Nightfall

“Who would hurt me, and who would dare to hurt me?”  Ning Que frowned when thinking of the talk with Xian Zhilang at Moling Ferry and especially when Sangsang told him the cultivation state of the black cavalry.

Although, in the Unknown Places like the back of the mountain of the Academy, Zhishou Abbey, and Xuankong Temple, the Seethrough realm turned out to be naturally common; the cultivators that Ning Que knew were mostly from Knowing destiny State. In fact, it was very hard for ordinary cultivators to enter the Seethrough realm, and masters from the Seethrough realm among common sects were either chiefs of certain sects or very important figures, of which the number was very small.

Now, the dozens of black cavalrymen riding toward him on the mountain path all were cultivators from the Seethrough realm, and some of them were even masters from the peak of Seethrough State. This shocked Ning Que quite a bit, and he could not guess who except Lanke Temple could own such a large number of masters in this area.

However, those black cavalrymen could not be monks of the Lanke Temple, as they wore black robes. More importantly, Ning Que felt a very familiar murderous aura from them, so he confirmed that they were soldiers, or at least they used to live in a military camp. “They are from the military of South Jin Kingdom, aren’t they?”

Through the window, Ning Que looked at those fast approaching cavalrymen. He suddenly raised eyebrows and said, “They’re not from South Jin Kingdom. I sense a very disgusting smell.”

Sangsang asked, “What is the smell?”

Ning Que said, “It is a specific rotten smell of the West-Hill Divine Palace. Even if there’s much quiet in those people’s aura, it can’t completely cover up this smell.”

Having confirmed where those enemies may come from, he, without any hesitation, took the iron bow and Talisman Arrows from Sangsang, pushed the skylight at the top of the horse carriage, and stood up.

The autumn rain continued. Hardly did he stand up when the bitterly cold rainwater with the wind rushed to his face, but it could not change the expression on his face.

Looking calm, he put arrows on the bow, and slowly pulled the bowstring.

The iron bow gradually bent with joints between the bow and the bowstring squeaking, but the bow and the bowstring did not shake at all.

Those darkish Talisman Arrows containing powerful strength silently rested on the bow, directed at those fast approaching cavalrymen. It seemed that they would shoot out the next second.

The Primordial Thirteen Arrows containing the wisdom of the Academy and the resources of the Tang Empire were without any doubt the most powerful long-range weapons ever seen in the cultivation world in the past 100 years. To some extent, they had even surpassed the flying swords owned by Grand Cultivators of the Knowing destiny State.

The legendary weapon had its own soul. The bow and those Talisman Arrows had once killed Long Qing, hurt Ye Hongyu, and had once been coated with the General Xia Hou’s blood. At such moment, even the autumn rain around the horse carriage seemed to be afraid, abating a little.

There was still a long distance between the temple and those black cavalrymen on the mountain path, and Ning Que used Talisman Arrows to lock their aura in advance. As masters from the Seethrough realm, they should have felt the danger and be wary. However, it made Ning Que cold that they seemed to have no feelings at all. They, with a complete formation and chilling momentum, kept riding forward with high speed, and the mud on the mountain path was kicked away like flowers, preventing the rainwater from falling smoothly. Only absolutely cold and confident people could manage to do so.

As the autumn rain became heavy, it fell like beans, beating Ning Que’s face constantly and falling on those darkish and sharp arrows, only failing to make Ning Que and his bow shake a little.

After the skylight was pushed open, the rain soaked into the carriage with its coldness.

Before standing up, Ning Que had kicked a quilt to cover Sangsang. But after seeing him not shooting those Talisman Arrows, she knew that there was something wrong, and she stood up from the quilt.

Glancing at her pale and withered face, Ning Que frowned slightly and said, “Lie down, and I will tell you when I can’t hold on any longer.”

He did not tell Sangsang not to help him, as he was aware to some extent that the battle might be quite challenging. And in a fight, even a white lie would bring them a catastrophe.

Rather than following his words, Sangsang coughing softly picked herself up. Squeezing next to him, she stood looking out from the skylight, and then quickly opened the big black umbrella.

If he could not hang on, they should open the big black umbrella.

The umbrella preventing the rain from falling inside, Sangsang wiped the rain from his face. It was not a show of warmth before the battle, but she would not let even a small factor affect his performance in the battle.

Bean-like drops of water falling on the thick umbrella made a buzzing sound. Ning Que’s face shrouded in the umbrella’s shadow looked more grim and dignified.

It was already some time before the black cavalrymen passed the mountainside. After a short while, they would arrive at the temple. However, Ning Que did not shoot those arrows out, as he felt some complications.

It seemed like that they were waiting for him to do so.

Those cavalrymen were very strong, but it was even hard for a master in the Seethrough realm to avoid Primordial Thirteen Arrows at such a distance.

