Nightfall

But being who she was, how could Ye Hongyu do something ridiculous? Nor did she ever know what desperation was. Then why did she choose to carry out a series of attacks?

Actually, she never changed her goal ever since the beginning! She was not planning to escape, or did she try to leave the Divine Hall of Judgment. Instead of running away, she simply wanted to trap the middle-aged priest!

She wanted to trade the life of the middle-aged priest with another person"s life! It was undoubtedly arrogant or even suicidal. Yet she did so no matter what. She had to save that person"s life regardless of her own!

Furthermore, she had the Confinement.

As for the fight tonight, she had no support from Heaven since Haotian had already abandoned her. Nor did she had enough support from the human world as the Abbey Dean had dumped her. However, she had geographical advantages.

It was the place they were in. She was standing on the smooth marble floor. She was right inside the Divine Hall of Judgement. And she was the judgement. Tonight she would turn this chilling Divine Hall into a Confinement. The Confinement was no longer the merely most powerful Taoist skill of the Divine Hall of Judgment. It would become a real cage.

The former Great Divine Priest used to confine the former Great Divine Priest of Light for over a decade with his wooden cage. Tonight, she would trap the middle-aged priest in her cage and defeat him.

The middle-aged priest seemed imposing. He applied the Natural Stream Magical Finger like throwing a clay ox into the sea. Upon clenching his fingers and swaying his sleeves, he made a strike of purest and most authentic Taoist Xuan Practice onto the screen of light.

The screen of light was formed from the ground and stained with blood. It was the Confinement.

His sleeves pounded like hummers through the air and thundered in the Divine Hall of Judgment. However he was not able to shake the screen of light.

The middle-aged priest seemed even more solemn upon seeing this. Zhao Nanhai and the Hierarch became extremely pale and came immediately toward him.

They finally realized Ye Hongyu"s plan, but would never let her fulfill it. They had to break the Confinement before it was finished. Otherwise if she could successfully cage the middle-aged priest and she might even be able to change the result of the fight tonight.

Xiong Chumo"s chest sank deeply while thunders were formed. The pounding power coming from Heaven fell on him and bounced onto the Confinement in a bang. 

Zhao Nanhai followed him closely and pushed his palms forward gently while spurting blazing Haotian"s Divine Flame. He was about to melt the Confinement with the flame.

The middle-aged priest would definitely not sit on his doom inside the Confinement. He took a solemn look at the dark sky and withdrew the Natural Stream Magical Finger. His fingers trembled like b.u.t.terflies flapping their wings, and created various shapes of energy by his side.

Three bouts of unimaginably powerful energy appeared in three different shapes and fell onto Ye Hongyu"s body almost at the same time as they fell onto the Confinement.

Ma.s.sive light poured into the Divine Hall of Judgment and lightened up every corner and every detail of the Confinement, as if countless suns had appeared in the dark hall.

Extreme brightness would turn into darkness and blind everyone. Ye Hongyu stood in the center of the brightness and could no longer see anything. Neither did the other three. They could only use their other senses.

More gashes were made on Ye Hongyu"s naked body, and more blood gushed out. But she was still emotionless. She stared calmly at the middle-aged priest in the Confinement even if she could not see him.

Her blood dripped onto the floor and flowed along the cracks. It awoke the hidden soul of the Divine Hall of Judgment. Instead of being weakened by the attacks, the Confinement became more solid than ever.

A thundering exclaim was heard all of a sudden from deep inside the extreme brightness. The Confinement was finished. She finally turned the Divine Hall of Judgment into the Confinement, caged her biggest enemy and defended herself. Or perhaps she had also trapped herself in the Confinement, as she wished. 

At that moment the middle-aged priest withdrew the b.u.t.terfly practice and raised his head gradually. The brightness faded while he looked toward the blood-covered Ye Hongyu. And blood was shed from his eyes instead of tears. 

Within a few seconds he was already seriously wounded by the Confinement. But he was still calm. So was Ye Hongyu.

She was half naked. And her charming curves were completely exposed in the dark sky, to the moon and stars as well as everyone in the divine hall. But she was not bothered at all.

She let go of the sword. So far, she had made two strikes but failed to hurt Xiong Chumo and the middle-aged priest. So she no longer needed the sword now.

Xiong Chumo and Zhao Nanhai had to give up. Because once the Confinement was finished, she could simply kill the middle-aged priest with a flash of psyche. 

The middle-aged priest stared at Ye Hongyu through the chilling light screen for a long while. He felt complicated with admiration, solemness and even sympathy.

