Chapter Twenty Four Night Owl
writer:
无罪 update:2022-07-21 15:26
The dark and cold presence grew, the sky turned darker, and snow came down. But the train of carriages was exceptionally calm, and many drivers even started to hang up lanterns on the two sides of the carriage.
The shining lanterns swayed in the wind, and made soft sounds when they hit the carriage. But the people in the carriages were silent.
The air was odd and mysterious, brimming with danger.
Ding Ning’s mind rippled.
Many times before this, he had been thinking over this war, guessing where Zheng Xiu’s last hidden pawn was, but he had not learned anything. But now, the strange air of the train of carriages caused his heart to contract, and he had a bad feeling.
“Donghu Monk, back then in Changling, we should have met. But back then, you were inconspicuous, and I did not expect you to reach such a level.” At this time, Sima Cuo looked expressionlessly at them, and said, “Eldest Miss Gongsun, I did not expect you to also reach such a step.”
His voice was deep and strong, with the air of age, easily drawing people’s thoughts back to many years ago.
“And you, while I did not understand how a person like you can exist, but you should be the heir to the Nine Death Silkworm, and received his true teaching.”
His gaze was mostly on Ding Ning, somewhat admiring and emotional.
For any person here presently, this was not a good time to talk, but Sima Cuo seemed to be just making small talk. He looked at Ding Ning and then slowly said, “You do know the true meaning behind this great battle where thousands are dying?”
His voice was calm, but everyone could hear the conspiracy. There clearly were two terrifying cultivators stronger than him coming to assassinate him, but his attitude was like he was the hunter, and the other the prey coming to his door.
Zhangsun Qianxue thought of a possibility, her eyes filling with icy hate. The cold wind in the air grew stronger, and wailed.
Ding Ning frowned slightly, but did not answer Sima Cuo’s question. He maintained his silence.
“The eldest miss of the Gongsun Family, Ba Mountain Sword Field and the heir of the Nine Death Silkworm are together, this is amazing. And the Donghu monk who had wanted to kill Wang Jingmeng has come with you all this way. It is even more incredible. But these are not important things.”
Sima Cuo looked with sympathy at Ding Ning and sighed emotionally. “The true goal of this great war is the Nine Death Silkworm heir, it is you.”
His emotions were true, but even Ding Ning felt bone chilling coldness.
“Such a great battle, both Ba Mountain Sword Field and I have to appear. But using the life and death of hundreds of thousands to confirm that the Nine Death Silkworm truly exists and to make it appear, she is more and more mad.”
Saying so, Ding Ning looked into Sima Cuo’s eyes. “Killing the main commander is a tactic that the Ba Mountain Sword Field likes to use, but how come you are sure that the Nine Death Silkworm will appear here, and that I am the Nine Death Silkworm?”
One needed a lot of accurate information to prove a conclusion. Before this assassination, Sima Cuo had guessed that Zhangsun Qianxue would come here, and there was also the heir to the Nine Death Silkworm. Then this must concern the hidden pawn of Zheng Xiu.
Sima Cuo smirked slightly. He was not in a hurry. His voice was slow, and he did not answer Ding Ning’s question. “Even if the world is at peace, as long as the Nine Death Silkworm is not killed, it is like a thorn in the throat, and no one will be at peace. Sitting on the throne, having trouble eating and sleeping or having this war, you can judge what is more important.”
“Just a joke.” Ding Ning could not help but shake his head.
All this was like a joke. He thought that if he killed Sima Cuo, he could win this war, but laughably, Yuanwu and Zheng Xiu did not care about the war at all. In their eyes, the victory of this war was not as important as him.
“Even if I am the heir of the Nine Death Silkworm, since he could pass to me, I can naturally pass to others. How could the Nine Death Silkworm die? Is it worth it to use the victory and defeat of such a war?”
“Even if the Chu army wins, they are powerless to enter the Qin. At most, we lose the Yangshan Commandery again.” Sima Cuo smiled scornfully. “Yangshan Commandery does not have much value left after being fought over like this. It is good to leave it to them to rebuild the cities. The Nine Death Silkworm is mysterious, and no one knows, but at least, it is hard to cultivate, and only those stunningly talented can cultivate it. Even if another heir is found again, after a generation, without Wang Jingmeng’s teaching, with just the method but no sword manuals, what can he do? After another decade, it would be another generation. Who could be wary of the infant silkworms without the support of these grand masters?”
Whether it was worth it or not was not something other people could measure. Ding Ning did not argue with Sima Cuo on this. He took a deep breath, looked at Zhangsun Qianxue and tried to make himself calm down.
There was no one strong in Sima Cuo’s train who could stop the Donghu monk and Zhangsun Qianxue. This was the reason he had not expected Zheng Xiu’s strongest counter attack to come here.
After many years, Zheng Xiu had not changed in many parts, but in many parts, she had become more terrifying.
Now, who would change this trap for Sima Cuo into a trap against him, Zhangsun Qianxue, and the Donghu monk?
