Nightfall

The back of the mountain of the Academy had always been a mysterious existence in the Cultivation Field. While Third Senior Sister, Yu Lian, kept a lower-profile that few people were conscious of her existence. Even in the West-Hill Divine Palace, people only knew that she was a powerful master in the Seethrough Realm.

The “Ri” Handscroll in the Tomes of the Arcane also recorded in the same way.

However, the Hierarch Lord and the authentic bigwigs had never believed that.

The Academy was such a mysterious place. Eldest Brother heard of Taoism in the morning and mastered Taoism in the sunset. He had leaped from the No Doubts State into the Knowing Destiny State over two consecutive levels within only one day. While Second Brother elevated into the No Doubts State only right after 14 days of the initial comprehension.

As the Third Senior Sister of Academy, Yu Lian was only inferior to Eldest Brother and Second Brother.

The Second Floor of the Academy was sorted by the entry time. However, considering Eldest Brother and Second Brother who were both extraordinary people: one of them was a World Wayfarer and had defeated the World Wayfarer of both the Buddhism and Taoism with absolute advantage amid the autumn rain in Lanke Temple; the other one had stopped the Sage of Sword, Liu Bai, the first powerful master in the world drawing his sword out. How could she possibly be a weak one?

There were also many geniuses in Haotian Taoism. Ye Su had seen through life and death since he was young. Ye Hongyu, who had been too proud to fight with Chen Pipi for the reputation of being the youngest to enter into the Knowing Destiny State, patiently cultivated and forcibly suppressed her cultivation state under the Seethrough Realm for years. Only till Harmony that did she cross the threshold easily on the snow cliff which was pretty much the same as that at the moment.

Therefore the Hierarch Lord felt no sense of astonishment when he saw Yu Lian breaking out of the Seethrough Realm instantly and elevating into Knowing Destiny State while walking slowly along the mountain path until she finally entered the climax of Knowing Destiny State!

The Hierarch Lord finally started to wear imposing looks on his face, but he sounded august and confident as usual.

“Haotian had granted me the divine power to protect the world and even your two senior brothers would not be able to contend with me. Even if you are able to show out your real strength today, you are only destined to be sacrificial offerings!”

Looking at the innocent and beautiful maiden standing out there, the Hierarch Lord said, “Haotian Taoism respects the Headmaster and for his sake, I will spare all you three from death as long as you hand me the array eye pestle.”

Yu Lian took out an object wrapped up with cloth and then placed it on the wooden bench beside the mountain path. Staring at the gigantic chariot, she said peacefully, “Poke your eyes and I will spare you from death for the sake of being so stupid.”

Being startled slightly for a moment, the Hierarch Lord then laughed out loud immediately.

His laughter quaked the layers of the satins and veils, echoing through the quiet mountain behind the Academy.

“You are as short as a little girl in appearance, but you talk with a tone boasting yourself too much actually.”

Slowly stopping laughing, the Hierarch Lord acclaimed, “How ridiculous and laughable it is! You really think that you are capable of defeating me?”

His voice was cold and loud, sounding exactly like the thunder roaring in late winter.

Having already walked to the front of the gigantic carriage at the moment, Yu Lian looked at the tall figure looming in the satins and said with a faint smile, “You are much shorter than me. How can you be eligible to laugh at me?”

Even though the figure in the carriage looked so tall and stalwart, she still said that he was actually much too shorter than her.

The Hierarch Lord fell silent all of a sudden.

Staring at the young girl outside the veils, he said in a slow tone, “Who are you?”

His voice sounded so heavy, even with some nervousness.

Yu Lian said distantly, “I have always known who you are, while you still don’t know who I am. It is said that you and I are the most mysterious people in the Cultivation Field. Now it sounds ridiculous.”

A Cicadas’ chirping suddenly rang out in the quiet mountain behind the Academy.

It was four spring-like and no true autumn at all for this place. As the chirping of Cicadas was ringing on, the autumn was coming. The autumn winds began to blow and the yellow leaves started to fall down. This cicada was one that belonged in the autumn season.

