Chapter 98: Past Affections
Hee np guys and thks for reading too, HPC7595, ycb5959, jiken, Nerodragon12 and Furinkazan
Past Affections
[Translator note: I believed the title came from this phrase which seemed to be the latter part of Qin WuYan’s five steps poem: The past affections, so much time had passed, do you still remember? Doesn’t matter, there is still a grieving person here and he has already had a head full of white hair]
Qin WuYan looked at each one of them. With his sharp eyes, naturally he could tell that these four people were all outstanding talents, if using just their skills to fight, it might not be beneficial to him.
Just that Wan Du Clan had always chose the unorthodox ways and used either weird or underhand methods. Right now Qin WuYan was in control of this group of death marsh huge ants and also, he was completely at ease with countless of poisonous animals on him. In fact he looked normal and looking at the situation that way, he still had the upper hand.
Zeng ShuShu had always been quick-witted but right now he was fretting, looking at those savage-looking death marsh huge ants, the smell of blood assaulted them. He lowered his voice and spoke to the other two, “What do we do now, do we leave or fight?”
Li Xun frowned but did not speak. Actually if in accordance with his usual personality he definitely would never agree to retreat but after battling with those huge death marsh ants earlier, even though just with his strength alone he had killed over a hundred ants but if those innumerable ants surged up together, that terrifying force made him shuddered.
Fa Xiang could not make up his mind but Lin JingYu suddenly spoke, “I think we can fight, I dare say those death marsh huge ants are definitely not human pets and instead are being controlled with some evil method by this Evil Sect sorcerer, we only need to deal with this person and we can win with one fight.”
Fa Xiang nodded and said, “What Lin junior brother says is reasonable, the both of you……”
Zeng ShuShu pondered for a while and said, “What Lin junior brother said is right and with the four of us against him one person, if we still flee for our lives then that is too shameful.”
After which the three of them looked at Li Xun, Li Xun in the recent years was the most talented disciple in Fen Xiang Valley and had always been prideful. If Qin WuYan had not out of a sudden summoned those innumerable huge ants, he would have been the first to dual with Qin WuYan. Right now facing their stares, how could he lose this face, naturally he also said, “Fight!”
Fa Xiang immediately nodded and spoke quietly, “Later we will split into two teams, will need to trouble Li senior brother and Zeng senior brother to help us block those huge ants while Lin junior brother and I attack that Qin Wu Yan together, how is it?”
Three of them nodded together.
While they were discussing, Qin WuYan was also strategizing. When he had used the ants to besiege Li Xun, he did not expect Li Xun’s skills to be that high. Just with his strength alone, he was able to kill almost a hundred of those tough-skins-hard-bones venomous ants and looking at the other three, it was most likely they were all also highly-skilled, especially that Tian Yin Temple Fa Xiang, his reputation had became even more well-known in the recent years.
To say the least, just by looking at this Prajna Heart Circle, it indistinctly embodied the Buddhism great power of subduing demons and could make those huge death marsh ants instinctively stayed far from that golden circle. This level of cultivation was really remarkable.
He was deliberating on how to deal with those four people when suddenly a whistle sounded in front of him, the golden light flashed and Prajna Heart Circle was withdrew. The four of them leapt towards him and a commotion also started from the huge ants beside him.
Qin WuYan unexpectedly was delighted, he laughed out loud and flipped his left hand, a tiny black iron flute appeared but he did not blow it, instead he drew across the air, pressed a few holes on the flute using his left hand and immediately a low quiet sound was heard from the sky.
It did not have any impact to humans but to those innumerable death marsh huge ants, they looked like they had received a command and immediately started to move, gashing and clawing towards those four people.
Li Xun and Zeng ShuShu seemed to anticipate it and moved forward at the same time while wielding their magical weapons. Immediately, the places where the magical weapons’ bright lights flashed, the first several huge ants were flung out. However both of their arms also throbbed with pain upon the impact. Li Xun had dealt with these huge ants earlier on and had already experienced it therefore he was not surprised but Zeng ShuShu’s countenance changed and he secretly felt that these beasts were indeed powerful.
Both of them gathered their spirits and in a short while forced those numerous huge ants to a side. Lin JingYu and Fa Xiang transformed into resplendent lights, like lightning, the Dragon Slayer Sword turned into a bluish-green light and charged up into the sky, it immediately forced the darkness in the forest to recede several zhangs and struck down from the top towards Qin WuYan.
The force of the sword was extremely powerful, even Qin WuYan frowned and secretly thought to himself that these Good Faction guys were really not easy to deal with. But his expression did not show any signs of perturbation, his left hand still controlling the evil flute and making [wu wu] strange sounds, commanding the innumerable huge death marsh ants to besiege them while a dagger, radiating clear light, appeared in his right hand and looked capable of blocking Lin JingYu’s blow.
