Nightfall

Luo Kedi asked without any expression, “What’s the point of us standing here in this manner? Are we waiting for Ning Que to come out or waiting for him to leave? If we can only watch him, why did I have to come all the way to Yuelun Kingdom to see him? If we are here for a fight, then why don’t we attack? Why are we waiting here?”

Master Qi Mei said calmly, “Though Buddha is merciful, it has its moments of anger too. Judging from the situation, naturally, we are not here to see them leave, but to witness the death of the Daughter of Yama. As for the wait…The entire human realm has been waiting for more than a year. What’s waiting a little while longer?”

Luo Kedi asked, “Who are we waiting for?”

Qi Mei said, “Waiting for Chief Preaching Monk to enter the city. Based on the distance, he should be almost here.”

Luo Kedi’s expression turned slightly cold. He thought, ‘just yesterday you mentioned that Chief Preaching Monk would not attack, then why are you now saying that the chief monk is entering the city?’ He could not help but say with his somewhat cold voice, “It is impossible for Ning Que to leave Chaoyang City with us around.”

Qi Mei raised his head and looked into Luo Kedi’s eyes. He smiled faintly and asked, “Have you realized that we have been communicating more with each other – at the White Tower Temple – ever since we found out that Ning Que was hiding in this small courtyard?”

Luo Kedi raised his eyebrows and replied with a deep voice, “So what?”

Qi Mei sighed and said, “This means we are feeling nervous.”

Luo Kedi retorted, “You’re the chief monk of Xuankong Temple’s Hall of Respect. I’m the commander of West-Hill Divine Palace’s divine guard. Be it strength or state – we are superior to Ning Que. Moreover, Hierarch Lord and Chief Preaching Monk have picked me and you to slaughter the Daughter of Yama. We both understand the logic behind this: even if he is one of Headmaster’s core disciples, how could Ning Que ever escape alive?”

“The more you explain, the more it shows how nervous you are. I am willing to admit to it, because I don’t think of it as embarrassing. Calculating based on time of the human realm, Ning Que entered Knowing Destiny State less than half a year ago. Logically, he can’t beat us. But you should know: from how he defeated Prince Long Qing and entered the Second floor of the Academy, to the many incidents that happened after that – you should be aware of how difficult it is to find any logic in this young man.”

Master Qi Mei said casually, “The key is – though Daughter of Yama is gravely ill, frail and has yet to recover – how certain are you that, at the very last moment, she will not release that light which she had released back at Chang’an Snow Lake?”

Luo Kedi kept silent. He felt that he was somewhat annoyed, so he took a deep breath. This breath was extremely demanding, causing his originally flat chest to rise up like a mountain.

Just then, his expression changed drastically. The small courtyard remained quiet. He did not see any one, nor did he see any movement, but he could feel an extremely intense sense of danger!

Luo Kedi gave a loud, sharp roar. He stomped his right foot with a thud, cracking the ground into a broken web. With the huge seismic wave, he flew backwards without a shred of hesitation.

As he flew backwards, he once again roared – just as loudly and sharply as before. This was not only to warn the people around him, but it was also because his chest had been filled with numerous gases when he took the deep breath. Had he not released these gases within the shortest time, he would not be able to act at his fastest speed, and this would mean that he might get badly injured if these gases were to be released while he was being hit by an unexpected attack!

Just as Luo Kedi let out the second roar, in the distant small courtyard, an extremely round hole suddenly appeared in the wooden door. The hole was less than 3 fingers wide and there weren’t even any flying splinters – its silent appearance was oddly mysterious!

A dark and sharp iron arrow rapidly flew across the hundreds of feet in front of Luo Kedi. Ning Que knew that Luo Kedi was going to take a deep breath, so he shot his arrow at that exact moment, preventing him from having any chance of dodging it.

The dark iron arrow hit Luo Kedi’s left shoulder!

