Book 4: Chapter 18: People Above the Sky, Light Above the Sky
Book 4: Chapter 18: People Above the Sky, Light Above the Sky
Gao Yanan gave Helan Yuexi a look, replying in an extremely simple manner.
“Keep dreaming.”
Then, while stirring up wind and snow, she advanced towards Helan Yuexi.
The other party’s indifference and the words he spoke made her understand that no matter what she did, the other party wouldn’t let Yuhua Tianji go.
“If I move right now, with your current stamina and injuries, will you be able to catch up to me?”
Helan Yuexi stood in place, not moving, but these words of his made Gao Yanan suddenly freeze.
“You won’t be able to catch me.”
Helan Yuexi placed the ice-cold dagger against Yuhua Tianji’s body, looking at Gao Yanan and saying, “I can cut out his flesh piece by piece, and then scatter those pieces all over this mountain forest. I am different from you all, how I kill the opponent… how I challenge myself, this is my way of cultivation. If you don’t believe me, you can come and give it a try.”
“If you think this is a type of threat, then it is utter idiocracy.” Yuhua Tianji raised his head. He looked at Gao Yanan, then shook his head, saying, “I don’t want to die in such a stupid manner either.”
“However, in life, one will always do some stupid things.” Gao Yanan looked at Yuhua Tianji, calmly removing the black longsword from her back. However, inwardly, she was thinking Lin Xi, what exactly are you two trying to do, why haven’t you made your move yet?!
She was much smarter than normal people, and she clearly knew that Wanyan Muye’s trap wasn’t done by her. The reason why she hurried here unrelentingly was precisely because she thought that Lin Xi might have suffered an ambush like her. However, Wanyan Muye’s appearance told her that Lin Xi naturally won. Moreover, with the arrangements like this, he was also definitely trying to bait in Thunder Academy’s students… in that case, Yuhua Tianji’s blood was about to completely flow out already, so why didn’t he make his move yet? Could it be that she really had to add a blow to her own leg?
Right at this time, Lin Xi already stood at the peak, battered by screaming mountain winds.
The mountain peak was spotlessly white, only white snow and black stone, no spruce trees blocking his way. However, because of the height, regardless of whether it was Helan Yuexi or Gao Yanan, neither one of them saw him.
His entire body was blown by the wind until it was about to fly off. If it wasn’t because he already surveyed this spot before, using some fine tree vines to bind his body and clothes, his clothes would definitely be fluttering about.
He had to quickly scale this place, and he had to be extremely careful not to make any sounds, this made both him and Bian Linghan breathe heavily.
A moment later, both his and Bian Linghan’s face were already frozen until it became red-purple in color.
Wang Jianyu was still climbing below them. The roaring winds already prevented them from hearing Gao Yanan and Helan Yuexi’s voices.
However, he didn’t stop in the slightest either, only producing an arrow, handing it to Bian Linghan. He gave Bian Linghan a signal to begin, and then took a deep breath, drawing a white arrow, adding it to his bow.
He knew that this time, Bian Linghan could only help him shoot an arrow, let him observe the effects of the mountain wind on the arrows. Afterwards, everything would still rely on himself.
The mountain wind was terrifyingly great, also making one’s hand even more cold.
When shooting down from such a great height, even if she chose to believe Lin Xi, Bian Linghan still found it hard to suppress the feeling of absurdity in her heart.
However, Yuhua Tianji’s blood and Gao Yanan who held her longsword like a butcher before Helan Yuexi instead made Bian Linghan completely calm down, stabilize even faster than normal.
“What Teacher Tong said was correct… only when the mind is steady, will the arrow in the hands be steady.”
“I’m ready.”
Bian Linghan said, her voice diced up by the roaring winds.
“What are you waiting for? Now it seems like my previous judgment was incorrect. In this place, apart from you, there are still other Green Luan Academy students?” By the foot of the mountain, Helan Yuexi looked at the longsword holding Gao Yanan, cold light flickering past his eyes, “in that case, your Green Luan Academy’s students are even weaker than I imagined, actually so many people gathered at one point, not daring to go and search on your own?”