Fifth Brother and Eighth Brother who were standing beneath the pine tree seemed somewhat astounded at first. Then they seemed to recall something and smiled into each other, leaving the cliff platform quietly after bowing to Yu Lian.

The Hierarch Lord became more and more nervous and said in a cold tone, “Who… who the hell are you?”

When he heard the chirpings, he vaguely figured out something, but to no end would he believe that.

The aura of Yu Lian suddenly changed, cold and detached. Her face seemed to be covered by a thin layer of frost, which made her look so mysterious and proud.

She looked up at that tall figure in the carriage as if she was looking at an ant.

She coldly said, “Xiong Chumo, you stupid dwarf! In no way are you qualified to stand taller than me!”

As soon as her voice died away, numerous of chirpings of Cicadas rang out in the mountain behind the Academy.

The cicadas seemed to know something.

The chirpings of Cicadas echoed all over the wilderness, sounding mournful and frightening.

The autumn winds were growing strong and the yellow leaves were falling down.

Many yellow leaves fell down on the gigantic carriage.

The thousands of layers of veils covering the carriage had not been destroyed completely during the fight with Xu Shi and had been pulled together at all while breaking off the Academy’s Go game. However, in front of the falling yellow leaves, they appeared to be so fragile that they were torn down into numerous pieces!

With the tattered satins fluttering away, there were no other things on the carriage.

Few people in the world had seen the physical body of the Hierarch Lord of the West-Hill Divine Palace.

That was the exact reason why he was considered one of the two most mysterious people in the world.

At this moment, his physical body finally revealed in the broad daylight as well as in front of the countless chirpings.

An old Taoist Priest with pretty ordinary look showed up on the carriage.

He had pretty distinctive facial features.

He was very short, who was much shorter than an eight or nine-year-old boy.

He was much too thin, thinner than the poor in the famine age.

He looked pretty much like a puppet made up of multiple dead planks of wood.

Not only did he appear that miserable but also that ridiculous.

This was what the Hierarch Lord of West-Hill Divine Palace really looked like.

The Hierarch Lord was not accustomed to the skylight.

A look of panic was revealed on his face.

It was due to the fact that his lay-man name nobody had known about was revealed by Yu Lian. It also due to the fact that he found that without the layers of satins and veils concealing his body, his tall and stalwart figure had disappeared into the void. He became so panic as if he was a naked woman who had been stripped completely off her clothing, without knowing where to lay her hands at all.

Looking at this scene, the big white goose which was landing on top of the water wheel behind the iron forge mill began to quack out shamelessly.

While in the midst of the chirping of Cicadas echoing all over the whole mountain, Yu Lian’s aura continued elevating up, transcending over the lofty threshold hanging above the Five States in an instant, finally ending up as a landscape of blankness and clarity!

The Hierarch Lord finally recovered. Staring at the young girl standing outside the carriage, he shouted sharply and angrily with his withered lips.

“Lin Wu!”

“The Twenty-Three-year Cicada Cultivation!”

“You are actually hiding in the Academy!”

“How have you become a woman?”

There were a total of 13 disciples in the mountain behind the Academy, among which the Third Sister, Yu Lian, was the least eye-catching one.

Her companions were all peerless geniuses in their respective fields except her, who seemed nothing special. Not only rarely did she talk with people, but she also rarely stayed in the back of the mountain.

Sitting beside the eastern window of the Second floor of the old library day by day, she traced over the Hairpin-style Small Regular Script quietly. It seemed that nothing in the world could arouse her interest and naturally, it was difficult for her to get other people’s attention.

Leaving the people in Cultivation Field alone, even other disciples and Ning Que would sometimes forget that they had such a Senior Sister. She was too quiet to be remembered.

At this critical moment of life and death, the Eldest Brother had sent the rest disciples to the position where they were needed and only she was left in the Academy.

