Chapter 787: Night is Not Yet Over

Chapter 787: The Night Has Not Yet Ended

The Holy Mountain was not entirely quiet. Sun Hengchuan was cheerfully pulling money out of his own pocket to hand out red envelopes to the brothers of the Blood God Sect, claiming his disciple was getting married and everyone should share the joy.

Thus, a wave of jubilation rippled through the surroundings.

No one dared to contradict the identity of the disciple Sun the Instructor claimed. This was something Zhao Changhe himself acknowledged. If one were to talk about investing, this fellow's investment was truly the envy of the world. Despite that, he lacked ambition. In recent days, he had basically been in a state of semi-retirement, only occasionally teaching the sect's newcomers saber techniques... It was only this northern expedition to slay the Hu that made him raise his saber once more, and it was estimated that upon returning this time, he would retire to live out his remaining years in comfort.

——The practice of the Blood Fiend Technique was always accompanied by agony. Conquering the Blood Fiend was not something just anyone could achieve. Instructor Sun could not endure it and had long since wanted to give up. There were actually quite a few people in the Blood God Sect who wanted to give up. Letting the horses loose on the southern mountains, sheathing the swords and sabers, and returning to the ordinary martial world seemed to be the best choice for most of them. In any case, Zhao Changhe would certainly not treat everyone poorly.

Even Xue Canghai had remained very silent ever since Lie remarked that line to him, and it was unknown whether he was pondering this matter.

There was always only one Zhao Changhe, and not everyone could emulate him.

Xue Canghai did not speak much, only driving the surrendered troops of the Sacred Palace to pitch tents and build camps. The surrendered troops swallowed their resentment, being driven like oxen and horses, not daring to utter a single word. They occasionally raised their eyes toward the direction of the mountain peak, only to lower their heads again in dejection very quickly.

One could guess what kind of wanton indulgence was taking place inside the most solemn Everlasting Heaven at this moment.

The most sacred temple, the most sacred Everlasting Heaven, had in the blink of an eye turned into a place where others were coupling.

To the parties involved, it was romance; to them, it was a thorough conquest, bordering on humiliation. Yet this humiliation could not even coalesce a shred of temper. The loving, heroic couple took heaven and earth as their witness, weaving a painted ribbon with identical paths and minds; what did it have to do with anyone else? It was not like the grassland's usual practice of conquering another's tribe, plundering their wives and daughters, and making merry there.

By comparison, the style was much grander... to the point that a very twisted sense of blessing sprouted within the hearts of the conquered, feeling that it was well-deserved by the opponent.

The people of the grassland all respected heroes. Without a doubt, the opponent was a hero.

The grassland was a place where the weak were meat and the strong ate; surrendering to a hero was not shameful.

The Heavenly God's head had been severed and placed on the sacrificial altar, and Bo'e's faith was shattered, leaving him with no desire to live... Others had not reached Bo'e's extremity, but they similarly felt as though their bones had been extracted and scattered. Clearly, the members of the Blood God Sect monitoring and escorting them at this moment were not many, yet not even half a person arose with the thought of resisting.

Heaven knew whether the god-like, demon-like Zhao Changhe inside could reduce thousands or tens of thousands of people here to ashes with a single slash of his saber. Who would dare to move recklessly...

In truth, they were overthinking. Zhao Changhe had no strength at all at this moment, only possessing enough strength to reach out his hand to support the slender waist of the young lady paladin, letting her gallop atop him, actively operating the dual cultivation technique to heal his injuries.

In his daze, he was almost on the verge of falling fast asleep.

In fact, if Li Shentong had not risked that final gamble, the person who would have plugged the opening with his own body would have been Zhao Changhe himself. He possessed the instantaneous movement technique of splitting light and capturing shadows, and he would have done so on the spot.

There was no need for any plan, nor was there any weighing of pros and cons. When a war reached that point, life and death had long been cast aside and were no longer within consideration.

Li Shentong said he was returning it to Xia Longyuan, but that was just lip service. Zhao Changhe knew that at the critical moment on the field, Li Shentong absolutely thought of nothing at all; it was merely a subconscious choice that this expedition could not be allowed to fail at the final step. He himself was the same...

Recalling it now brought a touch of lingering fear. If he had borne that blow himself, he would be dead by now, with no suspense about it. His defensive power and Li Shentong's were not on the same level. Speaking of which, it also made him sigh that he, a person who had wanted to go home ever since transmigrating, was actually willing to spill his life upon this land.

No wonder before his departure, Wanzhuang and the others were all instructing him repeatedly, fearing that he would get ahead of himself... But what use were these instructions? When the moment came, whose brain could revolve around those things.

The victory of a war required countless heroes who disregarded life and death. A general's success was built on ten thousand rotting bones, and how could this not include the general himself.

