Chapter 273 – Shooting Stars (1/2)

Chapter 273 - Shooting Stars

Nanke’s expression was stern yet proud. Her gaze was concentrated and serious. Her eyes were like two sharp awls staring at Xu Yourong. The speed she spoke was not slow, however it did not have any variation in intonation, which made her seem especially apathetic. She clearly had the appearance of a young girl, but it gave an observer the feeling that she overlooked and looked down on all living things, exuding great confidence.

The two most respected, and those who carried the greatest innate talent, in the younger generation of the Human race and the Demon race finally met on the peak of Sunset Valley. It could be said that it was destiny for them to meet each other, or that they were simply willing to meet. The battle was fated to be recorded within the books of history. Before it began, there was definitely a ceremonial feel between the two. Nanke made a salute, and the white-clothed young lady made a salute in return. Afterwards, they began to converse.

“So you are Xu Yourong.”

The night wind on the mountain peak was somewhat strong, so she was unable to hear whether the white-clothed young lady replied “yes”, but… yes, she was Xu Yourong.

She was that reincarnated Heavenly Phoenix, the young expert who had the greatest prospects on the continent of that current day. She was the next Holy Maiden of the south, the junior that the Tianhai Divine Empress loved the most, and Qiushan Jun’s most beloved and respected junior. However now, she had an additional identity that was known by the world—the fiancee of Chen Changsheng, the principal of the Orthodox Academy.

Nanke stared at her and sized her up. Her thin brows were slowly raised, and her indifferent face revealed an unhappy and disappointed expression. “Those mediocre and ignorant people often compare you with me. It was hard for me to avoid being somewhat curious towards you, but upon seeing you today, I’m disappointed.”

Xu Yourong blinked. Her eyes were bright, and she asked somewhat curiously, “What is disappointing?”

Nanke raised her hand and pointed at her. “Just like your current expression of curiosity, it causes people to be just very disappointed. Your mannerism can not be described as magnanimous at all, like a young wife. You are not tall either… I really don’t understand exactly why humans admire you, that even my brother views you as a treasure.”

A demon prince liked Xu Yourong, even though he had never seen her. This was not a secret on the continent at all. What was interesting was that although the humans swore at the demon prince for being wishful, they were not really angry at all, and instead felt proud and joyful for some reason. It was also this which caused Nanke to be unashamed.

To be described as a young wife, Xu Yourong was not angry, and only found it to be very new. Thinking about it again, how did this village girl who cut pigweed every day seem like the cold and terrifying Nanke in the rumors?

However, some of what Nanke had said made her very unhappy—Nanke said that she was not tall. Her stature indeed was not tall; especially with the large white robes on, she seemed even smaller, being loved by the majority.

Xu Yourong pondered a little, and then smiled at Nanke, “But I am taller than you.”

Although she said this while smiling, her tone was very serious.

Hearing that, Nanke’s expression also grew serious. The dullness in her eyes was replaced with rage.

Especially because Xu Yourong raised her head slightly. She seemed to be very arrogant.

She was indeed worthy of being arrogant. How was she not magnanimous?

Nanke’s gaze shifted downwards from her face, and landed on her chest. Staying silent for a while, she said, “To not know shame, you are also unafraid to tarnish the blood within you.”

Xu Yourong felt slightly shy but she continued to smile. She did not respond.

Nanke grew even madder, and said, “You just make me too disappointed. Just why are you equally as well known as me?”

When she spoke, her black hair danced crazily in the night, actually suppressing the darkness of the night.

In the human world, the name Nanke was very unfamiliar. Only great people like the Pope or the Divine Empress knew who she was, or young people like Zhexiu who often made contact with the Demon race. However, in the land of demons, this name represented great strength and tyranny.

Nanke was one of the youngest daughters of the Demon Lord, however, this was not important. In the long life of the Demon Lord, he just had too many partners. Just the offspring that had their names recorded in books reached a number of several dozen. The reason her name could be so terrifying in Xuelao City was mainly because her innate talent was extremely great, and she was the only disciple of Black Robe.

