Chapter 67: Blood Stains Qinghe, The Night Is Not Yet Over

Chapter 67: Blood Stains the Qinghe, the Night Unending

Someone nearby remarked, "The news of this river-crossing battle must have reached the ears of the Cui family by now. Barring any accidents, it is highly probable that Cui Wenjing will arrive in person... Calculating the time, it has actually been very brief. Has it even been two shichen since they crossed?"

"From the moment they crossed the river, the news reaching the Cui family, and their people coming to reinforce them—this most dangerous time gap, once survived, is passed. It felt long to us only because the tempestuous waves came one after another, as if many things happened, but in truth, not much time has elapsed."

"Looking at the current situation, Cui Wenjing must be on his way. If we do not make a move, they might truly be reinforced by them... Tsk, this Zhao Changhe is indeed extr—uh."

Halfway through the sentence, his expression turned somewhat peculiar as he abruptly remembered that Zhao Changhe and the Holy Maiden supposedly once had some ambiguous relationship. It was said that when the Vermilion Bird Venerable brought the Holy Maiden back, her lips were still bitten and torn, clearly having just been gnawed on by a man, and with exceptional passion at that.

Those with a deeper understanding even knew that before this, the Holy Maiden had actually slept in the same room as that man for a month or two, and had likely played out every imaginable variety of intimacy.

Although the cultivation arts of the Four Symbols Sect did not carry restrictions against breaking one's chastity, and there were indeed enchantresses within the sect who seduced men, as well as internal marriages, a woman with a "romantic history" was truly unsuited to be the Holy Maiden. In theory, positions like the Sect's Holy Son or Holy Maiden required one to devote body and soul to the gods, harboring no other thoughts. Once a single wrong step was taken, look at how tragic the lesson of the former White Tiger Holy Maiden had been...

Therefore, Xia Chichi's trial for the Holy Maiden was far more rigorous than normal circumstances, to the point that the Twenty-Eight Mansions Grand Array had been deployed.

Yet, this lady was truly a born Holy Maiden, to say nothing more of it. At any rate, now holding the position of Holy Maiden for two lineages simultaneously, she still commanded submission from top to bottom.

No one had discovered any signs of her yearning for men in her daily life either; everyone felt the Holy Maiden knew what was what, fully capable of discerning what was heavy and what was light. After all, she was only seventeen after the New Year, still quite young; the fleeting romantic thoughts of an ignorant young girl from before had quickly vanished into nothingness.

Witnessing Zhao Changhe's series of actions, these few Four Symbols Sect disciples truly wanted to praise the young lad a bit, secretly thinking it was no wonder the Holy Maiden would sleep with him back then—had it been them, they would also... uh, at any rate, it was indeed excellent taste.

But reflecting on it, he could not be praised. If this praise caused the Holy Maiden’s spring heart to ripple and her old flame to rekindle, what then? This fellow was, after all, a traitor to a subordinate sect; he ought to be killed, so why praise him?

The others could all see through his thoughts and laughed one after another. Someone then picked up the conversation: "So if we are to eliminate the traitor, we must also strike at this moment; any later and it will be too late. Shall we move?"

Xia Chichi remained expressionless: "What? Since when did our Four Symbols Sect become the running dogs of the Blood God Sect? Traveling thousands of miles eagerly just to help them eliminate a traitor?"

"Uh..."

"You and I are passing through this place; what did we come for?"

"To go to Ancient Sword Lake, to restart the sword-sacrificing ritual, and merely happened to encounter this matter by chance."

Xia Chichi said faintly: "Therefore, we are just here to watch the show. Why should we meddle in the internal affairs of the Cui family and the Blood God Sect? What does it ultimately have to do with us?"

The crowd fell silent, collectively feeling that she did not look much like someone just watching a show; looking at her appearance, she had nearly failed to hold herself back from saving him several times.

