Nightfall

Exactly 100 feet away meant nothing to ordinary people, but it represented danger and even death to the cultivator at the Seethrough State. Because any of the Sword Masters, Talisman Masters, and Psyche Masters could assault any target within 100 feet as long as they stepped into the Seethrough State.

The pouring spring rain fell splashing on the carriage, on the body of the stalwart coachmen, and on the shafts of the cart. Nothing but a corner of a plain gown could be seen when the wind lifted the carriage curtain. The man inside wearing the plain gown was an aged man with a plain and simple complexion, with grizzled anxious eyebrows, and a face studded with wrinkles, just as anguished and miserable and sad as the old root of coptis.

He was called Xiao Kuyu, the powerful man supported by the military sources of the great Tang Empire, who had stepped into the Seethrough State 20 years ago. A few days ago, he was summoned secretly back to the capital from Yang Pass in the south by the Military Ministry due to tonight’s killing plan.

Chilly wind and wretched rain shrouded the carriage, in which Xiao Kuyu seemed to be unaware of at all, with his gaunt hands slightly trembling on his knees, and his thumb pinching on the four jarring marks of the forefinger and middle finger, like a withered tree branch unceasingly tapping onto the dry, yellow earth. Both of his eyes were closed, with the thick carriage’s curtain in front of his face. But with just a light pinch of the fingers, he could precisely see the main entrance of Chao Mansion, gazing at Chao Xiaoshu sitting cross-legged in the heavy rain.

The fine drizzle above the cross street of the Spring Breeze Pavilion began to flaunt and tilt, seemingly disturbed by an invisible force. Several fluctuations, which no one could see or even perceive, began to agglomerate in the Qi of Heaven and Earth.

Chao Xiaoshu sitting in the heavy rain slightly pursed up his lips. Up to this point tonight, the facial expression appearing on this middle-aged man, for the first time, seemed to be dignified and solemn on his slightly pale, handsome features. He had to gather himself together to cope with the Psyche Master in the mysterious carriage, so he looked down slightly so as not to look at the more than ten hopeless elite soldiers in front of him. His right hand exposed out of the sleeves thumped the accumulated water beside him, splashing up the muddy rainwater.

In the Rain-enjoying Building, the thin cyan-steel sword, that had deeply stabbed into the core of the eyebrows of the sadhu, retracted at high speed with a ripping sound. The sword turned around like lightning in the rainy sky, whistling sadly and shrilly, merging into a streamer, which instantly flew above the courtyard walls, stabbing towards the carriage in the rain.

An extremely indifferent word, “Tut-tut,” came from within the carriage in the quiet rain.

The cyan-steel sword, like a flowing iris, seemed to be hit by force held by the word, and seemed to be constrained by the invisible fluctuation of Primordial Qi in the rainy sky. It came to a pause abruptly after soaring over the courtyard walls, then glanced off, bumping against the wall opposite the streets and alleys, and fell to the ground along with the rainwater like a kite tied by a broken line!

The “tut-tut” in the carriage in the rain could have already detached from the domain of space and time, arisen from more than 100 feet away, but sounded in Chao Xiaoshu’s eardrums and mind like a thunderbolt at the same time.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Chao Xiaoshu felt his own heart seemingly being held by a formless hand, which began to beat violently like war drums incessantly thumping, instantly losing control of the flying sword. He knew that if he made no response to that, this war drum would then be cracked by the heavy drumstick, and his own heart would then be torn to pieces by the person in the carriage.

Where did they find the great Psyche Master, the person in that carriage in the rain?

Chao Xiaoshu’s thin lips tightly pursed up, and lifting his right hand like a flash of lightning, he smacked his own chest three times, “Pa-pa!” shaking the rainwater off of his black gown. He sealed up his Ocean of Qi by force. His body had floated away from the ground by taking advantage of the previous smack, and drifted out of the gate of his courtyard, floating to the alley shrouded by rainwater.

Chao Xiaoshu perceived the omnipresent fluctuation of the Primordial Qi in the air, and experienced the net, woven by the cold and damp air line, around his body. He took a deep breath, starting to walk forward.

He walked towards the carriage in the rain, his complexion becoming paler and paler, but his two pupils became brighter and brighter. His placidity and leisureliness of his daily life had been replaced with apathy and fortitude. Whenever he made a step forward, both his body and mind were seriously injured by the fluctuation of the Primordial Qi in the alley. Even if he walked forward even for a step again, the stroke by the great Psyche Master on his Ocean of Qi would be a bit sharper. But he kept on walking forward, for he had to get close to that carriage.

Just when Chao Xiaoshu experienced a heavy heartbeat in his chest, Ning Que also perceived a different feeling. In the crash-bang rain, he heard a sound like war drums. He knew that the hideous sound, thumping like a war drum, came from the body of Chao Xiaoshu, with which Chao Xiaoshu intended to attack the viscus within the enemy by relying on the Psyche Power controlling the Primordial Qi between Heaven and Earth.

This kind of measure seemed too mysterious to be resisted, irresistible, and impossible to defend against. Chao Xiaoshu, standing in the rain, knew that the truly fearful enemy had finally emerged, with his body beginning to stiffen, and his hands grasping the hilts that had become suddenly extremely cold.

Chao Xiaoshu walked towards that carriage in the rain without giving Ning Que any kind of explanation, because his mind was completely focused on confronting the enemy within the carriage. He did not have any spare time or energy to tell Ning Que what he should do.

Ning Que had seen Lv Qingchen’s attack, aware of how terrifying the Psyche Master was, so he knew that at the moment he must suppress all his fear. He was very clear that, for powerful Psyche Masters, their frail bodies would become their fatal weakness. To make Chao Xiaoshu and himself survive this disaster, he had to employ all available means to injure that man’s body in the carriage and break his meditation.

The thick rain separating the main entrance of the Chao Mansion and the carriage was up to 100 feet. The great Psyche Master could directly attack the enemy by controlling the Qi of Heaven and Earth to disregard both the distance and the limit imposed by time and space. Whereas, as an ordinary person, which measures should he choose to break the opponent’s meditation?

His right foot heavily stomped onto the blue flagstone, resulting in a lap of the accumulated, slightly muddy water around his sole. Relying on the massive countershock force, Ning Que’s body skimmed over the main entrance of Chao Mansion transversely with a swooshing sound, leaping into midair.

Still in midair, he whizzed up, the podao held by his right hand was inserted precisely back into the sheath behind him. Then he took hold of the arrow in the quiver, turning over his left elbow, and the boxwood bow appeared in front of him after moving in a circle through the rain.

He skimmed over in the rain, pulling apart the boxwood bow with a rush and tightening up the cord before releasing, and then the four arrows were all fired together!

Four arrows were fired at the carriage in the rain, like lightning!

Those four arrows had already passed by Chao Xiaoshu’s side when Ning Que’s two feet stamped the water, the center of his body falling onto the ground. One could imagine how astonishing his reaction speed and firing speed were!

Since speed was required, pausing would make no sense. So, Ning Que once again ran wildly after the carriage with his two feet stepping into the rainwater accumulated in the street and his body tilted forward just like a leopard. The boxwood bow spread before his body once again, with the bowstring making a buzzing sound, and then the arrows were fired again just like lightning!

He ran while firing arrows on a rainy night.