Realms In The Firmament

“They have fought all the way here. Obviously, one of them has been tired, so they have to start fighting here. Otherwise, with their cultivation capabilities, they wouldn’t have to fight so hard. They are now fighting in a life and death battle, which must be the last thing the one who’s being hunted wished for.”

“The one exhausted is obviously the prey… As a man who is being hunted, he would never want to get into a tough fight against the enemy. If he has the capability to have a tough fight, he wouldn’t even try to escape…”

“To fight hand in hand, they have to get close to each other. The prey isn’t a match to the hunter, so he will definitely take advantage of a strike to run away in high speed. However, the hunter has finally caught up… So the second close fight eventually happened.”

“When they had their first close fight, the sound was not that loud. That means the hunter was restraining his strength. However, when the second close fight happened, the sound was a few notches louder. That means… After the first fight, the prey was hurt. Or maybe he was hurt… again…”

“Therefore… It seems like this battle is about to reach its conclusion.”

“After less than another four close fights, the prey will eventually lose his strength to defend…”

“They have been moving for over five hundred miles… They have obviously started the fight far away from the other side of the capital. They are truly top superior cultivators…”

Ye Xiao flew like the wind and cautiously approached.

He was thinking, analyzing, estimating, but he was still calm and steady.

Finally, he was close enough to the battle.

Almost at the same time when he stopped, there came a huge explosion. - BOOM! - This time, it happened quite near to him. Endless dirt and grime flew up in the air, and then it all headed straight towards his direction. He quietly stayed down on the floor, allowing the dirt and grime to cover his body…

In the next moment, he was immediately smothered.

He had become a ‘sweat guy’ earlier the night, and then now he became a ‘dirt guy’… Yet it disguised him rather well!

A sound of someone panting was getting closer. According to the sound, this guy must be extremely exhausted. He might freak out, fall down and never get up at anytime.

And then a sword flew over to him. It was covered by cold glow. - Shoot! - It stopped at a point about ten meters away in front of Ye Xiao. It was stabbed into a stone that was right in front of the exhausted guy.

This sword served as an instrument to stop him from escaping and take his life!

A lightning suddenly lit up the sky. - Shoo! - The stone still looked normal after the sword struck it. However, when the rain fell on the stone, the rock splat into four parts, it was like four petals blooming.

The sword stood with its point sticking in the ground.

In fact, it was inappropriate to use ’sticking’ to describe it. The sword was totally exposed and not a single part of it was stuck inside the ground. However, it didn’t fall down. It was just standing there flashing with a cold glow. It was actually floating in mid-air.

Lightning once again flashed in the sky and the world was lit and turned dark again.

The wild rain seemed to rule everything once more.

The exhausted man looked at the sword as he suck in heavy breaths. Suddenly, he made an extremely hoarse laugh and then sat on the floor. He then spoke bitterly, “You win… Kill me as you wish. No more worthless conversations.”

Ye Xiao was so close to them and he didn’t dare to move even a single bit.

After all, he was too close to the battle, and these two were top superior cultivators. The heavy rain had helped in concealing his existence. Otherwise, he must have been beaten up eight hundred times. The martial art he used to hide himself wasn’t weak. However, the difference between his capability and theirs was too big.

There was nothing else he could do.

It was just that the place he picked was perfect to hide his whereabouts.

It was a ramp of the forest and they were heading over to this ramp. They were about to pass through the ramp.

If the prey went over the top of the ramp, he would definitely fall down to the other side of the ramp since he was exhausted. The hunter would jump down following the prey. Then Ye Xiao would be behind them.

Because they went over Ye Xiao’s location, they wouldn’t be able to notice him since they would never keep an eye on the route they passed.

So it was a perfect place to hide indeed.

Basically, things should happen as Ye Xiao estimated. And it had been developing that way.

However, something out of his expectation happened.

The hunter actually threw his sword to force the prey to stop a few meters away from where he was hiding!

The prey looked at the sword and thought that it was impossible for him to escape anymore. So he suddenly felt discouraged and couldn’t get up his strength anymore. So he kind of accepted his fate and sat down on the floor…

Ye Xiao didn’t care whether he sat down or not!

The only thing that mattered to him was the fact that they were only seven meters away from him!

[What the hell is this! It really didn’t go as I expected!] Ye Xiao cursed in mind, [For fxxk’s sake, I am so unfortunate…

In such a short distance, facing two superior cultivators of the Grade of Tianyuan, no matter who found me first, I will certainly die!

