Nightfall

Light scattered through the engraved patterns on the windows.

A door was a path to the outside world, so seemed the window. But actually a window could only let the light pass. More often it represented imprisoning and despair, like the rock window in the Secluded Pavilion.

The array intent also stood for imprisoning. It formed out of nowhere and almost enveloped the Drunkard in a blink, from his face to the indigo gown, then to the cloth shoes. Once completed he would never be able to escape.

Ning Que stood at the other end of the street, targeting his iron bow at him. If the Drunkard could not leave the array and got trapped there, then he was certainly doomed.

However, when the array intent of scattering light started to from, the Drunkard moved one step backward. He stepped on the flagstone floor and made a crack.

Water was splashed and shadows were disturbed and scattered together with the flagstone smashed by his step. Immediately after that the stairs in front of the calligraphy and drawing shop broke, and the quake spread around.

Upon the cracks several breaches were created on the door. Then the wooden door as well as the window were smashed into pieces. Beams broke and fell, and dust prevailed.

The entire shop collapsed into dust merely because of the one step that the Drunkard took backward. He took the step right at the moment when the array intent was about to complete.

It seemed that he knew since long ago that there was an array in this calligraphy and drawing shop.

When the dust settled, the building was already turned into a rubbling mess. Zhang San and Li Si were swept into the backyard and lay in a corner, stained with blood and dust.

The two young men’s bones were broken. They felt distinctive pains upon very simple movements. But they still tried hard to dig out two kitchen knives from the rubble.

The Drunkard turned to look indifferently at the two young men from Tang.

Upon his look Zhang San and Li Si fell onto the ground again while vomiting blood.

“Is this the Academy’s plan or yours?”

The Drunkard stared at Sangsang who was standing by the ruins of the butcher shop dozens of meters away. His eyebrows raised slightly while he smiled. Because whoever planned it, it was merely a joke to him now. Then his smile froze while he saw Chao Xiaoshu standing up among the broken walls of the calligraphy and drawing shop. He asked indifferently, “You… want to kill me?”

Chao Xiaoshu came to the broken stairs, shook off the dust and straightened his clothes. Then he bowed calmly to the Drunkard and said, “I am Chao Xiaoshu. I definitely want to kill you.”

He was Chao Xiaoshu, the Chao Xiaoshu from Tang. Therefore he had every reason to kill the Drunkard.

“Of course I know you are Chao Xiaoshu.”

The Drunkard looked at him indifferently and said, “Throughout these years we have been neighbors and friends in this small town. You enjoyed your tea and I enjoyed my liquor. Did you really believe that I had no idea who you were?”

Chao Xiaoshu paused and then asked, “Since you already knew it for long, why did you wait for all these years?”

“Because I was curious. I wanted to see how you, or the Academy planned to kill me. You are a wastrel, and your two helpers were merely physically courageous. They have no idea of cultivation. Indeed, for me, it was a game, an interesting game to hang out with you for years.”

The Drunkard continued, “I’ve lived such a long and boring life. It was very amusing to meet someone like you, and see something like this. I definitely want to watch it till the end, to see how you would practice it.”

Then he turned to Sangsang and said, “I guess Your Highness should be able to understand my feelings well.”

Sangsang said emotionlessly, “No I don’t. Ever since I came to the human world I have been living with him. He is a very interesting person. Therefore our life was never boring.” Of course she was referring to Ning Que.

The Drunkard was slightly stunned. Then he laughed and sighed, “Right. Haotian got married and even gave birth to his children. The world is insane. How could it be boring?”

“And you? Where is the fun in the game you prepared for me?” The Drunkard turned to Chao Xiaoshu and asked calmly, “Just an array like this? It would be very disappointing.”

Chao Xiaoshu answered, “It was indeed simple. But we all think it’s useful… Your major weakness is your body. It is nothing different from that of an ordinary human being, or even easier to get rotten. The two kids and I, we are all human beings. Even if you knew who we were you would never worry… Just like you said, it was merely a game. You played the game with us. Then we are very likely to get you trapped.”

The Drunkard paused for a while and said, “To know me so well, is it Mr. First or Mr. Second?”

Ning Que had kept quiet until then, “It’s the Senior Sister.”

“No wonder. The Twenty-Three-Year Cicada. I admire her the most and the least.”

The Drunkard shook his head and said, “She did find my weakness, physically and mentally. And you did have quite a few chances to take me down. Because I could not use Immeasurable all the time. It takes time to activate the psyche too. But she was wrong in one thing… This array is way too incapable.”

