A vigorous power, a brilliantly strong force, fell from the Firmament and entered the body of the Great Divine Priest of Light. Anyone with a small and fragile body would have been smashed into pieces, or beaten to a pulp, by that power.
But this situation was not strange to the Great Divine Priest of Light. Many years ago, he had a similar experience and was thus inspired by Haotian. He knew he would be bestowed with the most precious gift by Haotian as long as he could show himself to Haotian wholeheartedly, and hence took advantage of this holy power.
The Great Divine Priest of Light peacefully watched all those in the cliff with his clear and deep eyes, as if he had seen each line of Jing Fu cutting through space. The Divine light around his fingers had changed into a fleece of white light, which, with its pure glory, sent out an extremely frightening aura.
Rays of pure Divine light spread out from between his fingers. Some were pouring downwards to protect his body like an umbrella, while others were thrust into the space that had been cut into pieces like rays of sunshine.
The light penetrated into the broken spaces, which then became bright. The terrible aura hidden in those Divine rays of light sustained the marginal lines of the broken spaces and prevented them from breaking.
Master Yan Se used his strong talisman which was beyond the Five States to cut the space into fragments.
The Great Divine Priest of Light used his heaven-inspired power to forcibly maintain a complete space.
Countless fragments of space, like tens of thousands of tiny mirrors, reflected the air, the snow, the flowers, the grass and trees on the cliff. Although they were just broken pictures after being cut, they still existed.
The lines of Jing Fu that had cut the space were slightly shaking. If those lines broke, the power of light would break through the confinement and return to the real world. If those lines continued to cut those fragments of space into smaller pieces, the space would continue breaking. No matter how bright the aura was inside, it would finally become dim.
Which one was more powerful? The talisman borrowed from the aura of heaven and nature, or the power of Divine light borrowed from Haotian?
Talisman Taoism was the principle that people learnt from heaven and earth by themselves, and the most deep-seated law of the world that one could master. Light was the reward or perhaps the punishment that Haotian gave to this world. Which of the two would defeat the other?
All those in the cliff, including the cliff itself had been cut apart, which, supported by the Divine light of Haotian, didn’t totally disappear. Only a tree survived and it was not confined by those mirrors.
It was an upright white poplar, with a little girl squatting under it.
The little girl held an old urn with her left hand, and a new urn with her right one.
Between the Divine light and the talisman she somewhat trembled, like a small grass trembling in the chilly wind.
A flake of snow softly landed on her shoulder.
She picked the snowflake, feeling it melting between her fingers. Her willow-like eyes became brighter and brighter when she looked at their fight, yet her pupils became darker and darker, as if they could penetrate the light.
The fight between a Divine Talisman Master beyond the Five States and a Great Divine Priest of Light at a Heaven-inspired state was actually invisible. However, both the old man and Master Yan Se blocked the white poplar and the little girl from their space mentally. Therefore, she was just a bystander.
So the fight, totally incomprehensible to the secular world, was something understandable in Sangsang’s dark eyes, which was extremely beautiful and extremely ugly at the same time.
The mighty aura, the Divine light, the fearless heaven and earth, and the powerful talisman, they all hurt each other, relied on each other and struggled against each other. The space confined the light, and the light broke through the space. Finally the light was condensed as the stars in the dark sky, as the flaring fire in the Wilderness, and as the reflection of spring in dewdrops.
Then it all vanished in Sangsang’s eyes, as if it never existed. What was left was only absolute darkness and silence; more silent than the deepest night and darker than the darkest cloud. It was like the pupils of Yama.
An ordinary little girl might have fainted from shock and bewilderment, but Sangsang didn’t. She didn’t know what had happened, nor did she understand it. But she still kept her eyes wide open to see all that she could see. She silently watched and waited. She strived to see what she could see and remember what she could remember, for she knew Ning Que would definitely wonder what had happened here today.
Suddenly an extremely tiny glimpse of light appeared in the absolute darkness, and abruptly numerous rays of light spurted out from it, which penetrated the whole space in an instant. It was like the birth of a new world.
Or like a thousand beautiful fireworks in the night sky.
Looking at the beautiful fireworks, Sangsang rubbed her eyes muddleheadedly. When she opened her eyes again, she found that everything had disappeared, and the cliff was restored to its original state.
The rainbow inhibition covering the anonymous peak was gone.
Snowflakes fell again.
On the edge of the cliff stood two old men, both looking up at the sky.
At last they became real old men, coughing when the cold wind passed between the cliffs.
Master Yan Se raised his arm to wipe his snot with the sleeves of his Taoist robe. He looked at the sky, murmuring, “I see.”
