Nightfall

A person’s name normally had some meaning or origin, such as Ning Que, Sangsang and Jun Mo. But of course there were always insignificant ones like Cui Hua and Er Ya.

Li Manman was called Li Manman because he was really slow. The way he spoke, the way he walked, or even the way he cultivated, it was simply slow.

He used seven years to achieve the State of No Doubts, much slower than his fellow students. But since then he speeded up. It only took him three months to reach See-Through. Then he achieved Knowing Destiny on the following evening.

That was Li Manman. Someone who started really slow, but proceeded the fastest. He walked slow but was the fastest in the world. Likewise, he never knew how to fight. He told that to Ye Su and everyone else. But no one would have believed it. When he started learning to fight and kill, he again surpassed everyone else in no time.

He acquired various skills incredibly fast, such as Chen Pipi’s the Natural Stream Magical Finger, Jun Mo’s Intent of respecting each other, Haoran Sword, the Headmaster’s cudgel, as well as the stab he made previously to the Abbey Dean.

He used Liu Bai’s sword. It could be nothing slow. That was Li Manman, the slowest yet the fastest.

The Abbey Dean stood on top of the snow peak, raised his head toward the bright moon in the sky surrounded by countless stars, and praised, “You did teach him well.”

There was no hatred in his words, but pure admiration.

Although he was already in the State of Purity and should have seen through the attachment, aversion, obsession, and affection in the human world, he could still not disregard them completely. The Abbey Dean still had his pursuit. He never expected to surpass the Headmaster ever since he was defeated. However he did wish that his disciples could defeat the Headmaster’s students.

In fact, he did have two great disciples. Ye Su established the New Stream and became a sage. But he knew that Ye Su’s achievement owed to Li Manman who enlightened him in Chang’an. Long Qing took the path no one else had tried before. But eventually he was killed by Ning Que.

Hearing his praise for the Headmaster, the Eldest Brother bowed slightly in return. But he was never surprised. It seemed like a matter of fact to him. Otherwise why should the Abbey Dean sent his own son to study in the Academy?

…

…

Darkness prevailed. It was indeed dark, which meant the night had spread from the north. In the past few years, the weather was becoming increasingly cold throughout the human world. Even in the Divine Halls of West-Hill where it used to be as warm as spring in winter, they had witnessed a few rounds of snow so far. The lush mountains were already covered in white snow.

The snow covered everything. The Tang army from the north and the troop of Great River Kingdom from the south had broken into the West-Hill Divine Kingdom over ten days ago. The cavalrymen of the Divine Halls had retreated one step after another. They were eventually encircled within some hundreds of miles around Peach Mountain. The roads leading to the human world from Peach Mountain were all taken by the Tang army and the troops of the Great River Kingdom. Peach Mountain was isolated now.

It had been over ten days. The Tang army never launched their final attack. Mr. Second and Mr. Third from the Academy never entered the small town again. No one knew where they went. Perhaps they were not confident in breaking through the Array of Clear Light that enveloped Peach Mountain. Or could it be the Butcher in the small town?

It should be unfavorable for the encircling troops to wait for such a long time. The chief commander of the Tang army was Xu Chi. He was not supposed to make such mistakes. Therefore it must be the Academy making decisions now.

Like in the previous nights, it was snowing slightly again tonight. There was nothing but quietness in and around the small town, as if it was going to be another peaceful night, and once again the following day.

But then some footsteps were heard from out of town.

The Butcher unbuttoned his leather coat and picked up the heavy knife. He stepped out of the door and looked at the approaching Jun Mo, indifferently and ruthlessly.

“Are you coming to seek your doom?” Jun Mo stopped in front of him, saluted with a single arm and said, “The Drunkard is dead.”

Far away above the small town in the north, a piece of cloud that looked like a painful human face was still floating in the dark night. It was not floating high. Therefore people in the Peach Mountain were not supposed to see it from thousands of miles away. But someone did.

The Butcher came from that small town in the north. How could he not see it? He lived such a long life in this human world together with the Drunkard. How could he be unaware of his death?

He said nothing but stared at Jun Mo as if he was looking at a dead man.

Anyone else would have been scared by the ruthless gaze of the Drunkard, or at least felt anxious or chilled. But Jun Mo felt nothing.

“The Drunkard is dead,” Jun Mo repeated calmly. He was not trying to irritate his enemy by emphasizing, but merely stating some fact. So was his next sentence.

“You will die too.”

The Butcher slightly raised his thick eyebrows and asked, “How?”

Jun Mo said, “We all know that you and the Drunkard were really afraid of death. That is why you have lived such a long life. But now he is dead, which proved he was wrong. If you wish to live, you should choose a different path.”

The Butcher said, “He followed the Abbey Dean, while I guard Taoism. We did have taken two different paths.”

Jun Mo said, “There are more than two paths in the world.”

The Butcher asked, “What else?”

Jun Mo said, “How would you choose at a crossroad? How would you bet? Neither of those two paths would lead to success. And now Haotian has returned to Chang’an. There could be a third path. Why don’t you choose this path?”

