Chapter 86: Look!
Lin Cuirou led the way through a few winding corridors and down some staircases until they were definitely beneath the main level of the prison. Soon they reached one long corridor with a door at the end.
“I doubt its unlocked,” Lin Cuirou said. “You wait here, Dragon Sovereign.” With that, he hurried to the end of the corridor to confirm that the door was locked.
“Locked,” he called out. Taking several steps away from the door, he lifted his left foot up and said, “Emerald Stomp!”
He slammed his foot down, which caused a burst of green energy to surge out around him. Without pausing, he took another step forward, and the green energy grew stronger. A third step, and the energy transformed into a finger-thick streak of blinding light that snaked forward across the ground, slamming into the door, which subsequently exploded into a shower of splinters.
The Emerald Stomp was a move invented by Lin Cuirou himself, and had become quite popular especially among the Dragon Division.
“The way’s clear, Dragon Sovereign,” he said, hurrying forward.
Sunan followed, and within moments they were in what appeared to be a storeroom. However, a single glance revealed that the room was completely empty.
“Lin Cuirou, are you sure--”
Before he could finish speaking, he sensed a powerful force bearing down on his neck, and instinctively leaned forward in a dodge, after which, a jian sword sliced through the air above him. Spinning and simultaneously leaping back, he swept his sheathed Wind Sabre out to find Lin Cuirou lunging at him with a stabbing attack.
“What are you doing!?!?” he blurted, swiping the jian sword to the side with his Wind Sabre. When the blade of the jian sword made contact with the sheath of the Wind Sabre, a blast of cold wind erupted out, and Lin Cuirou was shoved backward three paces.
“Sorry about this, Sunan,” Lin Cuirou said, wiping a tiny drop of blood off of the corner of his mouth. “But some things in life are more important than ideals. If I don’t kill you this day, the Bone General will.”
Anger flashed in Sunan’s eyes. Although Lin Cuirou’s actions were befuddling, there was obviously no time to ponder the situation. “So that’s how it is,” Sunan said. “Very well. Wind Devastation!”
Without any warning, he snapped his sheathed Wind Sabre out in front of him, sending a stream of bluish wind energy spiraling toward Lin Cuirou at incredible speed.
However, Lin Cuirou was a Profound Master just the same as Sunan, and had been planning this ambush for a very long time. He had even visualized how the fight between him and Sunan would play out. Although Sunan had been gone for many years, and no one in the empire was aware of what techniques he might have invented during that time, Lin Cuirou had extensive combat experience, and was confident in being able to handle anything Sunan threw at him.
There was no time to dodge or leap to the side, so instead, Lin Cuirou reached out with the four fingers of his right hand curved like hooks.
“Four Emptinesses of Death!” Lin Cuirou growled. Shockingly, his four fingers pierced into the blue wind energy, instantly stopping its motion. Lin Cuirou’s entire arm began to tremble violently, sweat popped out on his forehead, and his eyes instantly turned completely bloodshot. However, to the shock of Sunan, the wind energy simply faded away into nothing. Shaking his hand out as if to loosen it, Lin Cuirou chuckled. “And now something special I’ve been working on just for you. The next version of my Emerald Stomp. I still haven’t named it yet. Maybe I’ll go with Dragon Decapitation Steps!”
Before Sunan could do anything else, Lin Cuirou stomped his foot down, causing an energy to surge up around him that was ten times more intense than the energy from his third step before. Then he took two more steps forward, and the energy continued to build, filling the entire chamber with blinding light, and causing everything in the area to vibrate on the point of collapse.
When his foot stomped onto the floor after having taken his third step, an arm-thick streak of light shot toward Sunan across the floor.
“Blink of the Dragon,” Sunan murmured, closing his eyes. In the very instant that his eyelids closed, he completely vanished. The arm-thick streak of light shot past the point where he had just been standing, slamming into the rear wall of the chamber, causing an enormous blast that sent shattered stone and clumps of soil showering out in all directions. Even many of the stones which formed the roof of the chamber fell to the ground.
