Beyond the Divine States

Chapter 23 The Bleak Autumn Rain

Outside the imperial palace, above the clouds, the battle lasted very long.

The dark clouds and livid fogs in the sky were all shattered, exposing a part of the blue sky. The sky took on a new look, just like the continuous lakes on the dry land after the heavy rain.

As beams of light shone through the clouds, just like the swords that cut off the universe, got together gradually, forming a vast expanse of blue sky.

The city was half rainy and half sunny.

At the edge where they converged, streaks of rain were brightly shone, dropping on the ground, constituting a beautiful scene.

The clouds blocked the vision. In the thunder that rumbled from time to time, the people on the city wall looked up in awe, imagining the stunning battle behind the clouds.

The intermittent chirping sound of the phoenix was far away, but it was still horridly astonishing.

In their eyes, that was the war between gods, which only existed in the legends. It had never happened since the state of Zhao was established. Now, it was just happening so suddenly and clearly in front of everyone.

Time passed really slowly.

Before the imperial palace, Zhao Xiang'er's large phoenix robe was swinging, just like the unextinguished fire. The Rosefinch Flame Wand she was holding was burning with golden light and the inscriptions just flickered, glistening sometimes and darkening at other times.

The flaming phoenix that guarded the city and she had mutual affinity mentally and spiritually so she could not only see the scene above the clouds but also undertake the backlash of the rosefinch's injuries.

Gradually, her cheeks, just like the tender lotus washed by the autumn frost, turned pale slowly. She even started to bleed from the seven openings of her head, just like the wrongly painted cinnabar on the porcelain model.

However, the people in the imperial palace had been dismissed by her. The spacious square was desolate but no one could see the scene.

Thunder rumbled. Every time the thunder rumbled, her petite body just shook.

The cold wind, which didn't end, blew across her ears, whisking up wisps of hair. It was the light or the rain that landed on her body.

After a while, the clouds gradually gathered.

"Go back," the young girl muttered lightly.

A faintly visible shadow of the flaming phoenix plunged from the clouds and returned into the Rosefinch Flame Wand.

Zhao Xiang'er wiped the blood off her face and smoothed away the wet hair on her face. She staggered several times and almost fell before she finally staggered into the palace with impractical footsteps.

The formation of the imperial palace was still on!

In an alley of the imperial palace, a dark figure dropped, cracking the blue bricks.

A child who was still looked at the sky in the distance was taken aback but surprisingly, he didn't turn around and escape. He just watched an old man that looked like a trunk of burnt coke getting up. His body was seriously injured all over his body. As the rain poured on him, he was even sizzling.

A woman who was ready to carry the child back saw the scene. Covering her mouth, she was trembling in fear. Yet, somehow, she just nerved herself to carry her child in her arms, rushed back into the house and slammed the door. Then she just gripped a chopper and hid behind the door with all her strength, staring at the closed wooden door in a sweat.

However, the old man turned a blind eye to them.

Dragging his weary body, he slowly walked across the street, whose blood had been evaporated to dryness. Only the terrifying injuries were left with the cuts dreadfully pale.

He looked back at the imperial palace and still felt reconciled.

He knew that Zhao Xiang'er was more seriously injured than him but he still couldn't conquer the imperial palace within a short time. After all, he was worried that something unexpected might happen if he didn't act in time.

Now, he was only at the fifth stage of the realm of Purple Court. If a cultivator at the peak of the realm of Purple Court came to attack him, his Taoism would be wrecked.

However, in the whole South Continent, there were very few people able to reach that realm and Zhao Xiang'er had no time to make the arrangement ahead of time.

However, he was afraid that something unexpected might happen.

Looking at the closed doors in the street, he felt a sudden surge of anger.

He wanted to kill people.

...

...

The earthshaking turmoil in the imperial palace spread through the imperial city.

Even many people who hid at home out of fear couldn't help pushing open the window and the door, watching the towering fire pillar in the distance.

From the distance, the fire pillar was extremely thin, just like the thread condensed by the magma, which was astoundingly beautiful.

Outside the imperial preceptor's mansion, Zhao Xiang'er had left the mansion. The news that she sneaked into the imperial palace was also spread here.

The strong killers from the state of Jin or the state of Rong realized that they were fooled and felt indignant so they were anxious to rush into the imperial palace immediately. Their thoughts didn't perish until the fire pillar illuminated and the fierce killing intent swept through the large city like the windy knife and frosty sword.

On a tall building outside the imperial preceptor's mansion, a handsome young man was dressed in colorful clothes with the colorful satin swinging in the wind like multicolored soul worms.

He was Motley Ghost, the strongest assassin of the state of Jin.

He was rather a killer than an assassin because he never deliberately killed people in secret. Instead, he liked wearing the most eye-catching colorful clothes with his face heavily powdered. It seemed that he wanted all the people to notice him, the living ghost who killed people in the world.

In the darkness, a man with a saber walked out and asked, "What to do now?"

The voice of Motley Ghost was very reedy. He said with an annoying tone, "What? Our famous Lake Yan Swordsman is afraid?"

The man with the saber sneered, "That's the battle between immortals, which we cannot mess with. So what if you are well-known? If that beam of domineering Qi were in front of you, did you dare to approach it?"

