Nightfall

There was a simple and unadorned Taoist temple in the depths of the quiet mountain forest. Behind the Taoist temple lied a reflecting lake, and beside the lake lied seven thatched cottages covered with straw tops which looked like gold and jade.

A turquoise robe flashed above the lake water, to later reveal the figure of the Abbey Dean beside the lake.

One thatched cottage lying beside the lake had already collapsed halfway, with the golden straw all around the place. A scarlet-ink Classic could be seen underneath, along with some calligraphy stationery.

The Abbey Dean wore a slight cold look on his face while looking at this scene.

A middle-aged Taoist was standing beneath a green stone beside the lake, with a fly whisk resting on his arms and a pale-grave look. It was not until he had seen the Abbey Dean show up that he began to become somewhat relieved. He said wearily, “I pay my respects, Senior Brother.”

Without paying him any mind, the Abbey Dean remained without uttering a word while looking at the half-collapsed thatched cottage.

There were rustling sounds.

Eldest Brother wormed out from the straw, with grass sticks adhering to his hair, his cotton jacket and stains of blood remaining on his lip and a flustered look. He must have been wounded while fighting with the middle-aged Taoist.

There were few people in the cultivation world who knew about the middle-aged Taoist. However, this fact did not mean that he was not powerful.

The Headmaster used a wooden rod to drive Chen Mou far away from solid land, many years ago, which made him only dare to drift in the South Sea. From that day on, everything related to the Zhishou Abbey was handled by the middle-aged Taoist.

As the second most powerful master in Zhishou Abbey, the middle-aged Taoist had concealed himself from the world and remained reclusive. The day he made a move, it would be earth-shattering.

That was why Eldest Brother had been hurt.

Keeping his eyes on Eldest Brother in the thatched straw mound, the Abbey Dean said, “Having known that my Younger Brother was left to guard the Taoist temple, you still insisted to come here. It was an unwise move, from my perspective.”

Eldest Brother replied then, “Since you have been following me all the way here, it means that my choice was correct.”

The Abbey Dean asked all of a sudden, “Have you previously visited the Abbey?”

Eldest Brother shook his head calmly.

Frowning his brow slightly, the Abbey Dean asked, “Then how did you pinpoint the location of Zhishou Abbey with your sense of perception?”

“The Headmaster knew where Zhishou Abbey was.”

Raising up his right hand, Eldest Brother pointed towards his forehead with his index finger and said with a smile, “Then he told me.”

The Abbey Dean said, “You never came here, during the two days that you were traveling around the world. I guess you were waiting for the exact moment.”

Eldest Brother said, “Exactly. Because only by doing so, I would be able to fight for some time to make my move in the Verdant Canyon, and instead force you to leave Verdant Canyon with me right away.”

The Abbey Dean said, “I left a sword in front of the Verdant Canyon.”

After hearing out his words, Eldest Brother was silent at first and then spoke out a moment later, “I trust them.”

Then Abbey Dean asked, “Then what would make you so sure that I would definitely leave the Verdant Canyon with you?”

“Due to the fact that I was coming to the Zhishou Abbey, you had to follow me here, not a moment slower.”

Eldest Brother said with calmness then, “My Younger Brothers and I have been deliberating beforehand, for you, the Abbey Dean, about what would be much more important than getting rid of Tang and the Academy, to even make you give up the opportunity to strike out in the Verdant Canyon and come to the rescue with all your might. We had been pondering on that for a long time, without finding a suitable answer.”

The Abbey Dean and the middle-aged Taoist were both silent.

Staring at the Scarlet Ink Classics which were buried by the thatched straw mound in front of him, Eldest Brother spoke out smilingly, “In the end, it finally occurred to us that for you, there were no other things in the world that would be as important as your belief or your reverence towards Haotian.”

“As a Halidom granted to Haotian Taoism by Haotian, two volumes from the Tomes of the Arcane have been lost for thousands of years. It’s natural that Haotian would feel displeased. If the remaining five volumes of the Tomes of the Arcane were taken away by me, either to be destroyed or hidden away, just the thought of it would make it such an interesting thing. That is the reason why had to follow me here.”

After a few moments’ silence, the Abbey Dean said, “Since you have come, there’s no need for you to leave.”

Eldest Brother said, “Being an unwelcome guest, it’s better for me to leave as early as possible.”

