Chapter 51 — The Black Stone Cave
劍問蒼天 · Page 1 of 6
In the clearing, the onlookers furrowed their brows. Seeing that the bewitching woman, surrounded as she was, had produced this strange magical artifact, most of them guessed she meant to fight like a cornered beast, and each at once steeled themselves in wary readiness. Only Shi Tou let out a great shout, sent the Demon-Breaking Staff wheeling into the air, and charged forward.
Behind him, Zhang Qingyue had no time even to cry "Careful!" before he saw the three-tailed fox demon cast one glance from her long, slender, bewitching eyes at Shi Tou's great onrushing bulk, then take hold of the red tassels on either side of the jade ring with both hands, lift it slowly, and raise it before her face.
The jade ring turned gently, as if it were reflecting her countenance.
The moonlight was cold and pale, falling upon the Mystic Fire Mirror. Somehow, the ancient flame totem engraved upon it seemed at this moment to come alive, vivid and lifelike, as though it were truly burning.
Shi Tou leaped into the air, the Demon-Breaking Staff roaring as it split the wind, and he bellowed, "Die, foul demon!"
At that very instant, at the center of the Mystic Fire Mirror, where the flame totem sat, the dark red hue suddenly transformed in a flash into a brilliant, almost translucent crimson, as though in the blink of an eye the flame totem had been scorched white-hot by the fire of the nine heavens.
And that flame totem had already become a blazing inferno.
With the bewitching woman at its center, a formless wave of searing heat burst outward with a great whoosh. Save for the few feet of ground beneath her feet, every plant and tree within thirty feet around was in an instant scorched brown—yet for some reason not a single spark appeared, and nothing caught fire.
Zhang Qingyue and Bili exchanged a look of dismay, never having imagined that the three-tailed fox demon could hold such a peerlessly powerful artifact. Shi Tou, still hurtling through the air at her, saw it too; astonished as he was by the artifact's might, he showed not the slightest fear. His right hand seized at the empty air, and the great fanged club blazing with golden light was in his grasp, growing longer as it met the wind, screaming shrilly through the air as it wheeled in a circle and came crashing straight down upon the three-tailed fox demon's head.
The club was still in midair, yet already sand flew and stones skipped along the ground, and the three-tailed fox demon's frail, delicate body looked as though it would be blown away by that fierce wind. But she only smiled coldly. Her fingers hooked about the red tassels, her body tilting slightly, she took aim at the onrushing Shi Tou.
The burning Mystic Fire Mirror was mirrored in her soft, bewitching eyes, like two heaps of wrathful flame.
"Boom!"
In the tremendous roar, from the flame totem at the center of the Mystic Fire Mirror there shot suddenly a fiery dragon, claws bared and fangs gnashing, its momentum earth-shaking, its whole body wreathed in roaring flames, till it lit more than half the forest bright as day.
Shi Tou was greatly startled. The fiery dragon swelled rapidly: fresh from the Mystic Fire Mirror it had been no more than a streak of flame, but by the time it reached him even its head alone was as large as two men, and the searing heat that rushed at his face made him half suspect he stood inside a roaring furnace.
Seen from below, from where Zhang Qingyue stood, Shi Tou, caught in the charge of that gigantic fiery dragon, had not even exchanged a blow before the black front of his sideburns had turned withered and yellow—one could well imagine what he was facing.
Yet Shi Tou showed no fear, startled but not flustered. Under the urging of his own magic power, the Demon-Breaking Staff blazed with an even brighter golden light, and he brought it crashing down upon the onrushing dragon's head.