543 An Ebony Hairpin

She took one step forward, bringing her to the very edge of the Dew Platform. Night Pearls and the human world lay at her feet, the stars and fate above herhead. She slowly opened her hands, her broad sleeves hanging down and dancing in thewind. She was like one standing before an abyss, cautious and small. She was like one standing before the ocean, the scene majestic. An extremely subtle and powerful Qi appeared on the Dew Platform. With a shake of her wide sleeves, the night wind suddenly shifted directionsand began flowing in reverse, heading towards the Burning Heaven Sword. Strands of black hair brushed against her cheeks and drifted forward. It wassomewhat disorderly, but this only added to her beauty. With a shake of her hair, the ebony hairpin stuck within fell off, but it didnot fall down. Instead, it flew into the night sky. The entire world knew that the Divine Empress possessed an ebony hairpin.Regardless of the occasion, it would be thrust into her hair. It wasn't because the hairpin was very beautiful, or because the Phoenix headcarved onto it was so vivid and lifelike, but because it was no ordinaryhairpin. This was third-ranked on the Tier of Legendary Weapons, Wooden Sword LittlePhoenix! …… …… An extremely clear and beautiful Phoenix cry, incomparably grave and solemn,resounded through the capital. The ebony hairpin shot straight up from the Dew Platform into the night,transforming under the starlight into a graceful and beautiful, yet incrediblyfurious Black Phoenix! This Black Phoenix was so massive that it seemed to obscure the stars.Extending a single claw, it straight away grabbed the blazing Burning HeavenSword! A terrifying noise reverberated ceaselessly through the world. The Black Phoenix's right claw had snatched the fire dragon that was theBurning Heaven Sword! The dragon scale–like starlight surrounding the Burning Heaven Sword instantlydimmed, then, with countless cracking sounds, shattered one by one! But the Burning Heaven Sword seemed to have long anticipated this and directlypierced through those scales of starlight!！ Su Li's sword…had truly left its sheath! An incredibly sharp sword intent covered the entire night sky. The scatteredand shattered starlight was cut into even finer fragments and descended likesnowflakes! Several black feathers drifted up! Another Phoenix cry rang out, even more tyrannical than before! The Black Phoenix unfurled its several-dozen-li wings! The Burning Heaven Sword thrust into its black feathers and its sharp beakfiercely collided against the tip of the Burning Heaven Sword! A stream of light appeared—countless streams of light appeared! They containedflowing light and overflowing color, a magnificence nigh impossible to describe! The night was illuminated and the world seemed once more to have returned todaytime. From the Imperial Palace to the Heavenly Dao Academy, from theImperial Court to the Li Palace, the protective arrays of countless buildingswere triggered and activated by the Qi spilling from the sky. Countless spheresof clear light almost simultaneously appeared on the streets and alleys of thecapital. This scene was truly far too beautiful, so beautiful that it wasawe-inspiring, impossible to look at directly. In truth, few people could seethis scene. The stone pillars around the Li Palace emitted an ancient Qi. In the palacehall in the deepest part of the Li Palace, the Pope quietly stared upward atthe night sky cut out by the sky well. As he gazed at the enormous blazingsword and that Black Phoenix he had not seen for many years, he exhaled a longsigh filled with some nigh-incomprehensible meaning. The trees of the Mausoleum of Books exuded their own Qi, even more ancientthan that emitted by the stone pillars. The elderly Divine General under thepavilion at the lower end of the Divine Path slowly raised his head, the dustof history on his armor slowly being shed. Even he of the tranquil heart andlonely Dao had his heart and soul shaken by tonight's battle. After quite some time had passed, the streams of light in the night skygradually faded away. The thundering collisions of Qi high up in the sky gradually vanished and thesnow clouds all around gradually congregated, once more obscuring the shatteredstarlight. The capital once more entered the dark night and the world returned to peace. People stood by the windows of their houses, stood in ruins, stood by the LuoRiver, rubbing their aching eyes and gazing once more into the night. There was nothing in the night: no enormous blazing sword, no Black Phoenix.All phenomena had vanished, almost as if nothing had happened. Those magnificent and glorious scenes seemed to be imagined. Snow began to fall once more, dancing in the cold wind. Chen Changsheng extended a palm and took one of the snowflakes, but realizedthat its color was not white, but gray. The people of the capital all realized that the snow falling from the sky wasactually all gray. Because that sword that had descended from the night over the capital hadoriginally been the ash from the burning of a letter. The Divine Empress gazed at the Ebony Phoenix Hairpin in her right hand,silently thinking about something. The wind blowing over the Dew Platform blew away a piece of ashen snow thathad stuck to the hairpin, revealing the hairpin's original appearance. The dark red phoenix head on the wooden hairpin was still as noble andbeautiful as ever, but if one examined it carefully, one would be able to see avery shallow sword cut. The Ebony Phoenix Hairpin originally had a very shallow blade cut. Now it hada sword cut that was just as inconspicuous. Only she knew that this indicated that Su Li had already gotten infinitelycloser to that person who had left the blade cut on her wooden hairpin allthose years ago. Tonight's battle was a draw. The sword intent Su Li had left behind was actually able to withstand herEbony Phoenix Hairpin. This somewhat surprised her. Soon after, her lips curved into a derisive smile. "You don't want to leave, but you're forced to leave. All those entrapped bylove are mediocre people. Even if you reached even higher heights on the pathof the sword, so what?" She suddenly sensed something and turned south to a certain part of the city.Her eyebrows raised, she coldly said, "Daring to stick around, truly a thingthat doesn't know the meaning of death!" …… …… There were many people that did not want to leave, such as the old Daoist nun. She had gone to the Orthodox Academy to establish her power and kill people,but she ended up being repelled by Su Li's sword intent. Battered andexhausted, she borrowed the darkness to escape. As one of the Storms of the Eight Directions, how could she resign herself tothis? So she did not truly leave, instead borrowing the protective array of acertain noble clan in the southern part of the city to conceal her Qi. Then, she saw that battle in the night sky. As she stood in the quiet gardenand watched those streams of light gradually fade away, thinking about theenormous sword of flames and the Black Phoenix, the old Daoist nun displayed anabnormally nasty expression. Tianhai's strength and cultivation had actuallyreached this level. Could it be that the Saints were all concealing their truestrengths and were actually stronger than their group by an entire level? Butwhen had Su Li advanced his cultivation to such a level? After watching this battle, she was forced to admit that a massive gap laybetween her and the likes of Tianhai and Su Li. It was even highly likely thatshe would never be able to reach their level for the rest of her life. Thisfact made her feel thoroughly defeated, and then she got angrier and angrier,so angry that she wanted to kill someone. She had not left the capital just now precisely because she wanted to killsomeone. Su Li's sword intent had already been shattered by the Ebony PhoenixHairpin, and she believed no one would imagine that, with her status andcultivation, she would so treacherously go back to the Orthodox Academy andkill someone. Who could obstruct her? A killing intent filled with venomous hatred appeared in her eyes, boundlessfrigid blue-green waves surging within. She took up her almost completely bare horsetail whisk and, with a facebrimming with murderous intent, began walking towards the Orthodox Academy. But just as she raised her foot, a voice rang out by her ear, "I've alwaysbelieved that fate is a quite unreasonable thing and from you, I have obtainedthe finest evidence. How did such a wretched and obscene old woman like youobtain the favor of the starry sky and enter the Divine Domain?" This voice was very cold, very majestic. Simultaneously, a cold and majestic gaze descended from some far and high-upplace, descending upon the old Daoist nun's body. ……