That day by the lake, Nanke's two attendants had combined and Chen Changsheng no longer had a chance. He was not their match at all and was about to be shaken to death. He had relied on the silver chests and roasted lamb to find a sliver of life and then used the Yellow Paper Umbrella to escape. But now, in terms of time in the Plains of the Unsetting Sun, only a few dozen days had passed since that bloody and treacherous battle, yet he was able to force back the combined attack of the two attendants with a single strike and even wound them. How could a cultivator improve so much in such a short amount of time? Just what had happened to his body?
From this strike, it was clear that Chen Changsheng's cultivation level had not changed at all. It was still at the upper level of Ethereal Opening. At the same time, his true essence was still much less than cultivators of the same level. This sword technique was indeed exquisite, but the greatest difference was that his true essence had somehow become abnormally cold. He had actually used the sword energy to condense a large snowflake.
But this … was not the most important change. The most important change was the change in his sword intent. His sword intent was incomparably condensed and had already become tangible.
It must be known that the intent followed the heart. How could his heart of the sword be so smooth and bright in a few dozen days?
The shock only lasted for a moment. There was no time to think more deeply in the battle. With the sound of the wings of light flapping, the two attendants turned into a streak of light and once again attacked the stone platform.
At the edge of the stone platform, a bright sword glow illuminated the surrounding space. The sword glow appeared so suddenly. It was a blazing white, like lightning.
Swish! The sound of the sword cutting through the air rose.
The streak of light stopped and then quickly retreated. It turned into countless specks of light in the air several dozen zhang away and then disappeared.
It was still the Toppling Mountain Staff of the Orthodox Academy. The sword energy was still cold, the sword intent was still condensed, and the heart of the sword was still so smooth and bright, so clean that it was hard to imagine.
Chen Changsheng held his sword in front of him. There was no expression of joy on his face, nor was he pleased with the sudden disappearance of the wings of light. On the contrary, he became even more vigilant.
This was because he was very clear that although his sword intent had improved greatly, and the first sword strike could unexpectedly injure the two maids, the second sword strike shouldn't have such a perfect effect. The lightning-like sword light only injured the left shoulder of the girl called Ning Qiu and didn't heavily injure her. Naturally, it was impossible for it to scatter her light wings.
The reason why the wings of light had dissipated into countless specks of light was because someone had confirmed that the two maids were no match for him and did not want them to waste any more time.
His gaze followed the drifting specks of light and landed at the end of the several thousand zhang divine path, on the ground in front of the mausoleum. Then, he saw the little girl around ten years of age.
The specks of light landed on her body and disappeared. Her expression did not change because she had been expressionless from beginning to end.
…
…
Nanke gazed at the end of the several thousand zhang Divine Path, at the young man and woman on the stone platform. She did not say anything.
According to her calculations and deductions, Xu Yourong had been fleeing the entire time. After killing those monsters earlier on, the blood of the true phoenix should have already been used up. Right now, there should only be the poisonous blood that she had planted in her body. Logically speaking, even if she could last until this mausoleum, she should already be dead, so why was she still alive? However, this did not matter. It was very obvious that she was already extremely weak and had no more strength to fight. Although this fateful confrontation could not be said to be her victory, the god of death was the fairest judge. She would die, and she would live. That was enough. The problem was that youth called Chen Changsheng …
Her teacher Black Robe did not tell her the entire plan of the Garden of Zhou, so she naturally did not know. Because of the Yellow Paper Umbrella and some other reasons, Black Robe did not have the time to tell her the final decision. She had always thought that Chen Changsheng was the same as Qi Jian and Zhexiu, a target that she had to kill. However, from the looks of it now, he was not as easy to kill as she had imagined.
She was not unfamiliar with the name Chen Changsheng. It was not because he had obtained first place upon the first banner in the Grand Examination, nor was it because he had comprehended all the monoliths of the front mausoleum in one night, nor was it because he was the youngest Principal of the Orthodox Academy in history. It was because he was Xu Yourong's fiancé. She had never thought that this human youth would actually be able to heal her injuries while fleeing through the grasslands. Moreover, although his cultivation level had not increased, compared to the performance that the two maids had once described in detail in that battle several dozen days ago, his sword intent and battle prowess had clearly made a qualitative leap.
What had happened in the grasslands? Or could it be that this change had only occurred after they had entered the mausoleum?
As soon as she thought of this, her mood became even worse. Of course, no matter how miraculous Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong's encounters were, she only needed to order the monster tide to attack through the Soul Wood, and she could still easily kill them. However, she did not do this, because the monster tide still maintained some sort of natural reverence towards the mausoleum. If she wanted to forcefully order them to attack, it would take up too much of her energy. More importantly, she did not want this great and holy mausoleum to be turned into a mess by these extremely stupid monsters that were covered in mud and smelly. If it was possible, she did not want any lifeform other than herself to approach the mausoleum, much less step into it. If there was really no other way, she could only reluctantly accept Xu Yourong and … the current Chen Changsheng standing on the high platform in front of the mausoleum. This was because, in her eyes, although they were enemies, they had sufficiently strong bloodlines and innate talents, so they could not be considered as staining the mausoleum.
Yes, in her eyes, this was a great and holy mausoleum.
This was because the human buried in the mausoleum was the person she worshipped the most in her life, even surpassing her teacher, let alone her royal father.
She had never revealed such thoughts, and had even purposefully expressed some contrary opinions in Xuelao City. This was because even if the Demon race believed in respect for the strong, and there were many demons who secretly worshipped or even worshipped the human in the mausoleum, she was still a noble Demon Princess, so how could she worship a human?
However, she had never lied to her inner heart.
She worshipped the human male buried in the mausoleum to no end.
