Nightfall

Mo Shanshan was still immersed in the shock of seeing the Great Blockage Formation, so she didn’t notice what Ning Que did. Looking at the stones that were scattered everywhere in the valley, she frowned and said, “Although it has been destroyed, the remaining power is still strong, I can’t figure out just how strong it is on earth in such a short time. Do you still insist on going inside?”

Ning Que aimed to enter the Front Gate to look for the Tomes of Arcane, especially now that he sensed that familiar strong breath that was far away and was pretty sure he knew whom the aura belonged to, so he naturally wouldn’t give up. Ning Que turned to look at her and asked, “Do we still have a chance to retreat?”

Mo shanshan looked at the surrounding stones, did some calculation for a while, and then she nodded and answered, “We just entered this big tactical array, so there is a chance to go back. If we go further, we can never return. I don’t know what danger lurks ahead.”

Staring at the scratches on the stones in front of him, Ning Que suddenly asked, “Do you believe in destiny?”

Mo Shanshan was slightly startled and didn’t know why he asked such a question.

Ning Que looked at her and explained, “Right now, I believe in destiny more and more. I came into this valley with you, a Calligraphy Addict, so I believe that the god has already arranged everything for me.”

Mo ShanShan understood what he meant.

At this point, Ning Que suddenly sensed something. He suddenly turned back, shot a Talisman Arrow from his bow and aimed at one direction. The arrow pointed at a red figure.

Tao Addict Ye Hongyu appeared again. She stepped on some sharp stones with her bare feet and quickly moved forward. Her bare legs under her red skirt were tight, her left shoulder was still bleeding and her face was pale. It seemed like the burst of breath when the Great Blockage Formation restarted caused her injury. Yet the injury was not serious.

The red figure in front of them whistled. It looked like they were far away from each other, but actually, they were very close. Logically speaking, they should have had a fight in the next minute, but somehow her direction changed. She intended to move straight forward, but was forced to turn right, at last, she started to circle around.

Ye Hongyu stopped and stood on a stone in silence. It seemed that she figured out why this happened. Raising up her head to look at Ning Que and Mo Shanshan, she said, “You are so lucky.”

Because earlier if the Front Gate hadn’t opened when it did, there was a possibility that Ning Que and Mo Shanshan would have become a pool of flesh and blood by Tao Addict’s thousands of Taoist Sword. That’s why she said they were lucky.

The Great Blockage Formation was really amazing. Even though they were standing face to face, and could hear each other, it was not real. Ning Que tried to aim at Ye Hongyu using his Primordial Thirteen Arrows but there was a weird refraction brought about by the stones, even space was deformed, thus he couldn’t shoot at her successfully.

Acting force and reacting force always complemented each other. Primordial Thirteen Arrows couldn’t aim at Tao Addict, in turn, Tao Addict couldn’t find where they were exactly either.

After making sure, Ning Que stopped pulling the bow and nodded to Tao Addict who was standing on a stone and stayed close by. Ning Que nodded toward her like she was just a passerby who he ran into. And then Ning Que left toward the direction of flowing water with Mo Shanshan.

The further they went, the less the water under the lake was. However, the power of the Great Blockage Formation became stronger and stronger. Aura of Heaven and Earth moved unevenly. It seemed like the air started to have sharp edges, making it painful to be breath.

Ning Que rubbed his cheeks which became numb due to the difficulty in breathing. He asked Mo Shanshan, “Soon, Ye Hongyu will figure out how to walk in the direction of the flow of water. Do you think she will be faster than us?”

Mo Shanshan looked pale, even her long eyelashes seemed frail. She replied weakly, “I can find a path in this Great Blockage Formation, but she can’t.”

The only one who has a strong will can stick to his own way, and the one who has a strong will is usually arrogant in some respect. At that time, Mo Shanshan was trying to figure out the law of this tactical array, most of her energy had been consumed, but the words “she can’t” were fearless and full of confidence.

Hearing this, Ning Que was relieved and helped her to walk forward.

They walked carefully on the stones. With the passing of time, Mo Shanshan became weaker and weaker, yet she forced herself to keep a clear mind so as to guide them in the right direction. Yet she was too weak to walk and had to be helped.

Seeing her pale face and her quivering eyelashes, Ning Que shook his head and directly carried her on his back. He said before she opened her mouth, “I am stronger than you. I can hold on for a while longer.”

Without resisting, Mo Shanshan gently gave a response and slowly rested her head on Ning Que’s shoulder. Her long black hair covered Ning Que’s chest. She closed her eyes, as quiet as being asleep, and occasionally pointed out the direction.

The power in the messy stones was strong. Sharp forces penetrated through their bodies, which was extremely painful. Not to mention that Ning Que was now carrying a girl. He told Mo Shanshan that he could hold on for a while, but in fact, he had already run out of strength.

Nevertheless, Ning Que had walked through that tough mountain path in the Back Mountain of the Academy, so he had lots of similar experiences. More importantly, every time he was about to give up, he would be motivated and encouraged by the sight of some clear sword scratches and moss.

