Tome of Troubled Times-Chapter 787: The Night is Still Young

The Sacred Mountain was not entirely silent. Sun Hengchuan, beaming from ear to ear, was digging into his own pockets to hand out red envelopes to the members of the Blood God Cult, proclaiming, “My disciple is getting married! Let’s all celebrate!”

And so, the mountain erupted in festivity.

No one dared to dispute Instructor Sun’s claim that Zhao Changhe was his disciple, not even Zhao Changhe himself. In investment terms, his stocks had gone straight up to the moon. The only reason his success had not turned into ambition was that Sun Hengchuan simply had none. He had spent the last few years in semi-retirement, only occasionally instructing new cult members in saber arts. It was only this northern campaign against the barbarians that had prompted him to pick up his blade once more. Most likely, after this battle, he would return to a life of peaceful retirement.

After all, cultivating the Vicious Blood Art was a process of constant suffering, and not everyone could conquer vicious blood. Sun Hengchuan was no exception. He had long since wanted to give it up. He was not alone in this. There were many within the Blood God Cult who had similar thoughts. To sheathe their swords and retreat into the jianghu, leaving war behind, seemed like the best path for most of them. And with Zhao Changhe at the helm, they knew they would never be left wanting.

Even Xue Canghai had been unusually quiet ever since Lie had spoken those words to him. Perhaps he, too, was contemplating this choice.

There was only one Zhao Changhe. Not everyone could or needed to follow his path.

Xue Canghai said nothing, simply continuing to oversee the warriors of the Divine Temple who had surrendered as they pitched tents and constructed an encampment. The captives, forced into hard labor, kept their heads down and did not dare to utter a word. Occasionally, some of them stole glances up at the mountain peak, but they quickly averted their gaze, their shoulders slumping in resignation.

They could easily imagine what was transpiring inside the secret realm.

The holiest temple and the most divine site of their faith had now been reduced to someone else’s bridal chamber.

To the lovers within, it was a moment of romance. To the vanquished, it was an absolute and crushing conquest, one that bordered on humiliation. Yet, not a single ember of defiance sparked within them. What right did they have to complain? The victors were not indulging in the barbaric traditions of the Grasslands, where conquered women were taken as spoils of war.

No, this was something far grander... This was a union witnessed by heaven and earth, a bond forged in battle and blood. Compared to the brutal subjugation their people had inflicted upon others in the past, this felt strangely dignified, so much so that some of them, twisted as it was, even felt an odd sense of admiration.

The people of the Grasslands revere strength. And there was no doubt that Zhao Changhe and Yue Hongling were true warriors.

In a land where the weak serve the strong, kneeling before a true hero is no disgrace.

The head of their god had been severed and placed upon the altar. The very foundation of their faith had been shattered. For some, there was no longer even a will to live. For the rest, it felt as if their bones had been pulled from their bodies, leaving them drained and powerless.

And even though there were not many members of the Blood God Cult watching over them, not a single one of them entertained thoughts of rebellion.

Who knew if Zhao Changhe, godlike and demonic as he was, could cleave them all into dust with a single strike?

In reality, though, they were overthinking it.

At this moment, Zhao Changhe did not have a single shred of strength left. He only had just enough energy to rest his hands on Yue Hongling’s slender waist, letting her take the lead as she guided their dual cultivation, working to heal his battered body.

Half-conscious, Zhao Changhe teetered on the edge of sleep.

If Li Shentong had not made that desperate stand, Zhao Changhe would have been the one to step forward and block the path with his life. After all, he had the Shadow-Splitting Technique, and he had been prepared to use it at that moment.

There was no grand plan, no calculated weighing of pros and cons. By the time war reached that stage, life and death had long ceased to be a factor in decision-making.

Li Shentong had claimed he did it to repay Xia Longyuan, but that was just something he said afterward. Zhao Changhe knew that, in the heat of battle, Li Shentong had not been thinking of debts or oaths—he had simply acted on instinct, unwilling to let their efforts crumble at the final moment. Zhao Changhe knew that he would have done the same...

Looking back at it now, Zhao Changhe felt a chill run down his spine. If he had been the one to take that blow, he would be dead without question. His defenses were nowhere near Li Shentong’s level. It was truly ironic. He had once been a man who wanted nothing more than to go home, yet right then and there, he had been willing to give his life for this land.

