The force beneath Hong Sihai's hand vented out, and Bi Tiantong breathed his last.
All that was left was Hong Sihai roaring at the sky, his voice like rolling thunder, shaking the whole of Linhai City. The white clouds above their heads were scattered by the shock, withdrawing dozens of li in moments to reveal a broad sweep of open sky.
"Hahahahaha!"
"The Twelve Yuan Chen sent this gift, Alliance Leader Hong — we trust you find it satisfactory?" A burst of laughter, and then a high-pitched voice, as if its owner were pinching his throat and straining to force out the words.
A voice gone hoarse is usually called a duck voice. The Mist-Riding Lord's disguised voice, like a viper flicking its tongue, might be called a snake voice — but this one was so distinctive that only "rooster voice" would do it justice.
Another muffled voice drew near from far away. "And you four useless things..."
The four Sha brothers had already been close to collapsing; now they looked as though they had seen a ghost — no, not even seeing a ghost would have been this bad. Deathly terror written across their faces, they who had already gone limp on the ground began struggling anew. But at that moment the earth beneath their feet gave way, and they were abruptly dragged under.
Buried to the chest...
"You dare!" Hong Sihai roared, and moved to stamp his foot against the ground.
A golden figure shot across the sky. Cloaked in gold, swift as a swallow darting past, with something seemingly held ready in his hand, he let fly from midair a string of orange-yellow fireworks, each nearly the size of a finger.
Hong Sihai's face changed drastically. He punched into empty air, and fist force surged out, blanketing the ten zhang before him.
The instant that fist force covered the orange-gold fireworks, they exploded in midair — with such force that even a man of iron would have been dashed to pieces.
At just that moment, Bi Tiantong's body in Hong Sihai's arms suddenly convulsed, its chest arching upward, and the corpse spat an identical orange-gold firework straight at him. Without a moment's thought, Hong Sihai drew back his punch, spun, and caught that spark of fire in his clenched fist.
"Elder Hall Master Hong, you must not!" Several of the eminent masters present cried out in alarm.
But it was already far too late!
The mighty blast that should have blown Bi Tiantong's remains to fragments was smothered by his bare hand... and never grazed that fragile corpse in the slightest.
Yet even for Hong Sihai, with his astonishing martial arts and a body tempered by hardening arts to the utmost degree, taking the blow head-on left his right fist gravely wounded — trembling without cease, skin split and flesh torn open. "Never mind me... go save the four Sha brothers." Only then did anyone have the presence of mind to look at the four brothers.
Half their bodies were buried in the soil; every mind present had been fixed on Hong Sihai's safety.
Looked at now, they lay limp upon the ground, breath coming in and none going out!
Divine Monk Kongming begged pardon all around and lifted them from the soil with a deft application of force. The instant he exerted himself, Kongming felt that something was wrong... they were far too light in his hands! The four Sha brothers, drawn up out of the earth, were each only half a man — blood gushing from their empty lower halves, as though Kongming himself had snapped them off in the pulling!
Screams of horror mingled into one great cry!
Qian Chen's face was grave as well. The Twelve Yuan Chen had truly earned their name as the most venomous, the most ruthless, the most terrifying, the cruelest, and the most audacious band of robbers the jianghu had ever produced... And the power of this world's divine weapons surpassed even his expectations.
That golden-clothed man's cloak was his divine weapon, able to aid flight and escape and to condense thunder-fire.
Divine weapons in this world were empowered by Martial Dao Grandmasters — men who had broken through Sensing and could draw the primordial qi of heaven and earth into their bare flesh. With nature and life refined together, the power these released went far beyond anything Qian Chen had foreseen. Ordinary Spell Comprehension cultivators... truly were no match for such men. The Martial Dao prized life above all and set its mind wholly on slaughter; it was said to descend from the ancient Witch Cult, and now he could see that its killing power was indeed fearsome.
The golden-clothed man's divine weapon was of the thunder-fire order, letting his Martial Dao true qi act like the divine thunder that cultivators of the Central Lands refined — only its weakest kind, to be sure, nothing beside the proper great cultivator whose single bolt lays waste for thousands of li — yet for sheer killing power, thunder-fire stood first among Daoist methods.
