Chapter 660: Can He Still Eat?
The Heavenly Sea Saintess’s divine soul was ten thousand miles away, her techniques within Luoyang City, while her body stood amidst the thunderclouds, facing three saints alone—three against one.
What remained atop the Heavenly Book Mausoleum was her true form.
Even if she were the strongest person in the world, while simultaneously engaging three saints, she would have no spare strength to deal with other enemies. In other words, at this moment, atop the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, she was in a defenseless state. As long as someone could strike her body, they might be able to wound her.
Tonight, many powerful figures had gathered at the Heavenly Book Mausoleum.
They had not yet entered the sacred domain. Under normal circumstances, they could never pose any threat to the Heavenly Sea Saintess, but now, things were different.
Of course, first, they needed to pass through the Divine Path and reach the summit of the Heavenly Book Mausoleum.
But Han Qing sat at the foot of the Divine Path, just as he had for the past six hundred years.
Han Qing was very old.
He was a divine general from the same era as Qin Zhong and Yu Gong. He had sat in the Heavenly Book Mausoleum for over six hundred years, covered in dust and rust. Could he still withstand the siege of these current experts?
This was a question worth pondering, but he clearly wasn’t thinking about it, because he was eating.
Stir-fried cured meat with green peppers—all produce from that garden. He ate quietly, earnestly, wondering if he remembered Xun Mei walking up the Divine Path two years ago.
According to what he had said earlier, it was Xun Mei’s night assault on the Divine Path, her pursuit of the ultimate truth, that had finally made him let go of everything and break through into the sacred domain. So, was this meal a remembrance?
No. This remembrance should fall on a more distant past, because that aged face bore a deeper, more profound emotion.
The world’s experts had gathered, yet he was quietly eating. This disregard—did it represent absolute confidence, or something else?
Two years ago, when Xun Mei climbed the Divine Path to her death, Mao Qiuyu was just outside the Heavenly Book Mausoleum. He watched his junior brother die without any emotion.
The young woman named Mu Jiushi showed a few traces of anger on her face, while the hidden experts of the various families and sects, emerging from the night, also began to grow furious.
The auras of those experts, tinged with anger, converged before the end of the Divine Path.
Han Qing had no reaction. He still ate quietly, silently, as if those cold dishes were the most precious things in the world.
In the river outside the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, the stone stele had broken into several pieces, scattered on the ground.
Infinite Green stood among the broken stele fragments. The resentment on her face gradually turned into vigilance and unease, and finally into fear.
Among the forces from all directions that had come to the Heavenly Book Mausoleum tonight, Zhu Luo and the Stargazer were dead, Bie Yanghong was severely injured, and only she retained her full combat power.
Earlier, because of her husband’s severe injury, she had indeed been furious to the extreme and wanted to strike. Even though Han Qing had displayed an unfathomable level of cultivation, with the help of those experts in the night, she believed she could defeat him. However… no matter how venomous and cold her gaze was, Han Qing didn’t even look at her.
Han Qing ate quietly.
The iron spear lay quietly by his side.
And so, she began to fear.
“Help me up.”
Bie Yanghong lay among the broken stele fragments, his face deathly pale, his breath extremely weak, but his voice was still as calm as usual, carrying a compelling strength.
He looked toward the summit of the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, his gaze falling on the figure of the Heavenly Sea Saintess, tinged with confusion and pain.
Between the folds of the Heavenly Sea Saintess’s robe, there was a slightly damp red petal. On her sleeve, there were a dozen holes pierced by shooting stars.
The fierce battle that had lasted a single breath—he was a participant. He knew these were the marks left by the Stargazer’s death and his own severe injury in return for the Heavenly Sea Saintess.
He also noticed another problem.
Infinite Green helped him up. The whisk in her hand trembled slightly, just like her voice: “Let’s go.”
“Since I came here tonight, I never planned to leave alive.”
Bie Yanghong said calmly, then his fingers trembled slightly.
The thin rope hanging from his little finger whistled through the air, passed through his tiger’s mouth, and wrapped around several times.
He was severely injured, unable even to make a fist, so he tied his fingers together, forming a fist.
He punched the dry riverbed.
With a loud bang.