It was no wonder that Tang Wanzhuang and the others had warned him before he left, afraid that he would throw himself into the fray too recklessly. But what use was their warning? When the moment came, who had the time to think about such things?

Victory in war demanded countless heroes willing to risk everything. There’s a saying that one general’s success is built upon the bones of ten thousand... and sometimes, the general is also among those ten thousand.

Even though Li Shentong had taken his place at that moment, Zhao Changhe had still suffered his gravest injuries yet. While he might not appear to be as battered as he had been in past battles, the damage he had sustained was of an entirely different magnitude. His body, his soul... Every ounce of his strength had been drained to the absolute bottom.

And Yue Hongling, disregarding the eyes of the world and her own shyness, had rushed him into their bridal chamber not merely out of love, but out of urgency. She needed to heal him.

In his half-consciousness, he vaguely sensed the blind woman’s presence. It felt as if she had briefly appeared and assessed his condition, but she said nothing.

Zhao Changhe wanted to say, “Didn’t you say that once this battle was over, you would finally tell me everything? I’m waiting for you to speak... Are you trying to back out now?”

* * *

The blind woman had no intention of going back on her word

Long before Ye Jiuyou’s clone had even fled, the blind woman had already been preparing for this moment.

No one, no matter how powerful, could divide their focus so completely as to fight on two fronts while their clone was being torn apart, not even Ye Jiuyou.

This was why the blind woman had waited for so many days, patiently biding her time for the perfect opportunity... She had always been patient.

Darkness wove itself into a cage around Jiuyou. The cold moonlight and the searing sun fused into one, burning away at her life force.

Mortal or god, it made no difference. Under the relentless passage of time, even an immortal entity like Jiuyou would be forced into slumber once more.

This was a battle on the level of the world’s laws themselves. Had Zhao Changhe been present, he would have realized that he was nowhere near capable of withstanding the blind woman’s full-force strike. When such an intangible, transcendent force was actualized into an attack, only Jiuyou could stand against it.

Her offensive surged into the silent void where Jiuyou no longer existed.

“Big Sister, I didn’t get my hands on the page of illusion and reality, but at least I have the Mirror of Illusion and Reality. It works well enough as a substitute...” Jiuyou’s eerie laughter echoed from nowhere, and in an instant, the night turned violent. Darkness shattered into fragments around the blind woman as if she were a figure painted onto a canvas that was now being torn apart.

Crack!

The fractured space was suddenly mended by an unknown force. The two combatants’ long hair billowed as a sudden gust of wind surged between them.

This battle between the world’s strongest was just warming up when an uproarious laugh erupted from below. Then, Desolate Calamity’s mocking voice could be heard, “Cui Wengjing, you’re an old dog of the Ranking of Heaven, yet this is all you’ve got? Hahaha!”

The Ye sisters, their palms still pressed together in a deadlock, simultaneously glanced downward.

The battle at Hangu Pass had raged for ten days now, Li Boping and Cui Wengjing having been in a deadlock the entire time.

With Ye Jiuyou’s aid, Li Boping had secretly broken through to the third layer of the Profound Mysteries, while Cui Wengjing, still recovering from severe injuries sustained prior to the war, had failed to seize the opportunity to push past his current level of cultivation. While his foundation remained slightly stronger than Li Boping’s, the gap was not significant enough to turn the tide.

Meanwhile, Desolate Calamity had been injured earlier in the conflict, while the Qinghe Sword had been forced into dormancy by Ye Jiuyou. As a result, neither side had been able to unleash forces at the level of the Profound Control Realm, making this one of the most “conventional” battles in the entire war.

But the more conventional the battle, the more prolonged the struggle. And the longer the stalemate dragged on, the greater the chance that Desolate Calamity would recover.

This was the moment Li Boping had been waiting for.

Boom!

The ground trembled violently as entire sections of the fortress walls crumbled.

Desolate Calamity’s earth-shaking techniques sent ramparts toppling, soldiers screaming as they plummeted into the chaos below.

Cui Wengjing watched the devastation unfold, his expression dark as if he had swallowed a glassful of vinegar.

