Nightfall

In the past decades, the Headmaster had never once attacked. This meant that he was gradually forgotten by the people of the world and even those in the cultivation world would sometimes forget his existence.

There were few who knew the legends. The Headmaster’s weapon was a rod. Ning Que had experienced the pain it caused personally. The Headmaster’s weapon was indeed a rod.

The Headmaster did not use a sword. However, since he wanted to show the Divine Guard of Light in the sky a sword of the world, then he had to borrow one. He reached out to the south and a sword flew from the south.

The ancient sword was from the Sword Garret of the South Jin Kingdom.

The Sword Sage Liu Bai, sat beside the pool. He looked at the dried pool in front of him and thought of the sword that had burst forth from it and flown away. He did not speak, but his face was crowded with emotions.

Liu Bai was very weak and tired. He sat by the pool meditating for many years to forge a true sword. The sword had in it all his sword style and spirit.

In other words, he was the sword, that was why it was the strongest sword in the world. Now that the ancient sword had left the pool, his sword style and spirit had left with it as well, which naturally weakened him.

However, Liu Bai did not seem angry. Instead, he looked a little lost.

He was the most powerful person in the world, and his cultivation in sword Taoism was unparalleled. However, there was someone who could just casually take his sword away from thousands of miles away. He could not even stop the person. He did not even have the right to object to it.

Moments later, Liu Bai’s lost expression turned into one of excitement.

He had sensed whose hand the sword had landed in.

So like the sword, he felt honored and proud.

The ancient sword tore through the clouds and came, landing in the Headmaster’s hand.

The Headmaster’s feet left the surface of the Wilderness and he rose to the sky.

His black coat rustled in the wind and reflected the light in the sky. It tore the holy and blazing Haotian Divine Light into countless golden shreds.

Ning Que hugged Sangsang and looked up at the sky, shock written all over his face.

His teacher had finally attacked, and his first move was to fight in the skies.

To him, this was a battle that would definitely be recorded in the annals. It would become a mythical battle; astonishing, dangerous, possibly lasting for days and nights or even longer.

He only hoped that his teacher would emerge victorious and unharmed.

However, he did not expect that the battle would be completely different from what he had imagined.

It started quickly, and also ended quickly. It was very simple.

The Headmaster’s black coat danced in the wind as he flew into the sky. He was already above the blue skies. He looked at the light and darkness in the sky and casually waved the ancient sword that was the sword of the world in his hand.

A sword mark suddenly appeared between the bright light and the fading night. The sword mark was extremely deep, and it seemed to pierce the sky like a deep wedge, separating the light from the dark.

The Headmaster’s first stroke had cleaved the skies.

The Divine Guard of Light stood on the golden carriage, with a heartless expression on his face. The sword of light that was more than ten miles long cut down on the Wilderness. The blade was also more than ten miles wide, and it pressed down on the Headmaster’s body like a mountain.

Compared with the largeness of the Giant Golden Dragon, the golden chariot and the Divine Guard of Light, the Headmaster who was especially tall in the mortal realm looked like a speck of dust suspended in the air.

Compared with the enormous sword of light, the sword of the world in his hands seemed like a strand of hair.

The Headmaster lifted the sword of the world in his hands and plunged it at the sword of light.

The two swords met, and it was like a strand of hair gently brushing on the Tianqi Mountain.

It seemed like there was no effect, but the mountain collapsed.

The sword of light suddenly broke into pieces and like an avalanche, it scattered in all directions of the Wilderness.

The sword style in the Headmaster’s hand did not rest and seemed as if it never would. It traversed through the tens of thousands of falling shards from the broken sword towards the golden chariot. Then, it landed on the Divine Guard of Light’s face.

Several thin sword marks appeared on the Divine Guard of Light’s perfect face. Then, it became imperfect. His ruthless and unseeing face seemed amusing because of its imperfection.

