Nightfall

It wasn"t until the fist stopped that wind started roaring in the path, disturbing the Qi of Heaven and Earth and dispersing all the fog. The smooth surface of the steep cliff started peeling like forgotten pastry, leaving behind a rain of crumbs as thin as paper.

The fist was incredibly firm without even a hint of a tremble. The joints of his fingers were a faint white, looking like st.u.r.dy bamboos amid the wind or even the spherical handle of a steel knife. It was proof of how strong the man was to be able to halt his punch abruptly at the peak of a great momentum while maintaining such stability.

However, the Eldest Brother of the Academy was still stronger.

Eldest Brother looked at the fist calmly without a word.

The middle-aged man gradually bent his elbow, partially withdrawing his fist.

Eldest Brother"s gentle eyes fell on the middle-aged man"s face.

The latter lowered his head and took a step back in silence.

Eldest Brother"s gaze rested on a chipped rock under the man"s feet.

The man furrowed his brows and took another step back.

Eldest Brother calmly looked at his shoulder.

The man retreated for the third time.

Eldest Brother continued to stare at him.

The man continued to retreat until he was about to step off the path.

He suddenly stopped just then, raising his thick eyebrows. He looked peacefully into Eldest Brother"s gentle eyes and his crimson lips moved ever so slightly. In a voice that sounded like the humming of hard objects, he said, "I apologize."

When the words emerged from his mouth, he suddenly loosened his half-lifted fist and his five fingers unfolded like the blooming of an old bamboo before suddenly contracting!

A gust of powerful and dominant aura came from the middle-aged man, billowing out his clothes and causing whistling sounds. His fingers, unfolding and then closing, released an invisible

power that hit Ning Que"s chest and abdomen across the air!

The man was, after all, a powerful one at the Peak state of Martial Arts. Though he feared the Eldest Brother of the Academy, it was impossible for him to be a total coward in front of him and lose the courage to fight him.

When Eldest Brother showed up, the man showed his weakness and continued to retreat. Just as he was about to reach the edge of the path, he took advantage of everyone"s false sense of security that he wouldn"t be able to threaten Ning Que and made his move.

With a loud splitting sound, the woven belt in front of Ning Que"s broke apart.

The iron box fastened with the woven belt suddenly flew out, falling into the hand of the middle-aged man.

The man had displayed his deep understanding of Martial Arts from the transfer of his killing intent into his fist to his dexterity with his fingers. He had grasped the best opportunity to take action and showed his immense decisiveness, proving that he could use military strategies and tactics in a martial art confrontation. He could be considered as having directed a military operation with miraculous skill.

It was incredibly rare to see a man whose use of Martial Arts and military strategies was this impressive.

Even in the Tang Empire, only the four great generals were capable of this.

Now that the iron box was in his hand, the middle-aged man had completed his task. He looked at Eldest Brother without speaking and continued to retreat slowly out of the valley. Though he didn"t seem as if he was quickening his pace, he traveled backward over 100 feet in an instant.

Eldest Brother stiffened as he stared at the middle-aged man, surprised that the man would take action at the last minute despite planning to retreat. He sighed and said, "Why bother?"

He didn"t say it too slowly but his tone was soft. Moreover, there was an odd pause before each word, giving off the impression that the two words were uttered slowly.

Even he failed to foresee the middle-aged man"s action, thus having no time to react. Never mind Ning Que, who naturally had no response at all and didn"t realize what had happened until the man had fled some distance away with his iron box.

Besides, Ning Que had received such a shock that he didn"t have the mental energy to spare on other issues.

Based on the description he had recounted for many years, the middle-aged man with thick eyebrows and crimson lips seemed to be Xia Hou. Was it the man who killed everyone in the General"s Mansion and turned his happy life into a cultivation in h.e.l.l? The man who slaughtered through so many villages at the fortress and killed Darkie"s entire family?

But who was this scholar wearing a torn cotton-padded jacket and straw sandals beside him? Ning Que remembered seeing this man the first day he entered the Academy. It was the same clean and trustworthy-looking man who somehow knocked fear into his heart. He remembered the man wanting to exchange the water ladle now tied at his waist for his big black umbrella. Naturally, he had already guessed the man to be his Eldest Brother.

Eldest Brother turned his attention to Ning Que. "Is the box important? Should we retrieve it?"

Ning Que didn"t understand why the man who might be Xia Hou would steal his iron box or why this scholar who might be Eldest Brother would ask this question so leisurely either. The box contained Master Lotus" ashes and wasn"t worth a thing. It wasn"t necessary to take the risk of retrieving it, of course. To ask if they should steal the box back after it had been stolen for some time, wasn"t that a bit slow of Eldest Brother?

Ning Que suddenly recalled Chen Pipi"s words. He told him that Eldest Brother was an exceedingly careful person, so he reacted slowly, extremely slowly... from what he had seen today, he could confirm that Eldest Brother was indeed a slow person.

