Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Chen Changsheng madly ran the entire way, his boots and the mountain crumbling together as he ran in a cloud of a dust. In a few moments, he had already run halfway up the mountain.

He did not know much farther it would be until he reached the Heaven Lake and the summit of Mount Han, only that he should make use of his time—that the farther he ran, the better.

But soon after, he stopped, because he sensed that something was wrong.

He sensed the stone pearls had become hot.

The mountains suddenly rumbled with thunder. Was this the sound of several hundred stones being forcefully moved and rupturing the air?

Soon after, the sounds of cliffs collapsing could be heard.

The sound grew closer and closer, and the Heavenly Tome Monoliths that were the stone pearls became hotter and hotter, almost to a scalding degree.

Suddenly, all noises vanished.

An item was reflected, or to be more precise, burst into his eyes.

It was a seal. He didn't know what sort of stone it was carved from, but he couldn't see anything strange about it.

The stone seal gently swayed in the wind.

The seal was tied to a man's waist.

It was the middle-aged scholar.

Then, Chen Changsheng saw the several hundred Heavenstones that followed the middle-aged scholar.

Hiding the sky and covering earth, possessing an unearthly energy, it was obvious that they were limiting his speed, attempting to hold fast this unusual being, yet it was like they were the same as the seal, becoming one of his trinkets.

This was a cliff. Atop it was a shallow ditch dug out many years ago to serve as a makes.h.i.+ft path, the ditch filled with moss.

Chen Changsheng was below the cliff while the middle-aged scholar was on it, the two separated by only a few zhang.

"You humans seem to love trapping yourselves in webs of your own making."

The middle-aged scholar calmly gazed at him as he spoke, "I don't know if this Heavenstone array sealing the mountain is a plot, I only know that this will seal your death in this mountain."

Chen Changsheng did not reply because there was no meaning.

There was no despair in his heart, because this also had no meaning.

His spiritual sense fell on the black stone pearl, preparing to temporarily flee into the Garden of Zhou.

He didn't know if the middle-aged scholar could directly break through the spatial barrier around the Garden of Zhou—if his and Xu Yourong's conjecture was correct, this person had once infiltrated the Garden of Zhou. Thus, if he were to enter the Garden of Zhou right in front of this person, safety was by no means a.s.sured. But his back was to the cliff and he was already in dire straits, so he had to try.

What shocked him, what caught him by surprise, was that he was unable to use the black stone to enter the Garden of Zhou.

Nothing had changed—he was still in Mount Han with his back to the cliff.

He didn't know whether it was because the Heavenstone array had sealed off all s.p.a.ce around Mount Han or if it was because the middle-aged scholar was so powerful that his mere approach was sufficient to influence spatial artifacts.

In short, he was not able to enter the Garden of Zhou and had lost his final technique.

But he still did not despair.

He raised up the Stainless Sword, gripped the Vault Sheath, and stared at the middle-aged scholar, his expression very calm.

This was a foe whom he could not possibly defeat, but so what?

The middle-aged scholar seemed to show a little praise in his eyes. "You should know my purpose."

Chen Changsheng nodded.

The scholar continued, "With heartfelt appreciation, I will slowly dine on you."

Chen Changsheng replied, "I know the final move of the Mount Li Sword Style. I also know how to destroy both good and bad alike. Senior Su Li pa.s.sed down to me a Blazing Sword—I can burn myself into a pile of ash."

The middle-aged scholar smiled, "Planning to use death to threaten me? Although the taste of live prey is better, I don't mind showing a little benevolence and killing you off first."

Chen Changsheng replied, "But you still haven't killed me."

Yes, if this middle-aged scholar were determined to kill him, then it didn't matter that he had the Yellow Paper Umbrella, the Thousand Li b.u.t.ton, or that letter; he would already be dead.

The scholar's smile faded and he emotionlessly declared, "In front of me, even thinking about dying is not so easy."

"I want to try."

In Xunyang City when facing Zhu Luo, w.a.n.g Po had said the same words, wanting to see if he could get one blow on Zhu Luo. Today in Mount Han, Chen Changsheng also spoke these words. He wanted to try and see if he could burn himself to ash before this scholar.

The ten thousand swords clattered in his sheath, preparing for the final charge. The letter was held tightly in his hand, ready at any time to release the final sword.

True essence flowed arduously through his severed meridians and storms stirred up over his sea of spiritual sense, all in preparation for the final ignition.

As he made this decision, he truly was very calm.

Of course, it was hard to not feel somewhat reluctant.

He still had many things that he had not finished.

……

……

Time slowly pa.s.sed, the ten thousand swords did not leave the sheath, and he was still alive. He had not burned.

It wasn't because the middle-aged scholar had taken control of his body, but because two people had appeared in front of the cliff.

It was two men, walking out of the ivy along the cliffs.

One man had a head of white and a nervous expression. Whenever he glanced at the middle-aged scholar, his face filled with fear. The other man had a face that seemed to have experienced the tribulations of time, yet it was difficult to tell his age. He wore very ordinary clothes and his manner was very calm. He was like a tourist exploring and searching for new sights.

But he was absolutely no ordinary man.

Because when he appeared, the middle-aged scholar no longer looked at Chen Changsheng, instead looking at him.

Back on the mountain path and stream bank, neither Liu Qing, nor Xiao De, nor even the Heavenstone array of the Elder of Heavenly Secrets could truly move the scholar's gaze from Chen Changsheng's body. This was because the aim of his first journey from Xuelao City after a thousand years was precisely Chen Changsheng.

To the middle-aged scholar, no one was more important than Chen Changsheng.

Yet when this man who looked like a tourist appeared, the scholar stared at him with abnormal focus.

The mountains and rivers on his face seemed to instantly become illusory and then vanished without a trace, revealing his true appearance.

Was this respect or wariness? Who on this world was worthy of his respect or required his wariness? Tianhai? The Pope? Or was it the White Emperor?

No, the appearance of this tourist was not that of those three Saints.

But to this middle-aged man, this tourist was far more worthy of his respect and vigilance than those three Saints.

The chilly wind howled past the cliff. The night sky, under the tearing of several thousand Heavenstones, was gradually breaking, but it was still gloomy, even somewhat miserable.

For a very long time, n.o.body spoke, and the atmosphere of the cliff was extremely strange.

The middle-aged scholar and the tourist-like man gazed at each other in silence. A thunderstorm seemed to build up where their gazes met, but then it gradually faded away like flowing clouds.

Chen Changsheng knew that the situation had finally taken a turn for the better precisely because of this tourist, but just who was he?

Other than the Divine Empress, the Pope, and the White Emperor, just who in this world could demand so much of this scholar's attention, so much so that he was even let go for the moment? He simply could not think of a person.

After quite some time had pa.s.sed, the middle-aged scholar finally spoke. His voice seemed incomparably sorrowful, even sentimental. "You were actually not dead."

The man smiled and replied, "His Majesty did not die, so how could I?"

The middle-aged scholar looked back at him, a little pity in his voice as he spoke, "But he still died in the end."