If you threw a stone in some water, even if the stone did not return, at least you could obtain the beautiful ripples on the water. If you threw meat buns to dogs, even if the buns could never come back again, you could at least hear the dogs barking. However, when Ning Que shot the first iron arrow to the black peach blossom, it did not respond at all.
He had prepared this deadly kill for such a long time. It could even be called his strongest attack. Nevertheless, it was easily resolved to nothing by his enemy. If this scene was seen by an ordinary person, he might start to feel desperate.
Ning Que didn't have such a feeling.
The strong man who was in the Knowing destiny State was hidden in the dark, trying to distract him or to waste his iron arrow through the dark riders on the mountain path. That indicated that the man was worried or even feared the Primordial Thirteen Arrow, so that shot must have taken some effect.
In addition to rational analysis, what had made him so confident was his distinctive characteristics of the Academy as well as his pride and self-confidence, which would grow the longer he stayed with the Headmaster.
The Primordial Thirteen Arrows were the collective wisdom of the Academy. Ning Que believed that no one in this world could ignore its power, even if super strong men such as Liu Bai, the Sage of Sword, Great Divine Priest of West-Hill, or the Second Brother couldn't turn the iron arrow invisible quietly.
It was during a spring two years ago when the Talisman Arrow was just made, Ning Que took the first shot. Second Brother avoided the iron arrow with his sleeve, only to find the sleeve was torn by it.
Even if the strong man hiding behind the maple tree was in the Knowing destiny State, he was nothing compared to Second Brother. How could he avoid the iron arrow so easily?
The black peach blossoms on the maple tree seemed to have swallowed the iron arrow like an endless abyss without being affected itself. Ning Que was certain that his enemy must have paid the price and suffered a lot. He could not see the damage, but that did not mean that it did not exist.
He continued to shoot the second iron arrow without any hesitation.
The iron arrow broke the sky, dropped into the black peach blossom, and disappeared again. Nothing had been changed except the trunk of the maple tree, which had been wetted by autumn rain, trembled slightly.
Ning Que looked calm. Neither fear nor desperation could be seen in his eyes.
He shot the third iron arrow.
The iron arrow disappeared into the black peach blossom once again. This time, the wetted maple tree shook violently, with red leaves falling from the top of the tree and toward the ground as the gentle autumn wind came.
Ning Que shot another arrow.
Finally, the black peach blossom had been changed. The invisible black petals, which condensed by the pure aura of heaven and earth, began to tremble. The petals on the edges of the peach blossom started to wither as if they were about to fall off with the red leaves.
Ning Que shot the fifth iron arrow.
The sharp arrowhead pierced one of the petals of the black peach blossom heavily.
Finally, the iron arrow had hit its body.
An extremely deep rift appeared on one slice of the petals of the black peach blossom.
There was a loud boom.
The black peach blossom disappeared without a trace, and the hard maple tree bore the rest power of the iron arrow on the front, which it couldn't withstand at all. So it was bombed into a giant hole, and was separated into two parts with a loud noise.
The dense red leaves of the maple tree were also torn into countless shreds by the aura of the arrow, scattering toward the courtyard of the temple. They then sprinkled to the ground by the pouring of the dense autumn rain.
The shreds of maple leaves dyed the autumn rain blood, and landed on the ground, on the trunk of the broken maple tree, on the person behind the maple tree, and on the silver mask covering his face.
The silver mask covered half of the young man's face, with the other half being exposed. Even with half of his face, one could see his handsomeness. However, he looked forlorn, covered with the bloody rain.
Looked at the man behind the maple tree, Ning Que and Sangsang couldn't help but look shocked.
In the courtyard of Yanming Lake, Ye Hongyu had once unintentionally mentioned that this person might still be alive. However, they did not pay attention to it because they believed that even if the man was still alive, he must be disabled.
However, this person was actually still alive, and had become more powerful than before.
"How could you be still alive?"
Looking at the young man, dressed in a black taoist suit in the autumn rain, and thinking about his fighting and feuding with this man for so many years; Ning Que seemed a little bit absent-minded.
Half of Long Qing's face, exposed outside the silver mask, was extremely pale with almost no trace of blood. It seemed that he had not seen the sunlight for a long time and a tiny stream of blood was flowing from his lips slowly.
Ning Que shot five Primordial Thirteen Arrows in a row without any hesitation or mercy. Eventually, an indelible trail was left on the peach blossom in the year of his birth. Naturally, he had suffered great injuries as well.
Having experienced many adventures, entering the Knowing destiny State, and successively defeated the heads of many spiritual sectarians in the world. His vision was even more pronounced with the skill of Gray Eye. At this time, Long Qing was undoubtedly at his best stage. So he had enough confidence to win over Ning Que, but he did not expect that he would be hurt when they first met.
He did not expect that Ning Que could ignore the threat of the black riders and fight with him for his life. In addition, there was a more important reason.
After entering the Knowing destiny State, he was truly enlightened. He could understand the true laws concerning the aura flow of the heavens and earth. If he wanted to avoid the Primordial Thirteenth Arrows, there should have been a better way like Ye Hongyu, who had entered the Knowing destiny State on the snowy cliff. He might have been hurt as well, but he would at least suffer fewer injuries.
