Chapter 165 — Dust of the Mortal World
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 2 of 5
Lu Xueling's body gave a start, as though she had been startled from a dream. She turned to look, her lips parting slightly as if about to speak—but when she saw it was Xiao Yichen, she suddenly closed her mouth again, drew a deep breath, and then flew off on her sword, rejoining the battle. Xiao Yichen was baffled; he could not shake the feeling that Lu Xueling was greatly strange today. But then he recalled that this fellow disciple of his, who seemed like a celestial immortal, had always been cold and solitary by nature—and at this critical juncture of the battle, he thought for a moment, then put such thoughts behind him and charged back into the fight.
The black clouds in the sky rolled in, churning without cease. Beneath them, the beasts and the humans alike fought with equal ferocity. Yet the tide of battle, in the end, was turning ever more favorable—and reflected on the faces of the three righteous leaders standing on the heights, even their originally taut expressions were finally beginning to relax.
Despite the grievous cost, once several dozen elders joined the fight, the momentum of the six gigantic beasts—previously unstoppable—was immediately checked, then gradually beaten back; and through the concerted efforts of all, first the White Bone Snake Demon, and then two other great beasts, were slain one after another.
Though in killing these gigantic demons the righteous path—elders included—suffered heavy casualties, the momentum of the battle was, bit by bit, wrested back. The ordinary beast-demons, though still numbering countless in a black mass, had their ferocity sharply diminished by the deaths of the great beasts. Moreover, though ordinary Qingyun disciples might not match the finest in dharma, they were more than a match for these common beast-demons; and with everyone linked together, the curtain of light grew all the more impregnable.
With half the great beasts dealt with, more masters converged upon the remaining three. Anyone could see that these gigantic demons were the very war-souls of the beast horde. Under the assault of these deeply cultivated righteous elders and the finest of the younger generation, amid the blazing brilliance filling the sky and the sharp rays of countless rare treasures, the last three great beasts could hold out no longer, and one by one they fell, amid shrill, furious, anguished howls.
The beast horde fell into utter chaos; clearly even these mindless beasts had an instinctive sense that things had gone badly. The righteous side, by contrast, was greatly heartened, their will to fight surging at last. The radiant curtain of light blazed brighter and pressed outward, and amid a spray of beast blood and flying flesh, drove the horde back.
Amid a chaos of panicked howls, countless beasts bayed at the heavens, their cries mournful and shrill—and the merciless curtain of light came crashing down upon them. What splashes of blood and desolation did it scatter?
And amid that countless howling, in the vault of heaven, the rolling black clouds suddenly froze—as if the world itself had abruptly congealed. And then, a faint glimmer of light pierced through the dark, silent storm clouds!
White—a tiny, faint white glimmer!
In an instant, the black clouds burst apart with a roar, like a gale sweeping heaven and earth, blowing across the wind and rain of the whole sky. From the deepest heart of those clouds, a vast vortex suddenly spun outward at furious speed, countless threads of black cloud-vapor drawn into it and then scattered, leaving no trace behind.
A youth's figure emerged, gazing expressionlessly at the war-torn mountain and the blood-soaked world below—looking down from on high like a deity of legend. His black hair drifted in the wind, and behind him a strange black beast, now large and now small, shifted restlessly, giving low growls.