Chapter 126: The Second Squirrel
The night forest was silent, without a word; the cicadas were mute, and the autumn insects did not chirp.
On the stone table, the tea had grown cold, and the lamp had burned low.
Suddenly, from somewhere in the woods, a faint rustling sound came.
The two of them looked over, and saw a squirrel racing swiftly across a tree.
That squirrel was very plump, its fluffy tail trailing a gray shadow, looking quite adorable.
Watching this scene, for some reason, Chen Changsheng forgot the impending death—or even a fate worse than death—and a naive smile appeared on his face.
The Heavenly Sea Holy Maiden did not smile. She merely watched the squirrel quietly, lost in thought.
She waved her sleeve, as if to brush away some emotion she disliked.
That cute squirrel was just leaping from one tree to another when it turned into a splash of blood in midair.
Chen Changsheng was stunned, and asked sorrowfully, “Why?”
The Heavenly Sea Holy Maiden did not answer him. What answered him were the sounds that began to ring out in succession in the early autumn night forest.
Those sounds were very muffled, a series of *puff* *puff* noises, like a wineskin filled to bursting, unable to withstand the internal pressure any longer, suddenly splitting open.
A middle-aged man staggered out from behind a tree. His chest and abdomen had caved in, as if crushed by some terrifying force. Blood spurted from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. Before he could say a word, he collapsed.
Chen Changsheng recognized him. He was one of the three Red Cardinals of the Ecclesiastical Council.
He had come looking for Chen Changsheng, or rather, he had been sent by the Li Palace to protect him.
Now, he died right before Chen Changsheng’s eyes.
Those muffled sounds continued. In the early autumn night forest, whether in the trees or among the fallen leaves, more than a dozen splashes of blood burst forth.
Each splash of blood represented a master of the National Church dying from a violent explosion of their body.
In the deeper darkness, some National Church masters who had not been affected were forced to reveal themselves, scattering in flight. But how could they outrun the wind threading through the night forest?
Watching this terrifying, almost surreal scene, Chen Changsheng’s body and mind turned cold.
These people who were dying were rare experts in the world, but before the Heavenly Sea Holy Maiden, they had no power to fight back at all.
The Heavenly Sea Holy Maiden had already clasped her hands behind her back again, but the wind from her sleeves still swept through the forest.
The merciless slaughter continued. People died one after another, their deaths indescribably gruesome.
Chen Changsheng shouted, “Enough!”
He thought his voice was loud enough, but she acted as if she hadn’t heard.
He thought his voice carried blood, but she seemed to feel nothing.
Dozens of incomplete corpses lay silently in the night forest.
The Heavenly Sea Holy Maiden, expressionless, looked into the darkness and raised her right hand again.
Suddenly, a pained grunt came from the darkness, and then a figure was forced out of the shadows.
The person who emerged was Liu Qing. His sword was bent and twisted, his clothes were torn everywhere, and blood streamed down.
He knelt among the fallen leaves, looking at the Heavenly Sea Holy Maiden behind Chen Changsheng. His eyes were full of shock and awe, but not fear.
Su Li and that mysterious assassin had both left this continent. Having already cultivated to the peak of Gathering Stars at Cold Mountain, Liu Qing was undoubtedly the most powerful assassin in the world now. But he couldn’t even get close to the Heavenly Sea Holy Maiden. His secret technique for hiding in the shadows was seen through at a glance, making him look like a joke.
After encountering the Demon Lord at Cold Mountain, he had clearly understood the gap between himself and those true masters of the sacred domain. He realized how ridiculous it was that they had once insisted Su Li bring them to the capital to assassinate the Holy Maiden. Yet he still came to the capital.
Because he was an assassin. This was what he was supposed to do.
Assassins always die. To die in an assassination attempt on the continent’s strongest being—he had no complaints. In fact, he felt excited. Neither Su Li nor Big Sister had ever truly fought the Heavenly Sea Holy Maiden. Though he had lost without a doubt, he had at least tried… and the Heavenly Sea Holy Maiden was truly this strong!
Looking at the Heavenly Sea Holy Maiden by the stone table, Liu Qing’s breathing quickened, his eyes bright, almost excited.
