Chapter 268 – Falling Into the Setting Suns Reflection (1/2)
Chapter 268 - Falling Into the Setting Sun's Reflection
The final moment had come, so it was meaningless for him to hold back any hidden cards. Without hesitation, Chen Changsheng entered self-introspection, then ignited the last remnants of the snowy plain.
Yet for some reason, he did not let his spiritual sense touch the water of the lake that surrounded his Ethereal Palace.
The snowy plain burst into a fiery conflagration, replenishing his true essence.
He used the Yeshi Step.
His figure abruptly vanished from the front of the forest, suddenly appearing in a distant place. Then it disappeared, and reappeared, appearing and disappearing, like a spirit or smoke.
However, the stream of light was truly too fast. No matter where he appeared, in the very next moment he would be facing that stream of light.
The sound of a sword breaking through the air continuously sounded out.The wind on the lake shore and the sound of the waves were all sliced into countless pieces.
On occasion, blood would spurt forth into the air like a flower. Yet when the flower of blood landed on the ground, the people battling had already appeared dozens of feet away.
Those flowers of blood were sometimes green and sometimes red.
After Chen Changsheng's body had been bathed in dragon blood, it was incomparably strong as expected. In the battle, his body had not yet suffered a single wound. However, although he had the Yellow Paper Umbrella to protect him, he had been struck several times by those women's attacks, imbued with the highly toxic Peacock Plume. The sinister and awe-inspiring pressure of those attacks had penetrated past his skin, attacking his internal organs. This had caused many internal wounds, and there were even two occasions in which he almost spit out blood, only to forcefully choke it back down.
However now, he had attempted a dangerous act. By placing all his true essence into his dagger, a gap had emerged in the protective field of the umbrella. After a sequence of attacks, he could no longer hold it down, and a fine trickle of blood appeared at the corner of his lips.
He already did not have the strength to hold the umbrella, so the Yellow Paper Umbrella had lost its use. He did not want to leave such a precious magical artifact behind for his enemies, so with a thought, a series of metallic clashes and screeches ensued. In a flash, the Yellow Paper Umbrella had withdrawn, returning its former shape of a scale-covered metal ball, after which it disappeared into his palm.
He no longer grasped his dagger reversed over his wrist. Instead he held it very casually, making it seem like he was a young man carrying around a wine bottle as he returned home to his parents.
The sun continued to sink, and the temperature continued to drop. The last twilight of the sun in the direction of the distant plain let the lake give off its last bit of warmth. In the form of wind, it brushed against his face, urging him on.
He took a handkerchief from his sleeve to wipe clean that trickle of blood, then put it away. The handkerchief also disappeared to some place.
Yet in just this brief moment of time, the wind had still managed to graze against that blood, bringing with it some of its aroma.
It was not the smell of blood, but some other extremely bizarre scent.
Liang Xiaoxiao stood in front of the forest, his sword brought up in defense, guarding against any attempt by Chen Changsheng to use the Yeshi Step to enter the forest. The distance between the two was somewhat large.
The two women were shaman souls, so their five senses were extremely sharp. In addition, they were very close in front of Chen Changsheng, so they were able to smell that aroma.
It truly did not smell of blood, nor was it sweet, much less the smell of iron in the late winter. Instead it was a sort of… fragrance.
The fragrance was very light, like an orchid in the deep valley, and yet it was extremely fragrant, as if the orchid was right in front of them.
The fragrance was like the scent of some sparkling pure fruit as it slowly ripened. It was also like the mountain wind passing over numberless valleys of pine trees, bringing along a night's worth of their clear and refreshing scent. And it was also like the salty smell that arose when the morning sun shone upon the stones on the beach. This fragrance was incomparably complex, and yet it was incomparably pure. It was rich to the extreme, and yet also clean to the extreme.
On that night so many years ago, the scent had caused all those mystical beings in the great fog behind Xining village to grow restless.
One year ago, the scent had caused that little girl separated by a wall from the Orthodox Academy to go over the wall and find its source.
Besides the night on which he fixed his Fated Star, this sort of aroma had not appeared around Chen Changsheng's body for a long time, even when he bled during the Grand Examination or when his body had been a mangled mess in the underground space. However, after that night of viewing the monoliths in the Mausoleum of Books, that scent had once appeared in his blood.
The closer one was to nature, the more spiritual the being, the more they could smell that aroma. They were also less capable of resisting and would want to get closer.
Possessing the blood of the White Emperor, even Luoluo was drawn to it, so how could these two women with spiritual bodies possibly be able to resist?
It only took an instant for them to be intoxicated, to be struck dumb. It was as if they returned to that sea of flowers from the time that they first were born into this world.
The wings of light behind them gradually began to slow down. They seemed soft and pure, possessing not even a bit of their former strength. They seemed rather to be fanning the women.
Chen Changsheng did not understand what was happening, but he knew that this was his last opportunity to escape.
Liang Xiaoxiao could not smell that scent, so he remained very clear-headed. His guard had always been up, so he realized very quickly that there was something peculiar going on by the lake shore. His expression suddenly turned cold, and he sent his cold sword flying from his hand. He used the Mount Li Sword Style's most awe-inspiring and most defensive three moves of the Iron Cliff consecutively. Between the lake and Chen Changsheng, it formed a protective screen that was difficult to overcome.
He hoped that it would be able to block Chen Changsheng long enough that those two women could return to normal.
He firmly believed that no matter how much Chen Changsheng knew about the Mount Li Sword Style, or how unpredictable the Yeshi Step was, it would be impossible for Chen Changsheng to pierce the three moves of the Iron Cliff in such a short time.
However, Chen Changsheng did not use the Yeshi Step.
On the lake shore, the sword wind kicked up as the sword energy gathered.
Wenshui Third Move, Hanging Sunset!
He reversed the technique, using the sword as the person, the person as the sword, thus directly tossing himself into the air.
At this moment, the splendid red of the setting sun was hanging in the western sky.
On the already somewhat gloomy lake shore, there was yet another setting sun.
Chen Changsheng rose through the air, passing over Liang Xiaoxiao's sword energy and flying high into the sky, before finally landing in the lake.
He landed in the lake on that setting sun's reflection.
Water splashed in every direction.
Those two women were roused from their stupor, their eyes still containing traces of perplexity, as they had no idea what had happened in those moments. In the next moment, their perplexity was all converted into anger.
It would seem that they were finally going to kill that unreasonable youth. How could they let him escape?!
The wings of light began to beat faster, and an ear-splitting hum arose on the lake shore.