Chapter 78 — Six
劍問蒼天 · Page 2 of 8
Daoist Cangyan said viciously, "These bald donkeys and the scoundrels of the Fenxia Valley all arrived at the Canglan Mountains this very morning without any prior word. I was caught unprepared and had no chance to send word."
Pucheng and Elder Shangguan of the Fenxia Valley behind him exchanged a glance, and both laughed. Elder Shangguan of the Fenxia Valley laughed aloud and said, "This is what they call evil never triumphing over good, and Heaven's net having no holes to slip through! Today we shall see all you audacious demons and heretics executed upon these Canglan Mountains!"
"Heh heh!" came a cold laugh. It was Yuyang Zi, standing beside the Poison God and regarded by the Demonic Cult as the one who had taken charge of this affair—his manner arrogant and overbearing—who sneered, "More than a hundred years ago, the elders of our Holy Cult likewise fought your three great sects with the strength of our single sect alone. Do you think we fear you now?"
"Well said!" A chorus of cheers rose at once, much of it from the crowd standing behind the four masters; even the Dark King beside him clapped his hands and laughed.
"Today we shall see—whether it is we who are executed, or you who die!"
This he said with boundless insolence, looking down upon all living things. Every righteous cultivator's face changed, each bearing a look of loathing—especially on that final word "die," upon which the Dark King seemed deliberately to have placed a heavier emphasis, full of mockery.
Daoist Daoyan gave a cold laugh and was just about to say something when he saw that Yuyang Zi among the Demonic Cult seemed the least patient of all: with a wave of his hand, every master of the Demonic Cult at once began to radiate light of various hues from their hands and bodies, making plain that they would strike without delay.
On the righteous side, the assembled members of the Canglan Sect and Fanyin Temple immediately gathered their focus and stood on guard, knowing that before them lay the most perilous battle between righteous and demonic in a hundred years. Pucheng recited in a low voice, "Amitabha, excellent, excellent—"
But before he could finish his sentence, a sudden upheaval erupted. Just when everyone's attention was fixed upon the Demonic Cult before them, more than a dozen beams of light flared at once in the midst of the righteous crowd, and among them two sharp rays shot straight at Pucheng's unguarded back!
"Boom!"
In an instant the righteous side was thrown into chaos, like a pot boiling over, and a chorus of sharp, furious roars rang out. Master Pucheng's vision went black; he felt two surges of immense force slam hard into his back—one bursting outward like a landslide and a tidal wave, the other turning fine and sharp as a needle, stabbing inward.
Master Pucheng staggered, and with a "pfft" spat out a mist of blood. What manner of man was he? In a twinkling he understood that there must be traitors among the righteous ranks as well. His "Great Brahma Prajna True Dharma," a power that had raised him to sagehood, coursed through his whole body in an instant, forcibly blocking the onrush of that immense force; at the same time, without turning his head, he flung his sleeve backward!
"Bang, bang"—two muffled reports, and two cries of alarm came from behind him, plainly from those who had come off the worse; that surge of immense force dispersed at once. But the other force, needle-thin and venomous, took on tangible form and at last pierced through his unprepared Great Brahma Prajna shield, boring into his body.
In but a moment, Tian Buhui and the others of the Canglan Sect had rushed over and joined the fray; but the attackers, after a single strike, leaped at once into the air and flew into the ranks of the Demonic Cult.
At their head was none other than Shangguan Lue of the Fenxia Valley, and those who had struck the others were all of the Fenxia Valley as well.