Chapter 203 — The Mysterious Figure

Within the courtyard of the mortuary, calm returned for the moment. But on the other side of the yard, Zhou Yixuan and his two companions, who had just slipped over to the wall meaning to steal away, turned back in astonishment, plainly having never expected the enemy to break Zhou Yixuan's spell so swiftly.

With no illusion left to block the way, turning tail and running was clearly a laughable, foolish notion. The three of them faltered, then slowly turned around, while that mysterious figure pressed in closer, advancing step by step. The black silhouette carried a dense, murderous air; within the mortuary, a killing stillness reigned.

Zhou Yixuan's brows were locked tight, plainly troubled by something, yet as he watched that black figure draw nearer and nearer, he felt only that life and death hung upon a single breath.

Xiao Wan's expression shifted; all at once she made to step forward and meet the foe, but before she could take a single step, Zhou Yixuan hauled her back, hissing low: "Nonsense! This one is no trifling matter—not something a child like you can handle."

Xiao Wan was taken aback, and turned to Zhou Yixuan in astonishment, as though she had never in her life seen her grandfather so tense and cautious. Then she heard the approaching black shadow pause, and a hoarse voice say coldly: "That illusion you just used—was it..."

He got only half the words out before Zhou Yixuan, as though past all caring, flung both arms sharply upward. In his palms now appeared, astonishingly, no fewer than eight yellow paper talismans.

The night wind swept past, and all eight talismans ignited at once, sparks of fire dancing wildly upon Zhou Yixuan's palms as though in a frenzy, lighting his eyes until they glittered.

"Ho! Five Ding, host of ghosts, return from the Yellow Springs;

Phantom forms and shadow-flight—by my command, I summon you!"

Almost on the heels of Zhou Yixuan's cry, a great wind erupted within the mortuary, sand and stones racing, and from every direction it came howling in. The mysterious man's figure halted, as though caught off guard, and he turned his attention warily to his surroundings. As Zhou Yixuan's incantation left his lips, five muffled booms—boom, boom, boom, boom, boom—sounded in the empty air beside him; the three figures swayed faintly, then fell still once more.

The gale howled, rolling the yellow sand back upon itself, flinging it in gusts against the mysterious man, whipping his garments so they streamed and cracked. Yet amid the tempest the black aura upon his face did not stir in the least, and a cold laugh rang out from him once more.

The man abruptly abandoned the three who were working their spell, and suddenly retreated six steps in succession. With a soft shout, his left hand plunged toward the ground; a ring of blue light stabbed instantly downward, and the hard earth burst open with a crash. Somehow, amid the wavering, glittering blue radiance, the distant figures of Zhou Yixuan and the other two began to tremble violently, and from beneath the ground there burst a cry sharp with pain:

"Aiya!"

The blue gleam flashed and was gone. Within the mortuary the gale fell off sharply, and the sand and stones gradually settled. A moment later, in the place where Zhou Yixuan and his companions had stood, the ground suddenly split with a bursting report, and then—with a tremendous crash—a great pit was blown open outright. The three figures that had stood there vanished in an instant; at some unknowable point they had become mere phantoms.

And out of the great pit in the ground, amid a few startled cries and yelps of pain, three figures came tumbling and stumbling—thud, thud, thud—and who should they be but Zhou Yixuan and his companions? Their faces were much begrimed with dust; Zhou Yixuan's was mottled black and blue, plainly the worse for a hidden thrashing, yet he seemed to have no time to spare for such matters: he only lifted his head to look at the mysterious man, his face full of astonishment.

That eerie, mysterious figure stood coldly at a distance, watching them. He gave a snort and said in his hoarse voice: "I never thought you'd know spells long lost to the world—the Five Ding Golden Armor, the Little Ghosts' Hauling—and that you could work both of those strange arts at once with Earth Escape. I nearly underestimated you. In such arts alone, I fear there is no one in the world who surpasses you."

Zhou Yixuan's face was grave; comical as he looked, he said in a low voice: "How did you see through it?"

The man said lightly: "Did you not say I was of the Canglan Sect? These little tricks of the jianghu were the Canglan Patriarch's stock-in-trade in his day. Even if I cannot work them, could I fail to recognize them?"

Zhou Yixuan slowly rose to his feet, yet his mind was racing. Facing this mysterious figure, he truly felt himself outmatched: the man's cultivation was unfathomably deep, and he feared that in all the world there was none to stand against him. What bewildered him was that this man seemed to be of the Canglan Sect, and his attainment in the Way of Supreme Mystery and Pure Clarity was the highest Zhou Yixuan had ever seen—yet the murderous aura upon him was likewise heavier than any he had ever known. How could such a person exist, and why would he appear late at night within this mortuary of the flying corpse?