Nightfall

Autumn leaves fell all over the mountain. People on the front yard trembled with fear. Broken limbs were scattered in front of Peach Mountain and blood gushed from people’s gashes. Dozens of Divine Talismans loomed around the altar. The strongest cultivators looked pale and were seriously wounded. They were coughing blood while fleeing.

The Confinement of Swords around Tang Xiaotang was sliced by the sharp talismans in the air, and became even more terrifying thinner slices of iron blades.

The blood-stained Hierarch stood up from his smashed sedan. Disregarding his wounds, he shouted loudly and pushed forward his left pam. Several bouts of chilling Qi were aimed at Ning Que from afar.

The Academy always emphasized the natural course of things. They reasoned that one could obtain strong mind power as long as one clung to the natural course. The Hierarch had applied Heaven’s Rules. In a world reigned by Haotian, Heaven’s Rules were also Haotian’s Rules and thus the most powerful natural courses. Therefore, Ning Que’s bouts of Qi were stagnant when he was wielding his blade.

He was after all, the Hierarch of Divine Halls of West-Hill. Though seriously wounded, he was still able to apply powerful skills.

Ning Que was already invincible in the human world. How could he be trapped by the Hierarch’s Heaven’s Rules? He stormed his psyche power at the bouts of Qi and repelled them. But it required a few seconds.

The Hierarch commanded, “Activate the Array!”

Within these few seconds, over a thousand divine priests, though badly wounded, managed to sit down on the ground with their legs crossed and started praying to Haotian.

Upon the Hierarch’s command, a bout of clear light arose from the mountain’s circumference, soared into the sky and bounced back downward. The array of Divine Halls was immediately activated and reduced in size until it became a circle of light at a circumference of several hundred feet.

Ning Que and the white stone altar were shrouded in this circle of clear light.

With the guidance of divine priests, tens of thousands of followers in the front yard began to pray. Many of them had been seriously wounded, so their prayer sounded more like weeping grief.

The prayer of tens of thousands of followers resounded in the Peach Mountain and also reached to the sky. The Array of Clear Light had reduced its size in a hundredfold and thus inversely increased its power in a hundredfold and fell on Ning Que.

Confronting this array of the assembled psyche power of tens of thousands of people, Ning Que stood and endured so much pressure that it felt like he was fighting against the entire world.

If it were another powerful cultivator, he would have collapsed under such tremendous mental pressure. But Ning Que was different. He had fought against the entire world when he carried Sangsang on his back and escaped to thousands of miles away. He was experienced enough. Fully confident in himself, he slightly applied his psyche power, using Haoran Qi to transform the Haotian’s Divine Power within his body completely into his psyche power, and propelled dozens of Divine Talismans against the Array of Clear Light.

When dozens of Yi Divine Talismans finally clashed with the Array of Clear Light, several dozens of white cracks were suddenly formed in the sky above the front yard of Peach Mountain. The violent grating sounds left people sour at their teeth.

Though the dozens of Yi Talismans could not cut through the Array of Clear Light in a short period of time, the Array was also not able to penetrate the terrifying power of the Talismans and crush onto Ning Que.

A temporary moment of peace and balance was achieved between the Array of Clear Light and the Divine Talismans. The cracks on the Array clearly unveiled the tracks of those Divine Talismans.

Upon seeing dozens of Divine Talismans around the altar and above in the sky, people in the front yard of Peach Mountain felt some biting coldness from inside out. They could not find any flaws. By then, only the space in front of the altar was free of floating Divine Talismans. Yet Ning Que had already pulled his iron bow and aimed his iron arrow towards there.

The Divine Halls of West-Hill were situated in north and facing south. The only way up was via the front yard, located on the north of Peach Mountain. Ning Que stood in front of the altar and aimed his iron arrow at north. What is he going to do with his arrow pointing there?

It took a long time to describe this battle in details. But it was actually a mere instant from Haotian’s Divine Power descended from the Divine Hall of Light and charged into Ning Que’s body, to his shot at the Hierarch, his blade against the strongest opponents in the world, and his Divine Talismans’ clashing with the Array of Clear Light. Many were killed even before they could figure out what was going on.

Tens of thousands of followers and over a thousand of divine priests and deacons went on praying. While their prayer resounded in the front yard of Peach Mountain, it had become deadly quiet around the altar. Nothing was heard except for the grating sounds of the Yi Talismans cutting the Array of Clear Light.

The strongest cultivators had fled. They stared at Ning Que and his iron bow, stunned and speechless. No one wanted to try to stop him from further actions. They could only wait.

Without a doubt, talismans were the strongest weapons in the world of cultivation. For a powerful Talisman Master of high state, it did not really matter whether he was confronted with one opponent or ten.

