Chapter 207: Battle Against the Wind and Snow
Upon hearing these words, the area around the stone platform fell into utter silence.
Everyone understood that this must have been when Wang Po, after observing the steles at the Heavenly Book Mausoleum for a year, realized staying any longer was a waste of life. Yet, like many others, he was reluctant to leave. So he too attempted to take a shortcut, but in the end, he only stood before this line for one night. When the morning light came, he turned and left.
Outside the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, Mao Qiuyu looked toward the man beneath the locust tree.
That man remained silent.
Xun Mei was silent for a moment, then understood why the Divine General Han Qing, as the mausoleum keeper, had said this to him: "So you already knew who I was, Senior."
The armor beneath the pavilion remained utterly still. That weathered voice emerged from the shadows: "Of course I know who you are. Decades ago, the cultivation world of the continent began to experience its latest bloom of wildflowers—Heaven-Shaking Wang Po, Armor-Painting Xiao Zhang, Unmoving as a Mountain, Treading Snow Xun Mei... You had the best talent, the brightest futures. The hope of resisting the demons rested on you... You’ve been looking at the steles in the Heavenly Book Mausoleum for thirty-seven years, and I’ve been watching you for thirty-seven years. You’re truly not bad. Since you’ve broken through your heart barrier tonight, why not leave? Why must you come to try this divergent path?"
"No. My heart barrier is right before my eyes. I’ve only seen it, not broken it. As for the divergent path, it may not be the wrong way."
Xun Mei’s gaze passed over the pavilion and once again fell upon the Heavenly Book Mausoleum.
Han Qing’s voice paused for a moment before sounding again: "Wang Po is a wise man. Since you take him as your goal, you should at least show the same wisdom."
"True. I’ve wanted to surpass him my whole life. But now it seems, at least in this matter, he’s not as good as me," Xun Mei said.
Han Qing said indifferently, "He’s not as foolish as you?"
Xun Mei thought for a moment and replied, "He’s not as stupid as me."
Han Qing was silent for a moment, then said, "That makes sense."
In the forest outside the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, that man’s hand rested on the locust tree before him, still silent.
"In over a hundred years, you are the first person to challenge the Divine Path," Han Qing continued from the pavilion south of the Heavenly Book Mausoleum.
Xun Mei said, "I’m quite stupid."
The words "foolish" and "stupid" might seem to mean the same thing, but there’s actually a great difference.
"A stupid person might have good fortune."
Han Qing said, "I, as the mausoleum keeper, am myself a part of the Heavenly Book Mausoleum. Defeat me, and you may ascend the Divine Path."
Xun Mei’s expression was calm as he clasped his hands in a salute.
This was the rule of the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, and it was only proper. To be able to defeat the continent’s foremost divine general, one would have to be a powerhouse at the level of the Five Saints or the Eight Winds and Rains. Would such a great figure need to follow the Great Zhou Dynasty’s rules to read the Heavenly Book? Chen Changsheng felt that Divine General Han Qing’s words were meant for the youths outside the platform.
Xun Mei looked down at his feet. The stone platform ended there, and the Divine Path began. The black ended, and the sacred white began.
Then he lifted his knee.
Beneath the pavilion, Han Qing still hadn’t raised his head. His face was entirely hidden in the shadow of his armor, and his voice turned cold: "Xun Mei, even though you living is more meaningful to humanity, I am the mausoleum keeper, and I guard the rules of the Heavenly Mausoleum. So I will not hold back. You may also unleash your full strength without any hesitation."
After thirty-seven years of long dreams, he was about to see the truth at the mausoleum’s summit. How could Xun Mei hesitate? As if he hadn’t heard those words, he took a step forward.
This step was ordinary. His foot landed on the ground casually, without a sound.
The sounds before the pavilion were still the sound of water—the waterfall crashing in the western cliff, and the clear tinkling of the shallow channel on the platform.
Xun Mei’s foot crossed that line.
The Heavenly Book Mausoleum, shrouded in night, suddenly brightened slightly.
In the deep of night, with faint lights, the only source that could illuminate the entire Heavenly Book Mausoleum was the sky—the countless stars.
Chen Changsheng looked up and saw the stars in the night sky blazing brilliantly. He instinctively squinted.
In truth, the countless stars hadn’t actually grown brighter. Even if they had, the naked eye couldn’t distinguish it. This was purely a feeling, or rather, a perception of spiritual sense.
The people around the stone platform all sensed it, but no one felt it more clearly than Chen Changsheng, because no one had a spiritual sense as tranquil and profound as his.
He even faintly perceived which of the countless stars in the night sky had brightened just now.
That star was deep in the southeastern star domain, perhaps Xun Mei’s destiny star.
Taking a step forward to see the truth, his destiny star responded, suddenly brightening. What realm had Xun Mei actually cultivated to?
Chen Changsheng thought of the starry sky he had seen while meditating in the Lingyan Pavilion, and a sense of awe filled him.
The bright starlight turned the mountains and fields of the Heavenly Book Mausoleum into a silver world.
Xun Mei stood before the pavilion. The hair he had tied up in the courtyard earlier had somehow come loose again. The grime seemed instantly washed away by the starlight. His long hair flowed softly, and those few silver strands were especially striking.
He stood between the Divine Path and the stone platform, his body remaining in place. Clearly, he hadn’t walked toward the pavilion... but he had already walked toward it!
A footprint clearly appeared on the Divine Path!
The Divine Path was paved with white stone. The footprint was wet, naturally and unmistakably clear.
Xun Mei had come treading water, so his shoes were naturally wet.