He greeted him respectfully with his head lowered. "The box isn"t important. There"s no need to get it back."

He raised his head and carefully watched Eldest Brother. He was a scholar wearing worn cotton clothes and shoes, with an old book and a water ladle strapped to his waist. There wasn"t any powerful aura coming from him. Most people wouldn"t think of him as strong or powerful either.

However, Ning Que felt safe standing beside him. He was calm and happy, feeling as if he was home. He knew no one would dare to bully him. It was as if he was under a large flouris.h.i.+ng tree, not having to worry about being exposed to the rain and wind. The unquestionable sense of safety even moved him, resulting in his silence.

Eldest Brother smiled gently, perhaps understanding his thoughts. Just as he began to seriously consider how to start a conversation with his Youngest Brother, he noticed something and looked up at the sky curiously.

The middle-aged man"s fist had cleared all the fog in the mountain path but some still remained around the mountain, obstructing his view of the Snow-capped Peak. He saw only a large hole torn through the mist, where a silhouette was standing.

The figure had perhaps jumped from the Snow-capped Peak or even probably the sky, continuously tearing through the air and fog and producing a frightening screech. Its speed was incredible.

A round hole appeared in the fog covering the mountain path with a booming sound, and a figure fell from the hole. The fog wrapped around him in

him in a semi-circle and the b.l.o.o.d.y flame on his two legs burned vigorously.

A formidable and domineering aura came from the figure, spreading all over the ground and locking the area within 100 feet.

The pair of old boots from the Cold Region of Far North gradually approached the ground and landed on top of the middle-aged man"s head.

The middle-aged man appeared as quickly as the spread of fire and retreated just as fast. However, it was evident the figure jumping from the sky had been hiding for a long time and domineeringly locked the surrounding area of over 100 feet. He had calculated precisely so that the middle-aged man wouldn"t be able to avoid him no matter where he was retreating to.

More importantly, he had been hoping that the middle-aged man would retreat. That way, the man would use up the strong aura that supported him in this world and meet a certain death!

But what could he do if the middle-aged man didn"t retreat?

The last time he jumped off the sky, he had stepped into the Wilderness for the first time. Back then, he had crushed the s.h.i.+eld held by the most powerful warrior of the palace tribe with just one step and squashed the Necromancer into a puddle of blood!

The middle-aged man didn"t escape because he knew he didn"t have the ability to do so. He could clearly feel his attacker"s killing intent and the familiar, or perhaps even intimate, severity from him.

He hadn"t experienced such a feeling for years. But no matter how much time had pa.s.sed, he would put up his guard and fall silent immediately at the smell of it. That was also his smell, something that belonged to the Enlightenment Doctrine.

The middle-aged man raised his thick eyebrows, a sense of grimness finally appearing on his face. He stomped the ground with his two feet and transferred all his cultivation into his right fist.

He threw a fist toward the sky!

The pair of old boots, carrying with it the b.l.o.o.d.y flames, met the glistening fist in the valley.

The powerful and dominant aura tore the Qi of Heaven and Earth in the valley into numerous tiny torrents. Those torrents had no way of escaping, only miserably shrouded by the different or even contradictory auras. Both the powerful and dominant auras turned into two semi-circle air bells.

The semi-circle air bell beside the pair of old boots gleamed in red and spurted to the sky with a hissing sound.

The semi-circle air bell beside the fist gleamed in gold and spurted to the ground with a similar hissing sound.

Except for the sounds, the valley fell into a dead silence.

The surface of the Hulan Sea far from the valley suddenly fluctuated. For some reason, over ten tiny cracks appeared on the icy surface that had gradually solidified thanks to the cold wind. Water gushed from the cracks, where some not-so-fat fish jumped out and struggled on the icy surface for several moments before getting frozen.

Then a sound was heard in the valley.

The sound was loud, as if it was a big thunder, and contained raw power.

A large hole that was as deep as half a man"s height appeared on the ground.

Then a far-reaching echo resonated, sounding like the ring of a bell.

Crushed by the two auras, the stone crumbs no longer danced in the air and fell down quietly.

Mo Shanshan and the rest found that they weren"t seriously hurt by the tremor resulting from the collision of the two auras.

The two most domineering auras in the world had collided, leaking not even the slightest of their power. The two figures locked onto each other, responding perfectly from a distance. At the end, the two auras actually exuded a feeling of grandness. What a state the two fighters had reached!

Even Eldest Brother couldn"t help praising the collision of the two pure power in front of him. By now, Ning Que had come to stand behind him. He told him, "Youngest Uncle basically killed all the Devil"s Doctrine masters of the previous generation. It"s a rare opportunity to see a confrontation between two Devil"s Doctrine masters. You have to watch carefully and learn."