No one was watching him.

Fan Xian knew this was his own illusion, just like the last time he was outside the capital of Northern Qi, on the cliffs of Mount Xi. He always felt that there was a pair of eyes watching him from the mountain forest behind him – this was probably a stress response after facing a difficult and desperate situation, experiencing emotional shock, especially a natural reaction for a person like Fan Xian who was an idealist.

A year ago, when he took a white sail boat back to Danzhou to visit his relatives, he had passed by this Great Dong Mountain that looked like it had been cleaved by a god's sword. At that time, looking at the smooth jade walls of Dong Mountain, he had mockingly thought, wouldn't it be something if one day I had to climb this mountain.

Unexpectedly, all of this had actually become a reality.

Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and above, the sky, was God really watching him all the time?

Great Dong Mountain was more dangerous, slippery, and higher than the cliffs of Mount Xi. When Fan Xian reached this place, his body was already trembling, and the consumption of his internal energy had begun to affect his body.

He clung to the stone wall as flexibly as a bat, his fingers digging into a rare crack, taking a short rest. Looking up at this moment, he could no longer see the lights on the top of the mountain. Looking back, he could already see the increasingly approaching ink-like seawater, and a few warships swaying in the sea.

They were the Jiaozhou naval ships, guarding this place. Although they couldn't do much to prevent a rebel attack from the mountain, it was clear that they could leave this place and notify the local government.

However, as the situation had developed so far, the naval ships had not moved. Although Fan Xian had never discussed this matter with the Emperor, both of them knew that there were problems with the Qin family as well.

A corner of the moon came out. Fan Xian didn't panic and move, pressing his face against the cold stone wall, feeling the slight coolness. He thought of a question: if the Qin family was also counted... truly, if all the power in the world was concentrated and participated in the Great Dong Mountain operation, it was no wonder His Majesty couldn't have predicted it.

A person, who could induce all the enemies in the world to put aside temporary differences and unite closely – what kind of realm was that? That was the realm of the Qing Emperor.

Although Northern Qi had not taken action, the fact that Yan Xiaoyi's five thousand personal soldiers could come to the foot of Great Dong Mountain clearly indicated that the Eldest Princess and Shang Shanhu had extremely secret arrangements. Fan Xian rubbed his face against the cold stone, wondering if Haitang would know about such a big event.

Then he gently took a few breaths – in fact, this dangerous situation now was all due to the old cripple Chen Pingping’s years of careful planning. He himself had also participated in some of it. Whether it was the Eldest Princess, the Qin family, or the Ye family, all were very carefully driven by the old cripple and himself to the opposite side of the Emperor, making them irreconcilable.

If Chen Pingping knew that things had developed like this, would he, like himself on the cliff, find the affairs of the world truly wonderful?

……

……

The wind on the cliff was very strong. The adhesion between his hand and the smooth stone surface was very strong. The domineering true energy in his body gently opened and closed along the thick meridians to prevent a lack of internal energy. The gentle and natural aura of Tian Yi Dao was slowly repairing the instability in the meridians.

He swallowed a mouthful of saliva, looking at the straight lines of the rock above his head in the dim moonlight, and couldn't help feeling a bit of lingering fear. If he couldn't stick to the stone wall and just fell down, landing in the sea full of reefs and dangerous waves, he would probably be smashed to pieces.

The wind on this side of the cliff facing the sea was too strong, pouring in from his limbs, making him feel cold. He wasn't Wu Zhu, he didn't have that magical skill of descending directly from high altitudes, so he clung even tighter.

"Why did the Emperor know that Uncle Wu Zhu was on Great Dong Mountain?" A question that had never had a chance to be asked surged into Fan Xian's mind. It seemed that the Emperor must have some secret connection with the Temple, but the abnormal death of the High Priest last year... these things were a bit incomprehensible.

The clouds covered the moon again. Fan Xian began to move down the cliff again. He didn't know how long he had slid, but he was getting closer and closer to the ink-like seawater, and he was becoming more and more vigilant, raising his power to its peak, ready to face the unknown dangers at any moment.

The closer he got to the sea, the easier it was to be discovered by the rebels on the naval ships. The closer he got to the sea, the closer he got to the small boat on the sea.

The rebels on the naval ships might not be able to see the slowly crawling small dot on the cliff in this dark night, but Ye Liuyun might discover him.

