Nightfall

One Talisman.

Two blades.

Hundreds of meters.

Three-thousand Buddhas.

This shouldn’t even be called a Talisman anymore. Instead, it should be called the God’s talisman with its God-like power.

Such a powerful talisman had never appeared in the human world before. Master Yanse had never written it, neither did the Sage of Calligraphy. No such thing had ever existed throughout the history of tens of thousands of years.

Ning Que was a powerful talisman master at the Knowing Destiny Zenith. Even so, he hadn’t passed the five states, so it should be impossible for him to write such talismans under any circumstances.

However, Sangsang was in his body now. Even if she was weak to the point of at the brink of death, one drop of divine power was like a vast ocean for humans.

The origin of Ning Que’s power was that ocean. He used the power of the heavens to order the world, allowing him to write a talisman like this – this was the real integration of the human and world. Who could be his rival now?

Countless redwoods collapsed. The forest was destroyed. There was no sign of any Buddhas within hectares. There was only smoke and dust. There was not a sound of sutra chanting and only hawk’s howling and animals’ roaring. The Buddha’s Light still shone on, though the Buddhas were dead.

Ning Que looked into the distance. A golden glimmer was visible on the dark skyline. He knew there were still a lot of Buddhas left in this world and coming to them, but he didn’t know when they could catch up.

He turned around and looked over the huge river in front of him.

The river, tens of thousands of meters in width, flowed slowly. The water was very clear. Other than the waves near the shore sides, the rest of the surface was as smooth as a bright mirror. One could even see the stones and swimming fish.

This river flowed from the south to the north of the world in the Chessboard. He couldn’t see the the starting point or end. No matter what method he used, he had to pass the river if he wanted to go east.

Ning Que gazed somewhere far away to the east of the river. He frowned.

Walking towards a redwood in the riverbank, he raised his cutlass and cut the huge trunk. Then he used the cutlass to trim it by hollowing it out. After that, he carefully cut and sanded the other side of the trunk.

It didn’t take long before he made a wooden boat with his weapon. He didn’t stop and continued to cut off extra stubbles with the cutlass carefully and patiently. He seemed to not even care that countless Buddhas in the world of the Chessboard were hurrying towards the riverside.

The heavy cutlass in his hand was like a scorper caving on the trunk of the redwood. He didn’t miss any details. In the end, he even carved a flower on the side of the wooden boat.

He knew exactly what he was doing. He was practicing.

The completed boat was beautiful. He also used the cutlass to carve two oars with smooth surfaces. He wasn’t satisfied until there wasn’t a single wood splinter.

He sheathed the cutlass with trembling hands. Then he pushed the wooden boat down to the river, climbed in, and rowed with the oars. He rowed silently, not stopping until it reached a point one-third of the distance away from the riverside.

The world in Buddha’s Chessboard was full of Buddha’s Light and malevolence. Only in the middle of the clear river did he feel that it was safe enough to remove Sangsang from his back.

He held up Sangsang’s body and felt her breath with fingers. He found that she wasn’t breathing anymore, but he knew she didn’t die, because this body didn’t need to breathe for a long time anyway.

The body in his arms, very tall and a little fat, was very inconvenient to hold, but he still held her up like that. He looked at her eyes and brows. Suddenly, he laughed and pinched her nose.

He knew Sangsang didn’t die. Her consciousness, or the God’s soul, was in his body. It was a strange state, like she was sleeping deeply without knowing when she would wake up.

Haotian’s miraculous means were something beyond his knowledge. He was a little worried but not overly, so he was in the mood to pinch her nose.

The intimate action was common for young couples, but he and Sangsang were different, to some extent. He would never dare to do so when Sangsang was awake.

He’d wanted to do such things long time ago, like pinching her chubby cheeks. He even wanted to pull her ears, put his hands in her clothes to search for warmth and softness, and even some very intimate yet wicked things.

Although he couldn’t do such intimate yet wicked things, he could still do other things. With that in mind, his hands played with Sangsang’s face. After pulling her ears, he even pushed up her nose to make her look like a cute piggy.