Fa Xiang saw it from behind and frowned, he recognized the dagger was the one used during Qing Yun battle ten years ago, Wan Du Clan’s rare treasure used by God of Poison. He muttered in a low voice and said, “‘Sever Yearning?”
Qin WuYan heard it and was startled, a flash of admiration went through his eyes. While locked in a stalemate with Lin JingYu, he said, “Fa Xiang Master is really more knowledgeable than others, it is indeed the ‘Sever Yearning Divine Dagger’!”
Fa Xiang appeared at Lin JingYu’s side but he did not rush in to assist, he calmly said, “A pity with such divine weapon and your distinguished self with such talents instead went astray, why not turn back to the shore?”
Qin WuYan laughed loudly, his left hand dancing across the flute, the clear luminous dagger gleamed in his right hand, suddenly he took five steps, his figure looked confident and recited, “The one I loved is far, yearning is bitter, my deep affections, unable to convey. Ten years of cultivation to earn affection, hundred years of cultivation to be together, I cannot bear to reminisce the past if I do not sever this yearning!”
A light purple energy suddenly surfaced from his usual placid face, the purple and the clear luminous light of the Sever Yearning Divine Dagger enhanced each other and instantly the bright clear light surged, gradually suppressing the Dragon Slayer Sword’s bluish-green light and at the same time, a rarely seen haughty expression appeared on his face and in a clear and loud voice he said, “Master see that I have degenerated into the Evil way but I instead laugh at Master’s obsessions, there are thousands paths in this world, each with its truths, don’t tell me your shore is the shore and my shore is the sea?”
Fa Xiang smiled and did not take it to heart, he was about to assist Lin JingYu when suddenly Lin JingYu’s firm voice was heard, “ The thousands innate paths, were all from one, the path of righteous, is right in the heart of the common people. You are the Evil, I am the Good, I have to eliminate the evil and subdue the demons!”
A clear whistle, the sound of the dragons singing from the Dragon Slayer Sword rang out loudly, the bluish-green light shone and rose to charge up into the sky. It broke out from the sea of clear bright light and in an instant, the sword energy swept over profusely like rain, covering the sky and earth towards Qin WuYan.
Qin WuYan frowned, unexpectedly this person had such valiant, right now he only had to make the Sever Yearning Divine Dagger turned back and attack, most probably he could inflict him with heavy injuries but this Dragon Slayer Sword pressed forward with an indomitable will to route the target, he knew it would be hard to take on and so avoided the attack.
This distraction caused his hands to slow down and he was unable to concentrate on the Control Demons Flute that was controlling the huge ants in the death marsh. Zeng ShuShu and Li Xun who were trying hard to block them finally could take a breather. However it was only for a moment as these wild and fierce huge ants were fearless and continued to attack, both of them agonized over it.
Zeng ShuShu shouted loudly, “Hey, Fa Xiang senior brother, at this juncture you are still trying to enlighten people! Please act quickly, if not we will be eaten by these beasts and you will have to chant the reborn incantation for me!”
Fa Xiang forced a smile and did not reply, watching Qin WuYan withstood another Lin JingYu’s higher and higher waves of attacks, he loudly said, “Qin benefactor please watch out.”
Immediately after speaking, the Reincarnation Pearl glimmered with golden light, flew out obliquely.
Qin WuYan frowned, Lin JingYu’s skills were already unexpected and now with another Fa Xiang. He snorted and without any movement, three dark shadows flew out from his right sleeve and swiftly separated out, flying at a high speed in three directions towards Fa Xiang.
Fa Xiang’s face was solemn, he did not dare to be careless, the Reincarnation Pearl flew out halfway and suddenly shone brilliantly, in a blink of an eye it deflected two of the dark shadows but the last one slipped through the golden light.
Fa Xiang made a sound [Hei], suddenly his hands like a knife, the fair hand stretched out flat, targeted right at that dark figure which was flying in and shouted loudly [Du!].
The dark figure suddenly shook violently in the air and as if it had received a heavy blow, dropped down from the sky. It was a small black snake with a triangular head, evidently it was venomous, it twitched a few times after landing on the ground and did not move anymore, most likely it was dead.
Qin WuYan was stunned, he nodded and praised, “‘DingShen Tong’! As expected from the number one successor of Buddhism Tian Yin Temple, Master’s high level of cultivation, my humble self is really impressed but Master kill the livings so thoughtlessly, not sure if the Buddhas will be unpleased?”
Before Fa Xiang could reply, Lin JingYu had already attacked with vigour, enshrouding Qin WuYan in a blanket of bluish-green light, he coldly replied, “All of you evil sorceress took countless of lives everyday and committed countless of evil, and now you still can righteously question others, really shameless!”
