Chapter 213 — The Inner Demon
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 3 of 6
In truth, the Fuxing Tripod's power had long since become unrecognizable over these ten years. With the aid of Mr. Gui, Hades had deciphered the inscriptions on the vessel and gathered the vital essence of spirit beasts to activate the "Four Spirits Blood Array." At present the Fuxing Tripod already held the spiritual power of three divine beasts — the Kui Ox, the Yellow Bird, and the Torch Dragon. Taotie, though a beast of another order, was decidedly the weaker against the power of those three; and moreover this ancient artifact, the Fuxing Tripod, possessed a strange magic of its own — the stronger the spirit beasts' power, the more fearsome the demonic force of the Four Spirits Blood Array it drew forth. At the first clash, Taotie was instantly subdued.
Now the red light flickered, seeming almost solid, wrapping and binding Taotie's huge body tight. Taotie trembled all over, in the utmost agony, yet could not stir in the slightest; even the roars from its throat swiftly sank low, leaving only the sound of panting.
In the stone chamber the reek of blood grew heavier. Hades gazed at Taotie, sprawled on the ground and unable to move, a wild joy flashing in his eyes; suddenly he threw back his head and laughed aloud, his manner utterly unlike his usual self, like a madman.
At this strange moment, suddenly came a furious "squeak-squeak-squeak-squeak," and Taotie, bound tight by the red light, turned its head with difficulty to look — and there indeed was Little Gray, who had resolutely leapt into the air and bounded to Taotie's side, reaching out a hand to help. But the red light, though it looked a mere phantom glow, made Little Gray cry out the moment its hand touched it, and it sprang away, having plainly come off the worse.
Little Gray bared its teeth and grimaced, furious beyond measure, showing its fangs at Hades in open provocation. Hades — at what point none could say — beneath that flickering, blood-red glow, had seen his own eyes turn blood red. Now he wheeled about, killing intent surging in an instant; without another word a gust of black qi leapt up and shot straight out from the red light at Little Gray.
Little Gray was, of course, no oil lamp to be snuffed out so easily. The good-for-nothing monkey, angry though it was, could see the vicious gleam trembling in that black qi and would not meet it head-on; it sprang aside several times in succession and dodged clear.
The strike missed. With a long cry Hades's black qi suddenly doubled in speed, and at the same time seemed to divide into several streaks, each black bolt like lightning, slashing down from every direction.
The little devil dodged and darted, using hands and feet alike, barely slipping clear in the space between a hair's breadth, yet its peril was plain to see — several times it came near to being struck by the black qi. And Hades, for some reason, showed not the least mercy even toward such a monkey; within the black qi came suddenly another low cry, and wind and cloud gathered to congeal out of thin air a blood-red palm that smote down from above. Little Gray, already hard pressed on every side by the black qi, now had no road left to retreat; it seemed certain it would be struck by that blood-red palm print.
At this critical juncture, an arm suddenly reached out from the side, passed through the whistling, murderous black qi and bloody glow, seized the monkey by the tail, and tugged; Little Gray's body flew up at once and hurtled backward, and the savage black qi that had blocked its way behind it had, at some unknown moment, been scattered aside.