Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Though different areas of Chaotian didn’t have the same seasons, they could share the same setting sun, even though the twilight was a fake one.
Countless sword wills were drifting about above the square of the royal palace; all of a sudden, they headed toward the outside of the city, slashing the spring sunlight in the sky into smaller patches that became warmer and more fire like.
Ping Yongjia was sitting on the ground amid the fake twilight with his eyes closed, his face pale as every part of his body trembled incessantly.
A pure and sharp sword will came out each time he trembled.
The Drifter stood in front of the grand hall, watching the scene pale-faced; the black band on her forehead rippled in the wind.
“What are you guys doing? Why are you risking your lives?” she exclaimed in a trembling voice.
…
…
The Great Formation of the royal palace had been activated. It bore down on the old plum garden like a tangible mountain.
A gust of violent wind rose up on the street outside the old plum garden. The owners of the chess stalls fled in all directions in terror; they had no idea what had just happened.
Standing by the lake, Liu Shisui gazed at the old nunnery hall on the other side of the bridge. His whole body was trembling slightly, and both of his feet sank deep into the ground.
The Lone Sword left his wrist and charged into the nunnery hall after turning into a flash of silvery light; but the sword didn’t cut communication with him. Liu Shisui could still sense what the Lone Sword was doing and knew it was the Sword Formation of Slaying Fairies deployed by his Young Master back then. However, whom did Gu Qing and Ping Yongjia attempt to kill?
Thinking of all this, Liu Shisui took a step onto the bridge while folding his arms in front of his face.
The bridge collapsed as soon as he stepped on it. Countless flames appeared on his arms along with whooshing noises.
The powerful sword wills from the Sword Formation of Slaying Fairies and the Great Formation of the royal palace acted like the real flying swords, which could cut any invaders into pieces.
In an instant, the clothes on Liu Shisui’s arms were torn to shreds; soon after, a great many ruptures appeared in his clothes.
It was then that Liu Shisui heard a cold and vicious cry in the sky; soon enough, he saw two shadows on the surface of the lake.
The Dark Phoenix dropped down from the sky, spreading two wings that were as dark as the night. His tail, fifty feet long, acted like a real sword and cut a passage in the Great Formation of the royal palace as he flew to the old plum garden.
Liu Shisui was aware of how formidable this Principal Guard of Green Mountain was. He pulled back his arms and held the City-Guard Pen in the sleeve with his right hand, ready to strike. Then, he suddenly sensed a dark energy as heavy as a mountain or a sea somewhere west of the city…The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect had come to Zhaoge City.
A recitation of Buddhist script was heard outside the old plum garden. Countless seemingly real flower petals appeared in the sky, among which there was a bright light ray.
The light ray was actually composed of dozens of smaller light rays, which ensnared the Dark Phoenix inside it like a cage.
The Dark Phoenix cried in anger, and attempted to break out of the light rays. After a few sizzling sounds, the green smoke came out from his colorful feathers. The Dark Phoenix felt an excruciating pain.
But the pain still couldn’t stop him from trying to break out.
The Dark Phoenix bumped into the light rays relentlessly while crying out fervently.
Boom!!! Boom!!! Boom!!!
The noises caused by his bumping into the light rays could be heard throughout Zhaoge City. The residents perceived the horrifying tremors in the sky and ran out of their houses in terror. When they saw a huge bird charging back and forth in the light ray, they couldn’t help but let out astonished screams.
Those people outside the old plum garden had fled a while ago. The chessboards were all on the ground, broken into several parts, and the chess pieces were scattered everywhere on the ground.
The Young Zen Master stood among the black and white Go pieces with bare feet. One of his feet stepped on the “King” chess piece while aiming a light mirror at the sky in his right hand.
The surface of the light mirror had exceedingly complex marks and was carved, with many scripts on it. The mirror was growing brighter while shooting innumerable light rays into the sky.
As the Dark Phoenix was bumping into the light ray madly, the light mirror changed its magnitude of brightness. “It takes quite a bit of effort just to take care of you; now I also have to look after your kids. Why?” complained the Young Zen Master helplessly, his face a bit pale.
…
…
The Dark Phoenix was trapped by the Young Zen Master’s light mirror in the sky. Liu Shisui knew what he needed to do next. He thrust his fists toward the ground without hesitation. As two demonic flames of black and red colors rose up, he traveled under the ground and soon arrived at a spot west of the city.
The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect was drinking wine in a farewell pavilion there. His left hand held a small ceramic wine cup with greenish liquid rippling slightly in it, and his right hand played with the round Retrieved Heavenly Orb. He was truly enjoying himself.
As the great grandmaster of a deviant sect, it was inconvenient getting to Zhaoge City, and so for the sake of safety, he had been waiting outside the city that day.
