Chapter 1157 – How Deep Is the Deep, Deep Courtyard
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Gao Huan turned to the carriage in front of the tent, and the carriage abruptly exploded.
It wasn't because he had such a powerful gaze.
In a cloud of wooden shards and dust, the Qiushan clan head slashed with his sword.
He was a peak Star Condensation expert and the sword was the Dragonscale that Qiushan Jun had insisted he bring, a divine artifact in the upper ranks of the Tier of Legendary Weapons.
The cold and bleak sword glow slashed at the roof of the tent, but with a slight shift of Gao Huan's figure, he appeared on the ground.
His expression had not changed, and he did not attack the Qiushan clan head.
He had been imprisoned at the bottom of the abyss for seven hundred years, unable to see the sun, the Moon, or the stars. He was very unfamiliar with this world and its experts.
He only knew how to divide the people he saw into two categories: those he recognized and those he didn't.
Old acquaintances of his who, like him, had managed to live for so many years, were naturally worthy of his vigilance, but anyone else was not worth his energy.
The Qiushan clan head was not ashamed to see his sword miss, nor was he angry. He simply retreated back into the dust.
Pop. A middle-aged man who looked like a servant had stepped on a small wine pot made of copper.
At this exact moment, the middle-aged man's fist appeared in front of Gao Huan.
Gao Huan appeared somewhat surprised, this fist causing him to react somewhat.
With another pop, three cracks appeared on the ground that he was standing on.
At this exact moment, his hand gripped the fist.
The middle-aged man was the Qiushan clan's Guardian, his cultivation only half a step from the Divine. But the fist that he had launched with all his power had been easily caught by Gao Huan's hand.
This gap in cultivation realms could never be overcome by courage or schemes.
The Qiushan clan Guardian's face paled and his eyes seemed to blaze with golden fire. He hissed and swiftly began to retreat.
Several dozen white eddies appeared in the air, releasing deafening explosions.
The Qiushan clan Guardian groaned as he crashed through a supply wagon. He landed several hundred zhang away, his clothes covered in blood and countless bones broken in his body.
Gao Huan drew back his hand and looked at a carriage even farther in front of him.
Just like a certain logistics officer, the human soldiers had always thought that the Qiushan clan head and Guardian were the strongest members of this convoy.
Gao Huan did not think so.
His gaze had never been on this tent, or on the carriage of the Qiushan clan, but on this particular carriage.
He felt like the true commander of this convoy was in this carriage.
As long as he could kill the people in this carriage, he could succeed in this raid.
This was the conclusion he had obtained after his long observation on the mountain.
Following Gao Huan's gaze, ten-some demon experts left their parties and attacked the carriage.
The air howled as the demon experts dropped like stones from the sky.
If no one stopped them, anyone in the carriage, no matter who they were, would be smashed into a pulp.
At this moment, a cold and anguished zither strummed inside the carriage.
The zither note traveled from the ground to the sky. Though it wasn't very loud, it had a huge range.
The armor of the demon experts became covered in cracks from which smoke seeped out.
In the end, the trajectories of their descents were altered. They did not strike the carriage, instead landing around it.
The ground quaked as the black soil surged into the air like a grandiose waterfall in reverse.
A blind zither player hugging an ancient zither walked out of the carriage.
He tilted his head and listened to his surroundings, his right hand occasionally plucking the strings of the zither.
White and sharp streams of energy left the strings and assaulted the demon experts. Falling leaves seemed to fill the sky.
The ten-some demon experts howled and charged toward the carriage.
For the blind zither player alone to stop so many demon experts was truly rather difficult, but there were still other people inside.
The carriage did not look very large, so no one could have expected it to contain so many people.
Seven peddlers, six government laborers, three fortune-tellers, two sesame-candy-selling elders and one girl in the market for cosmetic powder were inside.
Several profound streams of heavenly energy engulfed the surrounding plains and fell on the bodies of the demon experts.
Several chains flew through the air, leaving behind trails of blood and fire as they wrapped around the necks and shoulders of those demon experts.
Before all this, an array formed with a sand table was already protecting the carriage.
Gao Huan slightly arched his brows.
He had not expected the Human race to have so many experts.
An innocent smile appeared on his face.
With so many human experts, it was worth his effort this time.
Dull and tasteless rain dropped once more from the sky, washing away those unfathomable streams of heavenly energy and destroying that array in its descent.
The Wenshui Tang clan's Fivekind Man had abnormally solemn expressions, and the blind zither player moved his fingers even faster along the strings.
This young demon expert really did have an unfathomable cultivation. Without any movement, he had broken through their perimeter defenses.
With a flick of Gao Huan's fingers, he jolted away two cudgels. His gaze descended, severing a chain, and he appeared in front of the carriage.
He wanted to tear open the curtain and see who was inside.
The zither strummed like a blaring horn and a zither string that gave off an aura of blood and iron blocked his path.
This was also fine.
Of the human experts, this blind zither player naturally had to be the strongest.
Gao Huan did not mind focusing his efforts on killing him.
A faint black mist emerged from between his fingers. No matter how strong the winds on the plains were, they could not disperse this mist.
The zither string began to visibly wither, and then it snapped, all its vigor leaving it.
Blood trickled down from the zither player's lips as he retreated to the carriage.
Gao Huan had no intention of letting him live. He slapped his palm at the air.
The twilight suddenly dimmed as night seemed to fall. A massive palm, pitch-black and unreal, dropped down from the sky and toward the carriage.
