Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Bai Zao was wearing a veiled hat, obstructing her face a little with the white silk veil dangling over the rims of the hat.

A white ribbon came out from her arm, extending to her back and tousling in the wind.

She looked like a fairy lady in white when being watched in the distance.

Her feeble and weak energy seemed like lake water.

It was also like a willow branch reflected on the surface of the lake.

The entire Cultivation circle knew that she was the precious daughter of the sect master couple of the Center Sect; she was very intelligent and unparalleled in planning and scheming, and also exceedingly talented in Cultivation. The only shortcoming about her was that she was born with a disability, so her future in Cultivation was not very bright. It wasn’t until the Plum Meeting that year that her disability, for some reason, was totally gone after she was trapped in the snowland with Jing Jiu for six years.

After that, her talent in Cultivation had fully developed. She and Tong Yan were the only young disciples on Cloud-Dream Mountain who could match the talent of Zhao Layue and Zhuo Rusui of the Green Mountain Sect. Yet, regardless of how talented she was in Cultivation, why did she appear in the square of the royal palace at this moment and walk toward the grand hall?

Seeing this scene, the Cultivation practitioners were suddenly struck by the idea that she might be the third fighter of the Center Sect; they were all stunned speechless.

How could this be possible?

In such high-level combat, it would be equivalent to seeking death if a practitioner in the Yuanying State participated in fighting?

Even the Immortal Tan and Kou Qingtong had lost to Lian Sanyue; how could Bai Zao defeat her?

Even if she wouldn’t fight against Lian Sanyue, which swordsman of the Green Mountain Sect could she beat?

…

…

Bai Zao strolled over slowly; the morning wind ruffled the rims of her skirt and white ribbon.

The expression on Jing Jiu’s face was grave, as he knew that she was the third opponent of Green Mountain today, and she was the strongest one as well.

The expression in Lian Sanyue’s eyes was cold, as she said to Jing Jiu, “You shouldn’t have taught her my magic method back then.”

“Because that is my fault, let me fight this time,” said Jing Jiu.

Listening to their conversation while standing behind them, Ping Yongjia couldn’t help but take a deep breath, thinking that it was outrageous that his Master picked this weak opponent. He didn’t fight against that strange man in green clothing and didn’t say anything when the Immortal Tan was the opponent; but his Master wanted to fight such a feeble young woman this time. I might be able to fight against her myself in a few years, Ping Yongjia thought. Furthermore, everybody on Shenmo Peak knew his Master’s relationship with that young woman, so she might not want to hurt him.

Lian Sanyue couldn’t agree with Jing Jiu’s suggestion, but her reason sounded a bit odd.

“You’re too weak right now; even if you’re going to use that method, you might still not be a match for her.”

Ping Yongjia took another deep breath. He scratched his head like his Big Brother Yuan Qü often did, wondering why they were so cautious and why she was worried that his Master might not be able to defeat her.

Yet, Jing Jiu displayed a rarely seen determination and stubbornness, saying, “This is my problem.”

“Should I fight against her first?” Lian Sanyue offered, seemingly more stubborn than him.

Jing Jiu held his ground, replying, “No.”

After a moment of silence, Lian Sanyue said, “Okay, you go ahead.”

Jing Jiu stood up from the stone steps and walked toward the middle of the square.

A ray of beautiful morning sunlight suddenly shone down, enveloping Jing Jiu inside.

Jing Jiu raised his right hand without hesitation and slashed at the ray of morning sunlight.

He usually preferred using the Sword of the Universe, or the First Child Sword, or the Thoughtless Sword for fighting; it was only at a critical moment that he would use his right hand.

This indicated that he had decided that he must fight with all his might this time.

But what made him feel so anxious?

…

…

Though it was hard to block the water with a sword, Ping Yongjia had done it.

Few people in the world had slashed the light with a sword.

Jing Jiu might be able to do it, but he had no way to cut off this ray of morning sunlight; it was because this ray of morning sunlight was something Lian Sanyue brought here by employing the Heaven-Human Connection.

The most troublesome part was that there were many ripples in this ray of morning sunlight; they looked like small circles that locked his sword wills inside.

Pah!!! Pah!!! Pah!!!

One of Lian Sanyue’s fingers passed through his black hair and touched the damaged earlobe on his ear, the tip of her finger exuding a spherical light wave.

Jing Jiu was bound by the light sphere and couldn’t move an inch.

“I’ve slept many years; but I had dreams once in a while. I dreamed of the reclusive room at the Three-Thousand Nunnery and the round window of the room. Then I came up with this magic method.”

Lian Sanyue came before him and turned to him, asking, “I’d like to call it ‘A Wonderful Night’; what are your thoughts?”

The time they had spent at the Three-Thousand Nunnery was truly peaceful and wonderful.

That Young Master Li often came over and played zither for the horse. The piece of music he played most often was the “Preclude to A Wonderful Night”.

