Estranged - CH 123

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After a short moment of hesitation, Changming moved.

The moment he met A-Rong, a bond of karma had formed between them. If he did not help her and left her to die, this bond of karma would have presented an obstacle in his cultivation.

Perhaps, attacking them now was not a wise decision, but he had no other choice.

The young master’s cultivation was high.

He noticed Changming the very moment the latter revealed himself. The man snapped his fingers, and an arrow of black fog charged at Changming, as sharp as a knife and as fast as if it were an arrow that had been shot from a bow.

It was just an opening move, a stone tossed to find out what was ahead. The fog touched Changming and combusted, disappearing along with the person and shattering into pieces, swirling in the air.

The young master raised his brows slightly, revealing a surprised expression.

Hua-Shan had already prudently stepped aside, afraid to meet the fate of fish in a town pond.

Fish in a town pond: dies when the town gates are in fire: people take water from the pond to extinguish the fire

She knew that the young master was a formidable opponent. He had already reached the level of a skilled master—he could have even been at the level of a grandmaster or even greater.

Hua-Shan had experienced his power several times since they started working together. Each time, she thought she had understood how profound his skills were, but later on, reality proved that she had not, as he would always catch her off guard, thus warning her against insubordination. He had suppressed her over and over again until she no longer had any will to resist.

Hua-Shan prided herself as someone who had seen much of life and had fought against many cultivators. However, even after working with the young master for so long, she still did not manage to uncover his origins—even if he was a rogue cultivator, surely, he had to have come from somewhere. Yet it seemed that the young master had just materialized from thin air. All his cultivation arts, skills, and movements were mysterious. He did not have spiritual weapons or treasures that he would use consistently. Instead, he could use almost anything to his benefit. Even if it was just a single stalk of straw, it would turn into a sharp blade covered in poison in his hands. His spiritual consciousness was astounding, and Hua-Shan even thought that he seemed to know everything.

Hua-Shan did not dare to have a sliver of hesitation while dealing with this man, who was almost a deity in her eyes. That was why when he said he needed one of the fox spirits to be sacrificed, she accepted this request almost without fighting back.

This time was no different.

As the shards fell one after another, the ground was covered with white paper. A black mist had enveloped the young master, and he swiftly raised his sleeve, seemingly reaching to catch thin air!

But a person was grabbed by the front part of their robes!

Without saying anything, the young master reached out for the person’s head before Hua-Shan could even realize what was happening!

After a loud “bang”, that person groaned and fell to the ground softly.

Hua-Shan’s heart was beating loudly as she breathed out weakly. She was frightened and regretted that everything was over so quickly.

Was this person dealt with so easily? The young master deserved admiration indeed.

But in a moment, she opened her eyes wide again.

The person who had fallen to the ground was rapidly melting like a snowman under the sun, so quickly that she saw it clearly. Very soon, he had turned into a pool of water that then dissolved in the snow.

Hua-Shan heard the young master sneer coldly and shrank back subconsciously.

She knew that he was very annoyed.

The last one who had infuriated the young master, a nightmare demon, was torn into pieces until his souls scattered away.

“I admit that you’re somewhat skilled. But you’re not experienced enough to fight against me!”

Just as he said that, he abruptly stretched out his hand for a strike!

The black fog intertwined with his spiritual powers, turning into complex and obscure talismanic writings. Before Hua-Shan could analyze it, the writings grew in magnitude and subsequently exploded in the air.

A white flash had been struck by the talisman writing and fell down!

A-Rong could not help screaming. She was obviously worried.

Hua-Shan glanced at her. When did this little devil hook up with a cultivator, and why was Hua-Shan unaware of this fact?

The white shadow fell down lightly. It turned out to be a paper puppet again!

The young master was secretly irritated. He looked around and silently suppressed his qi, no longer attacking so mindlessly.

“Does daoyou’s puppet technique come from the Nangong aristocratic family of Nanhai, who specialize in the Art of Transferring Spirit?”

