Nightfall

The bridge never disappeared. Magnificent divine power from atop the Peach Mountain was endlessly charging the body of that manservant in green. Within a very short period of time, his Qi elevated astonishingly from that of an ordinary human to one of a mighty cultivator. He reached the Knowing Destiny State almost in the blink of an eye, and even proceeded to go beyond the Five States!

The manservant in green was lowering his head, with his body surrounded by divine lights. People in front of the altar could not see his face or figure out who he was. They were confused to why the Haotin was bestowing this manservant with divine power, uninterruptedly and endlessly even though it was the Hierarch who used Tianqi.

The bout of unworldly power entered the body of an ordinary human being and activated an intensive response between heaven and earth. An invisible wave spread out from within the body of that manservant towards every corner of the human world, from Chang’an to Min Mountain, even to the farthest North Sea.

No doubt it had been the most majestic Tianqi in the history of cultivation.

Tianqi was the great Divine Ability that surpassed the Five States. It had only been recorded in the teaching of the West-Hill and oral legends. It was never known to ordinary people, not to mention for them to witness.

The guests of the Rite to Light on Peach Mountain were either great cultivators or people of high-ranks in the human world. They were aware of the Tianqi state. Some had even witnessed it previously. But they would have never imagined that Tianqi could last for such a long period of time. Why was the Haotian exceptionally generous to that person?

Staring at the bold cliffs and floating clouds, Sangsang stood there on the terrace of the Divine Hall of Light. She was enraged as the bout of power had left her giant body and was continuously being poured into the body of that person in the front yard of Peach Mountain.

Her presence in the human world made this Tianqi extraordinarily magnificent. Yet not one Haotian besides herself was aware of the reason for such a scene. She knew it because it had happened before.

Years before her awakening, she was still a maidservant to that person in the coldest winter in Chang’an. She was holding onto a big black umbrella at the Snow Cliff by the Snow Lake when he re-encountered Xiahou. He proposed that she sing for him that night. And she also opened her heart and soul for him. She then sang to the Snow Lake, as well as for him.

Although she did not want to sing today, he could still hear it if he wanted.

When her power was poured into his body, a bridge was created between them again. This infuriated her even though it was not unexpected.

Upon coming back to the human world, she had been trying to cut any possible connections with that person. She never went to Chang’an to visit him. Even if it seemed like she had to put an end to their relationship and telepathy, what had happened just now was nothing but a proof of their bond. Whenever she sang, he would be her only audience. It was because of the pre-existing bond between them.

Right at the moment of Tianqi, they were reunited and never to be parted. She knew what he was thinking about and he also read her mind. The two of them formed a world of their own again.

Sangsang was more than willing to present her life and soul to that person when they were by Snow Lake. However at that moment in the Divine Hall of Light, she could feel nothing but fury and disgust.

Thunder and bolt gathered in her eyes. She waved to cut off that bridge and stopped her power from continuing to pour into that person down at Peach Mountain. However, she could never sever that bond.

She thought about the past that only belonged to the two of them and experienced his breath. Color was fading from her face either due to outrage or due to the power being drained from her.

For certain reasons she had refrained from killing him. They had come across each other a few times recently in Peach Mountain, where her fury and hatred had turned the colors of heaven and earth, pulled storms from thousands of miles away and quaked the Divine Halls of West-Hills. She had been able to suppress her feelings until now. Yet her only wish at that point was for him to be dead immediately. No matter what consequences it would bring, flood or destruction, she just wanted him dead.

However, there was one thing she needed to take care of before killing him.

It was to scrap the sword behind her.

The sword came from the foot of Peach Mountain.

It was Liu Bai’s sword.

The most powerful sword in the human world.

She had been looking down toward the foot of Peach Mountain with fury and did not spare a moment for the sword because the sword could not come close to her.

Liu Bai’s sword was hanging quietly in the air a few meters behind her.

Beams of the autumn sun shed in and slightly brightened the Divine Hall of Light. The beams bended almost imperceptibly when passing between her and the sword. It was only then that one could see that the air in front of the blade had sunken.

Upon more careful observation, one would notice that Liu Bai’s sword was not staying still at all. It was flying at unimaginably high speed but could still not pierce through the space in front.

With the combination of speed and stillness, it formed an uncanny scene.

There was a shapeless and transparent shield protecting her body and it separated her from the human world. Besides that bond, nothing else had entered her world.

This was a space she created with her own rules, much more powerful than any cultivator would ever be able to create. It was because no other isolated world was allowed within the world of Haotian. The space she created was from the same source as the Haotian’s world. They were not connected but somehow communicable, and could generate endless new power. Compared to this one, the isolated space Yu Lian had created in Chang’an with cicadas’ wings was nothing but weakness.