It was not because he was not concerned about that the Academy would be sneakily raided nor he possesed the same psychology as the Queen and Ning Que that to give up Helan City. He just believed that as long as the Third Sister stayed in the Academy, it would stay safe and sound.

It was because she had a former name, and that was Lin Wu.

She was the Twenty-Three-year Cicada Cultivation.

The Headmaster once had such a conversation with his disciples.

There was a kind of cicada in the arid land of the far west. The cicadas hid amid the mud for the whole 23 years and didn’t wake up until the Snow Mountain began to melt as the flood arrived. While showering in the muddy water and drying wings in chilly winds, they would flutter to fly out of the void.

Chen Pipi was intoxicated at that time when he heard it.

While Eldest Brother and Second Brother smiled without uttering anything.

Yu Lian was also on the scene at that time. She cooked a bowl of vegetable noodle for the Headmaster that night.

For hundreds of years, he was the best genius of the Devil’s Doctrine.

Master Lotus always wanted him to inherit his legacy with his whole heart.

However, he calmly rejected the opportunity since his father was killed by Lotus.

He chose a way which no other people had ever taken.

He wanted to practice was a unique skill that no one in the Devil’s Doctrine had ever successfully practiced.

He was the youngest Grandmaster of the Devil’s Doctrine history, and also the last one.

He had ever recruited a few disciples who were all older than him.

He continued on his cultivation.

Till the time when he succeeded finally, he disappeared then.

He had been the most mysterious figure in the Cultivation Field from that day on.

The Headmaster came across a little girl the same year.

The little girl who wore delicate makeup looked extremely cute. However, she had a pair of peaceful and tranquil eyes.

Only the Headmaster could see through the frustration and fear crouching deep inside them.

“What exactly are you afraid of?”

Headmaster said to the little girl, “All are in external forms. Does the shell mean that much to you?”

The little girl got him and saluted with her hands to him, elegantly.

The Headmaster shook his head.

The little girl put both her hands at the sides of her waist in somewhat awkward posture and saluted while crouching slightly, which looked pretty shy.

The Headmaster nodded with satisfaction.

At the time the Devil’s Doctrine was doomed to destruction and West-Hill Divine Palace was hunting down the evil remnants of Devil’s Doctrine around the world. The little girl was just a little girl who did not possess the ability to defend herself and she had no idea as for how she was gonna spend the next 23 years.

But she did not beg the Headmaster.

She had her own pride.

The Headmaster spoke up before her and said, “Come along with me to the Academy.”

The Headmaster casually spoke as if she was already a member of the Academy.

The Headmaster gained a female disciple that day.

As more and more disciples enrolled in, she began to be called as Third Sister.

A few years later, she made a female professor in the Academy.

She sat quietly beside the eastern window peacefully while tracing over Hairpin-style Small Regular Script and she had been sitting there for many years.

Fits of chirping of cicadas rang out outside the window.

She was humble and never got involved with the matters of the world. The world also left her alone.

She was exactly the legendary Twenty-Three-year Cicada Cultivation, Lin Wu!

A heavy fog (the name means fog in forest).

The Hierarch Lord’s shocking and furious roaring still reverberated in the mountain behind the Academy.

Even though the roar sounded like thunder in winter, it still could not suppress down the chirping of Autumn Cicadas vibrating throughout the whole mountain.

Staring at the innocent and beautiful girl, he said incredulously, “How have you become a woman?”

Yu Lian said with slight sarcasm, “Even Haotian could transform into a woman, why couldn’t I? If I can not even see through the external forms, how can I be able to practice the Twenty-Three-year Cicada Cultivation? If Ye Su stood in front of me right now, he would not have asked that stupid question. Since he has apprehended life and death, he won’t care about these details naturally.”

The Hierarch still unable to hold down his expressions of astonishment and said then, “Even though you are an evil remnant, you are a grandmaster after all. With such a grandeur identity, how dare you to acknowledge an outsider as your master. Shame on you!”

Looking up at the sky, Yu Lian said, “The Headmaster is worthy to be the master of anyone, let alone me.”