Chapter 91 — The Oriole Behind

Li Xun plainly no longer dared to underestimate Xiao Yichen; he nodded and said, "You are too kind."

Fa Cheng's gaze, however, lingered a moment on the wounded Lin Jinghong behind them. He seemed inclined to go over and offer some comfort, but in the end restrained himself. Since the Canglan Sect and the Brahma Sound Temple had joined forces, the two sides had gotten on quite well—with the single exception of Lin Jinghong, who remained icily cold toward every monk of the Temple. Everyone understood well enough why. But it was an old wound no one wished to reopen, and so all this time the monks of the Brahma Sound Temple had, consciously or not, been avoiding Lin Jinghong.

Still, seeing Lin Jinghong wounded now, Fa Cheng could not help his concern, and turning to Xiao Yichen he said low, "Senior Brother Xiao, your junior brother Lin Jinghong's injuries—nothing serious, I hope?"

Xiao Yichen had already seen Wen Pei go to bind Lin Jinghong's wounds. He glanced toward her now; Wen Pei caught his eye and gave a slight shake of her head, and only then did Xiao Yichen rest easy. He said to Fa Cheng, "Nothing serious. Brother Fa Cheng need not worry."

Fa Cheng bowed his head, pressed his palms together, and softly chanted a Buddha's name.

Xiao Yichen drew a deep breath, looked ahead, and called out in a clear voice, "Senior Yuyang Zi, you are, after all, a senior of high standing, and the Longevity Hall ranks among the four great factions of the Demonic Sect. How can you stoop to such despicable tricks? Are you not afraid the whole world will laugh at you?"

Yuyang Zi flew into a rage. "You so-called noble Orthodox sects—did you not lie in ambush for us just the same? And yet you stand there brazen and unashamed!"

Xiao Yichen's expression did not change in the least. Righteous indignation in his voice, he said, "We are but younglings and juniors, far from home—of course we must guard against vile villains who would strike from the shadows. Little did we expect that what we awaited was... heh heh, heh heh!"

Xiao Yichen was far younger than Yuyang Zi, but his tongue was sharp, and a few words sent Yuyang Zi into a fury, smoke pouring from his seven orifices. With a great roar he lunged first, and behind him the Longevity Hall members, seeing their sect master move, surged out to kill as well. Xiao Yichen and the few others of outstanding cultivation blocked Yuyang Zi, and the rest fell to slaughtering one another again.

Given Yuyang Zi's cultivation and bearing, he should not have been so easily provoked by Xiao Yichen—but he had just watched the Longevity Hall's last remaining strength wasted away before his eyes, and his heart was bitter with grief and rage. And Xiao Yichen's insults, though without a single coarse word, were barbed with mockery at every turn. Even Meng Ji at his side, still somewhat clear-headed, had just meant to hold him back when Yuyang Zi had already charged out.

Yuyang Zi had sat as master of the Longevity Hall for a hundred years, and he was a man of true substance. Even though ten years ago at the Green Cloud battle he had lost his left arm and much of his cultivation, Xiao Yichen alone was certainly no match for him.

But such a duel was never going to happen. With Xiao Yichen in the center, Fa Cheng on the left, and Li Xun on the right, the three finest of the Orthodox younger generation barred Yuyang Zi's way, and battle was joined.

Yuyang Zi rallied his divine might—one arm alone against three. The Yin-Yang Mirror in his hand was a thing of shifting wonder, now black, now white, waves of mysterious light pulsing forth. The wondrous radiance of the magic treasures the three sent at him was either deflected by the mirror or caught and drawn aside by Yuyang Zi's pull and tug, unable to close on him at all.

What was more, when the white face of the Yin-Yang Mirror turned over, it would shock the three men's treasures back upon their own masters. The three had not expected such marvelous power from this treasure, and all three nearly came to grief; Li Xun's left arm was even grazed by his own treasure, the Nine Yang Ruler, and came within a hair of leaving him one-armed like the Yuyang Zi before him.

After that none of the three dared be careless, and they fought with careful precision. And yet Yuyang Zi, one against three, facing the finest talents of the Orthodox, still held the upper hand—his cultivation was truly extraordinary.

But though Yuyang Zi himself was formidable, the cultivation of his followers was far beneath his. Facing this band of Orthodox disciples, every one of them outstanding in gifts and magic treasures alike, the Longevity Hall had numbers—and yet found itself slowly, steadily losing ground.

The monks of the Brahma Sound Temple struck lightly enough, but the Canglan Sect and the Demonic Sect were sundered by a sea-deep hatred, and its disciples struck with savage ferocity. Nor was the Burning Cloud Valley much gentler than Canglan.

Yuyang Zi, entangled by those three, held the upper hand but could not break free. In the midst of the fight he cast his eyes around and saw that apart from Meng Ji and a handful of others still struggling stubbornly, the ordinary members had lost all will to fight, and more than half were dead or wounded.

Meng Ji forced back a Burning Cloud Valley disciple before him with a single move, anxiety plain on his face, and shouted to Yuyang Zi, "Sect Master!"

Yuyang Zi ground his teeth in bitter hatred, but at last he knew the day was lost. To fight on would be to spend the Longevity Hall's last remnant here. He could only shout, "All of you, withdraw first—I will hold the rear!"

At those words the Longevity Hall disciples fled in a rush into the darkness behind. Xiao Yichen and the others on the Orthodox side were alert as hawks; with one accord they redoubled their efforts, their treasures' strange lights flaring, and surged at Yuyang Zi.

Yuyang Zi roared, and rather than dodge he spun the Yin-Yang Mirror sharply in midair and drove it upward—"clang"—knocking aside the Wheel of Rebirth that Fa Cheng had sent flying at him. In an instant it shifted from black to white. Xiao Yichen's body jolted as the Seven Stars Sword dancing in midair suddenly lost control and came hurtling back at its master, its momentum fierce. For a moment he was thrown into confusion, casting hand seals again and again before he regained command of the sword.

In that brief instant Yuyang Zi had already hooked Li Xun's attacking Nine Yang Ruler aside, and the three Orthodox fighters' assault was checked. But Yuyang Zi did not seize the chance to flee; instead he rose into the air and came down amid the crowd.

The other Orthodox disciples were in hot pursuit of the fleeing Longevity Hall men and were caught off guard when Yuyang Zi suddenly fell upon them—thud, thud—in an instant he had gravely wounded several, and more were struck by the great force of the Yin-Yang Mirror and sent flying into the darkness, where they cried out in alarm and then fell silent. Most likely they had dropped into the bottomless pits of this place and perished there.

In the night Yuyang Zi alone swept the field with overawing might, cutting left and right through the crowd to cover the Longevity Hall disciples' retreat. Wherever he went, before the black and white radiance of the Yin-Yang Mirror, the Orthodox disciples fell back on every side—a presence truly majestic and unmatched.

And far away, several indistinct figures standing in the darkness were watching the scene before them with rapt attention, their eyes fixed above all on Yuyang Zi in his full display of power.

With that charge of Yuyang Zi's, the pressure on the Longevity Hall disciples eased at once, and in moments most of them had withdrawn, leaving a field of corpses behind. Yuyang Zi looked on, and his heart ached again.