Chapter 38 — The Abyss of the Dead

Zhang Qingyue stood at the rear, still supporting Lu Xueqi, his eyes fixed unblinking on the contest between Qi Hao and the rest. Qi Hao wielded his sword with perfect ease, bringing out its every marvel, and his command of Daoist magic was far beyond Zhang Qingyue's own, and he could not help feeling a measure of admiration. All this while he had practiced only the basic methods of the Taiji Profound Purity Way; not until just before he left the mountain had Su Wan hastily crammed into him a few practical techniques. Naturally he was no match for Qi Hao.

He was watching thus, wholly absorbed, when he suddenly felt his arm lighten: Lu Xueqi had rested a while, her spirits somewhat recovered, and now stood on her own, free of his support.

Seeing that her face, once white and smooth as jade, was now utterly wan, he could not keep from asking: "Are you all right, Senior Sister Lu?"

Lu Xueqi glanced at him, reached up to wipe the blood from her lips, and shook her head without a word.

Since first he had known this frosty beauty, Zhang Qingyue had long grown used to her ways, and so of course did not press her further. Besides, he had always stood somewhat in awe of this beautiful woman, and so he turned his face back to the field.

But no sooner had he turned than he suddenly heard Lu Xueqi give a cry of alarm. He looked in horror — and there, from the stone wall behind where he and Lu Xueqi now stood, a black cord had suddenly emerged, and with lightning speed bound Lu Xueqi's hands to her sides so that she could not move. A moment later a woman's figure emerged from the stone wall itself: it was none other than the beautiful young woman who had just been standing in the distance.

She gave a giggling laugh. "Little sister, you are so very beautiful — truly one cannot help but pity you at the sight. This 'Immortal-Binding Cord' is something your elder sister prepared especially for you righteous cultivators!"

Zhang Qingyue saw the look of pain rise on Lu Xueqi's face, and saw the Immortal-Binding Cord already biting deep into her flesh in a matter of moments; the torment of it was not hard to imagine. But before he could react, there came a whistle in the air, and Elder Nian swooped down from above, his hand stretching out to seize the divine sword Tianxuan upon Lu Xueqi's back.

How could Zhang Qingyue allow such outrage? His Black Iron Staff leapt into the air and flew straight at Elder Nian. Seeing again that uncanny black rod, Elder Nian felt a stir of dread; he twisted aside and came to a halt, landing upon the ground.

At the sound, Qi Hao and Zeng Shuyan up ahead turned and saw, and their faces went pale with shock. They were about to turn back to the rescue, but Lin Feng, seeing them stir, thought: If I let you come and go as you please, I shall lose all face before Elder Nian. At once the Mountain-and-River Fan howled up a wind, gust upon gust, ever fiercer, so that for the moment Qi Hao and Zeng Shuyan could not break free.

Having driven Elder Nian back for the moment, Zhang Qingyue did not hesitate: he turned, and his Black Iron Staff charged at the beautiful young woman. But she only smiled lightly and gave the cord in her hand a flick, and Lu Xueqi was swung helplessly around to bar her path.

Zhang Qingyue cried out in alarm and all but could not check his stroke; he halted abruptly, and the Black Iron Staff came to a precarious stop a mere three parts of a foot before Lu Xueqi, almost casting her jade-like face in a pale blue hue.

Before he could catch his breath, two more gusts of wind rose behind him. In his alarm Zhang Qingyue lunged forward and barely scrambled clear. Looking back, he saw that the Wild Wolf Daoist and the tall man Liu Gao had seized the chance to fish in troubled waters and charged in as well; and Elder Nian, greedy for the treasure, had cast aside all dignity and come charging in too.

One man against three, Zhang Qingyue was at once plunged into a bitter fight. Had Elder Nian not been wary of the Black Iron Staff, and had Wild Dog and Liu Gao not been frightened by the dreadful sight of the staff drinking blood in the darkness, so that they dared not strike too boldly, Zhang Qingyue would long since have been defeated.

Even so, in a few exchanges, beset by three magic treasures from the air, Zhang Qingyue was already in dire peril. And worst of all was this: the beautiful young woman standing by seemed only to watch, but the moment Zhang Qingyue meant to strike back, she would shake her arm and fling Lu Xueqi into his path, and Zhang Qingyue must needs draw back and shrink away again. Blow followed blow in quick succession, and it seemed he would soon be wounded by the three fiends' hands.

Bound by the Immortal-Binding Cord, Lu Xueqi struggled with all her might to no avail. She saw the woman behind her smiling in triumph, and saw Zhang Qingyue in the field, for fear of hurting her, beset by peril upon peril; her face grew whiter still, her heart surged, and a sweetness rose in her throat as a mouthful of blood burst from her lips and spattered across her garments, dot upon dot of deep red, shocking to the eye.

Zhang Qingyue heard the sound, turned and saw, and thought that Lu Xueqi had been wounded by the Immortal-Binding Cord. In his horror he thought no more of anything else: black qi surged from the Black Iron Staff, and swift as lightning it flew at the beautiful young woman.

The woman had not expected Zhang Qingyue to lash out at the risk of his own life; caught off guard, she saw the Black Iron Staff already before her eyes and hastily shot up into the sky, barely escaping it.

But at the same moment Zhang Qingyue left his back wide open: a red beam shot from Elder Nian's Crimson Demon Eye, and the Wild Wolf Daoist's fang treasure and Liu Gao's yellow flying sword all struck Zhang Qingyue upon the back together.

Zhang Qingyue's vision went black; he nearly swooned. After a searing agony through his whole body, he felt almost nothing at all, and his whole body flew straight forward. In midair the blood in his mouth burst forth like a fountain.

Lu Xueqi saw it, and her white teeth bit deep into her lip. Suddenly she felt the Immortal-Binding Cord slacken: the beautiful young woman, distracted by Zhang Qingyue, had for the moment forgotten to control it.

Lu Xueqi gave a clear, shrill cry; her hands bent and stretched in rapid succession within their narrow space, forming the orchid-finger seals, and the divine sword Tianxuan of a sudden left its sheath of itself. Blue light swept across the vault of the cave; with two sharp cracks it forced the Immortal-Binding Cord back a full circle. Yet beneath the divine edge of Tianxuan, that common-looking Immortal-Binding Cord proved astonishingly tough — it could not be cut through, though it gave off a hissing, sizzling sound.

The woman, fretting for her treasure and awed by the divine might of Tianxuan, hastily drew the cord back. Free at last, Lu Xueqi, sore in every limb though she was, rose at once into the air and caught Zhang Qingyue's flying body.

But before the two of them could draw breath, Elder Nian and the other two had already followed after.

Blue light flickered as Tianxuan flew back before Lu Xueqi to shield its mistress; but her face was pale as paper, and she herself swayed upon her feet.

Just then there came a "swish" from afar, followed by a cry of pain, and Lin Feng roared in fury: "Qingyun pups! You dare wound me? Then look to my treasure!"

"Hong long!" — a roar that rang through every corner of that vast cavern!

As all stood in horror, Elder Nian checked his advance and cried aloud: "Brother Lin, no—"

Before he could finish, all felt the ground beneath them heave and shake; and looking to Lin Feng's hand, they saw that the great river painted on the Mountain-and-River Fan had vanished from the picture.