Nightfall

Now that the situation had changed with the Tao Addict being captured, it was only natural for Ning Que to escape with Mo Shanshan as far as possible. But he did not. Instead, he prepared to use his Primordial Thirteen Arrows to resolve the problem, because he knew there was no way for them to escape.

When he pinched the tail of the Talisman Arrow, the old monk’s palm had already released a powerful gush of aura.

As he pulled his metal arrow to the maximum, Ye Hongyu was already weakened and her head lowered.

He saw the look of despair in Ye Hongyu’s eyes. He had also noticed the cold and heartless look from Master Lotus.

Mo Shanshan was taken aback by him as she suddenly woke up from her dreamland. She threw her black flowing hair behind her as she drew in the air with her right hand. She knew that all three of them were in trouble and thus, she drew the most powerful talisman, Half Divine Talisman.

Facing the powerful double attack, the old monk, who was sitting within the Bone Mountain, showed no expression on his face. He had only given a plain look to his two attackers, as he stared into their eyes.

With just a simple stare, Ning Que could feel an intense pain in his head. It was as if Second Brother’s wooden club had repeatedly knocked him on the head in a speed of light. In the next moment, his vision went black as he loosened his grip.

Mo Shanshan could only feel her chest and abdomen being slitted apart by a sharp knife. The previously Stone Array Tactics accumulated within the big tactical array outside the Front Gate poured out. Even so, it wasn’t a feeling of relief, but a feeling of unlimited pain. The finger, which was used to draw the talisman, froze.

The Talisman Arrow left the bow and flew past like a dark shadow. At this moment, Ning Que’s sense of perception was in confusion and he had lost complete control of the arrow. The metal arrow swooshed past, flew slanted and into the corner of the Devil’s Palace. It directly burst the large boulder apart and the broken rocks had mounted together in a corner!

The Divine Talisman was circulating between Mo Shanshan’s sleek fingers as it gradually became dimmer and weaker. It was similar to a lamp light that was getting dimmer due to the lack of air circulation and was silently extinguished after the wind blew.

At the same time, fresh blood was spurted out from their mouths as they fell weakly onto the ground and unable to get on their feet again.

Master Lotus stared at the two people who had spurted blood and fell onto the floor without any expression. His pupils were dark, cold and narrow like rice grains, which made him look like a devil. His dried chest seemed to be emptier than before.

Behind the simple plain stare was, in fact, a horrendous high-level state power. The old monk was jailed for decades and the Psyche Power which he had accumulated for the past decades would be drained in an instance through that simple stare.

Without any expression, Master Lotus stared at Ye Hongyu, who was kneeling in front of him now. He gently patted her head, which was now surfaced with veins, like a tender-hearted lover and all of a sudden, he revealed a smile on his face. It was the same benevolent smile as before.

With such benevolent and tender-loving smile, he lowered his head and placed it beside the Tao Addict’s slightly cold face. He looked as though he was tenderly kissing and whispering to her softly. He then lightly touched his lips on her left shoulder, where he sucked gently.

Like a leech, the wrinkled lips sucked greedily on the soft bare skin of the young lady. His dried skinny cheeks vibrated in a rhythmic manner as fresh blood gradually flowed through his lips and quenched his thirsty dried throat. The blood started to moisturize his internal organs which had not been well-utilized for decades.

After a moment, the old monk raised his head and looked at the young lady between his palms. His eyes filled with warmth as he gazed at her pitifully. A light and exquisite Buddhism aura revealed on his face. Even the drop of blood left on his dehydrated lips made him appear merciful as well.

Her sense of perception was completely under his control. With her Psyche Power being totally drained by him, her body became extremely weak till she couldn’t even lift a finger. The powerful Tao Addict was now as helpless as a newborn baby as she stared at the old monk without any expression and reaction.

She knew that she probably wouldn’t be able to live past today. The arrogant lady would naturally not beg for her life. Even when she felt a sharp pain on her shoulder and was disgusted by his previous acts, she remained calm, for she did not want to give the Divine Lord Lotus any sense of excitement. This was the only resistant that the arrogant lady could put up before her death.