Zhangsun Qianxue slowly turned her head, looking at his side profile under the black cloth, familiar yet strange.
At the start, she had been very furious, the howling winds representing her emotions. Her fury came from once again falling for Zheng Xiu’s trap. But now, her feelings had calmed down.
“If we cannot live together, let us die together.” At this time, she spoke softly to Ding Ning. She knew, since the Nine Death Silkworm was the true goal of Zheng Xiu’s great war, then there were many possibilities of dying here.
“Coming.” Ding Ning looked at her face and nodded.
The sound of someone stepping on dry leaves came from the mountain slope. A swordsman dressed in moon colored robes walked out of the forest behind them. The snow falling from the sky right now was blue and black. The middle-aged man dressed in moon colored robes was also producing snow, but the snow was white.
Ding Ning’s eyes did not fall on the swordsman. He looked up at the peak of the hill.
At the top of the hill, at this time, there stood a man in black robes. He was looking down quietly like a lone and proud owl.
“It is him?” Zhangsun Qianxue’s eyes, which had just calmed down, once again surged with complicated emotions. Shock, worry, and a hint of sorrow.
Ding Ning’s expression froze. In his senses, that black robed man was taller than a mountain, like a black moon pressing on the mountain.
That black moon had once pressed down on Changling for many years.
Volume 2 19 - Who Can Be Immortal
This chapter has been brought to you by me, and larkspur.
"Ding Ning, how are you?"
Seeing Ding Ning spit blood, immediately, Fu Su cried out in shock. .
Ding Ning did not respond to him, and first tried to regulate his breathing. Then he bent down, grabbed a handful of dry earth and threw it hard in front of him.
The dirt spread apart in the mist in front of the formation door and became absolutely still. The grains of dirt were surrounded by the mist, turning into lines just like the trees and grass, before charging back towards Ding Ning.
Ding Ning’s clothes were unusually dirty, covered in mud and water mixing with his blood.
"Chaos Thicket?"
Forefather Zhou did not care about Ding Ning’s wounds. When the dirt had become still in the mist ahead, and turned into chaotic lines just like the grass and trees below, he immediately thought of something.
Ding Ning was silent.
All things in the world had their own energies, but the essence energy of all things flowed inside, and could not be recklessly expelled.
The floras at the formation door, once touched by presence not usually at the formation door, would immediately expel their own essence energy. As a result, the numerous flora here was like rash assassins. Their cultivation was low, but the chaotic presence they expelled formation was an enormous chaotic formation.
This was the legendary "chaos thicket."
The ultimate "sword cemetery" formation of the dynasty after Emperor You originated from this very "chaos thicket." However, this kind of formation essence was hard to understand for even those above realm seven. It had long been lost and even though he had never seen it, he had not expected it to appear here.
"How to breach this?"
Forefather Zhou turned to Ding Ning who did not seem to be deep in thought or moving. He said with a sneer, "Since you have been attacked by the formation door and threw up blood, then you must have sensed the true essence of this formation door. Do not tell me you are unable to think of any solution."
"It is not possible to find a solution to the true chaos thicket quickly."
Ding Ning adjusted his breathing, looked at him calmly and said, "But this chaos thicket is maintained by the entire formation …… the person who set up the formation back then, wanted it to exist for countless years, so it has a fatal shortcoming."
Forefather Zhou’s eyes flashed with heated flames. "What shortcoming?"
Ding Ning said calmly, "Its power comes from the sun truefire. You are not capable of blocking the solar truefire from the entire formation, but you may be able to block off the solar truefire of this formation door."
Forefather Zhou immediately frowned deeply. He said coldly, "It is not so simple. It cannot be so simple."
Fu Su also understood Forefather Zhou’s meaning. He looked at Ding Ning and shook his head, saying, "The entire formation is like a bowl filled with water. When there is less water in one part of the bowl, water from other places will naturally gather, and come with momentum. The place with less water will experience the impact of the entire formation."
"I understand this." Ding Ning nodded and turned to look at Forefather Zhou. "So you must be very quick."
Forefather Zhou stilled, but his eyes glimmered with light. He understood.
"When there is less part in a part of the bowl, water will naturally come from other places. But if one is fast enough, they can pass through before water from other places gathers." Ding Ning took a deep breath. Then he continued, "We also need to clear the way in order to pass through quickly enough. You have to open some passageways as soon as possible and let the energy inside pour out."
"Ding Ning, I have to admit you are a true genius." Forefather Zhou looked profoundly at Ding Ning, with a hint of a snarl on his face.
He looked up. He narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the golden pillars of light. The cold fiendish energy in his body was slowly released. His almost frozen energy sea could not withstand hard battle, but it was not difficult for him to slowly release the cold fiendish energy inside his body to block the golden light from the formation door.
Threads of black energy spilled from his fingertips like cold poisonous snakes and rose upwards.