His palms were tightly attached to the smooth cliff. Suddenly, his pupils contracted, and he felt a shrill murderous intent behind him!

Who could have such eyesight to discover him?

Fan Xian didn't have time to think. Subconsciously, he forcibly cut off the true energy along the Great Celestial Cycle. The true energy adhesion between his palms and the stone wall suddenly failed, and his whole body slid straight down.

*Du!* A dark arrow shot at the place where he had been crouching, the metal arrowhead deeply embedded in the stone wall of Great Dong Mountain, scattering dozens of pebbles.

If Fan Xian had reacted a little slower, he would have definitely been nailed to the stone wall by this arrow from the sky. At this moment, he was still in danger, his entire body sliding rapidly down the stone wall.

Fan Xian groaned. The severed flow of true energy was once again forcibly activated to the extreme. His palms lightly slapped on the stone wall, barely stabilizing his figure.

*Swoosh!* The second black arrow hit the stone wall below his feet hard, only half an inch away from his heel.

The situation was extremely dangerous. The person who shot the arrow clearly had a lead, calculating Fan Xian's falling speed. If Fan Xian had previously intended to fall naturally to avoid the sudden attack of the arrow, he would definitely not have escaped this disaster.

Cold sweat broke out on Fan Xian's back. His right palm shook, and he actually shook half of his body away from the wall, drawing a semicircle in the air, and reattaching himself to the stone wall, but changing to face the sea. He didn't have time to think, purely subconsciously sliding down the stone wall for three feet, then slapped again with his right palm, his body bent strangely, and twisted downwards...

And on a warship on the sea, a dozen black arrows shot mercilessly at him, grazing his body, piercing his clothes, and stabbing hard into the stone wall.

*Du! Du! Du! Du!*

Fan Xian stubbornly and dangerously dodged on the stone wall, relying purely on the non-stop training of the past twenty years since his rebirth and the foundation laid by Wu Zhu in his childhood, subconsciously dodging these elusive arrows.

The scene was very dangerous. Those black arrows were fired in quick succession, giving him no time to react, and they seemed to have a clear understanding of his next foothold, forcing him to fall off the cliff at any time.

But strangely, Fan Xian always seemed to predict it just before he was about to be hit by these black arrows. The true energy in his body ran strongly along two Celestial Cycles, replenishing his loss of true energy, allowing him to barely ensure that one of his two palms would always stay on the stone wall.

Every time he looked like he was about to fall, a hand sticking to the stone wall would drive him, twisting his body to bounce up and down, seeming to never be able to leave the gravity of the stone wall.

He was like a puppet made of black material, his limbs pulled by the mysterious power in the stone wall of Great Dong Mountain, doing a stiff and ridiculous dance on the cliff.

And those black arrows that closely followed his body, powerfully brushed his body and shot into the rock, forming a few scribbled lines on the stone wall. The front end of the lines chased after him, murderous and fierce, and might nail this puppet to death at any time, riddled with arrows.

……

……

The naval warship dared not get too close because it was worried about the reefs at the foot of Great Dong Mountain. The only person in the world who could shoot arrows into the stone wall from such a distance was Yan Xiaoyi. Only that person could discover Fan Xian lurking on the stone wall in such a dark night.

Yan Xiaoyi, the Great Commander of the Qing army's Northern Expedition.

He didn't know how long it had passed, the black arrows on the sea stopped, Fan Xian's figure disappeared from the cliff, and the sea below the cliff returned to silence. All that could be heard was the sound of waves crashing against the shore – Fan Xian had finally successfully avoided the series of divine arrows and landed on the reef!

*Ci!* The last black arrow seemed to have also missed, stabbing hard into the stone wall, more than an inch deep, the arrow tail constantly trembling, making a buzzing sound.

There were a few strands of black cloth on the shaft.

————————————————————

On the reef, the sound of the waves was deafening. Fan Xian knelt on the slippery reef, coughing uncontrollably. Fortunately, the naval ships were too far away, and the sound of the waves hitting the rocks was too loud, masking his series of coughs and not revealing his figure in the dark.

