Chapter 80 — The Eighth Chapter

Daoist Cangyan, who had stood all along beside the Nether King and Yuyangzi, silently watching the battle, had gone pale from the moment that radiance appeared; now, seeing the Water Qilin soar into the heavens, he staggered, and cried out in a voice he could not steady: "The Immortal-Slayer!"

The Nether King and Yuyangzi both changed countenance. The Nether King said in alarm, "Did you not say that only one whose cultivation of the Supreme Mystery of the Great Ultimate Purity had reached the Taiqing realm could wield the ancient sword Immortal-Slayer, could stir the Immortal-Slayer Sword Formation?"

Cangsong gave a bitter laugh and said, "True—but I never thought that Daoyan would..."

By now everyone had ceased fighting. Tian Buhui and the others came back down to the ground, and every soul in the Canglan Sect wore a look of fierce excitement.

That legendary ancient sword, which once in the hand of the Canglan Sect's Patriarch Qingye had cowed the world, had today, at the Canglan Sect's most perilous hour, appeared again in the hand of the sect master, Daoist Daoyan.

In midair, the Water Qilin flew beneath Daoyan, growling low, its beast-head bowed a little, as though even it felt toward this ancient sword a fear and reverence beyond words.

Daoyan, wholly veiled in light, slowly came to rest upon the head of the spirit beast.

Deeply—he drew breath!

Sword in hand—toward heaven!

In the firmament, amid the blazing radiance, there suddenly rose an echoing, strange sound of chanting, like all the gods and buddhas of heaven singing softly, like the demons of the nine depths laughing in sneering mirth. A nameless dread overwhelmed every soul upon the Canglan summit.

Suddenly, from behind the Heaven-Reaching Peak, in the direction of the Illusion Moon Cave, a purple aura surged mightily upward and shone straight upon the Water Qilin and upon Daoyan atop its head. A moment later, from far and near—by their bearings, from unknown places on the other six peaks of Mount Canglan—six brilliant and strange lights came flying, in six colors: yellow, blue-green, crimson, green, orange, and blue. They cloaked the scene together, and at last the seven strange lights gathered upon the ancient sword Immortal-Slayer, already dazzling in Daoyan's hand.

Heaven and earth changed color; thunder crashed!

A mighty thunderclap burst in midair, wild winds raged, and every face in the crowd changed. Sand and stone flew upon the Heaven-Reaching Peak, dust choked the air. The seven strange lights poured forth unceasing, and above the Immortal-Slayer, radiant with dazzling glory, a sword of qi shining in all seven colors slowly appeared, growing ever larger; and from this master sword, swords of qi in every hue kept splitting off, more and more of them, in an instant filling the sky, casting the whole summit of the Heaven-Reaching Peak in swirling seven-colored light—beautiful beyond compare!

Daoist Cangyan's body trembled slightly, and he groaned low: "The Immortal-Slayer Sword Formation... the Immortal-Slayer Sword Formation..."

By now the Poison God and the Fairy Sanmiao too had flown back. Daoist Cangyan, pale of face, said, "This formation was created by Canglanzi, the founding patriarch of Qingyun, and later refined by Patriarch Qingye over a hundred years of painstaking effort. Stirred by the ancient sword Immortal-Slayer, its power is unimaginable. We—we had best retreat at once!"

The Nether King's expression shifted, but Yuyangzi had already cried angrily, "Nonsense! However mighty he is, he is but one man with one sword—what can he do?"

Daoist Cangyan shook his head with a bitter smile and turned hurriedly to the Poison God. "Sect master, this Immortal-Slayer Sword Formation is stirred by wondrous incantatory power and is in itself already exceedingly formidable. In the early days of our Canglan Sect, it was only by the restraint of this formation that we barely held on. Later Patriarch Qingye arose and, with heaven-granted genius, gathered the ten-million-year strange and baleful spiritual power of the seven peaks of Mount Canglan, and using as its medium the supreme sword-spirit of Immortal-Slayer, the strangest sword of all ages, forged it—its wondrous power could split heaven and shatter earth. We must by no means oppose it with force!"

The Poison God's face changed, but to watch this Immortal-Slayer Sword Formation, never seen before, snatch away the prize already all but in his grasp—that he could not bring himself to decide at once, come what may.

To say nothing of Yuyangzi beside him, whose face was all unwillingness. Only the Nether King stamped his foot and decided on the spot: "This formation is too powerful—we cannot match it by force. Go!"

Yuyangzi, the Poison God, and the Fairy Sanmiao all started and were about to argue, but in that brief moment of hesitation, the dazzling Immortal-Slayer Sword Formation in the sky had already begun to change.

The seven-colored sword of qi above the ancient sword Immortal-Slayer was plainly the master sword of the formation; it had now grown immense, stretching across the firmament, so that even the giant beast Water Qilin seemed far smaller beside it. As for the single-colored swords of qi filling the sky, they were denser still, like cloud and mist, a sight to chill the heart.

Yet this spectacle, rarely seen in a thousand ages, stirred no excitement in anyone—only wave upon wave of desolation and cold.

Daoist Daoyan, upon the Water Qilin, swayed faintly, and at the same time intoned the dharma incantation. His right hand swept the ancient sword Immortal-Slayer, while the fingers of his left formed a seal like a sword and slashed downward!

"Ssss—"

Upon the ancient sword Immortal-Slayer, light flickered in a burst; a moment later, countless swords of qi suspended in midair, bearing a force of incomparable ferocity, came plunging down, straight at the demonic cultists.

The swords fell like rain, and heaven and earth were hushed in desolation!

Countless demon cult followers raised their arms in resistance, yet those qi swords came down like something indestructible, piercing straight through without the slightest mercy. Those of shallower cultivation were instantly driven deep into the earth, blood spraying in every direction.

On Receiving Heaven Peak, the wailing of ghosts and howling of wolves broke out at once; screams filled the air without cease, severed limbs and crushed flesh flew everywhere, blood and gore splattered, a foul wind and bloody rain, as though the place had become a hell. Even the people of the Canglan Sect and the Fanyin Temple paled slightly at the sight. Facheng of the Fanyin Temple bowed his head a little and softly chanted the Buddha's name.

The faces of the Four Great Masters of the demon cult changed drastically. In the blink of an eye, almost everyone around them had been wounded beneath this inconceivable and wondrous formation. The Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation fell like rain, and the seven-colored master sword in the sky kept splitting off ever more single-colored qi swords, its covering range growing wider and wider, until it seemed about to envelop the entire summit of Receiving Heaven Peak.

King Ming waved a hand to deflect a qi sword that came stabbing down, and felt his whole body shudder violently. The baleful spiritual power contained within that qi sword seemed inexhaustible. It appeared, indeed, just as Daoist Cangyan had said: having absorbed the heaven-and-earth spiritual energy of the seven mountain peaks of Mount Canglan, it was truly beyond what human strength could withstand. And this was merely a single-colored qi sword; if that terrifying seven-colored master sword were to strike, every soul there would likely find no place even to die in peace.