Nightfall

Gu Xi had waited for a long time as he cast numerous talismans with his hands in the sleeves behind his back. Astonishingly, the order of these talismans seemed to have been carefully calculated. Their forces were diverse, but they did not cause absolute chaos or even self-annihilation. They layered upon each other until the final eruption and tore the Qi of Heaven and Earth in the lonely winter garden into a horrible turbulent ocean.

The turbulent flow of the Qi of Heaven and Earth formed by countless Fu characters resembled a violent sea and covered the entire courtyard. It could cut off the connection between a cultivator’s Psyche Power and the Fu paper or the Natal Item. This kind of talisman use was rather ingenious. From this, one could guess that Gu Xi had spent a long time on Talisman Taoism and possessed a powerful strength and state.

Fortunately, the turbulent primordial Qi flow only rotated rapidly but had no lethality. So it did not harm Ning Que’s body, rather it had successfully prevented him from casting the Fu characters. From the very beginning, Gu Xi had guessed that Ning Que wanted to use that embroidered purse rather than the podao.

The Fu characters in the purse could only be cast by Psyche Power. It seemed that Ning Que had to surrender. However, he did not change his expression and instead turned his wrist. His podao, which had seemed to be stuck in a quagmire, started to vibrate as the subtle talisman lines on it began to glow.

His master’s Divine Talisman was inside the purse, so he could not connect to it with his psyche. However, he had the podao held tightly in his hands and naturally was able to connect to the podao with his psyche. Soon the talisman lines elaborately made by the Academy’s Senior Brothers began to show their true power. The blade cut through the turbulent flow and towards Gu Xi’s face!

There was no expression on Ning Que’s face as he waved the podao.

Gu Xi blankly looked at the podao coming towards his face. He seemed to completely disregard the cold aura on the blade. His right hand in his sleeve suddenly appeared between them from behind his back. A single finger gently fell on the podao’s surface, like a falling snowflake in the courtyard.

The podao had just used its talisman power to cut through the turbulent mud-like flow. It was still moving slowly, and that finger could easily fall on its surface. But what could a single finger do to the cold and terrifying podao?

The finger stroked the surface of the podao. As the fingertip moved, the complicated talisman lines on the surface suddenly lost their shine and those powerful talisman forces disappeared without a trace. It turned out that a tiny Fu paper was on the fingertip and the Fu paper was constantly releasing strong talisman power as the finger moved!

The finger finally arrived at the hilt and the talisman lines on the slender podao had all lost their original bright luster. The podao turned into an ordinary piece of iron and could no longer move forward.

This battle was very bizarre. Ning Que could not fully display his state and strength at all, for his tricks, including the purse in his left hand and the podao in his right hand, had all been seen through by the other in advance. It seemed that this opponent knew all his fighting tactics and prepared well in advance. So he could do nothing but silently wait for death.

Gu Xi squinted and quietly looked at Ning Que’s face close to him, saying, “You’re done.”

Ning Que felt that the podao was as heavy as a mountain and did not speak.

Gu Xi looked at him and spoke calmly. “You killed three of my subordinates at the crossing of the Northern Mountain Road that year. So I know you have three knives and I’ve prepared many talismans and tactics for them. It doesn’t matter even if you have more knives. Besides, I’m very aware that you’re the successor of Master Yan Se. Although I don’t know how many Divine Talismans the master has given you, I still prepared for them and even sent someone to check the Taoist temples, Taoist monasteries, and pavilions that you and Master Yan Se had visited during your training. So I could evaluate your state of Talisman Taoism. Believe me, although you didn’t use your poor little fire Talisman, I’ve still prepared for it carefully.”

Ning Que looked at him silently.

“You have strong Psyche Power, but you only have ten acupoints opened in your Ocean of Qi. Your cultivation state is at the lower level of Seethrough and you have a bad control over the Qi of Heaven and Earth. You came from the frontier fortress of the City of Wei and have a fierce and accurate cutting style. You’re strong and cruel, good at close-quarters battles. As the successor of a Divine Talisman Master, you still have no strength in your Talisman Taoism, for you have only spent a short time on Tao enlightenment.”

“So I let you get close and use a podao as a cover for your talisman. But I still had the advantage from the beginning.”

Gu Xi’s face was full of genuine regret. He said, “A battle between two people is like a war between two countries. It needs the most complete and accurate intelligence. The more one prepares, the more easily one tends to win. You didn’t even know that I’m a Talisman Master, how could you kill me? But I know everything about you. In front of me, you can’t display your strength at all. How can you not be killed by me?”

Ning Que looked at his eyes and suddenly asked, “How do you know so much about me?”

“Because I’m a military adviser. I specialize in collecting and analyzing intelligence. As long as I start investigating someone, I can reveal every one of his secrets.”

Gu Xi said in the end, “In fact, what you made me most unsure of is that iron box that few people have ever seen. But I don’t know why you didn’t bring it with you today. Or did you think that a military advisor could only play with intrigues and was not worthy of all your secrets? As a military advisor, I welcome such a careless enemy.”

…

…

A corner of the Winter Courtyard in the General’s Mansion.

Xia Hou looked at the strong tea that was as dark as blood and said slowly after a short silence, “Return to Chang’an immediately after the fifteenth. Don’t hesitate, have your mother return home, and clean up the old yard. Take out the pickled vegetables from the cellar and dry them in the sun. They will be more delicious in the coming winter when cooked with the plain boiled pork. But you can’t leave Chang’an and should stay in the mansion. Don’t contact the ministers or even go to the Prince’s Mansion.”

