Chapter 227 — The Great Sage Who Restores the Seas (Part Two)

"Aye, but our position is bad. We're caught in the middle. To the south lies Serpent Coil Mountain, where all those demon kings of Jambudvipa gather; to the north lies the Buddhist gate of Uttarakuru. Maitreya Buddha lost his wager with the Master, and I fear he'll make trouble for us. One slip, and our foundation is ruined—we'd have to start over in the mortal world." Wen Yanlan saw the situation clearly, and it was far from encouraging.

The others all nodded one after another. Liao Yanqiao was about to speak when his mind suddenly jolted, and a mysterious message flowed into his consciousness.

"Disaster! The Master is trapped in the Northern Sea Nether Prison!" Liao Yanqiao cried out, stripped entirely of the martial swagger he had shown while leading troops in battle.

What had happened was this: Zhou Xuan, trapped inside the bronze bell, knew he could not break free, and so he transmitted a message to Liao Yanqiao through the art of mind-speech.

This was no trifling matter. Wen Yanlan told Yunxia at once, and Yunxia hurriedly questioned Liao Yanqiao.

Liao Yanqiao said, "The Master says he's in no immediate danger and will escape before long. He was ambushed this time, and he means to teach that Great Sage Who Restores the Seas a lesson that will last for all eternity. He bids us make no show of it, but go and summon Princess Ao Luan of the Southern Sea and join forces with the Dragon King of the Northern Sea. Then, striking from within and without, we'll smash the Northern Sea Nether Prison in one blow and behead the Flood Dragon Demon King."

"Also, the Master says we must on no account let word leak out, nor alarm the Heavenly Court—if we stir up the other demon sages, so much the worse." Liao Yanqiao added.

"I see, so that's how it is!" Yunxia nodded. "The journey to the Southern Sea will take days and nights, and the Northern Sea far longer—a month at least, I fear. Hmm... Lan Shen, you're the swiftest of foot. Go to the Southern Sea and fetch the Princess. No time to lose—set out at once."

Lan Shen nodded from the side. "Understood!" His form flickered, and he stepped straight into the void and vanished.

"Xiao Jin, you must be especially watchful—I fear Serpent Coil Mountain will soon come seeking revenge." Yunxia knew Zhou Xuan had his own plans and was not worried, so she turned to the situation on their side.

"Master's wife, there's no need to fret over that. Our junior brother has already taken the body of a great shaman—deathless and indestructible. Our junior sister has the Plantain Fan you bestowed on her, and I have the Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree the Master gave me. The other juniors all have their own treasures. Ordinary foes are nothing to fear." Wen Yanlan spoke thus, yet there was still a measure of unease in her heart.

Thereupon Liao Yanqiao redoubled the drilling of the demon soldiers, and the disciples of the Shuyao Sect cultivated day and night, guarding against an enemy raid.

"Daoist Zhou, you're truly a stone in the latrine—foul and hard alike. I really can do nothing with you."

The Flood Dragon Demon King had been wearing out his tongue outside for a whole day, now threatening, now cajoling, until he had run out of both soft words and hard. Zhou Xuan only cackled strangely, his words sharp and cutting, utterly unbothered. In a rage, the Flood Dragon Demon King once more stirred the bell's restraining arts.

Flames, thunderbolts, lightning dragons, wind blades, turbid torrents, black smoke, and latent forces appeared within the bell again, twice as fierce as before. Zhou Xuan sat upright inside, feigning ignorance, sneering and mocking the Flood Dragon Demon King without cease.

Though the Flood Dragon Demon King threatened Zhou Xuan with harm to his disciples, he dared not let the news slip. Zhou Xuan had received the writ of the Primeval Lord of Heaven and been enfeoffed as the Great Emperor Gochen; the Three Realms acknowledged it. Were word to spread, heavenly soldiers and generals would be battering at his gates within three days. The Flood Dragon Demon King did not fear them, but it would be a great nuisance all the same.

"Long Tian, how many water troops does our Northern Sea Nether Prison command?" The Flood Dragon Demon King, exasperated by Zhou Xuan and weary of talk, returned to his water palace and summoned his two most trusted henchmen, a pair of ancient dragon whales, before him for questioning.

These two ancient dragon whales stood eight chi tall, much the size of ordinary men. One was named Long Tian, the other Long Di—names the Flood Dragon Demon King had given them after subduing them with the bronze bell when he first came to the Earthly Immortal Realm.

Ancient dragon whales dwell in the seabed tens of thousands of zhang deep. Their bodies are vast beyond measure, stretching thousands of li when uncoiled; one opening of the mouth swallows a thousand tons of fish. They are the overlords of the sea. For a body so immense to be refined into human form, one can imagine how much toil and how many ages it must take. Without the Flood Dragon Demon King's guidance, these two dragon whales of the Northern Sea Nether Prison might have gone another hundred thousand years and still found it hard to take human form and attain the Dao of aid.

Likewise, once they had attained the Dao, the ancient dragon whales, by reason of their constitution, were far more formidable than ordinary demons—possessed of boundless strength and immeasurable divine power and dharma. They were the Flood Dragon Demon King's right and left hands, his chief battle generals.

These two dragon whales were a male and a female; in human form, a man and a woman. The woman was ravishing, delicate and graceful, and none would guess that such a dainty creature harbored within her a nigh-terrifying dharma power and divine ability.

"My king, our Northern Sea Nether Prison spans nearly ten thousand times ten thousand li. Stationed near the water palace are three to four million troops, of whom one million nine hundred thousand have attained immortal rank. Another five million are posted on the outer perimeter. In all, my king commands nearly ten million water troops, led separately by my king's one hundred and eight princes." So spoke Long Tian.

"Good. Tell Qing Jiao to prepare some gifts—and yes, bring my Demon Emperor Sword as well. Go to Mount Accumulated Thunder and have Niu Yan attack Black Wind Mountain in secret and seize that Daoist's disciples. Hmph—so long as the Daoist refuses, this king will kill one of his disciples every day."

The Flood Dragon Demon King weighed it over, and at last made up his mind.

"My king would even give away the Demon Emperor Sword to the Great Sage Who Pacifies Heaven?" Long Tian asked in astonishment.

"Hmph. So long as this king obtains the Twelve Ancestral Shamans, the Demon Emperor Sword is nothing. Go quickly and tell Qing Jiao—if this matter is handled well, I'll make him commander of five hundred thousand water troops and demon immortals."

The Flood Dragon Demon King waved his hand and dismissed his henchmen, then fell again to brooding and scheming.

"I must find some way out of here." Zhou Xuan sat within the bell and roused his Wisdom Eye, piercing the surging earth, fire, water, and wind, the thunder and lightning, and looked straight at the bronze bell's surface. Still the ancient demon script, Donghuang Taiyi and the host of ancient demons at his seat, carved so vividly they seemed alive.

Zhou Xuan stirred the black smoke and demon fire of the Nether King Banners into rapid revolution and billowing waves, forcing the flames, thunderbolts, lightning dragons, wind blades, turbid torrents, black smoke, and latent forces back several zhang.