Chapter 346: The Fallen Pheasant
Before the Zhou Garden opened, before the rainbow was born, Li Mountain had already entered a state of full alert. Xiao Song Palace and three elders of the Discipline Hall sat at various points along the mountain path. The Ten Thousand Swords Grand Formation of Li Mountain lay hidden deep within the sea of clouds, ready at any moment to slay any invading enemies. Yet even so, they had not been able to achieve absolute certainty. It was not until the Li Mountain Sect Leader let out a long roar with his true sword that the rainbow finally stabilized, and the alien aura within it was completely expelled. Unfortunately, there was no time to stop the demons from closing the gate to the Zhou Garden.
To reopen the gate of the Zhou Garden and allow the hundreds of human cultivators trapped inside to come out, aside from the formation laid by the many experts outside Hanqiu City, the most important element remained this rainbow that originated from Li Mountain. After all, the key was here. In the time that had passed, Li Mountain had been utterly silent, with everyone watching the activity at the peak. Now, seeing the Sect Leader finally emerge from his cave dwelling, the people who had been waiting anxiously surged forward, bowing and paying their respects. Xiao Song Palace asked with a grave expression, "Senior Brother, how is the situation?"
The Li Mountain Sect Leader gazed toward the eastern night sky, looking at the star that still shone brightly, and said, "By dawn, the Zhou Garden can be reopened."
Hearing this, Xiao Song Palace breathed a sigh of relief, but he noticed that his senior brother's expression remained stern, especially the faint stirring of the Jinghu Sword Intent in his eyes, which gave him a great sense of unease. He asked, "Could there be some other change?"
The Li Mountain Sect Leader withdrew his gaze from the east and followed the rainbow to the location of Hanqiu City in the north. He said, "A major event is taking place inside the Zhou Garden. There are already signs of collapse. I don't know if the people inside can hold out until dawn."
The Li Mountain Sword Sect disciples present were shocked by these words but dared not make a sound. After a moment, an elder of the Discipline Hall asked with concern, "Is there no other way?"
The Li Mountain Sect Leader remained silent, and everyone naturally understood what that meant. A disciple asked, "How is the Grand Senior Brother now?"
With his question, many Li Mountain disciples turned their gazes toward the tightly closed door of the cave dwelling. To the younger generation of Li Mountain disciples, it seemed nothing could trouble the Grand Senior Brother. Although they knew his cultivation level was certainly no match for the senior uncles, they still subconsciously placed their hopes on him.
The Li Mountain Sect Leader looked at the disciples and said, "To reopen the Zhou Garden gate as quickly as possible, your Grand Senior Brother has nearly burned up all the True Dragon Blood in his body. You want him to go faster? Do you wish for him to waste all his cultivation? Or do you want him to die beneath this rainbow?"
Hearing this, the disciples were even more shocked and dared not say another word.
Just then, a voice came from within the cave dwelling: "Master, disciple... wishes to try again."
That voice was so weary, so extremely weak, yet it still carried the same clarity as always, very pleasant to the ear. The emotion in the voice was still so calm, composed, confident, and resolute. More importantly, that voice, as always, no matter the circumstances, showed no sign of gloom. It carried a natural sense of unrestrained ease, even a hint of casual indifference.
Hearing this voice, the disciples inexplicably felt a bit of reassurance, just as they always did.
The Li Mountain Sect Leader looked at the cave dwelling and said in a deep voice, "If you try again, it may lead to certain death."
That voice disappeared for a moment, then sounded again, still calm, utterly resolute: "Junior Sister is still inside the Zhou Garden."
That was the reason. That was the logic. That was the reason and logic that the entire world knew and was willing to believe. The Li Mountain Sect Leader could hear that in his most beloved senior disciple's seemingly calm voice, there was, for the first time, a hint of true anxiety. How could he bear to stop him?
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Deep within the Never-Setting Sun Grasslands, where energy storms raged everywhere, the mausoleum was surrounded by violent hurricanes. The water pools on the grasslands had long since been completely evaporated, and the wet mud had turned into dry sand and gravel, dancing wildly between heaven and earth with the wind. Sand and dust drifted in from the edges of the yellow paper umbrella, dimming the light.
Xu Yourong leaned against Chen Changsheng's shoulder and whispered, "Will we die?"
Having just been pulled back from the brink of death not long ago, she was now very weak, both physically and mentally. Chen Changsheng's gaze passed over the edge of the yellow paper umbrella, fixed on the ten stone pillars amidst the wind and sand around the mausoleum. Thinking of the results she had calculated earlier, he was making some kind of comparison. Suddenly hearing her words, he thought for a moment and then said, "Perhaps... but I won't let you die."
Xu Yourong said softly, "Earlier, if you hadn't given me your blood, I would have died. But actually, I wasn't afraid to die then. Now, though, I am afraid. I don't know why."
Chen Changsheng looked into her eyes and said, "Perhaps... because you now have a reason to live?"
Xu Yourong thought for a moment and said, "Maybe."
Chen Changsheng smiled from the bottom of his heart and said, "I'm very happy."
Xu Yourong looked at him and smiled back. "I'm very happy too. But the more that's the case, the less I want to die."
Chen Changsheng said seriously, "Yes, so I'm thinking about how to survive."
Xu Yourong teased him, "Are you good at coming up with ideas?"
"No, but when it comes to how to survive... I've thought about it quite a few times."
After saying this, he continued to observe the wind and sand around the mausoleum, the scenes within the wind and sand, especially a certain area that had previously been covered by white grass but was now covered by sand and gravel and the corpses of demonic beasts. Many demonic beasts had already died, and more were struggling against the storm, or rather being swept up and tossed about by the storm. Death would come sooner or later. Apart from this yellow paper umbrella in front of the mausoleum's main gate, there was no other place that could offer shelter to these once powerful and ferocious lives.
Just then, a black shadow crossed the violent energy currents and howling wind and sand, arriving at the main gate of the mausoleum like a bolt of lightning. It slipped through the extremely narrow gap at the edge of the yellow paper umbrella, came inside, and landed heavily on the thick stone door of the mausoleum, causing a dull thud and several cracks to appear on the door's surface.
Able to evade the energy storm released by the Heavenly Book Stele, able to ignore the sky full of wind and sand, and nearly smashing the main gate of the mausoleum... was a bird. This bird had motley feathers, looked far from beautiful, had a crippled right claw, and was covered in bloodstains. It looked just like a pheasant that had narrowly escaped an archer's arrow.
This pheasant slid down from the center of the crack in the stone door, landed on the ground, stood up with difficulty on one leg, twisted its neck, flapped its wings, shaking off the dust and water from its wings with some satisfaction. Then it looked toward the sky full of wind and sand at the edge of the yellow paper umbrella and let out a few angry cries. The space under the yellow paper umbrella was very small, and the sand and gravel this pheasant flapped up all landed on the heads and faces of Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong, causing them to cough uncontrollably.
Hearing the coughing, the pheasant seemed to remember something. Its somewhat eerie, golden-tinged eyes rolled around twice, then instantly became extremely still. It didn't even glance at Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong, silently backing away, as if trying to avoid their gaze. The problem was, the space under the umbrella was only this big. Where could it hide?
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(It's not Nanke, it's not the Vermilion Bird, definitely different from Yi Xiaopang. Next chapter, before seven. Today's update will be relatively short.)