Chapter 148 — Internal Strife
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 5 of 7
In the dust there came a sudden rumbling boom, and the shriek broke off. Light flickered in midair, and there, leaping out from the dust clouds, was a beast demon of enormous bulk shaped like a fierce tiger. Seen from afar, the creature resembled a tiger—even on its forehead there seemed faintly to be the character for "king"—but its body was immeasurably larger than an ordinary tiger's, with sharp teeth and talons, and a pelt of five brilliant colors. Strangest of all was its tail, extraordinarily long, seeming far longer than its body. Compared with it, the ferocious monsters around it were like kittens and puppies.
Mingli, hidden outside the town, frowned and muttered in a low voice: "Chuwu! (Note 1)"
The town encircled by the beasts was in itself no more than a small, modest settlement. When this beast demon, standing fully five or six zhang tall, planted itself before the town, its tiger head nearly reached above the walls. A thick stench of blood rode the wind, and the people atop the wall either froze in terror or, their wits fled, ran for their lives.
Chuwu gave a low growl, a savage light flickering in its eyes, then suddenly let out a shriek and raised its thick foreleg to smash straight down on the town gate. Its sharp tiger claws pierced the thick wooden gate with ease; before the common folk desperately bracing it from behind could understand what was happening, several had already been skewered by the enormous claws, and the rest fled in wild terror in all directions.
Chuwu roared loudly, its claws smashing down again and again. After several great booms—"hong, hong, hong"—the ruined gate collapsed, and in an instant the whole town was filled with weeping. Outside the walls, excited roars rose in answer, and countless fierce beasts swarmed in; in the blink of an eye, it was a storm of blood and flesh.
Chuwu had opened the gate for the other monsters, yet did not itself enter to slaughter. It seemed to disdain such work now; and at this moment it seemed to have sensed something—its tiger head turned, its huge body slowly twisting around, its nose sniffing ceaselessly at the air as though trying to confirm something.
Just as Chuwu was hesitating and searching, a great crash came suddenly from the town wall before it. A section of the wall burst open, and Daoist Cangyan came hurtling out through the breach, appearing directly before Chuwu, a yellow sword-gleam in his hand striking Chuwu's chest with the speed of a thunderclap.
Chuwu let out an earth-shaking roar, and its whole enormous tiger body flew backward. But Daoist Cangyan was, after all, a figure of long-established fame, a disciple of Qingyun, the foremost sect in the world today; his cultivation was no ordinary thing. Though Chuwu flew backward, a sound like tearing silk hissed out, and a great wound over four chi long was opened across its chest.
Had it been an ordinary monster, such a wound would have meant instant death. But Chuwu was plainly no ordinary monster; as one of the thirteen beast demons beneath the Beast Demon's command, its vitality and demonic arts far surpassed those of common creatures. Though blood poured from its chest like a spring, Chuwu did not even glance at it; with an enraged roar it pounced again, and its movement and bearing were scarcely slower than before the wound.
Daoist Cangyan's expression shifted slightly. With a flicker of his form he dodged the claw Chuwu brought down, then rode his sword swiftly away from the beast herd, flying north of the town. Chuwu roared loudly, its eyes seeming to spit fire, and gave chase without letting up.