# 512
Chapter 512: The Sword Saint’s Pursuit
Northern border of Great Xia.
A plane sliced across the sky.
Inside the cabin, Zhou Ping pressed his face to the window; the moment he glimpsed the ground below, his pupils shrank.
“What… is this?”
From high altitude the vast earth looked as though a straight black ruler had been drawn across half a city. Streets and buildings along that line had been severed clean, the cut surfaces glass-smooth.
On the left of the black line the city was intact; on the right… there was nothing.
No buildings, no streets, no soil, no life. The ground sank a hundred metres in a perfect rectangle, as if a gigantic shovel had pried half the city from the earth and carried it away.
The vanished half extended all the way to the rolling border of the mist.
“Where’s the other half of the city?” Zhou Ping turned to Ye Fan.
Ye Fan stared downward. “After Wind God Shu appeared, he dug up the half closest to the mist frontier—together with more than ten thousand residents, the mountains, forests, rivers… and the real Fengdu beneath it—and fled into the mist.”
“He took half a city?” Zhou Ping exclaimed. “Why?”
“No idea. It happened two minutes ago; I just got the report.”
The plane descended. Before its wheels touched earth, Zhou Ping and Ye Fan leapt out, landing on the edge of the remaining city.
A broad asphalt street ended less than ten metres ahead, sliced off by the black line. Beyond it yawned a vertical cliff dropping to flat, empty ground.
“The residents left on this side have been evacuated,” Ye Fan said, frowning at the void. “Anta County was sparsely populated to begin with, and the moment Shu arrived a blast of astral wind knocked everyone unconscious.”
“What about the Night Watch post here?”
“Gone with the other half.”
Zhou Ping crouched, brushing the cliff edge. The cut was flawless, as if a blade had simply carved the land away.
“Cough, cough…” He lowered his head, covering his mouth.
“Feeling ill?” Ye Fan asked.
“No… just a cough.” Zhou Ping waved it off. “What about Emperor Fengdu?”
“Until the Heavenly Court is repaired the Great Dao is incomplete; the gods of Great Xia can’t leave our borders. The emperor could only use his link to Fengdu to shield the citizens from the mist—nothing more.”
“So it’s up to us.”
“…Yes.” Ye Fan’s face was grave. “Besides Guan Zai, who’s still in seclusion, I’ve summoned Lu Wuwei and Master Chen. They should arrive soon—”
“I’ll go,” Zhou Ping cut in.
Ye Fan froze.
“If our gods can’t act, someone must guard the frontier. The more people we send after that fragment, the weaker our defence—maybe that’s exactly what they want.” Zhou Ping spoke calmly. “Master Chen excels at defence; he must stay. You’re commander-in-chief—you can’t leave. And Lu Wuwei… too slow.”
“Alone?” Ye Fan frowned. “Do you even know where that city fragment is headed?”
“As one of Egypt’s Nine Pillar Gods, his destination can only be their divine kingdom—the Temple of Heaven.”
“You intend to storm the Egyptian divine realm by yourself?”
“Great Xia and Egypt are far apart. Even the Wind God can’t haul such a huge shard there quickly. If I intercept it on the way, it never has to enter their territory.”
“It may not be that simple,” Ye Fan said. “Beyond the mist is beyond our control. We have no idea what the outer gods are plotting. They could be lying in wait just outside our borders—this could be a trap.”
“Then the fewer who step into it, the better.”
Ye Fan fell silent.
Zhou Ping met his eyes. “There are still ten thousand lives on that fragment. We can’t watch them die. If someone must chase it, I’m the best choice. Only I can wrest it from the Wind God. And I must be the only one—at this moment the other Human Apexes absolutely cannot leave Great Xia.
You flew here to fetch me, not Master Chen or Lu Wuwei, because you already knew that. You chose me from the start.”
Ye Fan held his gaze, then slowly nodded. “…Yes. Only you can do it.”
“You could’ve just said so.” Zhou Ping sighed. “If you were straighter with people, we might’ve been good friends—like Guan Zai and me.”
“…Sorry.”
“But you’re different. You carry the whole Night Watch on your back. I understand.” Zhou Ping patted the sword-case on his back. “Next time, just tell me where to go and who to kill. I won’t shirk what’s mine to bear—after all, I am Great Xia’s Sword Saint.”
Ye Fan stared. “You…”
“What?”
“Seems you’ve gotten along well with Lin Qiye and the others,” Ye Fan said with a faint smile. “You never used to speak to me like this—so much at once—and you rarely stared at your own shoes anymore.”
Zhou Ping was taken aback, then gave a small nod. “Maybe…”
“Any last instructions before you leave?”
Zhou Ping hesitated, pulled two envelopes from his pocket and handed them over. “Deliver these to Squads 007 and 006.”
Ye Fan glanced at them and chuckled. “You could’ve just told me.”
“I wanted to accompany them to the end of their training—even if only in this way.”
“Understood.”
“Also… if I don’t come back, don’t tell my third uncle. Just say… I went to work abroad.”
Silence.
Finally Ye Fan answered, “…All right.”
“And—”
“I think you should stop.” Ye Fan’s voice was firm. “You’re talking like you’re settling your last affairs. It’s bad luck.”
“…” Zhou Ping paused. “Tell Lin Qiye his tomato-stir-fried-tomatoes are mediocre—my third uncle’s are far better.”
Ye Fan: …
“I’m off.”
Zhou Ping turned, lightly tapped his sword-case.
Clang—!!!
A clear sword-cry rang out; a flash of blade-light pierced the misty border and vanished.
Ye Fan stood alone, watching the direction of that sword-glow long after it disappeared.