Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)
chapter-542

Chapter 542 – An Ebony Hairpin

She took one step forward, bringing her to the very edge of the Dew Platform.

Night Pearls and the human world lay at her feet, the stars and fate above her head.

She slowly opened her hands, her broad sleeves hanging down and dancing in the wind.

She was like one standing before an abyss, cautious and small.

She was like one standing before the ocean, the scene majestic.

An extremely subtle and powerful Qi appeared on the Dew Platform.

With a shake of her wide sleeves, the night wind suddenly shifted directions and began flowing in reverse, heading towards the Burning Heaven Sword.

Strands of black hair brushed against her cheeks and drifted forward. It was somewhat disorderly, but this only added to her beauty.

With a shake of her hair, the ebony hairpin stuck within fell off, but it did not fall down. Instead, it flew into the night sky.

The entire world knew that the Divine Empress possessed an ebony hairpin. Regardless of the occasion, it would be thrust into her hair.

It wasn’t because the hairpin was very beautiful, or because the Phoenix head carved onto it was so vivid and lifelike, but because it was no ordinary hairpin.

This was third-ranked on the Tier of Legendary Weapons, Wooden Sword Little Phoenix!

……

……

An extremely clear and beautiful Phoenix cry, incomparably grave and solemn, resounded through the capital.

The ebony hairpin shot straight up from the Dew Platform into the night, transforming under the starlight into a graceful and beautiful, yet incredibly furious Black Phoenix!

This Black Phoenix was so massive that it seemed to obscure the stars. Extending a single claw, it straight away grabbed the blazing Burning Heaven Sword!

A terrifying noise reverberated ceaselessly through the world.

The Black Phoenix’s right claw had snatched the fire dragon that was the Burning Heaven Sword!

The dragon scale–like starlight surrounding the Burning Heaven Sword instantly dimmed, then, with countless cracking sounds, shattered one by one!

But the Burning Heaven Sword seemed to have long anticipated this and directly pierced through those scales of starlight!！

Su Li’s sword…had truly left its sheath!

An incredibly sharp sword intent covered the entire night sky. The scattered and shattered starlight was cut into even finer fragments and descended like snowflakes!

Several black feathers drifted up!

Another Phoenix cry rang out, even more tyrannical than before!

The Black Phoenix unfurled its several-dozen-li wings!

The Burning Heaven Sword thrust into its black feathers and its sharp beak fiercely collided against the tip of the Burning Heaven Sword!

A stream of light appeared—countless streams of light appeared! They contained flowing light and overflowing color, a magnificence nigh impossible to describe!

The night was illuminated and the world seemed once more to have returned to daytime. From the Imperial Palace to the Heavenly Dao Academy, from the Imperial Court to the Li Palace, the protective arrays of countless buildings were triggered and activated by the Qi spilling from the sky. Countless spheres of clear light almost simultaneously appeared on the streets and alleys of the capital.

This scene was truly far too beautiful, so beautiful that it was awe-inspiring, impossible to look at directly. In truth, few people could see this scene.

The stone pillars around the Li Palace emitted an ancient Qi. In the palace hall in the deepest part of the Li Palace, the Pope quietly stared upward at the night sky cut out by the sky well. As he gazed at the enormous blazing sword and that Black Phoenix he had not seen for many years, he exhaled a long sigh filled with some nigh-incomprehensible meaning.

The trees of the Mausoleum of Books exuded their own Qi, even more ancient than that emitted by the stone pillars. The elderly Divine General under the pavilion at the lower end of the Divine Path slowly raised his head, the dust of history on his armor slowly being shed. Even he of the tranquil heart and lonely Dao had his heart and soul shaken by tonight’s battle.

After quite some time had passed, the streams of light in the night sky gradually faded away.

The thundering collisions of Qi high up in the sky gradually vanished and the snow clouds all around gradually congregated, once more obscuring the shattered starlight.

The capital once more entered the dark night and the world returned to peace.

People stood by the windows of their houses, stood in ruins, stood by the Luo River, rubbing their aching eyes and gazing once more into the night.

There was nothing in the night: no enormous blazing sword, no Black Phoenix. All phenomena had vanished, almost as if nothing had happened.

Those magnificent and glorious scenes seemed to be imagined.

Snow began to fall once more, dancing in the cold wind.

Chen Changsheng extended a palm and took one of the snowflakes, but realized that its color was not white, but gray.

The people of the capital all realized that the snow falling from the sky was actually all gray.

Because that sword that had descended from the night over the capital had originally been the ash from the burning of a letter.

The Divine Empress gazed at the Ebony Phoenix Hairpin in her right hand, silently thinking about something.

The wind blowing over the Dew Platform blew away a piece of ashen snow that had stuck to the hairpin, revealing the hairpin’s original appearance.

The dark red phoenix head on the wooden hairpin was still as noble and beautiful as ever, but if one examined it carefully, one would be able to see a very shallow sword cut.

The Ebony Phoenix Hairpin originally had a very shallow blade cut. Now it had a sword cut that was just as inconspicuous.

Only she knew that this indicated that Su Li had already gotten infinitely closer to that person who had left the blade cut on her wooden hairpin all those years ago.

Tonight’s battle was a draw.

The sword intent Su Li had left behind was actually able to withstand her Ebony Phoenix Hairpin. This somewhat surprised her.

Soon after, her lips curved into a derisive smile.

“You don’t want to leave, but you’re forced to leave. All those entrapped by love are mediocre people. Even if you reached even higher heights on the path of the sword, so what?”

She suddenly sensed something and turned south to a certain part of the city. Her eyebrows raised, she coldly said, “Daring to stick around, truly a thing that doesn’t know the meaning of death!”

……

……

There were many people that did not want to leave, such as the old Daoist nun.

She had gone to the Orthodox Academy to establish her power and kill people, but she ended up being repelled by Su Li’s sword intent. Battered and exhausted, she borrowed the darkness to escape.

As one of the Storms of the Eight Directions, how could she resign herself to this?

So she did not truly leave, instead borrowing the protective array of a certain noble clan in the southern part of the city to conceal her Qi.

Then, she saw that battle in the night sky. As she stood in the quiet garden and watched those streams of light gradually fade away, thinking about the enormous sword of flames and the Black Phoenix, the old Daoist nun displayed an abnormally nasty expression. Tianhai’s strength and cultivation had actually reached this level. Could it be that the Saints were all concealing their true strengths and were actually stronger than their group by an entire level? But when had Su Li advanced his cultivation to such a level?

After watching this battle, she was forced to admit that a massive gap lay between her and the likes of Tianhai and Su Li. It was even highly likely that she would never be able to reach their level for the rest of her life. This fact made her feel thoroughly defeated, and then she got angrier and angrier, so angry that she wanted to kill someone.

She had not left the capital just now precisely because she wanted to kill someone. Su Li’s sword intent had already been shattered by the Ebony Phoenix Hairpin, and she believed no one would imagine that, with her status and cultivation, she would so treacherously go back to the Orthodox Academy and kill someone. Who could obstruct her?

A killing intent filled with venomous hatred appeared in her eyes, boundless frigid blue-green waves surging within.

She took up her almost completely bare horsetail whisk and, with a face brimming with murderous intent, began walking towards the Orthodox Academy.

But just as she raised her foot, a voice rang out by her ear, “I’ve always believed that fate is a quite unreasonable thing and from you, I have obtained the finest evidence. How did such a wretched and obscene old woman like you obtain the favor of the starry sky and enter the Divine Domain?”

This voice was very cold, very majestic.

Simultaneously, a cold and majestic gaze descended from some far and high-up place, descending upon the old Daoist nun’s body.

……