But Zhao Changhe’s performance was too outstanding, rendering it unnecessary for the Holy Maiden to expose such true intentions? Or was it that seeing him so close with a little rabbit had already made the Holy Maiden's stomach explode with sour jealousy? Forget it, no blind guessing.

Beside them, an old man finally spoke up: "Bullying the wounded—what kind of hero does that make one? The Holy Maiden's words are not wrong either. Why should we wipe the Blood God Sect's backside for them? For a mere third-tier Profound Portal traitor, they still need us to stretch out our hands to help them kill? How much face do they think they have? Truly fucking useless."

The crowd all nodded in agreement. Setting everything else aside, to kill a third-tier Profound Portal enemy when he was at his wits' end—those present were all Protector-level figures of the Azure Dragon and White Tiger branches of the Four Symbols Sect, and the old man was even a master on the Mortal Ranking; where would they find the face to do so? Furthermore, it was impossible for them, as a superior sect, to run off and claim a bounty from a lower sect; would that not be ridiculous?

Thinking up to this point, everyone sighed: "Then we shall depart, otherwise if Cui Wenjing truly arrives here, we will still have trouble."

At this moment, Xia Chichi suddenly spoke: "It is not that the traitor cannot be killed; when the time comes, this Seat will personally let him choose his way to die. Let it be so, let us leave."

Everyone could hear the genuine grinding of teeth within these words, and their old hearts were greatly comforted; as expected, the Holy Maiden still kept her priorities straight!

Xia Chichi turned her head to look again; over there, the sound of horse hooves had long since faded into the distance, leaving only the dust rolled up all over the ground, swirling entirely on its own.

No one knew that at this moment, only two thoughts resided in the Holy Maiden's heart:

"That little wanton filly, pretending to be so pure and lovely, yet she embraces a man just as she pleases!"

"Delivering Yuan'yang over a thousand miles—what a fine hero indeed! Big Brother Zhao~ Tui! You just wait for me!"

...

Leaving aside the discussion among the Four Symbols Sect crowd, on the other side, Cui Yuan'yang carried Zhao Changhe as they galloped swiftly on horseback, with the Listening Snow Tower assassin drawing ever closer.

Behind Zhao Changhe's back, he watched with his eyes, silently calculating.

The assassin's speed was faster than the horse... This must certainly be a master of the fifth or even sixth tier of the Profound Portal. Reaching this level, their combat prowess seemed to begin rivaling the Five Supremes—at least in the aspect of lightness skills, they could rival them. Zhao Changhe remembered that Yideng chasing a galloping horse could still earn the cheers of the soldiers of Xiangyang City; although this horse currently carried two people, it should be roughly the same.

Which meant that Xia Chichi, whom he had pinned against the wall and gnawed on wildly, was actually a master of the Five Supremes level, while his own grade should also be at the level of the Seven Masters of Quanzhen and Mei Chaofeng? This realization made Zhao Changhe's expression quite peculiar, leaving him with too many complaints to voice.

He took two deep breaths, silently mobilizing the Xia Longyuan inner Qi to nourish and regulate his powerless body, and slowly took down the bow that had been slung across his body without being used ever since he finished shooting the sails earlier.

Even if you are one of the Five Supremes, you are still not invulnerable to blades and spears!

How could he know that at this moment, that lady was watching the way he took down his bow...

The quiver held only five or six arrows... Zhao Changhe took one, suddenly drew the bow and notched the arrow, twisting his body to shoot on the fly.

The arrow carried a sharp howl, piercing through the air as it arrived.

That assassin was also startled, not expecting that Zhao Changhe, without even turning his head, could still be so accurate when suddenly twisting his body to shoot on the fly!

He waved his sword to deflect this arrow, his soaring steps already encumbered, slightly obstructed for a moment, and that galloping horse leapt far away once more.

Even the assassin could not help but feel a bit of admiration in his heart; it truly was not just anyone who could still achieve so much when doubly afflicted by wounds and exhaustion, at the end of his resources... But was this useful? How many arrows could you have?

