292 If Life Could Be Like the Moment When We First Met Part Four

As she stood on that patch of reeds and stared into the boundless plain,Nanke's face did not divulge the slightest emotion. Her eyes were asindifferent, even dull, as was customary for her. Only that pair of tremblinghands hanging by the edge of her skirt indicated how weak she was, as well ashow angry Chen Changsheng's successful escape had made her. In the space above the plain, dozens of white scars could still be seen. Thesewere the aftermath of those tyrannically powerful Peacock Plumes almost tearingthrough space. In such a short amount of time, she had actually successivelylaunched so many attacks against Chen Changsheng. It was no wonder that herface was so pale, given how much true essence she had expended. If this were a normal situation, Chen Changsheng, separated from her by onlyseveral dozen zhang, would have been turned into finely ground meat long ago.But within the most mysterious plains of the Garden of Zhou, there would surelybe some unpredictable peculiarities. It was very obvious that the empty spacein the area was warped. It was impossible to accurately link what was seen fromoutside the plain with the truth. Her attacks had not even been able to brushagainst Chen Changsheng's sleeves. The wind blew across that sea of grass and those patches of reeds, making herhair even more disheveled, just like her mind. Her chest rose up and down, herbreathing very rough. Looking at her from behind, it was easy to see that shewas on the verge of exploding, or perhaps in the midst of calming down after anexplosion. The zither-playing old man had nothing to say, while the two maidsdid not even dare to make the slightest sound. "I want to go in." Nanke suddenly said, her childish face indicating that shewould brook no opposition. Of course, this was because she knew that this decision would absolutely bringabout protest, even if these were her most faithful subordinate and mostfearful servants. Just as expected, the old zither-player was greatly alarmed by her words andsaid without any hesitation, "Absolutely not." Nanke raised her brows and asked impatiently, "And why not?" The zither-playing old man turned his gaze to that seemingly delightfully lushand beautiful plain and replied somewhat nervously, "From the day the Garden ofZhou opened, no one has ever been able to emerge from those plains." Nanke impassively replied, "Those are other people, not me." The old man refused to back down and said, "Even Her Highness, in the face ofthese plains, is nothing special." Nanke held up her right hand, brushing at the black curtain in front of her.She stared at those faint life lamps as they leapt about the curtain as shesaid, "If we're discussing knowledge of the Garden of Zhou, in this entirecontinent, no one surpasses my teacher. With Teacher's assistance, I have themeans to exit from the plain." At these words, the old man was forced to ponder in silence for a moment. Thisplan of the demons involving the Garden of Zhou primarily relied upon BlackRobe's understanding of the garden. Before this, who could have imagined thatthere existed another gate into the Garden of Zhou besides the main gate? Andwho would have thought Black Robe controlled that gate? As they followed thelife lamps to locate those youthful human geniuses that were their targets,they understood more and more about the arrangements that Black Robe had made,and the old zither-player's reverence for him grew ever deeper, and the more hefelt that Black Robe was unpredictable. He found himself unable to refuteNanke's words, and even began to somewhat believe in them. "Only—why must you enter the plains? Xu Yourong and the other three have allalready entered the plains, and it's impossible for them to come out." "Xu Yourong is together with Chen Changsheng. This makes me feel uneasy. Don'tforget, one of them is the reincarnation of the Heavenly Phoenix, while theother went from not knowing how to cultivate to the upper level of EtherealOpening in only a year's time. All of mankind regard their existence asmiracles. Who knows? Perhaps if they work together, they really might producesome sort of miracle. I want to go in so that if they really do manage toproduce a new miracle, I will be there to personally stamp it out." Nanke silently thought to herself, especially Chen Changsheng, he must die. Seeing how firm her resolution was, the zither-playing old man said no more.With a sigh, he took down the zither that he had just finished repairing thismorning and began to play a tune. As the song of the zither made its way into the plain, from within those weedswhich were higher than a man, a faint beeping sound could be heard, though whatproduced it was a mystery. This old man had originated from the Candle Shadow Shaman tribe and wasskilled in attacking and controlling spiritual beings. Up to a certain extent,the sound of his zither could even control, or at the very least send away,monsters of a low rank. Although it was impossible for it to have any effect onthose truly powerful monsters, it made walking through this plain much easier.Black Robe naturally had this in mind when he had arranged for him to enter theGarden of Zhou with Nanke. Much of Nanke's confidence came from this, from her absolute faith in herteacher. She was also fearful of this vast and unfathomable plains, which iswhy in the very beginning, when she had been pursuing Xu Yourong, and even whenshe was confronting Chen Changsheng just now, she had always controlled heremotions. It was all because she did not want her human opponents to believethat they had been pushed to the brink and flee into the plains. However, now,Chen Changsheng had already carried Xu Yourong inside. The tune played by the zither was not only expelling those monsters, it wasalso a summoning. Not long after, with a set of heavy footsteps, Liu Wan'er andTeng Xiaoming with pot and pole arrived. Towards this Demon General couple,Nanke's expression was clearly much more respectful. She slowly made clear tothem her