A moment later, Sunan opened his eyes, reappearing in the same spot as before.
Lin Cuirou gritted his teeth. “Dammit, you’re really making things hard, aren’t you? Fine. No more holding back.”
Hands blurring, Lin Cuirou produced two objects, one being a small jade vial, the other being a metal sphere. In one smooth motion, he launched the sphere into the air, sending it speeding toward Sunan, and at the same time, popping open the jade vial.
Sunan, couldn’t see anything particularly incredible about the attack with the metal sphere, so he simply swept his Wind Sabre out to deflect the sphere. However, when the surface of the scabbard made contact with the sphere, a clicking sound rang out, and the sphere popped open, releasing a cloud of powder into Sunan’s face.
As Sunan leaped backward, coughing, Lin Cuirou chuckled and said, “And now my reward!”
Laughing loudly, he said, “You’re dead for sure now, Sunan. That poison will kill you within a day no matter what you do! Therefore, according to my agreement with the King of the Pure Ones, I am free to drink this potion!”
Lifting the jade vial up to his lips, he drank the contents and then tossed the vial off to the side. A moment later, a tremor passed through him, and a faint green light began to shine out of his eyes. “But waiting that long would be a real shame. I think I’ll rip your head off your shoulders first!”
Shaking visibly, Lin Cuirou began to laugh, softy at first, but then louder and louder until it turned into maniacal raving. “I can feel the power erupting inside of me! You’re dead Sunan. Dead!”
Sunan gripped his sheathed Wind Sabre in a ready position as he watched Lin Cuirou twitching. Shockingly, the green light began to shine from Lin Cuirou’s veins, many of which were bulging out of his skin. His hand were clenched into fists, and his muscles were taut. Next, to Sunan’s shock, Lin Cuirou began to grow larger and taller, until he ripped through his upper garments. Then he threw his head back and roared, whereupon green flames erupted from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. As the flames swirled about, his hair caught fire, melting it into nothing but ash.
By this point, Lin Cuirou’s laughter had ceased.
“This power,” he said through grated teeth. “It’s too much. I can’t… It’s killing… me… damn you Demon Emperor.”
Closing his eyes, he pressed his palms together in front of his chest and took a deep breath, apparently attempting to slip into a meditative trance.
Meanwhile, the green light had spread beyond his veins. His skin was now glowing, and so brightly that Sunan had to avert his eyes. A sound filled the air like the roar of countless beasts and demons, increasing to such volume that Sunan clamped his hands over his ears.
A long moment passed, although Sunan wasn’t sure how long it was exactly. On the one hand, it seemed like the blink of an eye, but on the other, it seemed like an eternity. Eventually, the light and the sound faded, and Sunan opened his eyes.
The sight which met his eyes caused his jaw to drop. Right there in the spot where Lin Cuirou had been standing was what appeared to be a slab of semi-translucent jade, with Lin Cuirou seemingly trapped in the middle of it. He had been transformed into something not human anymore, as if he were part of the jade itself. He looked almost like a statue, except that his eyes were open, and appeared to be staring directly at Sunan.
His hands were held in front of his chest, palm to palm, just like they had been moments before.
In the eerie quiet which filled the area, Sunan took a tentative step forward, then another, until he was in front of the jade slab. As he did, Lin Cuirou’s eyes seemed to follow him, even though they didn’t move. Finally, Sunan reached out and touched the jade, to find that it was as cold as ice. After a moment, he shook his head and sighed.
“What did you do to yourself, Lin Cuirou?” he thought. “Are you still alive in there?”
Considering the size of the slab of emerald-like jade, there was no way Sunan could move it on his own. Resolving to come back later for it if possible, Sunan quickly sat down cross-legged and cast his senses inward to check his blood vessels for traces of poison. At the moment, he couldn’t find a single trace of anything out of the ordinary.
