It snowed a lot that winter. The heaviest snowfall did not fall on the Wilderness, nor did it fall on Capital Cheng of the Yan Kingdom. Instead, it fell on the capital of the Kingdom of Song, which used to be relatively warm. Many people recalled it and felt that it was some kind of omen, because something very important had happened in that snowfall.
In the wind and snow, Ye Su, the founder of the New Stream, was burned to death by Taoism, which shocked the entire human world. During this process, there were many puzzling things, such as why the Abbey Dean made such a cold and decisive decision, and why the Academy behaved sluggishly, which was completely different from before.
The Fourth Brother came to the Song Kingdom with the River and Mountain Sandbox and caught up with the battle. In fact, it was because of him that Chen Pipi, Tang Xiaotang, and several disciples of the Sword Garret had the chance to escape. But he could not change the whole situation. He did not save Ye Su. More importantly, he came by himself.
The Eldest Brother also came to the Kingdom of Song and was severely injured by the Drunkard. But he came too late. It was snowing and the pile of firewood was already covered with snow. Not even ashes could be seen. How could he save Ye Su? More importantly, he came by himself and did not represent the collective will of the Academy.
The Eldest Brother and the Fourth Brother were acting on their own. They could represent the Academy, but not completely, because it was Yu Lian and Ning Que who were in charge of the planning of the Academy.
The Academy did not have any plan. What were Yu Lian and Ning Que thinking? Was it really as Long Qing said before Ye Su died that they were coldly waiting for Ye Su to die?
The cold winter wind passed through the steep mountains. Helan City, which had been retreating for a long time, was very quiet. The camp that used to house tens of thousands of cavalrymen was already empty. The sound of the goshawk sounded very monotonous.
There were still hundreds of Tang soldiers in Helan City, the only passageway between the Eastern and Western Wastelands. They had been guarding this place for several years. If the Tang Empire had not prepared a large amount of provisions here and the Desolate Man had secretly supported them, they would not have been able to hold on until now.
At the highest point of the city gate, there was a very tall and domineering figure. The goshawk flew over from the distant ice peak and wanted to take a closer look. It found that the figure was a bit strange and the proportions were not harmonious.
When the goshawk flew closer, it realized that the figure was weird, not because the person was born with something special, but because there were two of them, so they naturally looked weird.
Tang looked at the Golden Tribe Royal Court in the west from the city gate with an indifferent expression on his face. His animal skin clothes were fluttering in the cold wind, looking like a bloody flag that would not fall.
He was the World Wayfarer of the Devil's Doctrine and the most powerful man in the Desolate Man's tribe. After Xiahou's death, there were not many people who could be his opponent. But now, someone was sitting on his head.
To be more precise, he had a specially made basket on his shoulder. There was a stool in the basket, and someone was sitting on the stool. Because Dunn was very tall, the person looked high and mighty.
Sitting on his head was a young girl. She looked like she was about 12 or 13 years old. Her black ponytail swayed in the cold wind outside the basket, looking very cute.
A few years ago in Chang 'an, the girl jumped into the sky and cut a rainbow. Then she jumped down with Li Manman in her arms and broke her legs. Since then, she was too lazy to walk. At the beginning, she only liked to sit in a wheelchair. When she came to the Wilderness, she began to sit on Tang's back. Even now, her injuries were basically healed, she still refused to get off.
She said that it made her look more powerful. Since the day she became a little girl many years ago, her biggest regret was not the trouble every month, but not being powerful enough.
Tang did not have any opinion on the girl's special preference. Because she was the current Grandmaster of the Devil's Doctrine and also the Academy's Third Sister, Yu Lian, and his teacher.
Just like in the past few years, Tang carried Yu Lian everywhere in the Wilderness. Today, she came to Helan City because she wanted to see what the Golden Palace was doing in Helan City.
The priests in the Left King's Palace of the East Wilderness, as well as the powerhouses sent by the Divine Hall, were all killed by her and Tang in the past few years. Long Qing's loyal subordinates were the first to die.
It sounded simple, but it was extremely terrifying when one thought about it carefully.