Ning Que was very confident of his arrows, thus he did not fear at all even after Sangsang confirmed the cultivation state of those men. As a member of the Academy who had entered the human realm, no matter how humble he thought of himself, he should know that people would fully understand his fighting method and style before killing him.

In other words, those cavalrymen on the mountain path were fully aware that they would die as long as he shot. However, they did not seem to be afraid. It could only show that they were courting death.

“It is absolutely hard for them to reach Seethrough realm after endless practice, and what kind of things besides faith and love are worth killing themselves for?” Ning Que silently thought. He knew that as they were willing to pay such a terrible price, they were just covering up their real and more terrible intentions.

Holding the big black umbrella with her small hands, Sangsang frowned slightly and said, “Someone is coming.”

Looking at those approaching cavalrymen, Ning Que said, “Find him.”

With her hands shaking slightly, she frowned painfully and whispered, “I can’t.”

Ning Que slightly squinted his eyes, a drop of rain on his cheek sliding down.

Even though they were shielded by the autumn rain, they should not have been able to escape Sangsang’s Perception State no matter how powerful they were. It could only imply one thing.

The real enemy hiding in secret was, at the very least, a Grand Cultivator at the Knowing Destiny State.

Those black cavalrymen were approaching, and it was the first time that the stormy horseshoe sound was really heard by Ning Que and Sangsang. The Big Black Horse did not neigh any longer, coldly staring at those strong and vigorous figures of his same kind with its black eyes filled with violence and destruction.

Although Ning Que could indistinctly see those people’s faces, he was not as restless as the Big Black Horse. Still maintaining a terrible calm, he did not shoot those arrows yet.

The man with a Knowing Destiny State hiding in the autumn rain surely hoped that Ning Que could shoot all the arrows in the box out. Even if he did not hope so, he could find a chance to kill Ning Que as he concentrated on shooting all those cavalrymen. However, if Ning Que concentrated on dealing with the man, he could not manage to stop the cavalrymen from reaching the temple. At that time, the Primordial Thirteen Arrows full strength would not have a chance to be displayed.

In the case of close combat, Ning Que was not confident at all to fight against masters from the Seethrough realm as well as a master from the Knowing Destiny State.

The water was constantly hitting the big black umbrella with a groan; the sound was mixed with the thump of hooves at a short distance, bringing a strange and tense atmosphere to the shabby temple.

Sangsang held the umbrella heavily until she coughed painfully, trembling nonstop. Her tanned face became pale, a stream of blood sliding from her lips.

Ning Que suddenly felt his heart tighten, but he did not say a thing, nor did he stop her.

Sangsang’s glass-like eyes suddenly shone a pure light like lightning.

Then she closed her eyes tightly and said two very complicated numbers.

Ning Que quickly turned back.

Those black and sharp arrows were shot into the air like a rain line.

The two fingers on the iron bow released.

The whole movement of turning back to shoot arrows was very natural and smooth.

The iron arrows were shot aiming directly at the deep Red Lotus Temple behind the carriage.

There were several trees there, all maples.

The direction of those arrows was one of them.

Maple leaves were as red as blood.

The Primordial Thirteen Arrows reappeared in the human world.

However, this appearance brought no thunderstorm, but went with the wind into the autumn rain silently.

There were several feet distance between the skylight of the carriage and the maple inside the shabby temple.

Between them, there appeared a path absolutely excluding the Qi of Heaven and Earth, and it was an arrow path.

There were a few drops of rainwater that fortunately or unfortunately fluttered by the Qi of Heaven and Earth brought by Talisman Arrows, and they stopped in the middle of the invisible arrow path like shaking orphans.

However, those drops were not crushed, nor were passed through.

Because the Talisman Arrow leaving the bow became invisible.

But the iron arrow was still there.

When arrows shot their targets.

In a second which they felt undescribely slow, the iron arrow shot the maple tree that waved its leaves in the autumn rain.

The maple tree was not broken. Its red leaves fell from it, but they were shaken not by arrows but by rain.

The maple tree gave birth to a black peachflower.

The iron arrow shot just above the black peachflower.

The peach was so black that it seemed to be shining black, looking magnificent.

And it seemed like a beautiful luster out of the human world that could only be luckily seen in the night of the Far North Wilderness.

But if people looked at it for a long time, they would find that the black color was just a simple black.

Being purely black to the extreme.

It was the dark night itself.

It was the dark abyss shadowed by night.

Black represented swallowing.

The black peachflower seemed to swallow everything in the world.

The iron arrow containing terrible power just disappeared into the black peachflower.

It seemed like it fell into a bottomless black mud.

Even the slightest trace could not be found.

Looking at the black peachflower, and watching his most powerful attack utterly dispelled, Ning Que did not show the slightest fear, his eyes becoming brighter.

Hardly did his eyes brighten,

when the second arrow left the bowstring.

He shot the black peachflower on the maple again.

…