Chapter 171 — Eleven
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 7 of 7
At that moment Daoist Zhenren Daoyan felt only that qi and blood surged in his mind like towering waves, and a murderous, savage qi churned back and forth as though it would burst through his chest. But his cultivation ran deep after all, and he knew that under no circumstances could he let the tiger return to the mountain. All the more so since he had forced open the Heaven's Mechanism Seal; the earth-vein spiritual energy was too abundant, and it had already placed too great a burden on the ancient Slaying Immortals sword—and now that beast-demon's dying blow had left a crack in it.
He gathered his breath with an effort and was about to give chase, when suddenly he felt a tremendous force surge from the Slaying Immortals sword straight into his mind, bursting through in an instant the meridians and qi points he had cultivated bitterly for hundreds of years, with a thunderous peal. In that moment his body convulsed, blood streamed from all seven of his orifices in the blink of an eye, he swayed twice, gave a great cry, and his grip on the ancient Slaying Immortals sword went slack—and he toppled from the clouds.
This breathtaking scene had the watchers below dazzled and dumbstruck, and then suddenly a great upheaval broke: the Beast Sovereign, gravely wounded, had fled, and Daoist Zhenren Daoyan had abruptly collapsed. In an instant all was chaos.
For a time, some gave chase to the Beast Sovereign, some rushed to rescue Daoist Zhenren Daoyan, and still other young disciples, waking from their shock, suddenly noticed that countless beast-demons still stood dazed upon Heaven-Reaching Peak—and at once charged in to kill. And how could the beast-demons be willing to submit with hands bound? In a trice, the summit of Heaven-Reaching Peak was again a sea of slaughter-cries.
And amid that confusion, someone suddenly cried out, sharp and frantic, as though beholding the most terrifying thing in all his life: "The Slaying Immortals... where is the Slaying Immortals sword? Where has the Slaying Immortals sword fallen?..."
In an instant, Mount Jietian was thrown into fresh and violent chaos; countless people darted about like headless flies, scrambling in utter confusion.
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The region of the back mountain.
Within the Phantom Moon Grotto-Heaven, the violet pillar of qi slowly dispersed, leaving only a trace of auspicious vapor that lingered and would not fade. That breathtaking scene in the heavens moments before had left all three of them dumbstruck.
Only now did they come back to their senses.
Lin Jinghong drew a deep breath and steadied himself, then said coldly to Lu Xueling, "Junior Sister Lu, what do you mean by this? Are you too going to betray our sect?"
Lu Xueling was taken aback. She opened her mouth as if to say something, then turned to glance at Ming Li, and in the end said nothing.
Ming Li looked at her deeply. Their eyes met, and it seemed each saw into the other's inmost heart...
Ming Li smiled, turned away, and faced Lin Jinghong, once more standing in front of Lu Xueling.
Watching that back from behind him, Lu Xueling's eyes flickered with a light complex and hard to fathom.
Lin Jinghong gave a cold laugh and was about to strike, when suddenly a shrill whistle came shrieking down from the sky.
All three were startled and drew back, and saw a single object fall from the heavens, seeming slow yet in truth swift, striking the ground with a "thup"—the flagstones, hard as they were, gave way like bean curd, and it sank deep into them.
It was a long sword, strange in substance, seeming stone yet not stone, archaic in style, and upon its blade, where ran a thin crack, two characters were clearly engraved:
Slay the Immortals!