“I will give you the time to take a single breath, either you immediately give yourself a cut, or I will immediately take Yuhua Tianji and run.”
…
Gao Yanan raised the sword in her hands.
Right at this time, Bian Linghan also heard Lin Xi release a breath, saying, “Begin.”
Shua!
Bian Linghan’s arrow left her fingertips, instantly turning, releasing a roaring noise in the wind and snow, producing a faint white vortex, descending from the sky like a meteor.
In an instant, Helan Yuexi, Gao Yanan, and Yuhua Tianji all sensed a bit of strangeness, and as such, they all raised their heads.
The moment they raised their heads, a white arrow already descended with terrifying speed.
Perhaps even the flying swords of powerful cultivators wouldn’t possess this type of speed.
However, Bian Linghan’s heart still tightened uncontrollably, all of the blood in her body seemingly immediately reaching a freezing point.
According to Tong Wei’s plans, the first positioning arrow she fired for Lin Xi didn’t carry any adjustments, not considering any elements, just using the Falling Moon method, directly aiming at Helan Yuexi and firing.
The direct deviation of this shot could give Lin Xi the most direct visual impression, so he needed to compensate for this difference.
When they previously shot through Wanyan Muye, it was also done this way.
However, when this arrow left her hands, before it even landed, she could already tell that this arrow would be extremely far from its target.
Pu!
The arrow smashed heavily into the ground, producing circular rippling waves of snow.
Just like what he imagined, the power of this arrow was extremely terrifying, but it exceeded fifty steps from where Helan Yuexi was!
Because it was too far away, this arrow, for Helan Yuexi and the others’ senses, wasn’t too terrifying either, only feeling as if a large rock suddenly smashed into the ground.
Fifty steps could naturally be adjusted as well, but this only proved that the wind was way too great, and this height was just too tall… After the arrow flew out in this type of arc, no one knew just how many unpredictable elements there were under the revolving and powerful mountain winds and fragments of ice.
Could he really land his arrow?
Bian Linghan couldn’t help but turn around to look at Lin Xi.
Shua!
Right now, the arrow in Lin Xi’s hands already left his fingers, quickly falling down.
Helan Yuexi’s eyes narrowed slightly. The arrow just now already informed him that someone was shooting down at him from that extremely tall mountaintop, the second shot’s wind noise and faint white light informing him that a second arrow was coming. However, he still didn’t move at all.
Pu!
Lin Xi’s arrow also landed heavily on the ground, producing ripples of snow waves twenty or so steps to his left.
It missed… and it was this far away from the target.
Bian Linghan’s heart suddenly sunk.
She felt that it was even more absurd, but what left her even more confused was that Lin Xi’s movements didn’t change at all, not scared of the other side’s pursuit at all, continuously firing arrows one after another.
Helan Yuexi saw the black speck at the top of the snow-white mountains, just from a bit of familiar aura, he immediately felt that the other party was precisely Lin Xi who he always wanted to kill.
He coldly blinked his eyes, then made an extremely simple movement. He picked up Yuhua Tianji, brought him before himself, and then a sword slashed out.
A streak of blood flew out.
When an arrow descended, a piece of flesh was cut from Yuhua Tianji’s body.
In his opinion, since the other side didn’t stop, when he saw this scene of his fellow student dying, he would definitely panic greatly.
“Lin Xi!”
Even Gao Yanan couldn’t endure it anymore, raising her head and screaming in Lin Xi’s direction. Then, while holding the black longsword, she began to charge crazily.
“Bian Linghan! No matter what kind of absurd things I do, you have to trust me!”
However, right at this time, what neither her nor Helan Yuexi imagined was that while standing on the snow-white cliff, as if he was standing on the sky itself, he didn’t panic in the slightest, instead remaining incomparably calm, shouting at Bian Linghan with an incredibly resolute voice.
Bian Linghan couldn’t understand this either, nor could she possibly understand.
