A breeze swept past. Before Tuoba Qing could finish his last word, Shi Qingyun appeared behind him and rested a hand on his shoulder.
Feeling the pain in his shoulder, Tuoba Qing swallowed the tea still in his mouth. A gulp rang out beneath the pavilion.
Divine power surged, and a crack immediately sounded from Tuoba Qing's shoulder. Before a cry of pain could escape his throat, another blow struck his abdomen.
The tremendous force passed through his body and left a fist-shaped mark on the pillar behind him.
Tuoba Qing passed out without uttering another sound. With a flick of his robes, Shi Qingyun appeared on the distant path.
Behind him, several figures already lay unconscious. His faintly regretful voice lingered in the air.
"You should be grateful we're inside the academy. It saved your lives."
His figure drifted farther away with his words, gradually shrinking into a black speck.
Chapter 91: A Year in the Blink of an Eye
In a spacious, spotless room, a strikingly handsome youth sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, his eyes half closed.
His expression was austere, yet an air of natural harmony radiated from him. Behind him, a faint Dao Diagram slowly rotated.
It made the youth look like an immortal exiled to the mortal world.
Seated on the cushion, Shi Qingyun had lost some of the childishness in his face compared with a year earlier. His brows resembled resting silkworms, his lips seemed tinted with rouge, and his long hair was black as ink.
He wore an ink-wash robe and a white jade hair crown. The faint contours of his muscles showed beneath his clothes, giving him the bearing of an elegant young gentleman.
Suddenly, his hands rose from their resting places on his knees and came together.
His fingers danced,