Hengmu Liren frowned. He recalled something and could no longer feel calm and cheerful. Instead, his face got distorted and he seemed extremely enraged, especially when he lowered his head and looked down.

His divine gown was very loose so that he could easily see his own chest when looking down.

Although he was the son of Haotian, he was after all a mortal in the human world. Therefore he had two nipples. But right now there seemed to be a third one, which was a black chess piece.

The black chess piece was deeply implanted in his flesh which made him feel sick.

“I’ll kill you all.” Hengmu Liren growled, “I will kill you all for sure!” His young and sharp voice resounded above the lake. The cavalrymen from the Divine Halls and a dozen of red-robed divine priests fell onto their knees in fear and did not dare to say a word.

Hengmu Liren was indeed enraged. He thought he would have broken into Chang’an, or at least arrived at Chang’an by then. But actually he was … still in Qinghe Prefecture! He had powerful subordinates, many cavalrymen from the Divine Halls and over a hundred thousands of troops. Yet he was blocked to the south of the Verdant Canyon… by the Tang people!

The Verdant Canyon again. Just like many years ago.

Hengmu Liren used to sigh over the fact that Jun Mo had lost one arm and could no longer defend the Verdant Canyon by himself. He had lost his chance to defeat Jun Mo at his full glory.

At the same moment, Jun Mo was in the West Wilderness. The Eldest Brother was not here, nor was Yu Lian, Chen Pipi or Ning Que… However he was still blocked to the south of the Verdant Canyon!

The troops from the Divine Halls of West-Hill fought against the Southern Battlefront Army of the Tang on the fields to the north of Qinghe Prefecture for dozens of days. There were ups and downs on both sides. Then Hengmu Liren himself joined the battle only to be ambushed by the Academy and got wounded!

His previous sighs seemed like slaps in his face now. Whenever Hengmu recalled this, he felt sharp pains on the face and could not help becoming extremely enraged!

“A few nobodies at the level of Seethrough… how could you stop me?” Hengmu Liren kept looking down at the black chess piece. His distorted face was enveloped in disgust and his teeth were grinding, which sounded chilling.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath again. The layers of gauze around his sacred sedan danced violently in roaring wind while the air above the lake was completely inhaled into his chest.

His chest raised slightly and the divine gown fluttered. But this time he did not cough.

An unworldly power came to the human world and was charged into his body.

Upon a low bang the black chess piece implanted in his chest was smashed.

He opened his eyes and looked toward the Verdant Canyon. There was nothing but distinctive killing intent in his eyes.

His wound was healed. And those people were doomed.

…

…

Ever since the Qinghe Prefecture defected, the Verdant Canyon had actually become the gateway of the Tang Empire and the Academy. Because to the south of the Verdant Canyon it all belonged to Taoism. They had to defend the Verdant Canyon no matter what.

During the universal war against the Tang many years ago, the empire had activated the array they concealed in the Verdant Canyon for hundreds of years, and sacrificed Professor Huang He and the array masters from the imperial court. This led to the failure of their countless enemies and powerful cultivators. In the following years, Tang was rebuilding and restoring the channel through the Verdant Canyon.

To block the Verdant Canyon was a simple way to keep their enemies outside the gateway. But the Tang people were planning to get out of the Verdant Canyon, defeat all the enemies and reclaim their territories.

But when confronting the allied forces from the Divine Halls of West-Hill, especially Hengmu Liren, the Yulin Royal Guards and the Southern Battlefront Army was refrained from proceeding further south. They stationed deep inside the Verdant Canyon to defend the southern gateway of Tang. Making good use of the favorable location and long distance, they successfully kept the powerful enemies outside the Verdant Canyon.

The battle had lasted for dozens of days and exhausted the Tang troops. It became much quieter in the barracks deep inside the valley. Only in one particular barracks it was still noise at midnight.

Some people were quarreling.

“I’ve told you. In terms of playing chess, I’m definitely number one in the world. Younger Brother, how could you beat me? But you just refuse to admit it. Don’t you ever get bored after so many years?”

“Elder Brother, if it was something else I would definitely give up. But for this I will never surrender. Throughout the four hundred and ninety two rounds we played these years, I obviously have won one more round than you. How the hell am I inferior to you?”