“Your blood is filled with the power of light and is thickened with extremely pure Taoism aura. It was rare for me to taste such exquisite power-filled blood, even decades ago.”

Master Lotus gently looked at her pretty face, as he said regretfully, “It’s only a pity that you’re no longer a virgin. The dark shadow in your Taoist Heart added a sense of annoyance in your blood. Else it will be comparable with the cheerful beauty that year.”

Upon listening to his words, her hands that were strengthlessly placed on the broken bones to support herself began to tremble, but she stubbornly remained quiet and cold. All of a sudden, her pupils narrowed as she saw a very strange scene in front of her.

Master Lotus’ skinny and ghastly face had indistinctly inflated, making it looked plumper than before. His wrinkled and pale lips appeared to be redder, as though he was alive once again.

This reminded Ye Hongyu of a legend regarding a skill from the Devil’s Doctrine, which made her shiver with fear.

Master Lotus no longer looked at her. Instead, he raised his head to look at the moisture between the cracks of the rock. Perhaps it was because life was returning to him, or perhaps it was due to the delicious young lady’s blood, he could not help but began to recall all the beautiful and prideful memories he had. He mumbled, “Remember that year when the new Emperor of South Jin Kingdom took over, there were many beauties dancing in the hall…”

His old hoarse voice came to a pause, as he gazed at the two people on the ground, whose life and death were unknown.

…

…

Ning Que was neither dead nor concussed. He could only feel soreness and pain all over his body, as though his bones were broken. He sensed that he couldn’t control his body movements and understood that his sense of perception must have been seriously damaged by the old monk’s stare.

He used his elbow to support his body as he tried to crawl up. He hoped to grab his bow and arrow again. He hoped to draw out the big black umbrella behind his back. He hoped to pull out his three knives. Yet there was nothing he could do as he couldn’t move. All he could do was to stare hopelessly at the old monk.

With only a simple stare from the old monk, both Calligraphy Addict and he were defeated, which was indeed horrifying. Feeling painful and confused, Ning Que recalled the time when he questioned his master about battles with cultivators in the Knowing Destiny States. That time, Master Yan Se used Second Brother from the Academy as an example and said that Second Brother could have killed him with only a stare…

This old monk, who was jailed in the Bone Mountain for decades and whose body was so weak to a state where he was almost dying, could simply reach the level of Second Brother with only a stare. It was no doubt that this man was powerful and filled with energy decades ago. Which horrifying state had this man cultivated until when his body was still healthy? Could it be that he had already cultivated past the five states?

At this moment, the old monk stared in his direction.

He noticed the strange changes on the old monk’s face and became speechless. He couldn’t understand what had happened.

Due to the large amount of power exerted to destroy the Great Blockage Formation, Mo Shanshan was mentally weakened. Moreover, her Half Divine Talisman was previously destroyed by the stare of the old man, which injured her badly.

Now that she noticed the strange changes of Master Lotus, her body started to tremble vigorously. Her eyes were filled with fear and her face turned as white as sheet. She said in a trembling voice, “Tao Tie…are…are you…Tao Tie?”

In the teaching book of West-Hill Divine Palace, it was stated that there was a strange demon in the past named Tao Tie. It did not have a body but only a head, and it was famous for being greedy.

The teaching book of West-Hill Divine Palace had also stated another thing about Tao Tie. It was a very evil skill from the Devil’s Doctrine. Strong cultivators that cultivated such skill would consume cultivators’ blood and flesh to replenish and strengthen its own aura. It made one a greedy murderer, and hence it was the darkest and the evilest skill on earth. Most of the cultivators from the Devil’s Doctrine were ashamed to be in the same religion with such people.

This Tao Tie skill, which was despised by cultivators from the Devil’s Doctrine, was no doubt the most vicious skill of all.

Ning Que had never heard of such devil skill. However, when he saw how Lotus gently sucked the blood out of Ye Hongyu’s wound, he was already traumatized by the scene. After which, he could vividly observe the fast recovery speed of Master Lotus with his bare eyes. Thus, it was not difficult to guess the relation between the two.