He stared at Ning Que and said, “If it was the Confinement, you might still have a chance.”

Ning Que said, “Even if we could have Ye Hongyu here, the moment she arrived at the small town you would have launched the attack or floated away. There was no point.”

The Drunkard said, “Therefore it is your dilemma. An ordinary human being could get close to me, but he could never kill me.”

Ning Que said, “You are too afraid of death hence very vigilant.”

The Drunkard answered, “Indeed. Therefore throughout these years I never had his tea. Because I was not sure if he would poison me. I feel more comfortable with my own liquor.”

Ning Que, “No wonder you have no friends.”

The Drunkard smiled, while Chao Xiaoshu did not. He recalled that the Drunkard had started to take his tea in the past two years. He said nothing while realizing what it meant.

The Drunkard’s smile ceased while he stared at Chao Xiaoshu and said, “Right. I don’t have any friends. The Butcher is rather a company. I do want some friends too… I heard about your story in the Spring Breeze Pavilion in that rainy night. I fancied the feeling you had with the young fellow at the Old Brush Pen Shop. You must have some interesting friendship. Therefore I wanted to try and see if we could befriend too. It might be good to enjoy tea together and talk about something amusing.”

The story in the Spring Breeze Pavilion in that rainy night was widely spread while Ning Que and Chao Xiaoshu acquired their fames. It was almost a legend now. Coincidentally, the three persons involved were all here today.

They gathered again in the small town at the border of Song and Yan, again for killing.

Ning Que stood in front of Sangsang. And Chao Xiaoshu stood by the Drunkard.

“It’s fine you deceived me once. But why can’t you keep doing it?”

The Drunkard walked to Chao Xiaoshu indifferently. But there was brutality deep down his eyes. “Since you could neither keep deceive nor kill me, why should you stay alive?” He sounded calm and ruthless, but actually outrageous. No one could have understood this except for himself. Why was he so angry? It was not pleasant to live such an endless life.

“I always like making new friends,” Chao Xiaoshu said to him calmly. No one could challenge that. Everyone in the world knew that Chao Xiaoshu could make a best friend and had a lot of best friends. He was honest and generous, never suspicious and always unrestrained. Only someone like him could have made friends with the emperor of Tang. And only someone like him could have randomly picked up a friend like Ning Que from a calligraphy shop of no fame.

“If you wish we could also become friends. Although you ranked much higher and was much older, but age never matters in friendship. What really matters are common goals and interests.”

Chao Xiaoshu continued, “I admit that I came to the small town to set you up. But throughout the years the trap was no longer a trap. You knew I was Chao Xiaoshu. How could I not aware that you already knew it? I didn’t say it, but neither did I deceive you. I even wished that I could convince you. It would be the most ideal if I could. But if not, I owe you nothing.”

“Owe me? No. You don’t owe me anything. I’ve lived so long in this world and saw so many insidious people. I’ve been through the most fraudulent, ugly, distorted and insane in the world. Do you think I would really care about enjoying the tea with you in the shop?”

The Drunkard stared at him and said emotionlessly, “To me, your trap was no longer a trap long ago.”

He was one of the few most powerful cultivators in the world. Chao Xiaoshu used to be at Knowing Destiny but was turned into an ordinary human being long ago. Upon a simple glance he could have killed Chao Xiaoshu. Neither Ning Que nor Sangsang could stop it.

Chao Xiaoshu gazed back calmly and fearlessly, and said, “I’ve told you. It was no longer a trap. But if you try to kill me, the trap would reappear.”

The Drunkard asked, “What does that mean?”

The Chao Xiaoshu said, “I’m the trap.”

The Drunkard’s eyebrows slightly raised.

Chao Xiaoshu added, “I have been waiting.”

…

…

Waiting for the moment.

Ning Que had been waiting for the moment when the Drunkard could no longer apply Distanceless. He had been waiting for two days and nights, but had not got the chance.

Chao Xiaoshu was also waiting for the moment. He had been waiting for years. But his moment was different from the one Ning Que was looking for. He just waited for the moment to come to him.

The Drunkard did not want to listen further, because of the unexplainable anger as well as the two major enemies, Ning Que and Haotian by his side. He decided to kill Chao Xiaoshu first.