Looking at her face, Ning Que smiled and sang, “Hey, piggy…”

“I told you, I don’t like being called ‘black piggy’.” Sangsang’s voice sounded in his heart, “And if you dare to keep doing such things, I will kill you.”

Ning Que was startled. He asked uneasily while looking at her face, “Are you awake?”

Sangsang said, “I wasn’t sleep in the first place…Do you want me to be asleep forever? So you can insult my body at your will and marry her as well?”

The Sangsang that was lying in Ning Que’s arm had closed eyes and lips. She was like a sleeping God. However, she was talking, making him feel very odd and hard to get used to.

Listening to her words, Ning Que grew agitated. “Look at the situation we’re in and you’re still getting jealous. The more you act like this, the stronger the poisons in your system will get. By the time you die, I’ll really go to her!”

Sangsang said, “Go. If you don’t, then you’re not a man.”

Ning Que felt she was like an unreasonable child at that moment. He didn’t bother to continue the quarrel, and asked, “What exactly is going on now? Where are you?”

Sangsang said, “I’m in your body.”

“Which part in my body? In my consciousness?”

“I’m wherever you want me to be,” Sangsang said.

Ning Que thought for a while and said seriously, “I always have you in my heart. You should be there.”

Sangsang fell silent for a while and replied, “I’m right inside your heart.”

Ning Que laughed. “You sounded shy.”

Sangsang said, “I’m not a human. How on earth can I have such emotions?”

“I can teach you,” Ning Que said. “Just now, you were shy.”

“Annoying.”

Not having to worry about Sangsang being killed by the Buddha’s Light, Ning Que felt very comfortable and relieved. That was why he was so happy. He was about to continue bickering when something suddenly came into his mind. “Since you can leave the God’s body, why didn’t you do it earlier?” he complained. “You didn’t have to be hurt so badly by the Buddha’s Light.”

Sangsang and he were natal to one another, so they could integrate as one.

However, she was still Haotian. At the Rite to Light on the Peach Mountain, Ning Que took the Hierarch’s Tianqi Sangsang had only given him a beam of God’s power and he was already stuffed to the point of bleeding. Back then, he was stuffed to bleed. If she entered into his body in her full strength, he would be dead. Right now, she was very weak, so it was feasible.

Sangsang didn’t answer his question, because it was annoying. In addition, there was another important reason why she didn’t enter his body earlier.

Once inside his body, she was completely integrated with him. The bonds between them would be too strong to describe with words. It would be unimaginably hard when she left.

Her silence puzzled Ning Que and made him feel slightly uneasy. He thought it over, but he still didn’t understand. He patted her face and then picked up the oars to continue rowing.

The wooden boat slowly moved towards the opposite side of the river. Just as the bow passed the intangible center line of the river, a giant black cloud approached from the sky above the field in the east.

The black cloud floated over the river and stopped. Wetness was hidden in the cloud, and transformed into rain falling down heavily. In a minute, it was thunderstorming.

The storm hit his face and body painfully. The rain even made cracking sounds when it hit Sangsang’s body, lying in the boat. Ning Que knew the God’s body was safe and sound but still felt painful when he saw the scene. He took out the big black umbrella and propped it above Sangsang, wanting to at least protect her beautiful looks.

Ok. A flower is carved on the boat side, but Sangsang’s features are so plain. She really isn’t as delicate as a flower, Ning Que thought, smiling. Then he waved the oars, sending the boat shooting through the wind and rain like an arrow.

The trunk of redwood was wide and thick, so the wooden boat was big and firm. No matter how fierce the storm was, it was impossible to fill up the boat in a short period of time. He wasn’t worried at all, but what happened next furrowed his brows in alert.

The rain fell into the clear river, producing countless splashes. The river gradually became murkier, probably because the flood upstream filled the river, or because the storm was so fierce that it lifted the mud on the bottom. This was normal, but the river changed so quickly, instantly becoming the color of ink. This was unusual.

The clouds were so dark and the rain was as blank as ink. The river turned to ink as well. It started to smell slightly like ink, before turning into the smell of fish. It was very odd.

Ning Que didn’t hesitate at all. He put away the big black umbrella and carried her body on his back again. After tying her up, he took out the cutlass with trembling hands and aimed at the river.

