Beyond the Divine States

Chapter 60 The Quiet Rainy Night

The spirit-swallower that looked like a huge ox split up slowly in the sky. The seemingly indestructible body showed numerous thin cracks after it was split up, slowly sinking and falling to the secular world. Then, it turned into the gaseous aura in midair, flew upward and formed masses of evil clouds.

Those were only the primary evil clouds, which looked as beautiful as amber. Now, in the sunset glow, it appeared crystally rosy, just like the tender flowers in the sky.

In the sunset, the man wearing old black clothes was standing in the air. Carrying the saber on his shoulder, he looked at the split-up spirit-swallower and gradually closed-up c***k of the void, and nodded with satisfaction. Then, he looked back and gazed at Zhao Xiang'er for a moment with somewhat regret. Subconsquently, he turned the gaze to the young man who was kneeling on the ground and holding a little girl in his arms behind them.

The man suddenly narrowed his eyes and looked him up and down. Rubbing his chin for quite a while, he finally shook his head and sighed, "Good temperament. What a shame!"

Ning Changjiu also stared at him. His eyes were filled with tears and his throat was too hoarse to make any sound. He couldn't even greet his second fellow disciple.

Zhao Xiang'er had fallen into Lu Jiajia's arms and passed out.

The black bird around her also landed behind her like the wind, got into the long shadow under the sunset and disappeared.

Lu Jiajia bowed to the figure. "Thank you for your help."

The man laughed chicly and said, "I've watched you in the imperial city for a long time. You guys are really interesting. I'm quite impressed. If possible, you can come to our temple and burn incense to worship in prayer. It works very well."

Lu Jiajia said, "May I ask your..."

Before she could finish asking, the man interrupted with a wave, "I won't talk about my name and master. For cultivators, reason matters in terms of doing things while fate matters in terms of interpersonal relationships. Cultivating diligently is the top priority. No need to mention repaying the favors."

Lu Jiajia was lost for words.

Ning Changjiu was shivering, staring at the second fellow disciple, making the casual latter also rather uncomfortable.

He stroked his hair and looked at Ning Changjiu, saying with a grin, "I know the two slashes I struck were quite awesome, but you don't need to stare at me like this. Haha, if you can get to see my senior fellow disciple's sword moves, your eyes must pop out!"

Of course he had seen the eldest fellow disciple's sword moves.

The killing intent of her sword moves was extremely rich. How could he forget the scene where the sun and the moon went dim, the skies fell and the earth opened up, and the mountains and rivers overturned?

However, no matter how shocking that was, it couldn't be compared to how he felt about meeting the second fellow disciple again.

Nevertheless, no matter how good the second fellow disciple was at the saber skill, he couldn't see through Ning Changjiu's mind. He only thought that his sword skill was so good that a young man was dumbstruck. It was a matter of course that the young man admired him very much.

He took a glance at the b****y sunset and suddenly stopped smiling.

"My job is done here... Guys, see you around."

A streak of black light rushed to the sky.

The sun set toward the mountains in the distance.

Ning Changjiu gradually calmed down. Looking at the sunset, he recalled the same day in his last life.

At that time, he carried a deck chair to the cliff by the sea of clouds and stared at the sunset falling into the sea of clouds, stirring up the magnificent rosy waves. When the night fell, he returned the marriage letter and confessed his thought.

He thought that it was the closure of that matter.

However, sometimes, it was not a strange combination of circumstances...but a replacement.

He looked at the little girl with a black outfit and black hair, who looked like a porcelain doll. Somehow, he felt warmth in his heart. Thinking of the mental struggle in the hall and the three-year agreement before, he couldn't help curling up the corners of his lips.

Ning Xiaoling in his arms was still sleeping sound. The evil seed had been destroyed while her innate spirit who became simple and harmless again sank to the depths of her body and gradually recovered.

However, when he thought that the four words "Yong Jie Tong Xin" on the marriage letter were used by him as the anchor to fix Ning Xiaoling and that the fiancee mentioned in the marriage letter was right before him, he couldn't help having a weird feeling.

Of course, the feeling couldn't last too long. After everything was settled, together with the relaxed mind, he felt tired irresistibly.

His eyelids became so heavy.

Lu Jiajia holding the young girl in her arms gently rushed to him and supported his leaning body. With a shout, her immortal sword was unsheathed and became soft, turning into a rope to wrap up the two young people's bodies. Then, she ran down the Jiuling Tower at an extremely steady pace.

She looked at the young girl in black sleeping in her arms and then glanced at the two unconscious young people wrapped by the sword rope. For the moment, she was uncertain whether she was going to market with the whole family or abducting kids. Anyway, she felt like a mother now...

Lu Jiajia laughed resignedly. She suddenly thought of the unmatched saber move just now but she found that the memory got hazy.

The saber intent and the trajectory of that move as well as that man's appearance became very hazy as if being deliberately erased.

She looked at Ning Changjiu's unconscious face and suddenly recalled what he had said before, "He was shunned by the secular world instead of avoiding the secular world himself."

Was this what his second fellow disciple's words meant?