His words were no longer as pompous as before, and his tone of voice had warmed as if he was talking to a good old friend.

“Daoyou, we have no bones to pick with each other, so why should we battle so desperately? Wouldn’t the fisherman profit from that? If you want anything, you might as well say that. If I can satisfy your needs, I surely will.”

The fisherman profits from that: third party takes advantage of two other who have a conflict

Hua-Shan then heard a voice answering the young master from nowhere.

“Daoyou, you’re of good ancestry and have great knowledge and experience. Can’t you guess my origins?”

Hua-Shan’s attention turned to these two words: “good ancestry”.

Could it be that this man knew of the young master’s origins?

She could not help stealing a glance at him. Unfortunately, it was too dark, and the young master was cloaked in black robes with a hood over his head, so she could only see his chin vaguely, not his expression.

“A pity, daoyou, but you’re mistaken. I’m a villager from the countryside, and I’m all alone in the world. What ancestry is there to talk about?”

The young master squinted and spoke carelessly, but in truth he was searching for his enemy’s position.

He knew for certain that this man was somewhere nearby, but his skills in concealing himself were extremely powerful, so the young master still could not find him.

The world was vast, and surely there were many hidden dragons and sleeping tigers. However, the strongest and most powerful people could not disappear completely. Anyone who was barely known could be instantly launched into fame in a million ways, and the young master believed that he knew the background of almost everyone who had made a name for themselves.

Only this man was different: either he had come from the Nangong aristocratic family, or was a mystery to the young master.

Yet even the Nangong aristocratic family, despite being proficient in the Art of Conferring Spirit, had not attained the pinnacle of perfection in using puppets. Perhaps even the head of the family could not have escaped the young master’s discerning eye.

So, in the end, who was this man?

“Daoyou’s being too modest. Everybody in the world has heard of you. You came to Hongluo in order to collude with fox spirits and demons, which may seem as if you want to kill people at random, but in truth, you have other plans. Why don’t you tell me what they are? If we reach an agreement, I’ll reveal myself.”

When he was speaking, his voice was coming from every direction at once. Hua-Shan felt as if she was surrounded by him and could not quickly guess his location.

The young master squinted and did not look round in all directions like Hua-Shan. On the contrary, he was standing motionlessly, and only his ears moved.

Just as the man uttered the last word, the young master abruptly moved sideways, turned into a shadow and launched himself at Hua-Shan!

Hua-Shan saw him come at her with a murderous look on his face. She was terrified, but did not have time to retreat at all. Only when his hand  brushed past her did she realize that his target was not Hua-Shan herself, but something behind her back!

Was there a person behind her?!

At the same time as she turned her head around, she heard the loud sound of metal crushing, as if two swords, belonging to masters, had clashed in a life-or-death fight.

The swords were as bright as rainbows, brimming with murderous qi. Hua-Shan only felt a sharp pain pierce her back when her body leaped forward on instinct. She fell to the ground, coughing up blood, while the blinding light produced by the swords suddenly went out without a trace.

The young master landed swiftly.

There was not a scratch on him. He looked at the ground with a cold sneer.

Hua-Shan followed his gaze and noticed a dark mark on the snow. After looking more carefully, she realized that it was blood.

“You’re wounded,” the young master said.

By attacking the man, he had gained some information.

The man’s cultivation was inferior to the young master’s, so he had to resort to this trick of hiding himself to buy himself some time. The man had no chance of winning in a direct battle.

The young master only needed to catch him one more time…

“We have no past grievances and no recent resentment between us. If you agree to show yourself, I’ll give you a pass. Since daoyou is wounded, why are you fighting so resolutely? When that golden talisman hits you, you will feel nothing at first, but gradually your arms and legs will feel as if they have been submerged in icy water and pricked with needles. It’s hard to endure, and you won’t be able to deal with it alone.”

