In the pouring rain that splashed up a hazy mist, Tao Wenshu made her way through the courtyards one after another, searching for the figures of Ji Hanyi, Yan Changqing, and Ding Songyan, while now and then lifting her head to gaze at the sky.
Once the rain let up a little and the dark clouds scattered further, she would be able to use "Big Dipper Guidance," a secret art derived from the Book of Universal Stars, to lock onto the trail of the Juesheng Dao demoness she had just crossed blades with.
This time, though she and the people from the prefectural yamen and the county yamen had not yet received reinforcements, it was all within expectations—relying solely on the righteous folk within Dingjiang Prefecture should be enough: herself, Lin Hansheng, Yi Qincang, whose shooting from a high vantage was the equal of a grandmaster, and Second Uncle, who would not likely cause trouble and could even be persuaded to lend a hand with a huai fruit. Handling Zhen Qianfan and whoever the Juesheng Dao sent was more than sufficient.
—If the one the Juesheng Dao had sent were a grand master of the Heaven-Man Realm, things would never have come to their present state. Once he confirmed where Yan Changqing was trapped, he could have launched a night raid on Zhen Manor that very evening, quickly rescued the target, then created chaos, sacrificed some of his disciples, and escaped Dingjiang Prefecture.
Expectations were expectations. Tao Wenshu had not expected that this time two unforeseen changes would arise. The first was that the Xiaochuan Gang had actually colluded with someone suspected to be a Boat Overturning Sect demon and had slipped into Zhen Manor for revenge at exactly this critical juncture, creating a chaotic scene of large-scale mutual slaughter that killed many people who should never have come to harm.
If that had been the only change, it would have been fine. When Lin Hansheng and Tao Wenshu had discussed the matter, they had accounted for accidents—with Ren Youyang of the Zhenling Sect present, if things turned quite dangerous, this newly advanced Zhilan who cultivated the "Useless Divine Art" could become a great asset. Moreover, the "mutual slaughter" had directly dragged in Second Uncle, who otherwise would have needed to be asked before he'd intervene, saving them a good deal of effort.
What truly caught Tao Wenshu and the others off guard was the second surprise: the "prisoner" Yan Changqing, suspected to be the previous sect master of the Juesheng Dao, could still display the might of a Heaven-Man. Relying on the "Heaven-Earth Shifting Divine Art," he had forcibly altered the celestial phenomena of this whole area, giving Ji Hanyi an environment she could exploit, letting her temporarily rise from a grandmaster at Dharma Realm consummation to half a Heaven-Man Realm.
That Yan Changqing possessed such power—why had he still obediently stayed locked up?
This was a change Tao Wenshu had never anticipated, so much so that she failed to hold Ji Hanyi back and keep her there.
…………
At the east-side dock, Li Zhi was constantly shifting position, using the various warehouses to evade Yi Qincang's arrows.
Seeing several squads of patrolling constables and Xiaoming Sect disciples hurrying over from the city gate and closing in from this side, he suddenly unleashed his divine travel ability, dragging out streak after streak of afterimage. He circled halfway around, then pounded out of the dock and dashed back toward the city gate.
Seeing this, Yi Qincang atop the eastern watchtower suddenly had a flash of understanding, and hurriedly said to the Xiaoming Sect disciple beside him:
"Beat the drums!
"Close all the city gates!"
The Xiaoming Sect disciple dared not delay. He picked up two drumsticks and struck the great drum atop the watchtower with all his might.
Sounding the gong was a warning by sound; beating the drums meant the city gates were to be shut!
Yi Qincang finally understood why Li Zhi had been wreaking such havoc at the dock: besides wanting to draw off some of the official forces, he also meant to keep the eastern gate from closing, lest the other demons be trapped inside the city and caught like a turtle in a jar.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The drumbeats shook the heavens and rolled outward. The pedestrians on the main street were stunned for a moment, then quickly ducked to the sides of the road, keeping the way clear so as not to suffer an undeserved disaster.
Martial arts had flourished for thousands of years, and such situations arose from time to time. The common folk had long grown used to it and knew how to respond.
