Chapter 653 – Journeying Back and Forth Across Ten Thousand Li Requires Only a Breath
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
The sword rose, the sword fell, snow and wind exploded.
Han Qing's sword was like the snowy plains immersed in winter, intruding into the starlight with an incredibly harsh chill.
In a symphony of shattering, the innumerable stars were cut through and then cut to pieces.
Those stars were not real, only the condensation of starlight. Although cut apart by the snowstorm of Han Qing's sword, they did not truly crumble and fall, but became countless shards reflecting the starlight.
In the night sky in front of the Divine Path, countless trails of shooting stars appeared. At the very front of every one of those trails was an extremely tiny shard of starlight.
The canals on the stone plain were also filled with innumerable tails of starlight, making them seem very beautiful.
Those numerous and close shooting stars passed through the fierce blizzard and fell on Han Qing's body.
Papapapa, like a sudden rain, like a sandstorm beating against a tent, countless tiny cuts were instantly made on the surface of the ancient armor.
The dust in the chinks of the armor was jolted off. The rust on its surface was gradually peeled off by the starlight shards, and a dark red color could faintly be seen.
"Useless coward!"
Seeing Guan Xingke using his starlight to enter the snowstorm and take dominance over the stage, Wuqiong Bi could no longer wait for her husband to move. After giving a rebuke brimming with resentment, she charged over.
Following behind her figure were violent waves several hundred zhang tall, the icy cold water of the ocean carrying the deathly aura of silent extinction to the base of the Divine Path.
In a battle of the Divine Domain, obtaining victory meant that no quarter could be given. With her first attack, she used her strongest technique!
Rumble! The sound of tempestuous waves thundering down arose from the Mausoleum of Books. Endless waves of blue-green smacked down at Han Qing.
There was no change on Han Qing's elderly face. He seemed just like an old tree stump that had been cut down several hundred years ago.
The look in his eyes also did not change, just like an old well that had already been dried up for several hundred years.
Facing the joint attack formed from the most powerful techniques of these two supreme techniques, he still raised his sword and straightforwardly chopped forward.
His sword came from the snowy plains of the north, frigid and bleak to the absolute.
The blizzard howled, wanting to swallow up those tiny shooting stars, to freeze those thousands of violent waves.
Would he be able to do it?
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The world in front of the Mausoleum of Books's Divine Path was divided by three masterly Qis, creating three miraculous scenes.
In the three parts of the night sky, one was filled with shooting stars, one was a blizzard, and the last was covered in mighty waves.
In the distance, there was a small red flower in the blizzard, amongst the stars, flickering in and out of the waves, as gaily-colored as ever.
Countless snowflakes descended, freezing the waters in the canal, which were then shattered once more by the tiny shooting stars. Immediately after, deathly waters carrying an aura of silent extinction swept through.
Han Qing's armor was completely cleared of rust by the shooting stars, then washed to a shine by the endless waves.
The surface of the armor reflected the extremely complicated lights resulting from the starlight mixing with the sea water, painting the night sky above the Mausoleum of Books with a gloomy color.
With two muffled claps, the traces of a horsetail whisk were left on the shining chest plate of the armor, by its side a carving like that of a star. They were both around an inch deep, almost piercing straight through the armor.
Blood slowly began to seep out of the chinks in the armor, then was instantly frozen into bloody flowers akin to coral.
When simultaneously facing the most powerful attacks of two experts of the Divine Domain, no matter how profound Han Qing's cultivation, he was still at a disadvantage and was soon in a dangerous situation.
Yet behind the blizzard, in the depths of the stars, and high over the waves, the red flower still noiselessly swayed, clearly with no intent of participating in the battle.
Bie Yanghong suddenly raised his head up to the peak of the Mausoleum of Books.
A tinge of astonishment appeared in his serene and clear eyes.
The Tianhai Divine Empress stood at the peak of the Mausoleum of Books. No matter how fierce the battle below the Divine Path, her expression did not change in the slightest, not even paying it a glance.
Her gaze was in an extremely faraway place, tens of thousands of li away.
Her soul was also tens of thousands of li away.
Tens of thousands of li away, by the stream near Xining Village's old temple, the monk suddenly opened his eyes and looked to the other shore.
The breeze caressed the branches of the trees, and it also caressed the sleeves of the sublime beauty standing on the other side of the stream.
The Tianhai Divine Empress stood by the stream, yet she already seemed to no longer be there.
The monk slightly frowned. He lightly waved his sleeve, throwing the string of prayer beads in his hand into the stream.
With a plop, the prayer beads fell in the stream, yet they did not sink down. Instead, they suddenly dispersed into several dozen beads, shooting off in every direction.
Those two blood lotuses constantly bobbing back and forth between the two powerful Qis were struck by these beads and began to violently move. As if dragged along by invisible reins, they slowly and arduously made their way to the other shore.
He sensed something, so he did not hesitate to cast away those magical beads he kept on his person to lock the stream's surrounding star radiance so as to have her soul remain here.
The corners of the Divine Empress's lips perked upward, revealing a faintly mocking smile as she also waved her sleeve.
A gentle breeze blew across the stream, making it impossible for those blood lotuses drifting over to continue their advance. Those Buddhist prayer beads scattered like stars across the stream began to shudder for some reason.
