The Emperor Reigns Them All-Chapter 385 - The Last Moment
Chapter 385 The Last Moment
The secret region. Li Ye was breathing heavily on the white-jade steps in front of the sacrificial altar. He looked as though he was exhausted, not far from him stood the Feihong Bodhisattva, holding her sword.
The Feihong Bodhisattva was still graceful with an imposing manner. Yet from her pale face and her incessant trembling hand you could tell that she was just as tired as Li Ye.
At present, their cultivation was only at the level of Qi-refining Level 1. Thus before a winner could be decided after a long battle, they were both exhausted. They had to rest first and recover some of their Spiritual Qi and get ready to fight again.
In actual fact, the two of them had been battling for a day and night, and they rested quite a few times. They really left nothing on the table, but still, there was no clear winner.
Li Ye stared at the Feihong Bodhisattva, who was drinking again. “Could we rest for a while longer before battling again? The battle in Taiyuan could still be ongoing, so even if our battle is finished, we’d still have to wait for them.”
He was simply too tired. Besides, every time the Feihong Bodhisattva rested, she would recover that much faster after drinking. She was at a totally different level, which made Li Ye miserable.
The Feihong Bodhisattva did not reply but just kept on drinking.
Li Ye knew that the Feihong Bodhisattva was not going to agree, so he forgot about that idea and focused on recuperating his Spiritual Qi.
Surely enough, moments later the Feihong Bodhisattva stopped drinking. Seeing her calm and composed, he knew she had pretty much recovered. Her one-meter green sword brushed the ground and then came for Li Ye.
But Li Ye was still breathing heavily. Seeing the opponent attack, he was miserable beyond words. Without choice, he had to wield his sword and battle the Feihong Bodhisattva, again.
Though their cultivation was about the same in the secret region, there was still a difference. It was fortunate that the Feihong Bodhisattva did not use her cultivation advantage and defeat Li Ye straight away. She was just competing skills and moves with Li Ye.
Li Ye was able to hold on because of that.
Of course, Li Ye knew the Feihong Bodhisattva’s intentions.
Li Ye had now become a grindstone for the Feihong Bodhisattva pertaining to her cultivation. So battling with Li Ye was good for her. Just like when they discussed Tao before.
Thus the Feihong Bodhisattva did not have the heart to kill Li Ye until the last moment.
Li Ye knew this because he was in the same situation as the Feihong Bodhisattva.
Ever since meeting the Feihong Bodhisattva, his cultivation had been improving constantly. His comprehension was improving too. Not only that, from his skills to his state of mind and his understanding of Tao had all improved. Thus the Feihong Bodhisattva was also his grindstone too.
Except for Li Ye, the grindstone that was the Feihong Bodhisattva was a little too big, and it could bend his bade at any moment.
Li Ye did not exactly have that feeling of ‘once enlightened, he could die happily’, but as long as his last moment had not arrived, he was willing to use every second to improve himself. Once his last moment was near, his current elevation in cultivation could be the decisive element in whether he survived.
The two battled for another hour.
An hour later, they both stopped fighting.
This time though, they did not stop because of exhaustion.
Someone else had reached the sacrificial altar at the top of the mountain.
Previously, when they stopped to rest, there wasn’t any tension between them because the last moment had not yet arrived.
But now, because of the arrival of others, there was eerie tension between them, and they even wanted to kill each other.
The people who arrived were none other than those who couldn’t get past the first stage of the secret region. It was those demon clan cultivators and the Land Buddhism monks that got stuck half way up the mountain.
More precisely, it was the demon clan cultivators and their prisoner monks.
“Li Ye, you b*stard, so you are here!”
Seeing Li Ye and the Feihong Bodhisattva, the Holy Child and the Son of God quickly ran towards them.
They were extremely fast, before long, they were beside Li Ye left and right. Meanwhile, they gripped their weapons and were ready to face off against the Feihong Bodhisattva with Li Ye. They were about to gang up on her.
“It looks like we got here just in time. Just as you’re about to fight to the death! We’ve already dealt with the Land Buddhism monks, now the Feihong Bodhisattva has no one to help. If we fight together, there’s no reason why we can’t defeat her!” said You Daxiao excitedly.
With a wave of his hand, the demon clan cultivators escorted the Land Buddhism monks towards them. Soon they all stood the three of them ready to fight the Feihong Bodhisattva.
Though they were not yet clear about the situation at hand, no one was dim-witted. They all knew that since Li Ye was going to fight the Feihong Bodhisattva, it was better to be on Li Ye’s side.
Although the demon clan had cooperated with the Land Buddhism in battling the Immortal Court cultivators, however, that was profit driven. Now, the Immortal Court cultivators no longer existed, so there was bound to be a battle between the two.
“What’s the situation now? How do we get the Luck of heaven? Is it like the rubble where if only the cultivators of one camp survive then the Luck of heaven would just fall down from heaven?” The meticulous Su Emei asked those key questions.
Li Ye shook his head slightly as he glanced at the Feihong Bodhisattva.
