272 Past and Present Fate Part Three

Black Robe looked at him, and then his voice penetrated through his hat, likea cold wind from the abyss. "You are prepared to go crazy?" Su Li was silent for a while, then the smile returned to his face. "What useis there in worrying? And what good would going crazy do? What I should bedoing is thinking of ways to live and escape. As long as I survive, then shewill also definitely survive. If she can't, then it won't be too late for me togo crazy." Black Robe was calm and gave no reply. He knew very well that those words werenot a threat, but a calm statement of objective fact. If Su Li really didmanage to escape this encirclement that the demons had planned for so long,then if his daughter really did die in the Garden of Zhou, he would definitelygo completely mad. Not even the Demon Lord wished for such a chaotic sight. "So I don't need to worry." Su Li raised up his eyes to stare into the deepnight. "As long as I live, who amongst you dare to kill her?" Black Robe chuckled, then said, "Logically, that's the case. But you know,from time to time, I like to do illogical things." Su Li drew back his gaze, and calmly looked at him. "You're this world's mostenigmatic figure, and also the most rational. I don't believe you would do suchan irrational thing." Black Robe calmly explained, "Because I have already promised another personthat your daughter must die, so she must die." Su Li paid attention to the fact that Black Robe had said there was only oneperson that he had promised to. "Who?" Black Robe did not directly answer his question. Slowly, he said, "In thepast, the Longevity Sect drowned your true love to death in a cold pool ofwater. When you returned from the southern seas and learned of this matter, youwent into a rage. With your sword, you burst into the Longevity Sect, and inone night, you killed seventeen elders of the Longevity Sect… Everyone knowsabout this matter, but whether it was your Mount Li Sword Sect's Sect Master,the Holy Maiden, or the Pope, even the Tianhai Empress; none of them could sayanything. Because there was a reason for your rage, and furthermore, after youwent mad, none of them could do anything to control you. They could onlypretend that the incident never happened." As Su Li thought of those matters of the past, his expression did not change,but his appearance seemed to grow more solitary. Black Robe continued, "But did you ever think, even though these true expertssaid nothing and purposely forgot this matter, there were some very weak peoplethat could not forget, who all this time wanted to make their voice heard?Those people that you killed, they also had descendants, those people were alsothe true loves of others." Su Li was silent for a while, then suddenly said, "There's no need for you toabide by your promise, especially to a human." The moment these words came out, the temperature of the snowy plain suddenlygrew colder by several degrees. Cold indicated that movement had stagnated, that the sword that traveledthrough the night had gotten somewhat slower. It also indicated that with his daughter's life in grave peril, Su Li hadbegun to think of compromise and negotiation. For Mount Li's Junior Martial Uncle who was well known for his wild nature tosignify his willingness to negotiate, this was a huge concession. And yet, his opponent was not willing to negotiate with him. "As a schemer, I understand more than anyone else how important keeping apromise is, especially with humans. Only through this can I get more and morehumans to believe me. From a certain perspective, my promises are extremelyvaluable, because they must inevitably be realized, and in addition, theyrepresent Xuelao City's invitation to the entire world." Black Robe calmly looked at him. "Of course, the most important matter isstill to kill you. The dead have no way to go crazy." The snow continued to fall and the cold night returned to normal. Themountainous figures of the Demon Generals slowly stopped around the perimeter. In the night, there was the sound of an extremely sharp whistle of the sword. Su Li patted his scabbard with his hand, and with a light shake of his sleeve,there was only a whistle that approached from the horizon. With a swish, hissword returned to his scabbard, carrying along with it an indescribable senseof confidence. One of the dark figures on the perimeter began to slightly rock, as if it wasa mountain about to collapse, but in the end, it managed to stabilize. Only thecold iron pike in his hands clattered to the ground, sliced in two. When Su Li withdrew his sword from the night, he used the energy to also breakthe seventh Demon General's weapon, indicating just how indescribably powerfulhe was. However, the Demon General showed no signs of shock, nor of anger. With afrigid voice, he declared, "Su Li, you will definitely die today." Su Li looked at Black Robe and asked very seriously, "Will I truly die on thisday?" Black Robe replied, "Yes. We've calculated it thirty-seven times. Without adoubt, you will die." At these words, Su Li was quiet for a very long time. He wanted to hear Black Robe's answer, because he believed Black Robe wouldanswer truthfully. However, this was not the answer he wanted to hear. Whether it was the