Chapter 169 — The Demonic Beast
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 6 of 6
As though sensing its master's fury, Soul Devourer slowly rose into the air; across its pitch-black surface, vein-like dark red stripes lit up one by one, mirrored in Ming Li's eyes, dyeing his pupils slowly blood red.
"Zheng!"
A clear sword-hum startled him; Ming Li slowly turned his head, and in those blood-red eyes he saw the cold, scornful expression of Lin Jinghong ahead.
"You truly are beyond saving!" Lin Jinghong said decisively. "I should have known long ago—once you fell into the demonic path, there was no turning back. It was folly in me to remember old ties and hope you would return. So be it—today, here on Canglan Mountain, we settle it once and for all!"
Ming Li looked at him a long while, then suddenly burst out laughing, the laughter growing wilder and wilder, full of arrogance and scorn.
Lin Jinghong flew into a rage; with an angry shout he traced a sword formula, and at once emerald light surged. The radiance of the Dragon-Slaying Sword seemed to turn into an azure dragon, soaring into the air. In an instant a fierce wind rose before the Illusory Moon Cavern; Lin Jinghong leaped up, divine sword in hand, white robes fluttering, handsome and elegant, truly like a dragon among men, soaring aloof from the world. Only the killing intent in his eyes now was fierce enough to match Ming Li's.
He was still in midair when the Dragon-Slaying Sword struck down; far off as he was, the sword radiance came surging like an azure dragon, irresistible, tearing a deep furrow in the ground as it rushed straight at Ming Li.
Ming Li's face still wore that mad, almost hideous expression; seeing the emerald radiance sweep toward him, his body suddenly vanished like a ghost.
The Dragon-Slaying Sword's radiance struck where Ming Li had stood, shattering the hard stone beneath into four or five pieces and blasting out a great crater. The next moment Ming Li's uncanny figure suddenly appeared a zhang before Lin Jinghong; Soul Devourer burst forth with a roar, red light blazing, shrieking as it flew at him, the fierce wind stinging the face—he too held nothing back.
Lin Jinghong was startled but not thrown into confusion; his figure shot straight up, evading that blow of immense force, and turning, he drove his sword and charged. Ming Li gave a long laugh and did not dodge, meeting him head-on; Soul Devourer flew back to his hand like lightning, and he rushed at Lin Jinghong.
Thus did two childhood playmates glare at each other in fury, fighting to the death.
Like arrows loosed from the string, they crashed together in midair!
In an instant a wild wind rose on every side; with the two in midair as their center, invisible sound waves surged outward, and the trees nearby were torn up by the roots and flung flying. At the heart of the storm, pain flickered across both their faces almost at once, and across Ming Li's face there even flashed a faint golden gleam.
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This duel in the back mountain of the Heaven-Reaching Peak—as the wind swept over the towering ridges and crags and carried it afar, it was already too faint to hear; and besides, at this moment, between heaven and earth, among all things in the world, who still had thought for them?
In the sky above there was a far more important contest of dharma!
Only, amid the crowd, for some unknown reason, Lu Xueling's body suddenly gave a start, and across her face, strangely, a faint golden gleam flashed and was gone. She turned her head in astonishment, her body somewhat stiff, and gazed far into the distance—toward that remote, desolate place of the back mountain…