It was unclear if she asked Jing Jiu’s opinion about the name or the magic method.

Jing Jiu said nothing, merely looking at her quietly.

Lian Sanyue arched her brows as she said, “Forget it. You’re not going to use that method anyway.”

If he used that method, someone was going to die.

“You can’t beat her,” said Jing Jiu, looking at her quietly.

Lian Sanyue said with a faint smile, “You won’t be able to beat me ever in this life; so it’s better to let me fight her.”

In the last life, she couldn’t beat him when she was not crying.

Having said that, she took off the peach flower from her temple and inserted it into his ear. “Looks pretty good,” she commented contentedly after looking at it for a while.

Recalling what Nan Wang said at the Scenery Garden, Jing Jiu pressed, “Didn’t you think that I looked unfamiliar in the beginning?”

“I was talking about this flower,” said Lian Sanyue, feeling a bit embarrassed.

This peach flower still looked pretty even though it was stained with blood and one of its petals was missing.

Your face had changed and one of your ears lost a piece of earlobe; but you still looked pretty good.

…

…

Watching Lian Sanyue walking toward the middle of the square, Jing Jiu said nothing more.

Ping Yongjia came to the foot of the stone steps. As he was about to say something, he held his tongue when he saw his Master’s countenance.

The expression in his Master’s eyes looked very sad, as if…he was bidding farewell to someone and would never see that person again.

Ping Yongjia suddenly felt sad himself, tears swimming in his eyes.

“Help me,” Jing Jiu suddenly said to him.

Ping Yongjia thought that he had heard it wrong, but he came back to his senses after Jing Jiu repeated one more time. “How can I help?” he asked hastily.

Jing Jiu said, “Gather all of your sword sources and reverse the tempered body of sword will; then force the sword wills out and transfuse them into my body.”

“How much do you need?” asked Ping Yongjia.

“All of them,” said Jing Jiu.

For the practitioners of sword work, it was a very hazardous thing to reverse the sword source and force out the sword wills, not to mention to force out all of the sword wills.

Though Jing Jiu knew that Ping Yongjia would be fine by doing so, Ping Yongjia didn’t know it himself. However, he didn’t give it a second thought as he dropped his buttock on the ground and started generating the sword wills with his eyes closed.

…

…

When Lian Sanyue came to the middle of the square, Bai Zao was still far away.

The patch of cloud and fog in the farther distance had gathered again enveloping the Immortal Bai, which made her voice sound a bit more aloof, “You’re still alive. It’s truly unexpected, but it won’t change anything.”

Lian Sanyue returned expressionlessly, “The Immortal Tan is truly a decent man; but do you know why I don’t take a fancy to him?”

The Immortal Bai said, “Everybody in our generation knows that you only take a fancy to Jing Yang, and you don’t even like Cao Yuan, to say nothing of Tan, a boring and unresponsive person.”

“You’re wrong,” said Lian Sanyue. “I don’t like him because he married someone like you in order to become the sect master of the Center Sect back then.”

The Immortal Bai pressed, “Why are you so hostile toward me?”

“It’s because of her, of course.” Lian Sanyue waved her sleeve a few times.

The wind in the square picked up, and the white ribbon on Bai Zao’s arm ruffling. The wind also ruffled the veil on her hat, exposing her face.

Bai Zao’s eyes were closed, her long eyelids unwavering; she looked like a child in sound sleep with a flush on her face.

The eerie thing was that she kept on walking forward in such a condition.

“I thought this child was truly adorable the first time I met her.”

Looking at the Immortal Bai in the cloud and fog, Lian Sanyue exclaimed sternly, “How can you do this to your own daughter?!”

She had said that she didn’t want to talk to the Immortal Bai today earlier; but when she saw Bai Zao, she couldn’t suppress her anger any longer and needed to admonish her.

The patch of cloud and fog retreated out of the royal palace.

The Immortal Bai didn’t answer her question.

…

…

The rain suddenly fell down from the blue sky.

It was “sun rain”.

And it was a sign of extraordinary phenomenon in heaven and earth.

Countless dark clouds rushed over from all directions in the sky, obstructing the sun and making the world look dim and gloomy.

Innumerable flashes of lightning could be vaguely seen in the clouds; it seemed that they could strike down at any moment.

Bai Zao came to the high sky with her eyes closed, the white ribbon tousling incessantly, as if writing out unrecognizable words in the sky.

The violent wind whipped up, and the raindrops fell down like arrows. The energy among heaven and earth grew chaotic, as if the heavenly punishment would take place.

Crack!!! Crack!!!

Thunder broke out in the sky, and countless flashes of lightning struck down from the heavens and entered Bai Zao’s body.

Some of the lightning flashes came from the clouds, and some from the Thunder Region.

Some of them seemed to come from an even higher place.