Beyond the Divine States

Chapter 19 The Woman in White Enters the City

Thunder crashed above Lake Qifeng.

The old fox in control of the wizard patriarch's body vanished in situ within an instant.

The woman in white, who turned into a streak of sword Qi and fled, was intercepted in the sky instantly. The sound of the sword and the claw colliding with each other rang violently, causing a series of dazzling sparks in the air.

The woman hedged. The long sword danced around her body, glistening brightly and protecting her from the invading evil Qi.

The "wizard patriarch" stopped in the air before her but the body's aura had completely changed. The eyes that had gone as white as the dead fish's eyes were dark now, just like two abysses. As long as one looked at the eyes, he would be bewitched.

The woman in white stuck to her sword mind and did her best not to look the old man in the eye.

She could feel that the old fox before her had become much stronger than before.

What the old fox said caused a ripple of astonishment across her heart. She knew what Five Realms meant and couldn't even think of the Three Great Realms above that.

However, the old fox just talked about it with such a casual air.

She must get out of here and report this to her sect and let her master know about it. Otherwise, when the old fox was fully recovered, the whole South Continent would fall into a calamity.

The old fox looked at her and said with a smile, "Actually, at first, if you attacked me with all your strength, you could have got a chance to injure me severely. However, you have been overcautious from beginning to end, thinking about the route of retreat at every sword move. Is it because it took you a lot of effort to tread on the immortal road that you didn't want to sacrifice yourself to subdue a monster?"

The woman in white was swayed. She believed its words, so she had a glimmer of regret.

As such, she suddenly felt that a dark seed quickly sprouted in her heart and was going to occupy her soul.

The invasion of a demonic seed?

She realized that something was wrong. Just when she was swayed for an instant, the old fox took the opportunity to intrude into her mind. What kind of horrible Taoist realm did it reach?

The woman didn't dare to think too much. She withdrew the sword at once, put it before her chest and flicked it with her fingers. The sword hummed clearly in a cold and crystal manner as if to pull her out of the messy state of mind.

"How many years have you been cultivating? Why is your sword mind so unstable?" The old fox asked with a smile.

The woman in white knew she must defend her sword mind but what the old fox said seemed to be magic. She couldn't help answering the questions in her heart.

The old fox sneered, "It turns out that you are only in your twenties. I am kind of bullying a junior."

Despite that, it pointed forward and a white rainbow just struck her.

That was the same move as the woman in white did before, except that it was neater and contained a purer sword intent than that of the woman!

As the white rainbow slashed at her, the woman reacted too slowly because her sword mind was contaminated. She leaned to one side to dodge it but it still hit her shoulder. With a bang, she cried out in pain. With the clothes on her arms torn off, she fell towards the lake.

The woman in white had no time to attend to the injuries. She bit the tip of her tongue to resist the invasion of the demonic seed. Meanwhile, she was decisive too. Hence, she just decided to plunge into the bottom of the lake and then escape with the lake water as the cover.

The moment she had this idea, the lake water turned into hard ice immediately. With a thwack, she thudded on the ice.

The old fox approached her again and punched her belly. The woman vomited a mouthful of blood and stabbed into the ice with the tip of her sword, trying to stabilize her body, but she still slid away for more than 100 meters.

The sword-humming sound lingered in her ears, just like wailing.

The old fox also put two fingers together and drew a few strokes in the air, muttering to itself, "This is the essence of the sword intent of your sect?"

The woman was startled to find that the sword intent shown by the old fox was pretty close though the strokes it drew were not entirely correct.

She knew that any of her thoughts at the moment could be taken as a loophole, but as her heart was contaminated by the demonic seed, she couldn't stop thinking.

Then, she felt a fire burning in her heart.

She looked down only to find that there was no ice but the raging flame.

The old fox looked at her with a wry smile. "I will show you the real sword before you die and see how much you can understand."

The two put-together fingers of the old fox swiped from left to right before its chest.

There seemed to be electricity twisting and spurting out of the tips of its fingers, which intertwined into a straight and snow-white line.

"Go."

It uttered a word and turned around its wrist. The illusory sword slashed down in the direction where its fingers pointed at.

The woman in white was aghast. The illusory sword came at her quickly enough to s***h off everything and also slowly enough for her to see clearly the texture of every wave. When she couldn't help watching the sword, a sword came into being in her heart, which came from the depths of her consciousness. It seemed as if someone tried to pierce through her heart and cut it off with a sword.

That was a kind of strong fear and absurdity.

She even couldn't figure out whether the sword move was made by the old fox or herself.

The old fox stopped looking at her, turned around and walked towards the imperial city.

Then, it said, "Eh?" and looked back.

The woman raised her sword. Her sword clothes were cut with a lot of holes, through which the blood seeped. However, the appearance under the pure white mask was extremely calm.

At the near-death moment, she cleared off her mind and the sword formed by the demonic seed in her heart failed to s***h off her Taoist mind, but with the help of that, she took the opportunity to cut off the mental barrier for years and got into an ethereal and mysterious state.

