Chapter 91 — The Oriole
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 6 of 7
Yuyang Zi grew hard-pressed by degrees. From the corner of his eye he swept the field and saw that in those few moments most of the Longevity Hall disciples had withdrawn, and Meng Ji and the few others were hurrying toward him to cover his retreat—but more righteous disciples were closing in from every side.
A chill seized Yuyang Zi's heart. He knew that if these twenty or thirty closed the ring about him, no cultivation however high would save him from dying here. He parried aside the Xuanyuan Sword that Zeng Shuyan thrust at him from the front and bellowed: "Go, all of you, quickly!"
Meng Ji and the others started, then turned and fled. Yuyang Zi had no wish to prolong the fight; the Yin-Yang Mirror in his hand flashed once and again, and suddenly white light blazed forth, dazzling bright. In an instant the five treasures that had reached his side were all shaken back and turned upon their masters.
The righteous side had not expected such skill from him still, and was thrown into confusion, a small gap opening in their formation.
With his wealth of experience, Yuyang Zi at once transformed into a beam of strange light and shot toward it like lightning.
Scarce had he moved when he was already beside the gap, on the verge of breaking through. Xiao Yichen and the others were farther behind him and could not catch up.
But at that very moment a jade-green light flared, brilliant and blinding: the Slaying Dragon Sword came howling down, cleaving straight at his face—by the look of it, meaning in truth to split Yuyang Zi in two.
Yuyang Zi was caught unprepared, yet at this juncture of life and death he still wrenched his body three parts to the right by sheer force. The jade-green light slashed straight down and thundered past his side, his sleeves fluttering, shredded to dust by that green radiance.
Yuyang Zi's left arm had long since been severed, which now proved a blessing; otherwise, under such agony, whether he could have kept his composure was another matter. Yet his left side burned with searing pain—doubtless he had still been grazed by the jade edge of the murderous Slaying Dragon Sword. His body did not pause; his right hand flipped over, the Yin-Yang Mirror flared with black light, and he swept it out sideways. A muffled grunt was heard, and Lin Jinghong staggered back, every wound so lately bandaged burst open afresh, blood spurting once more!
Now no righteous disciple barred his way. Joy rose in Yuyang Zi's heart; he was about to put forth his strength, and in the same breath he cursed inwardly—for the humiliations he had suffered today at the hands of these righteous whelps, he would repay a hundredfold one day.
Above the Dead Marsh, of a sudden a thunderclap burst forth!
Every head turned!
A brilliant blue light stretched across the horizon; the black clouds of the sky spun furiously like a snarling vortex. Lu Xueling stood upright in midair, a bitter wind keening about her, her peerless face like ice, like frost!
Far off in the darkness, it seemed someone's body gave a faint shudder.
That beautiful woman stood poised in the void, and walked seven paces upon the empty air, chanting an incantation. In an instant lightning writhed across the heavens, like enormous serpents of light threading through the clouds.
Yuyang Zi's face changed drastically, but before he could make any response, Lu Xueling's "Divine Sword Art of Thunder" was already unleashed. A vast bolt of lightning came thundering down from the sky and struck the tip of the Tianya Sword; blue light blazed forth, lighting up half the cloud-heavy heavens in an instant.
At this moment Lu Xueling no longer showed the least strain she had felt in that contest with Zhang Qingyue years ago. The lightning that filled the sky was mirrored in the depths of her pupils, as though she had returned to bygone days!