Chapter 80 — The Eighth Chapter
劍問蒼天 · Page 5 of 7
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?"