Nightfall

The edge of the sword was pushed one inch forward.

Liu Bai’s sword had entered two inches of Sangsang’s isolated world.

In front of Haotian, an inch was equal to the furthest distance.

This meant his sword had traveled thousands of miles.

Liu Bai was not the first human to challenge Haotian, yet he was the first to get this close to Haotian. It was not because of his power, but rather that Haotian was present at the human world.

The Heaven was supposed to be eternally divided from the human world, with a huge gap in between. As for their battle inside the Divine Hall of Light, the gap took its shape in an invisible shield — Sangsang’s isolated world.

How did Liu Bai’s sword enter her isolated world?

It was because he had his sword that consisted of the peak from Sword Garret of South Jin Kingdom, the shabby alley from Linkang City, the memory of slaughtering the Golden Dragon and the Divine General in the Wilderness, the perception of human world provided by the Academy, his decades of persevering cultivation and mediation, and the courage to challenge the Heaven from his predecessors in hundreds of thousands years. Thus, he had a boundless universe in it.

And he had invaded Haotian’s world with the boundless universe.

Upon hearing the prayers from bottom of the mountain, Sangsang waved her green sleeve and propelled a refreshing breeze down Peach Mountain, while paying no attention to the sword pressing onward.

Liu Bai’s sword started rusting gradually. Its shiny edge became gloomy and stained with greenish red spots. The rusty spots kept spreading all over the blade.

She was the ruler of this world. Even though she could not reverse cause and effect, she had perfect control over the most basic and most powerful rules in her isolated word.

That was her weapon. She defeated Liu Bai’s boundless universe with time. Despite the flourishing of human world, the Ever Night would still fall. Despite the luxuriance of the forests, the autumn wind would bring down their leaves. The greatest, bravest, most elegant or secular would all become insignificant in time.

Liu Bai’s sword was pushed forward another inch.

The inch on the blade rusted immediately.

While his sword pressed onto her gradually, the blade was eroded by time.

For her, it was the most intimate distance with a human being ever since she entered the human world.

There were less than three inches between them.

No one knew which would come sooner: Liu Bai’s sword getting into the last inch in front of her or Sangsang eroding the strongest sword in human world to a wastrel.

A refreshing breeze descended from the Divine Hall of Light onto the front yard of Peach Mountain.

The blood that was gushing from the Hierarch’s shoulder immediately stopped. The wound was recovering at a slow but obvious speed with new flesh growing from within.

Those seriously wounded by Ning Que were all restored with new power by the refreshing breeze. The devout followers of Haotian all realized that their gashes started to heal except for Qi Nian.

Besides the people who were already dead, everyone else felt the compassion and love from Haotian and witnessed her miraculous power. Their prayers became more devout and concerted, and they were filled with awe and faith in Heaven and Light.

The Array of Clear Light of Divine Halls of West-Hill seemed ordinary. It was pierced by Liu Bai’s sword and broken in by Tang Xiaotan’s iron cudgel. But now it had reduced into a circle of some hundred feet and unveiled its true power through their prayers.

Because of this Array of Clear Light, Ning Que was not able to kill all of the powerful cultivators an the front yard. He did not have enough iron arrows and he was not able to draw more Divine Talismans.

Only Ning Que, Chen Pipi, and Tang Xiaotang were left standing around the altar, alongside the Sacred Sedan of Judgement. Everyone else, including the Hierarch, had retreated. No one dared to stay in front of his iron arrow. Thus, a clear path was formed from the north of the altar.

Ning Que would have left if he were by himself. No one could stop him while he was still invincible because of Haotian’s Divine Power.

But he did not came all the way from Chang’an to the Divine Halls of West-Hill to simply kill a few strong cultivators and reclaim reputation for the Academy. His mission has just started and not fulfilled.

And there were Chen Pipi and Tang Xiaotang as well in front of the altar.

Ning Que sensed the draining of Haotian’s Divine Power from his body. Although it was not very fast, it would be drained in time. The Yi Talismans were flying above and around the altar. However, they would also disappear eventually.

Without turning around he told Chen Pipi, “Go!”

His single word had indisputable affirmation. Chen Pipi did not hesitate at all. He stepped down from the altar, clutched Tang Xiaotang and left the front yard.

He did not even look back at Ning Que before they left. Tang Xiaotang felt worried and asked, “What about the Youngest Uncle?”

Still without turning around, Chen Pipi panted and said, “We won’t be able to save him anyway. In the Divine Halls of West-Hill, his life or death lies only in the hands of Haotian.”

His chubby figure seemed weaker than any ordinary man because his Ocean of Qi and Mountain of Snow were chained up. He panted heavily while clutching Tang Xiaotang and ran at a high speed.

Tang Xiaotang did not understand what he said, but she understood their brotherhood. She took out an elixir and swallowed it, then carried Chen Pipi on her back. She cultivated the Devil’s Doctrine, which possessed her with a strong recovering power. Plus, she had just consumed the elixir refined by her Eleventh Uncle, Wang Chi. Although she was still quite weak, she ran much faster than Chen Pipi now. She knew that they were running out of time and Ning Que had risked his own life for their escape. Therefore, she carried Chen Pipi, lowered her head, and ran away from the front yard rapidly.

