1023 The Talk He Wants With Her I (2/2)

There were many clouds along the cliffs. The white clouds floated around like random waves in the ocean. But they were actually shaped by the wind and controlled by gravity.

The Abbey Dean stared at the clouds and said calmly, ”Yet… it is a pity that he still cannot see through himself.”

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Chu Youxian had no idea either. He was just a storyteller, just like a parrot. He had no idea who the god was, or what the Crusades were or what they had to do with Taoism. What was Ning Que trying to tell the Abbey Dean? How could Haotian die eventually?

Leaving the plateau, they found Zhao Nanhai and dozens of divine cavalrymen waiting down there. It was tense but Chu Youxian was not scared. He pointed at the couple of stone cottages behind and said,”I've made it there and came back alive. Therefore you cannot kill me.”

Zhao Nanhai stared at the stone cottage and said nothing. No one knew what he was thinking about. Eventually he did nothing and escorted Chu Youxian and Chen Qi toward the peak.

The white hall on top of Peach Mountain was the main hall of West-Hill. It was the most elevated architecture of Haotian Taoism and the place for their negotiation today.

The Divine Hall was floored with silky stone bricks. They were reflecting the sky lights as a mirror and as if they were made of gold. It was spacious inside. There were mysterious religious murals on the stone walls that were fully decorated with gems. It seemed to be the place that gathered all the fortune and respect from this world, extremely imposing and holy.

Thousands of deacons stood in lines silently inside the Divine Hall. No one dared to say a word. It was as quiet as an ocean.

Chu Youxian and Chen Qi walked through the crowd as if they were walking through an ocean. They could not help from sense a cold storm hidden in the crowd.

After a long walk, they ended up on the highest stage in the innermost part of the Divine Hall. A radiating screen hung above the stage. And a lofty and holy figure was shown on the screen. The voice of the figure was like thunder and awe-inspiring.

That was the person said to be as mysterious as the leader of Devil's Doctine, the Twenty-Three Year Cicada. But since he was seriously wounded in the battle by Yu Lian, he could no longer remain brilliant in front of the people. And after being shot into misery by Ning Que during the Rite to Light, he was already much less important to the followers of Haotian.

But he was after all the Hierarch of the Divine Halls of West-Hill, someone who had surpassed the Five States and reached Tianqi. And he was also the leader of Taoism acknowledged by the Abbey Dean.

Chu Youxian and Chen Qi showed the utmost respect to that lofty figure and made flawless bows. However, even the dumbest divine priest could tell that they were paying much more attention to the chair down the stage rather than of the Hierarch behind the screen. It was not because the precious chair was made of a whole chunk of dark jade from the South Sea but because of the woman sitting in it that made it the Seat of Heavenly Black Jade.

She sat there with her eyes closed and wore a bloody red gown. The world around her seemed to have become an ocean of blood. She was the fairest as well as the most ruthless in the world. And she was Ye Hongyu, the most powerful figure in Taoism and the inviolable Great Divine Priest of Judgement.

Ye hongyu, the Great Divine Priest of Judgement, was the one Ning Que wanted to talk to, and the one Chu Youxian and Chen Qi had been waiting to meet. They were finally taken to her today.

Chu Youxian and Chen Qi were awkwardly quiet. As discussed last night, they were now in front of her but could still not meet with her. How could they avoid the attention of the Hierarch and everyone else and pass Ning Que's words to her?

The ceremony was about to be finished with a salutation. They did not have much time left. It did not matter whether the negotiation between Tang and the Divine Halls could be carried on or not, for they had to leave shortly. But those words were still untold.

Chu Youxian looked at Chen Qi and recalled what they discussed the previous night. He found his lips and tongue a bit dry and said hesitatingly, ”Are we really doing this?”

Chen Qi stared at Ye Hongyu and said, ”What else can we do now?”

Chu Youxian paused for a while and finally collected enough courage to step forward. While people were staring at him, he cleared his throat and interrupted the prayer of some red-robed divine priest.

”We have something to say.” He was nervous in front of the crowd in the Divine Hall and sounded hoarse. ”We came with an intent for peace. Shouldn't you spare a moment for us to talk?”

Thousands of divine priests and deacons looked at them emotionlessly. Their red or violet robes seemed like oceans of various colors. It formed an invisible but overwhelming pressure and almost choked Chu Youxian.

Right then Chen Qi took one step forward too. It became even more tense inside the hall. Chen Qi seemed to be not influenced at all. He looked at the ordinary chair and the ocean of blood, and posed a question calmly and resolutely, ”Are you willing to hear this?”

The negation was a joke. If there were to be some sort of negotiation, it should have happened on the plateau in front of the stone cottage. She seemed impatient and kept her eyes closed.

Chen Qi gazed at her and said hoarsely, ”Everyone knows that … Ning Que wants a talk with the world. But actually he just wants to talk to you.”

Indeed, everyone knew that if Ning Que were to talk to someone, the Great Divine Priest of Judgement must be one of them. The Hierarch knew, and so did Zhao Nanhai and the divine priests and deacons, and even those servants.

That was why Xiong Chumo planned to kill these two while they were in Qinghe Prefecture. And that was also why they could not run into Ye Hongyu on Peach Mountain.

It was not until then, in front of thousands of divine priests and deacons, in the gathering of countless powerful figures, that they finally met Ye Hongyu. Therefore they had to talk and pass his words to her even if they would be killed in the next moment.