Chapter 7 — The Blood-Transforming Divine Blade

These Four Phases Divine Talismans were improvised by Zhou Xuan, and together they could form the Four Phases' Certain Kill Formation — the most powerful array that Zhou Tan had learned to date.

The Four Phases' Certain Kill Formation gathered the spiritual qi of the four directions and gave form to the spirits of the four quarters. Zhou Xuan had known all along that the little Japanese devils would not be easy to deal with, but who could have guessed that the Grand Elder would prove such an unexpected variable? His meticulous preparations had finally been put to use. Iga Grand Elder and Mitsui Taro had just shaken off their astonishment at the sudden appearance of the yellow curtain when the scene before them changed in an instant. It was as though they had fallen into an utterly bizarre space, all around them a boundless haze — at once vast and empty and unbearably oppressive, so much so that Iga Grand Elder and Mitsui Taro nearly coughed up blood. Mitsui Taro stared blankly at the great mass of azure qi that had suddenly gathered on all sides, pressed a hand to his waist, and a savage gleam flashed through his eyes.

The azure qi grew denser and denser, and before the incredulous eyes of Iga Grand Elder and Mitsui Taro, that boundless azure qi slowly took shape — a great azure dragon, scores of zhang in length. Yes, an azure dragon. Zhou Xuan had pushed the Four Phases' Certain Kill Formation to its absolute limit; the yi-wood spiritual qi for ten li around had all been drawn in by the colossal Four Phases Divine Talismans, and so the emblem of the wood element, the Eastern Yi-Wood Azure Dragon, had manifested.

The azure dragon let out a roar, and one after another enormous azure trunks came hurtling from every direction with a rumbling thunder, smashing toward Iga Grand Elder and Mitsui Taro. Judging by the force of it, a single blow would have ground flesh and bone to pulp. Iga Grand Elder's face went ashen; there was no time even to speak. He rubbed his palms together, and a strange suit of armor burst forth over his body, a ghastly green radiance covering them both. A trunk three zhang long and thick as a water barrel came crashing in. With a mighty boom it struck the green light radiating from the Grand Elder's armor; the light suddenly flared with a burst of will-o'-the-wisp fire that burned the trunk to nothing — but Iga Grand Elder gave a stifled grunt, and stagger, stagger, stagger, he was driven back three paces. His face turned grimmer still.

Zhou Xuan and Liao Yanqiao watched the situation within the formation with perfect clarity. "Tsk, tsk! This old devil has some skill after all — to hold out this long under the Azure Dragon's yi-wood attacks! If we fought him head-on, we might not be able to take him down for certain," Liao Yanqiao said to Zhou Xuan. "Hmph! This Four Phases' Certain Kill Formation can endlessly gather spiritual qi, but unfortunately I can only bring out a quarter of its power. Otherwise, with all four phases unleashed at once, those two old and young devils would be annihilated in a second." Zhou Xuan shook his head.

Within the formation, Iga Grand Elder was battered breathless by the unceasing trunks. He had already been badly wounded, and with this endless barrage of trunks, his protective armor — marvelous as it was — could not withstand such constant depletion. Mitsui Taro watched as the Grand Elder spat out yet another mouthful of blood and asked in alarm, "Grand Elder, how goes it?" Iga Grand Elder, face ghastly pale, answered feebly, "This is a Chinese art of the strange gates. Once trapped inside, one might have heaven-reaching powers and it would all be for naught. It seems we are fated to die here today. I cannot hold out much longer."

Before he had finished speaking, another trunk slammed into the green protective radiance of the armor, and Iga Grand Elder at last lost his footing and sat down hard on the ground.

"Is that so! Then you're no use to me anymore — go die!" With a savage grin, Mitsui Taro suddenly drew from his waist a short blade a little over a chi long, thin as a cicada's wing and blood-red, and drove it viciously into Iga Grand Elder's back, straight through the heart. Caught utterly off guard, the Grand Elder was pierced clean through. He stared fixedly at Mitsui Taro: "Why?" Then his gaze fell upon the long blade in Mitsui Taro's hand, and a look of understanding spread across his face. "So the holy blade was in the hands of your Nine Chrysanthemum School all along."

"Quite right — the holy blade indeed! Fortunately for us, Grand Elder, you succeeded in cultivating the Heaven-Form Shikigami. Once the holy blade absorbs the shikigami within your body, its seal will break! Haha! Can this bizarre formation still hold against us then?" Mitsui Taro laughed like a madman. With a flick of his wrist he twisted the blade — hiss! hiss! — and blood-red light poured from the steel. In an instant that boundless blood-light swallowed both Iga Grand Elder and Mitsui Taro. The azure trunks that struck that blood-light vanished like stones dropped into the deep sea, without so much as a sound.

This sudden turn of events startled even Liao Yanqiao and Zhou Xuan, watching from outside the formation — and Zhou Xuan especially. When he saw Mitsui Taro draw that blood-red short blade, his sharp eyes caught that the hilt was carved in the shape of a two-headed wolf, and he leapt up in shock. "The Heaven-Net Blood-Transforming Divine Blade! Impossible — how could it be in the hands of the Japanese devils! This is bad!" Seeing Zhou Xuan so shaken, Liao Yanqiao knew something had changed. "Master, what is this Heaven-Net Blood-Transforming Divine Blade?" "No time for idle talk — guard me with all your strength! We must not let him break out of the formation, or we're both finished!" Zhou Xuan was frantic, rapidly shifting his hand seals. "Heaven and Earth without limit — the Great Ultimate Formation!" Six jade tablets flew above the Four Phases' Certain Kill Formation and spun, streams of mystic light flowing from them to form a colossal taiji diagram. Rays of dazzling red light converged from all directions; the jade tablets, originally jet-black, now glowed red as though about to melt. Hiss! Having absorbed enough essence of the Southern Brightness Departing Fire, the taiji diagram sent forth a pillar of fire thick as a water barrel, blazing toward Mitsui Taro — now no more than a blurred figure wrapped in blood-light within the formation.