The right sleeve of the Great Divine Priest of Light’s cotton-padded jacket had been reduced to nothing, so he inserted his right arm into his left sleeve to keep warm. Then he crouched down like an old peasant and squinted towards the sky.
Master Yan Se pointed to a place in the north and said to the old man beside him, “I saw an unprecedented big talisman, which had only two simple strokes. They both rose from the Wilderness in the north, one falling down in the west, and the other falling down in the east.”
Then he turned back to look at Chang’an City, which he had secretly protected for many years, lamenting, “They met here.”
At that moment, he transcended the Five States of spiritual practice and even went further. He clearly saw the world on the opposite side, the real future. He knew the unprecedented big talisman would really exist and could be drawn by human beings, so he rejoiced and marveled.
The Great Divine Priest of Light squatted beside the cliff. Following Yan Se’s finger, he looked to the north, but he saw something different. As a man at a Heaven-inspired State, he comprehended many things he couldn’t comprehend before.
The old man looked back to see Sangsang, hesitation appearing on his wrinkled face. It was only until the last moment when he finally felt relieved and understood. He then smiled and said, “Finally, this is my Lucky Chance.”
Master Yan Se looked down at him and laughed, “You still can’t see it through? No matter what Lucky Chance it is, it has nothing to do with us. It’s their business.”
The old man stood up, sighed and said with a smile, “Yes, the world will be theirs.”
Days ago, an old man was taken in by the little handmaiden of Old Brush Pen Shop. Back then, the old man asked the little handmaiden a question.
“Do you believe in Lucky Chances?”
“Yes.”
“I believe that everyone is destined to meet some people and do some things. These things are arranged by Haotian, namely Lucky Chances.”
“Many years ago, I saw the shadow of Nightfall in this city. Once I saw it, I was destined to meet him.”
“And once I meet him, we will not be separated again. However, I didn’t see him clearly nor did I meet the real one. I only know that he exists but I don’t know where he is.”
“Then I saw a person in Chang’an City who was born knowing. I felt that it wasn’t right, because there shouldn’t be anyone born knowing in the world. So, the Lucky Chance had presented itself again.”
Many days later, beside a cliff on the outskirts of Chang’an City, the old man finally understood. Actually, his Lucky Chance was not the shadow of Nightfall, but the little handmaiden named Sangsang.
A gust of winter breeze blew, and the two old men, standing shoulder to shoulder beside the cliff, were instantly blown to ashes, just like snow.
So just like that, the most outstanding Great Divine Priest of Light of the West-Hill Divine Palace in the past century, peacefully left this world. His uncomparable talent and unparalleled ability crowned him as the strongest person in the Peach Mountain. However, he had been imprisoned for fourteen years because of the so-called Lucky Chance.
He escaped from Peach Mountain and came to Chang’an City, yet he didn’t find the shadow of Nightfall. It was as if the only goal of his visit was to meet Sangsang, and take her as his successor.
On the brink of death, he was inspired by Haotian and could see the appearance of Nightfall’s shadow for the first time. He saw that his successor would continue to show extraordinary talents in this world, so he left without any regret.
On that same day, the most outstanding Divine Talisman Master of Haotian Taoism in the past century, also peacefully left this world. During his whole life, he laughed and cursed, treating life like a game.Though he had no reputation, he was strong and became the first person to go beyond the Five States in Talisman Taoism.
The life of Master Yan Se was casual and natural. What he strived for was just to find a successor. When he saw that Chicken Soup Calligraphy, he finally felt satisfied. All the time he spent lingering in brothels was so as to take that guy as his successor.
On the brink of death, he saw through the reincarnation of light and darkness, and saw that big talisman. He knew Ning Que, his successor, would definitely draw a big talisman that he had never drawn during his whole life. He knew that guy would definitely complete the thing that had been uncompleted by the previous Talisman Masters. So he left with great peace and even pleasure.
Wind blew, snow fell and stopped. Now everyting was silent on the cliff.
The only white poplar propped up to the sky, the lonely Sangsang rubbed her eyes. She held the two heavy urns with great difficulty and waded to the edge of the cliff. Then she knelt down beside the two mounds of ashes.
The wind on the cliff was constantly blowing, carrying the ashes with it. Some were blown into the air and flew to the snow-covered ground, while some were even carried farther away.
Kneeling down, Sangsang reached out her hands to pick up the ashes and put them in the urns.
“Master will live in the new urn, because he likes to be clean.”
“Young master’s Master will live in the old urn, because he is not afraid of the grease.”
She softly reminded herself and put the bone ashes into the urns, one handful after another.
The annoying wind would blow from time to time, scattering the ashes all over. Some of the ashes were even blown onto her cotton skirt and her little face.
Sangsang raised her hand to wipe her face, and then continued putting ashes into the urns with her head lowered.
…