Chapter 91 — The Oriole

Li Xun plainly no longer dared to underestimate Xiao Yichen; he nodded and said, "Not at all."

Fa Cheng's gaze, however, lingered a moment on the wounded Lin Jinghong behind them, as if he meant to go and offer some comfort, but in the end he restrained himself. Ever since the Canglan Sect and the Brahma Sound Temple's people had joined forces, the two sides had gotten along tolerably well—except that among all the Canglan Sect, Lin Jinghong alone remained icy toward the Brahma Sound Temple's monks. The reason, everyone understood well enough. But no one wished to dredge up that old wound, and so all along the monks of Brahma Sound Temple had, whether deliberately or not, kept their distance from Lin Jinghong.

Yet seeing Lin Jinghong wounded now, Fa Cheng was still somewhat concerned. He turned to Xiao Yichen and asked in a low voice, "Senior Brother Xiao, is the injury of your junior brother Lin Jinghong nothing serious?"

Xiao Yichen had already seen Wen Pei go to bandage Lin Jinghong's wounds. He glanced toward her now, and Wen Pei understood, giving a slight shake of her head. Only then did Xiao Yichen set his mind at ease and say to Fa Cheng, "Junior Brother Lin is not badly hurt. Senior Brother Fa Cheng need not worry."

Fa Cheng lowered his head, pressed his palms together, and softly chanted a Buddha's name.

Xiao Yichen drew a deep breath, looked ahead, and said in a clear voice, "Senior Yuyang Zi, you are, after all, a senior of high renown, and the Hall of Longevity ranks among the four great factions of the demonic sect. How can you resort to such despicable tricks? Are you not afraid the world will laugh at you?"

Yuyang Zi flew into a rage. "You so-called righteous sects—did you not lie in ambush for us as well? And yet you have the gall to stand there and prate!"

Xiao Yichen's expression did not change in the least. Upright and stern, he said, "We are but juniors, and far from home besides; naturally we must guard against villains who would strike from the shadows. Little did we expect that what we waited for would be... heh heh, heh heh!"

Xiao Yichen was far younger than Yuyang Zi, but his tongue was sharp, and a few words were enough to send Yuyang Zi into a fury. With a great roar he charged first, and behind him the Hall of Longevity's followers, seeing their sect master move, came surging out as well. Xiao Yichen and the few others of outstanding cultivation blocked Yuyang Zi, and the rest fell to slaughtering one another again.

Given Yuyang Zi's cultivation and temperament, he would not ordinarily have been so easily provoked by Xiao Yichen—but seeing the little strength the Hall of Longevity had left being squandered again before his eyes, his heart ached with fury. And Xiao Yichen cursed without a single vulgar word, every sentence barbed with mockery. Though Meng Ji beside him, still somewhat clear-headed, tried to restrain him, Yuyang Zi had already rushed out.

Yuyang Zi had held the position of Hall of Longevity's sect master for a hundred years, and naturally he had real substance to back it. Even though ten years ago at the battle of Qingyun he had lost his left arm and suffered a great loss of cultivation, Xiao Yichen alone was still no match for him.

But such a single duel was never going to happen. Xiao Yichen took the center, Fa Cheng the left, Li Xun the right—these three finest of the righteous path's younger generation intercepted Yuyang Zi, and they fought as one.

Yuyang Zi summoned his divine might, one arm against three. The Yin-Yang Mirror in his hand was unfathomably wondrous, shifting black to white, sending out wave upon wave of mysterious light. The brilliant lights of the magical treasures Xiao Yichen and the others sent at him were either deflected by the mirror or tugged and drawn aside by Yuyang Zi, and could not get near him at all.

What was more, when the white face of the Yin-Yang Mirror turned over, it would actually rebound the three men's magical treasures back upon their owners. The three had not expected such marvelous power from the treasure, and each came within a hair of disaster; Li Xun's left arm was even grazed by his own magical treasure, the Nine Yang Ruler, and he very nearly became a one-armed man to match Yuyang Zi before him.

After that the three dared not be careless, and dealt with him warily. Yuyang Zi, one against three, facing these three outstanding talents of the righteous path, actually still held the upper hand—his cultivation was truly formidable.

Yet formidable as Yuyang Zi was himself, the cultivation of his disciples fell far short of his own. Facing this host of righteous-path disciples—every one of them outstanding in both innate talent and magical treasure—the Longevity Hall adherents, though greater in number, found themselves gradually losing the upper hand.

Apart from the monks of the Brahma Sound Temple, whose strikes were comparatively lenient, the disciples of the Canglan Sect and the Demonic Cult were bound by a hatred as deep as the sea, and every one of them struck with savage ferocity; nor did the Burning Cloud Valley yield much to the Canglan Sect in that regard.

Yuyang Zi, entangled by those three, held the advantage but could not break free for the moment. Casting his gaze around in the midst of battle, he saw that apart from Meng Ji and a scant few others still grimly holding on, the ordinary adherents had lost all will to fight and more than half had fallen.

Meng Ji drove back with a single move the Burning Cloud Valley disciple before him, his face anxious, and shouted to Yuyang Zi: "Sect Master!"

Yuyang Zi gnashed his teeth in bitter fury, but at last he knew the tide had turned; to fight on would be to expend the last remnants of the Longevity Hall here. He could only bellow: "All of you withdraw first—I will hold the rear!"

At these words the Longevity Hall disciples fled one and all toward the darkness behind them. On the righteous side, Xiao Yichen and the others were alert beyond measure; they struck as one, and a blaze of strange lights from their treasures came flashing toward Yuyang Zi.

Yuyang Zi gave a great roar and did not dodge; the Yin-Yang Mirror spun sharply in midair and darted straight upward, meeting with a clang the Wheel of Rebirth that Facheng had sent flying. In an instant the mirror shifted from black to white. Xiao Yichen's body jolted; the Seven Stars Sword dancing in midair had suddenly lost control and turned back to attack its master, its thrust so fierce that he was thrown into confusion, weaving hand seals again and again before he regained command of it.

In that brief moment Yuyang Zi had already dragged aside the Nine Yang Ruler that Li Xun sent at him, and the three righteous cultivators' assault faltered. Yet he did not seize the chance to flee; instead his form rose and dropped into the midst of the crowd.

The other righteous disciples were in hot pursuit of the fleeing Longevity Hall adherents and were caught off guard when Yuyang Zi came crashing in. With a series of thuds several were gravely wounded beneath his hand, and several more, struck full force by the Yin-Yang Mirror, were sent flying into the darkness—where their sudden screams fell silent moments later. Doubtless they had plunged into the bottomless pits of this place and perished there.

In the night, Yuyang Zi was seen sweeping across the field alone, invincible, charging left and slaying right amid the crowd to cover the Longevity Hall disciples' retreat. Wherever he went, before the black-and-white radiance of the Yin-Yang Mirror, the righteous disciples fell back on every side—truly a figure of awe-inspiring might.

And in the distance, several dim figures standing in the darkness were watching the course of battle with fixed attention, their eyes above all riveted on Yuyang Zi as he unleashed his terrible power.