The threads of pleasure in his heart seemed to rise like these energies.
He had waited for thirty years. Also, his body and cultivation status meant he could not force his way in through the formation door like he had three decades ago. But the performance of the wine shop youth today had caused him to come alive like a withered branch in spring. All of the waiting had been of value.
But at this moment, he sensed something unusual.
He suddenly turned his head, his slightly black face turning pale white.
Ding Ning and Fu Su also felt that unusual presence at the same time and turned around in unison.
The trio looked up at the sky where multiple white clouds were floating in the air. The rays of the sun gilded the edges of the white clouds gold, but at this moment, a ball of black light was rising below these white clouds.
Soundlessly, the rays of golden light landed on the pitch black ball of light. No light appeared underneath the black ball. Cold black curtains of light came from where the golden rays of light and the black ball of light were in contact and spread outwards.
That patch of sky was growing black at a visible rate into something like a black seal. It was not like black night, because there would be moonlight and star light in the night sky.
This thick black color was suffocating. Fu Su finally reacted. Looking at the black sky that had almost covered half of the mountain valley and the border of where the golden light and black color met, he said in shock, "There is someone else here?"
Ding Ning did not speak.
Forefather Zhou did not speak.
At this moment, with a muffled explosion, someone seemed to move an enormous mountain and threw it unreasonably onto the surface of the serene lake.
At the same time the sound occurred, the ground under the trio’s feet started to vibrate.
Then a wild wind rose.
The energy and the lake-like mist in the mountain valley split to the sides.
Ding Ning’s clothes flapped in the wind. His thin body appeared to be almost blown away by the wild wind and mist. But he still tried to narrow his eyes and look towards where the black ball of light was rising.
There was light underneath the black sky.
He saw an old figure that seemed to be burying with clean white flame.
A wide path appeared in front of this old figure. All of the weeds and trees on the path were cut down and fell to the sides of the path.
Forefather Zhou’s body was soaked in sweat.
This was the exact solution that Ding Ning had spoken of.
However, this person was even more vicious. He had not opened, but forced open the door when the power of the formation ran out.
This kind of method meant this person was far stronger than him.
The mist in the mountain valley was expelled out by the explosion of power. While they were many miles away, when Ding Ning and the others saw the old man, the old man also saw Forefather Zhou, Ding Ning, and Fu Su.
The old man’s eyes flashed with a hint of surprise.
This old man was the king of Chu. He had arranged and schemed for the Deer Mountain Conference to be held at this time at Deer Mountain. After obtaining what was here, he would return to Deer Mountain, and confirm with the strongest people in the world. Of course, he had not expected someone else to discover the secret here. Also, they appeared to have entered the formation before, and had come today preparing to enter.
But even if there were countless people that had discovered the secret here, only the first person who entered would obtain what was inside.
First come, first served. The one step was fate.
So, the king of Chu looked without any murderousness at Ding Ning, Fu Su and Forefather Zhou. He smiled gently before he started to step onto the wide path that had appeared in front of him.
The wind rose again.
The mist that had parted to the sides of the mountain valley rushed back with a stronger wind.
"Who is it?"
The half-fish half-bird spirit beast was hovering over a white cloud in the windy sky. On top of the beast, the beauty in palace attire had a grim expression.
"The king of Chu."
The man with the white hair, the Qin Dynasty’s imperial tutor, whispered emotionally, "No wonder it is Deer Mountain, no wonder it is this time."
The beauty in palace attire looked at the walking king of Chu and coldly said, "What do we do?"
The emperor’s tutor said peacefully, "Stop him from entering the formation."
The beauty in palace attire said, "You stop the king of Chu. I will deal with Forefather Zhou."
The emperor’s tutor shook his head, looked at her beautiful eyes, and said, "You should know that I cannot face the king of Chu alone."
The beauty in palace attire stopped breathing.
She knew the other spoke the truth. But this choice meant abandoning Fu Su and Ding Ning.
This meant that Fu Su and Ding Ning would die.
"The Deer Mountain Conference is the Qin Dynasty’s present, the crown prince is the Qin Dynasty’s future. One side is the present, the other is the future. Without the present, there is no future." The white-haired old man turned to look at the king of Chu who was stepping into the formation door. He said, "Both the Holy One and the empress would choose the present. We have no choice."
As he spoke, his body gave off an extremely serene and faint presence. His body seemed to swell without limits.
There seemed to be a standing giant appearing between the sky and the earth that was looking in the distance. Numerous stars outside the world seemed to dim.
In the sky, an enormous presence suddenly formed and then landed.
The king of Chu suddenly looked up.
The moment he lifted his head, that enormous presence was already landing on the black ball of light in the sky.
Translator Ramblings: The emperor’s tutor (帝师) is usually translated as the imperial preceptor but the thing is, the position only appeared formally during the Yuan Dynasty, which is about 1000 years after the Warring states. So it is the "emperor’s teacher/tutor" and not the imperial preceptor.
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