s Qi cultivation had progressed these days. He had entered the dual-meridian, one-apertured Martial King Realm. Although he had been busy these days, he had never relaxed his Qi cultivation. With the help of Ximen Qianxue’s elixirs and the Divine Herb Garden, he felt that the Qi was stirring and surging. It was extremely powerful, and there were signs of a breakthrough.
The Sword-hidden Peak was a vital place of the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect and was heavily guarded, so Ding Hao could proceed with the breakthrough at peace.
64 Crimson Stars and 64 Ice Stars appeared alternately in Ding Hao’s body with strange lights. The 128 acupoints of the dual meridian were full of Qi. All the acupoints were bright, smooth, and full as if they were nurturing lives. It was extremely mysterious and magical.
Bi Fang’s flaming Qi and Hell Ice Qi were like two galaxies, connecting the Crimson Stars and the Ice Stars. The bright flame shot out of Ding Hao’s body and finally completely engulfed him.
The golden and silver light balls even engulfed the entire Sword-hidden Peak.
The Qi cultivation of the Martial Emperor Realm was indeed extremely powerful. There was a faint howling of the snowstorm and Bi Fang, and the snowflakes and ice crystals were flying and rotating like elves. The Icing Qi have alternated with hot Qi just like the circulation of yin and yang.
With Ding Hao’s body as the center, the grass around him kept changing from emerald to yellow, and then from yellow to emerald, as if spring and autumn were recurring on it.
After exactly six hours, Ding Hao finally succeeded in unsealing two acupoints: Zhulan, the second aperture of Shaoyang Eighth Channel of Foot, and Wenhua, the eleventh aperture of the Six Strange Veins. He finally succeeded in lighting up the two apertures.
The two newborn stars magically emerged in the miniature universe of Ding Hao’s body, forming a strange pattern with the 128 previous stars. They filled the sky like constellations.
“Phew…” Ding Hao took a deep breath and slowly retracted his strength.
This time, he broke through and entered the dual-meridian, two-apertured Martial King Realm quite easily. The Saintly Being of Saber and Sword had no bottlenecks in his Qi cultivation. Unfortunately, because of the velocity of time, Ding Hao lacked three years in the Towering Buddha Pagoda.
If Ding Hao had cultivated for three more years in the real world like Li Lan, Li Yiruo, and the others, his Qi cultivation must be in the realm of Martial Grand Emperor.
The moon bathed the world in silver light.
The world was quiet, vast, and beautiful.
Ding Hao slowly stood up and saw Li Lan in a white cloak. She was standing quietly at the door of the thatched cottage and looking at him. Ding Hao realized that Li Lan saw him cultivating when she came back, so she did not disturb him and waited until now.
Ding Hao smiled and held her in his arms.
He did it so naturally like a gentle husband embracing his newly married wife.
“I need to leave for a while again,” Ding Hao whispered to Li Lan.
Li Lan nodded, “I know.”
The night air was as cold as ice water. They walked shoulder to shoulder and came to the cliff under the peach blossom trees. Overlooking the mountain gate of the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect from the cliff, the villa was all brightly illuminated. Then, Ding Hao told Li Lan everything.
Li Lan said nothing.
Her long black hair was blowing in the night wind like soft seaweeds floating in the sea.
She knew that Ding Hao was very stubborn. As long as he thought it was the right thing to do, he would stick to it.
She also knew that there must be a reason for Ding Hao to make such a decision. It must be something related to the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect. He must have decided for Li Lan and their kid and for those who had always crazily supported and worshiped him.
