Amid the falling snow, Ning Chen faced the old eunuch from ten paces away. The gap in their strength left little suspense in this battle amid the snow.
Above Fifth-Rank martial cultivation and below Fifth-Rank were wholly different realms. After Ning Chen entered the Fourth Rank, his cultivation had found it difficult to advance another inch; this heavenly chasm stood before him.
Ning Chen drew the Ink Sword from his back, gathering his full focus. In this battle, there would only be life and death—nothing else.
The old eunuch held no weapon. Yet when his withered hand struck down, it carried the force of a thousand catties, impossible to withstand.
With a bang, palm and sword collided. Ning Chen retreated again and again, then spun the Ink Sword and planted it in the ground, stopping his retreat. Immediately afterward, he slapped the wheelchair with his left hand. A streak of black shadow tore through the night sky, silently sweeping toward the old eunuch.
"Petty tricks."
The old eunuch snorted coldly. Palm force howled forth, and with a casual wave, he knocked aside the hidden arrow.
The wheelchair beneath Ning Chen moved once more. Silver light condensed along the blade, Frost Bloom trembled, and swept up a waterfall of wind and snow. Within the sword light, one black shadow after another shot forth again.
The old eunuch raised a hand to catch the sword. After gripping its blade, he tilted his body aside and dodged the incoming hidden arrows.
"Hah!"
Ning Chen gave a cold shout, fiercely driving the true essence within him. The sword pressed downward. With a bang, the snowflakes around the two men blasted away, rising a full zhang high.
"Impudence!"
Blood flowed from the old eunuch's hand gripping the sword. His expression turned cold as he gathered inner essence in his other hand and stamped a palm toward Ning Chen's chest.
"Pah!"
Blood spilled from Ning Chen's mouth. The old eunuch frowned and stepped back, avoiding the mouthful of blood.
Compared to ordinary people, the old eunuch loved cleanliness far more—one could even say he had an extreme obsession with it.
Yet as the old eunuch retreated, Ning Chen's eyes narrowed. Seizing that fleeting chance, he ignored his injuries, drew the Woodcutter's Blade with his left hand, turned blade into sword, and unleashed his ultimate move once more within a single step's distance.
"A Feather Soars Like a Swan; One Sword Shakes Heaven and Earth!"
A startling sword cry rang between heaven and earth. Within arm's reach, only one step apart, even someone as powerful as the old eunuch could not evade this sword, swift as a soaring swan. Left with no choice, he released his right hand from the Ink Sword and raised it before himself.
"Impossible! How do you know Sword Enshrined's technique?"
The old eunuch's pupils contracted as he shouted urgently.
Clang!
The blade entered flesh, piercing through his arm, but was stopped by his immense true qi and could advance no farther.
"Hah!" Having landed a blow, how could Ning Chen care about anything else? He drove his true qi again, braced the Ink Sword against the ground, borrowed its force, and pushed the blade another two inches inward.
"You court death!"
The old eunuch's face darkened. He could no longer care what relation Ning Chen had to Sword Enshrined. Gathering qi in his left palm, he viciously stamped it toward Ning Chen's dantian qihai.
"Since I can't live, then let's perish together!"
A ruthless gleam flashed through Ning Chen's eyes. He neither dodged nor evaded. The Ink Sword swept out, likewise stabbing toward the old eunuch's qi sea.
Ning Chen's cultivation was inferior to the old eunuch's, his experience was inferior to the old eunuch's, and even the convenience afforded by his disability was inferior to the old eunuch's. Yet there was one thing the old eunuch could never catch up to, even if he whipped his horse to death.
He was not afraid of death, nor did he care about this cultivation at all!
The greatest fear of man was the unknown. People feared death precisely because they did not know what came after it. But Ning Chen knew, because he had died once. Thus, compared with the vast majority, he did not fear death.
As for cultivation, it mattered even less. One could not expect someone who had cultivated for only a few months before reaching Houtian Fourth Rank to cherish this cultivation all that deeply.
"Madman!"
The old eunuch was furious. He could not be as crazed as Ning Chen, so he yielded.
The hand that had been striking toward Ning Chen's qi sea instead grabbed for the Ink Sword, attempting to block this sword that would take them both down together.
Ning Chen snorted coldly, ruthlessness flashing through his eyes. He raised his true qi to its peak and drove the Ink Sword with all his strength toward the old eunuch's dantian.
