Chapter 71 — The Kui Ox
劍問蒼天 · Page 6 of 6
He froze, his hand still stretched out in midair, motionless where it was.
Until behind him He Dachuan's anxious voice shouted, "Youngest junior brother, why didn't you hold her back!"
Zhang Qingyue shuddered and started awake, cold sweat breaking over his whole body. He hurried to look: Tian Lingsu had already summoned the amber-red silk and was flying toward the clearing. Without another thought he summoned the Black Iron Staff and gave chase.
Tian Lingsu flew up into the air and saw that ahead Song Dayi and Du Biyan had already joined Lu Xueling's fight against Qinglong—yet Qinglong, one against three, did not fall the least bit behind; rather, he looked unhurried and at ease, with strength to spare.
Impatient though she was, Tian Lingsu was quick-witted, and at a glance she saw that Qinglong's cultivation was too high and his magic treasure too strong; even with her added, they might not overcome him. Her eyes shifted, and at once she had another plan: instead of flying toward Lu Xueling and the others, she turned and slipped quietly toward the far side of the great curtain of light.
Zhang Qingyue, following behind, went pale with fright; but it seemed the demon cult's followers were all drawn off by Qinglong's fight against three, and even the Nether King, presiding over the formation above, had his gaze shifting constantly with Lu Xueling's Divine Sword of the Heavenly Dipper, so that for the moment Tian Lingsu was overlooked.
In an instant Tian Lingsu drew near the far side of the light curtain. The black-clad guards who had held it lay every which way on the ground, plainly slain by the shock of the fierce battle that had trapped Kui Niu.
Her eyes swept swiftly, and she suddenly noticed that all the red light issued from strange dark-red iron spikes driven upside down into the sand, then poured ceaselessly upward, gathering into the ancient cauldron beneath the Nether King's feet in midair.
Clearly, the formation these things composed, together with the ancient cauldron in the air, was the key to holding Kui Niu fast. Without another thought Tian Lingsu flicked her jade-white fingers; the amber-red silk flew out at once and lashed straight at the things stuck in the sand.
Bang! A great crash as the amber-red silk struck hard against one of the iron spikes wrapped in the red curtain of light. Note 1: Classic of Mountains and Seas, "Great Wilderness East" — Kui Niu of the Eastern Sea: In the Eastern Sea there is Mount Liubo, seven thousand li into the sea. On it is a beast shaped like an ox, blue-black of body and hornless, with one leg; when it enters or leaves the water, wind and rain must come; its light is like the sun and moon, its voice like thunder; its name is Kui.
Further note: Shenmo Yi, "Spiritual Beasts" — Kui Niu: An ancient prodigy beast, shaped like a blue ox, three-legged and hornless, its roar like thunder. It dwells long in the deep sea and emerges once in three thousand years; when it emerges, wind and rain rise and thunder and lightning break forth. The world calls it the mount of the Thunder God. The Classic of Mountains and Seas version is adopted here.