Faced with the twenty demon clan cultivators rushing towards her, the Feihong Bodhisattva was not at all scared. Her expression did not change one iota even going against all them alone.
As for those desperate Land Buddhism monks escorted by the demon clan cultivators, they were already wounded and in drooping spirits. But upon seeing the Feihong Bodhisattva, their eyes lit up.
Only that the Feihong Bodhisattva just looked at them faintly without showing any emotions. Perhaps to her, it mattered not whether they were the demon clan cultivators or the Land Buddhism monks, none of them were enough to cause any ripples to her stable mindset.
Seeing the Feihong Bodhisattva like this, Li Ye silently let out a sigh. He actually felt a little pain.
Though from the outset it looked like he’d been battling the Feihong Bodhisattva fiercely, however, it was just like another way of “discussing Tao”, which was beneficial to both. But now with the demon clan cultivators joining in, the battle between them would really be a fight to the death.
That was inevitable, for there could only be one winner in the fight for the Luck of heaven. No one was going to give up the Luck of heaven. Now with the arrival of the demon clan cultivators, the “last moment” had come “early”.
Even if the two of them had spent “forty years” living together, only one of them could come out of the battle.
Li Ye heaved a soft sigh and said to the Feihong Bodhisattva, “Bodhisattva…”
The Feihong Bodhisattva added, “If you can’t spit it out, you might as well not say anything.”
Li Ye was a little shocked, for if it were anyone else, he would be hurt.
However, she was the Feihong Bodhisattva, one of four great Bodhisattvas, she was on the same level as Manjushri and Samantabhadra Bodhisattvas. Her cultivation and wisdom was far greater than his, thus he didn’t mind being told off by her one bit.
Li Ye turned to look at the Son of God, Holy Child, Su Emei, Nangong Diyi and others and said, “You lot…”
“Don’t say a word, we will die together today!” replied You Daxiao, he then raised his arm and roared, “After me!” He then charged at the Feihong Bodhisattva like a prancing tiger wielding his Invincible Painted Halberd.
Not only did You Daxiao act like such, the Holy Child charged almost at the same time, he also added excitedly, “Take the Feihong Bodhisattva down!”
“Kill!” yelled the demon clan cultivators, who all charged at her—except for the few demons who were holding down the prisoners.
From the tone in the words of the Holy Child and the Son of God, Li Ye understood their intentions.
They were eager to help him gain his pride back.
Clearly in their eyes, Li Ye had taken a beating in his battle with the Feihong Bodhisattva before—Li Ye must have suffered quite a bit to last till now. As brothers, the Holy Child and the Son of God wanted Li Ye to feel the warmth of brotherhood.
—Though they might not be able to beat the Feihong Bodhisattva.
Having understood all of this, Li Ye just froze on the spot, not knowing what to do.
He was moved by their actions.
But the demon clan were still the demon clan who lacked the intellect compared with humans. A lot of the times, they were simple minded and crude. They were brave and didn’t care about dying, but at the same time, they were righteous and trustworthy.
Putting it plainly, the demon clan were like dogs, but humans were intellectuals.
Dogs were loyal and intellectuals were often traitors.
Though the demon clan also had a few smart intellectuals, but that ratio was too small compared with humans.
Hence the Holy Child and the Son of God attacked without hesitation. Of course this was based on one thing—their immense trust in Li Ye.
That trust was not undeserved. Just based on the fact that this time, they were all stuck half way up the mountain. Whereas Li Ye, with his cultivation realm reaching the Yang Spiritual Master, lasted till now even in the battle with the Feihong Bodhisattva… at least he wasn’t defeated.
Li Ye needn’t tell them how hard that was, the Holy Child and the Son of God knew.
At least they knew they couldn’t do it. Even the seven great sages could not say they could do the same thing, much less them. Even if the power of the Feihong Bodhisattva had been oppressed, but she was still the Feihong Bodhisattva!
As Li Ye saw the demon clan cultivators attack the Feihong Bodhisattva like a pack of wolves, he felt uneasy. He was afraid that the demon clan cultivators were not strong enough…
Before entering the secret region, the Feihong Bodhisattva was of the Sky Immortal Realm. Though there were demon clan cultivators who reached the Sky Immortal Realm. However, comparing those Sky Immortal Realm demon cultivators to the Feihong Bodhisattva, was probably like comparing normal Yang Spiritual Masters to Li Ye.
It was as he had expected.
After quite a while of the Holy Child, the Son of God and the demon clan cultivators ganging up on the Feihong Bodhisattva, the demon clan cultivators kept flying backwards one after another, coughing blood. The Feihong Bodhisattva on the other hand, was not running from the battle at all.
After only half an hour, all of the demon clan cultivators were almost defeated. Before long there were only the Red Boy, You Daxiao and two demon clan cultivators left on the battlefield to fight difficultly.
Li Ye had realized from this that the Feihong Bodhisattva was only in training mode when she fought him.
Li Ye’s expression sunk.
He knew it was time to make a decision.
This was actually an easy decision.
He walked away with his sword.