The woman suddenly opened her eyes. "Thank you for enlightening me."

She swiped across her chest with her two fingers from right to left. She acted in a diametrically opposite way, which ran in the same groove in a sense.

The old fox slightly frowned.

As the sword light glistened, the river of ice and the flames were gone. It became misty all around. The line between her fingers, just like a tide, flowed horizontally and came at the old fox.

The old fox slid backward. It raised its hand gently and pointed swiftly but the sword move was too accurate. Every time it formed an image, it was slashed off by the sword.

Clear sounds of cracking arose constantly.

The woman stood up staggeringly. Her sword clothes were cut open and stained with blood. Her pure white mask was also hit with a lot of cracks, exposing the soft curve of her cheeks.

Splutter.

Due to the imposing momentum of the sword move, the magic sphere that the old fox created was finally cracked.

The autumn rain finally fell into the lake again.

The old fox pinched the illusory sword with two fingers. Its body went backward, floating in the air. Meanwhile, the surrounding ice, autumn rain and flames were all sucked into its body. It wanted to take advantage of the universe to completely break the sword move.

At that moment, the woman had an unprecedented glint of brightness in her eyes.

She shouted.

The old fox was finally shocked.

The ice water, rainwater and illusory flames were all infected with the faint sword intent at that moment. As they touched the skin, it felt as if being cut by a knife.

"The sword and spirit in one?" The old fox's voice was slightly hoarse. Obviously, it was also in great pain.

This was her ace in the hole. With her consciousness, everything in the universe turned into swords. The old fox's leveraging the universe turned into committing suicide by cutting itself with a sword.

The sword that stopped aside went at it.

The old fox subconsciously parried the sword.

However, the sword went past its side.

The woman in white didn't continue attacking it. Instead, after slashing off its magic sphere, she fled towards the direction of the imperial city.

The old fox held back the pain of tens of thousands of swords cutting it and chased her.

An illusory sword stronger than before went from its side.

The sword hit the woman's back. Amidst the blood that spurted out like an arrow, the woman struggled to stay sober, resisted the numbness caused by the serious injuries in her back and plunged into the city.

The old fox ignored the sword of all that was coming for it and moved swiftly.

The woman in white entered the city faster than the old fox by a nose.

The old fox bumped against the city wall but it was forcibly shocked away.

It suddenly recalled that it had swallowed the ancient book that represented the city's fortune. Now, anyone could break through the imperial city but not the old fox. If it broke through the city forcibly, it would be backlashed hundreds of times or thousands of times.

It stopped at the city gate. Looking at the position where the woman in white disappeared, it didn't feel angry but burst into laughter. "This is quite interesting."

"Sir. Sir. Sir."

The old fox heard wings fluttering behind its back and looked back.

It saw a bird as big as a small eagle holding an old umbrella in its mouth. Fluttering its wings, the bird was struggling in the air and calling for the old fox with its mind.

The old fox frowned. Of course, it recognized the umbrella but it didn't expect to obtain this thing so easily.

"Zhao Xiang'er asked you to give it to me?"

The red falcon hastened to reply, "Her Highness asked me to give this to you."

The old fox raised its hand. Then, the umbrella just flew to it. With the evil power, it checked the umbrella in and out and didn't swallow it until making sure there was nothing wrong with it.

Another chain was broken in the underground palace, leaving three wisps of souls to integrate. Behind the old fox, there appeared three huge illusive tails faintly.

"This umbrella represents the people of the state of Zhao?" After swallowing the umbrella, the old fox found that there was no barrier between the imperial city and itself, as if it were a resident living in the state of Zhao for a long time.

However, even if it killed an ordinary person of the state of Zhao, it would be backlashed, because the umbrella was guarding the people of the state of Zhao.

"I can't ruin the city or kill anyone within?" The old fox said with a chuckle. "What a crafty girl! Does she want to become a saint?"

Nevertheless, the restraint was temporary. When it completely refined the several city-guarding treasures, the limitation wouldn't exist anymore.

Slightly swayed, the old fox looked at the evil sparrow and asked, "Are you the evil sparrow of the state of Zhao?"

Blood Feather found the extremely fatal killing intent in the smile of the old fox and hurriedly said, "I've followed Her Highness to live in the state of Zhao for decades, certainly making me.a homing pigeon of the state of Zhao. Moreover, Her Highness has promised me that you won't kill me after meeting me."

"Oh yeah?" The old fox looked at it and then its eyes suddenly became darker. After a moment, it grinned. "Oh, I see. Back then, I fought with the immortal in the South Continent and my blood sprinkled everywhere. A lot of monsters drank my blood, very few of which could survive. Since you can live until today, you are kind of my disciple too. I won't kill you."

Blood Feather immediately came to its senses and felt surprised. "What I drank back then was your blood?"

