Nightfall

That person was Xiong Chumo.

Who was that person? Who was Xiong Chumo?

At this time, thousands of divine priests and deacons in the hall were thinking of these questions but failed to get answers. But they knew that it must be extremely important since Ning Que saved it until the last moment. Therefore, they looked at Ye Hongyu solemnly, and she looked solemn too.

Only a few people had heard of the name Xiong Chumo, and even fewer knew that it was the original name of the Hierarch. Clearly, the latter was more nervous.

The radiating screen in front of the high platform stopped shivering, as solemn as a silent wall. The tall figure behind the wall seemed more strapping, and a fierce breath spread in all directions, with no intention to kill but only full of sacred majesty. As the situation had reached its most critical moment, that tall figure must clear up people’s doubts for him and relieve the pressure from her.

Ye Hongyu stood by the radiating screen.

Compared with the figure behind the radiating screen, she looked so small but stood steadily, which seemed that she would not be swallowed up no matter how big the wave was.

Time went by, and the soft but cold wind from the cliff lowered the temperature inside.

Would the war between the Hierarch and the Great Divine Priest of Judgement break out the next moment?

But out of everyone’s reckoning, Ye Hongyu gradually regained her regular expression, as calm as the clear stream under the plum tree.

She just sat back to her chair without any expression. The blood-colored Gown of Judgment floated as she sat back, and then dropped down like a red flower.

She sat quietly in the chair as if nothing had happened and she had heard nothing. Only her closest subordinates from the Divine Hall of Judgement and those powerful red-robed divine priests could see the irritation and tiredness between her eyebrows.

She raised her right arm and pointed to Chenqi and Chu Youxian. Her delicate fingers seemed to be coated with dew, but only scattered indifference.

The black deacons of the Divine Hall of Judgement went forward without any hesitation, knocked down Chenqi and Chu Youxian and dragged them out of the hall.

Chenqi and Chu Youxian would be taken to the Secluded Pavilion and they might be kept there forever. But at least they were not sentenced to death at this moment.

People in the hall might have different opinions about her decision, but no one dared to question her at this point. And even the tall figure behind the radiating screen remained silent.

Then she took a glance at the hall. Thousands of divine priests and deacons inside the hall all thought that the Great Divine Priest of Judgement was looking at them and they were all shocked by the cold and power in her eyes.

The sea made up of red, black, and brown robes could be calm and also be violent. But under her gaze, the sea turned into streams, flowing towards the low-leveled places.

In a very short time, thousands of divine priests and deacons quietly withdrew from the hall and left the world to Ye Hongyu and the Hierarch behind the radiating screen.

“I am curious about how the Academy found out,” Ye Hongyu sat in the chair and said without any expression, never turning around to look at the radiating screen.

Behind the radiating screen, the Hierarch squinted at her back and was thinking about something.

Before he could answer, Ye Hongyu continued to say indifferently, “The only possibility is Yu Lian.”

Yu Lian was the Senior Sister of the Academy and also the master of Devil’s Doctrine, Twenty-Three-Year Cicada.

If the cultivation world thought that Ning Que and Long Qing were mortal enemies, then Yu Lian and Xiong Chumo were also mortal enemies.

Xiong Chumo finally opened his mouth, “You didn’t seem surprised when you heard it. Why?”

Sitting in the chair, Ye Hongyu looked at the winter sky outside the hall and answered, “I knew it was you all this time. But I did not expect that others knew as well.”

Xiong Chumo was silent for a long time and then asked, “When did you know?”

Ye Hongyu rubbed her eyes and answered, “Ning Que damaged your giant sedan at the Rite to Light, and I knew it was you when I first saw you.”

Xiong Chumo laughed strangely and said, “It never occurred to me that you are so patient.”

Ye Hongyu replied, “You have been suffering ever since Yu Lian defeated you. Even though Haotian cured your wounds, she couldn’t fix your Taoist Heart. Since I will kill you eventually, I am more than happy to see you suffer for a few more years. I am not in a rush.”

Xiong Chumo stared at her back silently and suddenly realized that he could no longer remember what the old her looked like.

He thought, She is strong enough to threaten me now. “Why are you so sure that it was Yu Lian? I don’t think other people know about this matter.”

“It’s not because she is your enemy. In her opinion, you are not qualified to be her opponent at all. It is because she is the master of Devil’s Doctrine and Twenty-Three-Year Cicada. The Devil’s Doctrine is best at schemes and intrigues, so I won’t be surprised that she knows it.”

“Just for this one reason?”

“It’s also because she injured you but never killed you at the Back Hill of the Academy back then.” Ye Hongyu stood up slowly and said, “I have been wondering why she spared your life, and so has Ning Que. I finally figured it out now.” She didn’t turn around, and was just looking at the winter sky outside the hall. “Because she knew I will kill you. Your life is the inevitable reason she saved for me to defect, and she would be happy to see Taoism fall apart because of a useless man.”

She said calmly, “Twenty-Three-Year Cicada indeed deserves her reputation.”

Xiong Chumo went silent for a long time and then asked, “Then what?”

Then nothing. There were no horrible divine flames, no sharp Taoist sword swinging around, no war, no revenge, and even no hatred.

Ye Hongyu walked out of the hall and her blood-colored Gown of Judgment swayed in the cold wind, overshadowing the glories of all the gods on the wall.

Behind the radiating screen, Xiong Chumo squinted his eyes into slits which were full of blood stains, looking dirty and evil. The depths of his eyes were gradually filled with shock, anger, and fear.

It was not until today that he realized the only reason he survived back than was that Yu Lian had kept him alive for other purposes.

As Ye Hongyu said before, from Yu Lian’s point of view, he was not qualified to be her opponent at all, so his fate meant nothing to her. Yu Lian spared his life for she knew from the beginning that he would be the trigger of the collapse of Taoism.

But Yu Lian had not foreseen that Ye Hongyu did not do what she had expected. And Xiong Chumo also wondered why she chose not to kill him when she had the chance after the Rite to Light several years ago and also at this moment.