Chapter 213 — The Inner Demon
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 3 of 6
In truth, the Fulong Cauldron's magic had long since been transformed beyond recognition over these ten years. With the aid of Mr. Ghost, Hades had fathomed the inscriptions upon the vessel and gathered the spiritual power of divine beasts to awaken the "Four Spirits Blood Array." Within the cauldron at present were already gathered the powers of three divine beasts—the Kui Ox, the Yellow Bird, and the Torch Dragon. Taotie, though a beast of unnatural kind, was decidedly outmatched against the combined force of the other three; and moreover this Fulong Cauldron, an artifact of high antiquity, possessed strange magic of its own—the stronger the divine beasts' power, the more monstrous the demonic force released by the Four Spirits Blood Array. At the first clash, Taotie was at once suppressed.
Now the red radiance flickered, seeming almost solid, wrapping and binding Taotie's great body tight. Taotie trembled all over, in evident agony, yet could not stir in the slightest; even its roars swiftly sank to a whisper, leaving only the sound of labored breathing.
The stench of blood in the chamber grew heavier still. Hades looked upon Taotie, prostrate and unable to move, and a wild joy flashed through his eyes. Suddenly he threw back his head and laughed—a manner wholly unlike his usual self, as if he had gone mad.
In that strange moment there came a sudden furious "zhizhi zhizhi"—and Taotie, bound fast by the red light, turned its head with difficulty to look. It was Little Gray, who had resolutely leaped into the air and come to Taotie's side, reaching out a hand to help. But the red radiance, though it seemed but empty light, gave Little Gray such a shock when its hand touched it that it cried out and sprang away—plainly it had come off the worse.
Little Gray bared its teeth, looking furious beyond measure, and showed its fangs at Hades in open challenge. Hades—one knew not when—beneath that flickering blood-red glow, had seen his own eyes turn blood red. Now he swung about abruptly, killing intent surging in an instant; without another word, a mass of black qi leaped up and shot straight out from the red light, striking at Little Gray.
Little Gray was no easy mark either—a good-for-nothing monkey, to be sure, but angry as it was, it could see the vicious gleam quivering in that black qi, and would not take it head-on; it sprang several times to the side and dodged clear.
The strike missed, and Hades let out a long cry; the black qi instantly doubled in speed, and seemed to split into several strands at once, each like lightning, slashing down from every side.
Little Gray, hands and feet alike, darted hither and thither, barely evading in the space between breaths, yet its peril was plain—several times it came near to being struck by the black qi. And Hades, for some reason, showed not the least mercy even toward such a monkey as this. Amid the black qi came another low cry, and wind and cloud gathered, condensing out of empty air a blood-red palm that smote down from above. Little Gray, already driven to desperate shifts by the black qi, had now no road of retreat; in a moment it would be struck by that crimson palm.
At this critical juncture, an arm suddenly reached out from the side, thrust through the howling, murderous black qi and blood-red glare, seized the monkey by the tail, and yanked. Little Gray's body flew up at once, hurtling backward—and the vicious black qi that had blocked its retreat had, one knew not when, been scattered away.