Chapter 13 The Female Immortal Slashes Her Sword in a Majestic Manner

This was the last autumn rain before winter. With the inexpressible coldness, it suddenly arrived before noon. The dark clouds gathered and collided with each other; the bright lightning roamed among the clouds like a huge serpent, causing the mountain to howl and the sea to roar amidst making clouds and bringing the rain. Lake Qifeng was roaring; pedestrians were escaping hurriedly throughout the imperial city. After Blood Feather suddenly showed up above the tower, civil and military officials scattered in all directions. The adjacent palaces in the shade of the clouds were just like cages for beasts. Outside the imperial preceptor’s mansion, those masters lurking in the dark for a long time were also astonished by the unexpected incident. The reemergence of Blood Feather was no trivial matter. It usually required a senior cultivator as the core force and tens of ordinary cultivators working together to repel such a monster. However, they were here to kill Zhao Xiang’er. Killing the monster was not their intention, so they couldn’t afford any depletion of strength. Moreover, a lot of them were from the state of Jin and the state of Rong. How could they bother to deal with the mess of the state of Zhao? It was raining heavily. The evil power raged above the tower. Amidst the thunder and lightning, the high-pitched shriek of Blood Feather resounded shrilly through the imperial city with brutal killing intent. As Blood Feather trampled by, the city wall started to crack inch by inch. Yet, somehow, rather than go straight to the imperial city, the evil bird ran forward along the city wall, causing the flags to collapse and the towers to fall, which just crumpled everything on the way like sweeping up dead leaves. In front of Lake Qifeng, Ning Xiaoling’s face turned pale with horror because of the startling accident. In a hurry, she kept retreating. If she hadn’t been grabbed by Ning Changjiu, she would almost have fallen into the lake. “Chang...Changjiu!” She held Ning Changjiu’s arm tightly. The rain fell on her pale face. From time to time, large fragments of broken bricks collapsed in front of her, making deafening noises. Ning Changjiu also looked stern. Staring at the strange bird that was wantonly destroying the city walls of the imperial city, he noticed that its domineering evil power was obviously restrained. Yet, at this moment, he still felt excited only by watching from a distance. “Let’s go home,” Ning Changjiu said decisively. Ning Xiaoling was taken aback for a moment and then felt relieved with a sigh. She was afraid that Ning Changjiu would rush forward to fight with the weird bird recklessly. In a hurry, she kept nodding, “Okay, Changjiu!” Fortunately, Zhao Shisong’s mansion was in the opposite direction of where the weird bird was heading. While running away, Ning Changjiu kept looking back in the direction the strange bird was leaving; Ning Xiaoling kept covering her ears on the way, only hoping to get away from the crazy weird bird as soon as possible. ... The imperial city was in chaos. Many years ago, when Blood Feather appeared for the first time, it also rampaged through many small border towns and passed lots of fortresses before it arrived at the imperial city. Back then, the cultivators in the city had been ready for its arrival. But this time, it showed itself almost without warning. In the past twenty days, more and more rumors about the sparrow ghost were spread around. Previously, the wizard patriarch appeared and talked of Blood Feather. Hence, many people linked the sparrow ghost with it. There had been no news about Blood Feather since it fled in frustration. This vengeful and powerful monster must have harbored a lot of resentment in its heart. Now that the imperial city was not guarded by the goddess, it made a comeback. The imperial city had been shrouded by the panic about the sparrow ghost for twenty days, just as if being covered by clouds. Now that Blood Feather really emerged, it just freaked out all the people. Many strange birds had gathered in this city. Now, as it showed up, those strange birds all swarmed here through the rain, hovering around it and shrieking constantly, as if the moon was surrounded by stars. Fluttering its wings, Blood Feather looked at the scattered crowds and the strange birds that arrived in excitement. Then it tramped on a brick resignedly and heaved a sigh. When it came to the city for the first time that year, he was so arrogant and condescending, thinking that it could come and go freely across this state. Even though it was injured due to the wizard patriarch’s plot and had to hide away for some time, it was not discouraged and still believed that it was merely too young and that it would surely become the king of evils tyrannizing throughout the South Continent after it cultivated for a few years and got recovered. Until it met that woman later... It couldn’t bear to think about the past. Among all the monsters, Blood Feather was kind of young. Now, the eyes that were looking down at the city had a sense of vicissitudes somehow. The great formation of the imperial city had already begun. However, the state of Zhao was on the decline like this and the current emperor was too weak, making the great formation somewhat useless. Yet, Blood Feather still didn’t act recklessly. Because no matter how weak the formation was, it would still be a stumbling block, which would hinder Blood Feather from escaping. All it needed to do was draw everyone’s attention to it by creating chaos so as to buy time for Zhao Xiang’er. She once warned it not to overdo the show for fun. It must act according to the plan and retreat when it was time. Otherwise... Thinking of this, the notorious Blood Feather couldn’t help but shiver, thinking that Zhao Xiang’er did deserve to be that woman’s daughter. “Alas, I can’t believe that I’ve become so professional after being a homing pigeon for so many years...” It mumbled with self-mockery, held its head high and extended its wing to