As long as it wasn't soldiers running amok through the city or a battle between grandmasters and above, everything else was tolerable.
Boom, boom, boom!
The drums quickened. The soldiers, constables, and Xiaoming Sect disciples at each gate began evacuating the nearby crowds, trying to close the barbican gate and the main wall gate at the same time.
Dragging out afterimages and weaving from side to side like a snake at times, Li Zhi evaded Yi Qincang's rapid-fire volley.
Soon he reached the eastern gate and rushed first toward the two horses drawing a cart.
With a single roll he came beneath the horses' bellies, then reached out both hands and seized the legs of the two horses, one in each.
"Kill!"
His body swollen and now clearly over nine chi tall, Li Zhi let out an excited shout, hoisted both horses up by their legs upside down, and swung them into the air.
This blocked the concentrated volley from Yi Qincang and the others, and the two horses, neighing pitifully, lost their breath.
Immediately after, Li Zhi wildly swung these two huge "weapons," running from the gate to the barbican's exit.
Everyone who tried to block his way was sent flying, as if struck by a charging giant bull.
Charging to the barbican's mouth, Li Zhi turned again and fought his way back toward the outer side of the wall, so that the arriving constables, soldiers, and Xiaoming Sect disciples could not close the gate.
Just like that, swinging the two dead horses, he ran back and forth within the barbican, leaving no possibility for either the inner or outer gate to be shut.
Seeing this, Yi Qincang without hesitation left the eastern watchtower, quickly descended, and raced toward the barbican arrow tower.
…………
In a certain courtyard within Zhen Manor.
Ding Songyan pressed his entire body down on the dagger, trying to drive the blade through Yan Changqing's eye socket, into his brain, to wreck his mind.
Even as he felt the barrier transformed from formless qi, Ding Songyan continued his somewhat effective tactic of attacking the mind.
Gritting his teeth, he said to Yan Changqing, whose eyes were dark and gloomy and whose face was expressionless:
"When I first heard that you had obtained Hundun's remains, my first reaction was envy. But later I began to wonder:
"These Hundun remains can accommodate all your martial arts, and it seems they wouldn't much cause your cultivation to regress either. So why did you choose to carry them out and hide away somewhere?
"If it were me, I would definitely have eaten them the very first chance! Never giving anyone else the slightest chance to profit from them!
"Isn't the first Heavenly Emperor stronger than the source of your damned Juesheng Dao?"
At this moment, Ding Songyan felt the formless barrier beneath the dagger loosen a little more.
His expression slightly contorted, he laughed heartily:
"Hit the mark, didn't I? Even though you don't seem to react much.
"You must have eaten a sufficient amount of Hundun's remains right there on the spot. And in the end—was the first Heavenly Emperor's overwhelming power and peculiarity beyond your expectations? Even though you ate them in the most conservative way, you still ended up with Hundun assimilating you?
"Ha, this is a guess I only came up with after seeing the wretched state of the organs inside your body just now!
"This is the real reason you were so gravely wounded, isn't it?"
Ding Songyan laughed even more happily, and the dagger he gripped sank in a little deeper.
At last, a trace of pain showed on Yan Changqing's face.
Ding Songyan felt the "qi" he had used just now beginning to drain away. As he readied himself to use the last strand of "qi," he strained until his eyes went round and growled low:
"Your caution and conservatism kept that amount from being fatal. All these years, you've been slowly digesting Hundun's remains, and only recently, once the digestion reached a certain point, did you finally recover a little of your power—am I right?
"You wanted to stay put longer, to wait until you had fully digested Hundun's remains, or until you were no longer limited to affecting the celestial phenomena, no longer able only to use the Heaven Heart imprint to control the weak. But Zhen Qianfan couldn't wait any longer, so he deliberately let that Esoteric Classic of Mountains and Seas be stolen by the Juesheng Dao people, and you had no choice but to turn the scheme around and use me to achieve your goal!
"All those instructions and arrangements of yours, and all those words you spoke—they were all deliberate misdirection!