Though it was just an arrow, the impact it resulted in was like a gigantic hammer falling from the sky, crashing into a tall, magnificent mountain, creating a thunderous blast!

Suddenly, an extremely strong talisman appeared from the armor beneath Luo Kedi’s coat. Incredibly thin golden threads on the surface of the armor twinkled as they tried to shield against this iron arrow’s stab!

His body was covered with a set of handmade Divine Talisman armor, jointly created by the Divine Talisman Master of West-Hill Divine Palace and workers from South Jin Kingdom. Even in the entire West-Hill Divine Palace, there were only 3 suits of armor of this rank and were only slightly weaker than the armor worn by Xia Hou in the past. If not for Hierarch Lord’s favor, he would not be qualified to wear this armor.

The reason why Luo Kedi looked down on Ning Que was because he believed that Ning Que’s strongest weapon – Primordial Thirteen Arrows – were unable to threaten him at all.

Yet, just before that tiny arrow hole mysteriously appeared in the small courtyard’s door, he had sensed the dangerous atmosphere and knew – he was wrong.

Ning Que was only at the peak of Seethrough Realm during the winter when he was by the lake. At that time, iron arrows in his hands could already throw Xia Hou into a miserable state. Later, he continuously shot his arrows at Long Qing, which resulted in the latter being heavily injured in front of the Red Lotus Temple. Now that he had already entered Knowing Destiny State, fighters like Qi Nian and Ye Su were cautious of his presence. Could Luo Kedi compare?

The iron arrow pierced deeply into the armor. The arrow’s tail vibrated due to the rapid speed and the sharp arrowhead rotated continuously. A hole was formed in the Divine Talisman Armor, which was shimmering with golden light, as it continued to mince the protective layer of Qi covering Luo Kedi violently!

Luo Kedi fell heavily on the ground, like a collapsing mountain, causing thick clouds of dust to rise into the air.

A large and horrendous hole was created in his armor. Badly mutilated bloody flesh could be seen inside the hole. It was to the extent that white bones became visible as fresh blood gushed out from the hole like a waterfall!

As the commander of West-Hill Divine Palace, he had been through countless battles over numerous years and had attained much experience. That was why he could sense a dangerous omen before Ning Que shot that arrow. As he fell like a collapsing mountain, had forcefully expelled the gases in his body to prevent that frightening iron arrow from piercing his heart.

Even so, this arrogant bigwig from West-Hill Divine Palace still could not prevent himself getting injured. If it wasn’t for his martial strongth and if he had not been wearing Divine Talisman Armor granted by the Hierarch Lord, his left arm would’ve been torn off when his left shoulder was hit – he would not have been able to fight today.

Luo Kedi laid on the ground. The fall of his large body caused the stones and mud beneath him to fly outwards. From a bird eye view, he looked like a collapsed mountain. Fresh blood was gushing out from his left shoulder, like waterfalls and streams within a mountain range.

He stared at the thick, dark cloud in the sky. His face turned extremely pale. His eyes revealed anger and a tremendous surge of fighting spirit. He slammed his right hand against the ground, while giving out a loud cry. He sprang himself up and dashed straight for the small courtyard.

The strength of Primordial Thirteen Arrows was beyond his expectations. However, since it did not kill him, he believed that as long as he began moving, the person in that small courtyard would not be able to aim for his face and other weak points. As such, as long as he was able to overcome this distance of hundreds of feet and drew himself nearer to the small courtyard – he would be able to kill that annoyance!

Eighteen West-Hill Divine Guards held onto the hilts of their weapons, as they followed Luo Kedi, dashing towards the small courtyard. Under the dark clouds, one could only see the red coats fluttering in the wind. The scene was shockingly grand and magnificent, as though there were thousands of soldiers and horses attacking the enemy!

Like a mountain range crashing into the little courtyard, Luo Kedi and his eighteen West-Hill Divine Guards following closely behind him. However, they did not experience the frightening barrage of iron arrows that they had expected.

