Chapter 765 – A Most Painstaking Method of Escape
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
With the second strum of the zither, Zhu Ye and Ning Shiwei grew vigilant. They turned to the girl and middle-aged scholar walking out of the darkness, their faces solemn and wary. For people to appear in such a remote mountain range in such a cold night naturally meant they were not ordinary people.
A subordinate reported that this middle-aged scholar and little girl had been working as musicians in an inn in Gaoyang Village, and many people had met them before. But Zhu Ye and Ning Shiwei knew that this middle-aged scholar was no ordinary zither-player, and this little girl was no ordinary singer. Just like the strum of the zither that had wound its way through the mountain range, they were extremely unusual.
Tianhai Zhanyi also knew that something was strange, but after all the things that had happened tonight, he was already fed up, even numb, and wasn't willing to think about it too much. Moreover, in his view, with the powerful strength on their side, even if the circumstances had forced them into a temporary retreat, could they possibly be unable to deal with these two?
Regardless of what sort of plan you two have, this young master won't even give you the chance to reveal it. I'll just kill you with overwhelming power. Could you possibly be like Chen Changsheng, forcing us to dejectedly bow the moment your face is revealed, and leaving retreat as the only option? Does the human world have a second Pope?
As Tianhai Zhanyi thought this, he casually waved his hand, and several Tianhai clan experts charged towards the girl and scholar.
The sound of the zither was still echoing in the darkness. Suddenly, two streams of light leapt out from the darkness and flew amongst the experts. In an instant, countless flowers of blood bloomed in the air.
Severed limbs and chunks of flesh rained down from the sky and splattered over the icy mountain path, causing flowers of blood to bloom once more.
Two beauties appeared amidst this field of bloody flowers.
One was completely nude, her entire body exuding a mature and alluring aura. The other was attired in the dress of some ancient sword sect, her manner gentle and aloof. They gave off completely opposite feelings, like black and white, but both their hands were dripping red blood onto the ground.
The blood belonged to the experts of the Tianhai clan.
The two beauties had also been somewhat injured, but they were not bleeding blood. From the wounds seeped a clear light that was gradually congealing.
In the chilly wind, the ice was trod on like fallen autumn leaves. The beauties reverentially parted and the dull-faced girl walked out from between them.
Zhu Ye's pupils constricted, his face turning abnormally grave. He said to the girl, "Could it possibly be Princess Nanke?"
He had lived in Tianliang County for many years and knew many secrets about the Demon race. He very easily recognized that these two beauties possessed spiritual bodies and were probably Nanke's rumored wings.
Thus, this singing girl from inn in Gaoyang Village was naturally the youngest Demon Princess, Nanke.
According to the rumors, during the rebellion in Xuelao City, when the Demon Lord was cast into the abyss via the combined might of Black Robe and the Demon Commander, Nanke had also been heavily injured. Taking a massive risk, she used the true body of the Peacock to ram through layer after layer of barriers, and then vanished. No one knew where she was, or even if she was still alive.
Who could have expected that she would appear tonight in these desolate mountains?
Zhu Ye knew that he had encountered a real trouble today. He would rather turn around and go back to the courtyard to engage in battle with Hai Di than meet Nanke.
Nanke was too talented, and within her body flowed the true blood of the Peacock. On the battlefield, she was frequently able to display a killing power far above her true level.
Of course, she could never be as monstrous as Hai Di, but the problem was that she was simply too fast.
If he clashed against Hai Di, even if he was no match, Zhu Ye could at least think of a method to leave or escape.
But before Nanke, he could not think about these things, only about how to defeat her.
If it was just Nanke alone tonight, even with her two wings, Zhu Ye was confident that his side had enough strength to defeat her, but…
"You are the rumored elder of the Candle Shadow Shamans?"
Zhu Ye turned to the middle-aged scholar and asked, "Wasn't it said that you died in the Garden of Zhou?"
The middle-aged scholar lowered his head and gazed at the zither strings as they were blown about by the wind. He seemed somewhat infatuated, paying no regard to these questions.
When Zhu Ye revealed the girl's true identity, the atmosphere over the mountain path became incomparably tense and oppressive, Tianhai Zhanyi's complexion turning rather wan.
Logically speaking, Zhu Ye should have placed all his focus on Nanke, but right now, he was blabbering nonsense to the middle-aged scholar.
Just how could a person like him be speaking nonsense?
Ning Shiwei understood what Zhu Ye meant and made a few gestures behind his back.
Without any sort of omen or order, the crossbowmen of the Mount Song Army, protected by the experts of the Emotion-Severing Sect and the Tianhai clan, armed their crossbows as quickly as possible and fired at the demon experts on the mountain path.
A torrential rain instantly drowned out the sound of the zither.
Countless divine crossbow bolts, tipped with Sacred Light, engulfed Nanke, the middle-aged scholar, and the two beauties.
But in reality, before this rain of crossbow bolts landed, those two beauties had already vanished.
They transformed into two silhouettes of light, then crumbled into shards that drifted behind Nanke and reformed.
A pair of wings emerged from Nanke's back.
The green wings lightly fluttered, shattering and transforming into countless streams of green light flying through the night sky.
Like a lightning bolt, Nanke pierced through the rain of arrows.
Other than Xu Yourong, no one else in the world was faster than her, not even these crossbow bolts. In her eyes, they descended as slowly as falling leaves.
No one could clearly make out Nanke's body, only see those green streams of light. They could only watch as these green streams of light arrived amongst the soldiers.
Divine crossbows were broken, red lines appeared on necks, blood splattered into the night sky, torn-off ears flew into the air, and groan after groan could be heard.
Amongst these sounds, several dozen fingers collapsed to the ground.
The green lights gradually faded and Nanke appeared.
She stood surrounded by corpses, her green wings slowly flapping, blood trickling down from the Southern Cross Sword.
Both sword and wings made her seem smaller and more terrifying by contrast.
She gazed at Zhu Ye and the others with indifference.
"Your Highness is truly a genius in the Demon arts. Besides Xu Yourong, there truly is no one faster than you."
Zhu Ye narrowed his eyes. "But you are still too young. No matter how fast you are, you are still no match for us."
Nanke fell quiet for a few moments upon hearing Xu Yourong's name, and then she began to walk towards them.
Everyone felt fear as this petite figure and her wings made their way up the mountain path, even though Zhu Ye had just spoken with great confidence.
"Fight with all your might, and let's see who will come out alive at the end of tonight," Zhu Ye ruefully said.
Ning Shiwei indicated that Tianhai Zhanyi should stand behind him.
At this sight, Zhu Ye confirmed that Ning Shiwei had understood his meaning and felt a bit more at ease.
Tianhai Zhanyi was somewhat surprised but also very grateful.
Nanke walked until she was ten-some zhang from them.
In fact, Zhu Ye was correct. If Nanke truly possessed her rumored level of strength, then regardless of whether or not she had recovered from the injuries incurred in Xuelao City's rebellion, regardless of how fast she was, she could not defeat two human experts at the upper level of Star Condensation, and this wasn't even considering all the other people present.
But for some reason, Nanke's expression was still wooden and dull, not changing in the slightest.
What happened next could be considered an explanation.
Ning Shiwei suddenly grabbed Tianhai Zhanyi's collar.
Tianhai Zhanyi instantly paled from shock and was just intending to counterattack when he realized that Zhu Ye's finger was pressed down on his Ethereal Palace.
His body was absolutely rigid, leaving him a rock utterly incapable of counterattack.
Ning Shiwei lifted him up and then tossed him at Nanke.