Seeing this scene, Chen Changsheng’s eyes widened. Zhe Xiu was also stunned. They had grown up in the old temple of Xining Town and the bitter cold snowfields, rarely seeing battles between true powerhouses. They couldn’t understand or explain these footprints. In contrast, the four disciples of Lishan Sword Sect and Tang Thirty-Six appeared calmer.
Wet footprints kept appearing on the Divine Path, as if an invisible person was walking.
Xun Mei gazed quietly at the pavilion.
It didn’t take long for the footprints to extend more than ten zhang toward the pavilion.
With a sharp clang!
Beneath the pavilion, the night wind suddenly rose.
Han Qing still kept his head down, not drawing his sword. Yet the sword in the scabbard at his side was already eager, half an inch out of its sheath.
Just half an inch, yet it seemed fully drawn.
Several streaks of dust burst from the edge of the scabbard, spreading through the pavilion.
As this sword-dust spread, an extremely powerful aura emerged from the pavilion, spanning across the Divine Path.
This aura was still like iron, still stained with blood—solemn, upright, like an ancient wall stained with the blood of countless soldiers.
No one could see this wall, but everyone knew it was there, right on the Divine Path.
Xun Mei’s steps stopped. For a long time, no wet footprints appeared on the Divine Path again.
His gaze passed through the pavilion and the powerful man beneath it, landing on the distant Heavenly Book Mausoleum. It was like a fuse touching charcoal—with a crackling sound, it began to burn fiercely.
His gaze began to burn. His eyes began to burn.
Xun Mei’s eyes became incredibly bright, like newborn stars.
His body slowly leaned forward.
Another wet footprint appeared on the Divine Path.
With a sword forming a wall, he would smash that wall to pieces!
On the Divine Path, water traces grew more apparent, and footprints continued—that was his path.
He wanted to walk the Divine Path, reach the pavilion, and ultimately ascend to the summit of the Heavenly Book Mausoleum.
He walked step by step. His face grew paler and more pained, but his eyes were filled with joy.
Life had to be painful to be real.
What he wanted to see was the truth.
As time passed, the footprints on the Divine Path kept moving forward, nearing the pavilion.
Xun Mei was still over a hundred zhang from the pavilion, but he could already see those eyes in the darkness beneath the armor!
Two immensely powerful auras silently clashed south of the Heavenly Book Mausoleum.
The clear water in the shallow channel churned in terror, then gradually flowed in all directions. The soft, formless water slowly took on a shape.
Even the hard black stone platform began to deform, pressed down by the two auras, slightly sinking into a curve.
It was as if an incredibly heavy, invisible stone ball had fallen to the ground!
Stone chips flew, and the edges of the water channel emitted a grating, teeth-clenching sound.
Chen Changsheng and the others kept retreating to avoid being affected. Looking at the cracked, sunken ground before them, and then at the two figures on the Divine Path, their eyes were filled with awe.
The confrontation of the two auras didn’t last long.
Xun Mei stared at the pavilion and let out a clear cry!
This clear cry was like the "yi ya" on a stage—a single note as a command, and someone above scattered paper scraps. Those scraps were fake snow, but now, real snow began to fall!
No, that wasn’t snow. It was starlight—starlight cut into flakes!
Starlight turned to flakes, falling rustlingly, indistinguishable from snow.
Xun Mei stood in the snow, as if returning to those days long ago.
Back then, he was still a youth, standing outside his teacher’s door for three days and three nights until the snow buried his knees.
What year was that? Thirty-seven years ago? Or even earlier?
Nearly fifty years of bitter cultivation, thirty-seven years of stele observation—he was no longer the frail child who had been severely ill from the wind and snow.
He was already a true powerhouse on the verge of reaching the Saintly Realm!
The youths watching from outside the platform only now realized that Xun Mei’s realm had reached such a level, and they were struck speechless with shock.
At this moment, the mausoleum keeper beneath the pavilion raised his head.
The darkness that had always been shrouded by armor was finally illuminated.
It was an aged and indifferent face.
A sharp shout!
Countless dust particles burst from the countless gaps in the armor!
He had sat before the Divine Path for hundreds of years.
This dust was those hundreds of years.
Hundreds of years ago, the war between humans and demons had entered its final phase.
He was Wang Zhice’s last adjutant general.
He finally looked up at Xun Mei, and his gaze was the sharpest sword.
And his sword finally truly left its sheath!
Starlight was cut into flakes, falling slowly.
Divine General Han Qing’s sword swept through the wind and snow, like metal warhorses.
Before the pavilion, it had become a snowfield!
For Xun Mei, the shattered starlight was the snow outside his teacher’s door back then.
For Han Qing, the shattered starlight was the snow on the battlefield back then.
Different snows represented different perseverances, each with its own conviction.
Across a distance of over a hundred zhang, Xun Mei looked at that aged face, as if it were right before him.
This battle had finally reached its final moment, the moment to decide victory or defeat. Both powerhouses had unleashed their most terrifying techniques. The youths watching from outside the stone platform could no longer hold on. Even as they retreated again and again, they were still battered by the violent wind and snow, swaying, on the verge of falling.
At that moment, Gou Hanshi reached out and grabbed Chen Changsheng’s left arm. Chen Changsheng understood and firmly grasped Liang Banhu’s arm. They held each other tightly, standing side by side, like those seemingly fragile little trees in the wind and snow, lined up together, struggling against the power of nature.
If it was this hard just watching from a distance, one could imagine what the two in the battle were enduring.
The veteran general and the poor scholar—this battle of wind and snow—who would win, who would lose?
(Exhausted... Next chapter... I’ll try to write it before midnight.)