Nightfall

The bland lyrics were about the common affairs of village men and women, and there was no tragic element to it. But somehow, the beautiful imagery made one feel rather disconsolate at the end.

Ning Que always thought that sentimentality was a luxury to have as an emotion, especially now that he was in the West-Hill Divine Palace and could be discovered any time. As such, he did not allow himself to be immersed in this emotion for too long. He rubbed his eyes which were stung by the cliff array, then stood up from the threshold and walked to the outside of the town.

Sangsang sat in the carriage quietly, listening to the old man’s song without feeling any emotions. However, her subconscious was stirred up and was like a sea that was about to pounce on earth!

Every drop of water in the tide represented extreme disgust. She hated the young man outside the carriage, even countless times more than she hated He Mingchi!

She frowned and pursed her lips. Her willow eyes were bright like sharp fine knives. This was the first time she really felt emotional ups and downs since she came to the mortal world, so she became more and more disgusted.

Hatred would bring anger. Her anger was the wrath of Heaven. When she was angry, the world would change, the river would flood, and all the people would be displaced. No one could resist it.

For some reason, she did not want to kill this young man. To be more precise, she did not want to kill this young man at this time. So she had been repressing her resentment and anger with unimaginable willpower these days and nights when she looked at the moon.

Only the heart of Heaven could control the anger of Heaven.

She hated him. She hated him, who hated her. Which was why she did not want to see him. She knew that when they met, hatred would arise, and at that time, she would no longer be able to suppress her desire to destroy him.

However, not even she herself had predicted that she would leave the Divine Hall of Light, to arrive at this small town and meet him. She had not predicted that she would hear his voice and see him in front of this sweet potato shop through the curtains.

She looked at his face and listened to his voice. She could no longer suppress the hatred and ire she felt for him. A terrifying aura burst forth from her full figure towards the skies.

Suddenly, countless black clouds floated from miles away, covering the extremely clear skies in late summer of the entire West-Hill Divine Kingdom. Daylight suddenly dimmed.

The cold wind was blowing in the mountains and fields; signboards shook, and the clutter on the street rolled around. Shouts of closing windows rang out from the houses.

The scene at the West-Hill Divine Palace was even more shocking. Several bolts of lightning grew like golden threads in the black clouds and then fell, breaking into numerous dull thunders.

There was a boom, a muffled thunder split from the depths of the dark clouds. More than 20 miles away on the Peach Mountain, a faint fiery glow could be seen and the crackling sounds of peach blossoms burning could be heard.

It was fortunate that rain started and extinguished the burning peach blossoms. On the three cliff platforms of the West-Hill Divine Palace, countless priests and deacons knelt in the rainwater and looked at the firmament, terrified. They prayed incessantly.

She looked at Ning Que through the curtains. Her eyes were emotionless and even cold; deep within them was the unimaginable magnetic powers of stars being destroyed and the world being reborn.

She had never truly looked at Ning Que since he arrived at the little town. She only decided to take a look at him when the intent to destroy was about to reach the little town.

So she took a look at him.

At his red and swollen eyes which were like peach blossoms. His eyes that looked as if he had just cried.

The cold wind which was particularly eerie in summer gradually stopped, the thunderstorm gradually weakened as well, before disappearing without a trace. The dark clouds hanging over the West-Hill Divine Kingdom dispersed to the corners of the world.

Ning Que had ran back to the Sweet Potato Shop when it started raining. The thunderstorms in summer were always sudden and he did not grow suspicious.

He didn’t sense that there was an aura in the horse carriage that rushed straight up into the sky. No one had sensed such a powerful aura since the Headmaster left the mortal world.

“Weak and useless humans.”

Sangsang looked at his red-rimmed eyes and said emotionlessly through a cloth curtain. Then, she continued eating her sweet potato, not sparing him another glance, as if they did not know each other.

Ning Que looked at the horse carriage pulling away in the last vestiges of rain and wondered why he felt so upset. He looked at the back of the carriage that had been wet by the rain and could vaguely see the back of a tall and fat woman. He frowned and said in annoyance, “Why is the girl in the horse carriage as fat as a pig?”

The old man said, “Talking behind other’s backs. I wonder what your teacher taught you.”

Ning Que did not answer him until the horse carriage left his sights. He said, “She didn’t even react to that. It seems like she really didn’t hear it and must be an ordinary person.”

The old man put down his wine cup and lamented, “So that was what you intended to do. When did those from the Academy become so sly and cunning?”

Ning Que entered the shop and retrieved the iron cutlass and arrows he left here before entering the Divine Hall. He smiled at the old man and said, “I’m not as capable as Teacher or Uncle, so of course I have to be more careful.”

The old man said, “That is true. Back then, when the Headmaster went to the Peach Mountain, my father and I grilled sweet potatoes here for him. He returned before the potatoes were done, how can you compare?”