its maximum, which looked majestic. The wind just grew between its wings. It opened its long beak and uttered in the human language. Its majestic and shrill voice swept across the whole imperial city through the rain. “Old Wizard, I was stabbed by you due to your vicious plot. Today, I came back, even stronger. Do you dare to crawl out of your turtle shell and have a fair fight with me?” It cleared its throat and continued, “I heard that today here came a woman from the Oracle Sword Heavenly Sect. Listen carefully. This is the private grudge between me and the old wizard, which is none of your business, so you had better stay out of this. Otherwise, humph, otherwise...” Blood Feather was still pondering over the wording when the gate of the imperial palace had been opened. Behind the dark palace gate, a white shadow appeared like a ghost. The moment the white shadow appeared, the raindrops were drawn by the sword Qi and went to where Blood Feather rested. The figure only paused for an instant at the palace gate. Amidst the heavy rain, a beam of white light shone brightly. Starting from the palace gate, the white light ran through the imperial city, lightening the raindrops. It seemed that every thread of rain contained great light and reflected fierce killing intent. A white rainbow went across the sky! While the sword Qi was fading in and out, the sword hummed clearly. The distance of thousands of meters was crossed within an instant now. Blood Feather’s pupils shrank suddenly, but the whites of its eyes were reflected extremely brightly. It cursed in its heart, thinking that the people of the immortal sects were still the same as before, who claimed to pay no heed to the secular affairs but still loved to interfere at the same time. After quick thinking, it had no choice but to bite the bullet and charge forward. The rain continued pouring down and the clouds in the sky were crashing. Above the palace, a red figure and a white figure had got into a dogfight, during which the sword Qi went about and the demonic light raged. Within the impact range, the ridges were lifted by the violent spiritual power; the beams and tiles were crushed into ashes. Ning Xiaoling covered her ears and stared at the sky in shock. Since Blood Feather was huge, its appearance could still be clearly seen; however, the woman from the Oracle Sword Heavenly Sect who acted along with the sword Qi couldn’t be traced at all. It was even difficult to identify whether she caused flashes of sword Qi or the sword Qi dragged her figure. Looking from afar, she could only see a gorgeous beauty and the frosty sword Qi. “Is...that an immortal?” Ning Xiaoling gazed at the scene and forgot to run for the moment. Ning Changjiu said, “Surely she is very impressive.” Ning Xiaoling raised her head and asked, “Changjiu, can we be as awesome as her in the future?” Ning Changjiu said, “You are a uniquely gifted cultivator. As long as you practice diligently and stay away from the evil path, you can definitely cultivate to perfection.” Ning Xiaoling pursed her lips as if tasting the rain. She blinked and said, “You mustn’t lie to me.” Ning Changjiu said, “Of course not.” Ning Xiaoling asked carefully, “Hey, what if I accidentally choose the wrong path one day?” Ning Changjiu seemed to have got an answer and said calmly, “I’ll kill the demon and keep you.” At that moment, it was extremely cold in the depths of the girl’s eyes. She raised her hand and stretched it out behind Ning Changjiu. Before she reached his back, Ning Changjiu naturally grabbed her wrist and said with a smile, “When two giants clash, the ordinary people may get caught in the crossfire. We had better go back as soon as possible.” Ning Xiaoling finally came to her senses. Ning Changjiu had already grabbed her wrist and walked towards Prince Zhao’s residence. “Hey...” Ning Xiaoling moved her arm with a grimace. As they approached the side yard, Ning Xiaoling took out the key and then had a glance at the sky reluctantly and fearfully. The yard gate was opened. Ning Xiaoling went behind Ning Changjiu and then pushed him into the room, muttering, “Changjiu, Changjiu, stop meddling anymore. This imperial city is too scary. If anything untoward happens to you, I’m not strong enough to drag you away.” ... ... In the Immortal Forest, the door of the wizard patriarch’s hall was opened silently. He heard what Blood Feather said just now, but he didn’t take action right away. After seeing the sword light shining from the imperial city, he opened the door without putting down the ancient book in his hand. This ancient book was the true inheritance of the wizard patriarch of the past ages. It was like a living official historian that would send forth book pages to record the history of the imperial city. At the same time, each line of words was also the imperial city in miniature. He turned the ancient book to the last page at the moment, whereby there was a prophecy that only manifested itself after being refined with his blood. “The universe shall carry out the punishment with the state and the imperial city as the sacrifice.” Never had he understood what exactly the prophecy meant, but he could vaguely feel the chilly meaning within. When he looked at the rain outside the window, his old body with the back bent couldn’t help trembling. “Could it be...today?” His gaze suddenly settled on an ancient well in front of the wizard patriarch’s hall but he quickly dropped the absurd thought in his heart. Only the imperial preceptor and he knew the secret of this well. Besides, even if the imperial preceptor told Zhao Xiang’er about it, she should not be that foolish to find the almost non-existent hope in the well. If she really went down... That would be even better. After all, she would be dead for sure. He didn’t need to do it himself. He turned his head and looked at a black-winged mynah on the wooden support, saying, “Let Qiu Li know about this. The plan remains as before; keep watching the imperial preceptor’s mansion; don’t care about the beast in the sky and I will kill it myself.”