As for the other member of the Twelve Yuan Chen who had never shown his face: he must be holding a divine weapon with the power of earth-diving — that alone explained how he could come and go at will before the assembled righteous heroes of the martial world.
One of the two could fly, the other dive through the earth; between them, sky and soil both offered escape. No wonder the Twelve Yuan Chen had sent this pair to probe.
"Elder Hall Master Hong, honored heroes — this old monk has something to say!" Divine Monk Kongming stepped forward and addressed the gathered masters. Hong Sihai, forcing himself to rally, answered, "Divine Monk, pray allow me first to prepare my brother's body..."
A joyous celebration had turned into mourning. Hong Sihai's right fist trembled without pause, yet he held himself up and laid Bi Tiantong's body in its coffin.
All present saw the hand he could no longer keep from trembling, and many fell to silent thought.
Divine Monk Kongming brought out Shaolin's finest secret medicine for wounds, dressed Hong Sihai's injury, and bound it up simply. Then the great heroes of the martial world turned and passed into the inner hall behind the main hall — from then on, men of lesser name in the jianghu were not permitted to enter.
Qian Chen, a perfect nobody of the jianghu, followed into the main hall. With Steward Huang standing surety for him, he slipped inside as well.
Within the main hall, they heard Divine Monk Kongming say, "...According to secret intelligence Shaolin uncovered seven days ago, the Twelve Yuan Chen — those villainous robbers whom everyone in the jianghu has the right to put to death — intend to strike at Elder Hall Master Hong's birthday feast, led by their Dragon Head. When Shaolin learned of this, it dispatched me here in secret, ready to lend a hand."
"Though the intelligence was sound, the Twelve Yuan Chen are deep in trickery, sinister and cunning, and we dared not move rashly... Who could have guessed that our caution would cost Elder Benefactor Bi his life."
"Divine Monk, you must not blame yourself. My second brother came to attend the feast, and his whereabouts were never easy to fix; the Twelve Yuan Chen struck from the shadows. Even had you warned me, it would have been hard to avert."
"What must be done now is this: we must join hearts and strength and, as in the years when we shattered the Demonic Cult, exterminate these twelve outlaws who bow to no law!"
Just then Steward Huang suddenly leaned close and whispered something in Hong Sihai's ear. Hong Sihai waved a hand. "Nothing I do is unfit for others' ears... Everyone — this was not the Twelve Yuan Chen's first stroke. They have schemed against us all along. Earlier, at the gate of the Four Seas Hall, a young brother saw through their plot. I would have him come forward, that I may ask him the inside of the matter..."
At that, the Lord of Reincarnation's notification chimed in Qian Chen's ear at last —
"Main Quest One: reach the main hall of the Four Seas Hall before Hong Sihai's seventieth birthday! Quest complete. Reward: ten Merit..."
"It has been detected that the Reincarnator carries a token of the Twelve Yuan Chen. Optional Main Quest Two is now open. One: help the Twelve Yuan Chen slay Martial Alliance Leader Hong Sihai. Two: help Martial Alliance Leader Hong Sihai slay more than four of the Twelve Yuan Chen."
"Slaying Hong Sihai: one thousand Merit."
"For the Twelve Yuan Chen: each member slain grants five hundred Merit for the kill, and two hundred Merit for an assist. Completed: Mist-Riding Lord (slain)."
"This quest may be accepted repeatedly; its rewards do not overlap with those of side quests."
"So this quest lets you feast at both ends..." Qian Chen was half speechless. "First help Hong Sihai kill the Twelve Yuan Chen, win his trust, then turn around and stab Hong Sihai in the back — squeeze out the maximum return? These Reincarnation Lands really do seem to encourage evil and chaos! Though the reward for this stage of the main quest is indeed quite rich, leaving a quest unfinished seems to carry no penalty."
"It is best to accept both quests at once, that the Reincarnator may sway his interests between them as convenient."
"But I still choose to accept Quest Two. After all, I am a man of principle."
"The Reincarnator has chosen to accept Quest Two..."
"Abandon Quest One?"
"Don't even think of tempting me into abandoning Quest One!"
Chapter 15