Qin WuYan [Haha] laughed and avoided the unstoppable sharp light from Dragon Slayer Sword. The Sever Yearning Divine Dagger’s clear bright light floated out and retaliated. At the same time, his right hand jerked and another seven or eight shadows flew out from his sleeve, containing colors of brown, black, dark red and scarlet yellow, against the magical weapon’s resplendent lights, everyone saw that those were different kinds of venomous creatures, scorpion, centipede etc flying towards Fa Xiang and temporarily prevented him from coming over.
Everyone was speechless, they thought to themselves that the evil sorcerer was really creepy, with so many poisonous strange creatures on his body and yet he was not afraid of being bitten. And among them, Zeng ShuShu imagined the most, he actually thought what if their senior and junior sisters saw these numerous poisonous creatures, would they be too petrified to even summon their magical weapons?
His thoughts had just flashed past in his head, his hands loosened and was almost bitten by an enormous ant near his feet. Luckily it had only bit the fringe of his shoes but the shock was enough for him to concentrate and focus on the battle.
Just that both he and Li Xun had to handle these innumerable huge ants at the same time, the pressure was simply too great. In this short period, both of them had killed another hundred over ants but these beast were endless and continued to pour over.
Zeng ShuShu and Li Xun looked at each other, both saw the retreat intention in each other’s eyes, Zeng ShuShu was about to turn around and urge the other side but from the corner of his eyes, he suddenly discovered, a faint blue light flashed in the deep of the forest.
He was stunned!
Qin WuYan tightened his brows and seemed to also at the same time, thought about pulling back. Today the four of them were really not easy to deal with and initially he assumed the formidable death marsh huge ants would be at the front but unexpectedly they were forcibly stopped by the two of them and could not even move one step beyond; and the intensity of the attacks by that Qing Yun Sect disciple in front of him with the Dragon Slayer Sword in his hands, he had not seen likes of it in his lifetime and from time to time, he would use the indomitable-with-no-room-for -retreat sword power moves, it was really a troubling point for him.
And for those poisonous creatures, it seemed like they would not be able to hold back Fa Xiang for long, if he were to wait till that person come over then most likely the game was as good as lost. Qin WuYan was the most favourable disciple of God of Poison and although he was young but he had a very good discernment. There and then he decided, his right hand shook and again three strange toads flew out to deal with Fa Xiang, the Sever Yearning’s clear and bright light surged and suddenly struck back in great force, the power was so aggressive that even Lin JingYu was forced back a few steps.
Taking advantage of this moment, Qin WuYan suddenly pulled away, moving far away from the rest, giving a long laugh he said, “Tonight let’s end it here then...”
Before he could finish his words, suddenly he heard Zeng ShuShu shouted out aloud, “Lu senior sister, quickly stop this person…”
Qin WuYan got a shock, from the corner of his eyes, he saw beside the bright lights, a blue light suddenly appeared in the darkness. Although he was shocked but he did not panic, the Sever Yearning was already horizontally in front of the blue light and he was confident that even how strong the force of this sword would be, he would be able to withstand it.
Unexpectedly although the blue light floated up in the darkness but in the wailing wind, the whole world suddenly became still in an instant, from the other side of the darkness, an icy cold feeling gushed over soundlessly and hit him on the right side of his body.
In spite of the fact that Qin WuYan had always been a cautious person, he eventually still suffered an underhand attack in this flint-spark moment. [Wa] a sound, he spat out a big mouthful of fresh blood, dying a big part of his chest red. In this critical moment, he still stubbornly pressed ahead and in a short moment, a sound of [suo suo suo] emitted from his right arm ceaselessly and immediately, several poisonous strange creatures were released to obstruct the crowd while his figure at the same time, flew back far away. After a long time his vengeful voice was heard, even though his stamina was already weak but it was still very shrill and sternly said, “Ghost Li, you are something! The revenge for this blow, we will calculate this in the future…”
Everyone was stunned by the sudden twist of event, Qin WuYan suddenly disappeared and all of the death marsh huge ants were suddenly freed but because such wild ferocious animals’ nature were to kill and devour, they instead attacked even more aggressively. Zeng ShuShu and Li Xun were unable to hold them back anymore and in the next moment, both Fa Xiang and Lin JingYu were also being besieged.
That blue light in the air floated and suddenly paused slightly. Suddenly, ignoring the people in the forest, like lightning, it charged into the other side of the darkness. Someone humphed in there and following which, a dark green light shone but without any intention of dueling, it immediately turned to leave. That blue light refused to give up and immediately pursued.
With such exceptional skills, in an instant, only the light remnants of their passing figures were left and in the next moment, even the shadows were gone.