The Center Sect wouldn’t get involved in the event, and the Green Mountain Sect was having an important matter to take care of. As such, no powerful figure in the Cultivation circle was here that day. The Immortal Taiping, the Dark Phoenix and he were powerful enough to vanquish Zhaoge City; so there was nothing to worry about.
There was a small river not far from the pavilion. The water in the river had suddenly been stirred as Liu Shisui jumped out from the river and landed on the bank. The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect found the person coming out from the river was very young though his Cultivation state was extraordinary, feeling astounded. And yet, he was not concerned. He put down the wine cup in his left hand, and swept his right palm casually in an effort to strike Liu Shisui to death.
A gust of violent wind kicked up, and the pavilion collapsed, the sunlight growing dimmer. A dark palm-print as large as a Buddhist hall sprang up in the sky and bore down on Liu Shisui’s head.
Liu Shisui had prepared for the fight before he came to the west of the city. He didn’t use the sword style of the Green Mountain Sect, nor the Buddhist methods of the Fruit Formation Temple, nor the secret Bloody Demonic methods. All he employed was the upright energy of the One-Cottage House, whipping out the Guard-City Pen.
Whoosh!!!
An bright rainbow came out from the water beads like a reversed waterfall and headed toward the huge black palm, like a gust of gentle wind blowing over the woods or a piece of paper used by a mischievous boy to fan the air.
The huge black palm broke into pieces instantly, and the rainbow drawn by the Guard-City Pen disappeared after breaking apart, though the violent wind was still whistling.
Liu Shisui flew backwards like a kite with its string snapped off, heading toward Zhaoge City a few miles away.
Some moments later, he bumped into the city wall with a thud. It seemed that he hadn’t sustained any serious wound. However, the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect was a very formidable swordsman. His sweeping palm looked casual, but it contained tremendous lethal energy. The damaging effect of his sweeping palm was not over yet. The invisible force traveled with the wind and attacked Liu Shisui continuously.
The willow tree on the city wall became murkier, but the green color of the leaves grew richer.
A figure dashed out from amid the willow tree and grabbed Liu Shisui’s left arm. They leapt one hundred feet away from the spot before the invisible palm landed there.
Boom!!!
A deep palm print appeared on the city wall though the Great Formation of the royal palace was activated and the stones in the city wall were as strong as the gold. The surface layer of the stone on the city wall, the length of one hundred feet, had turned into powder. If this sweeping palm had landed on Liu Shisui, he would have been severely wounded even if he hadn’t immediately died.
“I don’t believe that you’re not dead yet.”
The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect felt surprised. Glancing at the Retrieved Heavenly Orb in his right hand and thinking of the task requested by the Immortal, he swallowed the orb into his stomach before striding to the city wall.
The person who had come out from amid the willow tree had his conical hat torn to shreds by the wind created by the sweeping palm, exposing his green face.
“You’re truly a filial descendant…” the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect teased with a smile.
Su Ziye flashed a modest grin at him as he said, “The Great Grandmaster is really awesome. Please let me live.”
With a sneer, two white demonic flames came out from the nostrils of the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect, shooting at Liu Shisui and Su Ziye like arrows.
Su Ziye let out a weird cry before he turned around and fled.
Liu Shisui took out a fan from his sleeve and waved it at the white demonic flame.
A gust of strong wind whipped up, shattering the branches of the willow tree. Blown by the wind, the demonic flame had slowed its pace.
In the next moment, another rainbow formed, heading toward the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect after breaking through the demonic flame.
The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect swept his palm with a grave expression on his face and knocked the rainbow into pieces. “Hey, little boy. Your Cultivation state is not too bad, but how come you have so many magic treasures?” he exclaimed.
Liu Shisui remained silent. He was recuperating in secret, as he was preparing to strike with his Guard-City Pen again.
After having cultivated for one hundred more years, his honest and upright energy had grown purer and stronger. He was not the same person who would have his zhenyuan exhausted after one strike.
Seeing a white hair suddenly drifting down in front of his eyes, the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect yelled angrily while running his hand over the sparse hair on his head, “Go to hell!”
As the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect yelled, dozens of hairs on his head stood erect like thorns. A gloomy and brutal energy emerged from inside his clothing and turned into many ghost flames after it met the vapor in the air, heading toward Liu Shisui fiercely.
In front of each ghost flame was a white skeleton face, looking extremely horrific. This was the magic of Swallowing Bones by Ten-Thousand Souls of the Mysterious Dark Sect, which was lost for a great many years.
Without hesitation, Liu Shisui struck out the Guard-City Pen again. If it were the upright energy exuded by the Guard-City Pen, the force would not enough to block the ghost flames in such an amount. The unexpected part was that the straight mark drawn by the Guard-City Pen was a sword formation deployed in front of the city wall of Zhaoge City.
He had employed the Inherited Heaven Sword style through the Guard-City Pen.
