Chapter 427 - The Blitz (1/2)
“Very well, boy! For one thousand years, I have never set eyes upon one welcomes Death as much as you! Very well, I yield!”
Li Xie, in the guise of a young boy, appeared out of nowhere, his lips curling into a crooked smile. With a wave of his arm, the Flames of the Southern Vermillion Bird were all magically drawn into the voluminous folds of his sleeves as if a vortex was hidden within his crimson-red robes.
“Congratulations, Young Master Xiao. I must tender my admiration for your skills and so much more for your courage,” Liku Zi’s voice resounded from where he stood. He promptly looked at Yu Wenmu beside him and beckoned, “Let us go now, my boy.”
Zi Mo left the cave quickly with his two companions in tow. With the state of his health failing, Xiao Chen fell into a deep sleep as soon as they had left. It took another further two days of rest until he finally showed signs of recovering.
But he was still slumbering came the morning of the sixth day of the seventh month, his fingers still gripping firmly the hilt of the Sword of the Vermillion Bird. Strangely, the burns that he suffered had fully healed as if nothing had happened before.
Yu Yifeng had never once left his side since he began sleeping, watching him and making sure Xiao Chen was fed water every hour. It was only when the noon sun was hanging proudly over the Flying-cloud Stone when he finally woke up and the first words he uttered were, “Have we got it?! The Flames of the Vermilion Bird!”
Yu Yifeng tossed aside the waterskin he was holding when Xiao Chen sat up and was shocked for seconds before he managed to nod to a bewildered Xiao Chen, “Yep. The Flames are imbued into the Sword you are holding. So is the Formation Spirit Li Xie. Rest easy, my friend.”
Xiao Chen exhaled with relief. He had been having endless nightmares even if he was asleep, assailed by visions of Muxue being consumed by Red Sleeve and at long last becoming the ultimate Corpse King, dishing out death and despair and leaving mounds and hills of slaughtered dead in her wake and the lands bathed by the blood of thousands of massacred innocents…
He lifted the Sword of the Vermilion Bird to his eyes and studied it, his other hand running down the blade with his fingers feeling the edge. He could feel a strong magical power hidden within, resonating with excitement. So this is the sword forged from the fires of the Vermilion Bird, he observed, a weapon with immense powers that could destroy all that is foul and evil. And with this, I’ll be able to wound Red Sleeve.
Then he remembered something. “What day is it now, Brother Yifeng?”
“It’s the sixth day of the month. Rest assured that Martial Uncle Xiaoyao is speeding us back with the fastest speed this Flying-cloud Stone can muster. I’m sure we’ll get back in time.”
Xiao Chen nodded saying nothing as he slowly sank back down, only to spring back up again, “What about Xian’er and the Leopard Cat Spirit? Are they all right?”
Yu Yifeng broke into a smile. “They are all fine. Little Xian’er is gifted. Perhaps even you will be surprised by her skills the next time you meet. As for Zhiluan, he has recovered much of his powers. They are all at Yuqing Mountain, both notorious troublemakers in their own right…”
It was a tender moment for Xiao Chen and for the first time since waking up, he smiled. But the smile faded as quickly as it came as Xiao Chen began to ask for more news and tales about everything that had happened in the lands during the past year. Yu Yifeng frowned and it took him more than a heartbeat before he could answer, “I’m afraid the year has not been kind; more Demonic Flowers have been sighted, followed by a series of strange phenomenons never before seen. A year ago, there came also this powerful stranger, a person who claims to hail from the evil folk. He’s very powerful and he comes and goes like the wind. They say he calls himself Gu Feng…”
The Great Devil Gu Feng!
The name resounded in Xiao Chen’s mind as his memory about the powerful demon Xiao Ning had sealed one millennium ago at the hilly barrows rear of the residence of the Xiao Clan resurfaced, instantly refreshed, vividly nauseating.
With his forehead still curdled and his expression disturbed, Yu Yifeng went on, “What’s more, there have been more and more strangers, all of them formidable mages skilled in magecraft once lost and forgotten, appearing from all corners of the Five Continents. They have been challenging the mages of the Heaven List, seeking to make a name for themselves. No one knows from whence they actually came from. But I am thinking they have been prowling quietly in regions beyond the Five Continents all these while, choosing only to appear now…”
Xiao Chen did not respond, mulling instead on the words regions beyond the Five Continents… It was a phrase he once heard Evernight mentioned before. The Human Realm was divided into many different landmasses when the former age ended and many formed up again into continents. Hence the many different regions that now constituted the present Human Realm.
If the Human World is a Tier-1 Cultivator’s Area and the Domain of the Violet Manor and the Five Continents belongs to the second Tier, is there Tier-3 Areas with greater potential and resources for mages to tap into? It would not be long before the coming of the second stage of the Times of the Annihilation where more powerful and invincible mages would emerge. Who would reign supreme then and who would fall into ruins and be forgotten?
But that was the least of his concerns. At least for now, when Red Sleeve remained the most pressing matter at hand. He needed to save Muxue from the clutches of that evil witch. And quick. It was midnight when the Flying-cloud Stone passed over the Miasma Mountain Range and the party of three finally reached the Ridge of Broken Souls.
The night was silent. So usually still that one would have felt shivers creeping up his back. Not a light was in sight, not even the flicker of a candle or the glowing embers of a burning hearth. Only a pitch-black wall waited before them with dangers lurking about sinisterly.
“Wait!” Zi Mo gasped, his arms outstretched to stop Yu Yifeng and Xiao Chen from advancing. Xiao Chen felt the elder man tensed and his grip on the Sword of the Vermilion Bird tightened anxiously. Something was amiss, he too sensed as Yu Yifeng began making hand seals while reaching over his back for the Startling Rainbow Sword hanging behind him.
Warily, the three men inched closer, prowling like a slinking panther until a sharp voice broke the silence, nearly startling everyone, “Is that Senior Xiaoyao?” Two men emerged from the bushes, clad in mages’ robes.
“Is there only the two of you? What happened to the rest?” Zi Mo grunted, his eyes narrowing with doubt.
The two men quickly scurried over and bowed deeply to him. One of them began to explain, “We found the trails indicating watchers from the other three evil sects following us two nights ago. To prevent anything untoward, Perfected Immortal Feng Lan commanded everyone to withdraw for a further thirty miles. We are charged to wait for you here.”
The other young man cast a look at the Sword in Xiao Chen’s grasp. “Is this the Sword of the Vermilion Bird?” He asked with visible surprise and interest, which earned him a frown from Xiao Chen.
Joined by the two mages, the party of three followed their lead and promptly left the woods. They took into the air, flying as swiftly as they could towards the encampment of the mages of the Orthodox Path thirty miles away.
The campgrounds sat under the craning arch of a cliff overlooking from above. There were already people expecting them and Zi Mo finally felt at ease, satisfied at last that these were not the evil folk in disguise.
Perfected Immortal Feng Lan and a handful of the senior leaders were present when Xiao Chen and his companions finally arrived. The contingent of mages of the Orthodox Path seemed to have grown since the last time Xiao Chen had noticed; the reinforcements must have finally joined up with the main army.
“Have you been successful in recovering the Flames of the Southern Vermilion Bird?”