"It"s meaningless," he said.

Ye Hongyu said, "Xiong Chumo and Zhao Nanhai are nothing but jackals. It is of course meaningless to take their lives. But as for you, my Uncle, it"s different. The Abbey Dean would need you alive."

The middle-aged priest looked at her sympathetically and said, "Even so, it was too late. Long Qing should have carried out the sentence in Song by now. Even if the Abbey Dean would be so kind to spare my life, it is meaningless now."

Upon hearing this, Ye Hongyu was silenced.

"Furthermore, you cannot cage me." The middle-aged priest reached for something beneath his clothes and sighed. "That"s why it"s meaningless."

Ye Hongyu stared at his hand and frowned, "You can"t break the Confinement."

"When Wei Guangming escaped from Peach Mountain he said, "Bright as I am, how could the Confinement keep me trapped?" I am not more powerful than the former Great Diving Pries of Light. And your Confinement is definitely more powerful than the previous one. But you still cannot trap me."

When he took his hand out he was holding a tome.

No one knew what the tome was made from. But it was not crushed during the horrifying fight previously. It was hard to tell whether it was new or old. But there was something mysterious and divine about it.

The middle-aged priest looked at the tome in his hand and seemed hesitant and sorry.

Ye Hongyu vaguely realized what that tome was and turned pale. 

"I will eventually be freed if I stay in a Confinement long enough," the middle-aged priest finally made up his mind and chanted. Together with the chanting he opened the first page of the tome. The moment the tome was opened, the page was burnt into ashes.

A pounding power spurted from the burnt page like Tianqi and bombed onto the Confinement. But it was even more powerful than Tianqi!

Upon a bang the Confinement started shaking.

Seeing this and sensing the mythical power of the tome Ye Hongyu realized that she was right. She got stern and said, "How dare you to use the Arcane Tome as a weapon?!"

She was right. The tome that middle-aged priest was holding was an Arcane Tome.

It was the Arcane Tome of the Fall!

A single page fall could shake the entire world not to mention the Confinement!

Ye Hongyu reached out her arms and swayed her Gown of Judgment. Her pouring black hair also swung. She was trying to fight against the Arcane Tome with the Confinement!

The middle-aged priest was also extremely solemn because he realized that a single page of this Arcane Tome was not enough to break the Confinement. Therefore he had to continue burning the Arcane Tome! The Arcane Tome of the Fall turned into ashes one page after another. Countless and endless ultimate power was released and splashed around the Divine Hall.

The middle-aged priest witnessed the Arcane Tome of the Fall become thinner and thinner in his hand and felt extremely painful.

For a disciple of Taoism, who could stay indifferent when ruining an Arcane Tome?

The war between the Confinement and the Arcane Tome continued.

The Arcane Tome of the Fall kept burning one page after another. And the Divine Hall of Judgment kept shaking. Rubbles kept falling off from the cracking rock walls as if an earthquake was taking place.

In the heat of the horrifying war, with the Hierarch"s Tianqi previously and the earth-shaking confrontation now, people on Peach Mountain were finally awaken. 

Thousands of divine priests and deacons stood on the peaks in front of the Divine Halls. They could not help turning pale when seeing the black and chilling Divine Hall started shaking and almost collapsing in the dark night.

People were scared and stunned. They had no idea what they should do.

Upon a rumbling thunder, the southeast corner of the Divine Hall of Judgment collapsed. Innumerable rubbles splashed and countless peach branches were smashed down the valley. Thousands of divine priests and deacons fell on their knees weeping. They did not dare to look above or make any sounds.

Dust pervaded inside the Divine Hall of Judgment,.

Xiong Chumo stood aside and felt complicated. It was a battle between the Arcane Tome of the Fall and the Divine Hall of Judgment. It was also a war between Haotian and Taoism. Even powerful as he was, he could barely partic.i.p.ate in a war like this.

It seemed a long while but actually was just a blink. Half of the Arcane Tome of the Fall was burned in the hand of the middle-aged priest. The Confinement was eventually broken. The Divine Hall of Judgment was about to collapse in no time.

Ye Hongyu was pushed back to the Seat of Heavenly Black Jade by the power of the Arcane Tome.

She was pale, but still indifferent.

It became quiet in the Divine Hall of Judgment for a long while.

The middle-aged priest, Xiong Chumo or Zhao Nanhai said nothing. They stared at the woman covered by blood standing by the Seat of Heavenly Black Jade, and could not help from showing some awe or even fear.