It was because Lin Xi was still firing arrows one after another, continuously shooting.
Moreover, at this time, Helan Yuexi already carried Yuhua Tianji, frantically retreating, relying on his speed to move through the forest, always maintaining a set distance between Gao Yanan and himself, moreover sprinting straight towards Lin Xi and her.
On the forest’s snowy ground, because of Yuhua Tianji’s blood, alarming streaks of red appeared one after another.
However, with her judgment, Lin Xi’s current target, was actually still Helan Yuexi’s original position, still several feet from the unconscious Wanyan Muye!
He was actually aiming at an empty spot!
He’s mad… Bian Linghan felt like Lin Xi was mad, that she herself was crazy too. It was because regardless of what emotion it was because of, she actually still chose to believe Lin Xi, not rushing up to wake Lin Xi up.
…
In Lin Xi’s eyes, there was only that vacant land.
Only he knew that whether or not he could change everything before his eyes, would rely on whether or not he could hit that empty area.
It was because according to Helan Yuexi’s previous performance, if he was given a second chance, he had a hundred percent certainty of making Helan Yuexi stand in his original spot.
Right now, Helan Yuexi’s greatest weakness was that he was too much like a bloodthirsty wild beast, underestimating opponents who were weaker than himself too much, too arrogant!
Since he knew that even if he was given the chance to redo things again, the longer time was drawn out, the more variables there were, he fired arrows in an extremely hurried manner. Even so, when the arrows landed one after another, under this extreme pressure, his senses also became unprecedentedly sharp, feeling as if the entire world’s vital energies seemed to have become more viscous.
Because he fired the arrows extremely quickly, the arrows seemed to have formed a thread, pouring down from his fingertips, extending to the earth.
Those mountain winds and ice crystals moved about. Under his perception, they also became slower and clearer.
Pu!
An arrow landed on that empty space, the ice and snow that erupted splashing across Wanyan Muye’s body.
This instant of provocation made the unconscious Wanyan Muye wake up. However, he was completely in a daze, no idea what was currently happening.
Lin Xi immediately shifted to his quiver, knowing where the arrow he just shot out was located with just a touch, which arrow it was. At the same time, without any hesitation, he roared out, “Return!”
Time returned to ten minutes ago. Helan Yuexi had just appeared in their line of sight, while he and Bian Linghan had just begun to climb the snowy mountain.
Everything continued as he remembered. When Gao Yanan’s figure appeared in the forest, Lin Xi turned to look at Bian Linghan, saying seriously and solemnly once more, “Linghan, no matter how absurd the things I do seem, you have to trust me.”
Without waiting for Bian Linghan to respond, Lin Xi already looked at her and continued, “I need a bit of time. When Gao Yanan cannot stall for any more time, I need you to show yourself, go to where Helan Yuexi is, stall for a bit of time.”
“What?”
Bian Linghan looked at Lin Xi, completely in disbelief. However, Lin Xi’s expression was clear and resolute, full of pleading.
“You really want me to do this?” She didn’t say anything else, only looking at Lin Xi, quietly asking this.
“I need you to do this… and I need you to trust me.” Lin Xi looked at Bian Linghan, seriously nodding, “I have confidence.”
“This really is absurd… even more absurd than shooting from higher than five hundred steps. However, I still choose to trust you.” Bian Linghan muttered to herself for a bit, and then bit her lips, nodding.
“I need him to stand in place without moving.” Lin Xi quietly looked at Bian Linghan, saying, “In a bit, I need you to wait until Gao Yanan and himself stand in place, and then when Wanyan Muye forces her to cut herself, when she is about to draw her sword, that is when you should appear. Don’t ask me how I know that things will play out in this type of ridiculous manner… just remember to control your presence, don’t let Gao Yanan and him make any movements or leave that place.”
…
“His intuition is actually sharp to this degree? Could it be that this is the true heaven’s choice talent even though his aptitude is only two?”
