319 The Chilling First Move

In the dark twilight, the monster tide was like a black ocean. Standing infront of the black ocean were the five demon experts. Above them in the sky wasan even more massive shadow. It seemed just like this black ocean's reflection. Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong stood on the stone platform in front of themain gate of the mausoleum. Separated by the several thousand zhang long divinepath, they viewed this magnificent yet terrifying spectacle. They gazed at theblack piece of wood in Nanke’s hand as it emitted countless rays of light andknew that their initial conjecture was correct. The Soul Pivot was in front ofthat obsidian coffin, but the Soul Wood was in the hands of the demons.  Xu Yourong said rather regretfully, "I've cultivated the Dao since I was achild, but it seems that what I believed to be the Dao was not the Dao. Allthose so-called calculations only allowed to me understand mortal affairs. Itseems to me that you and I can only rely on heaven now." Chen Changsheng gazed at the black ocean in front of them and the shadow inthe sky above and said, "I believe that there is such a thing as fate, but Idon't believe that it decides all things." As he said these words, he was very calm and serious. It was only that lastword, 'things', which caused his voice to softly tremble, indicating that hewas a little nervous. He pulled himself together and then continued, "Asexpected, the Soul Wood was in the hands of the demons. No wonder we were ableto get to the Mausoleum of Zhou without meeting a single monster, but...thosedemons could have commanded those monsters to come kill us a long time ago, butwhy did they not do it and instead gave us a clear path?" Xu Yourong said, "We already discussed this in that patch of autumn reeds. Themost likely possibility was that they needed us to guide the way." Viewing it in this way, in the eyes of the demons, the location of theMausoleum of Zhou was far more important than the life and death of those two.Why were the demons looking for the Mausoleum of Zhou? Was there somethinginside they absolutely needed to obtain? No matter how they thought about it,they felt that it all had to do with the Halving Blade Technique engraved onthe obsidian coffin. As they thought about this idea, Chen Changsheng and XuYourong glanced into each other's eyes. Now that the Halving Blade Technique was destroyed, only by combining thecharacters and pictures memorized in their two minds would that blade techniquereappear. Using this to threaten the demons and exchange it for a way out? He used hiseyes to ask this question. "It's no use." Xu Yourong gazed down the divine path at that little girl'scold eyes and shook her head. The phoenix and the peacock were predestined rivals. The meeting of these twogeniuses from different races would lead to many stories in the future. In that determined, even desperate, battle at the peak of Sunset Valley, nomatter what terrifying strength Nanke had displayed, she had calmly responded.Just as she was about to cross the line of victory, the zither-playing old manentered the fray, causing her to suffer severe injuries. She plunged into theabyss, and then the moment she was at her most desperate straits, her bloodwent through its second awakening, causing a pair of pure white wings to emergefrom her back and allow her to fly through the night sky. If it had not been for the fact that she had to save Chen Changsheng,  she wasabsolutely the victor of that battle. She only needed to leave the Garden ofZhou. Yet the current her, although her life had temporarily been saved, wasstill weak and exhausted, no longer able to engage in combat. Moreover, Nankehad clearly recovered her strength to its peak and was just as strong as shehad been on the peak of Sunset Valley and appeared to be even more tyrannical. Should she regret it? She should, she thought to herself as she calmly andsilently gazed at Chen Changsheng. Chen Changsheng did not know that she was looking at him because he wasstaring at that black ocean in front of the mausoleum. That black ocean was made up of thousands upon thousands of monsters. Theirpowerful and bloody Qi soared to the heavens, as if they wanted to tear the skyapart. The monster tide had gray dragon serpents, demon vultures, and even moremonsters with such powerful Qi that not even his spiritual sense could perceivethem, let alone that terrifying shadow which hung in the air behind them. If all those monsters surrounding them began to attack, the black ocean coulddirectly drown the mausoleum. Let alone him, even those Divine Generals whowere at the peak of Star Condensation, perhaps even the Saints, could only stayfar away. Besides Zhou Dufu coming back to life, who could possibly have thestrength to resist this monster tide alone? The monster tide was somewhat restless, especially those gray dragon serpentsand demon vultures whose many companions had been killed by Xu Yourong. Themonster tide incessantly sounded with shrill cries, and yet, perhaps becausesome of Zhou Dufu's Qi still remained about the mausoleum, or perhaps becausethat glowing piece of black wood was controlling them, they remained ten lifrom the mausoleum, not taking a single step closer. The black ocean was a curtain, and a gorgeous stream of light was drawing uponit. Seeing this picture, Chen Changsheng thought about that unforgettableencounter at the lake all those dozens of days ago. His pupils contracted andhe subconsciously tightened the grip on the hilt of his dagger. The stream of light needed only an instant to travel along that seeminglyendless divine path and arrived by the several hundred zhang high mausoleum atthe space in front of Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong. The beautiful and ethereal wings of light gently flapped in the gloomy light.In between those wings of light were two beautiful women who seemed to havebecome as one. Their appearances were both extremely beautiful, but their facial features andtemperaments were very different, one could even say complete opposites. Onewas dignified, the other charming. One had a fluid gaze, her bearing like tenthousand flowers. The other had calm and gentle eyes, so pure that it madepeople presume she was an aristocrat's daughter. When they stood shoulder toshoulder, it gave people an intense sensation that brutally assaulted theirminds. If Chen Changsheng was a little older, perhaps he would have a little moreexperience to understand this sort of allure, but he was only fifteen yearsold. Moreover, his entire mind was put into cultivating the Dao to