Nightfall

The archery of Ning Que was the best in the world. No matter it was the grassland barbarians who were excellent in riding and shooting or the Horse Gangs lived on bowstring, they were not comparable to Ning Que. Besides his accuracy and method of controlling bowstring, his speed of shooting arrow was even more astonishing.

At the moment he borrowed the force of running ahead to draw the bowstring and shoot the arrow all at once. The arrow was even as quick as lightening. When the string of boxwood bow was still slightly quivering in the wind, the arrow bunch had flew to the front of the Horse Gang leader’s face and was about to shoot him to death.

At this critical point, a small round shield leaned out from beside the Horse Gang leader and breathtakingly warded off the arrow. A muffled sound like that of beating drum was heard and the Horse Gang holding the shield made a stuffy hum and his ride retreated for several steps.

However, the Horse Gang leader behind the shield didn’t move to hide himself, and moreover, there was not any change in his facial expression, not for Ning Que’s arrow was too quick for him to make any reaction, but for he knew that the arrow couldn’t hurt him.

At the previous moment, the Horse Gang leader and his several trusted subordinates came from the meadow and entered the group of Horse Gang who had gotten ready to make assult and caused chaos. Then Ning Que took the time and thought he could hurt his enemy. But unexpectedly his enemy so easily warded off his arrow which clearly indicated that they had already gotten prepared. So suddenly he felt horribly chilly in his heart.

The muffled sound of the arrow deeply probing into the round shield seemed like the signal of make assult. Under the stimulation of handsome reward and threat of strict punishment, over two hundred Horse Gangs who were still able to ride a horse crazily yelled and waved the curve knives in their hands. Following the ten leaders at the front of the team, they suddenly rushed to the camp of grain team.

Because the distance between the two parties had been drawn closer ahead of time, the belt of gravel at the lower edge of the meadow couldn’t prevent the Horse Gang’s assult any more. The laager outside the camp of grain team was already broken and nearly two hundred soldiers and civilian workers of Yan Kingdom that had survived were now standing in front of their heavily-injured peers and corpses of their companions. Their hands tightly holding their weapon were trembling slightly and they looked quite despair.

After having a rest during this period, the disciples of Black Ink Garden guarding at the breach of the battle array had not totally recovered, and moreover, their Psyche Power had nearly been exhausted and they even couldn’t hold the delicate swords in their hands. Then how could they ward off the enemy?

In the horse carriage at the back, the girl Mo Shanshan slightly lowered her head, several strands of hair inably hanging on her forehead. Her pale face looked especially withered and her fingers holding the inky pen were turning pale for her having secretly exerted her strength, which yet looked so weak.

As the Horse Gang rushed to the camp, it seemed that nobody could prevent the on-coming slaughter with the exception of Ning Que who rode on his Big Black Horse to dash into the flood of Horse Gangs. It seemed he was brave, but what could he do on his own?

Across the broken part of the plate of the laager, Ning Que saw the masked leader at the very front of the Horse Gang. The eyesight of the two finally met in the chilly air of the Wilderness. Somehow Ning Que felt his heart beating faster and the previous vigilance that had perplexed him for a long time became stronger and stronger.

However, at this moment he was not allowed to think more, to ponder over more or to hesitate. Now that he was on the horse, he should take the spirit that when getting on the horse, you were a thief, and drew his bowstring and waved his knife to kill all the enemies.

The Big Black Horse took a heavy breath yet it didn’t slow down, and in an instant they had rashed to the front of the laager. Just at the moment, Ning Que abandoned his bowstring and fetched out his hand to hold the hilt on his back, yelling loudly.

He just yelled out a simple broken sound rather than any special name, which sounded like roars of some beasts in the wild. But he believed the girl in the horse carriage could understand his intention. Although they didn’t negotiate ahead of time, somehow he believed she should understand him, as what Sangsang did.

Mo Shanshan in the horse carriage understood him. Her black hair drooped on her forehead and her eyes slightly focused, with which her two slim fingers slightly combined like two stones heavily knocking to each other. The yellowish Fu paper clutched by her fingers should break into numerous pieces as tiny as sand and then vanished.

In the wilderness ahead of the laager of the camp, all of a sudden, the Qi of Heaven and Earth fiercely fluctuated, abruptly producing a flavor of extreme driness. The Horse Gang that had suffered heavy losses was frightened by the flavor and subconsciously exerted all their strength to draw the rein and escape to the both sides.

Without any spark nor dry grass, yet right ahead of the broken laager, raging flames were burning out of nothing. The fierce flame suddenly spurted along the blowing of wind and during the fluctuation it became more violent and finally formed a fire wall.

In fact, the power of the girl Talisman Master’s fire talisman was not as strong as her previous ones, after all she had lost too much Psyche Power. Just because previously she had to defend against the Horse Gangs who might make assult from all directions of the round laager and the area that the fire talisman should cover was too big. But at this moment, the fire talisman only needed to cover the area that several miles ahead of the Big Black Horse, so it looked extremely violent.