“Was it a bluff?” he thought. After a few minutes past, he rose to his feet. Shaking his head, he began to make his way back to the main courtyard.
**
With Bao’s Phoenix Crown, and the fact that Dragon-Phoenix Sect vastly outnumbered the soldiers in the prison fortress, they met no serious resistance.
By the time Sunan made it back up to the ground level, the evacuation had already begun. Families were being reunited, but there was no time for extended reunions. Everyone began to file down to the beaches below, where they formed back up into ranks according to the divisions of the sect. It was a large group, nearly 20,000 in total, so the entire process took quite some time.
During the entire time, no one saw even the shadow of Bone General Geng, or any other high-level Bone Slicers.
It was late in the afternoon before all of the imprisoned friends and family members were freed, and the prison was emptied. The Dragon-Phoenix Sect and the other miscellaneous martial artists made a huge conglomeration of people that stretched from the area where the land sloped up steeply toward the prison, all the way to the sand of the beach.
When the task was accomplished, Sunan and Bao, as well as the other leaders of the sect, prepared to march south according to the plans they had made back in the salt mines.
The two Divisions would split, one going up the Southern Fei River with the intention of reoccupying the palace on Zun Shan, and the other to infiltrate Xuanlu. Only two of the boats in the nearby shipyard were complete, so a smaller group would use them to sail down to the Zun River, then up it toward Zhe Valley and the Scorpion Villa.
As the sect leaders were conferring about the final details, Wang Tian suddenly interrupted, “Dragon Sovereign. Phoenix Sovereign. Look!”
Everyone turned to find that two people were walking up the beach toward them, some distance away.
**
High atop the mountain above Heart’s Ridge, Hui stood on a ledge, looking down at the sprawling group of people that was the Dragon-Phoenix Sect.
“The time has come,” she murmured. Raising the Kun-Peng Pipes to her lips, she took a breath.
Chapter 86: Look!
Lin Cuirou led the way through a few winding corridors and down some staircases until they were definitely beneath the main level of the prison. Soon they reached one long corridor with a door at the end.
“I doubt its unlocked,” Lin Cuirou said. “You wait here, Dragon Sovereign.” With that, he hurried to the end of the corridor to confirm that the door was locked.
“Locked,” he called out. Taking several steps away from the door, he lifted his left foot up and said, “Emerald Stomp!”
He slammed his foot down, which caused a burst of green energy to surge out around him. Without pausing, he took another step forward, and the green energy grew stronger. A third step, and the energy transformed into a finger-thick streak of blinding light that snaked forward across the ground, slamming into the door, which subsequently exploded into a shower of splinters.
The Emerald Stomp was a move invented by Lin Cuirou himself, and had become quite popular especially among the Dragon Division.
“The way’s clear, Dragon Sovereign,” he said, hurrying forward.
Sunan followed, and within moments they were in what appeared to be a storeroom. However, a single glance revealed that the room was completely empty.
“Lin Cuirou, are you sure--”
Before he could finish speaking, he sensed a powerful force bearing down on his neck, and instinctively leaned forward in a dodge, after which, a jian sword sliced through the air above him. Spinning and simultaneously leaping back, he swept his sheathed Wind Sabre out to find Lin Cuirou lunging at him with a stabbing attack.
“What are you doing!?!?” he blurted, swiping the jian sword to the side with his Wind Sabre. When the blade of the jian sword made contact with the sheath of the Wind Sabre, a blast of cold wind erupted out, and Lin Cuirou was shoved backward three paces.
“Sorry about this, Sunan,” Lin Cuirou said, wiping a tiny drop of blood off of the corner of his mouth. “But some things in life are more important than ideals. If I don’t kill you this day, the Bone General will.”
Anger flashed in Sunan’s eyes. Although Lin Cuirou’s actions were befuddling, there was obviously no time to ponder the situation. “So that’s how it is,” Sunan said. “Very well. Wind Devastation!”