Crack, crack, crack, crack. There were several creaking sounds and tens and thousands of cracks appeared on the Divine Guard of Light’s face. The cracks spread to his body and his armor, which were formed by Haotian Divine Light, and began to crack as well.

The Divine Guard of Light was like an ice sculpture. He broke into countless transparent crystals that rained down on the Wilderness like hail. However, the sound of it was like a thunderstorm hitting the roof.

There was still the terrifying power of Divine Light and energy in the fine crystal shards. However, it could no longer be brought back together again or pose any danger to the Headmaster who was holding the sword of the world.

The Divine Guard of Light and the sword of light shattered, falling onto the surface of the Wilderness incessantly like a dense meteor shower. The shards fell, with a tail of fire trailing behind it, causing dust and smoke to splash up and igniting blazing flames.

Many rolled around in pain in the fire that was the Divine Light. Then, they died, turning into spiraling smoke.

The Divine Guard of Light who had been looking at the world indifferently had also died and turned into smoke.

The Headmaster’s second stroke had split apart a god.

The Headmaster flew up with the wind and into the brightest spot in the sky. He stood on the Giant Golden Dragon’s head.

The Giant Golden Dragon gave a furious roar and thrashed his tail around. The clouds dispersed and thunder roared. It was absolutely terrifying.

The Headmaster stood on its head, his black coat whipping loudly in the wind.

The Giant Golden Dragon turned its head to bite him, and the Headmaster brought his sword down upon it.

It was unknown whether it was the Headmaster who had grown extremely tall, or if the Giant Golden Dragon had turned small beneath his feet. The sword of the world in his hands pierced into the Giant Golden Dragon’s neck, making an extremely deep cut.

The Giant Golden Dragon screamed and struggled desperately.

The Headmaster’s sword ripped through the dragon’s neck and pieces of scales peeled off.

The Giant Golden Dragon was increasingly in pain and its struggle grew even more vigorous. It flew and spun in the air, splitting the clouds and bringing surges of electricity out of them. However, it could not free itself from the sword of the world.

Dragon scales fell off. They were like mirrors, floating in the sky over the Wilderness and falling toward the ground. They reflected the light in the sky and shone upon the world, making it look like a turbulent river in the twilight.

Every time a scale fell, a fire would be ignited in the Wilderness.

Many rolled around and moaned in pain in the fire that was the Divine Light. Then, they died, turning into spiraling smoke.

The sword of the world carved a circle around the dragon’s neck.

The Giant Golden Dragon’s body was separated from its head. The dragon’s body writhed in the sky for a long time before it stilled. Then, both the body and head collapsed like a golden sand river and spilled into the world.

The Headmaster’s third stroke had killed a dragon.

The Headmaster waved his sleeves and his black coat billowed in the wind.

His left sleeve waved the dragon’s body into the north where the night was. The golden sand which was breaking apart danced in the night sky before blasting away.

Every grain of golden sand contained the purest and most terrifying Haotian Divine Light. Now that they had burned up completely, an undeterminable amount of heat and light was generated, cleansing the darkness in the north.

His right sleeve compressed the dragon’s head into a pure ball of light and pushed it into Sangsang’s head. The remnants of the cold aura in Sangsang suddenly disappeared, like ice encountering the raging sun.

Deep in the Southern Sea, white steam spewed toward the sky in the sea water before the black reef. The boiling magma churned, seeming especially uneasy, reflecting the mood of the Taoist in indigo.

He looked to the north of the world and at the flashes of lightning and roaring thunder. After a long moment of silence, he sighed and shook his head.

In the depths of the Western Wilderness, the sounds in the clouds were slightly chaotic due to the vision. The usually quiet yellow temples seemed not to know what to express, just like how the Chief Preaching Monk was feeling right now.

He looked at the lightning above the eastern Wilderness exhaustedly. He kept wiping the sweat off his forehead, but as the lightning gradually ceased, the sweat on his forehead increased.