When the breeze grew still, she had already vanished from the stream bank.
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Out of consideration for many different aspects, the plains between the capital and Luoyang did not have many farms. The vast majority of it was open plain.
Late on this early autumn night, these plains that had just been irrigated by torrential rains were extremely muddy and difficult to traverse, even worse than the great marsh to the northeast of White Emperor City.
To Daoist Ji, this didn't mean much.
After leaving the capital, he had kept moving east. Shortly afterwards, he faintly made out the outline of a most grandiose city.
Yet he did not continue forward. Pausing on the plains, he gazed at the hourglass in his hands.
The upper half of the hourglass was nearly empty. The trickle of sand flowing down was extremely thin, seemingly about to snap at any moment.
He raised his head up to the night sky.
The night sky which was usually covered in uncountable stars was now utterly devoid of them, leaving only an infinite darkness.
At the edge of the night sky, he could faintly make out strands of clouds moving at high speeds. Only there could one see a hint of silver light.
Those dark clouds incessantly tore at each other, wove into each other, and congregated with each other, forming a clearer and clearer picture in the darkness at their center.
It was an absolutely enormous black dragon that crossed the entire night sky like a mountain range.
The edges of this black dragon glowed with a silver light, giving off a frigid sensation.
Daoist Ji stood on the plain, gazing at the dragon formed from the night, his expression grave.
Finally, the Tianhai Divine Empress had confirmed his position.
He could even clearly sense Tianhai's soul returning from tens of thousands of li away, the Tianhai at the summit of the Mausoleum of Books also drawing back her gaze.
If her gaze ultimately fell on this place, if her soul returned to her body, if she came here, he would be forced to engage in direct battle with her.
Even if she could be said to be at her weakest state in two centuries, he still did not want to engage in direct combat with her.
Twenty years ago, he had already received enough of a lesson.
A stream of clear light flowed out from the depths of his Daoist robe.
This stream of clear light was extremely masterly and divine. It was simply impossible to describe it with the words of mortals.
His Daoist robe began to faintly tremble, the openings of his sleeves trembling the most.
With a rip, the sleeves of his Daoist robe tore open, ten-odd extremely thin threads pulled out by some invisible force.
In the night sky, the black dragon that was clearly formed from some Daoist technique was suddenly scored with ten-odd tears, clear light exuding from it.
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The soul had returned from far away.
The Tianhai Divine Empress's Phoenix eyes grew even brighter.
She drew back her distant gaze, yet she did not turn to Luoyang, but to her feet.
An extremely clear and bright Phoenix cry suddenly burst over the Mausoleum of Books, resounding in the night sky!
This Phoenix cry was so tyrannical that nothing in the world dared to make a noise!
The Tianhai Divine Empress disappeared from Chen Changsheng's eyes.
Two black lights, like mist or smoke, appeared on the white Divine Path.
The edge of the black light cut at space, giving off an extremely shrill sound.
These were the two wings of the Phoenix.
The Tianhai Divine Empress finally appeared before the world, revealing her most powerful side.
There was nothing that could be faster than her, whether it was sound, sight, or thought.
She did not go to Luoyang, but instead proceeded like a bolt of black lightning down to the stone plain at the base of the Divine Path.
Gloomy black Phoenix wings fanned out a gale, yet seemed to deepen the darkness.
From the pitch-black darkness extended a pure white, sparkling and translucent finger.
This finger calmly and inexorably pushed aside all snow and stars and water, jabbing towards the Daoist nun's forehead.
In such a sudden fashion, this finger appeared before the Daoist nun's eyes.
Wuqiong Bi's eyes surged with alarm. Her usually beautiful face was twisted with shock and fear.
She fearfully shrieked, her clothes flapping up, stirring up ripple after ripple from the ground as she swiftly backed away.
At the same time, the horsetail whisk in her hands madly danced for all its worth, scattering down wave after wave of deathly stillness.
But how could she possibly escape this finger?
This finger was very steady, very calm. There seemed to be no flames on this finger, yet it seemed to carry the world's hottest temperature, the true flames of the Phoenix.
With a hiss, those waves of deathly stillness were instantly vaporized into steam and then swiftly dispersed.
The ripples on the ground instantly evaporated and then ignited. With almost mystical speed, the heat spread to Wuqiong Bi's feet. With a boom, the bottom of her Daoist robe was set aflame!
The finger continued forward, calm and steady, yet it was also incomparably majestic, as though even if there were a thousand mountains and ten thousand rivers in front of it, one would still find it impossible to escape.
Wuqiong Bi stared at the approaching finger, her face an ashen gray of absolute despair.
There was a light clap.
A little red flower appeared in front of Wuqiong Bi's forehead.
This red flower was very soft and tender, its petals faintly shaking in the wind, very brightly-colored. There were even a few dewdrops on the petals and it was somewhat moist.
The finger touched the flower and the petals shook. The dew was visibly evaporating, yet it was clearly doing so at a much slower rate than the waves.
The true flames of the Heavenly Phoenix could melt all things.
The petals gradually grew soft, then dry, then particularly weary.
Ultimately, with a puff, the flower vanished in the breeze.
The finger also vanished, going off to some unknown place.
Wuqiong Bi turned to another place and screamed, "Quickly escape!"
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