She and Tang were only two people, but they were about to destroy a tribe. The population of the territory ruled by the tribe was actually no different from that of a country. There were tens of thousands of elite cavalries, endless support from Haotian Taoism, and countless powerhouses in the Seethrough State and Knowing Destiny State. But they destroyed it just like that.
When Ning Que was fleeing with Sangsang on his back, he always had the feeling of fighting against the whole world alone. But what Yu Lian and Tang did was really the two of them destroying a world.
After a few days, when she killed the last powerhouses in the East Wilderness, the warriors of the Desolate Man's tribe would collectively go south. Whether the more than a thousand Papal Cavalrymen of the West-Hill Divine Palace stationed in the Yan Kingdom would go north or not, the name of the Left King's Palace would not exist in the human world for long. In the future, they could only look for it in the pile of old books.
Yu Lian was very confident about this. She thought it was a matter of course, and she did not even bother to show her confidence. But she knew that the Golden Tribe Royal Court would not let this happen. So what would Chanyu do? What kind of gift did the national master and the 13th priest prepare for her?
The snow in the Wilderness had stopped last night. The snow in the City of Wei and the City of Helan had also stopped. The air that had been washed by the snow for several days was unusually clean. She stood up and looked to the far west.
The gate of Helan City was extremely high, between two cliffs. Tang was very tall and she stood up in the basket, so she was naturally taller. But she was still not satisfied. She stood on her tiptoes on the stool, which looked interesting.
"I don't want to wait anymore. I feel something is happening over there."
The wind blew her hair on her young face. It was a little itchy and irritating. She wiped it with her little palm and shouted, "I want to go and have a look."
She moved in the basket and Tang's body was a little unstable. He held the bottom of the basket and said, "The Golden Palace can't pass through Helan City. If we want to keep the last hope of the Left King's Palace, we have to use other methods."
Yu Lian thought of a possibility and then realized that it was not a possibility but something that would definitely happen. She said, "They are going south. Inform the tribe that we are going south too."
When she said this, there was no emotion in her voice. It was just that the little girl's voice was immature, so it sounded like a little girl trying to have a serious conversation like an adult. It was very funny.
Tang was used to this voice over the years. But his iron-like eyebrows still trembled uncontrollably. He said, "The Golden Palace will be prepared. Maybe we should prepare for it too."
"As I said, I'm curious about the gift they prepared for me."
Yu Lian said expressionlessly, "I heard that the little slave is a gift from Sangsang to the human world. I'm Ning Que's Senior Sister. I'll open it for him. If I'm not satisfied, I'll return it."
"Shouldn't we worry about the Central Plains?"
Tang thought of the World Wayfarer of Taoism who used to be as famous as himself. He felt uneasy.
"The Abbey Dean is not an idiot like Xiong Chumo. Killing Ye Su is meaningless to Taoism. Why would he do it? The best and only way for Taoism to deal with it is to wait. "
Yu Lian said, "If the battle between Haotian and the Headmaster in the Divine Kingdom is decided before the New Stream affects the foundation of Haotian's faith, they will win by waiting or gambling."
The New Stream was a faith. With the protection of the Academy and the Tang Empire, it would be difficult to completely destroy the faith. The more pressure Taoism exerted on the New Stream, the more likely it would help the New Stream to grow.
If the Academy wanted to take the lead in this war, it had to help the New Stream to grow and weaken the power of Haotian before the battle in the Divine Kingdom was decided.
Relatively speaking, Taoism seemed to be in a good situation. But in fact, they were in a passive position. It was wrong to do it or not. As Yu Lian said, they could only wait calmly or helplessly. The Academy had the initiative.
That was why Ning Que wanted to talk to the world. He was qualified to do so. He was confident that he could persuade Taoism and the Abbey Dean. Yu Lian had the same idea.
At this moment, the Tang army stationed in Helan City brought a message.
The Tang Empire had spent a lot of resources to build a transmission array in Helan City. It could only transmit simple messages and would not be activated easily. It had only been activated a few times in the past decades.
The last time was the news of the late emperor's death. Today, the transmission array was activated again. It was also a piece of bad news that Yu Lian did not expect.