“That was a triple K.O! How could that count?”

“According to the rules I learned when I was a kid, that was definitely a loss. You lost that round for sure.”

“Pooh! You are inferior to me in chess anyway.”

“Why?”

“Because when Hengmu wandered into our chess array the other day, it was my black pieces that hurt him! Not your white pieces!”

“If it was not because of my ingeniously placed white pieces, how could we have trapped him?”

“What about a few years ago? Don’t forget that it was me who defeated Xiong Chumo!”

“Pooh! If it was not because of our Senior Sister you would be long dead!”

In the dim barrack, Xu Jialun kept his head low and focused on decocting the herbal medicine, as if he never heard their conversation. He was too bored of their quarreling lately.

The Fifth Brother Song Qian from the Academy stared at the stubborn Eighth Brother and felt extremely angry. Yet unexpectedly there came two even more angry yelling from the side.

Beigong Weiyang lifted his wrapped hand as if he was showcasing or demonstrating. He yelled, “If it was not me who stopped those cavalrymen from the Divine Halls, your useless array would have been destroyed long ago, not to mention to trap Hengmu!”

“And how could you forget me…” Ximen Buhuo also raised his bandaged hand and reminded the rest. Then he turned to the Fifth and Eighth Brother and scorned, “How can you forget it is my second time guarding at the Verdant Canyon? In terms of ranking and achievements, I am far ahead of you guys.”

None of the rest agreed with him. He was so blunt that the others were immediately irritated and could not stop from questioning and cursing. Everyone was sputtering in the barracks.

“Come on, stop fighting and take the medicine first.” Wang Chi came and stopped them from talking nonsense.

The lamp light got brighter. It turned out that the four of them were all lying on the bed wrapped in bandages. It smelled bloody and herbal. They were obviously badly wounded and could no longer join the battle.

Upon finishing the smelly herbal medicine that their Brother made, they calmed down and became quiet. After a long while Beigong asked all of a sudden, “The Eleventh, can you try poisoning Hengmu?”

There was another long pause.

Wang Chi shook his head. “I never heard that a great cultivator above the Five States could be poisoned.”

Song Qian seemed indifferent about life and death.

“Hengmu is already above the Five States. If he was not too arrogant and got accidentally trapped by the four of us in the Verdant Canyon, no one would have stopped him.”

It became very uninspiring. They had been proud and cheerful these days because someone above the Five States like Hengmu was defeated by them… However, he would recover soon. What could they do next?

The situation was different now. Hengmu would never be trapped in the same array for twice. Who could ever defeat him again? If no how could Tang defend its gateway?

Wang Chi whispered unexpectedly, “It has been days… The troubles in the north should have been settled.”

Ximen Buhuo frowned and said, “It should be settled according to the Senior Sister’s plan. But… how powerful is the Golden Tribe is? How could they finish them in such a short time? I do not have much hope in it.”

“It’s no longer my business.”

Beigong Weiyang was annoyed and said, “The four useless us, plus the flower fanatic Eleventh, how could we fight any longer?! If Ning Que is not coming, there’s nothing we could do.”

Wang Chi felt offended and said, “Bother, the Flower Fanatic is a woman. Mind your words.”

Ximen Buhuo was also annoyed and said, “How could we leave it all to the Youngest Brother?”

Beigong Weiyang covered his head with the quilt and murmured, “How I wish we could leave it to the Eldest, the Second Brother and the Senior Sister. But would they come? Anyway I could never defeat the damn Hengmu.”

The light dimmed again upon his words.

In the ambush inside the Verdant Canyon, the four students from the Academy had spared no efforts and made use of the array intent left by the previous masters. Despite the favorable situations they could only hurt Hengmu with minor wounds whereas they themselves were severely wounded.

If Hengmu were not too arrogant, or if they did not have the favorable situations, they could have never hurt him the slightest. Whenever they recalled Hengmu’s tremendous power when he broke through the array, they were stunned and awed. They could feel nothing but restlessness and anxiousness.

Xu Jialun prepared a second round of herbal medicine and came to his bed. He slightly lifted the quilt. This former servant boy had become a handsome young man with fine features.

