Nightfall

Endless darkness and coldness poured into the sky from the Big Black Umbrella, painting the skies in the northern Wilderness black as if the night had come. Endless light and heat poured into the sky from the top of the Divine Scepter, causing the skies in the southern Wilderness to glow brightly as if the Kingdom of God had descended into the world.

Inside the blood-colored divine chariot, Ye Hongyu looked at the sky that had been separated into two halves. Her beautiful face was expressionless as she wiped off the blood dripping from her forehead. Then, she looked towards Sangsang who was in the north.

Sangsang was the Daughter of Yama. Anything could happen to her, no matter how incredulous. Ye Hongyu was shocked, but she did not pay much attention. Instead, her gaze landed on the Hierarch of the West-Hill Divine Palace several miles away in the east.

Her brows furrowed slightly because she could not see clearly whether the holy light was gushing from the Hierarch Lord’s body into the sky, or if the light was gushing from the sky onto him.

On a meadow several miles away from the southern Wilderness, dozens of knights were gazing at the northern sky.

The silver mask reflected the creepy and terrifying sky. Light and darkness met in his eyes, and as Long Qing’s eyes grew grayer and grayer, he felt a myriad of different emotions. No one knew what he was thinking.

Long Qing no longer cared what light or darkness was. He was just jealous of the little girl who was under the Big Black Umbrella because she had captured everyone’s attention, and thus, also brought Ning Que into the center of the world.

Long Qing thought that he should be the one standing there. Then, he recalled how he thought he was the Son of Yama after fleeing from the Zhishou Abbey two years ago and felt even more jealous.

In Helan City, the Emperor of Tang Empire stared at the sky silently. Although the approaching darkness indicated the coming of the Underworld Invasion, he did not fear. On the contrary; his eyes grew brighter as he looked at the light and darkness in the sky, seeming a little excited.

Master Huang Yang stood beside the Emperor, bowing to the light and darkness in the sky with his palms pressed together. His lips moved slightly, but no one could hear his mutterings.

On the back of the mountain of the Academy, the Purple wisteria on the corridor was in bloom, the walls of the hut were covered by its green ivy. But there was no one in the cliff cave as everyone was gathered at the edge of the cliff.

Standing on the edge of the cliff with Younger Brothers and Sisters, the Eldest Brother looked to the north silently where the sky was divided into two parts. The great Chang’an was enveloped in the golden light.

“We should be there right now.” The Second Brother said.

The Eldest Brother said, “We can’t do anything even if we were there.”

The Second Brother said, “But at least we would be present.”

The Eldest Brother said, “Teacher didn’t agree for us to be there, so we can only watch from here.”

In the Sword Garret of South Jin Kingdom, all was silent in the dark cave in the middle of the mountain. Spring had turned the forest behind the mountain green, but it had no effect inside the cliff cave. The small pool in front of the thatched cottage was still very cold.

Liu Bai, the Sword Sage, sat cross-legged beside the small pool with his head bowed. He didn’t look up into the sky as the opening above the cave was too small, and the only thing visible through the hole was light.

An ancient giant sword slowly rose from the bottom of the pool. Compared with this sword, the frequently-used swords which were placed on the shelves of the thatched cottage were as shabby as straws.

No one knew of the other reason Liu Bai had hidden himself in the middle of the Sword Garret’s mountain, aside from receiving Tao enlightenment by the pond. Other than his fear of appearing in the world, he had been crafting a true sword.

That would have to be the sharpest sword in the world.

The sky stretched above the earth and could be seen by everyone. As such, everyone in the world had seen the sky being separated into light and darkness. However, due to perspective, the further south people were, the more light they would see. And in the extreme south, the dark skies above the Wilderness looked like a touch of darkness as seen from the ground, seeming as if it was a crushed dark tunnel.

If that dark channel connected the Underworld with the world, then what would emerge from it? Would it be the Underworld army or Yama himself?

In the depths of the South Sea, the waves rose and crashed on the reefs. Magma spouted from the volcanoes at the bottom of the sea, evaporating seawater and producing white mist that covered a small island.

On the black reefs surrounding the island stood a Taoist in indigo. He looked at the dark skies in the distant north that looked like a dark tunnel. Then, his eyebrows twitched upward slightly and he said, “Does the sunset make reflections of the skies brighter in the water?”

After saying that, he paused for a moment before shaking his head, saying, “That’s still not right.”

The Buddhism Sect was not involved in this holy war on the Wilderness.

Just as Master Lotus had said to Ning Que and what the Headmaster had told many people, the Buddhism Sect chose to deal with it by closing their eyes to the matter and not speaking about it.

Because of Buddha’s last words, the monks of the Buddhism Sect tried to kill Sangsang, the Daughter of Yama. Only then would they be able to save the world from the catastrophe. But it was also because of the essence of the dharma that Buddha had passed down, if the Daughter of Yama was not killed, the Underworld Invasion and the Everlasting Night were inevitable. When the world was about to enter the Dharma Ending Period, the monks from the Buddhism Sect dared not try anything else. Instead, they chose to do nothing and began hiding and fleeing.

