Chapter 527: The Shabby Temple In Autumn (1/2)

In autumn, an extraordinarily mysterious power appeared on earth.

That power cleansed the Mountain Dragon-Tiger, killed Master Zhang, and destroyed several altars of the Martial Art Sect. Afterwards it wreaked havoc in the Kingdom of Song, exterminating families continuously. The methods used were extremely inhumane and gory. The investigators who went to the sites could not even bear to see the aftermath.

According to legend, this mysterious power was formed by more than ten Seethrough realm experts. The leader wore a silver mask and these people each rode a black warrior horse. Each of them wore black Tao clothing. They moved like a gust of wind and their whereabouts were very secretive. They were fierce and merciless, to the extent that they were inhumane and distinctly cold-hearted.

The entire southern region of the Mainland was traumatized. The cavalry of the West-Hill Divine Palace and military troops from every nation launched an ongoing attack, in hopes of eliminating these black riders. Yet they could not even grab hold of their whereabouts.

People from the higher circles of the Divine Hall and the South Jin Kingdom royals had already connected these black riders together with the fallen knights. However, they could not understand how these expelled knights could stand up and recover their strength. Moreover, they were stronger than before. What made them speechless and fearful was not knowing who exactly was the man behind that silver mask.

A clear stream was running among the mountains. A red leaf was floating on the surface of the stream, like a decoration sticking onto a mirror. It looked unusually beautiful. The surroundings were peaceful and quiet.

All of a sudden, a horse hoof trotted in the stream and crushed the red leaf, disrupting the serene flow of the water. Then, there were more horse hooves trotting in the stream. The birds beside the stream shrieked in fear as they quickly flew away from the area.

More than ten black riders crossed the stream, going along the mountain path and toward the south-west direction. No one in the troop spoke to anyone, even the breathing pace of the black riders was consistent with the trotting of the horses. These consistent sounds were following a person, and that person was none other than the young man who was silently riding the horse at the front of the troop.

The military troops from the West-Hill Divine Palace and every nation set up defense lines along the boundaries of the Kingdom of Song as they tried to stop and exterminate these black riders. No one thought that these black riders could actually pa.s.s through the several lines of defense easily. They had swiftly and secretly reached this forest located between the mountains and situated at the south-west of the South Jin Kingdom.

By the mountain side near the rocky spring, more than ten black riders were taking a short break. The fallen knights sat cross-legged and began to meditate. Now that they had regained their strength and might, they wished to leave behind their sorrowful escapees' lives forever. Thus, they refused to waste any time for replenis.h.i.+ng their strength and cultivation.

Not knowing how much time had pa.s.sed, all the fallen knights began to peel their eyes open. They gazed at Prince Long Qing who had his eyes closed, as he meditated under the tree by the the edge of the cliff. Their eyes revealed a fanatic wors.h.i.+pping look.

Before the drastic change on the snow cliff, Prince Long Qing was their direct superior, who had obtained many people's absolute loyalty within the Judicial Department. It was needless to mention the fallen knights, since the reason that they could continue to live was because of him. Moreover, taking into account that they were able to live so arrogantly, including his efforts for providing them with pills, their loyalty was unquestionable.

After escaping from the Zhishou Abbey and returning to the world, Prince Long Qing had only used a very short time to convince a group of loyal subordinates from every nation. The group mainly included the spies hidden in the Taoist temple and the Judicial Department. Now that all these spies were his informers, those defense lines set up by the West-Hill Divine Palace cavalry and the military troops from every nation were no longer secrets to him. These subordinates and him could continue to be very much at ease.

Of course, this was also because the West-Hill Divine Palace did not know his ident.i.ty for now and did not bother much about them. In the Divine Hall's perspective, these fallen knights were just rats blessed by Haotian to live for a few more days and it was impossible for them to live any longer. If the West-Hill Divine Palace were to know that the commander of these knights was Long Qing, if it knew that he had committed unforgivable sins at the Zhishou Abbey, the urge of killing him would obviously be much scarier than now.

The existence of the West-Hill Divine Palace was horrifying. If it decided to get serious, no matter how lucky Long Qing was and regardless of how powerful these fallen knights had become, they would be crushed into ashes.

At the thought of this possibility, Zi Mo's face revealed signs of sorrow. He walked towards the edge of the cliff and saluted Long Qing who sat under the tree. He lowered his voice and said, ”Priest, now that the cavalrymen of the Divine Hall were alerted, it is obvious that the Judicial Department is aware of this matter. If the Great Divine Priest Ye were to launch an attack...”

Long Qing opened his eyes. He gazed at a far away green mountain that wasn't dangerously steep. He said, ”What are you trying to say?”

Zi Mo said, ”Priest, my advice is that we better leave the Divine Hall boundary as soon as possible.”

The holy light of Haotian covered the whole world and the strength of the West-Hill Divine Palace completely surrounded the Central Plains. Even though Tang wasn't under their control, both of their hands were stained with the blood of fallen knights. They certainly wouldn't be that dumb to enter Tang. Hence, they were left with one route, which was to leave the Central Plains.

Long Qing kept quiet. Though he was very powerful now, he had become even stronger especially after he had absorbed Master Zhang's and numerous Martial Art Sect Elders' cultivations. Yet he did not have the confidence to defeat that woman.

That was because that woman had already obtained the black jade throne. Using blood as an evidence, she was proven, at least at a certain stage of her life, to be much more power than the previous Great Divine Priest of Judgment.

Long Qing had never thought that he could be on the run for such a long time within the scope of the West-Hill Divine Palace. Before he became absolutely powerful, such as being the top of the world, he was increasingly in danger the longer he stayed under the holy light of Haotian.

He gazed at the distant green mountain as he coldly spoke, ”Leaving the Central Plains was an inevitable choice. However, before we leave, there's something I wish to do.”

A few days ago, he received a piece of news from a Taoist temple when he was in the South Jin Kingdom. The news, was in fact meaningless. At least for his big career as a commander of the fallen knights, it was meaningless. Yet this news, like a stone, was burdening his heart and speeding up his breathing.

The intelligence stated that Ning Que had brought his little handmaiden, who was a good drinker, to partic.i.p.ate in the Yue Laan Hungry Ghost Festival at the Lanke Temple, together with a group of Tang amba.s.sadors. For some unknown reason, Ning Que had left the group of amba.s.sadors after they had pa.s.sed the Great Lake, and went on a journey with his little handmaiden on a black horse carriage.

According to the figures found in the news, that horse carriage shouldn't be far from Long Qing and the others. It should be travelling in the mountains by now, towards that green mountain facing them.

Long Qing slightly raised his head and took a deep breath.