Yet talismans were not flawless. No matter how powerful a Divine Talisman was, it could not slip the leash of time and distance. Eventually it would disappear into nature.

Although they had suffered tremendously from Ning Que’s blade, people like the national master of Golden Tribe and Qi Nian were after all on the top of the world of cultivation. It did not take them long to realize what they should do at that moment.

They retreated to a safe distance in order to avoid the attack of the Yi Talismans, and waited patiently for the Divine Talismans in front of the altar to disappear, and for Haotian’s Divine Power to be drained from Ning Que’s body.

They could only hope that Ning Que did not have enough of the Thirteen Primordial Arrows left, or at least he would not aim at themselves for the next shot. They had no other choices.

After a temporary silence, an old and angry voice spoke.

It was the second-ranking elder divine priest from the South Sea. He pointed at the Sacred Sedan of Judgment with his blood stained finger and upbraided, “Ye Hongyu, how dare you to collude with the Academy?!”

When the South Sea group challenged the Divine Halls of West-Hill, Ye Hongyu had killed one of them without mercy. Even this elder divine priest of highest state had lost a finger to her unbelievable skills.

His reprimand was not based on their enmity but somewhat related. Otherwise no one would have cared about Ye Hongyu’s reaction at such a stage.

He realized that when the strongest cultivators fought fearlessly against Ning Que, the Sacred Sedan of Judgment did not move at all while Ye Hongyu did not spare a single strike. While all of them had retreated to some distance from Ning Que’s floating Yi Talismans around the altar, the Sacred Sedan of Judgment was still hanging there and Ye Hongyu was still seated calmly inside. She was not affected by the Yi Talismans and Ning Que did not bother to look at her!

Could there be any reason besides her collusion with the Academy?

No one but Ye Hongyu and Ning Que could have explained this. Ning Que did not attack her because he did not want to and that it was also a part of the Academy’s plan.

However he was not going to explain that to the Divine Halls of West-Hill.

Instead of giving any explanation, Ye Hongyu simply stared at a certain direction and pondered with mixed emotions. She was staring at it when the strongest cultivators attacked Ning Que and when Ning Que activated those dozens of horrifying Divine Talismans. She did not fight or escape. Instead, she just stared at that direction intently.

She was gazing into somewhere above the rock stairs behind the altar, where the giant sedan used to be. Now that the giant sedan had been smashed, the Hierarch finally unveiled his true self in front of everyone.

He was a wretched, skinny, black, short, and old Taoist priest.

If it were on a different occasion, the whole world of cultivation would have been shocked by the wretched appearance of the Hierarch of Divine Halls of West-Hill. Yet today at the Rite to Light in the Peach Mountain, facing a life and death situation, who would care about his appearance at all? Even if they saw it, how could they spare a second on staring at him?

But Ye Hongyu had been looking at the Hierarch ever since. It seemed this was a far more important matter than life or death.

Ning Que did not know that she had been staring at somewhere behind him. This part of the Academy’s plan was designed by their Senior Sister. He did not even understand why.

What he was thinking about right then was something else: the things that had happened to him and had confused the strongest cultivators. For instance, when did he surpass the Five States? Why was he bestowed with Tianqi? How could he have survived after receiving so much of Haotian’s Divine Power? The answer was rather simple: it was because he was Ning Que.

He did not actually surpass the Five States, but rather he could apply a Divine Skill that surpassed the Five States, which was the Divine Skill of Tianqi from Taoism. And that was based on his special bond with Haotian.

As for how he could have survived even though he did not surpass the Five States or that he was not a devout follower of Haotian, it was because of his strong body and experience.

In his fight against the Abbey Dean on the snow covered street last year, the God-Stunning Array had charged the Qi of Heaven and Earth throughout Chang’an into his body via the Core Vajra of the Array. He had undergone worse compared to what he experienced today.

Having survived that, how could he fail to survive the Tianqi today?

Ning Que knew from their fight in Chang’an that the Divine Power he took from Haotian could only last for a specific amount of time. It would disappear again like the Qi of Heaven and Earth did previously.

And indeed he did not have many iron arrows left in the case. If only he could make endless shots of iron arrows, he would have taken over the whole world by simply standing on top of the walls around Chang’an. Why did he travel all the way to take the risk at Peach Mountain?

The Yi Divine Talismans around the altar would disappear in time. If a Divine Talisman could last forever, his master, Yan Se, would have buried the Sword Garret of South Jin Kingdom long time ago.

His invincibility could only last for a while.

And that was the time he had to accomplish his mission.

He turned back and looked above to the Divine Hall of Light on top of the Peach Mountain.