Clang!
Blade and sword moved together—one stabbing toward the heart, the other toward the dantian. One of the old eunuch's hands blocked the blade, while the other gripped the sword. Blood flowed down, falling continuously into the snow.
The patter of blood droplets was so faint in this snowy night. Ning Chen had already done something remarkable: with the body of a disabled Fourth-Rank cultivator, he had wounded a Sixth-Rank expert to such a state, even if his own injuries were more severe.
The blade and sword could advance no farther. The old eunuch's true qi locked them in place, bringing Ning Chen's desperate gains to a halt.
The next moment, the old eunuch's face twisted savagely as he furiously drove his true essence, intending to use one palm to utterly cripple the young man before him.
Yet at that moment, the old eunuch staggered. His true qi faltered, and he nearly collapsed to the ground.
"How could this be?"
The old eunuch was shocked to the core. In his panic, he tried to raise his true essence once more, but it was already too late.
"Hah!"
Ning Chen released the hand gripping the sword, turned his palm, and forced out his last remaining true qi. Then he struck the end of the Ink Sword with one palm. With a soft sound of piercing flesh, the Ink Sword broke through the old eunuch's defenses and stabbed into his dantian.
"Ugh!"
With a long, pained groan, the old eunuch's qi sea was scattered by the force on the sword. His true qi ran wild, and blood immediately overflowed from his mouth.
"Damn it!"
The old eunuch's face was twisted in extreme agony as he flipped his hand and stamped a palm toward Ning Chen's chest.
With a bang, Ning Chen was sent flying, crashing into the snow as he coughed up blood.
"How could this be? How could I..."
His disbelieving gaze could not conceal the cruel truth. The old eunuch staggered backward again and again. The Woodcutter's Blade remained lodged in his left arm, the Ink Sword still embedded in his dantian, blood flowing and continually staining the earth red.
"Ugh!"
Ning Chen felt a heaviness in his chest and coughed up another mouthful of blood. His gaze fixed on the old eunuch. He knew the old eunuch was finished.
The Ink Sword embedded in the dantian had been coated with poison. The old eunuch's qi sea had already been destroyed, and his scattered true qi only accelerated the spread of the deadly poison within him.
However, the old man's earlier lapse had been because the Woodcutter's Blade carried a sedative...
After retreating more than a dozen steps, the old man finally crashed into the snow. His final gaze was filled with unwillingness and regret.
Ning Chen struggled back onto his wheelchair. Then he glanced at Little White Horse in the distance and rasped, "What are you playing dead for? Get over here already!"
Outside the house, the battle between the two had left everything in utter ruins. Fortunately, the wind and snow were fierce tonight. Not only had they covered the sounds of battle, they would soon bury the blood on the ground as well.
The old eunuch's corpse could not be left here. Ning Chen had called Little White Horse over naturally to use it as labor. What else, was a disabled man supposed to carry the body away himself?
Though Little White Horse was unwilling, it did not dare resist. It could only let Ning Chen throw the thoroughly dead old eunuch onto its back.
After cleaning up the scene, Ning Chen and Little White Horse headed out of the village one after the other. Once they felt they were far enough away, they casually found a place, dug a large pit, and buried the old eunuch.
Erecting a grave marker was impossible. Ning Chen believed the old eunuch definitely had companions, just as he had previously believed someone would hunt him down over that letter.
The poison on the Ink Sword and the sedative on the Woodcutter's Blade had mostly been washed away by the old eunuch's blood. The supplies he had found on the bandits only amounted to this much. How he would face the possible pursuit to come was truly a headache-inducing problem.
Going back was impossible. Ever since he had obtained that letter, he could only keep heading north. Do not speak to him of national righteousness—if his life was gone, everything else was empty talk.
He could only continue north until he had killed every pursuer.
Heading north would not change. The only difference was that before, he had gone willingly and without a destination. Now, he was being forced onward; not going was not an option.
Unfortunately, he had no idea how many companions the old eunuch had. Or rather, he did not know how many people the person behind the old eunuch had sent to intercept this letter.
He only hoped that among this group, the old eunuch had been the strongest!
The wind and snow grew ever fiercer. It seemed they intended to fall for another entire night. After burying the old eunuch, Ning Chen returned to the village. He needed rest now—desperately.