"Ye Su is dead."
Upon receiving the news, Tang recalled the scenes in the past twenty years. He thought of the tree in the Wilderness and the proud young man with a sword on his back who said the devil was an outsider. He kept silent for a long time.
Yu Lian also kept silent for a long time.
The "long time" here was really long. She had been silent in the cold wind since she received the news of Ye Su's death. She did not stop until the sun moved to the west and dusk covered the entire western horizon.
White smoke came from somewhere in Helan City.
She looked at the smoke and said, "Bad news can also be good news.
For a few hours, she did not sigh or feel sad. She was reflecting and calculating in silence. She was calculating how Ye Su's death would affect the situation in the world.
In the end, the result of her calculation was that the impact should be on the side that the Academy hoped for.
That was why she said that Ye Su's death could also be good news. Just like the smoke rising from the chimney, it looked lonely, but in fact, it was the smell of fireworks that people needed to live.
Yu Lian was very cold. Yes, she was a cold person. That was why Long Qing said that she and Ning Que had been waiting for Ye Su to die. That was not her plan. But since Ye Su was dead, she could accept it. It was not the most important thing.
She kept silent in the cold wind for a long time, from noon to dusk. Besides thinking about the turmoil caused by Ye Su's death, she also wanted to understand the most important thing.
What was the Abbey Dean thinking?
She told Tang that she and Ning Que were sure that the Abbey Dean would not do anything to Ye Su. It turned out that she and Ning Que were wrong. There must be a big problem hidden in this mistake.
"I will not feel comfortable if I don't figure out what he is thinking."
Yu Lian walked down the city, leaving the dusk behind. At the same time, she also left the Golden Tribe Royal Court behind. Compared to what she was worried about, those things were not worth mentioning at all.
…
…
At the other end of the transmission array in Helan City was the Tang Imperial Palace. Yu Lian received the news of Ye Su's death in Helan City, so the people in the palace naturally knew about it earlier. The atmosphere was extremely depressing.
Li Yu's face was a little pale. She did not know whether it was because of the lack of sunshine in recent years or some other reason. She looked calm, but her hands clenched on the chair, looking a little uneasy.
In fact, not only was she uneasy, she was also very nervous and even afraid. But she was the regent princess, and she had to set an example for the Emperor, so she could not show too many emotions.
The young Emperor was getting older and would officially ascend the throne next year. He had been educated by Mr. First, and he had performed extremely well both in virtue and ability. But he was still a young man, and today he encountered a situation that he had never encountered before. Thinking of the war years ago, he could not help but feel a little scared.
Zeng Jing the Grand Secretary stood in front of the steps and said, "As the Emperor, even if the world changes, mountains are destroyed, and rivers are broken, he must remain calm. This is the example that the Emperor should set for his subjects."
The young Emperor looked at Li Yu nervously and said, "I understand … but I am a little worried about whether Thirteenth Uncle can stop that person."
Zeng Jing the Grand Secretary shouted sternly, "So what if he can't stop him? It's not like that person has never entered Chang 'an. Old Lady Chu pushed her family's women and children to the Vermilion Bird Avenue, and Old Master Chao and his friends cursed him in the cold snow. The people of Chang' an threw bricks and waved their knives. Was there anyone who was afraid? "
Li Yu walked to the Emperor's side, held his hand, and said gently, "Are you still afraid?"
The young Emperor's cheeks flushed upon hearing Zeng Jing the Grand Secretary's words, and his courage increased. He held her hand and said, "No! Even if that person enters the Imperial Palace, I am not afraid. "
The officials in the hall were very nervous, and security was tight everywhere, but the palace gate was not closed. The main gate of the Tang Imperial Palace was wide open, as if it was ready to welcome guests from afar.
All the civil and military officials in the court, and even the ordinary people in Chang 'an, were preparing for battle. It was not because of Ye Su's death, but because of something else.
…
…
From last night to this morning, the iron arrow had not appeared in the capital of the Kingdom of Song. There were only yellow sand and falling snowflakes on the square, but no shrill whistling of the arrow.
Where was Ning Que? What was he doing?
