Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 563 – With the Arch of a Brow, the World Laments

A shrill, frightened, and urgent voice called out, “Protect the lord!”

‘Lord’ was a term of respect, and the person that could be addressed so respectfully on this mountain path was naturally Chen Changsheng. Those cultivators were unable to deal with the snowflakes falling from the sky, but they still rushed to get in front of Chen Changsheng. Even Zhong Hui with his cold face rushed over with his sword. For a moment, the mountain path was filled with the sound of people flying through the wind…and then came the sounds of clothes and flesh being cut open!

The thin snowflakes were like the sharpest divine weapons, cutting open everything they encountered!

The mountain path was sprinkled with blood that froze into deep-red beads of ice that rolled all over the place.

The cultivators stood in front of Chen Changsheng, carrying both heavy and light injuries. No one had died, but their bravery was gradually fading away.

Just who was this middle-aged scholar? Just which Saint was he?

He was not a Saint.

He was the antithesis of all Saints.

With a pale face, Liu Qing thought of these words, then with a grunt, he wielded his sword and swiftly thrust!

A sword glow like a bolt of lightning rose up from the stream bank.

Xiao De had waited for this moment. He also began to move, even more swiftly than Liu Qing.

Veins bulged out on his face, reddish brown fur sprouted out of his skin, and his Qi became wilder. He rushed at the middle-aged scholar!

The middle-aged scholar finally turned his gaze away from Chen Changsheng. He turned to them and then arched his brow.

With the arch of his brows, the world shook.

The sword glow by the stream suddenly vanished. With an ear-aching sound, the sword in Liu Qing’s hand was chopped in half.

Liu Qing himself fell on the grass, a bloody line appearing on his wrist from which blood incessantly shot out. He was in an absolutely wretched state.

Xiao De was even worse off. Before he had been able to get out of the stream, he had been slapped into the water by the might of the world.

With a slap, he fell down on one knee, water splashing everywhere, blood splashing everywhere!

His wild metamorphosis and the blood technique meant his body was harder than steel, but with this kneel, his kneecap was smashed into a fine powder!

But he had only fallen down on one knee, not completely kneeled in the water. This demi-human expert grit his teeth and, with a frenzied howl, did his utmost to continue forward!

Liu Qing was the same. One side spewing blood, one side holding a shattered sword, he continued thrusting forward. Moreover, at some point, his left hand had come to grip the severed part of the sword!

The middle-aged scholar was far too powerful. Even when they discarded any grudges and acted together, it was still impossible for them to win.

But they could not just stop, they could not just lie down or kneel.

Because before demons, humans and demi-humans would never surrender!

Seeing these two rushing over with wounded bodies, grimly resolved to die, the middle-aged scholar revealed the hint of a smile on his lips.

As he smiled, the mountains and rivers became bright and beautiful, but still silent and clear, lonely and cold, because there were no humans amongst these mountains and rivers, and also no demi-humans.

Before him, all humans and demi-humans must die.

The deeper the smile on the middle-aged scholar’s face, the deeper the wounds became on Liu Qing and Xiao De’s bodies, all the way until one could see the dense white bone!

With two plops, Liu Qing and Xiao De finally collapsed amidst the persimmon trees in flowers of blood, ultimately unable to reach the middle-aged scholar.

Liu Qing closed his mouth, his face pale and not saying a word. As an assassin, since he had to die, he should die quietly.

On the other hand, Xiao De howled in rage like a wounded beast, pained and unwilling.

Those ten-odd demi-human subordinates by the stream saw this scene and were finally able to overcome the fears in the deepest depths of their hearts. Taking up their weapons, they rushed towards the middle-aged scholar.

Especially that demi-human expert closest to the forest. Resigning himself to death, he used the blood technique and his body instantly grew massive. One could faintly see his original form of an elephant. With a low and furious bellow, he tossed up the gravel and cold water as he charged towards the middle-aged scholar.

Seemingly bored, the middle-aged scholar casually waved his sleeve.

Just like that, the elephant tribe expert’s heavy body was sent flying into the sky.

As it flew through the sky, the elephant expert’s body was constantly cut apart, shooting out innumerable arrows of blood. Ultimately, as several dozen chunks of flesh, it splashed in the water downstream.

As for the rest of the demi-human experts, their situation was even more terrible. Severed hands, severed arms, severed feet, and there were even some that were severed at the waist, but for the moment, they were not allowed to die.

The stream bank was littered with blood and organs and despairing and dismal howls of pain!

Xiao De’s eyes were brimming with rage. Staring at the middle-aged scholar, he hissed, “I’m going to kill you!”

Previously on the mountain path, he had said that he wanted to kill Chen Changsheng. That had just been an agreed-upon method, but because he really did possess that ability, those words back then had possessed a chilling effect.

Now when he said that he wanted to kill the middle-aged scholar, it was more like the helpless lament of a child, pitiable and sympathetic.

The middle-aged scholar paid no attention to his anguished cries.

It didn’t matter if it was the fifth-ranked expert of the Proclamation of Liberation or the third-ranked assassin of the world—to him, they were all meaningless things, not even worth the slightest bit of his mind or time.

His gaze once more fell upon the mountain, once more fell upon Chen Changsheng.

The mountains and rivers on his face gradually dispersed, revealing a face that may or may not have been the original one.

This face was very delicate and handsome. It seemed like it had experienced great changes, like a green plum that had just sprouted, yet also like the ancient Buddha of the legendary Sangharama Temple.

He stood on a ground splattered with blood and flesh, stood amongst cries of boundless pain, staring at Chen Changsheng, his expression calm and apathetic, and also smiling.

……

……

Snowflakes gently drifted down, the cold of the mountain path biting to the bone.

Everyone felt this way.

All this had happened too quickly. They had turned the mountain path, seen the middle-aged scholar in the forest across the stream, and when he turned around, the steward from the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets died, Liu Qing and Xiao De were heavily wounded and on the verge of death, and ten-odd demi-human experts had either died miserable deaths or were living lives worse than death. All in all, only a few seconds had elapsed.

No one, whether it was Chen Changsheng, Zhexiu, or Tang Thirty-Six, had time to do anything. Of course, even if they could do something, it would be pointless.

The middle-aged scholar was far too terrifying.

Ever since Chen Changsheng had arrived at the capital from Xining, he had encountered a few supreme experts, but no matter if it was Zhu Luo, Guan Xingke, or Bie Yanghong of the Storms of the Eight Directions, all of them were weaker than this middle-aged scholar. Even the Holy Maiden of the south he had met in Xunyang City seemed to be a level below this scholar.

Could the Pope be stronger than this middle-aged scholar?

Chen Changsheng had only seen the vast sea of stars in the Pope’s eyes and had never seen the Pope personally strike, so it was impossible to answer this question.

If he really had to find someone in his life of cultivation that was on par cultivation-wise with this middle-aged scholar, then it could only be Su Li.

Moreover, this would have to be Su Li in his prime, at his peak condition.

Back then on the snowy plains of the land of demons, the feeling he had when Su Li had pulled the Heaven Shrouding Sword from the Yellow Paper Umbrella and cleaved open a vast several-hundred li path heading south was somewhat similar to the feeling he had now.

Just who was this middle-aged man?

Chen Changsheng suddenly recalled, when he had left the Garden of Zhou and returned the Yellow Paper Umbrella to Su Li, he had once seen that darkness far in the distance.

That darkness that emerged from Xuelao City and enveloped half the sky.

At present, Mount Han was being shrouded by a similar darkness.

His face instantly became pale beyond compare.