He punched toward Chao Xiaoshu’s chest. Chao Xiaoshu could never escape from an attack by such a powerful cultivator. He was never thinking of escape. But when sensing the approaching death, even someone resolute and disillusioned like him could not help feeling a moment of trance.

The Drunkard’s palm fell onto his chest. Then a sharp sword pierced through his palm! It was an invisible sword. The blade of the sword was chill and clean. Where did the sword come from?

The sword had always been inside Chao Xiaoshu.

Someone had a ghost in his left eye. Someone had another person in his ocean of consciousness. Someone had a spirit living in his ring. While this person had a sword in his body. It was not the dagger hidden in a fish belly, but in his belly.

Wherever the Drunkard’s palm fell onto, as long as there came the killing intent, the sword would appear.

Right then, the sword pierced through his chest as well as the Drunkard’s palm! It was a subconscious reaction, a suicidal attack!

The Drunkard turned pale immediately when he sensed the overwhelming fear. He whistled harshly and immediately stepped back. In a few steps he was already almost invisible. However, the sword came faster.

The sword pierced through Chao Xiaoshu’s chest, carried his blood and acquired solid substance in the wind. It stabbed deeply into the Drunkard’s belly!

The Drunkard was indeed one of the fastest in the world. But he was too close to Chao Xiaoshu to escape from the sword. Even the Eldest Brother did not dare to come too close to the sword. What sword was it? It was nothing more than an ordinary sword, but carried the ultimate killing intent.

The sword came from the Sword Garret in the South Jin. It belonged to Liu Bai, the Sage of Sword.

It was the sword Chao Xiaoshu borrowed from Liu Bai. It was the Academy’s plan from the Headmaster’s words.

A man of integrity would carry the weapon in him and wait for the opportune moment. It was precisely what they were doing right now. Or more simply, Chao Xiaoshu had a sword inside him. When the Drunkard tried to kill him, the sword would be activated and kill. The weapon referred to an object, or more precisely a sword. But it could also mean courage. Chao Xiaoshu had waited for many years to make the stab.

In other words, he had been waiting for his death. It was great courage.

…

…

The Drunkard felt extremely painful. He seemed startled and confused. The sword came incredibly fast and made it impossible for him to escape.

He vaguely realized that it should be Liu Bai’s sword. Indeed, no other sword could be so fast and resolute as Liu Bai’s. When this sword appeared, even the Drunkard would be doomed.

The sword stab Chao Xiaoshu just made took the majority of his vitality, and destroyed his Ocean of Qi and Mountain of Snow!

The Drunkard turned pale while stepping backward. He seemed even more invisible.

He did not want to die. He tried to flee.

He punched the ground, kicked up prevailing dust and rubble that blocked Ning Que’s vision.

Zhang San and Li Si scrambled out of the ruins of the calligraphy shop, swayed their knives randomly without even looking at what they were chopping on.

They chopped the Drunkard’s little toe of his left foot, and the heel of the right.

The Drunkard was stabbed in his belly, and his feet were chopped. His blood gushed and shoes soaking.

He howled in rage, pulled out seventeen swords from his flagon and stabbed randomly toward Chao Xiaoshu, Zhang San and Li Si.

In the darkness Sangsang suddenly said two series of numbers. From the other side of the prevailing dust a hum was heard. An arrow pierced through the air and hit on the Drunkard’s knee. Blood was spurted.

The Drunkard yelled in pain. He could no longer keep his balance and fell onto the ground. The seventeen swords from his flagon were scattered like falling leaves.

Upon a big bang the dust, the rubble, the darkness and the night was thrown into a mess.

Ning Que flew to him and knocked him down with a kick right on his chest.

Upon some cracks the Drunkard’s ribs were smashed. The Drunkard panted in rage and unwillingness.

He was reluctant to die. He wanted to survive. He tried to drive the Qi of Heaven and Earth in order to escape.

Ning Que pull the bow into full moon, while the arrow shone chillingly on the bowstring.

In fact he did not even need to target.

The chilling arrow was pressed between the Drunkard’s eyebrows. No one could miss it.

In their previous fight the Drunkard said to him, “You can try shooting me if you are indeed powerful.”

This time Ning Que said, “You can try to escape my arrow if you are indeed powerful.”

There was a light hum.

The iron arrow left the bowstring, and pierced the Drunkard between the eyebrows.

On the street in the small town, a very deep hole was made by the arrow.

The iron arrow disappeared in the ground.

The Drunkard’s head also disappeared in the blood.

…