She almost made it. She was so close.

Facing such a group of powerful enemies, the young Great Divine Priest of Judgment had almost turned the tide and made the Taoism surrender.

If the middle-aged priest did not have the Arcane Tome of the Fall, or if he was not executing the Abbey Dean"s order and profaned the Arcane Tome as a killing weapon, Ye Hongyu might have won.

She failed, indeed failed. But she had forced the most powerful enemies to exhaust themselves and destroyed half of the most valuable Arcane Tome of Taoism. Therefore she deserved respect and pride.

Unfortunately she did not succeed. Ye Hongyu turned pale. It was not because the severe wound or fear for her destin but because she knew that her failure would lead to Ye Su"s death.

Everything she tried tonight served for the same purpose: to catch the middle-aged priest and trade his life for Ye Su"s life.

The middle-aged priest said it was meaningless. But she had to do so. Because Ye Su, her brother, had been the sole purpose of her life since many years ago.

The middle-aged priest put back the Arcane Tome of the Fall piously. Then he looked at Ye Hongyu and said sincerely, "You are indeed very charming and powerful."

Ye Hongyu said emotionlessly, "I know."

The middle-aged priest stared at her and sensed the stubbornness deep down in her heart. He could almost see the little girl in the abbey who used to be fond of climbing up trees and teasing Chen Pipi. He took pity on her.

"I"m sorry. But you have to die."

A corner of the Divine Hall of Judgment collapsed. Ye Hongyu was seriously wounded and had no other choices.

The middle-aged priest, Xiong Chumo and Zhao Nanhai still stood at three different corners and stare at her.

She failed, and was doomed because Taoism would not let her survive.

She stood by the Seat of Heavenly Black Jade. There were only cliffs behind her. There might be a route down there, but definitely not a route for survival.

Right then, she laughed all of a sudden. There was fury, unwillingness and even madness in her laughter.

She and her brother Ye Su worked so hard for Taoism throughout the years. But now they were about to be sentenced. She did not want to reconcile and tried her best. But she failed.

Yet would she give up? Never. For someone like her and Ning Que, they might seem to have the most pious belief for Haotian or the Academy. But actually they only believed in themselves. It was something that even Haotian or the Headmaster failed to realize.

Her laughter was cold, even freezing. It seemed like sharp Taoist swords that had been frozen in the snow covered ocean for tens of thousands of years. And now they were collected and delivered to the Divine Hall of Judgment, and were swayed through the air.

In the next moment she stopped laughing and declared, "I will survive,"

Xiong Chumo mocked, "Perhaps you could try begging me."

Ye Hongyu spared no attention to him and repeated calmly, "I will survive."

The middle-aged priest said, "You can"t."

The Abbey Dean had decided to kill Ye Su and extinct the New Stream. Therefore she had to die tonight. Otherwise, if she were to survive, Xiong Chumo would die and Taoism would be thrown into the flame.

Ye Hongyu said, "I will survive." She said it calmly. Because she was not begging or pleading, but declaring. She was telling those powerful figures and the Abbey Dean that she wanted to survive therefore she would.

Blood flowed over her naked body, pa.s.sed her delicate collar-bones, alluring b.r.e.a.s.t.s and charming belly, as if it had went through a fulfilling life across her perfect figure.

"I did not leave earlier on because I wanted to fulfill something. Now I know I won"t succeed. And Ye Su would probably die. So I will leave. Do you even think you can keep me here?" She stared at the middle-aged priest and said indifferently, "The other half of the Arcane Tome won"t kill me."

The middle-aged priest slightly frowned as he sensed something unusual.

Xiong Chumo looked at her and asked, "How could you get out?" He pointed at the cliffs behind him and said mockingly, "Ning Que jumped down, so did Haotian. Perhaps you want to try as well? Do you think you would survive?"

There were the most horrifying arrays among the towering cliffs of Peach Mountain, as well as the unimaginable dangers down in the abyss. Even the former Wei Guangming did not dare to get out from there. 

Ning Que survived because Haotian jumped together with him.

No matter how powerful Ye Hongyu was, she was after all not Haotian.

If she were to jump from here, she would definitely be doomed.

It was quiet inside the Divine Hall of Judgment. Melting snow on the terrace reflected the charming moonlight.

Ye Hongyu looked at Xiong Chumo and gave a mocking smile. She turned to the terrace. Along the way, her blood melted with the snow in her footprints. She came to the terrace, stood there for a while, then made the leap.