The Abbey Dean looked at him and said calmly, “I have to keep you here. You have to know that this is not the back of the mountain of the Academy but Zhishou Abbey. You’re no better than a sparrow flying right into a trap.”

His point was pretty clear. It was not a threat but a calm and simple explanation. No one would doubt that, while being the simplest Unknown Place, Zhishou Abbey could definitely be extremely powerful, to a point beyond imagination. All due to the fact that it existed as an entity far above the clouds of Haotian Taoism which commanded the whole world.

Knowing this point clearly, Eldest Brother still wore a calm expression.

Since he dared to come here, it was natural that he had made some preparations in advance.

With the Abbey Dean slightly waving his robe sleeve, clouds started to emerge, while the aura of Heaven and Earth amid the green mountain and the clear lake was locked up all of a sudden.

The fairly pretty autumn sunshine could not come down.

The autumn wind could only traverse the mountain and forest which had already been in a ruin behind the Taoist temple. However, it could not go beyond the wall of the Taoist temple.

The big tactical array of the Zhishou Abbey was triggered.

Then, the Taoist temple became a small world which was an existence independent of Haotian’s world yet closely related to it at the same time.

No one could leave this small world.

Not even those in the Limitless State.

Because the aura of Heaven and Earth inside the Zhishou Abbey at that time was abruptly separated from the surrounding environment.

If Eldest Brother tried to leave with Limitless State means, he would then run into the dense dividing field.

But he was still able to leave, in a casual and relaxing way.

With his cotton jacket trembling slightly, Eldest Brother’s figure became formless all of a sudden. Then he disappeared into the autumn wind whispering beside the lake.

A piece of deathly stillness hung beside the lake.

The Abbey Dean wore a slight cold look on his face while looking towards the middle-aged Taoist.

For these years, the Zhishou Abbey had been under the care of the middle-aged Taoist. The reason why Long Qing was able to flee from the Taoist temple was that he had tagged an undisciplined status unto himself, in accordance with the mental state of Abbey Dean. Then what was going on this time?

With the expression on his face becoming somewhat darkened, the middle-aged Taoist sighed, “He came back once.”

Slightly waving his robe sleeve, the Abbey Dean broke out of the void and vanished, only to leave two extremely cold words.

“How ungrateful!”

No one knew what had been going on in the Zhishou Abbey.

There was silence in the open field in front of the Verdant Canyon. The West-Hill Divine Palace Coalition Army had already beaten the gongs and withdrawn their armies.

For today, it was within only an instant before Divine Hall had almost taken the decisive victory into their pocket. However, it had never crossed anyone’s mind that Eldest Brother from the Academy would actually show up on the battlefield and turn the whole situation around with just a string and a rod.

Though the appearance of the Abbey Dean had injected confidence and fanatical emotion into the hearts of the West-Hill Divine Palace Coalition Army once again, to everyone’s surprise, the Abbey Dean disappeared. It seemed that no change had taken place in front of the Verdant Canyon.

Having gone through the two consecutive major set backs, what mattered to the Coalition Army was not the consumption of their strength on their side, but the burning divine chariot and the corpses of cavalries lying across the floor. Moreover, the pathway through Verdant Canyon which in no way could be broken into; when all these were combined together, the morale of the soldiers and the generals became abnormally low.

Though having not been in a desperate state yet, they began to feel exhausted.

Due to the fact that the Great Divine Priest of Revelation had been badly injured and the divine chariot which had been burned down was blown into numerous flying ashes by the autumn wind, with the morale of the troops gradually becoming unstable, Ye Hongyu decided to withdraw her armies in advance, even though things were not yet decided.

With the cover of night falling down step by step, from the porridge pot located beneath the iron tent in the Verdant Canyon’s entryway, only the pot bottom remained. The aroma of the porridge had already diffused among the open field, without any grains left over.

The people from the Academy were all quiet, which was pretty different from the scene last night when they went on their killing while talking and laughing with vigorous spirits. This was because they were tremendously tired already, after only two days gone by.

Holding the River and Mountain Sandbox high, Fourth Brother coughed from time to time, with mottled stains of blood running all over the front of his academy uniform. Wang Chi crouched beside him while holding a drug bowl in his hands, thinking of ways to feed medicines to Fourth Brother.