She wondered whether his senior fellow disciple was also such a master outside the secular world as this unknown man.

She gripped the sword rope more tightly and increasingly felt the young man was not ordinary. He must be a disciple of a cultivator wandering in the secular world of some immortal sect... However, judging from his weird resources and very inconsistent constitution, was he a bastard of some sovereign?

Regardless, now as it appeared, what he had got seemed to be used up. If he really followed her to the Oracle Sword Heavenly Sect for cultivation as he said before, he would probably behave himself well. She couldn't help wondering when he could enter the Profound Realm given his constitution...

...

...

What a messy day it was in the imperial city today!

At nightfall, the saber and blood in the day were madly cooling down. When the sunset glow faded away completely, the moon gradually rose.

Ning Changjiu suffered the most skin injuries. The snow fox contaminated by the evil seed left three blood holes from his chest to the back. A lot of his bones were fractured. The muscles in his right arm were seriously torn due to over-exhaustion of his strength. Even when he woke up, probably he wouldn't exert any strength. In order to make Ning Xiaoling sober for a moment, he pressed his forehead against hers. At that time, she was still at a high realm. Therefore, his forehead was also blood red with a c***k in his frontal bone.

Ning Xiaoling was weak, whose body had gone through great ups and downs. It was like a river-like body was suddenly filled with the water of a big lake. Then the water was heated and evaporated more or less. Worse still, the mental struggle against the evil seed had drained this girl. The self-protection awareness forced her to fall into an exhausted slumber.

Zhao Xiang'er was the weirdest one. Lu Jiajia didn't know what influence riding the big bird and going through the Three Thousand Worlds left on the body. Yet, now, Zhao Xiang'er was lying in bed with a composed look and breathing evenly, as if entering a mysterious realm, except that her face was ghastly pale.

Lu Jiajia guessed that maybe this was a way of breaking the old and establishing the new.

After checking their bodies, she came to Ning Changjiu, carefully turned his body over and transferred some aura to him so as to protect his heart, lungs, sea of Qi of Zifu and the other key parts. Then, she pressed her hand against his chest. After hesitating for a while, she took off his ragged white clothes and helped check his injuries.

It was dimly lit in the room but with her sword eyes, what she saw was not different from the daytime.

Her hands slightly stroked the young man's injuries and suppressed the weird feelings in her heart bit by bit.

"It is quite common. Lu Jiajia, what's wrong with you now..."

She muttered to herself. After composing herself, she started to give him the treatment.

Her sword mind was calmed. Her fingers with the surging aura were pressed on his injuries. She rubbed and massaged the injuries gently. The extremely pure aura was just like the soft plaster, making the bleeding injuries scab quickly. However, the skin injuries were easy to cure but the internal injuries were hard to heal. She had been whole-heartedly devoted to practicing swordsmanship in the past, so she knew nothing about this aspect but some simplest medical knowledge.

However, it seemed that he was quite tough. Supposedly, he could get through this on his own?

Lu Jiajia was still a bit worried. She moved her palm above his chest. As the spiritual power was transferred into his body, she tried to find out whether there was anything wrong with his body.

After a while, she finally put down her hand and wiped her forehead.

"The bloodstained clothes..."

With her lips slightly puckered, Lu Jiajia was in a pickle.

At the age of 16, she inherited the immortal sword Minglan from her master. At that time, she thought her sword mind was so clear that nothing in the secular world could stir up any ripple.

Now, only within two days, she finally found that her sword mind she had cultivated for decades turned out to be so fragile.

However, it was kind of a blessing in disguise. Now, her sword mind was damaged. It was somewhat better than her cultivation being completely affected by the contamination of the demon seed due to her unstable Taoist mind when she went through the tribulation for entering the realm of Purple Court.

She tried to comfort herself. Suddenly, she was surprised to touch something hard at his waist.

That was...

Lu Jiajia slightly frowned and then took off a branch from his waist?

That was an extremely smooth branch, which was slightly bent and appeared grey. It was like the plum branch picked by the roadside in winter, which still contained some deep lines. Lu Jiajia checked it a few times and couldn't find anything special about it.

Maybe it was too ordinary so she didn't notice it on the way.

She put the branch aside. Looking at Ning Changjiu's clothes that were half taken off, she saw the unconscious young man frowned from time to time and appeared somewhat painful.

Lu Jiajia curled up the belt at his waist with her fingers, hesitated for a while and then pressed it back lightly.

His blood-stained clothes were more or less dried. Since the clothes didn't affect his injuries much, she might as well let Ning Changjiu change his clothes when he woke up.

She thought so to herself.

...

...

When Ning Changjiu woke up, he found that he had put on new white clothes. The horrible injuries also stopped bleeding but he felt his muscles were so sore. And his narrow sea of Qi of his Zifu looked like a wrecked ancient battlefield.

He breathed lightly. Listening to the rain outside, he felt the sense of being torn in his chest and only wanted to lie in bed. He didn't feel like moving at all.

"You are up?" A weak and clear voice came in the darkness.

