Chapter 759: Just a Glimpse
Looking at the corpse gently drifting in the lake water, Tianhai Zhanyi's face instantly turned deathly pale, like paper or snow, making him resemble his more famous elder brother a bit more.
This did not signify fear, but rather fury.
"Again!" he shouted hoarsely at the pair of figures faintly visible in the mist.
The sound of air being torn followed, this time without any concealment. Several Tianhai family experts leaped over ten zhang from the lakeshore and plunged into the thick fog.
This time, there was finally a response, arriving quickly—a series of soft sounds, like water-filled leather bags pierced by sharp arrows.
Pah, pah, pah, pah. The several Tianhai family experts, still midair, shattered apart, turning into countless lumps of flesh that fell one after another.
The lake water instantly grew redder, the waves restless.
The fog showed no sign of dissipating, still thick and dense. The young man and woman within it appeared and disappeared, their movements unseen.
Ning Shiwei and Zhu Ye exchanged a grave glance, reading the wariness in each other's hearts. They knew the master of this mysterious Zhusha Dan was no ordinary person. It was precisely because of this mental preparation that they had personally come to this desolate snowy ridge. Yet they still hadn't anticipated that this person possessed such unfathomable cultivation and bizarre, inscrutable methods. Even more terrifying was the cold, unyielding resolve of his will.
They couldn't help but wonder—had the Tang family's earlier retreat been because they knew more inside information and deliberately left them to be the vanguard?
Just as they had secretly arranged for that squad in the snow pavilion at this moment.
But now, there was no room for other arrangements.
"You're asking for death!" Tianhai Zhanyi trembled with rage, shouting fiercely, "Loose the arrows!"
Ning Shiwei said nothing, his expression cold as he stared into the fog. The frost on his armor suddenly thickened severalfold.
The sound of crossbow strings being drawn taut echoed through the snowy woods around the lake. Over a hundred of the Songshan Military Prefecture's most powerful divine crossbows aimed at the pair deep within the lake fog.
Zhu Ye also remained silent, his eyes narrowing slightly. The fur on his robe bristled, pointing toward the night sky like a tiger about to leap across a ravine for the kill.
He and Ning Shiwei understood clearly: relying solely on these hundred-plus divine crossbows from the Songshan Military Prefecture might not be enough to deal with the young man and woman in the thick fog. On the contrary, it could provoke their true ferocity. If they tried to break out of the encirclement, they would surely strike with full force. Whether tonight ended in total victory would depend on the next encounter.
In a single encounter, this battle would be decided. There could be no holding back—they had to go all out.
Zhu Ye and Ning Shiwei appeared calm, but in truth, they had already silently channeled their true essence, elevating their auras to their peak states, ready to subdue or kill their opponent in one blow.
One was the head of the Zhu family, the other a great general of the Zhou dynasty—both undisputed Star Gathering upper-level powerhouses. With such a resolute stance, backed by over a hundred divine crossbows, even if the pair in the fog were young, even a Free Wanderer List powerhouse of Xiao Zhang or Liang Wangsun's caliber would have to temporarily avoid their edge.
Just as the situation was about to erupt, a gentle breeze suddenly arrived.
This snowy ridge was far to the north, near the demon domain, and it was deep winter. The mountain night wind was naturally bone-chillingly cold. But because this garden, lake, and pavilion had warm springs converging, even the harshest gale blowing across the lake surface was transformed into a cool, refreshing breeze that cleared the mind.
This gentle breeze stirred the lotus leaves on the lake, rustled the clothes on the corpses, and gradually thinned the thick, seemingly eternal fog.
Starlight fell from the night sky, endlessly reflected by the snow covering the mountains and fields, illuminating the lake clearly.
It resembled a southern garden: lake and mountain complementing each other, flowers and trees shading one another, lotuses in the water, a pavilion among the lotuses, and a wooden bridge connecting north and south—now broken.