Beigong Weiyang and Ximen Buhuo were both wounded by divine doctrine. Due to the fact that they had taken the medicines in time and they had been treated by Eldest Brother, they had already stabilized and their spirits were becoming much more vigorous.

It would still be Second Brother who would be the weariest one of all. Though he still wore that calm expression on his face and held that straight posture while sitting, everyone could imagine how tired he was at the moment.

“Take an early rest, everyone.”

Looking towards the tents of the Coalition Army located on the southern open field and staring at the intensive lights which were brighter than all the star clusters over the sky, Second Brother spoke out after a moment’s silence, “Tomorrow should be a hard day.”

His Younger Brothers and Sisters agreed upon hearing Second Brother’s words. However, no one went to bed. They were all sitting around Fourth Brother.

At the time, the Virtual Sword which was left by the Abbey Dean was still dancing and flying in River and Mountain Sandbox. Fourth Brother had to maintain activated the River and Mountain Sandbox with his own Psyche Power to trap the Virtual Sword in the yellow sand.

Neither could he put the Sandbox down nor could he rest. He could only hang on in such a painful way to the end.

No one knew how long he could hold on, nor whether he could hang on till the end.

Second Brother went behind him and there he sat.

He had never taken off his armor ever since he arrived at the Verdant Canyon.

So the sound of armor pieces clanking against each other as he sat down was extremely clear, constant and cold.

It was just the same as what he had said later on.

“Let’s sit back-to-back, it will be easier after all.”

Fourth Brother smiled faintly and leaned back wearily, then slowly closing his eyes.

Second Brother moved the iron sword from his shoulder to the back and rested it under his forearm.

The bright moon was hanging in the night sky.

The moon tonight was pretty dark, so the star clusters in the Night Dome could be seen clearly.

Keeping her eyes on the night sky, Ye Hongyu wore no expressions on her face.

The Great Divine Priest of Revelation had already been sent back to the West-Hill Divine Palace. However, it was still in doubt whether he could preserve his life.

If the baton of Mr. First had been aimed towards her, how should she be able to deal with it?

After pondering on it for a pretty long time, she concluded that she was not able to handle it.

However, she wasn’t discouraged nor frustrated.

She had never been that kind of person.

She had never been the strongest.

But in the end, she was always able to beat enemies who were stronger than her.

At this time, she was thinking more about other things.

The more she thought about them, the more tightly her brows frowned.

She had already been reflecting all night.

Right until daybreak.

With the morning light breaking out little by little, the open field was covered fully with thin mist. No one knew whether if it was sunny or cloudy today.

For the people in the West-Hill Divine Palace Coalition Army, they were all waiting for one person to strike.

Because that guy was temporarily the only hope to overcome the iron sword in front of the Verdant Canyon.

Moreover, all of them strongly believed that as long as that person made his move, it was a definite thing that he would claim victory.

But Liu Bai did not make his move after all.

Even the disciples of the Sword Garret all began to feel doubtful and were completely puzzled.

Ye Hongyu stared toward the quiet horse carriage, with her brow filled with sarcasm.

Due to the paper sword sent in the letter and the fact that Liu Bai had been actually a half-master even to her, she was very respectful towards Sword Sage Liu Bai. But she still felt that Liu Bai was being utterly foolish at the moment.

From her perspective, all pride and self-satisfaction were pure folly.

No matter how qualified to be proud was the person, it would be always the same.

Whether the person was the Abbey Dean or Liu Bai.

While for this battle in the Verdant Canyon, if she would have been able to command all the authentic powerhouses in Haotian Taoism, she would have multiple ways to directly crush all the people of the Academy in front of the Verdant Canyon.

If Liu Bai had been willing to throw away his pride of Sword Taoism and cooperated with the siege, who in this world could be able to resist?

If the Abbey Dean had been willing to tread upon the mortal world authentically and to kill instead of just observing, how could the Academy be a rival to Haotian Taoism?

The problem lied in that, though being the Great Divine Priest of West-Hill currently and holding divine-like positions in the believers’ hearts, there were always a few people in the world that she still could neither affect nor control.

The Abbey Dean and Liu Bai were exactly part of those few people.

She suddenly thought of Ning Que while she was meditating quietly last night, after being sleepless while watching the moon.

Ning Que and she were actually the people engaged in the same cause.

Only the two of them knew that the best way to handle things was by hook or by crook.

There came a Buddhist chant from the thin frost at the right moment.