Chapter 169 — The Demonic Beast

The people on the Heaven-Reaching Peak turned pale with dread, looking at one another. Such utterly uncanny sorcery—not only unseen, but unheard of; in the tens of thousands of years of the Central Plains, in countless tomes, none had ever recorded such a heart-stopping, soul-shaking art.

Even Dao Yan Zhenren could not help drawing a breath of cold air, staring aghast at that Beast Sovereign ahead, once the shape of an ordinary youth, now seeming to swell without cease—until at last he stopped splitting and stood towering before Dao Yan Zhenren, facing the Slaying Immortals formation: a monster ten zhang tall, with a thousand arms and a hundred heads.

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The back mountain of the Heaven-Reaching Peak, the domain of the Illusory Moon Cavern.

The purple pillar of qi that rose from the cavern mansion was as it had been, with no sign of waning; seen from afar, the pillar was like something solid, auspicious qi steaming upward, solemn and august.

And now in the heavens, more than half the sky was filled with the qi-swords of the Slaying Immortals formation; even from this far-off place, Ming Li and Lin Jinghong could feel the surging, roaring power of the ancient sword Slaying Immortals above.

Suppressing the faint trembling of the Dragon-Slaying Sword in his hand, Lin Jinghong withdrew his gaze from the sky. His heart was shaken by the might of the ancient sword Slaying Immortals, and at the same time his mood had shifted a little. Just now, he and Ming Li had been on the very verge of a fight to the death, when the Slaying Immortals formation had suddenly stirred, ten thousand phenomena in motion, and overawed them both. The two had stopped as if by unspoken agreement.

And come to think of it, the man standing before him must be in an even more tangled state of mind? Somehow the thought flashed through Lin Jinghong's mind, and he turned to look at Ming Li.

That man, who seemed to have weathered all the vicissitudes of the world, stood silently gazing up at the sky—at that splendid, heart-shaking pageant of ten thousand phenomena.

Heaven and earth quietly fell still; somewhere far off came the sound of the wind, yet what it carried to him seemed the sound of years ago, and in the depths of his mind, the scene that had echoed ten thousand times over ten years, each remembrance a fresh wound.

"Ding… ding… ling…"

Faint and far, like the sound of a wind chime swaying gently in a breeze—whose smiling face turned back amid that chiming? That once-pale-green figure and that warm, gentle form, that little remnant of warmth—heaven knew how many of his desolate, cold nights it had warmed over the years.

The deepest chill rose cold from his heart, flooding his breast, chilling his heart, cooling his body, from his fingertips to the depths of his soul; it was as though he could feel no pain at all—and then he realized that time itself had turned to a blade, cutting him without cease.

Yet no blood showed!

"Bili…"

He murmured it softly; his body, somehow, began to tremble faintly. In his eyes flickered the reflection of that brilliant, splendid ten thousand-fold sword radiance in the sky, scarce like any scene of the mortal world. Those countless sword-lights, coursing and galloping, each so free and unrestrained, each vivid before his eyes—reminding him of the past.

That green figure seemed to stand beside him now, as she had ten years ago, facing everyone, never retreating, never regretting!

"Hua…"

Ming Li howled at the sky, eyes wide, both hands clenched into fists that gave out a low "ge ge" sound.

As though sensing its master's fury, Soul Devourer slowly rose into the air; across its pitch-black surface, vein-like dark red stripes lit up one by one, mirrored in Ming Li's eyes, dyeing his pupils slowly blood red.

"Zheng!"

A clear sword-hum startled him; Ming Li slowly turned his head, and in those blood-red eyes he saw the cold, scornful expression of Lin Jinghong ahead.

"You truly are beyond saving!" Lin Jinghong said decisively. "I should have known long ago—once you fell into the demonic path, there was no turning back. It was folly in me to remember old ties and hope you would return. So be it—today, here on Canglan Mountain, we settle it once and for all!"

Ming Li looked at him a long while, then suddenly burst out laughing, the laughter growing wilder and wilder, full of arrogance and scorn.

Lin Jinghong flew into a rage; with an angry shout he traced a sword formula, and at once emerald light surged. The radiance of the Dragon-Slaying Sword seemed to turn into an azure dragon, soaring into the air. In an instant a fierce wind rose before the Illusory Moon Cavern; Lin Jinghong leaped up, divine sword in hand, white robes fluttering, handsome and elegant, truly like a dragon among men, soaring aloof from the world. Only the killing intent in his eyes now was fierce enough to match Ming Li's.

He was still in midair when the Dragon-Slaying Sword struck down; far off as he was, the sword radiance came surging like an azure dragon, irresistible, tearing a deep furrow in the ground as it rushed straight at Ming Li.

Ming Li's face still wore that mad, almost hideous expression; seeing the emerald radiance sweep toward him, his body suddenly vanished like a ghost.

The Dragon-Slaying Sword's radiance struck where Ming Li had stood, shattering the hard stone beneath into four or five pieces and blasting out a great crater. The next moment Ming Li's uncanny figure suddenly appeared a zhang before Lin Jinghong; Soul Devourer burst forth with a roar, red light blazing, shrieking as it flew at him, the fierce wind stinging the face—he too held nothing back.

Lin Jinghong was startled but not thrown into confusion; his figure shot straight up, evading that blow of immense force, and turning, he drove his sword and charged. Ming Li gave a long laugh and did not dodge, meeting him head-on; Soul Devourer flew back to his hand like lightning, and he rushed at Lin Jinghong.

Thus did two childhood playmates glare at each other in fury, fighting to the death.

Like arrows loosed from the string, they crashed together in midair!

In an instant a wild wind rose on every side; with the two in midair as their center, invisible sound waves surged outward, and the trees nearby were torn up by the roots and flung flying. At the heart of the storm, pain flickered across both their faces almost at once, and across Ming Li's face there even flashed a faint golden gleam.

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This duel in the back mountain of the Heaven-Reaching Peak—as the wind swept over the towering ridges and crags and carried it afar, it was already too faint to hear; and besides, at this moment, between heaven and earth, among all things in the world, who still had thought for them?

In the sky above there was a far more important contest of dharma!

Only, amid the crowd, for some unknown reason, Lu Xueling's body suddenly gave a start, and across her face, strangely, a faint golden gleam flashed and was gone. She turned her head in astonishment, her body somewhat stiff, and gazed far into the distance—toward that remote, desolate place of the back mountain…