"Emm?" Ning Changjiu was a bit slow-minded now. Having thought about it, he was finally certain that it was Zhao Xiang'er voice. He turned his head with difficulty and looked in the direction where the voice came from. "Why are you also here?"

Zhao Xiang'er snapped, "Otherwise, you want me, your fellow disciple and you to rest in one room each so that Lu Jiajia has to go to three rooms and take care of us at the same time?"

Ning Changjiu looked at his clean white clothes and shut up obediently.

Zhao Xiang'er also lay in bed. With her eyes closed and her thin lips slightly trembling, she slightly asked, "Why did you lie to me?"

Ning Changjiu was dazed. "What?"

Zhao Xiang'er said angrily, "I've heard what the man said today. He said that their temple owner hadn't found the last disciple... Why did you lie to me?"

Ning Changjiu suddenly had difficulty in breathing and also felt vague pain in his heart. "I...didn't lie to you."

Zhao Xiang'er slightly frowned and asked, "Then that man is your senior fellow disciple?"

Of course he was but he said the temple owner hadn't found the last disciple. How could Ning Changjiu prove himself?

Ning Changjiu had no idea how to respond.

Zhao Xiang'er snorted and said, "You didn't lie to me? So I got you wrong before? In the hall, I asserted that you were the man mentioned in the marriage letter. Now as it appears, I was a presumptuous joke?"

Ning Changjiu stayed silent for a moment and said, "Anyway, the engagement was broken off today. Does it matter whether I am or not?"

Zhao Xiang'er said nothing with a cold face.

"Zhao Xiang'er," Ning Changjiu suddenly called her name.

Zhao Xiang'er raised her eyebrows and opened her eyes a bit, saying, "What's wrong?"

Ning Changjiu asked, "Does the agreement still count?"

Surely he was asking about the three-year agreement.

Zhao Xiang'er thought for a while and said, "Now, the sea of Qi of my Zifu has been completely ruined but my acquired spirit has been fostered. When I recover from that and reconnect my acupoints, I will be very strong. Then, I will resume the lost land within a radius of 300 km of the state and my shackle will be completely cut off. Within three years, I will surely reach the realm of Purple Court. You...will be definitely no match for me."

She talked calmly with no intent of scorning or mocking in her words but because she was telling the truth, her words appeared even more frustrating.

Ning Changjiu listened to her quietly. In the noisy pitter-patter, the young girl's clear and thin voice seemed peaceful.

"Good that it still counts," Ning Changjiu said after hearing her out.

Zhao Xiang'er puckered her lips and said, "I can't believe that you would act in a fit of pique."

As far as she knew, this young Taoist priest was solemn, calm and scheming, who was so different from his peers.

Ning Changjiu said, "I'm not acting in a fit of pique. I just respect the agreement with you."

Zhao Xiang'er said, "By then, don't expect me to show mercy for you. As long as you dare to come, I will beat the crap out of you."

"Beat the crap out of me?" Ning Changjiu laughed. "It seems that you still intend to show mercy for me."

Zhao Xiang'er also chuckled and said indifferently, "What about you? Don't you want to say anything? According to the books I've read, I should do the trash talk now."

Ning Changjiu said with a smile, "In those stories, it is usually the arrogant women who lose in the end."

Zhao Xiang'er asked, "I am arrogant?"

Ning Changjiu didn't dare to respond.

Zhao Xiang'er snorted, "I'm not the woman in the book. Neither do I believe that you can be so blessed like the men in the book."

Ning Changjiu said, "Don't regret it in the future."

Zhao Xiang'er said, "Boring."

Ning Changjiu looked out of the window and said, "It is raining so heavily."

Zhao Xiang'er said, "Yeah, the spirit-swallower died and the evil clouds turned into rain... That is a monster at the Five Realms. After the rain, the talents of the state of Zhao will spring up like mushrooms, which is the heavenly fortune."

Ning Changjiu slightly responded.

Zhao Xiang'er said surprisedly, "This is the rain rarely seen over one century but you can't go into the rain now. Watching the opportunity go away before you, don't you feel somewhat regretful or unreconciled?"

Ning Changjiu said, "Aren't you also lying here too?"

Zhao Xiang'er said with a frown, "It cannot even be compared to embroidering flowers on brocade for me, which is not indispensable at all, but it is a different case for you."

Ning Changjiu said with a smile, "It is already not easy to survive the calamity. Now, I've survived the calamity and I can listen to the night rain with you. I want nothing more."

Zhao Xiang'er stayed silent for a moment and said, "You are right indeed but..."

"But I hate your calm and composed look. I'm increasingly looking forward to beating you up in three years. Let's see whether you can still remain so calm by then," she said.

Therefore, this night, Ning Changjiu and Zhao Xiang'er just kept chatting like this. It was raining nonstop outside but the intervals of their conversation got longer and longer with their voices lower and lower. When Lu Jiajia came back, the two of them across a bed had both fallen asleep.

Sitting by the window, Lu Jiajia started to decoct the medicinal herbs clumsily while Ning Xiaoling was still sleeping all the time, curling up like a little weak fox.

This was an ordinary and quiet rainy night in the imperial city of the state of Zhao.