Without any warning, he snapped his sheathed Wind Sabre out in front of him, sending a stream of bluish wind energy spiraling toward Lin Cuirou at incredible speed.
However, Lin Cuirou was a Profound Master just the same as Sunan, and had been planning this ambush for a very long time. He had even visualized how the fight between him and Sunan would play out. Although Sunan had been gone for many years, and no one in the empire was aware of what techniques he might have invented during that time, Lin Cuirou had extensive combat experience, and was confident in being able to handle anything Sunan threw at him.
There was no time to dodge or leap to the side, so instead, Lin Cuirou reached out with the four fingers of his right hand curved like hooks.
“Four Emptinesses of Death!” Lin Cuirou growled. Shockingly, his four fingers pierced into the blue wind energy, instantly stopping its motion. Lin Cuirou’s entire arm began to tremble violently, sweat popped out on his forehead, and his eyes instantly turned completely bloodshot. However, to the shock of Sunan, the wind energy simply faded away into nothing. Shaking his hand out as if to loosen it, Lin Cuirou chuckled. “And now something special I’ve been working on just for you. The next version of my Emerald Stomp. I still haven’t named it yet. Maybe I’ll go with Dragon Decapitation Steps!”
Before Sunan could do anything else, Lin Cuirou stomped his foot down, causing an energy to surge up around him that was ten times more intense than the energy from his third step before. Then he took two more steps forward, and the energy continued to build, filling the entire chamber with blinding light, and causing everything in the area to vibrate on the point of collapse.
When his foot stomped onto the floor after having taken his third step, an arm-thick streak of light shot toward Sunan across the floor.
“Blink of the Dragon,” Sunan murmured, closing his eyes. In the very instant that his eyelids closed, he completely vanished. The arm-thick streak of light shot past the point where he had just been standing, slamming into the rear wall of the chamber, causing an enormous blast that sent shattered stone and clumps of soil showering out in all directions. Even many of the stones which formed the roof of the chamber fell to the ground.
A moment later, Sunan opened his eyes, reappearing in the same spot as before.
Lin Cuirou gritted his teeth. “Dammit, you’re really making things hard, aren’t you? Fine. No more holding back.”
Hands blurring, Lin Cuirou produced two objects, one being a small jade vial, the other being a metal sphere. In one smooth motion, he launched the sphere into the air, sending it speeding toward Sunan, and at the same time, popping open the jade vial.
Sunan, couldn’t see anything particularly incredible about the attack with the metal sphere, so he simply swept his Wind Sabre out to deflect the sphere. However, when the surface of the scabbard made contact with the sphere, a clicking sound rang out, and the sphere popped open, releasing a cloud of powder into Sunan’s face.
As Sunan leaped backward, coughing, Lin Cuirou chuckled and said, “And now my reward!”
Laughing loudly, he said, “You’re dead for sure now, Sunan. That poison will kill you within a day no matter what you do! Therefore, according to my agreement with the King of the Pure Ones, I am free to drink this potion!”
Lifting the jade vial up to his lips, he drank the contents and then tossed the vial off to the side. A moment later, a tremor passed through him, and a faint green light began to shine out of his eyes. “But waiting that long would be a real shame. I think I’ll rip your head off your shoulders first!”
Shaking visibly, Lin Cuirou began to laugh, softy at first, but then louder and louder until it turned into maniacal raving. “I can feel the power erupting inside of me! You’re dead Sunan. Dead!”
Sunan gripped his sheathed Wind Sabre in a ready position as he watched Lin Cuirou twitching. Shockingly, the green light began to shine from Lin Cuirou’s veins, many of which were bulging out of his skin. His hand were clenched into fists, and his muscles were taut. Next, to Sunan’s shock, Lin Cuirou began to grow larger and taller, until he ripped through his upper garments. Then he threw his head back and roared, whereupon green flames erupted from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. As the flames swirled about, his hair caught fire, melting it into nothing but ash.