The Heavenly Sea Holy Maiden raised an eyebrow slightly.
She knew Liu Qing was from the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion. Originally, out of respect for Old Man Ji, she hadn’t planned to kill him. But now she decided to kill him, because she didn’t like being looked at that way.
Whether because he had been watching her every move, or because of some mysterious connection between them, Chen Changsheng heard the crunch of a fallen leaf under her boot heel by the table, saw her raised eyebrow, and knew she was about to kill Liu Qing, just as she had coldly killed those Li Palace priests before.
Liu Qing had saved Su Li in Xunyang City and helped him on Cold Mountain. Chen Changsheng certainly didn’t want him to die. He was anxious, especially when he heard the faint sound of hooves outside the wall and guessed it was the National Church cavalry, drawn by the noise, rushing over. If he couldn’t stop her from killing more people, then tonight, the National Academy and the Hundred Herb Garden might become a terrifying graveyard.
But he couldn’t move now. Only his neck and above could make tiny movements. He could only try again to persuade her with words. Looking at the Heavenly Sea Holy Maiden, he pleaded, “Please spare them. They’re just low-ranking cavalry, unrelated to such great matters. As for him… he’s just a madman. Why kill him?”
The Heavenly Sea Holy Maiden looked down at him and said, “Why should I agree to you?”
Chen Changsheng was silent for a moment, then said, “After all, you gave birth to me, but you didn’t raise me. I won’t ask for anything else, just this one thing.”
The Heavenly Sea Holy Maiden raised her eyebrows again, a hint of mockery in her expression.
Chen Changsheng pretended not to see her expression change and continued, “Why kill so many people? Isn’t killing me enough?”
The Heavenly Sea Holy Maiden withdrew her gaze and looked at a patch of blood among the fallen leaves. That blood wasn’t left by a Li Palace priest, but by that squirrel with the fluffy tail.
For some reason, looking at that patch of blood, she was silent for a long time, as if thinking about something.
The sound of cavalry hooves outside the wall grew closer. Vaguely, Chen Changsheng could hear chaos breaking out in the National Academy. He even heard Tang Thirty-Six shouting.
Time was still passing. He grew more and more tense.
Suddenly, the Heavenly Sea Holy Maiden reached out and grabbed his collar. The night wind swept through the autumn forest, and the two of them vanished.
Liu Qing struggled to stand up from the fallen leaves, coughed up another mouthful of blood, and looked blankly at the now-empty stone table.
With crashing sounds and the creak of doors opening, several breaches appeared in the wall. National Church cavalry and people from the National Academy rushed into the woods.
Liu Qing turned and disappeared into the night.
…
…
Chen Changsheng felt his body lighten, and then found himself in the air. The autumn forest of the Hundred Herb Garden became a small carpet far below. The lights of the Imperial Palace became reflections of stars in a river. The torches burning in the National Academy faded into the distance. Then he saw the distant Qujiang River, saw the Boiling Time Forest, and entered a layer of clouds.
Breaking through the clouds, the cool night wind howled past. The ground and those shallow canals rushed toward him. His feet touched the ground, and looking around, he realized he had arrived at the Mausoleum of Books.
The next moment, his feet left the ground again—not flying, but being lifted.
The Heavenly Sea Holy Maiden carried him, like a chicken about to be slaughtered, across the stone plaza and those clear canals, to the very bottom of the Mausoleum of Books’ sacred path.
There was a pavilion there. Beneath it sat a person, entirely hidden in armor, like a bronze statue.
Tonight, the capital was cloudy, and few stars could be seen.
When the Heavenly Sea Holy Maiden brought Chen Changsheng before the pavilion, a tiny gap opened in the night clouds. Starlight spilled down, landing on the armor.
The person in the armor awakened. Deep within the dark helmet, two distant, timeworn gazes appeared.
The Heavenly Sea Holy Maiden said, “Anyone who ascends the sacred path shall be killed.”
The person in the armor did not speak. He only slowly raised his right hand and grasped the sword hilt at his waist.
With that movement, a few specks of dust flew from the armor, as if six hundred years of time were contained within them.