“You only broke through to Ethereal Opening this year. I succeeded last year, and I am younger than you. As a result, it is very obvious that I am stronger than you.” Nanke looked at Xu Yourong, and said without an expression, “Come, let us fight fairly. Allow me to prove your weakness, to let the entire continent know exactly who can fly higher between us.”

Xu Yourong did not say a word. As the person being challenged, she naturally revealed some sort of tolerance and confidence.

The zither-playing old man always stood silently to one side as a bystander. He did not dare to turn down the requests of Nanke. Even though he had lived for several hundreds of years, seeing this, he still felt somewhat astounded. From the beginning to now, the fated battle that was destined to shake the entire continent just seemed to be like the argument of two small girls over some insignificant affairs.

Of course, this could not be the entire battle. The battle relied on fighting to determine life and death, and only afterwards could victory or defeat be seen.

At the peak of Sunset Valley, wind suddenly began blowing, bringing chaos to the night. Borrowing the momentum of the wind, Nanke floated swiftly through the air. Her sword was already in her hand, piercing towards Xu Yourong.

Although the surface of Nanke’s sword did not seem to have any special features, the sword was actually very special.

This sword was extremely thin, but it definitely was not elegant. This was because the sword was very long—an abnormally exaggerated length. It was even longer than those ancient scholar trees beneath the mountain.

The sword style that Nanke used also did not seem to have any special features. It seemed to be just direct thrust forwards, however, because of its succinctness, it carried unbelievable strength.

The wind immediately began to blow wildly. It blew around the flat peak, producing a terrifying roar.

In the air several hundreds of feet above the peak, a single bright stroke suddenly appeared.

In the deep abyss several dozens of feet below the cliff, a faint, matching stroke also appeared.

That was the border of the space the zither-playing old man had created using the sound of the zither.

With such a level of subtlety and cleverness, even Xu Yourong could not help but temporarily stay within the space. Yet it was directly cut by the sword intent of her simple-looking strike.

Just how overbearing was this sword energy!

The strike arose from several hundreds of feet away, but it approached Xu Yourong head-on.

Seeing the strike, Xu Yourong did not reveal any expression of surprise, nor did she carry the implications of any vigilance. Instead, she felt that it was very logical.

This was because she knew how strong she was herself, and as a result, she also should have known how strong Nanke was. She was already prepared for this strike.

In the moment Nanke struck out, she had already removed the longbow from her back, and had it standing in front of her.

Perhaps it was due to the fact that the strike was too quick, but she could not manage to pull an arrow from her quiver. As a result, the bowstring was empty.

She brought together two of her elegant fingers, and pulled the bowstring gently yet firmly. Then she released.

The whole maneuver was smooth like flowing clouds and water. However, it was also abnormally succinct and clear, as if every moment of detail could be seen.

The zither-playing old man had already stopped his motions of playing the zither, so the sound of the zither between the cliffs had stopped too.

At this moment, she drew her bow strongly. As a result, the sound of a zither emerged again in between the cliffs.

It was a clear, yet long sound… twang!

From hundreds of feet away, Xu Yourong drew her bow at Nanke.

However, there were no arrows on the bowstring, so what was shot?

As soon as the sound of the bowstring began, the sound of an arrow resonated in the night sky.

This sound was very clear, and lasted even longer, as if it had already resounded in the night sky for a very long time without being heard, and only now could the world hear it.

An arrow emerged from the depths of the night, and shot towards the area between Nanke’s eyes like a lightning bolt.

Where did the arrow come from?

This was the same arrow that Xu Yourong had shot after calculating for a long time from beside the lone tree.

It was believed that because of the obstruction of the space, the arrow had disappeared between the cliffs. However, it seemed that the arrow was actually always flying in the night sky, and only now could it be seen by the world.

The arrow shot from beside the lone tree arose several moments before, and fell at that moment.

A loud bang!

On the peak of Sunset Valley, gravel rolled quickly and powerful Qi radiated in all directions. The dark night was unable to cover up the streams of air created from the collision.

On the surface of the tough cliff face, countless thin cracks appeared.

Th cracks all originated from the bottom of Nanke’s boot.