Chapter Volume 7 22: Sword Master and Zither Master
His fair lotus-like right hand reached out from his spacious scholar embroidered robes. Following this extension of his hand, his bright and clean face suddenly produced more than ten wrinkles. His swollen body also became like a deflated ball, immediately shrinking. The boundless strength within his body suddenly erupted from this right hand of his.
There were seven colors of radiance that condensed like an illusion, forming a seven-colored deer above his hand.
The seven-colored deer separated from his hand, tearing apart the air. It flew into the night sky, withdrawing into a willow leaf shaped golden throwing knife.
The surface of this willow leaf-like golden throwing knife that he threw out was strangely curved, not moving through the night sky in a straight line. It instead continuously changed positions in the air, drifting left and right like a giant firefly.
The weapon of this Provincial Supervisor Manor Great Consecrator who was number three in this entire province was actually an extremely rarely seen flying dagger.
Flying daggers weren’t the flying swords controlled by Sacred Experts. No matter how strange their trajectories were while moving through the air, their ultimate destination was already decided the moment it left the wielder’s hands, impossible to alter.
However, this wasn’t Gao Gongyue’s only flying dagger.
The first flying dagger was hidden within the seven-colored deer. When incredibly powerful soul force was suddenly infused, it first froze in the air, and then accelerated with astonishing speed. At this time, the second, third, fourth… a total of eight flying daggers also floated in front of his body as if time itself froze, and then similarly began to accelerate with astonishing speed.
The space in front of his right hand flickered nine times in a single breath. Nine flying daggers accelerated in the air, forming nine shockwave-like cyclones.
In the eyes of bystanders, there were a total of nine flying daggers that were released at the same time.
Nine transparent cyclones exploded in front of his body, and then nine golden willow leaves disappeared from in front of him, scattered across this night sky.
In this instant, Gao Gongyue released a small half of his soul force, his body also seemed to have instantly aged by a decade. However, the powerful aura that wrapped around his entire body didn’t decrease in the slightest, instead becoming even stronger.
It was because he understood it all extremely clearly, knowing that this strike might not necessarily be able to kill or even seriously injure the other party, and then the other side’s retaliation will definitely be extremely astonishing.
The skin on his flesh seemed to have become chunks of yellow jade, the earth beneath his feet also becoming even more brilliant.
The nine points of golden radiance vaguely formed a sphere in the night sky, gradually closing in on the center of this sphere right now.
At the center of the sphere was precisely the one who moved through the darkness and persistently held himself to the radiance in his heart, disregarding all rules of this world, the Dark Priest who others saw as an asura born through blood.
Regardless of which direction he dodged from, there was no way he could avoid being hit by one or two flying daggers.
The nine flying daggers that carried terrifying power formed a metal cage, locking this Dark Priest within.
Five years ago, Gao Gongyue stepped into this provincial capital for the first time. At that time, when he encountered the Provincial Supervisor Manor’s Great Consecrator in Golden Wind Alley, with just this move, the Provincial Manor Great Consecrator wasn’t a match. Thus, he went from a completely unknown cultivator to becoming the new Provincial Manor Great Consecrator.
Five years later, this move he used back then in Golden Wind Alley already became who knew how many times stronger.
However, his expression suddenly changed.
It was because the opponent in the golden prison suddenly vanished.
This Dark Priest simply leapt down, landing on the ground.
Gao Gongyue understood the weakness of his own attack well, knowing that he couldn’t be like a Sacred Expert, unable to control a flying sword underground, so the ground underneath his opponent was a free way out. However, he still couldn’t figure out just how the other party could instantly empty out the sturdy earth beneath him to such an extent, allowing him to directly fall through, completely disappearing from his sight.
He had thought about many different ways the other party could deal with his attack, yet never expected this.
…
Under the Dark Priest’s feet, it was as if a path leading into a gloomy underground world was opened. His entire being disappeared within.
Two willow leaf-like fluttering golden flying daggers that descended from above entered the hole he disappeared into. Following two light pu pu noises, sounds of them digging deeply into the earth sounded.
These two light sounds seemed to be like a fuse. The countless rustling noises all around Gao Gongyue’s body suddenly became incredibly loud and fierce.
Gao Gongyue’s breathing completely stopped.
In his perception, the world outside his body was originally a torrential rain, but now, all of the lines of rain completely changed their direction, rising up from the ground, each line of rain becoming a fatal soul weapon that flew out in reverse into the sky!
The ground surface of the entire small courtyard he was in erupted!
It wasn’t just an eruption in his perception, but rather could already be seen with the naked eye. It truly erupted, boiling like a bowl of hot soup. Endless dust and earth surged from below, the stone boards, pebbles and bricks all instantly shattered into small pieces.