As a human, how the hell was he supposed to counter this kind of cheating?

“Cui Wengjing! Back then, your Cui Clan abandoned me and chose Zhao Changhe instead. Do you regret it now?” Desolate Calamity’s laughter thundered through the battlefield.

Cui Wengjing gave no response. His sword flashed like a dragon, cutting down the Longxi soldiers who had surged onto the crumbling fortress.

At that moment, Li Boping’s sword thrust toward him once more. “I wonder... When Zhao Changhe returns and finds the Central Plains under new rule, what will he think?”

Still, Cui Wengjing remained silent, parrying the attack and retreating step by step.

“Qinghe! Say something, Qinghe!” Cui Yuanyang clutched Qinghe Sword’s hilt, shaking it furiously. “Why have you been asleep for so long? You only just woke up not long ago! Have some dignity! You’re a heaven-grade divine sword!”

Qinghe Sword: “......”

I was put to sleep by Jiuyou! Aside from Ye Wuming, there’s probably nobody who can defend against it! I’m just a sword. If there is someone who can resist Jiuyou, then it would be none other than you... Piaomiao! Only Piaomiao can stand against Jiuyou.

Cui Yuanyang was not just shaking the sword, her spirit was diving deep into Qinghe, desperately trying her best to rouse the slumbering sword spirit.

Her spirit entered Qinghe, and her consciousness grew hazy.

Hangu vanished. The cries of battle faded into silence... Before her stretched an endless land of rivers and mountains, the riverwater crystal clear, flowing eastward in a slow, unbroken stream. A thick, purple mist veiled the landscape, the qi veins of mountains and rivers rich and plentiful. The air itself carried such an abundance of spirit qi that it was intoxicating. One could feel their very soul becoming sharper and clearer just by being in this place.

Somewhere, soft murmurs could be heard, “How could such a beautiful land vanish with the collapse of an era? When the force of annihilation took shape as demon gods, we should have destroyed them.”

“Yes... Just like the one before me now, Desolate Calamity.”

“Was he not supposed to have been destroyed by my suppression long ago? No, something was missing then... That’s why these demon gods managed to escape, why the collapse of the era could no longer be stopped. What was it?”

Her memories were fragmented and in a mess. She could not remember what happened next...

At that moment, the night sky above Hangu flickered. The clash between Ye Wuming and Ye Jiuyou could no longer remain hidden.

Cui Yuanyang looked up.

There, locked in a deadlock, were two figures, both of whom were looking downward.

One of them... was the person who had forced Qinghe into slumber not long ago.

Just seeing her filled Cui Yuanyang with a vague discomfort, though not because of what she had done to Qinghe, but because she looked like someone else. The resemblance was uncanny, yet Yangyang knew she was not the same. The appearance and aura were similar... but not identical.

But the other one standing there, the one with closed eyes, is it...?

Ye... Wuming?

Ye Wuming?!

Cui Yuanyang’s eyes snapped open, burning with fury. “You dare appear before me?!”

The blind woman: “......”

Cui Wengjing: “?”

Desolate Calamity: “!!!”

Boom!

The qi of the mountains and rivers surged infinitely, flooding toward Desolate Calamity.

Desolate Calamity’s eyes widened in horror, his voice cracking into a desperate scream, “Piaomiao... Piaomiao is awakening! Master, save—ARGH!”

It was a suppression beyond all logic, a divine force that could not be resisted. It was the same overwhelming might that Zhao Changhe had once glimpsed within the Cui Clan’s secret realm. Back in the ancient era, before the flames of oblivion had even emerged from their abyss, the Qinghe Sword had already plunged into the abyss, directly sealing the catastrophe outside before it could even take form.

There should have been another sword meant to seal away Desolate Calamity alongside the first. But back then, Piaomiao had never completed her task.

As if reaching across the karma of eras, this moment finally brought closure to that unfinished fate.

A surge of purple qi shot through the heavens. Desolate Calamity instinctively tried to flee, but he found himself unable to move. The long sword pierced him through, launching him across dozens of li until he was impaled against the walls of Tongguan. His lifeless form hung there, pinned to the ramparts, his qi dissipating in an instant.

Both armies stood frozen, utterly stunned.