human Saint experts, or that husband and wife of WhiteEmperor City; whether they were willing or not, they all had to admit to onething. After Wang Zhice had faded away, the person on the continent most skilled atscheming and calculation was the demon Military Advisor who cloaked himself ina black robe. The plans created by Black Robe rarely ever failed. Those schemes which hepersonally took part in had never had a problem. For example, the time when Emperor Taizong brought countless experts andmillions of armored horsemen on a Northern Expedition against the demons. Inthe end, he was forced to turn back at Xuelao City with no achievements. Thisperson was the Demon race's most accomplished minister. It had been several hundred years since Black Robe had personally taken partin his plans to kill a human expert, until now. He wanted to kill Su Li. He had calculated it thirty-seven times that Su Li would die without a doubt. It meant that perhaps Su Li really was going to die. Su Li also thought this way, but he felt that it did not mean his death wascertain. "To kill me, you did so many things. Just what was real and what wasfake? Are you really planning to kill those children in the Garden of Zhou, orare you using it as a lure so that I would come and you could kill me? If evenyou aren't clear on that, then perhaps there's still a chance for me." "It's all real, but it also could all be fake. But to kill you is the mostreal thing. Just like you said before, those young ones are the future ofhumanity. You are humanity's present. I am a vulgar person that lives in themoment, so the first thing I have to do is obviously to kill you." Black Robe calmly continued, "Tianhai and the Pope, and the Holy Maiden, forthe sake of humanity's future, have attempted to unite the north and the south.How is it that even up to now, they have met with no success? How could thesouth have held on until now? The reason lies not with the Longevity Sect, notwith Scholartree Manor, but in you, Mount Li's Junior Martial Uncle Su Li. So,in what way can I not kill you?" Su Li replied, "If I'm a dead man, the unification of humanity's north andsouth possesses not a single benefit for you demons." Black Robe shook his head. "Not wanting to be annexed by the Zhou Dynasty,this is what many southerners think. You are only the southerner’s sharpest andstrongest sword. Even if the sword is broken, the southerners won't changetheir minds. On the contrary, Tianhai will change her mind. In accordance withthe woman's grand aspirations, if those aristocratic families no longer haveyou, when they resist the unification of the north and the south once again,she will inevitably bring her armies south and bring all of humanity under herrule. Only the unification of the north and south of that time will no longerrely on the great powers, but on the Zhou Dynasty's armored horsemen."' Su Li had no response. This was an extremely probable scenario, up to thepoint that he could already clearly envision it. "On that day, the human world would absolutely be thrown into chaos. Tianhaiwill bring her armies south, His Majesty will bring his armies south. Thesouth, ah the south… ever onwards to the south. From this cold and snow-filledworld to the warm ground illuminated by the sun, that will be a journey filledwith corpses and blood. I don't know who will be the final victor, but this ismy most desired result." Black Robe calmly looked at him. "So, please go to the starry sky and reunitewith your family. Many years later, when you overlook this war-torn world withdead dragons and an extinct humanity, please remember to say hello to me." Standing at the edge of the cliff, her hands held behind her, she stared atthe silky strands of the clouds. The cold wind cut like a knife, but it wasunable to scrape away the exhaustion on that white-clothed young lady's face.  With two days of no sleep and no rest, rushing around the Garden of Zhousaving others while successively using the extremely draining Sacred Lighttechnique, even someone like her should be feeling tired. Exhaustion was not anything to be afraid of. What she was afraid of was thatwariness in the depths of her heart. The sound of the zither, the tree behind her, as well as the space thatenveloped the entire mountain path, made her feel that there was somethingextremely dangerous out there. Since childhood, she had cultivated the Dao. Ever since her blood hadawakened, this had been the greatest danger she had ever perceived. She did not have any specific reason. She did not know who was waiting for herat the end of the path, nor did she know for what purpose her opponent had usedso much mental strength to design this space to cut her off from the Garden ofZhou. However, she knew that she should probably break this space. There was no reason to do it, but she did not need a reason. Since heropponent had trapped her in a prison, and she wanted to destroy the plan, thenof course she should destroy this space her opponent had designed for her. She brought her finger up to her lips and lightly bit down on it. Then, sherealized that she hadn't broken the skin, so she could not help but feel alittle embarrassed. Afterwards, she forcefully bit down, and her slender eyebrows twisted in pain. As she looked