The man seemed to have hidden himself somewhere and showed no traces of himself at all.

It was now about patience.

Although the young master knew that his opponent’s cultivation was lower, if the man actually stayed frozen to a spot and did not move, it would be difficult for the young master to do anything.

The night was long, the dreams were many—it was still better to solve the matter as quickly as possible.

The night was long, the dreams were many: anything can happen if you wait for too long

His eyes stopped at the small and thin figure behind the pile of firewood, and the corners of his mouth curled up.

There was always a way out.

The young master dashed there abruptly, reaching his hand out as fast as lightning!

A-Rong was beyond terrified. The young master was about to kill her, but she still had not collected her thoughts.

How could she avoid an attack as sudden as this? Even Hua-Shan did not get a chance to retaliate, so what could A-Rong do?

At this moment, which lasted only long enough for lightning to flash and split a rock, she vaguely realized that the young master intended to take her life to lure the senior out!

If the senior did not show himself, her miserable life would be quickly lost.

When her death was just at hand, a gust of fresh wind came from beside her, and she was gently pushed and moved against her will.

The senior was actually forced to reappear!

The young master laughed, stretching his hand out to Changming.

This hand did not bring a seal with a talisman as he did before. Now, the black patterns on his hand had parted into threads, revealing golden strings.

From Changming’s perspective, these gold metallic threads were like nets blocking both the sky and the earth to catch him. He was almost wrapped in the dense web that loomed right above his head, and had no chance of freeing himself.

It suddenly made Changming somewhat nostalgic.

The young master and the thick dark mist around him also seemed familiar to Changming, as if they had already met.

Even though he could not see the man’s face, even though his memories had been damaged…

Where had he seen this?

A-Rong watched in a daze as the two of them were locked into a hand-to-hand battle. The sword in front of the senior cut through the black wires, but froze before reaching the young master and would not move forward no matter what. The sword glow was getting duller as well and was no longer as blinding as before.

By contrast, the young master kept crossing the distance between them steadily, so, obviously, he had gained the upper hand. He folded his arms into a seal, and the black fog formed a circle, following the gesture. Black qi started to creep forward with golden threads mixed within. A-Rong did not know what shape it was supposed to take, but vaguely recognised some constellations.

The stars seemed to be in motion. They gathered and dispersed incessantly, as if it were an invisible whirlpool that wanted to devour people. A-Rong was unconsciously attracted to it. She held her breath in concentration and softly exclaimed with admiration.

What she was witnessing were the glory days of the fox clans!

Thousands of fox clans had gathered in the human world. They lived out in the open and did not have to conceal their identities, since they were now the real owners of the world.

Great! Was that not what they dreamed of day and night?

However, what about the senior?

Where did he go?

Changming’s mind was also lost in the stars on the “black dish”.

The moment when the young master’s palm struck Changming’s chest, the outcome of the battle seemed to have been determined.

The Changming Sword spared no effort to protect its master, but it still could not repel the young master’s attack. Changming had been enveloped in the black fog, like a beast trapped in a cocoon of black silk threads. His spiritual powers were being taken away slowly.

The young master was not in a hurry to finish off Changming. He wanted Changming’s cultivation for himself, so he was planning to steal the sky and put up a sham sky.

To steal the sky and put up a sham sky: to substitute smth

Changming’s chances of survival were vanishing with the black fog, but he never used the Bell of One Soul in his hand.

The black fog in front of his eyes parted, and he seemed to be watching another scene.

He lowered his head. The ground was covered in lotuses. Golden light was spilling over the petals, Buddhist scriptures resounded merrily, and even the heavens seemed to be singing quietly. However, the lotuses were not of the usual pink color—instead, they were made of stone.

Everything he could see around had already changed. The world was teetering on the verge of total collapse. The stone lotuses had already withered one after another. The golden light was still oozing from the flowers, but it was no longer holy and pure like before. Now, it seemed to be heralding the impending doomsday, as if the universe had fallen into ruin and both yin and yang had been exhausted.

