Chapter 173 — Escape
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 3 of 6
A warm current roared up from the region of his heart and burst outward—pure yang breath, scattering straight through his meridians. His whole body shuddered, and for a moment his mind was clear. With a great shout he gathered the cultivation of a lifetime and hurled it forth; lightning and thunder flashed through his mind, the three volumes of the Heavenly Book swept past in an instant, and the three hues of blue, gold, and red rose at once upon his face. Faint though they were, life returned to him.
The Great Brahma Prajna spanned his heart-veins, the true dharma of the Buddhist gate holding firm, and even the Immortal Slayer paused for a moment. Seizing that instant's respite, with the Taiji Mystic Purity Way as his path, Ming Li's right arm in an instant swelled to twice its size; a dark red radiance raced through it, flowing from the arm into Soul-Eater. Yet just as he meant to strike back and flee, the Immortal Slayer's devouring demonic force broke through the Great Brahma Prajna once more. In a heartbeat Ming Li's whole body went numb; he could not move, and that thread of clarity in his mind dimmed once again.
By now, to those watching, Ming Li's face was withered and dry, little different from a dead man's. Song Dayi and others who had once had some acquaintance with Zhang Qingyue all turned their heads away, unable to bear the sight.
Just then, when the outcome seemed settled, the Soul-Eater in Ming Li's hand suddenly lit up. A dark blue-green radiance slowly surged, like one waking slowly from deep slumber; the Bloodthirst Orb at its tip kindled again with threads of uncanny red, and deep within the orb, never before seen, beneath the blue-green glow and the blood-threads, golden Buddhist true words rose up.
The true dharmas of the three gates—Buddha, Dao, and Demon—at this very moment, in Ming Li's final desperate blow at the brink of death, had truly become one.
The Bloodthirst Orb shone brighter and brighter, its strange yet gorgeous light flickering without cease. Then the whole of Soul-Eater blazed up, as though crying out something, and a moment later, from the junction of Soul-Eater and the Immortal Slayer, another muffled report rang out.
Only then did people notice anew that aside from Ming Li's left hand, Soul-Eater, gripped in his right, had also been clinging to the Immortal Slayer all along, and had never fallen away.
The uncanny light on the Bloodthirst Orb grew brighter and brighter, three-colored rays revolving and turning, and a low sound, like the murmur of ancient demons from ages long past, slowly issued forth:
"Wu... wu... wu..."
A wisp of red vapor, translucent and crystalline, was first wrenched out from the sword-scar on the Immortal Slayer and drawn into Soul-Eater. It tumbled within the Bloodthirst Orb, seeming still to resist, but soon it could be seen that it was subdued and conquered by the strange breath within the Orb, slowly transformed to a pale red—a small part assimilated by Soul-Eater, but the greater part sent back through Soul-Eater into Ming Li's own body.
Once this strange change began it did not stop. Red vapor was ceaselessly devoured from the Immortal Slayer; as more and more was drawn in, the strengthened Soul-Eater shone ever brighter, and Ming Li, replenished again, gradually recovered his color. The skin of his face slowly returned from withered dryness to its former state, and stranger still, took on a faint, mild luster.
The red glow upon the Immortal Slayer, from its blazing peak, now seemed powerless against the devouring demonic force of the Bloodthirst Orb, and slowly dimmed, while Soul-Eater grew ever more luminous. The Canglan Sect people around them were no fools; by now most could see that something was wrong. Plainly this demon Ming Li had secretly worked some sorcery or other, and the Immortal Slayer seemed scarcely able to hold out against it.