at the beads of blood coming out of her fingertip, she frownedin displeasure. She disliked the pain, and much less to wound herself. She placed her hand in the air over the abyss at the edge of the path. A dark red bead of blood dripped down from her finger and fell towards thewispy clouds below. As they fell, the drops of blood began to change color. They grew increasinglyred and splendorous. They continued to grow brighter, until at the very end,they had become gold. They were like drops of melted gold. Within, they concealed an unimaginablepower. The temperature around the mountain suddenly began to rise. The shallow layerof frost that had just covered the stone surface suddenly evaporated. Thatlonely tree became even more withered. The weeds that had grown up with much difficulty in the seams of the cliffinstantly burned to ash. The golden drop of blood fell down upon the clouds. There was only a whoosh. A light began to erupt from the clouds. Those clouds were like cotton that hadsuddenly been set on fire. A massive fire suddenly blazed up amongst the mountain range, turning the darknight into day. A single drop of blood had brought about such a magnificent sight. Was this the power of the Heavenly Phoenix's true blood? Seeing the newly lit up mountain range, her face was filled with satisfaction,but in the next moment, her brow creased once more. Biting open her own finger truly was a bit painful. She brought her finger in front of her mouth and began to lightly blow on it,seemingly very focused. At the same time, she mumbled to herself as if she were coaxing a child,"Doesn't hurt......doesn't hurt......it doesn't hurt, good." From the day he entered Mount Li to learn the sword, Su Li's fate had beendecided. He wanted to protect this peak as well as the entire south. So even ifhe spent the vast majority of his time wandering the four seas, he would alwayscome back to Mount Li every so often to prove to the Empress in the capital andto the demons even further north that that iron sword was still there. From the day her blood had awakened, her fate had also been decided. Shewanted to protect the Thirteen Divisions of Radiant Green, protect the EasternDivine General's Mansion, the Imperial Palace and the Li Palace. Now she hadadded on the Holy Maiden Peak. The things she wanted to protect were truly toomany. In reality, they all pointed without a doubt towards that final goal ofprotecting all of humanity. How to protect it? On what grounds should she protect it? The most important,or even the sole reason was of course the fact that within her body flowed thetrue blood of the Heavenly Phoenix. For this reason, all people doted upon her,or revered her, or placed endless hopes and expectations on her. However, noone knew that there were times when she really did not like the fact thatwithin her body flowed that blood. That blood was too pure, too sacred, so in everyone's eyes, she was also pureand sacred. As a result, she, a person of the Zhou, born in the capital, ableto become the successor of Holy Maiden Peak. However, she had never thought ofherself as a pure and sacred young lady. The entire continent called her"Phoenix", but she felt that a more appropriate title would be "Vulgar". She creased her eyebrows and blew on her finger as she watched the faintlydiscernible outlines of demon horns in the blazing clouds. She thought toherself, "If I wasn't afraid of pain, perhaps I really would try and find someway of pouring out all this blood until there was nothing left." But would itbe okay for there to be no blood? There was no way, so she could continue to beafraid of pain with a clear conscience. If this was to be her fate, then sheshould continue forward and see, and talk about it then. The clouds had burned into nothingness, leaving only the sky. The cliffsreturned to darkness, but it seemed lighter than before. It gave one a feelingof safety. She continued forward along the mountain path. For some people, their fate was not decided at birth, or when their blood wasawakened, or when they entered the tutelage of some expert or sect. Somewhat sorrowfully, and prone to bring about an indescribable anger in them,was that their fate was decided by the fate of others. At the peak that was at the end of this path was the legendary Sunset Valley,the true Sunset Valley. If someone sat there, he would be able to see the mystical design of suspendedlight over the plain. A little girl sat at the edge of the cliff, calmly looking at the plain below.In her indifferent, wooden eyes, there was no emotion. She was called Nanke. She was the Demon Lord's thirty-seventh daughter. When she was born, the Demon Lord was extremely happy, because her bodypossessed the bloodline of the Peacock. So he gave her the name of "Nanke".  (TL: 南客 (Nan ke) is another name for the peacock.) Nanke was a Peacock. At that time, her fate should have been to be doted upon by her royal father,then becoming the pride of the entire Demon race. However, when she was one year old, the blood of a girl in the south awakened,and she began to cultivate the Dao. In comparison, she fell short. Let alone the fact that she was of the imperial family. Thus, pride became shame, and even humiliation. From that point on, her fate had been decided.