resolution. The Demon General couple was silent for a while, then they used theircontinued silence to indicate their consent. Accompanied by the gentle tune ofthe zither and the soft parting of the water, the party of demon experts partedthe reeds and entered the plain. This boundless plain was no forest, but withregards to this pursuit and battle, with regards to the hunter and the hunted,they would be facing the same dangers. There were many legends about the vast and unfathomable plains, but bas nobodythat had entered this plain had ever lived to tell the tale, the legends werenaturally taken with a grain of salt. Moreover, the vast majority of thestories were simply too preposterous—only those that had actually walked intothose plains would actually know what lay within, just as how only when onepersonally tasted the pepper would one know that it was not poison and that thefeeling of burning afterwards was not actually fire. Carrying Qi Jian, Zhexiu had already walked through these plains for one dayand one night, but they still did not have a vivid picture of this place. Theyonly knew that in front of their eyes was grass, behind was grass, everywherewas grass. Only when day broke did they realize that the solid ground beneathwas gradually growing sparse and those pools of water under the grass weregradually growing more numerous, the soil likewise growing increasingly soft. The plains were gradually turning into a wetland. Walking through thisenvironment would become increasingly strenuous. Although there were not manymosquitoes, the number of monsters concealed in the grass increased copiously.Just as the morning sun completely illuminated the wetland, a group of monsterscould no longer resist the allure of a fresh-blooded meal. They ignored thepowerful aura exuded by Zhexiu and attacked them. For a moment, bits of grass were sent flying and the pools of water weredashed into countless golden leaves while the blood of monsters wascontinuously spilt. Only after several monster corpses were strewn across theground was that group of monsters finally compelled to turn tail. Zhexiu used his hand to cut down grass, gathering it into a heap atop the wetground. After helping Qi Jian sit down, he sat down cross-legged and began tomeditate and harmonize his breathing. From the beginning of this battle to theend, he had been the only one fighting. It was out of the question to say thatit had exhausted him, but the poison of the Peacock Plume being suppressedunder his eye by his true essence seemed to once again corrode his sea ofconsciousness, so he had to take care of it. Qi Jian leaned against the somewhat stiff grass, his face pale, as he lookedat the pitch-black corpse of a scaleless snake, larger than a house beam. His injuries were severe. Liang Xiaoxiao's ambush by the lakeshore yesterdayhad been too fierce. Not only had he pierced through his abdomen, he had evenmore treacherously transmitted true essence through his sword and snapped twoof his extremely important meridians, while also leaving behind a wound uponhis internal organs that was far too difficult to heal. Although the bleedinghad lessened, it still continued to bleed. Having suffered such a severe injury, he could not even stand, let aloneengage in battle. He could only be carried by Zhexiu as he walked, only look onas Zhexiu staved off those terrifying monsters, fighting, shouting, silently,painfully. This fact made him feel very uncomfortable. He felt like a piece oftrash. Zhexiu was blind at the moment, and yet he still had to protect him. After who knows how long had passed, Zhexiu woke up. Without opening his eyes,he slowly shifted his body over to Qi Jian's side. It was obvious that afterone day and one night, he had gotten used to the fact that he could not see. Hegrasped Qi Jian's wrist and listened to the pulse, subsequently producing apill from his bosom and placing it in Qi Jian’s mouth. Because he could not see, when he was giving the medicine, his finger brushedagainst Qi Jian's lips. Qi Jian's lips were somewhat dry and there were even some cracks in the skincaused by thirst and dryness, but they still felt rather soft. This madeZhexiu's figure stiffen, and he rather abruptly said, "Everything would be fineif Chen Changsheng was here." This was an attempt to make conversation, but Qi Jian didn't understand andasked, "Why?" Only then did Zhexiu realize that Qi Jian did not care that Zhexiu’s fingerhad brushed against his lips. After a pause, he replied, "His medical skillsare superb. Even if he couldn't cure me of the poison within me, he would beable to heal your wound." Qi Jian was rather curious about the Orthodox Academy, but this was clearlynot the time for conversation. After giving his agreement, he said no more.Only by not speaking could he put all his time and energy into recovering hisstrength and true essence. Zhexiu understood his meaning and closed his eyes, returning to hismeditation—only this time he was sitting next to Qi Jian. Qi Jian only neededto open his eyes to see a profile of his face. Over the course of this journey, he had already slept for far too long, evento the extent that he had even forgotten to give Zhexiu directions. Of course,in this boundless plain in which forwards and backwards had no meaning, theretruly wasn't a need for direction. Nevertheless, he had slept for far too long,so even though he was very weak, he did not want to rest and did not want toclose his eyes. He opened his clear and bright eyes and calmly gazed at Zhexiu's profile. Whoknew what he was thinking, but the more he looked, the more entranced he became. Zhexiu was born with a very ordinary appearance, and there nothing surprisingabout his face. Besides indifference and a lack of emotions, there was nothingspecial about his face. He seemed just like a thin and weak human youth. Butwho could possibly imagine that his thin and weak body actually concealed aterrifying strength and an unimaginably tenacious will? Especially when hetransformed, he possessed a dread that far surpassed his cultivation.