"You didn't care whether I did well or poorly, whether I was discovered or not. You only needed to hold fast to one point to succeed: when Zhen Qianfan pretended to let you escape, you would control me to cut open your belly and remove the excess Hundun's remains!
"Your scheme was just that simple. The simpler it is, the harder to disrupt, the harder to ruin. As long as you seized the core point—as long as, before Zhen Qianfan and the Juesheng Dao people could react, you were no longer affected by the excess Hundun's remains—you would be a proper grand master, fearing no one!"
Having pressed his attack on the mind this far, Ding Songyan nonetheless felt that the barrier woven from formless qi had not loosened any further.
The pain on Yan Changqing's face remained, yet the corners of his mouth slowly curled upward.
He seemed to be mocking Ding Songyan:
So what if you've figured it out?
How much longer can your qi hold out?
Once you've used up both strands of qi, I'll be able to control you again and make you help me recover my strength!
Seeing this, Ding Songyan quickly changed tack. As he continued to force the dagger downward, he said through gritted teeth:
"You've noticed it too, haven't you? What let me temporarily break free of your Heaven Heart imprint's control was not only the Xiaoming Sect's sword intent, but also your good disciple's Heaven Heart imprint.
"Guess whether your good disciple can sense the change in the Heaven Heart imprint?
"With her ability, does she have a chance to briefly shake off the Xiaoming Sect people and come here to 'visit' you?
"I can't kill you—but can't she?"
Yan Changqing's expression shifted somewhat at once, but the barrier transformed from formless qi was only disturbed a little.
Ding Songyan's thoughts raced, and a new idea suddenly struck him. He chuckled:
"I really was being foolish!
"Why did I talk so much? I could have just taken a piece of Hundun's remains and eaten it on the spot! Then, with temporary grandmaster strength, would I still fear being unable to kill you?
"My mind-attacking technique has been working all along, but only a little—that was deliberate of you, wasn't it? Just to lead me on and keep me from thinking in this direction?"
As he spoke, his left hand was already groping toward Yan Changqing's stomach, toward the yellowish thing extending out of it, wanting to snap off a small piece directly.
Yan Changqing's expression finally showed a fairly obvious ripple. Ding Songyan felt the dagger suddenly pierce through more than half a layer of the formless barrier, churning into flesh and blood.
Yan Changqing's face twisted in pain accordingly, while Ding Songyan's left hand touched that yellowish thing, feeling both slickness and roughness at once.
For a moment he simply could not tear off a piece, and could only keep trying.
The mind-attacking words from his mouth still did not cease, and he returned to the bluffing he was good at:
"You're so skilled in the path of divination—why couldn't you divine that taking shelter under Zhen Qianfan would come to such an end?
"Why did Zhen Qianfan suddenly betray you? Surely you didn't tell him with your own mouth what you had obtained?"
These were not merely bluffs, but also the doubts Ding Songyan had accumulated all along and still had found no answers to. He simply blurted them all out, letting Yan Changqing dwell on them, letting his thoughts run toward the terrifying.
Yan Changqing's one intact eye suddenly shifted, as if he had remembered something.
Ding Songyan felt the formless barrier beneath the dagger rapidly become abnormally chaotic.
So effective? Ding Songyan had no time to think further. Following his previous line of thought, he growled low again:
"Have you ever wondered—why was it you who found the vanished Kunlun and entered the Heavenly Emperor's traveling palace?"
The moment the words left his mouth, Ding Songyan saw Yan Changqing's single eye go wide, and found that the barrier woven from formless qi was collapsing.
It had briefly collapsed!
It worked!
Ding Songyan did not hesitate. Straining his whole body, he poured the remaining qi and the power of heaven and earth it summoned entirely into the dagger.
The steel dagger swiftly pierced through layer after layer of obstruction and sank completely into Yan Changqing's eye socket.
Still uneasy, Ding Songyan twisted the dagger a few more times.
Yan Changqing's eye remained wide open, filled with confusion and hatred.
His throat rasped, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end his head tilted to one side, and all life and breath left him completely.
Chapter 54