Chapter 209 — The Eight-Abyssal Fire Dragon

Xiaobai descended slowly from the sky and alighted on the ground. Watching the white light flickering ahead and the wretched state of the Fenxia Valley crowd, she gave a cold laugh and let out a long breath. Though she had attained the Way a thousand years ago, she was decidedly no merciful, magnanimous immortal figure; imprisoned by Fenxia Valley within the Xuanhuo Altar for several hundred years, that foul grievance—though she had lightly let it pass that day—was such that not seeking trouble with the people of Fenxia Valley was already cause for those disciples to burn incense in gratitude. Now they had delivered themselves to her door, and as it happened, after her talk with Ming Li her mood was already foul; truly they had walked straight into the muzzle of her gun.

It was at this very moment that, all at once, a chill ran through the heart of the smugly triumphant Xiaobai. A feeling of palpitation such as she had never known surged up violently from the depths of her heart, and her chest gave several involuntary, violent throbs.

An ancient and savage power was slowly rising ahead, in the depths of this ancient cave for suppressing demons, as though it had slumbered for a thousand years, ten thousand years, and had at last awakened for the first time. And the mere beginning of this awakening had already turned heaven and earth pale.

Rumbling thunder came slowly from the depths of the earth; violent tremors immediately surged in from afar like waves, and the ground began to shake fiercely. This time countless massive boulders began to fall in succession, as though they simply could not withstand the rebirth of this colossal power.

Everyone turned pale with fright. In the panic, Zeng Shuyan gathered all his strength and shouted loudly to Li Xun, "Brother Li, it is far too dangerous here—we had best get out first!"

Li Xun's face was pale. He struck away a white orb rushing at him with a single sword stroke, but in his flustered state he used somewhat too much force; after the orb was sent flying several feet away, it split into two identical orbs that once more gathered strength in midair and looked about to charge again. Yet ever since this sudden upheaval, Xiaobai seemed distracted, and her sorcery was unleashed much more slowly; the speed of these orbs too had slowed.

Li Xun, who had been hard pressed all along, his face alternating between green and white, suddenly clenched his teeth and shouted loudly, "Everyone out! I will hold the rear."

So saying, he leapt into the air, and at once his sword radiance blazed forth, for a time holding back the greater part of the white orbs. The Fenxia Valley crowd had always respected him; hearing this, and then looking at the situation around them, they saw indeed that this was no place to linger, and so they all rushed pell-mell toward the cave mouth. But Li Xun seemed to have no intention of leaving. Zeng Shuyan flew over, blocking several impacts of white orbs for him in succession, and shouted, "Brother Li, why aren't you leaving?"

A flicker of hesitation crossed Li Xun's face, and he said, "But... Junior Sister Lu is still inside."

Zeng Shuyan knitted his brows and said angrily, "Junior Sister Lu has deep cultivation; she may well be unharmed. Persisting like this will only harm others and yourself!"

Li Xun's expression shifted several times, but he saw only that the tremors around them grew ever more violent, and that the falling rocks, after so long, showed no sign of abating but rather of intensifying. He gave a long sigh, and at last flew back and away.

Zeng Shuyan cast one glance into the depths of the cave, and then he too went out.

Every word of their exchange fell upon Xiaobai's ears, yet to her it seemed that, save for a faint cold laugh, nothing stirred the strings of her heart. The white orbs in the hollow moved ever more slowly; after the figures of Li Xun and Zeng Shuyan had swiftly vanished, the white orbs, having lost their targets, gradually halted in midair, then slowly gathered, gently merged, and once more condensed into a single white orb, which flew toward Xiaobai.

Xiaobai turned slowly and gazed into the depths of the cave.

That ancient, colossal power was still steadily intensifying, and Xiaobai could even distinctly sense the incomparably mighty force of destruction it contained. The surrounding rock walls still crumbled in their ceaseless trembling, shedding stones large and small that crashed to the ground amid the rumbling; yet within three feet of her figure, not a single stone could strike her body.

The white orb flew back to her side, and like a tiny sprite it danced and circled about her, as though trying to fathom its mistress's mind.

Yet on her master's dazed and forlorn face there was nothing but worry and loss.

And at that very moment, within that deep darkness, a roar burst forth with a thunderous crash, like a giant dragon's long cry, a dragon's song raised to the heavens.

That mysterious ancient power had finally awakened completely!

The vast stone chamber was wholly engulfed in an intense firelight; the darkness that had come before was driven out utterly, until not a shred of shadow remained. This radiance far surpassed any light in the world; it made one feel that even if the blazing sun of the heavens were to descend, it could likely be no brighter than this.

The Crimson Flame Beast, once so formidable, would have seemed no more than a single spark of firefly glow beside it.

Within this terrifying power, the most searing place was undoubtedly the revolving halo of the Eight Fierce Deities that still endured there, spinning at frantic speed and flickering with an eerie aura. There the flames the Beast Lord had once merged into had grown ever more white-hot, and the mystic incantations filling the air ever more urgent.

The heart of the flame, ceaselessly expanding and faintly contracting and swelling, was like an egg of crimson fire being hatched, gestating something dreadful; and as the surrounding temperature went on climbing at a furious pace, that ancient and mysterious place was bit by bit gathering the strength it had lost for tens of millions of years, descending upon this world once more.

Lu Xueling and Ming Li had both been squeezed all the way back against the walls at the very edge of the stone chamber; the overwhelming power of the blaze seemed to be roasting their bodies and souls, wringing out every drop of moisture in them.

There was no sweat, for every bead of it had turned to vapor before it could even surface; within the roaring flames, their flushed faces were reflected.

Lu Xueling suddenly sensed something and looked toward Ming Li beside her. At some unknown moment, the man had taken hold of her hand. She felt no astonishment or surprise, even here in this sea of fire of despair, facing that unknown mysterious power.

In her palm, at her fingertips, there came warmth.

She must have known it once before, must have known it thus ten years ago, that past of hands tightly clasped in the darkness!

Ming Li shifted, leaving the wall the two of them had leaned against, and placed himself in front of Lu Xueling. A pale cyan light, shot through with faint glimmers of gold, flashed from his hand and formed a wall of light before him.

At once the searing heat eased greatly; yet Ming Li's back gave a slight shudder, and then he drew a deep breath.

Suddenly, the hand in his palm gripped him hard, and from behind him a pale blue radiance rose. At first it seemed somewhat at odds with the cyan light, jarring and out of place, but very quickly the two lights merged into one and formed a stronger wall of light to withstand the dreadful crimson flames.

The man's shoulders, the man's back, standing silently before her; Lu Xueling held his hand tightly, and at the corner of her mouth, beneath that firelight filling the sky, there was a faint smile.