One of the zither strings had snapped, and although there were still several more intact, they could no longer produce any noise, as the blind zither player had not regained his breath.
Who would block this massive palm?
The carriage window suddenly shattered as two black objects flew out.
Both were black, but it was different from the black of the massive palm which gave off a feeling of terror and oppression. These two black objects gave off an aura of pure dignity.
One was an official's stamp while the other was a judge's block. (TN: A judge's block, 惊堂木, is a large block of wood that an official would strike against a table to intimidate criminals or quiet the room. The literal translation is 'Wood that startles the room'.)
The official's stamp and judge's block came up to meet the massive palm.
With two bangs, they both exploded into pieces, but the black palm also gradually dispersed in the air.
An emaciated elder dressed in a gray robe walked out of the carriage, a mild expression on his face.
Several youths followed him out, their expressions rather nervous. They appeared to be students of some sort.
Too many people had walked out of this carriage, and no one knew how many more could be hiding inside.
Gao Huan had not expected to meet with so many human experts who were half a step from the Divine in such a short time.
When had being half a step from the Divine Domain become so cheap?
Gao Huan confirmed that he did not recognize a single one of these human experts, though the hand movements of the blind zither player did look rather familiar.
He looked to the zither player and asked with an arched brow, "Longevity Sect?"
The blind zither player replied, "Yes."
Gao Huan asked again with his brow arched, "Li Minghe?"
The zither player's expression flickered as he answered, "My teacher."
Gao Huan proudly said, "So that's what it was. Your master and I were once on good terms. If you surrender to me, I will spare your life today."
After saying this, he turned to the gray-robed elder and asked, "And who are you?"
A youth introduced, "This is my clan's Lord Minister."
"I don't recognize him."
Gao Huan said indifferently, and then he suddenly harshly yelled, "You actually dare to poison me!"
He turned to the silent girl.
Perhaps because it had been affected by the battle, the basket the girl was carrying had been spilled on the floor.
Cosmetic powder gradually began to spread along the winds.
This seemed very natural to everybody, so who could have expected it to be a method to poison someone?
Gao Huan's eyes were bursting with cruelty as he stared at the girl.
"Do you know who I am? You want to poison me to death?"
The timidity and nervousness the girl showed in Wenshui City was mostly feigned.
But the stare of this demon expert truly left her incredibly nervous, even robbing her of the ability to move.
Separated by several zhang, Gao Huan reached out a hand to grab her throat. He had a savage look on his face as he prepared to tear her to pieces.
The blind zither player and Minister Wei were on the other side and would not be in time to save her.
The peddlers and fortune-tellers were still contending with the remaining demon experts.
Fortunately, there were still two sesame-candy-selling elders.
They had always made a habit of standing together with the cosmetic-buying girl.
One of the elders drew up the green cloth of the stand to block the winds stirred by Gao Huan's hand.
With a rip, the green cloth was torn to pieces, and as they were blown away, they became the elder.
He bent at the knee, lowered his waist, calmed his mind, clenched his fist, and then gave a straight punch.
At this sight, Gao Huan cried, "Excellent!"
This punch was uninteresting, commonplace.
But in the eyes of a true expert, it contained the true essence of fairness and composure.
This alone was not enough to move Gao Huan.
His praise was because this elder was using the most traditional technique of the Imperial clan: the Blazing Sun Style!
Gao Huan waved his sleeve to block the combined attack of the blind zither player and Minister Wei while he clenched his fist and punched it at the sesame-candy-selling elder.
The elder's fist shone with a blinding light.
Gao Huan's fist oozed with black smoke.
It was just like how the daytime and dark night were fighting the fiercest of battles in the sky above.
His cultivation level was far above the elder's, but he treated this elder with absolute solemnity, placing deep emphasis on strength and discipline.
His opponent was using the supreme technique of the human Imperial clan, and he was using the supreme technique of the demon-god Imperial clan.
"The Heavenly Demon Art!"
Upon sensing that tyrannical Qi spanning the world and that Demon Breath even thicker than the darkness, the blind zither player shouted.
Upon hearing these words, the faces of Minister Wei and the just-awakened Qiushan clan Guardian suddenly changed.
Just who was this demon expert? How did he know the Heavenly Demon Art, the supreme technique of the demons not taught outside the Imperial clan?
……
……
There was a massive boom.
Unsurprisingly, the elder was sent flying.
If not for the fact that the Blazing Sun Style and the Heavenly Demon Art were natural enemies, his injuries might have been even more serious.
There was still one more sesame-candy-selling elder.
Gao Huan's expression remained serious, as if this was a meeting of Imperial clans.
As for the battle itself, he didn't take it too seriously.
These two elders were far inferior to those young masters from the Chen clan of Tianliang County.
There was a light clap.
The two fists met.
It was a light clap, not a thunderous boom.
What did this mean?
Gao Huan, who had already turned to face the blind zither player and Minister Wei, slowly turned his head back.
The demon experts who had joined him in the assault had already been pushed back and the shouts of the wolf cavalry seemed to be getting farther away. The plains had suddenly fallen silent, the only sound left being the crackling of the burning supplies.
As Gao Huan gazed at the sesame-candy-selling elder, a hint of pain appeared in his eyes, as well as a smear of confusion.
The elder slowly raised his head.
His hair was already completely white, but he did not look too old. It was just that his eyes were too calm, like… that well in Wenshui's old estate.
It was that old well.
Nothing in the world could ever cause his eyes to ripple again.