In the heart of the Western Wilderness, the sinkhole was surrounded by mists and clouds. Neither the holy light nor the dark night could pass through the clouds onto the people there.

Countless tanned believers and slaves knelt at the bottom of the sinkhole, kowtowing and praying to the majestic mountain in the center of the sinkhole. Their faces were filled with awe and fear.

All the monks of the Xuankong Temple had hidden in the yellow temples on the mountain. The soft chanting of scriptures floated from these temples, and then flowed down like water as if it was attempting to cover the whole mountain.

Master Qi Mei, the chief monk in the Hall of Respect, stood in front of an ancient bell outside the temple. The remaining two fingers on his left hand landed on the bell, and its chiming helped to spread the scripture chantings further out in the lands.

He looked a little anxious as he watched the confrontation between light and darkness on the distant sky in the east. The calm and firm expressions that usually graced his face had long disappeared.

The Buddha’s prophecy of the Dharma Ending Period was finally coming. But many instruments that the Buddha had left behind had been broken like the peace bell, or lost, like the chessboard. Then could the Xuankong Temple successfully hide under Yama’s nose?

There came a calm and indifferent voice; it rang out in front of Qi Mei.

“It is a catastrophe that the Everlasting Night and the Dharma Ending Period are coming, but Haotian is watching over the world and will never let that happen. As the light has come, the dark night would surely not prevail. We believers of Buddha should pray earnestly and sincerely.”

Understanding this, Qi Mei stopped ringing the bell and sat cross-legged in front of the temple. Looking at the east with his hands put together, he prayed sincerely, “Buddha is benevolent, and may he bless everyone on earth.”

The sounds of prayer slowly spread from the countless temples on the mountain peak.

“May Buddha bless us all.”

“May Acalanatha bless us.”

“The light…”

The Chief Preaching Monk of the Xuankong Temple did not chant or pray. Holding his monk’s staff, he stood on the peak of the mountain; he looked wearily at the surface of the Wilderness and the confrontation of light and darkness in the distance.

The dark sky grew more and more extensive, spreading to the south. Many tiny cracks appeared on the edge of the lighted sky like a spider web. Then, the darkness flowed into these cracks and turned them black.

It was silent when the darkness and light met. However, everyone on the Wilderness felt their hearts pumping faster, and then, felt a terrible pain.

The pain in their hearts intensified as they watched the darkness slowly invading the bright sky. They clutched at their chests, not knowing if the pain was from their physical bodies or their souls.

The black cracks at the edge of the lighted sky grew wider and wider until they formed a line and then fused together, forming a new dark region.

If this situation was allowed to continue, the dark night would become stronger while the light would become weaker. Nobody knew it but someday in the future, the world would be completely enshrouded in darkness. The people and beasts living on this land would never be able to see the light again.

The hearts of the West-Hill Divine Palace Coalition Army’s soldiers were occupied by an immense fear. Even the people in the Desolate Man’s tribe were frightened when they saw this shocking scene.

In the attic of the divine chariot, the West-Hill Divine Palace’s Hierarch suddenly knelt down, holding his Devine Scepter tightly with his right hand. Then his prayer which was calm but also resounding echoed throughout the Wilderness.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers from the West-Hill Divine Palace Coalition Army knelt down and began to pray together with the Hierarch. Even the soldiers of Tang Army did the same because they were also believers of Haotian and they were also afraid of the approaching Everlasting Night.

With so many people praying together, the prayer was messy and chaotic in the beginning. But then, it became stronger and more shocking as it grew more and more orderly.

People prayed for the miracles of Haotian to appear. They prayed for the light to grow stronger and for the dark night to retreat.

The sky in the southern part of the Wilderness suddenly became brighter, as if countless rays of light were poured into the sky, and the dark sky that had slowly spread to the south was gradually stopped.

Wretched cries of crows echoed throughout the dark night, and then the inky black night began to roll and fly into a rage as if it had felt that it was being defiled.

The snow lotus beneath Sangsang’s feet had bloomed.

Sangsang held the Big Black Umbrella tightly, her eyes closed. The cold aura gushed out from her body without stopping, rolling and merging into the aura of Heaven and Earth in the Wilderness, turning it into darkness, and funneling it into the dark skies.

Ning Que stood a little distance away from her, looking at her silently.

Light and darkness were battling in the sky. The struggle between light and darkness was actually a battle against the heavens and was beyond the understanding and influence of man.

The chilly aura in Sangsang’s body had completely awakened, and even if a snowflake was to fall on her, it would be shattered into the smallest particle. As such, Ning Que could not hold her hand.

His hands were bleeding, and as the droplets of blood fell on the ground, they made a crisp shattering sound.

He could not do anything at this moment because it was pointless no matter what he did. So he could only watch her silently.

Suddenly, he felt that everything he saw at this moment was familiar.

He looked toward the south, only to find bodies littered on the Wilderness. Then he looked up at the sky. There were patches of light in the sky, and there seemed to be a sun over it, with the dark night quickly approaching it.

Ning Que was certain that he had seen this before.