Chapter 50 — The Mystic Fire Mirror

In the distance, in the darkness of the woods, Zhou Yixuan and Xiaowan crept stealthily behind the tall trees, watching the crowd in the clearing from the shadows.

Xiaowan frowned and whispered, "Grandfather, instead of running for your life, why did you double back to this dangerous place to watch the fun?"

Zhou Yixuan kept his eyes fixed on the clearing and whispered, "I've long heard that these demon caves are often full of treasure, only I never had a way in before. Today, by good fortune, all these people have opened the road for us. How could I not come and take a look? There might be something to skim off the top."

Xiaowan's fair, powdered face turned sour. "And what if we don't get anything to skim, but run into a demon instead?"

Zhou Yixuan turned back with a chuckle and said, "No matter, no matter! Your grandfather carries the peerless arts secretly passed down by Patriarch Canglanzi himself—the Earth Escape, the Water Escape, the Thousand-Mile Escape. Absolutely no problem..."

Xiaowan said under her breath, "Hmph. It's plainly the art of running off when a swindle fails, and you call it peerless!"

Zhou Yixuan paid no heed to his granddaughter's words and went on smugly, "And didn't you read Grandfather's fortune once? You said my forehead was full, with a vein of gold between my brows, and that the wealth line in my palm was straight and thick—the very mark of a man destined for great riches. Heh heh, tonight it will come true. Xiaowan, Grandfather has great faith in your physiognomy!"

Xiaowan: "..."

"Eh?" Zhou Yixuan suddenly seemed startled and turned his head toward the clearing. Zhang Qingyue had already closed in, the black iron staff glinting dark as he charged at the soft, alluring woman.

"The Supreme Mystery Pure Dao! This youth is actually of the Canglan sect."

"What?" Xiaowan's interest was instantly roused, and she too looked toward the clearing, where demonic cries rose loud and the two sides fought on without pause. She asked Zhou Yixuan, "So he shares our ancestor, does he? Is he strong?"

Zhou Yixuan gazed intently. The money-grubbing grin faded little by little from his face, his expression growing calm. He frowned and said, "The youth is not old, but his cultivation seems already to have reached the fifth level of the Jade Purity Realm. Strange..."

Xiaowan glanced at her grandfather. Others might not know, but she did: Zhou Yixuan was greedy for money, yet he had drifted all his life, and his discernment was no small thing. She said, "You'd never guess this one was such a prodigy."

Zhou Yixuan was silent a moment, then shook his head slightly. "As for this youth's natural endowment, I wouldn't call it poor, but at best it is above average. He is certainly no world-splitting genius like Patriarch Qingye of old. By rights, with his endowment, his progress in the cultivation of the Dao should never be this fast!"

Xiaowan was taken aback and for a moment did not know what to say. She could only turn her head and keep watching the clearing.

On the ground Shi Tou shouted in fury, golden light flashing, and the demons shrank away on every side. But Zhang Qingyue leaped into the air, the black iron staff alternating green light and black, and charged the soft, alluring woman.

The woman fixed her water-like eyes on him alone and swept out a long snow-white sleeve, which met the black iron staff head-on. The two rushed forward, and in the blink of an eye—whether by design or not—they were pressed close together.

Zhang Qingyue was startled. That soft, utterly enchanting face was close enough to touch, a faint, hidden fragrance drifting to him, and in the night those stirring eyes, beautiful as agate and jade, mirrored his own figure. For a moment he could not keep his heart from wavering.

"You—in that well, what did you see?" Even at this critical moment of the duel, the woman's voice seemed still gentle and somewhat beguiling, slipping softly into his ear.

Zhang Qingyue's heart swayed, his mind all but captured. At the crucial instant, a flash of gold passed over his face, and at once he grew calm again.

The three-tailed demon fox knit her brows—but Zhang Qingyue gave a great shout, flew sideways through the air several zhang, and landed on the ground beside Shi Tou.

Shi Tou glanced at him and said with some concern, "This demon's fox-charm arts are formidable. Be careful."

Zhang Qingyue, still shaken, nodded. The two looked up and saw the three-tailed demon fox still poised in midair, her garments dancing lightly in the wind, like a figure in a painting, incomparably beautiful.

In the distance Zhou Yixuan frowned and said in astonishment, "This youth has tremendous resolve! Under the fox-charm arts of a three-tailed demon fox with five hundred years of cultivation, he can still steady his mind!"

Xiaowan curled her lip and said, "So what? Can't you see that big fellow seems fine too?"

Zhou Yixuan said, "What do you know? What that big fellow has learned has some kinship with the Buddhist school, and the true Dharma of Buddhism is precisely the way of stillness and quelling the mind. Against fox-charm sorcery that bewitches the heart, he has an inborn resistance.

But the Canglan sect is of the Daoist tradition, and in this respect falls far short. For this youth, with his level of cultivation, to possess such resolve is truly rare—rare indeed!"

"Is that so?" Xiaowan tilted her head, thought a while, and looked back toward the clearing.

The three-tailed demon fox slowly descended from the air. A smile still lingered on her face, but heaviness was gradually gathering in her eyes. In that brief time of fierce combat with these two, she had already sensed that though both looked young, neither was low in cultivation. The big fellow's arts seemed to stem from the Buddhist line, which was a great headache.

The other youth's will was unexpectedly firm, and her fox-charm arts, her surest weapon, seemed now to be of no use at all.

Bili stood to one side, about to make her move, but seeing Zhang Qingyue had recovered, she halted and watched coldly.

The moonlight was cold, sifting through the leaves and falling on that soft, alluring woman, on a figure that looked somewhat lonely.

There was a certain desolation to it.

She lowered her head slightly. Her long, fine lashes seemed to veil her own tender thoughts, and seemed also to be listening to the faint, hidden sounds in the deep-night woods. Softly she said, "I bear you no grudge, no enmity. Why have you come to kill me?"

Shi Tou stepped forward, his whole body like a fierce tiger, and shouted, "You demon! You bring calamity upon the world and set all Xiaochi Town in terror. Do you not deserve death?"

She raised her eyes and looked at him. There was wind, blowing gently past, lifting the hem of her garments.

"You would kill me because I am a demon?" She turned to Zhang Qingyue, gazing deep into him. "And you? What is your reason?"

Zhang Qingyue answered without a thought, "You have done much evil. I am of the righteous path. To rid the people of harm is a duty I cannot shirk!"

The three-tailed demon fox was silent a moment, then smiled faintly and suddenly said, "Young man, how old are you this year?"

Zhang Qingyue was taken aback and frowned. "Why do you ask?"

She raised her hand lightly and tucked a stray strand of hair back from her temple. Her jade-white fingers brushed across the black strands.

"These words—were they not told to you by those righteous masters of yours? Demons like us have always brought disaster upon the world, and must certainly be rooted out. Is that not so?"

Zhang Qingyue frowned. His masters had indeed taught him exactly that. The three-tailed demon fox across from him went on, "But if I told you those words were wrong, what would you think?"