Chapter 270 - Duelling a Taoist Priest (1/2)
The Taoist priest raised aloft his luopan and began circling around the compound inside the enclosure. Chongxi watched on, scowling, “Dammit! He’s looking for directions! He’s the real deal!”
I said nothing, my lips pursed shut as I studied the Taoist priest at work. He beelined around the enclosure with his luopan and stopped in the end in front of three peach trees. He looked up and the winds overhead churned, with two auras, one demonic and dark and the other majestic and divine, roiling together!
Whoosh! Sands and dust kicked up into the air by the winds and no one could keep their eyes open with the winds snapping at us. Chongxi cursed loudly, “Dammit!”
All three of the trees were in their springtime opulence with several buds already blossoming. Someone had been tending to them with meticulous care; the twigs and branches have been adequately pruned. The grass straggling at the foot of the trees were beginning to take a shade of green before the winds howled near and sliced them off like blades from a grass-cutting machine! The crashing winds resulting from the collision of both auras hammered at the growing buds, shredding them in their infancy before anyone could glimpse their beauty when they fully thrived. In the winds, I heard the murmurings of an incantation and I jerked my head around! Then I saw him, the Taoist priest. On one hand, his fingers flexed and weaved as he formed several hand seals and on the other, he swung and waved his sword. Before a swear word could even escape my lips, a bolt of lightning shot from the tip of his weapon!
“Shiyan!” A frantic Chongxi grabbed at my shoulder, his fingers sinking into my shoulder in his panic. “Do something!” But I needed no telling; my fingers were already forming hand seals and my cheap, ordinary sword shot out of my Spirit Gourd. But before I would command my sword to attack, a shrill whistle screeched through the din of the raging winds, lancing through the pair of churning auras smashing against each other and separated them. We looked back and there was Lin Feng behind us, his poise showed that it was he who had dealt the first blow.
The ribbons at the end of his dart fluttered wildly like the frenetic flapping wings of a small bird as the iron missile tore straight at the priest’s sword-hand.
But the priest, with reflexes as quick as a bullet, twisted his wrist and swung his weapon in a sweeping-motion at the incoming projectile!
Crack! A blinding flash emitted from the bolt of lightning came from nowhere and struck at Lin Feng’s dart, reducing it to soot and cinders in an explosion, its cry as it flew died just as abruptly as it disintegrated.
With the deafening crack and explosion, the winds came to a rest as if on a cue and so ended with a short-lived clamor of shock and astonishment from the crowd of onlookers. Then the unbelievable happened. Everyone froze and no one moved. I looked at Edelweiss and Lin Feng behind me. They were staring dubiously at me but they were fine and so were Xiao Yu, Chongxi, and Big Sister. Everyone was okay except for the crowd of onlookers and strangers. They were all motionless as if the flow of Time had been suspended suddenly, their faces all blank and stiff and unable to move.
We stared at each other in the stiff silence until it broke, shattered only from the incessant hum coming from the Taoist priest’s sword and the jittery rustling coming from the trees with us still looking on bewilderedly.
My eyes darted around with alarm, then I noticed something in the sky. No, not something! Someone! Hovering in a sitting position high up in the sky before he disappeared a split-second later! Dammit, that’s Father!
And before I could do anything else, a voice came at us. “You there! You bunch there! Is this your doing?!” I turned and saw the Taoist priest barking at us. His movements were not frozen too. But he was glowering at us, clearly mistaking us as the culprits who had cast a spell to put a stop to everyone.
We looked at each other and shared a nod before we clambered out of the crowd and into the courtyard of the ancient residence. But as soon as we emerged from the group of onlookers clustering outside the walls, the three peach trees shook excitedly as if they had recognized us!
The reaction of the trees, as if they had consciousness of their own, did not go unnoticed; the Taoist priest sneered at us. “So, this really is your doing after all.” He studied each of us with unfriendly eyes and stopped when he saw Big Sister. His eyes grew wide with disbelief although his astonishment quickly deflated. “I see, you’re not ordinary people…” He observed coldly, doing nothing to hide his antagonistic sentiment. “Mr. Taoist Priest,” I greeted him with a smile, saying, “Would you please put away your magic and stuff?”
I have no intention of fighting the priest. Beside his angry countenance, he looked noble and valiant. The priest shook his head grouchily, saying only a one-syllable word, “No.” That left me frowning. Yet before I could say anything else, the Taoist priest bellowed, brandishing his weapon at me, “So you stand in league with demons! That says enough for me. You’d get no mercy from me, on guard!”