Bian Linghan couldn’t understand it at all. However, when she saw Lin Xi stand on that snow-white peak alone, saw Helan Yuexi force Gao Yanan to injure herself, saw that everything continued just as Lin Xi said it would, there was only this thought left in her mind.
Kacha!
When Gao Yanan drew the black longsword, after a bit of hesitation, she cut down a spruce tree, quietly descending the mountain, heading towards Helan Yuexi.
“Your Green Luan Academy’s people really are too weak, all of them gathered in one place.”
When he followed the noise, seeing Bian Linghan appear from the mountaintop, quickly arriving, a sneer of mockery appeared on Helan Yuexi’s face.
He stood there like a mountain, sneering, waiting for Bian Linghan.
On the mountaintop high up above, above the white snow, Lin Xi picked up that white arrow, then calculated the time. In his mind, the flow of the mountain winds, the movements of the ice shards and the trajectory of that arrow replayed again and again.
“Even if there is one more person, so what?”
Helan Yuexi calmly watched as Bian Linghan’s footsteps sent snow and dust flying, a callous and domineering radiance starting to appear in his eyes. “No matter how much trash there is, it is still trash in the end. Since you all came, you can also act just like her, give yourself a cut.”
“All of you are actually this foolish!” When he saw Bian Linghan quietly approach, move to Gao Yanan’s side, Yuhua Tianji couldn’t hold himself back anymore, powerlessly and furiously screaming, “One person came out, and now there’s another one!”
“No matter how stupid we are, we are still standing properly.” Bian Linghan directly stood in front of Gao Yanan, coldly looking at Yuhua Tianji and saying, “It is still better than you, you were caught and used to blackmail us.”
“You!”
Yuhua Tianji didn’t know her intention, the resentment he felt inside indescribable, a mouthful of blood gushing out of his mouth.
“Just what are you all planning to do?”
Helan Yuexi’s brows frowned slightly. He looked at Bian Linghan who stood in front of Gao Yanan, and then coldly looked around the surrounding mountains, saying with a sneer of ridicule, “What exactly are you all plotting?”
Bian Linghan’s heart was completely cold.
After she appeared, she only spoke a single line to Yuhua Tianji, yet the other party already sensed something!
This really was a monster, an extremely terrifying person.
However, she didn’t cower. She looked at the other party’s cold, wolf-like eyes, saying indifferently, “We are waiting for Lin Xi.”
“He will come.” When Helan Yuexi’s brows jumped, she nodded seriously, saying this.
“Waiting for him?” Helan Yuexi’s brows frowned slightly, but a feeling of contempt appeared at the corners of his lips. “If it wasn’t because someone appeared in Half Snow Gray Plains, he would have already become a corpse…”
“However, if he posed absolutely no threat to you, would you attach so much importance to him?” Bian Linghan cut him off, calmly saying, “In the end, it is still because you feel a bit of apprehension towards him, fearing that you would lose to him in the future… in the end, you are still scared of him.”
Helan Yuexi gave Bian Linghan a look. “You are purposely trying to anger me, but the future is the future… You have to understand that regardless of what kind of plotting it is, in this mountain forest, it still depends on strength. Right now, I am the king! He has absolutely no chance of walking out of this wasteland alive, he doesn’t have a future at all.”
“It’s time… Bian Linghan, you’ve done well!”
Right at this time, Lin Xi who was standing on the peak said this to himself. He was incomparably calm, letting go in an incomparably stable manner. The white arrow left his fingertips, flying out.
The instant the white arrow left his fingers, left his body, completely flew into the air, he used all of his strength to roar out, “Helan Yuexi, you absolute monster, go to hell!”
Everyone vaguely heard this great roar that seemed to have come from the heavens themselves.
Helan Yuexi’s brows furrowed slightly, raising his head.
Right at this time, a streak of white light carrying an aura of death, with a speed that he couldn’t evade at all descended, landing on his body.
He opened his mouth, but didn’t release any sound. His entire body was smashed flying by this wave of power.
The white arrow carried a wave of blood, gushing out from his back.
It was just a single arrow, but it destroyed all of his arrogance, his everything.