Chapter 225 — Hanging the Portrait to Quell Evil

Fire clouds sprouted beneath the dragon qilin's feet, and it rose into the air and sped out of the valley. Qingyu the Wanderer sat up and struck forward with his palm; at once thunder surged, and countless bolts of lightning coiled and writhed like an azure dragon as they hacked toward the dragon qilin. Qingyu the Wanderer suddenly retched up blood; his hand trembled, and that thunder of the palm-strike went wide, blasting a gap out of the mountain peak ahead of the dragon qilin.

Shen Mu was startled. These beings of the Heaven-Man realm, wounded though they were, still wielded terrifying power in their divine arts; to be struck by one would mean a death too hideous to look upon.

Lu Wenshu, the Arhat Pushan, and the rest staggered to their feet, each unable to hold back another mouthful of blood, their hearts still fluttering with lingering dread. They had, after all, underestimated the Great Bear Demon God Shen Mu had summoned; a single blow from it had gravely wounded them all.

Had Daoist Withered Leaf not interrupted Shen Mu's summoning once, the Great Bear Demon God called forth would have been even stronger, and they feared that all of them bound together would not have been enough to kill this one demon god. "Do we still give chase? " Lu Wenshu asked in a low voice. By now Daoist Withered Leaf was sitting cross-legged, his breath withered and spent, and he said with a bitter smile, "I fear this old Daoist can no longer accompany you friends in subduing demons and defending the Way. The demon god cut short the root of my life; this stinking husk of a body is of no more use. .

.

" Sorrow rose in every heart. Daoist Withered Leaf recited softly, "A man's life is but a withered leaf; the day it drifts down to the Yellow Springs must come. My friends, you must cut down the Nether Demon Sect Master; I will be waiting to meet him on the Yellow Springs road.

I go on ahead.

. . " With that, he passed away. Lu Wenshu wept aloud and bowed.

"Brother, go slowly!

We will surely send this fiend to meet you! " The Arhat Pushan sighed in desolate grief, pressed his palms together in salute, and said gravely, "This life is but a stinking husk; cast off the husk and see the Tathagata.

Brother, fare you well.

" "Fare you well! " said Qingyu the Wanderer, tears falling.

Luo Sanpo said, "That dragon qilin is swift of foot. We must catch up as soon as ever we can, or if he summons a second demon god, that will be disastrous!

" Lu Wenshu's face was cold with killing intent. "He will have no such chance!

On the road ahead, beings stronger than we await him, and he will walk right into the snare! " So the words were spoken, and yet every one of them forcibly suppressed his injuries, swallowed healing elixirs, and hurried off in the direction Shen Mu had gone. Astride the dragon qilin, Shen Mu took out a white-bone altar and tried to summon a second demon god; but the dragon qilin's running jolted him about, and it was all too easy for the talisman treasure to lose its alignment with the runes on the demon god's image. One rune out of place, and the whole endeavor would come to nothing, so he had no choice but to give it up.

Shen Mu examined himself: there was not a scratch on his body, nor was Xue Hu'er hurt. The dragon qilin's hide was thick and its flesh coarse, guarded by dragon scales, and it too was unscathed. Only the Dutian Demon King had been beaten out of shape.

Shen Mu used his Vermilion Bird vital qi to burn that body red-hot, then straightened the deformed limbs. The Dutian Demon King was so consumed by shame and rage that he said nothing at all. To be despised by the Great Bear Demon God this time, and trampled underfoot besides, was an utter humiliation.

Shen Mu took his bearings, brought out the Jingping Geographic Map and compared it against the mountains and rivers around him, then let out a breath of relief. "We are already very close to the Barren Ruins. At the dragon qilin's pace, I reckon half a day more will bring us to the frontier of the Barren Ruins. Only, there is no way we are going by Mishui Pass now.

" They had been pursued the whole way, and their route had drifted far from Mishui Pass, and far from Yanbian Pass as well.

"The only plan now is to take the passage my sect left behind from its smuggling days.

" Shen Mu thought for a moment. Between the Barren Ruins and Jingping lay the Divine Severance Mountains, and upon peak after peak of the Divine Severance Mountains stood Xuanji Crossbows; whoever crossed the border would be shot dead by them. The Xuanji Crossbows worked of themselves, and were said to have been forged according to a decree handed down by the gods.

Whoever passed through the Divine Severance Mountains, whether walking the valleys below or flying over the peaks above, would be shot dead. The Nether Demon Sect had once run contraband, and had a passage through the Divine Severance Mountains, going by way of the Withered Silence Ridge Gorge, by which one could travel between the Barren Ruins and Jingping. The two Xuanji Crossbows there had already been destroyed by the Nether Demon Sect, though the innkeeper at Crimson Dragon City said that road had been abandoned for many years.

The Withered Silence Ridge Gorge was his only passage into the Barren Ruins. "The pursuers should not know of this passage. " Shen Mu roused his spirits, then suddenly laughed at himself. "So hard to go home for the New Year, it is like cutting a way out through a thousand armies and ten thousand horses!

" He had learned their martial arts from the villagers, and had inherited their optimism as well.

Though he had met countless ambushes and killings along this road, he still kept his cheerful temper.

Infected by his mood, the dragon qilin and Xue Hu'er relaxed a great deal too. Unnoticed, the sky darkened, and the land about them grew more desolate still; for a long while together they saw not a single village.

"To brave the Barren Ruins by night is to court certain death. We must wait for daylight. " They drew closer and closer to the Barren Ruins, and already they could see the black shadow of the towering Divine Severance Mountains, like a high wall across heaven and earth blocking the way ahead. This Divine Severance range, stretching unbroken for countless tens of thousands of li, never mind being covered with Xuanji Crossbows; even without them, flying across would be incomparably difficult.

Shen Mu was just thinking of finding a place to settle when he suddenly saw lamplight below: a village, where as night fell the villagers had lit their oil lamps. "Young Master, beware of a trap," Xue Hu'er said in a frightened fluster.

The Dutian Demon King sneered.

"For a thousand li around there is not a village to be seen, and here one pops up out of nowhere. A trap, naturally.

" Shen Mu said, "Fat Dragon, keep going. Pay it no mind.

" The dragon qilin trod the fire clouds and went on toward the Divine Severance Mountains. After another few dozen li, more lamplight glimmered below: a frontier village, its lights dim and uncertain, with a dozen or so houses.

The layout of the houses, the positions of the lamplight from the oil lamps, were almost exactly the same as that little village just now!

"Keep going," Shen Mu said in a low, grim voice, his pupils contracting. The dragon qilin went on.

Another few dozen li, and there was that village again, houses, lights, every arrangement identical to the two villages before, without the slightest change!

The dragon qilin sensed something was wrong as well, and ran with all its strength. Several hundred li on, they came upon a dozen or more such villages along the way, every arrangement identical! And the Divine Severance Mountains ahead still looked just as far away.