The fire wall outside the camp just appeared to be violent, yet in fact it did little harm to the Horse Gangs. What’s more, it exactly blocked ahead of the Big Black Horse, which looked as if it would devour the the Big Black Horse as well as Ning Que riding on it.

Just before the Big Black Horse was about to rash into the fire wall, Ning Que rode on the horse and stramped the saddle heavily with his feet. Then with the tightening of muscle in his waist, belly and thigh, he suddenly jumped up.

The Big Black Horse violently roared and its hoof tip deeply throbed into the mud to forcibly braked its heavy body. When it was about to touch the fire wall, it changed the track of running so dangerously and escaped to the right rubbing the fire wall.

At this time, Ning Que had already jumped onto the fire wall and beneath his shoes were terrible flames. He jumped to that side, and his hands tightly holding the hilt took the advantage of the power to make a draw. “Gong! Gong!” the podao was drawn out.

The fire wall had prevented the eyesight of Horse Gangs, so they didn’t see that Ning Que had jumped up from the horse back. When they saw that Ning Que jumped over the fire wall, Ning Que had already come right above the Horse Gang leader.

Before the battle, he had said to Mo Shanshan that if they could kill this leader that had just arrived last night, the Horse Gang would be in chaos. And if the Horse Gangs were in chaos, the cavalryman of Divine Hall would not lose this valuable opportunity – He was sure that people from the Divine Hall were as shameless as he himself, so he could find out their choices—That’s why he chose to exert the exhausted girl Talisman Master’s last Psyche Power to create this opportunity.

He was quite skilled at jumping over fire wall and making sudden attacks. When they three killed Xia Hou outside the mouth of Northern Mountain Road, he had done it, so that’s why he was so confident. His eyes staring at the Horse Gang leader were focusing and calm. The podao he held with both hands changed into two beams of bright light and chopped down with insistence and certainty.

However, when he jumped out of the fire wall and touched the Horse Gang leader’s eyesight again, he found that his enemy’s sight seemed actually more focusing and calmer than him, thus the hint of chilliness produced during his previous rashing on horse involuntarily increased.

Two podaos broke the winter wind in the Wilderness and chopped towards the neck of the Horse Gang leader. However, the Horse Gang on the right and left seemed to have known the direction of Ning Que’s blade though apparently they were still dashing ahead, so they made judgment ahead of time and reached out two thick wooden shields to ward off the blade!

Then with two times of heavy muffled sound, numerous cracks like spider net suddenly appeared on the wooden shield. While as for Ning Que, he couldn’t borrow any power in the air and was back-shocked upwards to the inclined rear in the air. And the two podaos should be inserted in the wooden shield and couldn’t be drawn back.

Because the rides of the Horse Gang were still dashing ahead, when Ning Que fell down from the air for the second time, he coincidentally remained heading towards the Horse Gang leader. When still in the air, Ning Que’s right hand flashed to his back and drew out the third knife!

And almost at the same time, a fire blossom bloomed before Horse Gang leader, which, though not vigorous, was enough to scorch his face. And this was exactly a skill of Talisman Taoism that remained unused by Ning Que!

…

…

An invisible power appeared in the air and tightly wrapped the fireball changed from that Fu paper inside. The flame suddenly weakened as if it were sealed by a transparent glass ball, which fell down dejectedly and inably along the shoulder of the Horse Gang leader.

The right hand of the Horse Gang leader turned, with which a stiff metal shield delicately flew to the half air and exactly warded off the third knife of Ning Que that had been condensed with all his strength. A huge sound was heard when the knife and the shield met, which greatly roiled the air.

His three knives were all predicted and sealed ahead of time and the Talisman Taoism he secretly drew had been broken. It seemed that this Horse Gang leader knew all his methods and had made plans directing at him!

During the fierce fight, he findly figured out that these Horse Gangs tracing the grain team didn’t target at robbing the food, nor the girl Talisman Master in the horse carriage. From beginning to the end, their target was him!

In the biting winter wind in the wilderness, Ning Que felt extremely cold both physically and mentally.

Yet coldness wasn’t equal to despair, and in his mind, there was no such word as abandoning. When he was still in the half air, with a muffled sound, he forced out all his Psyche Power from sense of perception with all strength, and then those delicate Talisman inscriptions of the podao suddenly lightened. Meanwhile, the other two podaos inserted in the wooden shield lightened too.

“Crack! Crack!” the wooden shield was cracked and the two podaos fell to the ground. As for the third one in his hand, it chopped against the wind and caused a streak of bright blade, which rolled with the aura of nature and chopped towards the Horse Gang leader again!

Black sand was caused fluttering over the ground, where a very deep knife cut was found. However, the Horse Gang leader was actually unhurt. Ning Que’s chop condensed with Qi of Heaven and Earth should have missed the target and chopped to the ground!

