Chapter 111 — The Strange Beast

Grey was held in Ming Li's arms, but its eyes were fixed hard upon the beast, and the red gleam in them did not weaken but brighten.

"Roar!"

The flame beast roared again and charged once more. This time Ming Li did not flee—in truth, the beast was so huge that with it standing there, little space remained in the once spacious hall.

The Soul-Devourer, as though guided by an invisible hand, floated before Ming Li. His face grim, Ming Li set Grey back on his shoulder, then with both hands traced swift patterns in the air behind the staff; at once a bagua diagram appeared upon the blood-devouring bead at its head, expanded in an instant, and flew to meet the flame beast.

A moment later, the beast collided in midair with the bagua talisman Ming Li had raised.

Had any disciple of the Canglan Sect been present, he would surely have cried out in praise—for this was none other than the Canglan Sect's supreme secret art, the "Supreme Way of the Mystic and Pure."

The true arts of the Dao are formidable beyond compare; the flame beast's seemingly irresistible charge was stopped dead, and its vast body came down upon the ground.

But almost in the same instant, a mighty force rebounded, and Ming Li was shaken through and through. The brute strength of that single pounce was several times greater than that of any ordinary master of cultivation.

Though the fire-beast had been halted, it merely wrenched its great head up, flames blazing in both eyes; plainly it had taken no hurt at all, and indeed seemed only more enraged. With another mighty roar it lunged forward again. Behind it, the gigantic fire totem slowly revolved and came on in its wake.

Ming Li's brows drew tight. He was just about to strike when suddenly his shoulder felt lighter—the monkey Xiaohui had leapt up, springing off his body and hurtling straight at the fire-beast.

Ming Li was shocked beyond measure. "Xiaohui, no—"

The fire-beast, catching sudden sight of something flying at it, gave a start. With a low growl it checked its just-launched body and paused where it was, meaning to get a clear look at the thing first.

There, bathed in the red glow, hung the monkey Xiaohui in midair, its pair of monkey eyes now utterly blood-red.

When its body—all but negligible beside the fire-beast—reached the highest point of its leap, it abruptly stopped dead in the empty air.

It was as though time itself had frozen in that instant. The moment the monkey halted in midair, the great hall—which a breath before had been filled with the fire-beast's roaring—fell suddenly silent.

Kaden!

A crisp sound slowly rippled outward. Amid countless beams of red light, a golden radiance rose soaring upward.

Xiaohui stretched out every limb, both eyes tightly shut, and from its whole body a faint golden glow began slowly to seep forth, so that it looked like a god or a Buddha. Between its brows, upon its forehead, the dark mark suddenly began to writhe. After a moment Xiaohui abruptly raised its head, clenched both hands, and howled toward the heavens.

Ming Li, standing behind and about to charge forward, likewise halted his steps, staring blankly at Xiaohui as it underwent its transformation in midair.

The dark mark between the brows writhed ever more violently. Suddenly Xiaohui gave another shrill cry, and with it came a sound as of something tearing, a voiceless shout from the unseen—the dark mark split open, and a brilliant golden light shone out from within.

A third eye!

The three-eyed wondrous monkey!

The peerless marvel of legend, spirit of all living things, burst forth in transformation here within this flame-lit hall!