Jiuyou did nothing to save him. How could she? The blind woman still stood before her.

Yet in the next instant, “Cui Yuanyang” shot into the skies. Sword energy even more terrifying than the one that had slain Desolate Calamity streaked toward the blind woman’s chest, its sheer ferocity capable of severing fate itself.

And yet, the blind woman simply extended a delicate hand, catching the sword energy within her palm. The attack, powerful enough to obliterate Desolate Calamity in a single stroke, did not even leave a scratch on her skin.

Cui Yuanyang appeared before her, her usually soft and lively eyes now cold and filled with fury. “Ye Wuming...”

“Haha, hahahaha!” Ye Jiuyou, standing off to the side, nearly burst into hysterical laughter. “Oh, my dear big sister, when I put Qinghe to sleep, did you truly not think it was all leading to this moment?”

Desolate Calamity’s life had never mattered to her. His death was insignificant.

The blind woman smiled faintly. “Of course, I thought of that.”

Ye Jiuyou’s grin stiffened slightly. Then, the blind woman continued, her voice smooth and deliberate, “You have awakened Piaomiao... But the one you have truly offended is not me. It is Zhao Changhe. His wife is Cui Yuanyang, not Piaomiao. If Zhao Changhe had no unresolvable grudge against you before, then now he does.

She paused for a moment, her lips curling into a teasing, sultry smile. “We abide by the laws of the Dao. We are bound within its framework, unable to escape the predetermined course of fate. But Zhao Changhe is different. I cannot kill you, but he can. And I very much look forward to seeing that day.”

Ye Jiuyou’s laughter stopped. Her expression turned cold.

“Blood stains Qinghe while the night is still young[1]... You knew all along, didn’t you?” Jiuyou coldly said. “You knew all of this, yet you never warned Zhao Changhe. If he holds resentment... do you think you’ll escape it?”

The blind woman fell silent for a moment. “Even if I don’t escape it, so what?”

Clang! Clang! Clang!

As the sisters exchanged words, Piaomiao remained silent, unleashing a flurry of sword strikes toward the blind woman, each of which was effortlessly deflected. At last, a trace of astonishment flickered in Piaomiao’s eyes. “Your cultivation...”

The blind woman smiled faintly. “You’ve only just awakened, and your body is still weak. You’re no match for me right now. I’ll give you time, so recover properly...”

She raised a hand and made a slow, deliberate gesture, drawing her finger across her own neck. Then, calmly, she said, “I... will wait for you to come and kill me.”

Ye Jiuyou tugged at Piaomiao’s sleeve. “There’s no need to rush, big sister. Come back to Kunlun with me. I have something good for you...”

Piaomiao said nothing more and turned to leave with Ye Jiuyou.

Below, Li Boping, upon witnessing the inexplicable death of Desolate Calamity, saw his army’s morale collapse entirely. Soon, he ordered a retreat back to Tongguan. On the other side, Cui Wengjing, having just lost his daughter in an equally inexplicable fashion, found his forces equally devoid of the will to fight. And so, after ten days of deadlock, the battle at Hangu Pass abruptly came to an end.

The blind woman hovered silently in the sky. In the distance, the first rooster’s crow echoed across the land, and the first faint light of dawn stretched across the horizon.

She had taken a moment to check on Zhao Changhe. He remained in seclusion, immersed in dual cultivation with Yue Hongling for recovery. Even the blind woman did not know how long it would take for him to regain his strength.

As for their cultivation... Zhao Changhe and Yue Hongling had only just begun refining their path toward the second layer of the Profound Control Realm. Their foundation was still lacking, and their progress had yet to reach the necessary threshold.

I wonder if the benefits within the secret realm will be enough to aid in their advancement. If not, then while their current strength might be enough to go against Tngri, it’s far from being enough against Jiuyou or Piaomiao. Or perhaps... if you really want to kill that witch...

A wry smile happened upon the blind woman’s lips. Then, in an instant, she vanished without a trace.

1. The line seems to hint at the fact that by allowing Qinghe (the sword created by Piaomiao) to be stained with blood, Cui Yuanyang will cease to be. The “still young (未央)” part in can also be translated as “without ‘yang’” where “yang (央)” may refer to Cui Yuanyang. ☜