His sight was totally blurred, and he suddenly felt something not so good, but was not allowed to react. All of a sudden he flew again to the air yet fresh blood instantly was spurted from his mouth and nose.

The Horse Gang leader slightly raised his head and indifferently looked at Ning Que from whom blood was spurting out. His left hand hanging beside the saddle which slightly touched the saddle and quickly figured something now stopped. He thought to himself, “Thanks to your adventure, I finally dead-locked you.”

…

…

Ning Que was drifting aimlessly in the air, which blood spurting out from his mouth and nose like a fountain. A strong and overwhelming Psyche Power, following an invisible trace, rose from the ground and penetrated the air. It finally throbbed into the part between his brows and directly probed into his sense of perception.

He felt as if countless silver needles were quickly stirring in his mind. An absolute ache beyond description was fiercely trembling him. He was not such a man that couldn’t bear pains, who had even stood up to the Psyche Power attack in that frustrating in the Back Mountain of the Academy. However, this Psyche Power from the ground was too strong for him to bear, so in an instant, he felt faint and blur-minded.

Before losing his consciousness or dying, his instinct that had been fostered in the past decade’s experience between life and death, he subconsciously fetched his hand out to his back to hold the familiar umbrella handle. However, under the attack of the powerful Psyche Power, he could merely touch it yet failed to draw the umbrella out.

He began to fall down, during which he struggled to open his eyes and looked at the ground with blurred sight and just saw the Horse Gang leader raising his head to see him too. Now he could confirm that this leader should be a great Psyche Master at Seethrough State!

How noble and powerful it was for a great Psyche Master at Seethrough State. If he was in the military camp, he must be a general. If he served in the imperial court,he must be a Minister of Offerings. If he was in the earthy world, he would be respected. Why such a man should disguise himself as a Horse Gang to kill me?

Ning Que realized he had underestimated his enemy. If he had known that he was the target of the enemy and his opponent was a great Psyche Master with great power earlier, he would have used the Primordial Thirteen Arrows absolutely at the beginning. Although Second Brother had also said such words, this Horse Gang leader was definitely not weaker than Prince Long Qing!

…

…

The Horse Gang leader, or we should say, Lin Ling, a great Psyche Master in the fortress army of northeast Tang Empire, slightly raised his head and narrowed his eyes. Looking at Ning Que who was spurting blood in the air, he shew a complicated expression in his eyes, a mixture of being complacent, fearful and proud.

If the Military Minister wanted to investigate somebody, it would definitely dig out all his past and background. The strength and fight habit Ning Que had shown at the entrance of Northern Mountain Road and the fact that he learnt Talisman Taoism from Master Yan Se were all in their list of investigation.

A great Psyche Master at Seethrough State had made such careful and meticulous preparation before his fight with a greenhand at No Doubts State. If by doing so he still couldn’t kill his opponent, it just proved that Haotian was unfair.

Anyway, Lin Ling still felt proud when seeing Ning Que was about to die. Because even though he was the strongest Psyche Master in the fortress army of northeast, the person he killed today was a student of the Second floor of the Academy and the core disciple of the Headmaster of Academy.

So that’s why he felt both proud and fearful. Therefore, after confirming that he had killed Ning Que, he decided to kill his trusted followers beside him immediately… as well as he himself. He wouldn’t allow this affair to trouble the general.

…

…

The horse carriage between the camps that had been in silence for a long time suddenly moved, yet the movement was earthshaking.

The whole carriage broke, with curtains, wooden blocks, metal and accessaries spraying to all directions like arrows.

With the broke of the carriage, the girl in white drifted to the air, her delicate and waterfall-like black hair drifting with wind. She looked at the firewall, and her scattered eyesight suddenly focused. Her pale face abnormally flushed and then she pointed out one finger.

The slender finger drew several lines in the biting winter wind of the Wilderness.

With her finger breaking the air, the wind and the heaven and earth, an invisible power formed with the drawing of lines.

This was the Infinitive Talisman which could only be drawn by Divine Talisman Masters at Knowing Destiny State!

The finger of the girl in white fiercely trembled, as if she was suffering from great pain.

Finally, she just managed to draw a half of this talisman rather than the whole one.

She indifferently glanced at the side of the firewall and could faintly see that the figure of Ning Que was falling down at a high speed.

She closed her eyes, falling backwards to the ground.

The unfinished talisman suddenly collapsed and contracted, causing all the surroundings to collapse and condense with it. And in a very short time, it condensed into a mass of transparent air.

The invisible and transparent power of talisman, like fists waved out by God with full strength, violently rushed out and broke a huge hole in the firewall!

Over ten Horse Gangs fell down from their horses one after another, blood spurting out from them.

The pupil of the Horse Gang leader severely condensed. Even if he was a great Psyche Master at Seethrough Sate, he still sensed the horror of the power.

Although the talisman was unfinished, it was still the Infinitive Talisman that only Divine Talisman Masters could understand.

Divine Talisman.