The two young generals kneeling before the table were Xia Hou’s two sons. One was Xiahou Jin and the other was Xiahou Duan. Brought up under a strict education, they were as honest as their own names and very humble.

The two men were rather usually obedient in front of their father. However, today they sensed his disheartened feeling from their father’s words. They guessed that their father was ready to resign and retire and could not help feeling surprised. They remembered the mysterious horse carriage that had come to the Winter Courtyard today and could not help asking, “Father, who were those people today? How dare they…”

Xia Hou stared at the strong tea on the table as he said expressionlessly, “Don’t guess or meddle in the matter. Your return to Chang’an is my assurance to the Headmaster of the Academy and His Majesty. If you don’t want our home destroyed, behave yourselves!”

Suddenly, he furrowed his silkworm-like dark brows.

On the table, there were rather fine ripples appearing on the glass of thick black tea.

Xia Hou turned his head and looked out of the window, knowing that Gu Xi should have started the hunt at this time.

He did not know how Gu Xi had arranged the kill, just as he did not know the details of the Horse Gang attacking the food caravan on the grassland. He only knew that Gu Xi was loyal to him and could be assured that this matter would not involve him after Ning Que’s death, though he knew Gu Xi had some plans that even he did not know about. But would Mr. First really misjudge the situation and not interfere?

…

…

Another corner of the Winter Courtyard in the General’s Mansion.

Eldest Brother glanced at the north outside the window and lowered his head, continuing to read.

Shanshan sat quietly as she practiced her calligraphy on the other side of the table.

As Gu Xi had predicted, Eldest Brother assumed that Ning Que was doing the killing at this time, but did not expect that Ning Que was being killed. The reason why Eldest Brother was so sure was not that he had misjudged it as Xia Hou thought, but that he had the utmost faith in Ning Que. He had earlier mentioned this to Shanshan.

He had traveled around with his teacher and had passed the City of Wei. He had made a home visit to his Youngest Brother, so he knew about Ning Que’s experiences as he grew up. He believed that Ning Que was definitely the best person in the back of the mountain in terms of sensitivity to danger and the mastery of timing, although Ning Que’s strength was really a little terrible. Ning Que would never start a fight without absolute certainty. Once he had started, Ning Que would certainly win.

…

…

Numerous powerful Fu characters turned the courtyard into a furious ocean. The Qi of Heaven and Earth was torn into a turbulent flow. Ning Que’s Psyche Power could not penetrate through it, let alone use the Qi of Heaven and Earth against Gu Xi.

Ning Que could not activate the Divine Talisman in the purse at all. Because of the Fu paper on Gu Xi’s fingertip, the talisman lines on the podao became normal patterns. His body was surrounded by the dangerous turbulent flow of primordial Qi. If a common person gently touched it, this man would die spurting blood. It seemed that at this time Ning Que had become a moth caught in a net and could no longer live.

However, the military advisor, Gu Xi, did not know that Ning Que had sufficient Qi of Heaven and Earth, thanks to the Great Spirit, in his body, although Ning Que could not control the Qi of Heaven and Earth in the courtyard.

Amidst the cold wind and the falling snow, Ning Que took a deep breath and slightly changed the psyche in his sense of perception. The Snow Mountain in his waist suddenly warmed up and the Great Spirit accumulated in his abdomen instantly gushed out and poured into every part of his body.

The talisman power of the podao had been exhausted. Therefore, he did not choose to pass the Great Spirit to the blade, but decisively released the hilt and clenched his five fingers into a fist.

Ning Que punched out.

Gu Xi squinted and looked calm as well as confident. He did not know which cultivator in the world dared to use a fragile body to forcibly break through the dangerous flow of Qi of Heaven and Earth between them.

Suddenly a gust of wind appeared on Ning Que’s fist. Countless airflows spewed violently from his fingers and the pores on the back of his hand. They easily tore the turbulent flow of primordial Qi into pieces!

There were two worlds, one inside and one outside his body. But there was no difference between them, for they had the same aura. Therefore, when the Great Spirit rushed out of his fist, the turbulent flow disappeared as a whirlpool was covered by flood!

The squinting eyes of Gu Xi suddenly widened. He looked shocked as well as expectant.

No matter how strong that fist was, it was not strong enough to tear through all the turbulent flows in that space. There were still some dangerous turbulent flows. He looked forward to seeing the next moment when the fist would be split into pieces.

However, he was left disappointed.

Ning Que’s fist was not a fist, at least not a common fist.

Because his fist was very hard.

It was so hard that there were only some shallow skin cuts left on it when encountering the primordial Qi flow that could cut off a cultivator’s whole body.

Gu Xi stared at the fist that got closer and closer to him and found that he could not do anything at all. Because the fist was moving faster than he could react.

There was only enough time for terror to fill his eyes.

At least he had time to understand something.

There was a kind of cultivator in the world who could fight without the Qi of Heaven and Earth.

There was a kind of cultivator in this world who had a physical body powerful enough to ignore the turbulent flows of primordial Qi.

Ning Que’s fist fell onto Gu Xi’s face.

Gu Xi’s head suddenly burst apart.

A headless body fell into the thin snow.

…

…

The talisman power in the courtyard gradually faded away and those fine turbulent flows disappeared without a trace.

A piece of Fu paper fell on the body of Gu Xi. Ning Que silently watched the flame that was gradually burning up.

“Intelligence is important in the battle. But you shouldn’t be overly reliant on these little bits of information, as everyone living in this world has his own secret. The secret is often hidden in the deepest part of his heart and there may be no one who knows it.”

“My biggest secret is not that iron box, but something else.”