This seemingly weak fist directly blasted a huge hole in the riverbed, bottomless, with a faint sound of gurgling water below.
The Imperial Chariot Diagram moved, the river dried up, and the rocks appeared. Now that the Imperial Chariot Diagram was broken, the oppressive formation intent had dissipated, no longer able to maintain the current scene.
Water splashed loudly. Countless underground springs surged from the riverbed, and in an instant, they once again submerged the riverbed, wetting his and Infinite Green’s shoes.
Infinite Green knew what he wanted to do. Her face turned even paler, but she couldn’t say anything to stop him.
The underground springs surged violently. The water level in the river rose at a visible rate, accompanied by thunder and lightning from the high sky, creating an extremely eerie scene.
A somewhat desperate shriek burst from Infinite Green’s lips.
She and Bie Yanghong stood on the water’s surface. Two auras spread out, instantly enveloping the entire river.
The aura emanating from her was one of extinction, like lifeless green waves.
The aura emanating from Bie Yanghong, however, was incredibly fresh, as if it held endless life force.
The river water finally overflowed the stone embankment, pouring back into the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, slowly and irresistibly surging toward the Divine Path.
As the water rippled, green leaves gradually sprouted. In a few breaths, they densely covered the entire water surface—a boundless expanse of water lilies.
Then, within this green lotus sea, countless beautiful lotus flowers bloomed.
The lotus sea swayed in the night wind. The lotus flowers dazzled amidst the thunder and lightning.
Boundless green leaves touching the sky.
Lotus flowers reflecting the sun, distinctively red.
The Heavenly Book Mausoleum was filled with water everywhere.
Mao Qiuyu stood on the water’s edge, his expression solemn, his sleeves fluttering and dancing.
Two sleeves of clear wind, arising without cause, traveled everywhere.
The lotus leaves flipped endlessly. The lotus flowers swayed gently. Lightning illuminated the world. The moisture condensed into mist, forming an incredibly unreal, beautiful scene, like a fairyland.
The fairyland arrived before the Divine Path.
Han Qing was still eating, eating very seriously.
Cooking rice was a worldly affair. He was moving from the Heavenly Book Mausoleum toward the mortal world.
Bie Yanghong wanted him to return to the fairyland that ignored worldly affairs, to be unwilling to stop people from ascending the Divine Path.
The sky full of lotus leaves and flowers attacked his Dao heart.
What choice would Han Qing make?
Finally, he put down his lunch box.
Not because he couldn’t handle Bie Yanghong’s challenge, but because the food was finished.
He reached out and grasped the iron spear, looking toward the depths of the lotus sea.
Bie Yanghong was deep in the lotus sea, covered in blood, his face pale, but very calm.
He wanted to kill Tianhai. The world wanted to kill Tianhai. So they had to ascend the Divine Path.
At this moment, he was burning his true essence and cultivation. Even if he could defeat Han Qing, he probably wouldn’t be able to continue living.
He didn’t care, because he was already going to his death.
The path to death was his path. This was his righteous path.
Acting according to the Dao, he naturally wouldn’t get lost in the lotus sea, naturally wouldn’t retreat. Covered in blood, he was so vivid in the night, like those red flowers among the green leaves.
But he didn’t strike. He waited for the final moment.
He waited for the stream beside the old temple in Xining Town, waited for the old temple in Luoyang City, waited for the night clouds above the earth to disperse.
He looked up, quietly gazing at that night cloud.
Everyone looked there.
Thunder rumbled continuously. Lightning flashed in succession. The night clouds churned. A fierce wind howled.
That place was not the mortal world.
…
…
(These past two days, I should have been on Saipan… The annual conference is underway, and many author friends are watching the sea there. I was so sick I couldn’t hold on; I only asked for leave the day before departure and returned to my home in Hubei. Not only did I not get better, but I got worse. This issue with the climate—I have to adjust too many times a year. Fortunately, I’ve been consistently taking medicine. I started to recover today, so don’t worry. Also: Although the Heavenly Book Mausoleum is filled with water everywhere, you can’t say my writing is watery. My writing is very good… Recently, while resting, I re-read “The Night,” and I feel the same way. I’m really not bad. I hope to be even better in the future.)