Chapter 209 — The Eight-Abyssal Fire Dragon
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 1 of 6
The ancient cave for suppressing demons. The cave mouth.
Before the statue of the Witch Goddess Linglong, Heimu stood in silence, and the malevolent spirit Black Tiger seemed likewise mute, standing behind him. Lu Xueling and the others had entered long ago, to say nothing of Ming Li and his companions before them, and in all that time no one knew what had truly happened within that ancient cavern.
Only, neither of the two brothers seemed to show the slightest concern. In their eyes there seemed to be nothing but that statue of the Witch Goddess Linglong.
Suddenly, in the midst of that silence, the broad street beneath their feet began to tremble faintly, and a muffled thunderous rumbling issued from within the ancient cave for suppressing demons. Heimu's body gave a start; he turned and exchanged a glance with Black Tiger, but before they could make sense of it, a far greater upheaval had already occurred.
From the originally pitch-black vault of the sky, within the black cloud layer shrouding the scorched mountain peak, a beam of golden light suddenly shot forth, like a sharp sword descending from the heavens, piercing through the heavy darkness. Immediately after, the edges of the thick black clouds began to transmit a faint golden radiance, as though the black clouds had been inlaid with a rim of golden light.
The rumbling thunder resounded once more, after ten thousand years, above this cursed mountain peak; the clouds began to surge madly, as if some mysterious and unfathomable power were constantly awakening, moving even heaven and earth.
Heimu and Black Tiger stared blankly at this upheaval of heaven and earth. Suddenly Heimu turned, hesitated a moment, and his voice seemed to tremble faintly as he said in a low tone, "The yin wind... it has vanished too."
Black Tiger's massive frame gazed into the depths of the cave. In that deep darkness there was no longer the bone-chilling, piercing yin wind; in its place were rolling waves of scorching heat.
"What's going on? What has happened inside?" Heimu's voice carried a faint agitation, but beneath the black cloth that shrouded his face his expression could not be seen; he was only observed staring fixedly at the ancient cave for suppressing demons.
In contrast, Black Tiger's expression before these upheavals was most complex and strange, as though there were an inexpressible joy, yet upon that face formed of white mist there also revealed a trace of sorrow.
"It is the fire dragon. The Eight-Abyssal Fire Dragon!" he said faintly, in a low voice.
"What?"
Heimu spun around in disbelief, stared at Black Tiger, and said, "What did you say? The Eight-Abyssal Fire Dragon? In this world, apart from the Goddess, how could anyone now possibly summon the Eight-Abyssal Fire Dragon?"
Black Tiger's gaze was vast and distant; slowly it shifted to that stone statue, and after a long while he said, "Originally there was no one, for the summoning incantation and the Xuanhuo Mirror, the essence of ten thousand fires, were long since lost. But—" He smiled, then looked at Heimu with a most peculiar gaze and said, "But in this world there is still one person who once comprehended all the Witch Goddess's sorcerous incantations, and the Eight Fierce Deities' Mystic Fire Formation, the only one the Goddess laid down in her lifetime that still survives and can summon the Eight-Abyssal Fire Dragon, happens to be right here."
Heimu was stunned a moment and said nothing. After a long while he shook his head despondently and said, "So he... actually had this card to play. But the Eight-Abyssal Fire Dragon is a creature of destruction that annihilates all things. In summoning this divine beast, has he forgotten that the Goddess herself once used this very fire dragon to burn him to ashes?"
Black Tiger gave a faint, cold laugh and said, "Who knows. I only remember a sentence the Goddess spoke to me with her own lips when she was leaving, upon her deathbed."
Heimu started and said, "What?"