All was silent on the green mountain behind the Zhishou Abbey. It was filled with silence and despair. An old and shrill voice cried, “We can’t even kill him with that. What can we do?”

The Divine Guard of Light and Giant Golden Dragon scales fell from the sky, turning into burning Haotian divine fire. It swept away all the humans on the surface of the Wilderness, burning many to death within a short period.

In a battle of such intensity, all forces on Earth could only stand by and watch. However, there was no one qualified to watch today. They could only be lead by the waves and die regardless of which side they stood on.

No matter whether they were the Desolate, from the Central Plains, the West-Hill Divine Palace or the Devil’s Doctrine, they all became burnt corpses when they were touched by the divine fire. Then, they were cleansed and turned into smoke, disappearing into nothingness.

The Headmaster landed on the surface of the Wilderness. He waved his arm and the clouds gathered. His sleeves fluttered and there was wind. Moments later, a thunderstorm occurred on the Wilderness, extinguishing the fire and dispelling the smoke.

The rain and wind stopped, and the sky separated by light and darkness returned to normal, revealing a bluish hue. White clouds floated on the cerulean sky; in the distance, a flock of sheep that looked like clouds appeared.

“The sun is setting, and the land is looking wonderful. That’s not right.”

The Headmaster looked at the white clouds and shook his head. He casually threw the sword in his hand to the south, then placed his hand behind his back, leading Ning Que, Sangsang and the black horse carriage away.

The blinding light had been suppressed and the cold, terrifying night had disappeared. The hundreds of thousands of people on the Wilderness gradually regained consciousness. They looked at the tall figure and the slowly disappearing horse carriage.

They had all vaguely guessed what had happened but did not believe it because not even the most secretive scriptures and the most blasphemous of dark history books had ever recorded that such things would happen.

The battle between the divine world and humans was won by mankind.

The ancient sword of the world flew back to the Sword Garret of the South Jin Kingdom. It descended to the hole in the belly of the mountain and silently pressed down into the bottom of the dried pool. Moments later, the water appeared, filling the pool and submerging the sword.

Liu Bai looked at the pool in front of him and knew that he could no longer use this sword ever again, even though he had forged the sword and refined it with his spirit for many years.

The sword had already seen the sea and would no longer be impressed by normal waters. The sword had been used by the Headmaster to battle the will of Haotian. Would it still be willing to be wielded by an ordinary person or battle in the human realm?

Liu Bai did not seem disappointed nor defeated. Calm and fill with awe, he smoothed out his clothes and washed his face in the pool water before bowing to the northern Wilderness.

He was the most powerful person in the world. He was the prideful Sword Sage, Liu Bai. He had never respected nor feared anyone.

He would only bow to the Headmaster alone.

The Headmaster of the Tang Empire’s Academy was a legendary character.

Even though his name had been gradually forgotten by the world and many cultivators, in the hearts of truly powerful cultivators, he was still the most powerful.

Many were guessing how tall the Headmaster was.

The Zhishou Abbey’s dean and the Chief Preaching Monk of the Xuankong Temple had once been beaten by the Headmaster. They once thought that they could guess how tall he was, but then, they discovered they were wrong.

Liu Bai detached himself from the world for many years because of the Headmaster. He guessed that the Headmaster must be in the legendary Peaceful Non-Action State. But he was shocked to discover that he was wrong.

In Helan City.

Master Huang Yang looked at the blue skies and white clouds in the distance and lamented, “In the spring of the 13th year of the Tianqi era, the Academy started a new term. The Headmaster presided the ceremony at the Academy while the Nation Master and I played chess at a pavilion by the path. I once asked him how tall the Headmaster was.”

The Emperor asked, “What did Qing Shan say?”

“The Nation Master said that the Headmaster was several stories tall. I said then, that the Second floor was already very high. If the Headmaster was several stories tall, then that would be really tall… However, it seems like we were both wrong.”

“How tall is the Headmaster?”

Master Huang Yang praised sincerely, “The Headmaster is as tall as the sky.”