Motley Ghost narrowed his eyes and said coldly, "We are killers, assassins. What we wait for is the right moment. If we encounter an invincible immortal like that, we should just take a detour. Do you want to test whether you can behead the immortal with the saber?"

The man with the saber said indifferently, "Among us, you are the last one who looks like an assassin. Maybe it was you who acted rashly and alerted Zhao Xiang'er so she managed to escape."

Another woman with her face covered with the veil said coldly, "Now that the top ten assassins of the state of Jin have been fooled by a 16-year-old girl, how can we have the cheek to go back?"

A man dressed similarly around her said with a deep voice, "Somehow I smell a rat. Since we entered the city, there have so many weird people and things. We are guarding outside just like headless chickens... This city of Zhao is not as simple as we imagine."

The woman slightly nodded her head. "When I just entered the city, I've been perturbed. Unexpectedly, the water of this pond is so deep."

That man stared at the other end of the street and said, "Qiu Li, you are a local of the state of Zhao. Do you know any secret stories? You mustn't hide anything from us now."

A man wearing the wizard robe walked over. It was Qiu Li, the chief disciple of the wizard patriarch.

Looking at the crowd, he said, "My master only asked me to act according to the plan. Now that I cannot go back to the Immortal Forest, Blood Feather also has disappeared. Worse still, I can't reach my master. These incidents...are all unexpected."

The woman snorted, "I shouldn't have trusted the old man. I thought he should be extraordinary as the wizard patriarch. Now, as far as I can see, the Zhao people are the same, who have opened the gate to meet the enemies but didn't have enough backup plans. They deserve to have their state subjugated."

A colorfully dressed young man listening to their conversation suddenly burst out laughing shrilly on the eave.

The woman said with rage, "Do you really think our opponent is an ignorant little girl? Blood Feather has disappeared. The woman who struck an immortal sword move disappeared too. Do you really think your title of the top one assassin is worth a lot? It is not worth mentioning outside the secular world at all! Zhao Xiang'er, who is in control of the imperial palace, can kill you with even a finger."

Motley Ghost stood on the edge of the eave with the colorful satin swinging in the air, who was rather eye-catching.

He made a gesture of cutting the throat, saying, "What can I do? To cry with you? Ha. Even if Zhao Xiang'er cut off my head with her sword, I may laugh out for being able to see her pretty face before I am beheaded."

As a woman, she couldn't help touching the ugly scar under her veil. Her eyes became gloomier. She pressed her hand on the waist and wanted to test out how strong the assassin was ranked three places higher than her.

However, within a blink of an eye, her hands were frozen. The pupils of her eyes staring at Motley Ghost suddenly shrank with a horrified face.

All the people noticed that something was wrong and looked at the edge of the eave.

Motley Ghost halted weirdly, whose neck had an extremely thin thread glistening. Then streaks of blood just flew away. His body was still standing in situ, yet his head had dropped. There was an exaggerated smile on his heavily powdered face.

After a while, his body, which had lost the support, also fell on the ground with a thud. His blood splattered around. The colorful satins were torn off by some power, drifting down like paper money and covering his body.

Those assassins staring at Motley Ghost were seemingly deaf. After being absent-minded for a long while, they gradually came to their senses, not daring to believe that the top one assassin of the state of Jin who was laughing arrogantly before became a cold corpse.

Who killed him?

Motley Ghost wouldn't dare to believe that he had been beheaded even though he still had three puppet talismans and a remote fake-death talisman for use.

For a moment, all the people raised their heads.

At the edge of the eave where Motley Ghost dropped, there stood an old man whose appearance was hard to tell.

The old man's body was like a withered tree struck by lightning, burned by the raging fire and shot by numerous arrows, which would give people a false impression that he could be smashed into pieces with one gentle punch.

"Mas...Master!" Qiu Li suddenly screamed out, not daring to believe what he saw.

He stared at the old man who didn't look like a human or a ghost and suddenly knelt down, shouting, "Master, you are still alive. Great. I've held fast to my position as per your order, never moving a step away from here."

"Oh? You are calling me?" The old man sneered and landed before Qiu Li.

The old fox looked at the young man who was trembling prostrate on the ground, suddenly ripped off his head, threw it on the ground. "This is your master."

How could Qiu Li dare to take a look at the head? He only shouted, "Master, stop kidding with me. If you have any order, I will carry it out at any cost."

The old fox kicked the head of the wizard patriarch on the ground, tearing off this shattered body and sneering, "You are quite smart. The first time you saw me, you knew that I was not your master but you still acted like this. What? Do you really not want to seek revenge for your master? Are you so afraid that I will kill you?"

Qiu Li kowtowed with his forehead touching the ground, so frightened that he even held his breath and didn't dare to make any sound.

The old fox heaved a sigh and said sadly, "I wanted to rip out your heart and take a sip of the blood of it. Pitifully, I can't have it now. Alas... So many restraints. It is so difficult for me."

Before it landed, it merely crushed a few blue bricks but it still felt the pain of being backlashed. Hence, of course, it still couldn't kill the Zhao people now.

However, the other people before it seemed to come from other states...

The old fox slowly turned around and looked at the assassins who were standing in the raining street as though confronted by a formidable enemy, asking with a smile, "Where are you from?"

After a moment of silence, the people all scattered about.

The old fox didn't rush to chase them. It crushed the head of Motley Ghost with one stomp and felt a bit better, saying laughingly to itself, "Which body should I pick then?"