Chapter 38 — The Abyss of the Dead

Zhang Qingyue turned pale with horror. The huge thing was descending straight upon his head and he had no power to withstand it; there was no time to think of anything else. He kicked off with all his strength and flew backward. The mountain came down, and half his body was still beneath it, about to be crushed in two — when suddenly something seized him by the collar and hauled him out by main force.

Zhang Qingyue looked back. It was Qi Hao who had saved his life. At that moment of life and death, an inexplicable bitterness suddenly welled up in his heart, but he still whispered: "Thank you, Senior Brother Qi."

Qi Hao could never have guessed what the boy was thinking. His face grave, he gave a slight nod. He had been standing a little farther back and had retreated a little faster; seeing Zhang Qingyue right beside him, he had simply reached out and pulled him along.

But the great hill that had sprung up so suddenly was a fearful thing to contend with. It came down with a thunderous crash; the ground shook violently, the stone walls trembled, and even the rocky vault a hundred zhang overhead rained down rubble like a shower of stones. Such was its might that it made the heart quail.

Zeng Shuyan had also fallen back, his face a mask of astonishment. "The Mountain-and-River Fan!" he cried. "That is the treasured guardian artifact of the Old Ancestor of Wind and Moon of Jieshi Mountain! How has it come into this man's hands?"

All were startled. Zhang Qingyue scarcely understood, but Qi Hao, a man of wide experience, knew that the Old Ancestor of Wind and Moon was a renowned cultivator who had long practiced in seclusion upon Jieshi Mountain in the east. His cultivation was profound and his fame in the world of Daoist practice considerable. In his dealings he walked the line between righteous and evil; he committed no great wickedness and sought no quarrel with the world, and so neither the orthodox nor the demonic path had ever provoked him. But no one had imagined that this youth would appear among these fiends bearing the Old Ancestor's own guardian treasure.

While all stood in doubt and alarm, the great mountain rose into the air once more, utterly without mercy — and who could say what manner of power it took to lift such a colossal thing?

Behind them, as all could see, was the stone wall; there was no retreat. Upon the huge hill rocks flew like rain, lightning flashed and thunder roared. At this crisis, as the Canglan Sect stood in anguish, Qi Hao set his jaw and was about to step forth, to shelter them all with his mirror and try to withstand the mountain's crushing weight by main force — when a flash of blue light appeared, and Lu Xueqi suddenly stood before the three of them. She gave a clear, shrill cry, and blue light surged; the divine sword Tianxuan rang out like a dragon's roar as it left its sheath, ten thousand threads of immortal aura shooting straight for the vault of the cave.

Above, the thunder grew fiercer. The great mountain came down with irresistible force, and it seemed the four of them would be crushed to paste. Lu Xueqi's face was cold as frost, her long hair streaming and dancing in the wild wind, like a fairy maiden of the nine heavens! The blade of Tianxuan trembled faintly, as if it sensed its mistress's heart; like an angry dragon leaping at the sky it soared upward, ten thousand beams of blue light in an instant illumining the whole vast cavern, then merging into one in the air as it slashed down upon the mountain!

"Zheng!"

Sand flew, stones hurtled, the wild wind howled. All gazed into the air, but saw only a vast torrent of air, almost as though it had taken tangible form, surging savagely outward in every direction. Lu Xueqi hung in midair, the color draining from her face, and the whole of her was driven by the tremendous recoil straight into the stone wall.

But the great mountain, struck full by the pillar of blue light, was checked in its descent. It trembled a few times in midair, and with a great crash it shrank back; in a moment, amid the flying sand and hurtling stones, the whole mountain dissolved into nothing, and reappeared within the Mountain-and-River Fan.

Lin Feng, his face full of evil, glanced at the fan, and his brows knit at once. Upon the painting, the mountain that had once stood so majestic now had a great fissure running from its summit to its flanks — and the fan's surface, once so harmonious, looked as though its face had been scarred, grown somewhat stiff and harsh to the eye.

On the Canglan Sect's side, the divine sword Tianxuan flew back as though it had a spirit of its own, while Lu Xueqi slid down the stone wall. The moment her feet touched ground she felt her legs give way and nearly sank down where she stood; but luckily the others had already come over. Zhang Qingyue saw it and caught her by the arm.

Lu Xueqi gasped for breath. Her nature was proud and strong, and she would have pushed Zhang Qingyue away, but her hand had gone only halfway when she felt a sudden warmth at her lips — a trickle of blood had run out.

The deep red blood ran across skin like congealed cream, red upon white, a beauty startling and dreadful to behold.

Zhang Qingyue stood stunned — and then he heard Lin Feng cursing furiously from afar, finger pointed: "You foul woman! You dared to ruin my treasure! Ten deaths would not pay for it!" As he spoke, the evil-reeking man had already leapt into the air. The Mountain-and-River Fan glittered with golden light, ill-matched to the evil that clung to him, yet it still opened and closed in the air as he came charging in.

In the distance, Elder Nian had ceased loosing his red beams; the Crimson Demon Eye had returned to normal, and he stood where he was. The beautiful young woman beside him stepped forward, glanced at Lu Xueqi of the Canglan Sect, and said in a low voice: "Did you see it clearly?"

Elder Nian's face was grave. "It is Tianxuan!"

The woman gave a cold hum. "To think such a divine thing should fall into the hands of this young pup!"

Elder Nian watched Lin Feng, now locked in combat with the Canglan Sect, and said: "The divine sword Tianxuan is a weapon of the nine heavens. It was by that very sword that our Blood Refining Hall's founder, the Venerable Blackheart, was defeated in his day. Come what may, today we must seize that sword!"

The beautiful young woman nodded. "Then Lin Feng—"

Elder Nian sneered. "That boy, relying on some distant kinship with the Old Ancestor of Wind and Moon, has always held his nose in the air. Were it not that we have need of men just now, I would have been rid of him long ago. Let him take the vanguard, then. You and I will watch for our chance and snatch the divine sword."

The woman nodded and fixed her gaze upon the field.

Each time the Mountain-and-River Fan was waved, a great tempest rose, wind-driven stones sweeping toward the four of the Canglan Sect; but each time they drew near, Qi Hao and Zeng Shuyan blocked them. When the mountain had first sprung up, they had been caught off guard and all but helpless; now, though, the two men's extraordinary cultivation showed itself.

Qi Hao, needless to say, met gust after gust with the white flicker of his Cold Ice Immortal Sword, while Zeng Shuyan on the other flank now revealed his true skill. His Xuanyuan Immortal Sword, faintly violet, darted under Qi Hao's cover, violet gleams flashing, ever slipping in through the gaps between the gusts like a venomous serpent. Once Lin Feng was careless and was nearly struck by that violet gleam, and after that he had to keep a wary eye on it. For a time the three fought to a standstill, neither gaining the upper hand.