Previously by the riverside, his hand had already trembled when he sheathed the cutlass after completing the book. Now, it trembled when he unsheathed it. He was very tired. He hadn’t slept since Sangsang started having nightmares.

All of a sudden, the wooden boat started sinking into the water.

Ning Que checked the boat. There was no sign of leaking, so the enemy must be in the water.

The water was very clear before. Stones on the bottom could be seen even from the riverside, but the water had become extremely dark now. Ning Que couldn’t see half of a meter into the water even with his eyesight.

The water was so weird that his Psyche Power seemed to be blocked. The wooden boat continued to sink, but he hadn’t found his enemy yet. How could he fight an enemy like that?

Ning Que knew he must leave.

He stepped off the bottom of the boat. It was sinking faster and faster, but he’d already shot up into the air. He prepared to sweep forward the next second.

It was still hundreds of meters away from the other side of the river. In his current state, it was hard for him to jump across such a long distance in one breath, but he would take the shot.

Even if he fell into the water, it would be much easier to get away from the strange river if he was closer to the riverbank. Plus, he came up with a solution so quickly. This was probably beyond the enemy’s expectation and would disrupt their plan. However, to his surprise, the enemy’s reaction was beyond his imagination.

The water splashed everywhere from the rain. Just as Ning Que set off, a splash suddenly bloomedt. A ghost-like white shadow passed through the storm and wrapped around his ankles.

A huge blast of power passed on from the ankles. Ning Que didn’t look down at all. His wrist shook slightly and his cutlass flashed in the storm. It was as bright as lightning.

That white shadow was suddenly broken off, but dozens more white shadows came out of the water and dragged him down.

The glint of the cutlass was as fast as a lightning, illuminating the dim water. Dozens of white shadows cracked before the cutlass. However, his forging was stopped and he had to return to the boat.

He looked relaxed in his reaction, but he actually felt heavy-hearted. He couldn’t figure out what these white shadows were. They could stand such huge power and forcefully pull him back.

Taps sounded around his feet. He lowered his heads and looked along the sound. He found that the dozens of white shadows were all whips made of bones. What chilled him was that they were all human bones.

These white bones seemed to be alive and still struggled even after being chopped off. They slapped the wooden boat, leaving deep traces on the stiff redwood, until finally scattering into broken bones.

At that moment, the wooden boat finally sank into the water.

Just as the water opened up, waves rolled and the dark water seemed clear up a bit. Ning Que finally saw clearly that countless hands were around the boat.

These hands grasped at the bottom of the wooden boat and kept dragging it. This was why it sank. The wooden boat was made of firm and stiff redwood, smooth and sturdy. How could these hands hold so tightly onto the sides?

These hand, as white as pure jade, looked anything but beautiful. Just like the bone whips, these hands were solely bare bones without flesh. The bony fingers dug deeply in the boat walls.

The countless bony hands dragged the wooden boat down, dragging Ning Que and Sang Sang on his back into the depths of the water. It was like dragging them into hell.

The water was so dim that nothing was visible or audible except the countless ghastly bone hands. The surroundings were dead and still, as well as unexpectedly strange and horrific.

“Help me,” Ning Que said in his heart.

Sangsang heard him. The next moment, his eyes brightened as if stars were exploding with extreme brilliance. This was the purest Haotian’s Divine Flame.

Now, she was his eyes and his eyes contained God’s power. Before his eyes, the dark water suddenly became lighter and clearer. His blocked vision had recovered.

Ning Que saw the owners of these bone hands, the ghastly skeletons.

Tens of thousands of skeletons were floating in the water around the sunken boat, densely forming a fortress.

God knew how many years these skeletons lived under the water. Some had even turned yellow, floating in the water and then crushed in the flow. Some skulls were ripped apart and black fish swam in and between them. These skeletons looked at the sunken boat with extremely greedy expressions in their black hole-like eye sockets.

Ning Que’s hearing had recovered. He heard the rapid undercurrents, sad and shrill crying from the depth of the dark water and lively laughter of tens of thousands of skeletons.

Their laughter was so lively, but then why did it sound so desperate?

…