Ning Que looked at his dirty black hands and could not see what was different. He clenched his hand into a fist tightly and did not notice anything different. His arm was still the same size and did not turn into the legendary green monster that was super strong.
However, he knew that something must have changed while he was unconscious. The aura in the sword marks on the walls around him had disappeared. The Qi of Heaven and Earth had also returned to normal. The aura must have calmed after it entered his body and tempered it.
He used his Psyche Power to examine the goings-on in his body and discovered that his Snow Mountain and Ocean of Qi still existed. The wide path that laid from the Ocean of Qi to the Snow Mountain had already stabilized. The path in his internal organs reached his lower abdomen and came together in a bright light before the Snow Mountain. Together with the movement of his Psyche Power, hundreds of silvers of Qi of Heaven and Earth and aura were released from it. They followed the flow of his meridians and scattered through his every bone and pore.
When the Qi of Heaven and Earth that had been stored in the depths of his lower abdomen those worlds that were calmly stored in the depths of the lower abdomen radiated outwards, Ning Que felt as if he had been submerged in a hot spring where the temperature was just right. His body was warm, and the amazing thing was it did not make him tired, but excited. His senses were all sharpened.
He looked at the sword marks on the roof and his mental state moved along with the directions of it. The warm, or some might say, burning hot, aura flowed through his meridians quickly. Then, he felt the bits and pieces of aura lingering in the air entering his body while he breathed.
The infusion of the Qi of Heaven and Earth into his body was slow. It was way slower compared to the infusion of the aura in Youngest Uncle’s sword marks when he had first joined the Devil. However, he was clear that if he continued to meditate on and cultivate Youngest Uncle’s Great Spirit, the Qi of Heaven and Earth in nature would continue to enter his body. While it might be slow, his state would continue to rise over time.
“Is this joining the Devil? When will the never-ending demand from heaven and earth stop? When will the supply stop? Is this why it is called joining the Devil?”
Ning Que bowed his head slowly and silently reflected on the path the aura in his body traveled. His face that was caked with dirt was filled with confusion and fear for the unknown. His shirt which was covered in blood and dirt seemed to sense his emotions and became stiff curled up in itself, looking wrinkled and ugly.
All was silent in the room. He suddenly thought of something important and extricated himself from the cultivation state of the Great Spirit in the fastest manner and walked towards the corner of the room.
Messy black hair that was reminiscent of a summer waterfall splayed out on Mo Shanshan’s cotton skirt. Her white shirt was layered with dust and blood after a difficult battle. However, it still exuded cleanliness in the dark room.
Ning Que squatted beside the girl and sensed the clean aura exuding from her. He looked at her black hair and white skirt and felt that he was very dirty for an unknown reason. He did not dare to reach out to touch her.
This strange emotion was quickly forgotten. He helped the Talisman Master to sit up gently and retrieved a bottle of medication from his shirt and fed it to her. Then, he gently patted her back to help dispel the medication.
Mo Shanshan finally regained conscious after some time. Her face was extremely pale from the blood loss. Her lashes fluttered and her eyes opened to reveal tension and fear.
The battle was still ongoing when she had lost consciousness. She did not know who had won and had even thought that both Ning Que and herself were in the old monk’s grasp and were to become food for him like Ye Hongyu.
It wasn’t until she had seen that the old monk had been reduced to a pile of ash before she could finally relax slightly. She panted as she held on to Ning Que’s hand and her body trembled. She seemed unable to forget the images of what had happened earlier.
Ning Que’s hand was crushed in hers in a painful manner. However, he did not say anything but hug her silently. He patted her back, trying to provide her with some comfort.
Suddenly, his brows furrowed and he pulled his hand out of her grasp. Mo Shanshan looked up at him. She did not know what had happened and her expression was dazed and slightly uneasy.
Ning Que helped her sit up at the wall and took out his podao from his back before walking in the opposite direction silently.
The Tao Addict had regained conscious and leaned against the wall, looking at them.
Her pure and charming face had become pathetic due to the serious injuries and blood loss. However, Ning Que knew that she was a formidable opponent, so his heart did not soften due to her outward appearance.
Self-deprecation and contempt grew in Ye Hongyu’s indifferent gaze as she watched Ning Que walk towards her with his podao. She raised her right hand that was hanging weakly by her thigh and pinched her fingers together in a Sword Formulas.
However, before she could release her Psyche Power, a gush of sticky blood dribbled from her lips and splattered on her blood-soaked skirt, adding another dash of color on the shades of red on it.
Ye Hongyu looked at the blood dripping on her skirt, and she smiled with a myriad of expressions crossing her face. She gave up on her attempt and leaned on the wall tiredly. Her expression and movements were both weak.