Now, even though Li Shentong had replaced that plugging of the opening, the current injury was still the heaviest one suffered over the years. Seemingly, his appearance was not as wretched as in the past, but in reality, the energy level suffered was not of the same order. To this day, his inside was like a churned mess, and all power from his body to his soul was completely empty.

Yue Hongling ignored the shyness of being watched by ten thousand eyes, hurrying to have their bridal night with him, and how could she not be hurried to help him heal...

In his daze, he seemed to hazily feel that the Blind Girl appeared for a moment, appearing to inspect his condition, yet she did not speak.

Zhao Changhe really wanted to say, didn't you say that when I finished fighting this battle you would reveal everything to me, I am waiting for you to speak... Are you trying to renege on the debt?

...

The Blind Girl did not deliberately renege on the debt.

Cui Yuanyang suddenly opened her eyes, fury blazing within them: “You dare appear before me again!”

The Blind One: “……”

Cui Wenjing: “?”

Huangyang: “!!!”

“Boom!” The vast, boundless aura of mountains and rivers surged straight at Huangyang, whose eyes bulged as he screamed hoarsely: “Piaomiao… Piaomiao awakens! Sovereign, save… ah!”

It was a suppression like heavenly restraint, akin to what Zhao Changhe had felt in the Cui family’s secret realm during ancient times—the world-ending flame had yet to emerge from its abyss when the Qinghe Sword pierced straight through the deep sea, slaying it beyond the cave.

Another similar killing stroke should have followed, aimed at Huangyang, but back then Piaomiao had not been able to finish it.

As if the karma spanning eons had found its period in this moment.

Purple qi pierced the sky; Huangyang tried to flee, but could not even move. A longsword ran through his body, pinning him to the city wall of Tong Pass dozens of li away, nailed to the battlements, dead in an instant.

Both armies stood dumbfounded.

The Nine Nether could not save him—before her stood the Blind One.

Yet the next moment, “Cui Yuanyang” shot straight into the heavens, a sword aura fiercer than the one that had slain Huangyang driving toward the Blind One’s chest.

The sword that could kill Huangyang in a single blow—the Blind One merely extended a hand, catching the sword aura in her palm, her jade hand utterly unharmed.

Cui Yuanyang appeared before her, eyes cold and filled with wrath: “Ye Wuming…”

Ye Jiuyou nearby nearly burst her sides laughing: “My sister, when I sank into the Qinghe, did you never consider that this day would come?”

Huangyang’s life or death meant nothing to her.

The Blind One smiled faintly: “I considered it.”

Ye Jiuyou’s smile stiffened as the Blind One continued: “You awakened Piaomiao, but the one you offended is not me—it is Zhao Changhe. Because his wife is Cui Yuanyang, not Piaomiao. If before there was no irreconcilable enmity between Zhao Changhe and you, now there is…”

She paused, a seductive smile curling on her lips: “We follow the designs of Heaven’s Dao, unable to break free from the predetermined frame, but Zhao Changhe can. I cannot kill you, but Zhao Changhe can… I look forward to that day.”

“Blood stains the Qinghe, night unending… Did you know this all along?” Jiuyou said coldly. “You knew, yet you gave no hint to Zhao Changhe. If he comes to blame, you won’t escape either.”

The Blind One was silent for a moment: “So what?”

“Clang, clang, clang!” While the sisters spoke, Piaomiao said nothing, slashing several times at the Blind One, all easily deflected. Her eyes finally showed astonishment: “Your cultivation…”

The Blind One smiled faintly: “You’ve just awakened, this body is not strong—you cannot defeat me. I’ll give you time, recover well…”

She made a throat-cutting gesture and said calmly: “I… await your coming to kill me.”

Ye Jiuyou tugged at Piaomiao’s sleeve: “Sister, don’t rush. Come back to Kunlun with me—I have something good for you…”

Piaomiao said no more and turned to leave with Ye Jiuyou.

Below, Li Boping, having lost Huangyang for no reason, saw his army’s morale collapse and soon led them back into Tong Pass. On this side, Cui Wenjing’s daughter had vanished inexplicably, and his troops likewise lost their will to fight. The ten-day stalemate of attacks and defenses came to an end.

The Blind One floated silently in the void. In the distance, a rooster crowed; the first light of dawn appeared at the horizon.

She deliberately checked on Zhao Changhe’s condition—he was in dual cultivation healing, and it was unclear when he would recover.

As for cultivation… Zhao Changhe and Yue Hongling had begun tempering toward the second realm of Imperial Domain, but their accumulation was still lacking, their training insufficient. Whether the blessing of the Eternal Heaven Secret Realm could speed things up remained to be seen.

If it could not, with their current strength, fighting the Eternal Heaven God was one thing, but taking on Jiuyou and Piaomiao was still far beyond them.

Or perhaps… if you were to kill that enchantress…

The Blind One gave a self-deprecating laugh, and her figure vanished in an instant.