Gao Gongyue who was in the middle of this boiling chaos leapt into the air in alarm, rushing towards the roof in the back.
He had never leapt in such a panicked manner before in his life, leaping so high up. It was almost as if he was trying to jump straight towards that bright moon in the sky.
Right at this moment, he finally understood how that Dark Priest Mu Xin Li managed to completely sink into the earth, as well as what the rustling noises that extended into the ground were.
Countless long and slender snake-like chains rushed out from underground, as if there was a long-haired sorceress underground who cast all her hair out. Meanwhile, the surface of every single slender silver snake chain was covered in fine scales, streak after streak of white radiance like even finer snakes that swam along these chains’ surface.
The rustling noises, the killing intent, all of it was real, all of them were streaks after streaks of soul weapons swimming underground.
When he saw the silver snake chains whose lengths seemed limitless rush out from the ground, Gao Gongyue’s face immediately became deathly pale. His body flipped in the air, making a summersault in the air. A white ruyi scepter appeared in his hands.
His remaining soul force was poured generously into this white ruyi, the ferocity of this concentration difficult for even his body to endure. Even the skin on his hands split open, a mouthful of blood was released as well.
The white ruyi seemed to be burning, every streak of tree leaf stalk-like runes having white streams running through them.
The streak after streak of white streams produced a massive expanse of white tree leaves in front of Gao Gongyue.
Countless silver snakes bit down on this expanse of white tree leaves, endless silver and white-colored radiance erupting in the air.
Gao Gongyue was facing the ground, but his body was instead flung even higher into the air by the great power.
Countless fine silver snakes danced about in the air, winding around each other, becoming a great silver snake. The ground surged, the Dark Priest dressed entirely in black robes leapt out from within.
All of the silver snake chains completely extended out from below his gown. It was almost as if he was stepping on this giant silver snake’s body.
Chi!
This asura who walked in the dark raised his head, gazing towards the moon in the sky, his face still unable to be made out. The great silver snake also raised its head, biting down towards the expanse of white leaves again.
The white tree leaves split apart in the sky.
The white ruyi in Gao Gongyue’s hands cracked apart as well. A mouthful of blood was released from this Provincial Supervisor Manor Great Consecrator, but he couldn’t tend to this mouthful of blood at all, forcefully enduring the pain as he said, “I won’t get involved anymore.”
…
The great silver snake disappeared into the air, all of the snake chains returning into the black robes. The black-robed man landed on the ground, his feet sinking deeply into the earth. Gao Gongyue landed heavily on a roof, crushing countless black tiles, and then he directly sat down with a bitter smile, no longer making any movements.
The black-robed man lowered his head and then leapt out again, turning into a black cloud, disappearing into the sea of black eaves.
Gao Gongyue wiped away the blood from the corners of his lips, and then produced a medicine bottle, ingesting a pill. He released a long sigh, continuing to sit on the shattered roof tiles, his eyes closed, no longer moving.
…
Lin Xi held a long black blade in his hands as he moved through the bamboo forest.
He didn’t change out of the blood-soaked green clothes, because he knew that just like the long black blade in his hands, they were the proof those people who came carrying the emperor’s decree needed.
If he and Jiang Xiaoyi both changed their clothes, it would be the same as completely keeping the battlefield within that residence, dragging Jiang Xiaoyi and that Dark Priest down with him.
Now, he brought all of the proof with him, he himself also the greatest proof, fleeing out of that residence. Those people would follow him out.
Right now, there still weren’t any pursuers that showed up in his line of sight, but he knew that with him at the center, there was already a formless great web that unfolded. Only when he completely broke through this net, disappearing from the eyes of the ones who formed this web, could he leave these people without proof.
The world within the bamboo forest was pitch-black, but because there were thick bamboo leaves covering the ground, not much weeds, it was instead extremely easy to move through.
However, he quickly stopped.
Up ahead, at the limits of the bamboo forest, appeared a man dressed in a moon white long gown, his face handsome. He only looked to be around forty years of age, but his temples were already turning white. His expression was desolate, as if there was nothing essential in this world, nothing that could draw his attention, nothing that could make him happy.
In his hands was a moon white sheathed longsword.
The sword hilt was made of slightly yellow ivory, the sword’s long tassels woven out of golden threads, fluttering next to the sword hilt right now.
Lin Xi stopped. Another person walked out from behind him.
This was a zither master who was holding a zither case, a red-clothed woman whose face was covered by a black cloth. Her clothes had peonies embroidered.
Lin Xi silently shook his head. He directly broke out into a sprint towards the side, he would think about everything else after he escaped.
However, what he didn’t expect was that neither of the two moved to chase after him.
The sword master with white hair on his temple looked at the zither case and the red-clothed woman. Meanwhile, the red-clothed woman moved through the bamboo forest, heading towards the sword master.