The West-Hill Divine Kingdom was a land that was overseen by Haotian. Its four seasons were clear, on the warm side and had no natural disasters. This was especially true in the Peach Mountain where the Divine Hall was located. Even without the strong arrays in the Divine Halls, lightning had not struck in thousands of years. This was why today’s thunderstorms shocked many. Other than the Hierarch who had vaguely guessed the truth, the other priests and deacons all knelt on the moist cliff platform, praying to the heavens incessantly, asking for Haotian to forgive their sins.

The three cliff platforms were filled with kneeling people, yet no one could see the ordinary horse carriage driving slowly up the Peach Mountain. And neither did anyone see Sangsang and the two girls in white walking into the Divine Hall of Light.

She stood in front of the cliff behind the Divine Hall, looking at the smallest raindrops that had already become the fog at her feet expressionlessly. She thought of him silently, whom he had seen in the small town earlier.

The door to Haotian’s kingdom had been destroyed and she could not return for the time being. She could only stay in the mortal world. It was natural for her to hate humankind and especially him.

However, only she knew that there should be no emotional connection between Haotian and human beings. Neither love nor hate should exist. Once she began to hate, it meant that she began to have human emotions, just as she looked at the couple at the table filled with dishes in the capital of the Kingdom of Song.

She hated this emotion of aversion.

She could predict everything in the world but not her own future. Just like today, she did not know that she would meet him in the small town. But if she had not wanted to meet him, would they meet?

In a sense, Ning Que’s eyes being injured by the tactical array on the cliff had saved his life in front of the small town’s sweet potato shop, but he didn’t know it. After returning from the small town to the Revelation Institute, he continued to search for information and tried to find a way to crack the cliff array.

He was now sure that the stone window looming between the precipice clouds was the legendary You Prison. It was where the West-Hill Divine Palace held criminals and traitors. For countless years, no one had escaped from it other than Sangsang’s teacher Wei Guangming.

According to the information he found in a book, numerous arrays had been set up on the You Prison’s precipice by the powerhouses of the Divine Hall’s previous generation. One of which was the ‘Eye Touch’ he had experienced.

His concern for the precipice had nothing to do with the You Prison. There was no one in it worth him risking his life to rescue. He wanted to go to the place above the precipice.

He wanted to go to the Divine Hall of Justice at the peak of the Peach Mountain. Of course, that was his last backup plan. He was first going to the West-Hill Divine Palace’s stables, which was on the third cliff platform.

One needed to go through three cliff platforms if one wanted to go to the Peach Mountain. Ning Que did not think that his current cultivation state was enough for him to barge straight into the West-Hill Divine Palace. After all, he was neither his Youngest Uncle nor his teacher. If he really did as they did, he would probably die within 10 minutes.

That was why he could not take the usual path, and could only walk through the blind alley.

At night, Ning Que entered the patch of peach blossoms. Even in the dark night, the hundreds and thousands of peach blossoms were still blooming with white and were very beautiful.

The peach tree that had been struck by lightning a few days ago had been moved by the deacons of the Divine Hall. Everything had returned to normal. When Ning Que walked between the trees, he felt rather odd.

The peach blossoms that covered the mountain also formed a terrifying tactical array. It was even stronger than the array on the precipice. Even a true powerhouse who had broken through the Five States would find passing through this patch of peach blossoms extremely difficult. That was why the Divine Hall did not need to set up any other forces here to prevent entry. But to him, it was easy to walk through the patch because she was the one who had planted these peach blossoms. Every time he thought of that, he would feel that fate was really hard to explain.

Ning Que did not even glance at the precipice when he arrived at the edge of the cliff. He jumped towards the opposite side without hesitating.

The two cliffs were separated by dozens of feet, and even a strong cultivator would think that it was a natural moat. But to powerhouses in the Devil’s Doctrine and cultivators in the peak state of Martial Arts, it was just a shallow ditch.

Ning Que’s Great Spirit had already reached a high level. Other than Third Sister, Yu Lian and Tang, or the Abbey Dean before he was injured, there was no one who had a body stronger than his and was stronger than him.

He did not even have to break into a run, nor did he put in any power. He bent his knees slightly, and the pool of Great Spirit in his abdomen was sent to all parts of his body. Then, he jumped toward the opposite precipice.

The night wind howled and beat his body as if it were beating a stone. He arrived at the opposite precipice at the blink of an eye. His hands suddenly softened and stuck to the precipice like cotton.

There was an abyss under his feet which was swirling with clouds. It seemed to grow dark and frightening.

The Isolated Array on the precipice could not only stop peeking eyes, but could also sense the most subtle fluctuations in a cultivator’s Psyche Power. It could even sense the Qi of Heaven and Earth hidden within the body of the Devil’s Doctrine with more accuracy.

Ning Que sent most of the Great Spirit back to the pool in his abdomen shortly before landing on the precipice. At the same time, he used part of the Great Spirit to hide his Snow Mountain and Ocean of Qi.

In order to avoid touching the array on the precipice, he did not dare to use any talismans. It meant that he was climbing the precipice entirely with the strength of his own body.

He was now an ordinary person.

However, even so, it was still not enough. Although he had closed his eyes, the cliff still seemed to think that he was looking. There was a sharp pain in his eyes and he immediately loosened his hands which were holding onto the cliff stones.