Stranger Danger

Chapter 1030: The Occasional Mischief Is Good For One’s Health

It all happened in a flash. The silver moonlight illuminating thousands and thousands of kilometers of land were instantly cut into three hundred and sixty pieces by three hundred and sixty swords. After that, the sword intent annihilated it all.

The moon had been so bright that it felt no different from daytime, but now, everything plunged in the darkness of the night once more.

All that remained was the moon suspended high in the sky.

The moon’s brightness had not changed one bit, and yet its perimeter was surrounded by a layer of absolute darkness. The clear moonlight was unable to pass through it for some reason.

The next moment, like a jade plate that fell on the ground, it split into many chaotic yet profound-looking cracks.

Each crack was overflowing with deadly sword intent and clear wind.

Crack!

The Great Way was silent, and the world was still. Without a sound, the moon broke into multiple pieces and fell from the sky.

At that moment, all light faded from the world.

Amidst this darkness, the now dim, silent, and cracked all over Moon God pointed a finger at the false sky. A beam of power shot out, and—

Dang!

It sounded like someone had struck a large bell. The false sky crumbled inch by inch and revealed a handsome Taoist wearing a yin yang Taoist robe.

It was none other than Wei Nanhua.

Wei Nanhua currently cut a sorry figure though.

His long sword had broken into several pieces, and his left chest was completely missing. Moon Desolation energy covered the wound and prevented it from recovering.

“I have remembered you, mortal.”

The Moon God watched Wei Nanhua as she slowly crumbled into nothing like sand.

“Moon God...”

Wei Nanhua narrowed his eyes a little, his face arranged into a look of wariness, frustration, and hatred. Then, he wiped clean his expression and glanced coldly at the direction of the Nanjiang Royal Court. He pressed his fingers together and performed a vertical swing.

It was such a harmless gesture, and yet the sky split open like someone was pulling open the curtains.

A straight, simple beam of light appeared in pitch black darkness and spread downward, splitting the boundless night sky in half.

If even the sky could be split, why not a nation on the ground?

Even before the sword beam descended, Ye Qing already felt every hair on his body standing on end. He had a feeling that the sword beam would slice even the massive Nanjiang Royal Court in half and wipe out every life residing in it.

“You guessed the process but not the ending, Qingyou,” Ye Qing remarked with a bitter chuckle while scratching his nose. He had already communicated with the Earthly Sovereign Bell to block the sword intent if necessary.

Back at Lu Tai Yuan, the Ten Directions Stupa had suddenly vanished without a trace, and the Earthly Sovereign Bell had fallen aslumber. After he left Lu Tai Yuan, and he had the time to inspect the Earthly Sovereign Bell carefully, he discovered that the Ten Directions Stupa hadn’t disappeared after all. It had simply entered the Earthly Sovereign Bell. The gigantic pit at Lu Tai Yuan was the scar left behind after the Earthly Sovereign Bell consumed the Ten Directions Stupa.

The reason the Earthly Sovereign Bell consumed the Ten Directions Stupa was very simple. It was to devour and absorb its power.

How did he know this? He could sense the Ten Directions Stupa growing weaker with every passing day while the Earthly Sovereign Bell grew stronger and more intelligent.

Clearly, the Earthly Sovereign Bell was gradually recovering its strength.

Although the Earthly Sovereign Bell was an ultimate natural treasure, it had taken serious damage in the past and had its origin energy split into four portions to suppress the Four Evils. As a result, it didn’t even possess one percent of its original power when Ye Qing first found it.

The Ten Directions Stupa was one of the Strange Artifacts that completed Kṣitigarbha Buddha’s Dao back in the day. Naturally, it contained all sorts of natural laws and origin energy. They were greatly beneficial for the Earthly Sovereign Bell’s restoration.

Thanks to this unexpected boon, the Earthly Sovereign Bell had grown in both power and intelligence. It would still be difficult for the Strange Artifact to protect the entire Nanjiang Royal Court and its people, but just him and Feng Qingyou? That was more than possible.

“Looks like Wei Nanhua is truly angry. He intends to kill everyone in the city even at the risk of losing some of his cultivation.”

Feng Qingyou remained calm and collected, however. She said smilingly, “It is useless though.”

As the sword came closer, Ye Qing suddenly realized that the air in front of him was rippling like water.

The next moment, the sky splitting sword passed through the Nanjiang Royal Court and caused further ripples like a sword cutting through a clear pond. However, the city itself was perfectly unharmed.

Not only that, Ye Qing could tell that Wei Nanhua was growing blurrier and more distant from them.

“What’s...?” Ye Qing exclaimed in surprise. “The Nanjiang Royal Court is moving?!”