However, Long Qing did not want to dodge.
The first half of his life was destroyed by an iron arrow.
Now that he had regained his new life, he seemed to be extremely powerful. However, the thrilling power of the Primordial Thirteen Arrows was still a shadow in his Taoist Heart. If he does not have a positive victory over the Primordial Thirteen Arrows, he could not wipe out that shadow. He can't truly feel proud and powerful.
This kind of emotion was so strong and the desire was so unstoppable that he could hardly stop his impulses. He wanted to have a try and find out if he could block the iron arrow.
He tried, and he did block it.
Long Qing felt that his chest and abdomen echoed with a very pungent atmosphere, which even made his eyes start to sour. He looked at Ning Que on the wagon and was ready to say something, when suddenly his expression changed.
At the moment he saw Long Qing, Ning Que felt lost. If given time, he might have felt lots of complicated emotions. However, he was a professional soldier, a standard fighter, and a woodman along the Shuzhu Lake, so he was never allowed to be emotional before making sure to kill or defeat his strong enemy. He believed that it amounted to suicide to be emotional at this moment.
Did they need to salute each other? Ask about what happened since they parted? show great concerns for each other? Recall the past before they fight with each other? Both Ning Que and Ye Hongyu looked down upon such kind of idiots. In their eyes, Prince Long Qing and many other strong cultivators were all that type of idiot. Since they were such idiots, why should they live?
When Prince Long Qing was being emotional, he felt touched and sorrowful. He was about to say something to Ning Que in order to show his pride and strength, he was started to sob. When his lips had just separated, he had no time to say a word, for Ning Que was pulling the bow and stretched it to the utmost again.
It was so natural for him to pull the bow and control the string, as if he was born to do so. There was no time for one to get prepared or be vigilant in advance in front of his skills, so it seemed inescapable.
Long Qing's face became paler, with his black taoist robe wetted by the autumn rain. It seemed as though he was about to melt in the autumnal scenery in the garden of the temple, as if he wouldn't be there when the iron arrow came.
One should have a deep understanding of the laws concerning the circulation of the aura of heaven and earth. They should integrate themselves with nature and fight with the help of natural forces. This is where the true meaning of the Knowing destiny State lied.
The blood-colored shreds fluttered in the wind, seeming to hide all of Long Qing's body.
Ning Que looked calm, with no trace of anxiety in his face.
Sansang looked at the lingering figure of Prince Long Qing in the courtyard of the temple, and reported the position with the big black umbrella in her hand.
Ning Que let loose the string, and the arrow was shot out.
It was not too far of a distance from the temple to the outside. The maple tree had been ruined, the autumn rain started to come, and the black peach blossom had been converged.
This iron arrow had perfectly released all the power of the Primordial Thirteen Arrows.
The air in the temple fluctuated for a while, and the Qi of Heaven and Earth was in chaos. Several invisible black peach blossoms emerged from nothingness, and flowed in front of Long Qing in the blink of an eye.
These black peach blossoms were smaller, they were not the same peach blossoms of the year of his birth, but they did work as an amulet for him. It was these peach blossoms that helped him suffer less in front of Tang Xiaotang's unreasonable Blood Knife when he was in the Wilderness.
Now that Long Qing had entered the Knowing destiny State, the defensive strength of these peach blossoms were even more striking. They had abundant Qi of Heaven and Earth and a fearful air of death.
However, they were not the peach blossoms in the year of his birth.
The peach trees were in full bloom.
The arrow came.
Then, the peach blossoms fell one after another.
The black petals were cracked and then turned into smoke, disappearing into the autumn rain.
The iron arrow came straight towards Long Qing.
Long Qing's face looked shocked, but afterwards immediately turned into coldness and cruelness.
His faced showed coldness and cruelness to people as well as himself.
He used his chest to meet the iron arrow.
There was a puff.
The iron arrow pierced his black taoist robe.
It shot through Long Qing's body.
It then shot through the already broken back wall of the temple, causing it to collapse.
It then shot into the rain, and no one knew where it went.
There was a hole in Long Qing's chest.
Standing in front of him, one could see the scenery behind him through his chest.
This was not a wonderful scene, but rather scary.
Anyone who had a hole in their body, through which others could see sceneries, shouldn't be still alive.
Long Qing was still alive because the hole in his chest was not the result of the arrows shot today, but by the ones shot by Ning Que on the snowy cliff a long time ago from miles away.
Since then, the hole had always been there.
Today, the iron arrow had passed through the hole that was there before.
So he did not die.
The strong aura attached to the iron arrow had lacerated the cross-section of the viscera in the hole.
Long Qing stooped and coughed painfully.
Blood came out with every cough.
Ning Que had taken out the seventh iron arrow and was ready to shot.
His fingers on the bowstring were no longer stable and even trembled slightly.
He knew this was his best chance.
He also knew it might be his last chance.
Long Qing raised his head suddenly.
With coldness in his eyes.
There was a wildfire of vengeance at the depth of this coldness.