Chapter 271 - Fire and Lightning (1/2)
It was no ordinary punch. The few years of training in the ancient times had seen to that. My fist sank right into the center of the priest’s face and sent him careening backward for several meters before he crashed to the ground, his face confused and perplexed even though I did not know which. Was he rattled by my strength, or was he puzzled at my sudden burst of anger, I did not know which.
Edelweiss came up and stamped a foot on the priest’s chest to force him down on the ground, but to no avail. The Taoist priest let loose a snarl and he somersaulted back up to his feet again, tossing an unsteady Edelweiss to the ground. “Very good,” he commented dryly as he aimed an opened palm at me and he began muttering a string of incantations!
Edelweiss flipped herself to her feet and was about to charge at him but I stopped her, pivoting her around so that I could shield her with my back being to the priest. A thunderclap ensued, followed by a flash of bright light that poured from over my shoulders and a bolt of lightning fired from the opened palm, coming at me from behind. Fortunately, Big Sister had not been idle. With her sword telekinesis magic and her cloning sorcery, several copies of her sword lanced through the air, smiting at the bolt of lightning with all their fury.
“Lightning Palm?!” I gasped vociferously with shock, even though my voice was drowned by the thunderous explosion that resulted when the Qinglan’s Edges met the lightning missile and the shock that arose from it nearly knocked me off my feet.
First the Talisman of the Celestial Master, and now the Lightning Palm… If these two were not enough to convince me that this thickheaded priest belonged to Mount Longhu (literally, the Dragon Tiger Mountain), the storied mountain abode of Zhengyi Dao, I did not know what would. These two sorcery techniques were known to be high magic in the circles of mages and the supernatural and they were the trademark techniques belonging to students of Mount Longhu.
Mount Longhu, the site where the Taoist branch the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice that was founded by Zhang Daoling first came to prominence. The Mount Longhu today was but a mere shadow of its formerly-glorious yesteryears but visages of its greatness when Zhang Daoling reigned supreme still endured even in the slightest with the hereditary titles of Celestial Master, titles given to the heir to the leadership of this Taoist branch. The Way of the Five Pecks of Rice might already be in its twilight, but the line of Celestial Master Zhang still persisted and this stiff-necked priest must be one of his kin, otherwise, he would never have been able to use these two high magic techniques!
Back to the present, as my eyes recovered from the fleeting blindness caused by the explosion, I saw the Taoist priest sitting on the ground, heaving with exhaustion. Sweat poured down his brows. Big Sister stormed at him, eager to continue the fight, but I stopped her. “Wait, Big Sister. Wait. You saw it too, the magic he’s been using. He’s one of the priests of Mount Longhu.” She nodded, albeit reluctantly. “Let me deal with him. It’s time I put to test some of the tricks I’ve been working on during my quest of pilgrimage. We’ll see which is stronger, the sword telekinesis magic of our Murong Family or the Taoist magecraft of the Zhengyi Dao!” Big Sister’s eyes sparkled with anticipation and she nodded, smiling.
Grinning, my fingers, in the shape of the Seal of the Sword, flicked and up into the air rose my ordinary sword and it landed snugly into my grasp. The Taoist priest wiped the sweat off his forehead brusquely and scrambled back up, holding his one-meter-long sword while staring at me warily.
I did not attack. At least not yet. “Master Priest,” I called out to him, “I’ve just learned something recently. Absolute evil or pure goodness are mere fantasies, while the concept of right and wrong is only a matter of perspective and angles. You might see it as right and just to attack me only because I am ‘fraternizing with demons’, but we have our reasons and our justifications. Don’t you think that your brashness to judge us is also wrong too?”
The intransigence of the priest reared its head once again as he snorted derisively. “Humph. Say no more. Demons like you only cause destruction and carnage!” I smiled and raised a finger to point at the three peach trees guarding the old house. “Yet have you ever thought to ask them if they had ever harmed anyone before?”
“Deliberately causing panic and inconvenience to others and injuring the building team workers here. These sound like enough trouble to me,” he countered. I smiled again and said, “Be that as it may, why did you not find out their reasons? Why were they stopping the building team from demolishing the house? What are their reasons?” The priest scoffed again, saying, “Demons and monsters are different from the likes of us humans. They do not understand compassion and kindness like us. It is only right that we slay them. Why should we even negotiate with them! You are in league with them. That makes you one of them! Enough talking!” And he lifted his weapon, the tip of his sword aiming dangerously at me.
Wearing a moue of annoyance, I asked loudly, “That magic of yours… You’re from Mount Longhu, are you not?” The priest seemed surprised to see himself recognized, but he swiftly retorted, saying, “What’s that to you!?” I tilted my head and said flatly, “I just need a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ from you, Master Priest.” “So what if it’s a ‘yes’?” the old priest said honestly.