Compared with her exquisite figure, Chen Pipi looked like a loaded bear in winter before hibernation. They looked funny as people could not even see Tang Xiaotang from behind.

Ning Que stood in front of the altar and could not help but laugh at this couple. However, the iron bow in his hand stayed still and so did the iron arrows on the bowstring.

As long as the arrow stayed on the string, no one dared to stand in front of it.

There was a path before Ning Que’s iron arrow. It was a fatal route for the enemies, but the safest for his allies.

Not even one strong cultivator had tried to stop Tang Xiaotang and Chen Pipi, not even the most devout ones from the South Sea. They were all afraid of the Thirteen Primordial Arrows.

Yet, the cavalrymen of Divine Halls of West-Hill did not care. They were used to such fatal battles and had the most passionate devotion for Taoism. They did not care for their own lives. Horrifying as they were, the Thirteen Primordial Arrows could never kill two thousand veteran cavalrymen.

Together with the refreshing breeze, some dust rose and came from the path afar.

Ning Que figured out what might be happening and called out, “Liu Yiqing!”

No one in the front yard could understand why in such a crucial moment he called for help from the Sword Garret of the South Jin Kingdom. Ye Hongyu knew why somehow, but she could not spare further attention to it.

Liu Yiqing and disciples from the Sword Garret did not participate in this earth-shaking battle. Even though they were all at the Knowing Destiny State, they were far too inferior when compared with ones like the Hierarch and Qi Nian. Furthermore, they did not know what they should do.

Liu Bai, the Sage of Swords was a visiting minister for the Divine Hall of West-Hills. Thus, the Sword Garret of the South Jin Kingdom had always viewed themselves as a branch of Taoism. Though they were too arrogant to submit themselves to the Divine Hall of West-Hills, they never thought about betraying the Divine Hall either.

The South Jin Kingdom and the Great Tang Empire had had feuds over generations. There had been no friendship but only feuds between the Sword Garret and the Academy. They should have been on the same side with Taoism. Yet, Liu Bai and his sword had already entered the Divine Hall of Light.

Everyone knew clearly what that meant.

Liu Yiqing lowered his voice and asked, “What for?”

Ning Que commanded, “Go with my Academy fellows.”

The disciples of Sword Garret hesitated. If they did not leave right now, the Divine Halls of West-Hill would definitely chastise them shortly. Yet if they did retreat with the Academy, it would mean an official betrayal to Taoism and a declaration of their alliance with the Tang Empire.

They looked at Liu Yiqing. While the Sage of Swords was challenging the Heaven in the Divine Hall of Light, they could only rely on Liu Yiqing to make such a crucial decision.

Facing such a tense situation with limited time, Liu Yiqing closed his eyes and tried to sense the intangible Sword’s Will from the Divine Hall. Then he stamped heavily and exclaimed, “Let’s go!”

With some mixed feelings, the disciples of Sword Garret made up their minds.

They prostrated three times toward the Divine Hall of Light, then rushed out of Peach Mountain and joined Tang Xiaotang and Chen Pipi shortly.

Now that they were on the same path, they became fellows.

The cavalrymen of Divine Halls of West-Hill lined up in their arrays.

The disciples of Sword Garret were holding their swords solemnly with blood rushing into their eyes.

“Protect the superiors of the Academy!”

Liu Yiqing was clutched by his Younger Brother, with a sword in his hand. He listened to the hoofing sounds from ahead, thought of his brother who was fighting in the Divine Hall of Light, and shouted with tragical heroism, “Whoever in our way is dead!”

After all, the cavalryman of Divine Halls were previously defeated by Tang Xiaotang and had witnessed a series of unimaginable scenes. Although they had gathered all of their remaining courage to stand up again, they were not a match against the disciples of South Jin Kingdom, who were determined to sacrifice themselves. The cavalrymen collapsed immediately, particularly when Liu Yiqing and Tang Xiaotang started fighting desperately.

On the way out of Peach Mountain, the fight turned from fierce to restrained, until the pursuit fainted and only wounded soldiers were left moaning. People in the front yard continued with their prayers gravely.

People from the Divine Halls of West-Hill and their guests to the Rite To Light could still not believe what they had just seen. There were supposed to be blood feuds between the Academy and the Sword Garret. Ju Mo lost his right arm to Liu Bai, while Liu Yi Qing lost his eyes to Ning Que. How could these two parties form an alliance upon a few simple words from Ning Que?

The guests did not understand. To the disciples of the Academy and the Sword Garret, losing an eye or an arm was ordinary. Their fights were impartial and so were the results. As for their alliance, it was initiated when Chao Xiaoshu paid his visit to the Sword Garret, and it was confirmed when Liu Bai’s sword flew up to Peach Mountain.

With his fellows from the Academy and disciples of the Sword Garret gone, Ning Que was alone. Yet instead of loneliness, people found in him something more horrifying.

Now he had nothing to worry about and nothing to distract him. He could do whatever he wanted to do. Thus, he lifted his iron arrow again.

Bestowed with Tianqi, he had acquired tremendous strength that far surpassed those of any human beings. He pulled his bow so far back that it felt like it would break. The arrow was aimed north, and it was still, cold, and horrifying.