Ever since he was born on this earth, he had witnessed many cruel things. He had even seen many horrifying and bloody scenes with his own eyes and thus, he understood that life and death were all fated. He could be described as being fearless. However, when he imagined how he would be slowly munched and eaten by this skinny and ghastly old monk later, the shadow cast on his childhood memories had slowly expanded. This made his face paler and his eyes were filled with fear.

Perhaps it was to suppress the fear in his heart, Ning Que said to Mo Shanshan, who was beside him, “Don’t be afraid. He has been stuck in this place for decades. I doubt if he was as powerful as before. Moreover, the stare previously should have exhausted the Psyche Power which he had accumulated for years. If he could still battle, he would have killed you and me previously. Look, he couldn’t even remove the metal chain that had penetrated his abdomen.”

The old monk took a glance at him and said gently, “Nice observation.”

Since the old monk was unable to remove the metal chain now, as well as he would require some time before he could digest Tao Addict’s body and blood and transformed them into his strength, it would mean that Ning Que and Mo Shanshan were now rushing against time. They were now competing against the old monk to see who recover faster.

Ning Que sat with folded legs, closed her eyes and put his hands together. Mo Shanshan pulled her left leg back and sat down with difficulties. Both of them began to meditate at the same time. After a while, both of them opened their eyes at the same time in shock and despair.

Master Lotus stared in their direction and both of them could sense a strong wave of attack. This sudden wave of attack caused an impact on their internal organs, and their sense of perception were badly injured. It was impossible for them to mediate peacefully as usual.

The two of them looked at each other, and with the tacit agreement, they decided to give up as they prepared to attempt the Talisman Taoism method. After all, drawing talisman would require lesser Psyche Power, yet in the next moment, they discovered that this method would not work as well!

The Qi of Heaven and Earth in this dark room was very thin. Even if Talisman Taoism required very little Psyche Power, it still needed to make use of the Qi of Heaven and Earth. Without any Qi of Heaven and Earth, the talisman would be useless!

The room was filled with Master Lotus’ warm and pitiful voice.

“White bones as a fence, and dried bodies as the barriers. This was just what you’ve observed. In fact, this confinement space uses the green stone as fence and sword mark as the barriers. It was personally set up by Ke Haoran. Even I am unable to set such a confinement space up, nor can I destroy it. How can kids like both of you destroy it?”

A confinement space personally set up by Youngest Uncle? Ning Que was taken aback as he looked around, only to realize that there were thousands of deep sword marks hidden on the mottled rock wall. Those sword marks seemed to be overlapping without any relation with one another, yet together, they formed a dark barrier, which prevented any aura outside the Devil’s Palace from seeping in.

There were many other matters that were still unclear, yet Ning Que could finally confirm some things. He stared at the old monk inside the Bone Mountain and said, “I was right that you didn’t isolate yourself to atone your sins. In fact, you were locked up by Youngest Uncle to reflect on yourself!”

The old monk kept quiet for a long time, before a pleased look appeared in his face as he said arrogantly, “If you know me, you will blame me, but this is only in spring and autumn. Whether it’s you, or others, or even Ke Haoran, have no rights to blame me.”

Ning Que’s voice trembled and asked, “Who are you exactly?”

“A Buddha, a Taoist, a Devil, an immortal, a tiger or maybe a rascal? I had played many different roles in this life, to the extent that I have forgotten who I am. Am I the Great Divine Priest from the Divine Hall, the protector of the Front Gate for Buddhism Sect, or the leading cultivator in the Devil’s Doctrine? Then again, what has my identity got to do with the true you and me?”

The compassionate look on the old monk’s face gradually dispersed with the blowing wind as he gently waved his torn and tattered long sleeves of his robe. His movement was appealing and charming, as he calmly said, “I am Liansheng 32. Everyone of us is different, yet I have no idea why people like to standardize us as the same? If I want to become a Buddha, I can become a Buddha. If I want to become a devil, I can become a devil.”

After the old monk finished his sentence, he revealed a pitiful look as he lifted Ye Hongyu’s slender arm, lowered his head and took a bite. He then shook his head left and right, as he torn a piece of flesh with difficulties and put it in his mouth. He began to focus on chewing the piece of meat in a serious manner.