Fa Xiang and the rest with a shout, flew up simultaneously and left the ground. Those huge ants, with no one left to fight and for no reason lost many of their comrades, they must be extremely incensed, roared at the sky ceaselessly.
Fa Xiang and the rest could not care less about those beasts and quickly searched around, unexpectedly in such a short time, the forest had resumed back its darkness, that green and blue streams of light had already disappeared without a trace and they could only stare at each other!
After a long time, Zeng ShuShu suddenly quietly asked, “Is it him?”
Fa Xiang remained silent for a while, a mix of emotions flashed past his eyes and eventually he sighed and said, “It should be him!”
Both of them looked at each other and looked over at Lin JingYu at the same time but that young man hovered in the air, the night breeze blew over, flapping his clothes around loudly. On his handsome face, there was no expression but that pair of eyes, kept on staring into that dark forest, staring dazedly!
The dark late night.
The stillness of the ancient forest, as if even the cries of the insects in the deep recesses of the darkness had also suddenly disappeared.
Even the sound of the wind brushing past the forest became more and more mournful and bitter, as if narrating the grievances of the dark night.
The green light flashed past in the darkness, like a flitting passerby who had stepped into the darkness but that blue light behind him suddenly appeared. And it was this dazzling splendor that charged into the darkness and forced all of the darkness to retreat, closely pursuing that green stream of light.
The green light in the forest shuttled suddenly, soared suddenly, increasing and increasing its speed but no matter what it could not shake off that blue light. Looking up from the darkness, that blue light seemed like an impetuous force, pursuing relentlessly and refused to give up.
Who was it, that quietly sighed in the darkness?
Who was it, that opened his/her heart in the night? [Translator note: there was no evident reference to him or her]
The darkness poured in from all directions and then retreated, the sound of the wind hit one’s face and then swiftly disappeared, that once familiar figure fluttered ceaselessly in the night scene, reverberated in whose eyes?
[Si!]
A light sound, that green light suddenly stopped and dispersed, Ghost Li’s figure appeared and quietly stood at the treetop of a big tree.
Not more than several feet away from him, that blue light too stopped behind him. That handle which even in the night was also that dazzling and radiant, Tian Ya Celestial Sword, held in the fair hand, coldly pointing at him.
The night deepened.
The mournful sound of the wind.
Their clothes, danced lightly in the wind.
Ghost Li unhurriedly, unhurriedly turned over and faced that face.
She was in this world, that exquisite and incomparable beauty and that beauty untouched not even by time, made one stopped breathing but yet intoxicated.
She with her cold face, holding the sword, pointing at him!
The tip of Tian Ya Sword was as cold as snow, so very near to him, even on his throat, he seemed to feel that trail of cold.
And inexplicably, deep inside the heart, that faint anguish.
The wind, moved the treetop, their bodies too, in the night breeze, gently swayed.
Nobody spoke, only quietly stared.
These past ten years, suddenly, from the bottom of the heart, little by little it slowly seethed and surged up to the top.
Her hand clutching the sword, still as fair as ten years ago and not so long ago it had been held in the palm of the hand?
He smiled, with a faint bitterness, he lightly said, “Are you still doing well?”
Lu XueQi did not answer, did not even say a single word. Her lips, because she was biting hard on it, appeared pale. The night gathered around her figure, desolated and beautiful.
Ghost Li, no, Zhang Xiao Fan, in this moonless and totally dark night, in front of this girl, suddenly he seemed to return back to ten years ago, his body seemed to too in the shadow, secretly trembled.
“Why did you not kill me?” That beautiful girl quietly said, Tian Ya which was as cold as snow, still in her hand pointing at him.
He looked at her eyes, so bright and clear, like a soundless flame.
He lowered his head slightly, after a long time, he looked at his own figure, looked at that gently swaying figure in front of him and indifferently said, “Ten years ago in Crystal Hall, why did you impetuously defended me and spoke for me?”
Lu XueQi did not speak, only the corner of her lips pursed slightly, the hand that was holding the sword, so tightly, as if afraid of something?
That shining eyes, whose figure was it that gleamed in it?
Zhang Xiao Fan!
So it really did not change? In these ten years did it really not change?
She stared blankly, bit her lips and let herself remained cold, ensuring her stare would never become blurred.
But, whose heart pounded, throbbing intensely in that long frozen heart, that long-been-silent faint tenderness that quietly lingered around in those countless nights, right now suddenly like a flame blazed, burned in the chest!
Beside the lips, suddenly a faint bitterness, it was a drop of wetness.
The hand that was holding the sword, slowly dropped down.
She raised her head and looked at the sky.
The wind blew her soft and beautiful hair, brushing past her fair and white face.
So the sky, had started to rain again?