That is really clamping a bird when closing the door [1]… What an unfortunate coincidence…]

It was true that he was the Xiao Monarch who was wise and knowledgeable. So although he was in the third level of the Grade of Diyuan, he was invincible to all the others who were in the same level. Even those in the fourth or sixth level of the Grade of Diyuan couldn’t be a match to him. If he really fought hard, he could even defeat the superior cultivators who were in the ninth level of the Grade of Diyuan!

However, that was it. He was unable to win against someone who was in the Grade of Tianyuan. Someone in the Grade of Tianyuan could beat him easily in everything. Took Guan Zheng-Wen as an example, Ye Xiao was helpless in front of him.

And these two in front of him were miles ahead of Guan Zheng-Wen in terms of cultivation capability.

If he was exposed, any of these two could easily take his life. That was simply the absolute higher level suppressing the lower one. No one could do anything about it!

Under such a negative situation, Ye Xiao was a bit distressed. At the same time, he had another feeling that was strange. [How come the voice of the prey is so familiar to me?

Is it possible?

It mustn’t be!

I have never been in-touch with such a high-level superior cultivator except for Guan Zheng-Wen!

The prey shouldn’t be Guan Zheng-Wen. Then who the hell is he?]

While collecting his thoughts, he suddenly heard a soft voice, “Do you really have to be like this?”

Ye Xiao was shocked and he nearly exposed himself.

[Shit! The hunter is the one I am actually familiar with!

At least the hunter is someone whose name and background I could identify!

The voice is so peaceful, soft, calm, ringing like the river running in the mountain, and could make people feel comfortable.

It is the voice of…

The one who was in the auction… Xiu Of The Heavens!

Lady Xiu-Er!

She is the girl who is qualified enough to give orders in the House Of Chaotic Storm!

She is the one who slaughtered every man of the Mu Clan in the capital!

[Oh my bloody heavenly holy gods…] Ye Xiao’s heart pounded hard several times, [How come I didn’t realize this girl was a top superior cultivator in the Grandmaster Levels of Tianyuan?]

When he pondered deeper about it, he recalled something suspicious.

He had realized that Xiu Of The Heavens had an extraordinary capability, but Ye Xiao was sure that she shouldn’t be as capable as she was now! In the auction, she was so far away from the Grade of Tianyuan, let alone the Grandmaster Levels of Tianyuan!

Ye Xiao dared to swear with his sharp eyes and his life.

And he was pretty sure that he hadn’t seen her wrong!

However, since their last meeting, it has only been a month. The girl had actually reached the Grandmaster Levels of Tianyuan from the Grade of Diyuan. Wasn’t it boosted too much?

[What… What the hell is going on?

What the hell is it?!]

The prey laughed hoarsely and said, “I want to be clear about the truth before I die. You asked me whether it had to be like this or not. In fact, I want to ask you the same question. What made you hunt me like this?”

In his voice, there was a sense of dejection. He was in despair.

A top superior cultivator was about to die in the hands of a girl that seemed to be about seventeen years old during a fair fight. It was unacceptable for him as he had always been proud. He would even accept his demise, but he desperately wanted to know the truth!

Xiu Of The Heavens stayed quiet for a while and spoke, “Ning Bi-Luo, I regarded you as an outstanding cultivator, so I invited you to join the House of Chaotic Storm… I promised you that as long as you join us, the assassination affairs of the House of Chaotic Storm will be under your command. You have the full power! Besides, I would solve the problem between you and the Saint Master. Such conditions are good enough no matter what. Yet you turned hostile and attacked in advance. Do you have an explanation for your actions?”

At this moment, Ye Xiao actually remembered the prey at once.

Ning Bi-Luo.

The No.1 assassin in the Land of Han-Yang.

However, he was a bit surprised. [How woeful this No.1 assassin is.]

He had heard of him several times. When he heard about him for the second time, it was about his assassination organization fading away as Ning Bi-Luo fought his way to escape. At that moment, he was still on the run…

The first time he met Ning Bi-Luo was when he had just been set free from Wen-Ren Chu-Chu’s grasp. It was a coincidence. That day, Ning Bi-Luo was being hunted and was fleeing madly. If Ye Xiao didn’t do him a small favor, he might have died that day.

At this moment, Ye Xiao met him again and he was still being hunted. However, the hunter was way stronger than before!

[Could he be a rat on the street [2] in his previous life?] Ye Xiao thought.

…

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[1] Clamping a bird when closing the door. It means something unfortunate happened in coincidence.

[2] A rat on the street (过街老鼠). People hate rats and will want to wipe out the rats on the street. So it refers to those who are hated by everybody.

4th guaranteed chapter of the week.

Translated by: Rain

Edited by: Arch