Her isolated world took shape in the air. It was horrifying that Liu Bai’s sword could almost change the shape of the air behind her. But powerful as it was, the sword was still not able to invade.

She turned to that quietly flying and trembling sword and reached out.

She could have harvested stars from the night sky if she had wished, not to mention a mere sword from the human world.

Right then, a blow of autumn wind invaded the Divine Hall of Light.

Throughout the Rite to Light at the Peach Mountain today, no human being was present in the Divine Hall of Light. She was not human.

Then a human being entered the Divine Hall along with the autumn wind.

It was Liu Bai.

Before her fingers touched the blade, he got hold of the hilt.

Looking at her quietly, he pushed the sword forward with his right hand.

She was not expecting him to come to Peach Mountain. She frowned with a real sense of seriousness for the first time since she came back to the human world.

A second ago, Liu Bai was at the Sword Garret in South Jin Kingdom and not at the Divine Hall of Light. Even if he was the most powerful Sage of Sword in the world, he had not reached the Distanceless State. How did he make it here?

Upon looking at Liu Bai and his ancient sword, she figured it out.

A cracking sound rang and echoed in the secluded Divine Hall.

It explained why the glass lamps in Xuankong Temple were shattered, why the ink slab in Zhishou Abbey was broken, why the white bones in the Front Gate of the Devil’s Doctrine was cracked and also why the iron plate on the stove of the Academ’s Back Hill collapsed. People from all these unknown places in the human world had witnessed the power of Liu Bai’s sword.

His sword was able to pierce through the separation between heaven and earth. Then, the human world echoed with silvering crushing sounds.

A tiny crack formed on the isolated world in front of her.

The invisible shield created by the most fundamental rules was easily pierced by Liu Bai’s sword.

The shining blade moved a bit forward, inching closer to her body.

Then the tip of the blade started to rust.

She stared at him and slowly reached out her fingers.

Liu Bai was not distance-less. But how did he come to Peach Mountain in a split second?

It was because his sword could travel thousands of miles in a blink of an eye.

He and his sword were one entity.

With his hand on the hilt, he was able to pierce through her isolated world.

He was not using the sword in his hand, but the sword of his heart.

There was an ancient sword in his heart, the sword that slaughtered the Gold Dragon and the Divine General in the Wilderness. He united with his sword today and came in front of her.

She agreed that Liu Bai was indeed the most powerful one in the human world.

Wearing no expressions, she was determined to destroy the sword in his heart.

She was the only ruler in this world. Even if Liu Bai’s sword could pierce through the separation between heaven and earth and through her world, she still had time, endless and ruthless time.

Right then, an iron arrow was shot toward her back. It was soundless because the speed of this iron arrow was almost distance-less.

She had cut that bridge.

The magnificent divine power descending from the Divine Hall of Light to the front yard of Peach Mountain had finally came to an end.

The most majestic Tianqi in the history of cultivation was over.

The manservant in green looked up. His body was thoroughly covered with the purest divine power. Slightly white halos were spreading out from every single pore on his skin with every breath he took.

They could still not see his face clearly. Yet the terrifying energy he spread out was so distinctive that all the other manservants beside him had fled with fear.

He lifted his right foot and stepped on the ground.

The quartzite floor cracked under his foot like a fracturing field during a drought. The people around him felt the quaking of Peach Mountain’s front yard.

An iron bow came from under the ground and rested in his hand.

The iron bow was never pulled in full as it was today. The powerful bowstring was pulled to its limit by his powerful arms, as if it was about to break.

The bow was pulled open as a full moon.

He thought, I can finally call you a full moon today.

Upon that full-moon shaped bowstring, a black iron arrow was ready to set off.

The cold arrow was pointing at the sacred sedan resting high above the front yard of Peach Mountain.

The sacred sedan was radiating and covered by countless gauze.

The figure inside the sacred sedan appeared to be huge.

The bowstring rang.

The iron arrow was set forward. Diamonds mounted on the bow clashed with the arrow.

The Fu on the iron arrow was completed.

Upon setting off, the tail of the arrow stirred up a whirl of terror.

Then it disappeared.

At the same time people around the altar cried out with astonishment.

“It’s Ning Que!”

“It’s the Thirteen Primordial Arrows!”

Although people around the altar could still not see clearly the face of that manservant in green, they recognized him from the iron bow. There was only one bow of its kind in the world.

The iron bow belonged to Ning Que.

He was Ning Que from the Academy.