119: Chapter 119 Reappearance of the Sun

The Ink-feather Stork hovered at the edge of the Evil Domain, its wings occasionally flapping to maintain its altitude.

Qilianshan sat on the bird's back, his left hand pressing against the hilt of his saber, his eyes closed.

He opened his eyes and looked at the layer of the black Evil Domain.

Pei Se sat behind him, lowering her head as she stared blankly at the black curtain, wondering what she was thinking about.

The Ink-feather Stork let out a low cry, feeling that staying there for too long was unbearable even for it.

Qilianshan opened his mouth, just about to say that they should leave, but stopped abruptly halfway through.

His eyes suddenly whipped around to look at the layer of the black Evil Domain.

He saw that the Evil Domain was moving, and the entire layer of the Evil Domain was moving!

"Upward!"

Realizing something was wrong, Qilianshan's voice pitched sharply as he patted the neck of the Ink-feather Stork.

The Ink-feather Stork violently flapped its wings, ascending almost vertically.

The airflow stirred by its wings exploded beside Qilianshan and Pei Se's ears.

But before the Ink-feather Stork could fly very high, the Evil Domain directly shattered.

Starting from the very center of Guanhai County City, it was as if something tore it open from the inside, and then it exploded in all directions.

The surface layer of the Evil Domain began to peel off, and large chunks of black fragments detached from the sky, turning into black powder in mid-air.

These black powders falling from the sky were like a bizarre rain.

And Qilianshan and Pei Se, sitting on the Ink-feather Stork, both saw a scene through this black powder that made their pupils dilate.

They saw that inside Guanhai County City below, the Evil Tree that had inverted the entire Guanhai County City beneath it was cut open.

And the one that cut it open was precisely the golden figure holding a sword suspended in mid-air.

Qilianshan's hand loosened from the saber hilt, his deep eyes staring at that golden figure.

He had never seen such an existence; it was not any kind of living creature he was familiar with.

Qilianshan didn't even know what expression he wore right now.

Pei Se stood up from the back of the Ink-feather Stork.

She stood on the bird's back, her hands clutching the feathers of the Ink-feather Stork, her whole body trembling.

Almost instantly, she recognized that this golden figure was Lord Qinling, and she opened her mouth and shouted loudly.

"Lord Qinling——!"

That shout echoed across the sky.

The final muffled sound of the Evil Tree collapsing rolled through the ruins of Guanhai County City.

Sunlight poured down from the torn curtain, unblocked and unfiltered, slamming brightly onto the ground.

Those who hadn't seen the true light for too long were blinded with white before their eyes, tears streaming down, yet no one closed their eyes.

In the alleys, at the base of the walls, and at the cellar entrances, a momentary trance flashed through the eyes of all the surviving commoners.

They watched that Evil Tree, which had once blotted out the sky, turn into a pile of rotting ruins, watching the sky change from pitch black to grayish-white, and then from grayish-white to azure blue.

A woman held a child, who wriggled in her arms, giggling, and reached out to grab the sunlight.

An old man leaning on a crutch stood at the base of a wall, his crutch slipping from his hand and crashing onto the stone slabs, but he didn't pick it up.

He simply stared with turbid eyes at the pile of debris that was still smoking.

A young man crawled out from the cellar entrance, raising his head and spinning around once, then spinning around again.

The sky, it was all sky, with no black curtain and nothing else.

He squatted down, supporting the ground with both hands, his forehead touching the soil, his shoulders shaking violently.

Clerk Liu stood on the steps at the entrance of the county yamen, raising his head to look at the sunlight spilling down and at the debris of the collapsing Evil Tree.

Then he moved, rushing down the steps, stumbling, almost tripping over the threshold, his boots slipping on the stone slabs, but he steadied himself and kept running.

He ran past the gates of the county yamen, past those few dilapidated stone steps, and into the alley.

The hem of his official robe fluttered loudly in the wind, and his mouth was wide open, as if he wanted to roar all the fear of these past days out of his throat.

"It is Lord Qinling! Lord Qinling has slain the Evil Tree!"

Those surviving commoners raised their heads, and some began to shout along with Clerk Liu.

The sound spread from one end of the alley to the other, from the entrance of the county yamen to the blacksmith shop, from the blacksmith shop to the City God Temple, and from the City God Temple into the throats of those still alive.

Everyone was shouting the name of Lord Qinling, and that name swept across the entire county city like wildfire.

...

The children of Qin Family Village were still running on the beach.

The curtain had blocked the ocean for some days now, and they had long grown accustomed to that black curtain, accustomed to the days when they couldn't trample the waves in the shallow water.

Although shielded by the curtain, they were children of Qin Family Village, and Qin Family Village had Lord Qinling.

Therefore, they were not afraid, and were still playing happily on the beach.

A girl squatted on the beach, clutching a branch in her hand and drawing in the sand.

Suddenly, the branch in the girl's hand stopped.

She raised her head; the layer of black curtain in front of her was moving.

The girl saw the curtain split open with a crack from the middle, the crack spreading in all directions.

Black fragments peeled off from the edges of that crack, turning into black powder in mid-air, fluttering down.

Sunlight shone in through a crack.

The girl squinted her eyes against the light, then quickly opened them wide as more and more sunlight poured out from the cracks, illuminating the beach that had been obscured by the curtain for so long.

A boy stood beside her with his mouth wide open, still clutching a seashell he had just dug out from the sand.

Those children who had been chasing each other on the beach stopped, raising their heads as the sunlight fell on their faces.

A girl with pigtails pointed her finger at the sky, her voice crisp and clear.

"The sun! It's the sun!"

The villagers of Qin Family Village also came out.

Village Chief Qin Zongliang stood at the village entrance leaning on a crutch, raising his head, his turbid eyes reflecting the ever-expanding blue sky.

That black curtain was peeling off piece by piece.

As the last black fragment turned to powder in the wind, the sky was completely revealed, dazzlingly blue.

The ocean was also revealed, shimmering and sparkling under the sunlight like a layer of crushed silver spread across it.

It had been far too long since they had seen such an ocean.

The little girl stood on the beach, still clutching the branch, the sun she was drawing in the sand unfinished.

She raised her head to look at the sun and the dazzlingly blue sky, grinning broadly.

"Day has broken!"

A man had a grass stalk dangling from his mouth, raising his head to look at the sun in the sky.

"Was it done by Lord Qinling?"

Said the woman beside the man.

"Except for Lord Qinling, who could let us see the light of day again? Except for Lord Qinling, who could return the sunlight to us?"

The man spat the grass stalk out of his mouth, stood up, and said with certainty.

The temple gates of the Temple of Lord Qinling were wide open, and sunlight poured in through the doorway, falling onto the offering table and onto the statue with lowered brows and cast-down eyes; the golden light between the statue's eyebrows was still shining.

Village Chief Qin Zongliang came into the temple and knelt at the very front, with a dense crowd of villagers kneeling behind him, their foreheads touching the cold stone bricks.

The villagers continuously murmured words like "Thank you Lord Qinling for your protection" and "Thank you Lord Qinling for letting us see the light of day again".