Chapter 81 — Nine
劍問蒼天 · Page 2 of 7
His tone was bleak and desolate, indescribably anguished; hearing it, the assembly fell silent.
Just then, atop the ruins nearby, a piece of timber suddenly clattered down, and a head poked out from a corner of the rubble. The crowd started; peering closer, they were all taken aback—this person was none other than Uncle Wang Er, who had been mad for many years. No one knew when he had slipped into the Yuheng Hall, nor where he had hidden during the earth-shaking battle just past; now he simply crawled out, covered in dust and grime, yet by his expression he did not seem much afraid, and he kept giggling foolishly.
At that moment Zhang Qingyue and Lin Jinghong, who had been standing to one side, went over together—after all, they were both close to Uncle Wang Er. Lin Jinghong drew him aside and examined him, and sure enough, apart from a few scrapes, he was entirely unharmed; his luck had indeed outstripped countless Canglan Sect members whose cultivation was a thousand times his own.
The two of them let out a long breath and exchanged a glance, each seeing the same sense of narrow escape in the other's eyes. Zhang Qingyue's mood had by now calmed somewhat; it was as though the fierce, vicious qi within his body had, with Daoist Cangyan's departure—and especially after that fight with the black-clad Demon Sect man in the back mountain—gradually subsided.
At that thought, something seemed to occur to him, and his gaze drifted involuntarily to the other side. There stood Lu Xueqi, who had just witnessed his hideous, unnatural transformation; her face was now as calm as still water, and she stood without a word, and no one could tell what she was thinking.
The Demon Sect host fought desperately to cut a bloody path, broke through the Shixian Sword Formation that Daoist Daoyan had set in motion, and fled down Jietian Peak.
At the foot of Canglan Mountain, the Nether King was the first to collect himself; he called out repeatedly for order and halted the still-panicked crowd. The four great factions then regrouped and took stock of their numbers, and after a moment the Nether King, the Poison God, Yuyangzi, and the Three Wonders Fairy came together and looked at one another in silence.
The Canglan Sect had been grievously wounded—but the Demon Sect had not fared well either.
Ever since the Demon Sect's great defeat a century ago, its people had devoted themselves to rebuilding their strength, and by now the combined power of the Demon Sect had surpassed any single one of the three great orthodox factions, matching all four of their schools together. Yet in today's battle—setting aside for the moment the Shixian Sword Formation that Daoist Daoyan had later unleashed—more than ten had perished alongside the Canglan Sect elders in the Yuheng Hall itself, and more than ten more had died beneath the Shixian Sword Formation afterward; all four great factions had lost many disciples, a tremendous toll.
At this point Daoist Cangyan, because of his special standing, also came over to stand with them.
Yuyangzi was proud by nature, and resentful over his sect's losses besides; he gave Cangyan a cold glance, turned, and walked away, sparing him not the least face.
Daoist Cangyan's expression shifted slightly, but the Nether King was deep in calculation and better disciplined; he actually smiled and said, "Brother Cangsong, the Canglan Sect's strength is truly unfathomable, and this Shixian Sword Formation possesses powers beyond the comprehension of gods and ghosts. Formidable, formidable!"
Daoist Cangyan shook his head and said to the Nether King, "Sect Master Nether King, I fear you do not yet realize—the Shixian Sword Formation just now likely displayed only half its true power."