seek alonger life, so he had never thought about those sorts of things. In his eyes,those two women were still those frightening demon women that had attempted tokill him in the lake. Xu Yourong said, "They are Nanke's two wings, or her two maids. One is calledHua Cui, the other is called Ning Qiu." This was the first time Chen Changsheng had heard their names. He was a littlestartled, and the gaze he turned towards them now held other emotions. From his chats with Xu Yourong on their journey, he knew that Nanke's twowings had through some ceremony of the Candle Shadow Shamans obtained spiritualbodies. They possessed spiritual sense and self-awareness, but they wouldalways have to obey the orders of their master. Life and death were not intheir own hands. Their master only needed to think about it, and they wouldvanish into a puff of smoke and thus die. When he heard those names, he did not like them. Hua Cui? Ning Qiu? These werevery common names for slave girls. It gave one the impression of someone timidand humble, never able to live a happy life. Of course, he knew that these twonames had not been chosen by those two maids. The person he disliked was theone who had conferred these names upon them and who even held their lives inher hands, the Demon Princess. Nanke's two maids had attended to their master every day, so it was very easyfor them to understand the meaning in his eyes. Hua Cui was that charming beauty with the extremely soft waist and fluidglaze. Her watery eyes gazed at Chen Changsheng, and she said with soft andsticky voice, "Truly a child that loves others." Ning Qiu was that aristocratic daughter with an elegant complexion anddignified bearing, but she loathed the empathy and more so the pity in hiseyes. She thought to herself, that day you almost died at our hands, but nowyou pity us because our master holds our lives in her hands? How absurd! Howdisrespectful! With a hint of anger, she rushed up to the stone platform. "Hey! What are you rushing for? I still haven't spoken with him!" Hua Cui was carried along with her as she flew up to the stone platform. Shespoke rather frantically, seeming very confused. Yet her fingers were alreadyinfused with a dark green light, sinister to the extreme. With a swish, the space in front of the high platform of the mausoleum wasfilled with countless green specks of light, dense like stars in the sky. All of those green lights were the poison of the Peacock Plume. If they wereto enter the flesh and blood, death was a certainty. At the battle by the lakeshore, they had thought of every method possible, andyet still had been unable to pierce Chen Changsheng's skin. For them to stilluse this attack, then presumably they had definitely concealed some othermethod within. Xu Yourong calmly gazed at this scene, her right hand gripping the longbow asher fingers tapped out a light tempo on the smooth and ancient bow. At anytime, she was prepared to take action should Chen Changsheng’s vigilance let up. At the moment, she truly had no strength to battle, but she could still usethe Tong Bow to block one attack from the enemy. Chen Changsheng did not giveher this chance. His right foot took a step forward, and his shoes splashedwater on the ground. His strength went from his waist to his shoulders to hiswrist, and the dagger in his hand transformed into a straight line and thrustout towards the edge of the stone platform. With a snap, it seemed like the air around the edges of the stone platform hadbeen directly shattered by his attack. Even more ethereal was that pure white snowflakes began to form in the airaround the straight line drawn by his dagger. These snowflakes were ten timesas large as naturally formed snowflakes and were both beautiful and tangible. The snowflakes gently fell down. Evidently, they enveloped those two wings oflight. The two maids within the wings of light would individually have the strengthof the upper level of Ethereal Opening, which was on par with his alone. Whenthey combined, their power would abruptly increase severalfold, thus on thatday when they battled on the lakeshore, Chen Changsheng had no chance. Today,because they were in front of their master, they had secretly concealed anothermethod. Yet, they had not imagined that they would not be able to fully use anyof their follow-up attacks before Chen Changsheng's single attack had brokentheir momentum. This move performed by Chen Changsheng had not been seen on the continent forat least ten or so years. It had only appeared once in the Grand Examinationtwo months ago, so no one could recognize it. He used the Orthodox Academy's Toppling Mountain Staff. In terms of sword speed, the Orthodox Academy's Toppling Mountain Staff was nomatch for the Heavenly Dao Academy's Sword of Hithering Light. In terms ofsword energy, the Orthodox Academy's Toppling Mountain Staff was not up to theThree Forms of Wenshui, nor was it better than the great sword techniques fromthe Mount Li Sword Sect. However, the Toppling Mountain Staff was the stafftechnique used in the Orthodox Academy of the past to teach and disciplinestudents, so what was most important for it was the word 'reason'. This move seemed to not be reasonable, but it was actually very reasonable.The reason lay in the Black Frost cold Qi attached to the dagger, and it lay inthe ten thousand snowflakes slowly falling down in the air above the stoneplatform. Nanke's two maids were too fast, so fast that it was even meaningless for himto use the Yeshi Step. In addition, the stone platform was too small, making itdifficult to put the Yeshi Step to its full use. He was even less able tobattle in the air with those two maids, so he had to limit their speed andcontain this battle into a relatively narrower space. At the same time, the Toppling Mountain Staff of the Orthodox Academy alsorested upon the word 'strict'. 'Strict' meant that there was no flexibility, you… cannot avoid! Those two words were the heart of Chen Changsheng's sword. Adding on the Black Frost cold Qi, this move could be said to be extremelychilling. The snowflakes fell, touching those dark green lights. In a flash, the colorof those green lights suddenly grew much dimmer. The chilling sword move took advantage of the opportunity and pierced at thetwo women between the wings of light. The mausoleum's stone platform suddenly sounded out with a strange yell, fullof anger and unwillingness. The wings of light swiftly moved, scattering the snowflakes. In an instant,they had retreated dozens of zhang. Hua Cui and Ning Qiu's faces were pale. A stream of blood slowly seeped from their two bodies.