Beigong Weiyang removed the quilt and seemed annoyed, “What good would this medicine do?”

“Will it do any good if you don’t take them?”

Xu Jialun stared at him and said sincerely, “The young master used to say, even if there is nothing you can do, you have to keep doing something. Because only by doing something you could find the solution. Otherwise there would be no hope.”

It became quiet again in the room. The depressed or even desperate conversation was instantly revived by his words.

Wang Chi helped Beigong Weiyang to sit up. He took the bowl and toasted the medicine. Song Qian and the other three toasted it too.

They had to recover soon. Even if they could not defeat Hengmu, as long as they could fight, they should at least help exhausting him.

…

…

Upon dawn, the mist dispelled and the morning glow shone over the Verdant Canyon.

A horse came from the north. The clops sounded distinctive in the silent valley.

The Tang soldiers on night shift peeped from the seemingly shabby but very firm arrow mounds. They did not prepare to shoot because they saw clearly that it was coming from the north.

The horse was black, so was the person’s clothes. It was Ning Que and his big black horse. Ning Que’s black uniform of the Academy was dust-stained. The big black horse already got rid of the fat it put on while living in the Great Swamp. It looked strong and firm but somewhat exhausted.

He and his big black horse never took a decent rest along on the thousands of miles from Wei to the Verdant Canyon. They never slept a whole night but only took a nap and had some porridge when passing by Yang Erxi’s home.

Throughout these years, the Academy was no longer the mystical place to connect the human world and the world beyond. Via the publicity of the imperial court as well as descriptions by people like Beigong, the Tang people were already very familiar with Ning Que, his weapons and his horse. Upon seeing the distinctive big black horse and the iron arrows and blade he carried, they immediately realized who he was and the words were instantly spread.

Along the lush valley, more Tang soldiers stood up from the hidden barracks and arrow mounds. They stared at Ning Que. Some were merely awaken and kept rubbing their eyes and yawning.

Mr. Thirteen finally arrived.

Along the steep cliffs the Tang soldiers’ conversation turned into hail. Tens of thousands of Yulin Royal Guards and the Southern Battlefront Army hurrahed sincerely. Some even shouted to greet him.

Ning Que looked above along the valleys and waved to greet back. Then the hail became deafening and soared into the morning sky, as if it would overturn Haotian’s Divine Kingdom.

They finally came to the entrance of the Verdant Canyon.

Ning Que lifted the rein to stop the big black horse.

The Verdant Canyon narrowed into a small path of a few meters wide. Standing inside the canyon people could see the fertile fields in the northern part of Qinghe Prefecture through the entrance. It was already dark green in early spring.

There were traces of the previous and recent wars in and outside the canyon. Dark blood stains, broken arrows and intensive scratches on the rocks depicted how brutal the wars were.

This was the gateway of the Tang. In the previous war as well as the current battle, it had been a decisive battlefield right inside the Verdant Canyon. The results of the wars decided the fate of Chang’an.

Ning Que had been in and out of the Verdant Canyon for many times. Today he came again. He stood inside the canyon while staring at the outside, pondering on something. Before he noticed Wang Jinglue came to his side and looked together to the south. He seemed extremely solemn and did not bother to hide the killing intent in his eyes.

“We have to kill Hengmu.”

Ning Que paused and then answered, “Definitely.”

Since he was expelled from Chang’an by Master Yan Se, Wang Jinglue joined Xu Shi’s army and got a lot thinner. Now he was even more skinny like a dead tree, which surprised Ning Que.

“You are already above Knowing Destiny. What happened to you?”

Wang Jinglue recalled the night of slaughtering in Qinghe Prefecture and thought of the courageous young men he gathered from the clans. They were thrown onto the ground, smashed like unripe fruits falling off the trees. He looked pale and said, “Grief brings maturity, as well as fear.”

Ning Que turned to him and asked, “Are you scared?”

“Indeed.” Wang Jinglue said after a pause, “You never confronted Hengmu and have no idea how powerful he could be. I know. Therefore I’m scared.”

Ning Que turned to look toward the south again and said smilingly, “And you still hope that I can kill him?”