“By rights… as afraid of death as I am… I should definitely choose your path. I never met Haotian in the Divine Kingdom. But I saw her once in the human world. And she made me a promise. However…”

The Butcher said after a pause, “I don’t want to choose this path.”

Jun Mo vaguely understood his idea, slightly stunned then saluted again, “Be my guest.”

The Butcher held slightly looser than tighter on the knife. He breathed regularly and calmly and said, “Those who knew me and the Drunkard always thought that he was the unrestrained one and I was the ruthless one. But actually I barely killed anyone throughout the tens of thousands of years.”

Jun Mo answered, “Indeed.”

The Butcher said, “I did not kill because I was really afraid of death. But… I only had one company, who was killed by the Academy. Therefore I have to do something for him.”

Jun Mo said nothing.

The Butcher said, “Because likewise he only had one company which was me.”

Jun Mo kept quiet for a long while. Then he echoed, “Sounds reasonable.”

It was indeed reasonable.

As for the Drunkard and the Butcher, they would have lost in their everlasting cultivation if they did not have each other. They would have went stray throughout the countless years because no one could endure such endless loneliness.

Luckily they had each other. They were the only company for each other. If the Butcher would not do anything for the Drunkard, then no one would.

Jun Mo found the Butcher’s words reasonable. Therefore he did not try to convince him further. He had always been reasonable. He pulled out the straight sword and said, “Be my guest.”

The Butcher raised the greasy knife and said, “I will make my way.”

There was no way out. Therefore he had to make one.

The Drunkard chopped the knife onto Jun Mo. There were no skills or techniques. It even did not carry any Qi of Heaven and Earth. It seemed like, or it simply was an ordinary knife. Yet it was nothing ordinary.

If someone had been using the heavy knife for tens of thousands of years, with over a thousand chops everyday and over three hundred days every year, how many chops should he have made?

No one else had done so. But the Butcher did. And only he who had lived such a long life could have done so. He had cultivated for too long.

If gift and diligence both mattered in cultivation, the Butcher must be one of the very few most gifted and diligent cultivators in history. What did that mean? Thousands multiplied by three hundred then multiplied by tens of thousands, how many chops would that be? It meant that his knife was invincible.

Even if Liu Bai could rise again, he would not be able to take it. Even the Abbey Dean would never want to take it. Perhaps no one except for Ke Haoran could take the Butcher’s chop.

Jun Mo’s eyes brightened up. He knew what that knife meant. It was glorious and dazzling. The Youngest Uncle was his idle. He wanted to take the chop.

If he still had his both arms, he might have tried taking it. But now he only had one arm. He held one end of the iron sword, while the other end lay somewhere else in the snowy night.

It was like a rootless tree.

The light in his eyes dimmed, and got bright again. Then he calmed down.

Jun Mo took one step back. He held the sword downward, raised his left knee and kicked upward. He was kicking into the sky, namely Sky Kicking. He kicked onto the head of the iron sword.

The iron sword soared up but was not kicked away. It seemed to have turned into a bowstring. One end of the string was in his hand, while the other was under his foot.

The iron knife chopped onto the iron sword. The string was bent but not broken.

The iron sword being the bowstring, Jun Mo being an arrow, he darted back like a bolt for hundreds of meters along the street.

He did not choose to confront the Butcher directly. Because it was not his own fight tonight. He was the prideful Jun Mo. And also the Second Brother from the Academy. But the Butcher’s horrifying knife intent was still haunting.

The iron sword bended swiftly with horrifying sounds. It almost reached his crown. His hair was yet to become as long as it used to be. But he had put on the ancient crown again tonight.

The crown served like a boat and helped him float fluently in the Qi of Heaven and Earth, without leaning or overturning.

Jun Mo kept darting back until he left the small town and came to the cliff.

The knife intent was still following. It pierced the cloth on his chest and made a deep mark on the iron sword.

The iron sword used to lead the slaves to fight against the Xuankong Temple for many years in Giant Sinkhole to the very West Wilderness. It was never broken but merely bent and fixed later on. However, it was almost broken by the Butcher’s chop tonight.

What a horrifying chop! Indeed invincible.

Jun Mo had retreated to the foot of the cliff. He applied Sky Kicking again with his right foot and rooted into the round like a pine without moving further backward.

The Butcher followed him to the cliff. Different from what people used to think, the Butcher was not slow at all.

Some blood gushed from the corner of Jun Mo’s lips. Facing a second chop from the Butcher, he seemed extremely calm. He could not take the Butcher’s chop. Although he retreated to hundreds of meters away, he was still wounded. But it was exactly where he was leading the Butcher.

A shrill chirp of a cicada was heard. It seemed as if a giant cicada had just opened its wings in front of the cliff. It enveloped the spot where the Butcher was standing.

The Butcher was taken into a world disconnected from Haotian’s world by the cicada’s wings.

Even a great cultivator above the Five States could hardly create his own world. However the world currently created by two pieces of transparent and invisible cicada wings seemed unbreakable.

“Do you think some weak cicada could trap me?” The Butcher roared. His hair and whiskers danced madly in the wind while he chopped toward the transparent shield!

There was a harsh pierce!

And a crack was made on the transparent cicada wing!