Seeing this, the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect commented with a slightly changed look, “Pretty good.”
No matter how good his sword work was, it was still not good enough.
Regardless of how talented Liu Shisui was and how many special magic treasures he had at his disposal and how many magic methods from different sects he had learned, he was still not a match for this great grandmaster of the deviant sects.
It didn’t take long before the Inherited Heaven Sword Formation drawn by the Guard-City Pen was on the verge of collapsing. The wailing of ghosts could be heard in front of the city wall, and there was a change of sentiment in heaven and earth.
Watching the approaching horrific white skeleton faces, Liu Shisui grew paler on his face. It was because he had used too much of his zhenyuan rather than feeling scared.
“Why didn’t you flee?”
Su Ziye cried irately before he came back to the front of the city wall.
It was unclear how he extinguished the white demonic flame that had pursued him.
It was then that the ghost flames sent by the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect reached the city wall.
Su Ziye grunted once as an eerie glow showed on his green face. He opened his mouth and tried to devour those ghost flames, as though he had suddenly become a frightful devil.
In a few moments, he had swallowed dozens of ghost flames.
“Not bad. You’re indeed the hope of our sect’s revival.”
The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect laughed while waving his sleeve softly. If those thorn-like hairs on his head were ignored, he looked like a fairy man at the moment.
The ghost flames filling the sky grew more formidable after he waved the sleeve. Liu Shisui and Su Ziye were on the brink of being consumed by the flames.
“Release your fire,” said Liu Shisui suddenly.
Though there was a word “dark” in the Mysterious Dark Sect, the Cultivation practitioners of the sect practiced the fire method. Su Ziye was born in the Scorching Sun Gorge and was a genius at the Mysterious Dark Sect and was an expert in employing fire. Even though he didn’t understand why Liu Shisui asked him to do so, he lit a dark fire without hesitation.
Liu Shisui took out the fan again and fanned at Su Ziye’s palm that was ablaze.
Boom!!!
Two pillars of fire appeared in front of Zhaoge City.
One was filled with the white skeleton faces.
And the other with the dark and cold wind.
…
…
The nunnery hall broke into pieces.
The wooden bridge collapsed to pieces.
And the plum forest reduced to pieces.
The water in the lake had sunk a few feet. It was not because the water of the lake penetrated the ground, but because the water was pressed into something heavier than the ice.
The Great Formation of the royal palace had become much more powerful after it was reinforced by the major Cultivation sects over one hundred years.
Sitting on the ground, Gu Qing was drenched in fresh blood; many of his bones were broken. He couldn’t withstand the pressure of the Great Formation of the royal palace any longer, and would die at any moment.
Yet, he was still staring at Yin San, with the sword rope of the Thoughtless Sword in his right hand and the Sword of the Universe in his left. He was doing his best to maintain the Sword Formation of Slaying Fairies to prevent Yin San from getting closer to him.
Sensing the commotion west of the city, the corners of Yin San’s mouth curled up to flash an appreciative smile, saying, “What a bunch of lovely youngsters you are.”
He was truly appreciative of them, and his evaluation of them was sincere as well.
Yin San liked the youngsters of this sort.
These youngsters dared fight against the seniors in much higher Cultivation states.
Even if they would fail in their efforts in the end, they were truly outstanding.
Unfortunately, these young people were Jing Jiu’s disciples, not his.
After letting out a sigh, Yin San had finally made his move.
Once he moved, a great many residual shadows appeared in the air, and the red clothing grew bloodier.
The bloody shadows had eventually transformed into a sword, piercing at the center of Gu Qing’s eyebrows after breaking through the defense of the Sword Formation of Slaying Fairies soundlessly.
…
…
The green mountains in Zhaoge City and the twilight were all bogus that day; so it was impossible to judge the time of the day by the sunlight.
It was unclear when it happened.
Perhaps, it was when Zhao Layue stabbed her finger at Fang Jingtian, or when Gu Qing’s seventh bone was shattered, or when Liu Shisui spat out the third mouthful of fresh blood, or when Xiao He shoved the last bit of watery tofu into her mouth from the bowl.
Jing Jiu opened his eyes, and awakened.
Countless sword lights emerged in the deep end of his eyes, which soon dissipated into the lake after turning into many golden sparks.
He got out of the bed and headed to the outside of the study room. Glancing at the spot where the begonia tree should have been, he asked, “Where?”
He acted so naturally, as if he hadn’t slept for one hundred years, or as if he had woken up a long time ago.
The green bird on the eave replied in the human voice, “The old plum garden.”
A surprised scream burst out behind him.
Jing Jiu turned around and saw Xiao He. He nodded to her before disappearing from the spot.
Xiao He let go of the bowl in her hands, which landed on the stone steps and broke into tiny pieces. Fortunately, she had eaten all the food in the bowl.