“Mm hmm. Haven’t I told you before? The Nanjiang Royal Court isn’t set in one location. It can move anywhere it wants,” Feng Qingyou replied smilingly.

Ye Qing did not answer. He thought that Feng Qingyou meant that the Nanjiang Royal Court would literally move to another location using the power of the Moon God Lake, but now, it would appear that the city had entered a different space altogether. That was why Wei Nanhua’s attack failed to harm even a single brick on the city.

Meanwhile, Wei Nanhua’s fury doubled when he realized that his attack failed to harm the Nanjiang Royal Court whatsoever. He tried to give chase, but the distance between them only grew as time passed.

“Wei Nanhua is a Sage. His divine thought can cover thousands and thousands of kilometers in an instant. Wouldn’t he easily track down or divine the new location of the Nanjiang Royal Court?” Ye Qing asked worriedly as he stared at Wei Nanhua still chasing after them like his life depended on it.

“He won’t. The Nanjiang Royal Court also possessed the ability to conceal itself from the rivers of fate. For the short term at least, neither Chu nor Wei Nanhua would be able to locate or discover the Nanjiang Royal Court,” Feng Qingyou answered.

“Really. That’s reassuring to hear.”

Having received assurances from Feng Qingyou, Ye Qing looked at Wei Nanhua, cracked an audacious grin, and curled a finger at him. It was as if he was saying: Come at me, bitch!

And why did he do this? There was no reason really. The occasional mischief was good for one’s health, right?

......

Boom!

A sword descended, and every stone, grass, tree, and mountain within a radius of fifty kilometers were split in half just like that. Despite this, Wei Nanhua’s anger burned as brightly as ever.

Ever since he became a Sage, Wei Nanhua believed himself that he had become as tough as stone and as untouchable as the wind in terms of his mental fortitude. The fact was that few things triggered his anger anymore, much less his wrath.

He could not help but feel wrathful at what happened today though.

He was at the Sky Mending Sect when he suddenly received Profound Spirit Taoist’s message for immediate help. He would have departed right away, but the sect master of the Sky Mending Sect held him back and insisted that he played a game of Go with him first. It wasn’t until he finished the game of Go that he was finally allowed to leave.

Earlier, it was he who kept the sect master busy and prevented him from interfering with the Nanjiang Royal Court using the exact same excuse. The sect master had not hesitated to give him a taste of his own medicine as soon as the opportunity had presented itself.

The game sounded harmless, but at their level, a game of Go was also a duel of martial cultivation and understanding of the natural laws and principles. The game board was the world, the stones were human lives, and dangers lurked at every corner both inside and outside the board. He literally could not just quit the game and bid his opponent goodbye even if wanted to, not to mention that the sect master was unwilling to release him. As a result, he had no choice but to finish the game.

The outcome of the game was obvious. Not only did he lose, he lost horribly.

There were several reasons. One, the sect master of the Sky Mending Sect was stronger and had come into his power sooner. Two, Wei Nanhua was disturbed by the message he received and could not focus. Naturally, it was a terrible loss.

It wasn’t just dignity that he lost. His frame of mind was damaged as well.

For obvious reasons, he was pissed off even before he came to the rescue. Worse still, he was one step too late. Barbarian Slayer, Wildland Suppression and King Slayer were almost totally annihilated, and even Kui Pingshan, Du Nanhai and Jin Wujiu were almost dead. It was a terrible defeat to say the least.

In the end, he was able to slay the Moon God’s projection after giving his all. Then, to end the threat the Meng Clan remnants represented once and for all, he forcefully mustered his strength again and unleashed a deadly strike that would kill everyone in the Nanjiang Royal Court.

But what happened? The Meng Clan remnants ultimately managed to activate the Nanjiang Royal Court’s defense mechanism in time and escaped. The attack he risked his cultivation to unleash had failed to harm even a hair on their person.

As if that wasn't bad enough, a goddamn junior had taunted him at the very last moment. Although the hand gesture dealt no actual damage to him whatsoever, it was extremely humiliating to say the least.

All things considered, how could he not be frustrated? How could he not be angry?

The fact that he hadn’t erupted into expletives was a good show of self-restraint on his part already.

As if sensing Wei Nanhua’s anger, a furious downpour descended from the sky, but not a single drop of rain nor a gust of wind came close to Wei Nanhua. More accurately, they just disappeared as soon as they got within a certain range of him.

“I’ve remembered you, junior.”

Wei Nanhua cast one last look in the direction the Nanjiang Royal Court had disappeared to before sweeping an unconscious Kui Pingshan, Du Nanhai and Jin Wujiu into the air. Then, he and the three men disappeared in a flash.

All that remained was an endless, violent rainstorm.