He pursued upward once more, and sure enough, the moment he came within range, an arrow came flying. The assassin, fully prepared, brushed it aside and continued his forward pursuit.

After four or five rounds like this, Wei County drew ever closer.

The assassin's heart also harbored some hesitation.

He also knew that this place was extremely close to the Cui family’s sphere of influence, and furthermore, when the two of them, Zhao and Cui, appeared to cross the river earlier, the people in their vicinity had all received the news; could it be that Wei County over here would not receive it? Which meant that at any given moment, they might run into people coming to reinforce them, making it extremely dangerous to continue the pursuit.

Yet, success was right before his eyes; was he to be obstructed by a few such weak and powerless arrows? Was it not laughable; would he still be able to sleep upon returning home?

Looking at the way Zhao Changhe drew his bow at this moment, his arms were trembling, and he could barely pull the string to a full draw...

To turn back around under such circumstances?

The assassin gritted his teeth and still continued his pursuit upward.

Zhao Changhe notched his very last arrow, biting his jaws forcefully, his trembling arm slowly taking aim.

Cui Yuan'yang, who had been frantically whipping the horse in absolute silence all this time, suddenly shrieked: "Are you still looking! Still looking! If you look any further, I will never talk to you again!"

"Twang!" The last arrow left the string and flew forth.

Almost simultaneous with the sound of the string, a ray of sword radiance descended as if falling from the nine heavens, shooting through the air from an unknown distance away. Before Zhao Changhe’s arrow could even arrive, that ray of sword radiance had already pierced through the center of the assassin's brow.

A sword that surpassed the speed of sound.

Ninth on the Heaven Ranking, the Patriarch of the Cui family, Cui Yuan'yang's biological father.

"The Purple Qi of Qinghe," Cui Wenjing.

"Whoa!" Cui Yuan'yang reined in the horse, sitting panting upon the steed, staring fixedly at her father under the moonlight.

She wanted to cry very much, yet found that her face at this moment was rigid, completely incapable of making any expression. She wanted to leap off the horse very much to embrace her father, yet felt that all her strength had vanished clean away, unable to even make the movement to dismount.

It was finally over, this path of thorns.

Cui Wenjing quietly looked at his daughter, who was filthy and barely resembled a human being yet remained peaceful and quiet without crying or making a fuss, and then looked at the man poking half a head out from behind his daughter to size him up... No matter how well the man hid, he could not escape his gaze; the color of the dudou exposed at that chest was simply too glaring.

One knew not what kind of emotion was contained within Cui Wenjing’s eyes, whether it was appreciation or something else...

Only now did Cui Yuan'yang realize that her father's attitude toward Zhao Changhe might not necessarily be friendly; her heart gave a sudden leap, and just as she was about to speak, a golden light suddenly flashed across the sky.

The Chronicle of the Chaotic World deployed a new chapter once again.

All three of them could not help but lift their heads to look.

"In the third month, Zhao Changhe delivered Yuan'yang over a thousand miles, crossing mountains and fording waters, hacking his way through heavy sieges. Killing countless along the way, blood soaking his robes, his long blade notched, his arrows spent and his bow broken."

Cui Wenjing's eyes shifted slightly, and Cui Yuan'yang, who had been very quiet all this time, suddenly wept as she watched.

"Amidst wounds and exhaustion, he jointly slew Qi Bibi with Cui Yuan'yang, and furthermore escaped from the pursuit of a silver-badge assassin of the Listening Snow Tower."

"The Hidden Dragon Ranking alters and a seat is newly added."

"Eighty-eighth on the Hidden Dragon Ranking, Zhao Changhe."

"The Hidden Dragon, two hundred and thirteen, Cui Yuanyang."

"Blood stains the Clear River, the night is not yet ended."

"Unlike the previous two times... this time, the world is shaken."