Chapter 3365 — A Scapegoat
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Tuo'er Shan had struck with all his might, and he had not expected that He Yi, under the full combined assault of several men, could still struggle in his death throes. Though he hastily channeled his heart-method incantation to shield himself with true qi, it was already too late—and He Yi's Five Phases Reincarnation Fist was one of the Five Luminaries Sect's strongest techniques, second only to the Five Phases Eight Trigrams Palm.
But the higher the cultivator's rank, the more the flaws of the Five Phases Eight Trigrams Palm showed themselves. It had only ten forms, so Earth-rank cultivators could use it well enough, but once Heaven-rank cultivators employed it, its advantage was utterly lost.
The Five Phases Reincarnation Fist was different—though at the Earth rank it was not so formidable as the Five Phases Eight Trigrams Palm. Of course, this referred to the fist as it existed now, for the present Five Phases Reincarnation Fist was in truth an incomplete martial art. Originally, only those possessing the five phases' attributes could cultivate it, and like the Five Phases Eight Trigrams Palm, it could display its greatest power only when all the attributes were fused as one.
But though the sect was called the Five Luminaries Sect, how many within it possessed the five phases' attributes? Small wonder, then, that Patriarch Xuanchen set such store by Tagan Long and Tianchan.
In years past, a senior of the Five Luminaries Sect of surpassing talent had modified the Five Phases Reincarnation Fist so that any single one of the five attributes could unleash it—though its power was thereby much diminished. Even so, it remained far mightier than ordinary martial arts. Yet each unleashing had its drawback: it drained every ounce of physical strength and true qi from the body. Thus, unless there was no other choice, Xiao Yi would never have used it—but now he was certain to die, and there was no need to leave himself any way out.
The original Five Phases Reincarnation Fist was immensely powerful, mightier even than the Five Phases Eight Trigrams Palm—but it had been lost. After that senior took the Five Phases Reincarnation Fist away to modify it, he carried the original manual of its heart-method incantations into seclusion, hoping to perfect the version he had altered and see whether he could make it a martial art that cultivators of two or three attributes could unleash.
But that senior never emerged from seclusion. While modifying the manual he suffered a deviation and his body burst asunder, and the original manual of the Five Phases Eight Trigrams Palm was destroyed in the blast with him. From then on, the martial art was lost. Otherwise, Patriarch Xuanchen would surely have had Tagan Long and Tianchan cultivate the original Five Phases Reincarnation Fist.
"Boom—" Struck by He Yi's dying blow, Tuo'ertu Long was sent flying through the air. He crashed into the door and smashed clean through it, then landed in the corridor, blood streaming from all seven openings of his head—plainly he had suffered grave internal injuries.
He Yi laughed "ha ha" and collapsed on the spot, journeying to the Yellow Springs well satisfied.
As for Kang Jingming, he was frightened out of his wits. He did not know what had happened, or why Tuo'er Riyue had ordered He Yi killed the moment he entered—he himself had given no offense. He huddled to one side, trembling, at a loss what to do.
"Tuo'ertu Long!" Tuo'er Riyue roared, and rushed out of the room... (End of Volume Nine. The final volume, "Volume Ten: The Way of Heaven," begins tomorrow, and the book enters its closing chapters.) RS