In Xuelao City, in the demon domain, her father was as strong as the night sky. Only that man had once torn off a corner of the night sky.
Looking at the past and the future, looking at the distant continents and oceans, as long as it was under the starry sky, that man would always be the strongest individual. In her eyes, this kind of expert was worthy of the reverence of all lifeforms, not to mention the countless secret connections between her sect and that man. This connection had long since become the greatest glory in the depths of her heart.
Today, she had finally arrived in front of the mausoleum.
Compared to this matter itself, the dignity of the Demon Princess and her royal father's cold attitude towards her were all not important at all.
With this kind of mood, Nanke walked along the divine path towards the mausoleum.
With her cultivation level, she only needed a moment to cross the divine path, but in order to express her respect to the person in the mausoleum, she did not do so. Her footsteps were very gentle, but her attitude was extremely cautious. She walked very slowly, and her expression was very solemn, as if she was worshipping.
As she walked, several hundred dark green tail feathers slowly grew from her back, then began to flutter in the wind. It was so beautiful and bewitching that it could not be described with words. The sun at the edge of the plains had already become a blurry ball of light. The darkness of the night had not yet come, but it was even darker. As she walked along the divine path, she reflected the last of the twilight, becoming brighter and brighter, as if she was burning.
Seeing this scene, Xu Yourong's eyes also lit up, and then slightly dimmed, because no matter how much she wanted to fight Nanke in her current state, she was already powerless to do so. Chen Changsheng's eyes did not become brighter, because his eyes would always be this bright. It was just like how Nanke's expression would not change at all, because she would never have any expression.
In Tang Thirty Six's words, his eyes were like two mirrors. They were bright and often made people panic when they looked at them.
He was the same as Xu Yourong. He could also clearly sense that through her cautious walk on the divine path as if she was worshipping, Nanke had already adjusted her state of cultivation to an almost perfect state, displaying an unimaginable strength. However, different from Xu Yourong, he did not have any desire to fight. He did not want to fight with Nanke in her current state at all.
This was the greatest difference between him and peerless geniuses like Xu Yourong and Nanke. He would never fight for the sake of fighting. He would never win for the sake of winning. When he did these things, it was usually only for one reason: to live. To live. He believed that this was the most sacred reason, or meaning. So he did not need to adjust, did not need to think quietly, did not need to worship, and even more did not need to bathe, burn incense, or fast for three days. When he had no choice but to start fighting, then he would definitely have already made his preparations.
… …
… …
However, his state today did not seem too perfect.
This was extremely likely to be the last battle of his life. He did not have any confidence, but this was not a problem, because he had already won far too many battles that had no reason to win. The problem was, when he should be focusing on this battle, he was somewhat distracted. He always felt that there were some things that he had not finished.
At this moment, Nanke had already walked to the last section of the divine path. She was still over a hundred zhang away from him.
In the end, he still could not hold back and turned to look at Xu Yourong.
"What's wrong?" Xu Yourong asked.
Chen Changsheng looked at her face. He wanted to extend his hand and touch it, but he did not dare.
Xu Yourong raised her heavily injured and powerless hand and lightly patted his shoulder, as if she wanted to brush off the snowflakes on his clothes.
Those snowflakes had already melted long ago.
Chen Changsheng was satisfied. Looking into her eyes, he said very seriously, "If we can leave the Garden of Zhou alive, I will definitely come find you."
Xu Yourong looked into his eyes and forcefully suppressed her embarrassment. Pretending to be calm, she said, "There's no need, I will come find you."
"Okay." Chen Changsheng had never answered so quickly before.
If Nanke at this moment gave up her attitude of worship and suddenly attacked, perhaps he and she would already be dead.
Fortunately, Nanke did not do that.
After finishing this matter, there was finally nothing else that could distract him.
Chen Changsheng looked at the little girl slowly walking over on the divine path. He was calm and focused.
Just like countless people had once said, cultivation was never a fair matter. Although he had read the Daoist Canon since he was a child and his physique was also different from normal people, having already cultivated to the upper level of Ethereal Opening at the age of fifteen, the difference in bloodline talent was not so easy to make up for. Not to mention the fact that the mausoleum was surrounded by the monster tide that had turned into a black sea.
This was a battle where there was no chance of survival.
However, he was still so calm, displaying a steadiness and calmness that far exceeded his age. If one only looked at his back, the current him actually had the demeanor of a great master of the path of the sword.
The reason why he was able to force back a strong enemy with a single strike was because his heart of the sword was already different from before. In this long escape through the grasslands, after several dozen days, what he and Xu Yourong did the most was talk. What they talked about the most was cultivation. From the rain temple to the snow temple, from the reeds in autumn to the island of grass in summer, they always talked about this. He had the talent for cultivation, but he did not have any battle experience. Xu Yourong had taught him a lot. More importantly, her attitude towards cultivation and life, that indifference, calmness, and easiness, had affected him a lot.
This was the Dao heart.
The heart of the sword was also a part of the heart of the Dao.
In terms of a brightly lit heart of the Dao, in the entire younger generation of the cultivation world, who could be stronger than Xu Yourong?
When the two swords crossed, the edge became sharper, and the heart of the sword was the same.
Right now, his heart of the sword was already brightly lit, so his sword intent was naturally strong and pure.
… …
… …
Xu Yourong did not know that he was only fifteen this year. However, as she looked at his back, her somewhat dim eyes once again lit up, as if the withered mountains had finally welcomed a new rain.
She left his side and returned to the main entrance of the mausoleum. She found a corner that could shelter her from the rain, snow, and wind, and sat down cross-legged. She wrapped the warm sackcloth around her body.
His attitude towards life had also affected her a lot.
So, she closed her eyes and began to rest.
… …
… …
(Done! End! Please vote for me on Monday. Sorry for troubling everyone.
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