Pushing open the door, he found the man and the young girl still sleeping soundly. Only the old man was awake. He looked at Ning Chen, opened his mouth, yet could not say a word.
Ning Chen gave a dry smile and greeted the old man. Then, in an utterly bedraggled state, he lay back down on the bed.
Most of the true qi in his body had been depleted. Ning Chen did not dare sleep. He quietly guided what little true qi remained to mend his internal injuries. He was still alive. That was wonderful.
The old eunuch's two palms had injured most of his internal organs. Fortunately, the old eunuch had been affected by his wounds or the sedative when he struck, and in his haste had failed to gather his full strength. Moreover, the gap in their cultivation was not an absolute difference between heaven and earth. Otherwise, it would have been the old eunuch burying him just now.
His injuries were grave, but when dawn came, he still had to continue his journey.
If he remained here, he would likely bring disaster upon the villagers. He could not take that risk.
The night quickly passed. At dawn, Ning Chen packed his things, declined the man's warm attempts to keep him, and set out once again.
On the bed where he had slept lay a small pouch of silver. It was not much, but enough for the man to take a wife. If spent carefully, it would also be nearly enough to prepare a dowry for the young girl.
This was silver the bandits had stolen. He had selected scattered pieces of unmarked broken silver, so it would not bring trouble upon the man's family.
The shed outside could only be left for the man to repair himself. Ning Chen was in a hurry to flee and could not remain to help.
Sometimes, Ning Chen felt utterly helpless. It seemed that ever since he had come into this world, he had been running away.
When he had been in the Great Xia Imperial Palace, he had needed to find a way out to preserve his life. Now that he had left the palace, he still had to keep running to stay alive.
Little White Horse continued shamelessly trailing behind him. Ning Chen did not care. Though the horse was small, if it became hungry enough, killing it would still yield meat.
Naturally, Little White Horse did not know what the human before it was thinking. Otherwise, it would certainly have kicked him with a hoof.
The world outside was vast, heaven high and earth broad. Amid the boundless white snow, one man and one horse were like two tiny ants. Finding their tracks would not be so easy.
Thus, Ning Chen was not overly panicked.
Within the wind and snow, a disabled man and a snow-white horse traveled together. They spoke little, and in truth, there was not much they could say to one another.
Boom!
At that moment, a beam of golden light shot straight into the sky from the northern horizon. A sacred aura rippled outward, scattering the dark clouds overhead and dispersing the wind and snow that filled the heavens.
This sudden celestial phenomenon shocked the entire north. Countless people turned their eyes toward it, their gazes filled with astonishment.
Ning Chen frowned. Could someone have entered the Xiantian realm again? Since when had Xiantian experts become so cheap?
Little White Horse was startled by the shocking sight, its legs nearly going weak beneath it.
A moment later, Ning Chen shook his head again. It probably was not someone entering the Xiantian realm. This golden radiance lacked the aura of a person. It was merely an inanimate thing.
In this wild, desolate land beneath the raging wind and snow, the closest beings to the pillar of light were only Ning Chen and Little White Horse.
The wheelchair rolled forward, the white horse set off, and they headed toward the pillar of light.
Everyone had curiosity, and Ning Chen was no exception.
Yet Ning Chen did not move quickly, and Little White Horse did not move quickly either. Though curious, he was not particularly eager.
But aside from Ning Chen, martial artists throughout the north had fallen into frenzied excitement. Such a celestial phenomenon surely signaled the emergence of an extraordinary ancient ruin.
A hundred years ago, when the Heavenly Book emerged from beneath the earth, the strange phenomenon had been very similar to today's.
Unfortunately, the phenomenon had appeared in the west then, and in the end, the Heavenly Book had fallen into the hands of the Eternal Night Divine Cult without any surprise.
For a thousand years, Great Xia had been so powerful, yet it had only possessed one volume of the Heavenly Book. Thus, aside from strength, the most important thing in claiming an ancient ruin was luck.
Ning Chen seemed to possess such luck, and the ancient ruin was also closest to him. Unfortunately, aside from curiosity, he truly could not muster much enthusiasm.
The man and horse in the wind and snow did not travel quickly. Yet because they were truly so close, even at their slow pace, they gradually approached the place where the ancient ruin's emergence had caused the strange phenomenon...
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