887 Climbing Up the Peach Mountain (2/2)
Looking around at the powerful enemies, Ning Que was not afraid at all. He stared at Prince Chong Ming and some other governors of smaller kingdoms and said, ”I won't kill you today. It's not because of the rule that cultivators should not kill ordinary people, but I'd rather have you killed by our Tang army.”
People wondered why he could still be so calm in such a hopeless situation. What is he thinking about? The Hierarch shouted angrily, ”Do you still believe you can run away from Peach Mountain?”
Ning Que looked at the terrible wound on his shoulder and replied, ”You won't be able to stop me.”
The Hierarch looked even more chilling. ”The path in front of you leads to nowhere but death.”
Ning Que disagreed. ”It's only a path to death when there is no way to retreat.”
The Hierarch asked, ”Where is your way to retreat?”
By then, people like the national master of the Golden Tribe had blocked every single way out of the front yard. Ning Que could not defeat any of them without Haotian's Divine Power.
Generally speaking, there was no physical way out. However, people including the Hierarch had all forgotten that he could go on a different path by simply stepping backward — the path to the top of Peach Mountain.
With Haotian at the top of Peach Mountain, the Hierarch and everyone else would have never thought that Ning Que would choose to climb up. That was because it was definitely a path to death. However, he again chose the unexpected.
He turned back and rushed up Peach Mountain.
It was so unexpected that it took the Divine Halls a while to react. The Hierarch made a long whistle and countless swords were set off to Ning Que.
The national master of the Golden Tribe lifted his cracked wooden tripod. Zhao Nanhai released dazzling lights from his hands. Qi Nian sat down in the water and crossed his legs, chanted some Buddhist mantra and formed a mudra in the sky and threw it onto Ning Que.
Ning Que knew that he could never withstand their attack. Even if his Senior Sister was here, she would have sought for shelter rather than confronting a joint attack of the most powerful cultivators in the world and the array of sword that was formed by the rage of the people from the Divine Halls.
Therefore, he did not choose to turn around and fought back or to dodge. He accelerated with horrifying speed, smashed the rock stairs under his feet and made a spurt toward the peak.
Several low bangs were heard repeatedly. The national master of the Golden Tribe continued to bomb his Ocean of Consciousness. Zhao Nanhai hit his back with Haotian's Divine Flame. Qi Nian pounded the mudra of Acalanatha on his body. Dozens of flying swords shredded his clothes.
Ning Que vomited some blood and turned more pale. He almost fell off the rock stairs.
If it were not for his practice of Haoran Qi, his body would not have been strong enough to withstand the first round of attack. It could have smashed him. Though he survived, he was already seriously wounded.
Ning Que applied vigorous psyche to gather his Ocean of Consciousness, which was almost destroyed in anguish. He made another pounding step and smashed a few rock steps, then rushed up like a scattered shadow.
Instead of falling down, he became even faster.
Within a few breaths, he smashed hundreds of rock steps and was out of the reach from the powerful attackers. They could only see a dimmed figure on its way up to the mountaintop.
While the divine priests, deacons, and people like Zhao Nanhai were preparing for another round of attack, the Hierarch raised his hand again to order a cease. The expression on his face was complex.
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During the Rite to Light, almost everyone from the Divine Halls was standing around the altar. No one was up on Peach Mountain. Only the sound of the stream running by the rock stairs was heard. It was silent and frightening.
Yet the silence was broken by a series of steps. Ning Que became a dim figure when he spurted towards the peak and left a line of blood and smashed rocks behind.
He was seriously wounded at that moment. His Ocean of Consciousness was roaring in restlessness. The pain intensified with every step he took. His ribs were cracked by Qi Nian's mudra and they cracked even further with every step. He did not know when they were going to break.
If the big black umbrella was here, who could ever hurt me? Ning Que missed it so much at that point. Then he was cheered up because he would see his big black umbrella again soon.
He could neither see anyone on Peach Mountain nor see anyone chasing him up the rock steps. He continued to run alone without feeling lonely or nervous.
He was running up to meet her. How could he feel lonely or nervous? He ran faster and felt happier with cheerful smiles on his face. Even the chilling autumn wind after the storm could not take away his smiles.
The two Arrays of Clear Light were torn by his iron blade and Divine Talismans.
He reached to the front of the Divine Hall and stood on the plateau.
The autumn sky was cloudless after the rain. The view was unobstructed on top of the mountain. He could even see the sun setting in the far west and the Yellow River flowing into the sea further to the south.
He looked to the Divine Hall atop and the rock steps in front of him and thought, I am about to climb up. Are you going to flee again?
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