Nightfall

Eldest Brother put down the Chinese zither. He clapped his hands and transferred his aura into the body of Beigong and Ximen. And then he bowed his head in silence and started to repair the zither and the flute.

Jun Mo had blood all over his body. He returned from the field and saluted his Eldest Brother.

That was when everyone else from the Academy gathered their wits and they all saluted Eldest Brother.

Eldest Brother saluted back, saying, “Thanks for all the efforts you’ve made.”

Judging by the blood stains on Eldest Brother’s cotton jacket, the people knew that he must have had a risky and hard fight with the Abbey Dean. The fight might have been more dangerous and harder than the battle they faced, so everyone was worried.

Eldest Brother didn’t want other people to worry about him. He looked up at the roof of the shelter, saying, “This looks like a sunshade we use at the back of the mountain, but you all are using this to block arrows. It’s not bad, but you have to watch out for the flying swords.”

Then he rearranged the tactical array before the Verdant Canyon.

The autumn breeze came again, and cotton was leaking out of the sword cuts on his jacket. The cotton shivered in the wind, and melted in the air like shadows.

Eldest Brother disappeared from under the shelter.

On the field before the mountains, the red divine robe fluttered. Ye Hongyu had summoned the Taoism Sword to guard her Taoist Heart. She looked quite serious because she knew that man would show up before her any time soon.

South of the field, in the camp of the West-Hill Divine Palace Coalition Army, the disciples of the Sword Garret were looking up to the sky warily. Liu Bai was sitting peacefully beside yesterday’s ashes. He looked calm, with the sheathed sword resting on his legs.

Nobody knew where Mr. First of the Academy had gone to.

But everybody could guess that Mr. First would definitely come here.

The next moment.

Eldest Brother’s figure showed up in the south of the field. In the camp of the Coalition Army, out of the heavy voile, his eyes locked on the old Great Divine Priest of Revelation in the depths of the divine chariot. Then he pulled out the short wooden rod on his waist.

The Great Divine Priest looked out of the voile and at the scholar. The wrinkles on his face were deepening.

More than ten priests in red yelled and screamed as they jumped towards the divine chariot.

Eldest Brother didn’t react. He was holding the rod in his hand, looking at the Great Divine Priest of Revelation through the voile.

The priests in red flew backwards like stones that were thrown out, and then they fell heavily onto the ground, causing dirt and dust to fly. All of them went faint with a clear red print of a rod on their foreheads.

The star light deep inside the eyes of the Great Divine Priest of Revelation suddenly started to burn, and wherever his sight reached, everything including the voile started to burn in Haotian Divine Fire, blocking Eldest Brother outside.

Eldest Brother raised the wooden rod in his hand.

His cotton jacket was shaking, leaving a shadow on the spot he stood.

It might seem that he was still standing outside of the chariot, and standing out of the burning voile.

But on the other side of the shadow, another “Eldest Brother” had walked across the fire and showed up before the Great Divine Priest of Revelation.

The Great Divine Priest of Revelation looked at him, and chanted expressionlessly, “He who believes in Haotian…”

Eldest Brother said, “Confucius never spoke of…”

The Great Divine Priest of Revelation said nothing more.

Eldest Brother raised the wooden rod and attacked.

Looking at the approaching wooden rod, the Great Divine Priest of Revelation came up with 4,892 possibilities at the moment.

The scripture before him was radiating endless brightness.

So he hid himself in the brightness.

It cost him damage to his Taoist Heart to see into the future, so he tried to avoid the 4,892 possibilities.

Eldest Brother stood before him with the rod raised in his hand, and then he simply knocked down.

The strike might look simple, but actually, it was beyond complicated.

In a mere moment, the short rod had been waved 4,893 times.

And then all in one strike.

A dull clashing sound came out of the divine chariot.

Countless turbulences of the Qi of Heaven and Earth burst out like tornados. The burnt veil flew on the field like charred butterflies.

The scripture which had been radiating endless brightness was torn into pieces, and flew in the autumn wind.

The body of the Great Divine Priest of Revelation reappeared in the divine chariot. He sat with his legs crossed, his body soaked in blood.

Eldest Brother’s rod had hit on his forehead, and his Taoist Heart.

One single rod had caused incurable injuries on the Great Divine Priest of Revelation.

The blood wasn’t very thick, and it might even seem a little thin. The blood flowed in the wrinkles on his face as if pouring rain had suddenly befallen a piece of dry withered land.

But he looked as peaceful as usual because he had seen the end when he first heard the zither.

Long ago, when the Buddhism Sect and the Haotian Taoism ambushed Ning Que and Sangsang at the Yuelun Kingdom and the White Tower Temple, they almost succeeded until the zither rang. And it was because of this sound that the whole story changed.

Most stories in the world would be replayed again and again.

“Mr. First was indeed true to the name. The Academy was ambushed in the Verdant Canyon; of course you’ve already set the coordinates. The Divine Palace ignored that, and of course we’re going to lose because of ignorance.”

The Great Divine Priest of Revelation looked at the Eldest Brother and said.

Eldest Brother wondered why the Great Divine Priest insisted on talking to him at this very moment, but he felt it rude if he didn’t reply. So he replied, “And the Abbey Dean is arriving later on; I have to take the time to do something.”

The quiet carriage was not far away from the divine chariot.

Seeing the chariot burn and fall in ashes like autumn leaves, the Coalition Army burst into astonished exclamations, and the disciples of the Sword Garret paled.

Finally, the expression of Liu Bai changed, and he seemed not as peaceful as before.

Like his emotion at this moment, the sword resting on his legs also felt the threat. It had become alerted and excited. Half of the sword had unsheathed, vibrating and buzzing.

He had met Mr. First at the Sword Garret, in the autumn of two years ago.

He stood beside the pool and Mr. First was standing before him.

Mr. First could move across ten thousand miles freely, so could his sword.

So although he had summoned back the flying sword, he was still in peace.

Because he was sure that no matter how powerful Mr. First was, he couldn’t be a threat to him.

And he was surprised at the progress that the scholar had made when meeting him again on the field before the green mountains. It was not until the divine chariot fell into ruins that he could make sure that…

The gentle and cultivated guy had learned how to fight!

A man who was good at everything, and could be the best in all fields except fighting had now learned how to fight. Could he be the best in the field of fighting, too?

Who was going to be his match?

Liu Bai reached out slowly to hold the vibrating hilt with joy and happiness on his face.

He had such a great competitor in the world, and that was something worth celebrating.

However, to his dismay, the fight didn’t happen.

Eldest Brother had left. He played the killing melody with one single string and injured a Great Divine Priest with a wooden rod, later leaving quietly.

He came and left in a hurry.

And as for the reason of the hustle.

That was because of the Taoist who had shown up on the field before the Verdant Canyon.

The Taoist was dressed in black clothes.