Chapter 95 — Night Talk

For all their cultivation, Zeng Shuyan and the others paled somewhat. But whether the giant ants feared the Prajna Heart Circle Facheng had set or the blazing fire, though they came close they only gathered half a zhang away and did not approach. Yet out of the darkness poured more and more—surely no fewer than tens of thousands.

Shadows surged. All four faces were pale. The wind wailed sharply across that ancient forest, as if mocking these foolish humans who had disturbed its age-old peace.

And within that distant wind there seemed to drift a faint, mournful flute song, scattered on the breeze.

Li Xun's expression shifted again and again. Suddenly he raised his voice and shouted, "What demon of the Demon Sect is playing tricks here?"

His shout carried no little force; for an instant even the wind seemed to pause.

This time it was not only Zeng Shuyan and Lin Jinghong—even Facheng was startled. When he had gone out to meet Li Xun, he had seen only countless giant ants and no sign of any Demon cultist. He asked at once, "What—these giant ants are the work of Demon Sect villains?"

Li Xun gave a cold snort, his gaze sharp as he swept the surroundings. "That is right. After nightfall I chanced upon a strange man near this place. When I challenged him, he turned on me at once and attacked with the demonic sect's foul arts. As for these monsters, the wretch must have used some crooked, unholy trick to command such savage beasts..."

Before Li Xun had finished speaking, a light laugh suddenly came from the darkness. "This righteous hero tells it so neatly, every detail in place. But I seem to recall it was you who struck at me first, was it not?"

The voice was a man's, and he sounded young, yet it drifted and wavered so that for the moment none could tell from where it came.

Li Xun's expression changed, yet even in such a dire situation he showed not a trace of fear. "You are a fiend of the demonic sect," he cried loudly, "so of course I must slay fiends and subdue demons. If you are a man, step out and face me, and we shall duel three hundred rounds, just the two of us. What manner of hero hides behind these witless beasts?"

The man laughed again, then said mildly, "Hero is a title for righteous gentlemen like yourselves. It is not mine to take."

As he spoke, a flute melody rose faint and distant, and the swarm of giant ants suddenly parted, opening a path through their midst. A young man walked slowly out of the darkness and came to a halt outside the golden ring of the Prajna Heart Circle, standing there with a smile, his bearing refined and composed.

It was Qin Wujiu of the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect!

Fachang's face turned grave. He studied the man carefully, then suddenly said, "So young, and yet his cultivation is unfathomably deep, and he can command a myriad poisonous creatures. Could you be that young master of the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect known as the Poison Lord, Qin Wujiu?"

Qin Wujiu frowned, turned his eyes to look Fachang over closely, then suddenly smiled and said, "So it is Master Fachang of the Brahma Sound Temple. No wonder your Dharma eye sees so clearly. I am indeed Qin Wujiu." Here he paused, then went on at his ease, "They say that among the young disciples of the three great righteous sects, Master Fachang of the Brahma Sound Temple is acknowledged the foremost, deep in wisdom and high in virtue. Seeing you today, I find the reputation well earned. Qin Wujiu pays his respects."

With that he gave a slight nod, a smile on his face.

Fachang's brows drew together, and almost at the same instant he heard Li Xun at his side give a soft哼 of contempt. His heart tightened.

Qin Wujiu wore a smile on his face, but his thoughts were racing. Unlike the others, he came from the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect of the demonic cult. To enter this inner marsh, teeming with countless savage beasts and poisonous insects, was a road others dreaded; to him it was as though he had stumbled into a mountain of treasure, and his delight was beyond measure.

Rare and precious venoms that in ordinary times one might meet but never seek were now strewn everywhere underfoot, and among them countless strange poisonous insects he had never even heard of before. In the eyes of a past master of poison such as himself, they were ten times more precious than mountains of gold and silver.

The Ten Thousand Poisons Sect had always stood apart within the demonic cult. Though its methods of cultivation sprang from the same Heavenly Book as those of the other branches, what it had inherited and passed down was a wondrous art of cultivation, supplemented by the use of all manner of strange and deadly venoms in training. Thus for several hundred years the masters who emerged from this sect had almost all been past masters of poison.

And for the sect's disciples, to find the fiercest and most venomous creatures was of incalculable aid in their cultivation.

Qin Wujiu was the closed-door disciple of the Poison God, present master of the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect. His natural gifts were exceedingly high, and in the way of poison he was a prodigy such as heaven itself had sent. Upon entering this inner marsh and seeing the sights before him, he had been overcome with joy. Over the past days he had gathered many poisonous creatures, and then he had come upon the giant venomous ants unique to the Dead Marsh. Qin Wujiu tried the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect's Beast-Commanding Flute, and perhaps because the demonic cult's Heavenly Book truly holds within it the unfathomable workings of heaven and earth, even such savage, untamed creatures were brought under his control through the methods handed down in that book.

In the midst of his great joy Qin Wujiu had suddenly come upon Li Xun of the Burning Cloud Valley, who had landed nearby. The two had quarreled on sight and come to blows, and Qin Wujiu had simply summoned forth his countless Dead Marsh Giant Ants. For all Li Xun's high cultivation, once surrounded by such swarms he could do no more than fend them off, and had Fachang not arrived in time, he would surely have come off badly.

As matters stood now, however, Fachang, Zeng Shuyan, Lin Jinghong, and Li Xun, all four together, found themselves trapped by this young man of unfathomable means, Qin Wujiu.