Chapter 23 — The Contest
劍問蒼天 · Page 6 of 8
With a single resounding "boom," the rosy-glowing staff smashed violently into the rock. In an instant dust billowed up and hung over the whole platform. Tian Lingsu felt her whole body shudder; her opponent's "rock-commanding art" was truly impregnable, and the entire length of amber-red silk rebounded upon her.
The dust had not yet settled. Shen Tiandou's face was faintly pale, yet even now he gave no pause. With a great shout from his throat he drifted up onto the immense boulder, seized the hilt with both hands, and his gray-brown immortal sword blazed with light as he drove it into the rock—hard beyond hardness—cleaving it like a knife through bamboo.
"Crack, crack, crack!" A series of dull, hoarse, utterly rasping sounds of shattering rose. Tian Lingsu's expression changed; she felt the ground beneath her feet shaking without cease. Then came more great crashes, and the wooden boards beneath her all burst apart. Amid the "rumbling," countless huge and jagged rocks shot up from the earth, and where Tian Lingsu had stood, the ground was stabbed into a body riddled beyond recognition.
"Ah!" Below the platform Zhang Qingyue cried out despite himself, but at once clamped his mouth shut. Tian Buhui and his wife had both gone grim, and Su Wan's face held a note of alarm. The Chaoyang Peak disciples, by contrast, cheered loudly, thunderous applause rolling out.
"Well done, Senior Brother Shen!"
"Truly formidable!"
"Victory is ours!"
The shouts rose and fell one upon another. Dust filled the platform as well, so thick one could scarcely see anything, but Shen Tiandou, standing high atop the boulder, showed not the slightest sign of relaxing. His eyes were wide, searching the surroundings carefully. Sure enough, moments later, in the thick dust above the boulder ahead, a rosy light flashed. In an instant it blazed brilliant, and there was Tian Lingsu, like a red phoenix, bursting suddenly into flight. The amber-red silk streamed with shifting radiance, whirling ceaselessly about her.
Tian Lingsu's face was stern, her almond eyes shooting out a piercing cold light. Both hands formed the mudra, then she swung them heavily downward. The amber-red silk halted abruptly, then plunged straight into the earth like a venomous snake, boring through those hard rocks with sheer force.
Shen Tiandou's face changed drastically. Without a thought he floated backward, and indeed, just where he had been standing, the amber-red silk—a venomous snake a moment before—now burst furiously up from below like a red dragon, and the spot where he had stood exploded in flying sand and shattered stone, a great hole torn open, its violence enough to chill the blood.
Tian Lingsu, now in midair, formed orchid mudras with both hands, crossed them before her chest, and cried out: "Bind the Spirit!"
The amber-red silk checked in the air, and with a crisp report its radiance surged. It grew on the wind, swelling in moments to who knew how many times its length, blotting out sky and sun. It flew swiftly, now circling aloft, now plunging into the earth and bursting up again on the other side, and with Shen Tiandou at the center, countless red silks wrapped him tightly round in a ring.
The folk of Dazhu Peak could not help exchanging glances. Two years ago, in her duel with Lin Jinghong, Tian Lingsu had used this same wondrous art of "Bind the Spirit." Today its power seemed even greater—sky and earth both enclosed. Who could say how Shen Tiandou compared to Lin Jinghong of that year?
As Tian Lingsu's incantation sounded again and again, the amber-red silk as a whole became a giant red sphere, pressing inward without cease. Through the seams, beneath the rosy glow, a faint gray-brown light could still be seen; Shen Tiandou was clearly still resisting stubbornly. Yet though the red silks slowed under that resistance, they pressed inward still, irresistibly.