Following his look, the strongest cultivators in the front yard realized that Liu Bai’s sword had already made its way into the Divine Hall of Light. If there was going to be a battle, it must be the most horrifying one ever.

It was because it would be a battle between the human world and the heavenly Haotian.

They were inside the Divine Hall of Light.

Sangsang lifted her right hand, reached for the jet-black iron arrow and took it down. It seemed as if the iron arrow had been waiting obediently for her.

She could have grasped stars and moon, not to mention a single arrow.

The iron arrow gloomed between her fair fingers.

She threw it away and turned to Liu Bai.

Liu Bai had been watching her with his sword in hand.

By looking at each other, the gap between Heaven and the human world was filled. Enormous amounts of information were exchanged between her and Liu Bai.

She knew that Liu Bai was renowned as the number one cultivator in the world. If he could live an infinite life, he might at some point become as strong as that lunatic. However it was too early right now. He should not have been able to achieve such state according to the heavenly prediction. What had happened to him? Since he had achieved such state ahead of time, why didn’t he wait for several hundred years so that the other one could have also reached his highest state?

She raised her question to Liu Bai.

And Liu Bai provided a sincere answer.

“That day at Verdant Canyon, I was somewhat enlightened by the battle between Jun Mo and Ye Su. When you see nothing, my Yellow River does not exist. Later on, Li Manman sent me a bout of Qi with the Academy’s perception of the human world. I was once again enlightened. When I went to Linkang City and saw Ye Su teaching in a shabby alley, I was further enlightened. Finally, when the young girl’s blood shed on my sword today, I felt fully enlightened and filled with wisdom.”

“How could some ants possibly shake a massive tree?”

“My sword does not need to surpass the Five States. If there was a gate to the world beyond the Five States, my sword would cleave it. It can cleave anything, even infinity.”

“When your sword falls, it will hurt you.”

“I opened my eyes to search throughout the world, only to find the crippled Abbey Dean, Li Manman who does not know how to fight, and the Drunkard and the Butcher who are capable but unambitious like two wastrels. Perfect as my swordsmanship is, I could not find a match in the human world. How could I not be resentful?”

“Resentful for what?”

“Resentful because I could never fight with Ke Haoran or drink together with Lian Sheng. Because I was not born a thousand years ago, when the decisive battle against the Light took place in the Wilderness, or around the same time as the Headmaster of Academy. All of the greatest predecessors were gone, with no one to follow their legacies. I wanted to hold up my sword against Heaven, yet the gate to the Divine Kingdom was already closed. I could no longer step into Heaven. Being trapped here, how could I not feel lonely and be resentful?”

Liu Bai stared at her in front of his sword and sighed. “I don’t want to shed my lonely tears to the endless universe. Since you are here in the human world, I had to come to see you.”

How could some ants possibly shake a massive tree? And how dare you come to the Peach Mountain? The Heaven questioned.

I am invincible now in the human world. Who else can I fight against if not the Heaven? The strongest sword in the human world answered.

What was the ultimate purpose of cultivation? According to Taoism, it was the gift to humans from Haotian. But for the Academy and people like Liu Bai, cultivation had nothing to do with Haotian. It was merely a way to strengthen oneself. When coming to the end of cultivation, they would have to look above and raise their swords against the Heaven.

It was what Ke Haoran did years ago. The Headmaster of Academy did it as well, for the past thousand years. The Academy continued to do so, even today. And now it was time for the strongest sword in the human world to do the same.

Liu Bai was his sword.

The sword in his hand used to be the strongest in the world. Now that he himself had united with the sword once used by the Headmaster of Academy, how strong would they become?

It had never happened before in the history of cultivation.

As he mentioned, he did not surpass the Five States. Firstly, he dared not to. Secondly, he did not want to. And lastly, it no longer mattered. Because he had become the sword himself. Whenever there was an obstacle, they will cleave it.

As for whether or not this sword would fall onto himself as she had affirmed, he did not even care.

It was because that was the only meaningful thing for him to do now.

In front of the Sword Garret, thousands of miles away in South Jin Kingdom, his hundreds of disciples stayed on their knees. The sword-shaped black peak rose all of a sudden and soared into the sky.

The disciples were shocked and confused. Yet, when they looked up again, the peak seemed to have never moved.

The Divine Hall of Light vibrated according to the sword’s will. Numerous slits were seen on the quartz walls. The eternal lamp that died out months ago was broken into three pieces.

The autumn breeze coming up from the cliffs was smashed upon reaching the terrace. It tickled people’s desires and made them impatient. It was not the impatience of waiting for a prey, but an eager to be able to eventually witness the Grand Tao.

Sangsang stood silently on the terrace, facing Liu Bai.

Liu Bai pushed his sword further with right hand. He found himself to be filled with joy.