Changming felt very dizzy, as if he was one of these lotuses and his chances of survival were diminishing rapidly. He knew that his cultivation was different from the “young master’s” and he could hardly withstand a direct confrontation. Nevertheless, he was fighting back stubbornly and refused to call for Yun Weisi with the Bell of One Mind.

This was because he wanted to understand what that feeling of familiarity he had was. It seemed that he knew the young master, so who was this person?

Was it—

In the sky that had been enveloped in clouds and mists, he blocked a deadly blow that depleted his cultivation.

When the Liuhe Zhutian Formation collapsed, the souls of the grandmaster were severed, and the entire world was destroyed.

“Yun Weisi, although it has seemed like I was unable to give you what you wanted from me and I’ve been pursuing the Heavenly Dao my whole life, asking for nothing more, it was still only you—you were my only attachment to this world. From this day on, my souls will scatter away, and we will never meet again. But, if there’s a next life—”

A voice suddenly roared inside Changming’s head, so loud that even those who were deaf could have heard it. His heart was beating wildly.

Who was speaking?

Was it Changming himself?

The only shackles attaching him to the world…

Changming closed his eyes. He was obviously suffering, and almost could not endure the pressure his opponent was inflicting on him. The fox poison had activated too, so he had been strained like a bow since earlier and could break at any moment now. Yet, he had not triggered the Bell of One Mind in his hand.

He was about to find out the truth!

Yun Weisi was his only attachment to this world, and the person in front of him—

Changming opened his eyes abruptly. His eyes saw through the layers of fog, through the hundred years, through the grim destruction of the world—he saw the future and everything that was to happen in the world. The clouds had been dispelled, and he saw the moon. The figure from his memories overlapped with the silhouette before his eyes seamlessly!

The clouds had been dispelled, and he saw the moon: see the truth

Luomei!

He broke the seal that had obstructed his memories and shouted the name!

The black threads were torn, and a white light erupted around Changming. The Changming Sword reacted swiftly and rang in response!

Honor reaches to the clouds, the purple qi comes from the east, the highest heavens return; who but myself can do it!

The young master’s expression changed quickly!

He realized that the aura around had abruptly shifted, and the opponent that had not been his match in any regard was no longer himself either. The dark mists dispersed, and heavy spiritual powers were assaulting his senses as his opponent suddenly got near him!

His aura was ice-cold, fierce, and overbearing—completely opposite from what the man was like before this!

“So it was really you!”

The young master saw the man smile icily and raised his hands with a seal immediately!

The two raw spiritual powers collided with nothing between them. In this moment, two enemies met face-to-face on a narrow path to fight to death!

The young master decided it was better to run away.

He did not want to die, especially if this happened in such a pathetic way in this no-name Hongluo Town. There were many things he had yet to do.

Even though he only thought of retreating, his opponent sensed this intention clearly, as if they were a blazing fire!

When the thick fog dispersed completely, both of them had been wounded.

The young master ran away!

He chose to sacrifice a pawn to save a rook without a moment of hesitation. He disappeared and did not even spare a glance at Hua-Shan—not a trace of him was left behind.

Was it over?

Hua-Shan stretched out her head cautiously. When she saw that, contrary to her expectations, the young master had escaped, she could not believe her eyes.

The other man was standing motionlessly, as if he was made of stone.

Drip, drip. His blood started dripping down to the snow at some point.

He had been injured, and the injury was quite severe.

Step by step, Hua-Shan slowly came over and raised her head to leave a seal on his back.

The author has something to say:

A small scene unrelated to the main text:

Zhou Keyi: (laughing loudly) Shizun has remembered everything! You’re done!

Yun Weisi: (unfazed) Have you become a human again?

Zhou Keyi: …

Yun Weisi: Your ex-subordinate, Xu Jingxian, seems to be interested in dog meat.

Zhou Keyi: …