By this point, Lin Cuirou’s laughter had ceased.
“This power,” he said through grated teeth. “It’s too much. I can’t… It’s killing… me… damn you Demon Emperor.”
Closing his eyes, he pressed his palms together in front of his chest and took a deep breath, apparently attempting to slip into a meditative trance.
Meanwhile, the green light had spread beyond his veins. His skin was now glowing, and so brightly that Sunan had to avert his eyes. A sound filled the air like the roar of countless beasts and demons, increasing to such volume that Sunan clamped his hands over his ears.
A long moment passed, although Sunan wasn’t sure how long it was exactly. On the one hand, it seemed like the blink of an eye, but on the other, it seemed like an eternity. Eventually, the light and the sound faded, and Sunan opened his eyes.
The sight which met his eyes caused his jaw to drop. Right there in the spot where Lin Cuirou had been standing was what appeared to be a slab of semi-translucent jade, with Lin Cuirou seemingly trapped in the middle of it. He had been transformed into something not human anymore, as if he were part of the jade itself. He looked almost like a statue, except that his eyes were open, and appeared to be staring directly at Sunan.
His hands were held in front of his chest, palm to palm, just like they had been moments before.
In the eerie quiet which filled the area, Sunan took a tentative step forward, then another, until he was in front of the jade slab. As he did, Lin Cuirou’s eyes seemed to follow him, even though they didn’t move. Finally, Sunan reached out and touched the jade, to find that it was as cold as ice. After a moment, he shook his head and sighed.
“What did you do to yourself, Lin Cuirou?” he thought. “Are you still alive in there?”
Considering the size of the slab of emerald-like jade, there was no way Sunan could move it on his own. Resolving to come back later for it if possible, Sunan quickly sat down cross-legged and cast his senses inward to check his blood vessels for traces of poison. At the moment, he couldn’t find a single trace of anything out of the ordinary.
“Was it a bluff?” he thought. After a few minutes past, he rose to his feet. Shaking his head, he began to make his way back to the main courtyard.
**
With Bao’s Phoenix Crown, and the fact that Dragon-Phoenix Sect vastly outnumbered the soldiers in the prison fortress, they met no serious resistance.
By the time Sunan made it back up to the ground level, the evacuation had already begun. Families were being reunited, but there was no time for extended reunions. Everyone began to file down to the beaches below, where they formed back up into ranks according to the divisions of the sect. It was a large group, nearly 20,000 in total, so the entire process took quite some time.
During the entire time, no one saw even the shadow of Bone General Geng, or any other high-level Bone Slicers.
It was late in the afternoon before all of the imprisoned friends and family members were freed, and the prison was emptied. The Dragon-Phoenix Sect and the other miscellaneous martial artists made a huge conglomeration of people that stretched from the area where the land sloped up steeply toward the prison, all the way to the sand of the beach.
When the task was accomplished, Sunan and Bao, as well as the other leaders of the sect, prepared to march south according to the plans they had made back in the salt mines.
The two Divisions would split, one going up the Southern Fei River with the intention of reoccupying the palace on Zun Shan, and the other to infiltrate Xuanlu. Only two of the boats in the nearby shipyard were complete, so a smaller group would use them to sail down to the Zun River, then up it toward Zhe Valley and the Scorpion Villa.
As the sect leaders were conferring about the final details, Wang Tian suddenly interrupted, “Dragon Sovereign. Phoenix Sovereign. Look!”
Everyone turned to find that two people were walking up the beach toward them, some distance away.
**
High atop the mountain above Heart’s Ridge, Hui stood on a ledge, looking down at the sprawling group of people that was the Dragon-Phoenix Sect.
“The time has come,” she murmured. Raising the Kun-Peng Pipes to her lips, she took a breath.