The legendary Primordial Thirteen Arrows required a lot of strict conditions to perform a long-range sniping that ignored distance. However, those conditions had actually been fulfilled during this period of time.
Whether it was the "Sha" Handscroll of the Tomes of Arcane in Long Qing's hands, the power of faith borrowed by Ye Su, or the River and Mountain Sandbox brought by Fourth Brother, they had all illuminated the Qi of Heaven and Earth and pointed the direction for the iron arrow.
At the moment when Tang Xiaotang jumped down from the sky, Long Qing was as bright as a golden flower in the ocean of consciousness, just like he had been many years ago on the snow cliff of Tianqi Mountain. At that time, he shot Long Qing to death with one arrow, and no one knew whether he was dead or alive. Why didn't he shoot him today?
Was it really as Long Qing said, that he was waiting for Ye Su to die, so he didn't shoot?
It had been snowing in Chang 'an for several days, and it did not stop last night. The snowflakes drifted down and piled up on the city wall, on people's clothes, and even on their faces.
Ning Que's eyebrows were stained with snow and turned white, because his body was very cold, and the reason why his body was cold was because his heart was cold, because he had placed all his attention elsewhere.
He held the dark iron bow tightly in his left hand, and the bow was bent to the extreme, like the bright moon in the night. The bowstring was extremely tight, and it went deep into the three fingers of his right hand, which looked a little scary.
He kept the posture of drawing the bow, and it had not changed from last night to this morning. He was like an ignorant statue, and maybe because of this, the snow between his eyebrows had piled up.
Some snow fell on his shoulders, and it was melted by his body temperature, and then frozen again by the cold wind. It reflected the morning light from the east, and sparkled like melted sand — a beautiful colored glass.
The iron bow did not move at all after one night.
He saw the unusually bright West-Hill Divine Palace last night. This morning, the eastern seashore became extremely bright. Then, he saw two flowing lights between Heaven and Earth. They were the Eldest Brother and the Drunkard.
He had been observing the world in Chang 'an. He did not step out of the city, but he knew what was going on in the world. He knew that from last night to this morning, many powerful cultivators were fighting fiercely.
But he did not release the bowstring.
He did not shoot the arrow, not because he was hesitating whether to save Ye Su. He was cold, but not like Lotus. He could watch Ye Su die, but he would not watch Ye Su be killed.
The morning light shone on his face. He sensed that something was happening at the East Sea, something he did not want to see. But he could not release the bowstring and shoot the iron arrow.
His black hair was tightly tied, and it was steaming in the cold morning wind. It was the sweat in his hair. He held the iron bow and looked at the arrow. The sweat overflowed from his hair to his face, and melted the snow between his eyebrows.
The iron arrow did not leave the bowstring, because there was someone in front of it. From last night to this morning, he had been aiming at that person. He could not pay attention to what was happening elsewhere.
For Ning Que, that person was the most terrifying opponent, and also the sweetest bait. Because of fear, he had to aim at him. Because he wanted to shoot the enemy, he had to aim at him.
In front of the city wall of Chang 'an, there was a Taoist in indigo.
In the snow, there was a Taoist in indigo.
Ning Que's iron arrow had been aiming at him since last night.
The Taoist in indigo put his hands behind his back, and looked calm, as if he did not care about being aimed at by the iron arrow.
The Primordial Thirteen Arrows were legendary killing weapons. The proud young powerful man of the Barbarian Tribe, A Da, did not dare to move, and the Drunkard was scared out of cold sweat. But the Taoist in indigo did not care at all.
In the wind and snow, his indigo robe fluttered.
Fluttering like an immortal.
Just like in the past.
Back then, he fought in Chang 'an alone.
Today, he left Peach Mountain and came to Chang 'an again.
He stayed in the wind and snow in front of the city for a night. Ning Que pulled the bow all night. The night passed, and the morning came. The torches on the city wall were extinguished one by one, but he was still bright.
He was like a torch, attracting Ning Que's sight, locking his iron arrow and spirit. Even if Ning Que could see the whole world, he could not do anything.
Because he was the most powerful person in Taoism.
The most powerful person in Taoism for thousands of years.
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