She was the most severely injured amongst the three. Her sense of perception had been torn into shreds, followed by Master Lotus’ use of the Tao Tie method on her and the impact of her forceful descent in state. She was no longer as strong as she was before.
There were no excess emotions in her eyes as she watched Ning Que walking to her. There was no anger, no pleading, no despair nor any sadness. Even the contempt and self-deprecation had left, leaving only calmness behind.
Ning Que stood before her with his knife and looked at her intently. Taking advantage of his enemy’s weakness had always existed in his dictionary. He could do anything for both his and Sangsang’s survival and to make life better for them. That was why he thought that he would definitely be punished by the heavens if he did not take advantage of his enemy’s weakness.
The girl leaning against the wall, who looked so weak she might die any moment, was no ordinary girl. She the Tao Addict, one of the strongest cultivators in their generation from the Haotian Taoism. She was also his enemy. How could he forget that he wasn’t able to defeat her but had been defeated outside the Front Gate of the Devil’s Doctrine even though he had used his Primordial Thirteen Arrows and the Talisman his teacher had given him? If he didn’t kill Ye Hongyu now, wouldn’t she kill him when she regains her state?
What was odd, was that Ning Que did not plunge the podao into her chest. Instead, he looked at her silently for a long while. He looked at the huge wounds on her shoulder and arm. He thought about the missing pieces of flesh that had been swallowed by the old monk into his belly and was not part of that pile of ash.
The slender sharp tip of the podao pierced the cracked stones like they were cobwebs.
“I would definitely kill you if it was the past.”
Ning Que said to her seriously. He had made a difficult decision due to several complicated reasons.
Because were it not for the Tao Addict’s effort, he would have died when he was in a daze when learning Youngest Uncle’s sword style. Because of Mo Shanshan’s softly spoken words behind him. Because he did not give a damn about heaven’s punishment. Because he was certain that she was already unconscious at the final stage of the battle and did not hear the conversation about joining the Devil that he had with Lotus. And because of something else.
“Since we have fought shoulder to shoulder, we are comrades, at least within the Front Gate of the Devil’s Doctrine. I am unlike most Tangs who hold one’s reputation in high regard. But I am a soldier of the Tang. I do not have the habit of killing my comrades on the battlefield. If you agree that we are comrades here, we can talk about any other issues when we get out.”
Ye Hongyu looked at Ning Que’s face calmly. The time in which they have known each other felt longer than it actually was. She knew his character was very much like hers. He was a man who would use any means to reach his goal. As such, she was prepared to welcome death and did not expect that he would provide such a choice.
She was the intelligent Tao Addict, the Grand Master of the Judicial Department of Haotian Taoism who defends the light and upholds justice. That was why she did not tell him that he would regret it if he didn’t kill her now and then like the usual stupid female antagonists. Instead, she looked at Ning Que solemnly and said, “I saved you earlier, and then, you saved me. We do not owe each other anything. You have not killed me today, when I come to kill you in the future, I will return the favor.”
Ning Que nodded, “It sounds fair. Deal.”
He put down the long thin podao after that and crouched before Ye Hongyu. He reached out to tear at her skirts to check on her injuries. However, he was rather rough with not a trace of tenderness.
Ye Hongyu looked finger prodding at her bare shoulder. She furrowed her brows slightly, and a distasteful expression that she could not suppress appeared in her eyes. However, she said cooly, “I know you mean well, but I hate men who touch my body directly. This is an uncontrollable instinct. If you do not like it, you can treat my disgust as joy.”
Ning Que lowered his head to look at the two horrifying wounds with focus. He could vaguely make out the white of bones. He shook his head, not caring about the disgust in her expression. “Being liked by you is not anything good. You had better hate me. I have to tell you, these wounds look slightly troublesome,” he said.
Ye Hongyu did not hesitate at all. She asked, “What do you want.”
“You’re the Tao Addict indeed. You’re indeed straightforward.” Ning Que looked at her pale side profile and said seriously, “I need to spend money to treat you. If the Great Divine Priest of Judgment ever asks how Long Qing was crippled, could you speak up for me? You don’t have to lie, you just have to describe that accident objectively.”
Ning Que had stayed by the Daming Lake and worked hard at breaking the realm and gathering the intent to kill for over ten days before shooting that Talisman Arrow because Long Qing had threatened Sangsang. It was quite shameless of him to have the Tao Addict admit that it was an accident.
Ning Que did not expect that Ye Hongyu had not mocked him, but had remained silent. After a while, she said slowly, “If you are worried that God will be angry because Long Qing had been crippled, I can promise to solve this problem for you.
…