A few decades ago, that man broke into the Front Gate of Devil’s Doctrine with his sword. At that time, the Great Blockage Formation had not been destroyed and had ten times more power than it had today, but that man just broke into it. A few decades had passed, as that man’s junior, how could Ning Que not have the same strong will as him? And how could Ning Que give up and shame him?

…

…

Tao Addict Ye Hongyu stood on a stone, watching the two figures disappearing from the messy stones. Her skirt was torn and the wound on her shoulders was horrible. She had been left there all alone and seemed so lonely.

She didn’t recognize the messy stones were the legendary Great Blockage Formation, but she knew that these messy stones contained great terrible power, that even she felt scared.

All of a sudden, she yelled in anger. Her voice spread out and echoed among the stones, reaching higher green cliff wall and then being reflected back. The empty space made her feel more lonely.

Her angry voice suddenly stopped. She ripped a piece of cloth from her skirt and then used it to wrap her wound carefully. Not paying attention to her exposed body, she jumped off that stone and walked along a thin layer of water to the center of the lake.

Hierarch of the West-Hill Divine Palace once praised her for knowing all laws. Yet even though she was addicted to Tao practice, she still couldn’t understand the talisman world. She only knew the Front Gate should be the place where the water disappeared and should be the center of the lake, yet she couldn’t figure out how to pass through these messy stones to get to the place where she wanted to go.

Relying on what she saw and her psyche power, she made her own judgment. However, after taking a few steps, she found herself lost again. Those scattered stones were like peach trees on the Peach Mountain, they all had the magic power to distort space.

If she kept going in this way, there was a possibility that she would never reach the center of the lake, or that she would be stuck in the messy stones, until she lost her mind and died of thirst.

Ye Hongyu glanced backward. She was sure that at this time she still had a chance to leave this place. If she went further, she may get stuck in the stone array and might never get rid of it. Considering this, she lapsed into a long silence.

Then she noticed the moss growing on these stones and saw sword scratches that had been hiding under the moss for decades.

She vaguely thought of who the man was, and then her indifferent eyes became bright, her body quivered as she became thrilled which caused some blood to ooze out from her shoulders.

There was no doubt that for those cultivators who were qualified to know the secret, all regarded that crazy man who broke into the Front Gate alone with his sword, and beat the Devil’s Doctrine, as the most powerful man in the world.

That crazy man became a West-Hill Divine Palace’s enemy forever, and he was punished by Haotian. Since then nobody, including the three gods, wanted to mention his name. However, Tao Addict Yu Hongyu was addicted to improving her power through battles and dreamed of becoming the most powerful person in the world, so she admired great men so much. When she heard that story, she had worshipped him.

Among the present cultivators, she worshipped her brother the most, but among the past cultivators, she worshipped that crazy man the most. Today, she had encountered many frustrations, what’s more, she was in a dilemma because of these messy stones that caused her great humiliation. In this situation, she encountered the sword scratches left by her idol, she was both shocked and speechless.

She finally saw the legendary scratches, seeing that historical scene, was like seeing the world she had worshipped and yearned for. Suddenly, a great power arose from her chest and destroyed the sharp power of the tactical array.

Through expiration and inspiration, Ye Hongyu became calm. She slowly pulled out her sword which was hanging on her waist. Using her hands to hold it and looking at the scratches on the moss, she said in a firm tone, “Since Mr. Ke left sword style here, how can I let him down? ”

When she finished speaking, a strong wind started to blow. She focused her mind on the cleaving stones in front of her. She didn’t understand tactical array and didn’t know how to find a path, therefore, she would deal with it in an easier way–the cleave stones which stopped her would open a path. She was not sure whether this was right or wrong but facing the sword style of the senior, she knew she had to do it.

…

…

Daming Lake dried up, leaving stones scattered everywhere. Compared with the green valley, the lake looked so desolate which made people feel sad.

Tang stood at the lake bank, looking down at the messy stones. After a moment of silence, he said, “Everything has changed since that man came here, so did the Stone Array Tactics.”

Tang Xiaotang stood beside her brother and also looked down at the messy stones out of curiosity. Vaguely hearing the sound of metal cleaving stones, she stuck out her tongue and said, “That bitch is so crazy.”

Tang replied, “People all call us crazy devils. If they want to enter our divine place to see what a devil looks like, how can they not be crazy? As the saying goes, if you are not crazy you will never become a devil. That man was also crazy at that time.”

This was the first time Tang Xiaotang had come to the divine place. She asked nervously, “Brother, should we really let them in?”

“Our Enlightenment Doctrine is always called ‘a dead place’. So even if they enter there, they may not come out alive. But in order to get the Tomes of Arcane, it seems that they will enter regardless of death.”

Thinking that Ning Que had now entered the Front Gate, Tang frowned his dashing eyebrows. There was something he couldn’t understand, he murmured to himself, “Are you just going to stand by? Do you have the confidence to save him in the divine place? Were you… really on the other side fourteen years ago?”