The old fox slightly nodded its head, pointed at Blood Feather and then walked into the city, saying, "I won't kill you but as my disciple, you mustn't depend on others and live shamelessly like a fly or a dog."

Blood Feather felt that the restraint that caused it to feel the pain of the tarsal bones bitten by worms was already gone. Overjoyed, it lay prostrate and trembled in excitement. "I shall follow your lead."

...

...

The city was stricken by the storm.

In a deserted narrow alley, a faint shadow appeared on the wall. An extremely thin sword shadow arrived through the rain. A woman in white slumped on the ground staggeringly and slightly removed the mask. The blood quickly dispersed in the water on the ground.

The sword, just like a spent arrow now, lost all its aura and dropped beside her.

The woman managed to put her fingers on the sword. The rain had wet all her clothes. She was still seriously injured now. Among the torn clothes, it could be faintly seen that her flesh was torn up by the evil Qi.

Every drop of the autumn rain hit her back like beating the drum, striking her staggeringly rising body back to the ground bit by bit.

Lying prostrate, the woman kept coughing and tried her best to hold her sword to support herself.

Luckily, the fox spirit didn't go into the city and hunt her down right away.

She managed to take a few breaths and wanted to go back into the blue-and-white sedan for a rest. However, she found that the connection between her and the blue-and-white sedan had been somewhat cut off.

"Anything went wrong in the imperial palace?"

The idea flashed across her mind. She coughed up another mouthful of blood. The internal injury suppressed within her body broke out one by one. Her viscera seemed to be cut by knives, causing her to fall into a constant spasm of limbs. It was even hard for her to make some basic movements.

The woman fell on the ground before walking for a few steps.

The bell in the imperial city rang again.

Her sword mind was alarmed again. She was aware that the old fox had entered the city.

Now she had no strength to cover her Qi. Clearly, she could be found shortly.

Now that the connection with the blue-and-white sedan had been severed. She could hardly go back to the imperial palace. In this strange imperial city, where else could she go?

There suddenly came the sound of troops marching behind her.

She struggled to stand up. Holding the wall, she walked forward with great difficulty.

After she went around the corner, a soldier's voice came over, "There is bloodstain here. Maybe the rebels have been here. Search around."

"His Majesty is still alive. Will it be too bitterly disappointing that we go too far?"

"It is Her Highness who is assuming personal command in the imperial palace. As long as she wants to, no one can repel her. More than 20 days ago, we also joined the incident of besieging the palace. It is a capital crime with the penalty of exterminating the whole clan. We should try our best to make up for our faults. If Her Highness is lenient enough, maybe our families can be spared."

"They were our colleagues! Can you really be so ruthless?"

"Alas. Who wants to hurt his colleagues unless he has to? When will everything end? The state may as well perish."

"Hush... Mind your mouth."

The woman in white leaned against the wall, listening to their faint noises. Yet, she had no strength to identify what unexpected incident had happened in the imperial palace.

She subconsciously walked forward along the wall.

The footsteps behind her were distant and nearby intermittently. The blood she bled was washed by the heavy rain and the fire in her body was also chilled and extinguished by the rain.

Doubtfully, she suddenly saw the door of the yard ahead of her was seemingly open.

Without thinking much, she dragged her seriously injured body and bumped into the yard.

...

In the room, Ning Xiaoling, with her chin rested on her hand, listened to Ning Changjiu tell several boring stories. If it were not for the unusual noises continuously coming from outside, Ning Xiaoling would have fallen asleep.

Now, Ning Changjiu was telling another story about a fox spirit turning into a human being after cultivation and then requiting the favor of being saved.

Ning Xiaoling pointed her index finger at her palm and interrupted, "Changjiu, how can you tell such boring stories with relish?"

Ning Changjiu was slightly dazed and then said with a wry smile, "These are my favorite stores... Are they so boring?"

Ning Xiaoling nodded seriously. "Very cliche. Besides, foxes are ungrateful animals. How can they requite favors? It would be kind enough if the fox didn't steal the money of the scholar."

Ning Changjiu grinned with self-mockery and said, "Then, let me tell you a story about a poor young man forced by her fiancee to break off the engagement with her."

Ning Xiaoling twitched her nose and covered her ears, saying, "I don't want to hear anything now. It is thundering and exploding outside. I'm so scared... Is it that the monster you mentioned has escaped?"

Ning Changjiu said, "If so, we can only pray that it wouldn't come for us."

Ning Xiaoling nodded her head and comforted herself, "We are Taoist priests but we only helped Master put on airs disingenuously. Supposedly, we haven't harbored any grudge against others. Without any ill feeling, the monster shouldn't hurt us unless it is homicidal. Oh right, remember to close the gate of the yard..."

Bang!

Before she finished talking, a sound of bang suddenly came outside the room.

Someone was banging the door.

They looked each other in the eye.

Ning Changjiu stayed silent for a while and said, "Let's take a look?"

Ning Xiaoling picked up the umbrella next to her and threw it at him with a resigned look.