That was because someone within the field had reacted much faster than them, and his speed was quicker than theirs. As soon as Luo Kedi roared – the instant the arrow hole appeared in the wooden door of the little courtyard, Master Qi Mei began to act.

The straw sandals on his feet split into numerous particles of dust in an instant. A long shadow stretched out from his body and, in a few breaths, it reached in front of the small courtyard. The movement was overwhelmingly swift, like the fierce winds of the Wilderness!

Even though Qi Mei could not confirm that the target of the first iron arrow was Luo Kedi, the moment he heard his roar, he did not dodge. Instead, at his fastest speed, he rushed towards the small courtyard.

This was indeed the riskiest bet, but so long as he got nearer to the small courtyard – so long as the distance was drawn closer – it could cause the strongest Primordial Thirteen Arrows to lose the majority of their power. In order to kill the Daughter of Yama, Qi Mei had sacrificed himself and fell into the spectral world. Facing such great opportunity, why would he fear gambling?

Qi Mei reached the entrance to the small courtyard. His naked feet stomped onto the rocky steps in front of the gate, causing the ground to crack. His body stopped and, without wasting any time, he whisked the long sleeves of his tunic, launching an attack towards the gate.

In the eyes of a commoner, the strongest skill of a cultivator was to control a sword so that one could attack from a distance. Yet most of the cultivators that had seriously cultivated themselves to higher states would return to their true selves. This was the same for the Sword Garret of South Jin Kingdom and the Ascetic Monks from Xuankong Temple.

Qi Mei’s sleeves seemed normal, but, in fact, endless Qi of Heaven and Earth was hidden in them. Once they were whisked, the power formed was as strong as crashing boulders. A loud cracking noise was heard. The wooden gate of the courtyard had been broken into numerous wooden pieces in a split second and they were shot straight into the courtyard.

This attack from the tunic’s sleeves was very powerful. Even if Ning Que was ready to shoot an arrow from the back of the courtyard, he could only dodge at that moment in face of the numerous flying wooden pieces. Yet in that short moment, Qi Mei could take the opportunity to draw himself closer to his opponent.

Just then, a wall on the right wing of courtyard collapsed! Several bricks flew like hail. The dust that had collected over the ages in the cracks of these bricks had instantly formed a dust cloud from the heavy impact!

Ning Que’s silhouette appeared from the dust cloud and among raining bricks. He tightly held his padaos in both hands as he struck towards the back of Qi Mei with the speed of light!

At that moment, Qi Mei had just pulled back his sleeves. The courtyard gate had turned into multiple flying wooden pieces. However, not only did Qi Mei, who was already on the battlefield, not expect it – even Luo Kedi and the eighteen West-Hill Divine Guards, who were rushing towards him like ferocious tigers, did not expect that Ning Que was not at the back of the courtyard. Instead, he had surprisingly appeared through the broken wall!

The heavy podao cut the air at high speed and, due to their swiftness, sharp screeching sounds were heard as the blades rubbed against the air. Yet these noises seemed drowned out by the movements of the blades, making them seem quiet and lonely. In addition, the bodies of the podaos were covered by shadows of their large blades. This caused one to feel that these weapons were not from this world but from the netherworld.

Sharp blades of the podaos landed on the back of Qi Mei, creating a weird decaying sound! Qi Mei’s back began to shiver misteriously and violently. The muscles on his back seemed to have gained lives of their own. Some parts began to relax, while others began to tighten. When the combined strength of these muscles was gathered together, it became a strongly-built embankment that could block off even heavy floods. They were created to clamp down on or block off the podao that attacked them like waves of water!

Ning Que could feel the weird strength that could be felt from the hilts, but he could not care less – he let out a loud roar. The Great Spirit flowed out as the podao sliced through that weird strength, cutting monk from his neck to his waist!

Psssst! Qi Mei’s tunic was ripped apart. An extremely deep wound appeared from beneath the tunic as fresh blood flowed out from the frightening wound like water overflowing from an embankment!