Starlight fell on the broken bridge, first landing on a hand.
That hand was small, white as jade, but now covered in blood.
The black-clad girl stared at her own hand, frowning deeply, her small mouth slightly open, revealing a hint of a clove-like tongue, as if hesitating whether to lick it again.
Beside her, a young man lowered his head, wiping water off his clothes with a handkerchief—likely splashed when the rocks broke the wooden bridge.
Then, he handed the handkerchief to the black-clad girl, probably wanting her to wipe the blood off her hands.
Silence.
Whether it was those trapped in the pavilion by the restraints or the many people on the lakeshore, they all watched this scene, emotions complex, saying nothing.
For those in the snow pavilion, they should now understand the role they played in this affair, hence their silence. For the soldiers and experts on the lakeshore, their silence came from shock that the pair were truly just a young man and woman—beautiful in appearance, but with nothing special about them.
What was puzzling was that Ning Shiwei and Zhu Ye remained silent too, until they clearly saw the young man's face.
In a very short time, their expressions shifted countless times, as if they had witnessed something unbelievable. Then, they squeezed some sounds from between their lips.
Those sounds were complex and strange, like sighs, yet more helpless, tinged with pain, more like groans. (Note)
Then, their bodies suddenly sank downward.
Not much—just half a chi.
Their feet sank into the lakeshore.
Two terrifying, powerful auras erupted violently.
Countless mud and stones were blasted flying like arrows.
Several soldiers and an expert from the Jueqing Sect, standing a bit closer, were directly blasted into bloody mist. Even those farther away were injured, crying out in agony.
The crossbow bolts, ready to launch, vanished into this chaos.
Ning Shiwei's armor was covered in dust, his face iron-hard and extremely ugly.
Zhu Ye coughed incessantly, looking pained, even bending at the waist.
What in the world was happening?
Tianhai Zhanyi's emotions were equally chaotic.
His cultivation wasn't high enough, but as a member of a noble family, he had received a good education from childhood and seen many powerhouses, so he understood what had just occurred.
A moment ago, Zhu Ye and Ning Shiwei had elevated their auras to their peaks. Every move they made carried the power to split mountains and tear clouds.
But it was like a great river flowing eastward—if you wanted to stop it, you had to pay a corresponding price. In ordinary times, they could have slowly dispersed their energy. But at that moment, for some reason, they had to do it immediately. So problems arose. Though most of their aura was forcibly channeled into the earth, some residual waves still rippled out.
How terrifying was the peak aura of two Star Gathering upper-level powerhouses? Even if it was just the aftermath.
Thus, the scene was in chaos, and they themselves had suffered not-insignificant injuries.
Tianhai Zhanyi understood what had happened, which only made him more confused about why.
Why had Zhu Ye and Ning Shiwei suddenly dispersed their auras? And with such determination?
They were no ordinary cultivation powerhouses—they were family heads and a great general, true overlords!
When battle intent erupted, even if their own sons stood before them, they would still strike!
Yet, when they saw that young man's face, they knew they couldn't act. Moreover, even if it meant killing their own trusted subordinates or risking injury to themselves, they had to immediately let him know they wouldn't strike—immediately!
Who was that person on the broken bridge, who could make a family head and a Zhou dynasty general so wary, even fearful?
The next moment, Tianhai Zhanyi finally realized who that young man was.
His face instantly turned pale, not from anger, but from the boundless confusion and terror that arose in his heart.
……
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(Note: The sound Ning Shiwei and Zhu Ye made when they saw Chen Changsheng's small face and couldn't help but utter from their mouths—please refer to the sound Yang Juhua made when Zhou Meiyan sang "Her Tears" on Kpop Star Season 5, December 13, 2015... I've always been a loyal viewer of this Korean variety show, and this year's season is especially recommended. Yang Juhua's groan was really something—just search with the keywords; it's available on Youku and Bilibili.)