A part of the frost covering the wooden bridge was from the shattered beads of ice, the chill originating from Zhizhi's breathing, but another part came directly from that distant zither note. It was equally cold, perhaps even colder. There was actually an existence even colder than the dragon breath of the Black Frost Dragon?
A human like Chen Changsheng would find it very difficult to think of an answer, but to Hai Di, the answer was obvious.
Xuelao City was extremely cold, and that Demon Palace, eternally hidden in the shadows, was perpetually buffeted by frigid winds.
His shock, confusion, and fear was precisely because he had thought of that place.
He had known in advance that a change would occur tonight, but when the change really did come, he still found it somewhat unbearable. He had not expected that it would be that person who had come.
… …
… …
"It seems like the demons really don't like the Cinnabar Pill. To think that an important figure like Hai Di would personally come."
The Tang Seventeenth Master looked down the mountain at the courtyard in the valley, a mysterious smile on his face.
The Wenshui Tangs had paid an enormous price to find a few clues, confirming that the Cinnabar Pill originated from Gaoyang Village, and then investigating this mountain valley.
He had not intentionally leaked this extremely important piece of information. He had only closed his eyes for a moment, and this news had already spread to many places.
The important figures of the Imperial Court had come, and the important figures of the Demon race had also come.
The news had come from the Mount Song Army headquarters, so the demons should have received it much later, but they had only been late by half a night, and the one who had come was a truly important figure.
From this, one could see just how much importance Xuelao City placed on this matter.
To the demons, the fact that the Human race possessed such a miraculous medicine was completely unacceptable.
In the last year of battle, the ratio of casualties on both sides had clearly begun to favor the Human race. From one to four in the last one thousand years, it had dropped to one to 3.7. This number did not seem to have changed much, but what if it continued to be like this? What if the number of Cinnabar Pills increased? It had to be known that the war between the humans and demons had lasted for one thousand years. Even the smallest change was highly likely to affect the overall situation.
Thus, the demons would definitely think of a way to kill the master of the Cinnabar Pill and destroy the recipe.
If this really happened, the Tang Seventeenth Master would feel rather regretful, but he would also be extremely satisfied, just like now.
As he spoke, the sword in his hand remained in the belly of the innkeeper of the Mount Song Inn.
The shopkeeper gasped for breath in pain. Finally, he closed his eyes and stopped breathing.
At this moment, he was standing on the edge of a cliff high up in the snowy mountains, surrounded by corpses.
Only one person was still alive.
The former bishop of the Hall of Illustrious Persons was pale, his teeth chattering, and his head lowered, not even daring to glance at the Tang Seventeenth Master.
These corpses were all the Tang Seventeenth Master's trusted subordinates, all of them from Wenshui, all of them personally killed by the Tang Seventeenth Master.
This was, of course, to silence the witness.
The Tang Seventeenth Master's scheme seemed like he wanted to borrow Chen Changsheng's blade to deal with Zhu Ye and the others, thus opening up the Tang clan's position in Tianliang County, but in truth … he wanted to kill Chen Changsheng. Not even the Wenshui Tangs could accept the murder of the Pope, so he could not leave behind any evidence. Even his trusted subordinates had to die. As for Zhu Ye, Ning Shiwei, and the people from the Tianhai clan, even if they grew suspicious, they would not be able to prove or accuse him of anything. On the contrary, in order to avoid the wrath of the Li Palace, they might even have to cooperate with him.
"Lord Hai Di probably did not expect the master of the Cinnabar Pill to be His Holiness, right?"
The current situation would not change. The demons had always wanted to kill the master of the Cinnabar Pill. If they discovered that it was Chen Changsheng, they would naturally not allow him to live.
When he thought about how the current Pope was about to die before his eyes, the Tang Seventeenth Master couldn't help but sigh.
He gazed at the lake and garden down below, a happy smile on his face.
Suddenly, the sound of a zither came from some place in the darkness, and the smile on his face gradually froze.
… …
… …
The first place to hear the zither note was not that lake and garden, not that high cliff, but somewhere else.
This place was ten-some li away from that courtyard, the only deserted mountain path to Gaoyang Village.
Zhu Ye, Ning Shiwei, Tianhai Zhanyi, and several hundred experts and soldiers had reorganized themselves here after retreating from the courtyard. It was unknown what they were preparing to do next.
They heard the clear and cold zither note, but they did not care, because their attention was completely drawn to the sound coming from ten-some li away.
The thunderous boom, the quaking of the earth, the howling of wind and rain, and the clattering of swords all indicated that an extremely intense battle was taking place there.
Those experts had come from the northern part of the mountains.
To the north of the mountains was the land of demons.
It was only natural that they were the demon experts.
If his guess was correct, those demon experts were currently surrounding Chen Changsheng and the black-clothed girl.
Logically speaking, both Zhu Ye and Ning Shiwei should be rushing back to their rescue as quickly as possible.
On one side was the Pope of the Human race, on the other side were the demon experts. Even a three-year-old child should know what to do, and there was no need to even think about it.
But Zhu Ye was calmly gazing at some place in the darkness, Ning Shiwei was indifferently gazing at the snowy peaks, and Tianhai Zhanyi was frowning as if he was thinking about something very difficult.
The mountain path was very quiet, and no one spoke for a very long time. It was very strange.
Suddenly, Zhu Ye and Ning Shiwei's expressions turned even more solemn.
The sounds coming from the distant courtyard did not stop.
Only now did they realize that Chen Changsheng's path of the sword had already reached such a powerful level. As for the black-clothed girl … legends truly were legends.
Zhu Ye and Ning Shiwei glanced at each other, seeing the lingering fear in each other's eyes. It now seemed that if they had not conceded and retreated by the lake shore, instead attempting to rely on the strength of their side to forcefully attack, they would have been incapable of success. They would have only been charged with the crime of attempting to murder the Pope …
Tianhai Zhanyi's cultivation level was much lower, so he could not sense the strength of Chen Changsheng and the black-clothed girl through the distant sounds and the changes in Qi.
So even though he knew what the strange silence on the mountain path meant, he still felt rather bored.
He thought of that zither note that had suddenly appeared and then vanished, and gazed into the darkness in front of him.
The darkness was instantly broken, broken by the zither note, broken by the sound of footsteps.
A straw shoe broke through the frost on the surface of the mountain path as it slowly walked over. Like shattering autumn leaves, it gave off a crisp sound that was very pleasing to the ear.
The bare foot in the straw shoe was very small, as its owner was a girl of twelve or thirteen.
The girl had a picturesque appearance and was very beautiful, but the space between her eyes was rather wide and her pupils were slightly inclined towards the center of her brow, giving off a somewhat wooden feeling.
A middle-aged scholar walked up from behind her. He had nothing on him, only a zither in his bosom.
He didn't seem to move at all, but the strings of the zither began to gather and disperse on their own, releasing an extremely clear and cold zither note.
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