Chapter 126 — The Witch Demon
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 6 of 6
The lightning shrieked its long cry, and all the gods and Buddhas of the sky chanted as one!
Far off, someone suddenly cried out in alarm.
Ming Li, wholly absorbed in guarding against that rare marvel of a spell in the sky, was startled when a sharp whistling rose suddenly behind him. In the flash of a spark he wrenched his body aside, and with a "pu" a flat-bladed jade ruler, like some divine weapon that nothing could withstand, ran him clean through the right shoulder and out.
Ming Li gave a great roar and whipped his head around, and there was Li Xun, jade ruler in hand, his face full of wrath and hatred.
"Aah—"
He howled long at the sky, and the Blood-Devouring Demonic Staff, trailing boundless red light, came slashing down in an instant. Li Xun's pupils contracted, yet not a trace of fear showed; he pulled hard with his right hand, and with a "si—" drew the jade ruler free, bringing a fountain of blood gushing out with it.
The red glow crashed down; Li Xun braced himself and resisted with all his might. The arts of Fenxia Valley were indeed no small matter, and moreover Ming Li was gravely wounded and the red glow unsteady, so that even at such close quarters Li Xun managed to block it.
Yet what manner of dire thing was the Blood-Devouring Bead, a blood-refined evil treasure bound to Ming Li by blood? In moments boundless evil power came surging through the jade ruler, and Li Xun's right hand, which gripped it, withered away before one's very eyes beneath that unthinkable ghostly force.
Li Xun was horrified and struggled with all his strength, but Ming Li was by now near madness; he thrust out his hand and seized, his five fingers like talons, clamping hard upon Li Xun's right hand.
Li Xun felt a searing pain, cold sweat breaking out all over him. Just at this critical moment, a low Buddha's name came from nearby, mingled with a sigh.
A gentle golden light welled forth, solemn and serene—it was the Great Brahma Prajna of the Fanyin Temple!
The wondrous arts of the Buddha's gate counter the demonic power of the Blood-Devouring Bead; that insidious, all-pervading, and vicious alien force of the bead was pushed back a full foot by his sheer will.
Seizing only this moment's respite, Facheng caught hold of Li Xun and swiftly retreated backward; yet in his eyes there was nothing but a look of compassion and helplessness, fixed straight upon that figure of a man swaying in the wind.
At this moment the huge white shaft of lightning in the sky came falling from the heavens, and with matchless power, unerringly, it struck Ming Li!