His face was pale. Climbing down such an impassable cliff, and then avoiding Yan Xiaoyi's unbelievably skilled series of deadly arrows on the cliff, had consumed too much of his true energy and spirit. That puppet dance on the cliff at the end, which seemed to be easily dodged, was actually the display of his highest realm. Every second, every moment, his nerves were tense, avoiding the impossible. The switching speed of the true energy released in his body was too fast, and the frequency was too high, even with the strong width of the meridians in his body, they were somewhat unbearable...

When the true energy went back, it injured a meridian under his diaphragm, causing him to cough and feel a tearing pain in his chest.

Compared to this, he didn't pay much attention to the miserable wound on his right shoulder at this time. Although the muscles of this wound were torn apart by the sharp arrowheads, blood was flowing freely, and even the black, secret-made official uniform of the Supervisory Council was torn to shreds and mixed in the wound, it was very painful, but after all, it didn't hurt any vital points.

It was night time, which was bad for Yan Xiaoyi, but Fan Xian was on the cliff, in an even more disadvantageous position. Therefore, this assassination and escape was unfair. No matter how strong Fan Xian was, he still failed to avoid the last arrow.

However, how many people could save their lives from Yan Xiaoyi's series of arrows under such harsh conditions?

Fan Xian lowered his body as much as possible. The seawater wet his clothes, making the black clothes soaked in water, perfectly blending with the reefs that were often soaked in seawater.

Fan Xian wasn't worried about whether Yan Xiaoyi's arrows would be poisoned. On the one hand, he knew that Yan Xiaoyi was arrogant and disdainful of using poison. On the other hand... he groped out a pill from his arms, chewed it dryly a few times, swallowed it mixed with saliva. In terms of using poison, few people were stronger than him.

The situation on the coastline was still tense. The ships couldn't get close to the cliff, but presumably those eagle-like eyes on the ship were staring at all the movements under the cliff, determined to assassinate him before Fan Xian landed.

Fan Xian squinted his eyes, observing the surroundings. The moon in the sky wasn't bright, but the waves were getting bigger and bigger. On the one hand, it protected him, but on the other hand, it also made it difficult for him to find a safe path. At this time, if he were to use lightness skill to fly from the reef, it would be giving Yan Xiaoyi another chance to kill him.

Fan Xian didn't like the feeling of being aimed at by a bow and arrow and being unable to fight back, especially being aimed at by Yan Xiaoyi's bow and arrow.

……

……

Suddenly, a warning flashed in his heart. He groaned, and slapped his right palm on the reef beside him. The domineering true energy spewed out violently, with extremely fierce power, shattering a corner of the reef under him, and his body also drew a slanted arc with this powerful reaction force, falling into the sea at the fastest speed!

A splash of water appeared, and was immediately swallowed by the increasingly large waves. A white wave under the cliff seemed to be extremely angry that someone dared to despise its power and plunge into the sea full of reefs.

This time, Fan Xian revealed his whereabouts. Although he sank into the sea, he couldn't escape the tracking of those eagle-like eyes. But he had to jump into the sea, he had to leave the reef that was temporarily protecting his safety at the fastest speed and with the most decisive attitude, even if the ocean was so angry at this time, he still had to rush to it ecstatically.

Because he would rather face the angry sea, would rather be stared to death by Yan Xiaoyi's arrows in the sea, than stand on the reef and face the tremor in his heart.

A line swept over from the sea.

It was a white line.

The waves were so big, but that white line seemed to have a power that transcended the heavens and the earth, undisturbed by the waves. Instead, it quietly and clearly drew towards the Great Dong Mountain cliff, as if a hand of a god was holding a magical pen, drawing a line in this ink-like angry sea.

The white line was actually just a wave broken by water. An ancient sword was rushing two feet above the line.

The moment Fan Xian rolled away from the reef, the white line was also about to touch the reef. The ancient sword and his body met and separated in a flash of lightning – no one knew if they had touched.

The reef was in chaos, the sword force had not arrived, but the sword intent permeated out, easily splitting the wet black reef where Fan Xian had previously stood.

In front of this sword, the reef was like black tofu.

Then the sword swept across the waves and the air, piercing into the smooth stone wall of Great Dong Mountain. The stone wall was so hard, but the blade of the sword was completely pierced into it, leaving only the hilt at the end, like a small dot.

A moment later, the hilt shattered, the dot disappeared, and this sword became one with the stone wall of Great Dong Mountain from then on, never to be separated again.