The two flew swiftly.
But the black dragon was swifter still. He neared a small riverside town and loosed a roar that stirred a gale.
Thunder rolled and lightning split the clouds. Torrential rain fell in sheets; the great river below surged and swelled. Should the banks give way, fertile fields would be lost and homes swept beneath the flood.
“This battle… when the dragon soars in heaven, bodes little fortune.”
The raindrops were icy cold.
The man’s voice, though calm, was as melodious as ever.
Yin Feixue, carrying his black blade, looked towards him, but dared not look too long. Half bewildered, half proud, he said, “Xue Yinbing, are you afraid?”
Xue Cuo gave a brief laugh. “If I were afraid, I wouldn’t have come.”
He waved his hand and lit a stick of incense, planting it upon a small incense burner in the downpour. “Your Majesty, stand guard for me for the time of one stick. If it burns out and I’ve yet to bring down the black dragon, if the evil god should rise, then you must flee.”
Yin Feixue took the burner and gripped his blade. “All right.”
His true body suffered disadvantage in the heavens, but Xue Cuo, with his Supreme Freedom Technique, could weave deftly through the storm.
The incense smoke rose straight as a column.
The black dragon above seemed to sense something and thrust its head from the clouds.
Upon its crown stood a Daoist in white gauze and a copper-coin mask. He leaned forward, robes billowing like vapour, and gazed downwards.
Whoosh—
Thirty-two blue talismans flew up, forming an unbreakable Daoist image: [Stars Shrouding the Moon].
Xue Cuo strode through the rain, step by step ascending into mid-air. The black dragon gave a thunderous roar. Bo Jinling, standing atop its head, said coldly, “Today marks the rebirth of the Supreme God. You and I belong to the same path, why press me so hard?”
Xue Cuo did not answer, but his expression already said everything.
Bo Jinling removed his mask, clutching the golden bell in one hand.
Between heaven and earth, the rain fell like fine silk, veiling his figure until he seemed to fade into mist.
Bo Jinling stared at him for a while, his gaze like ice, then suddenly shook the bell, driving the black dragon toward the town below.
He sought only living souls, for when the Supreme God revived, the god himself would join the battle.
Xue Cuo bent his fingers. The thirty-two talismans spun and merged into a swirling galaxy; the black dragon plunged within the Daoist image and lost its way.
Bo Jinling let out a low cry. Untying the golden bells that bound him, his body turned from white to black; his fair, ethereal features twisted into a green-faced, fanged Asura demon.
[Rakshasa Demon]
Shrouded in tattered white gauze, his skin darkened, his veins stood out like cords; no trace of hair or human warmth remained. Once unbound, his divine power surged. The red cords and golden bells shattered Xue Cuo’s Daoist image and hurtled toward him in a storm of killing intent.
Xue Cuo used the Daoist formation to parry him.
The two clashed in the skies, each wielding strange arts with Bo Jinling summoning the Rakshasa, and Xue Cuo veiled in azure water-silk.
Their divine paths collided with a deafening crash that shook the heavens.
Bo Jinling, eyes blazing scarlet, stood upon the dragon’s head and shouted.
“You and I are not enemies! Fellow Daoist Xue, the human world is rotten. Look at peddlers and slaves, nobles and courtiers! Fate is fixed from birth, passed down unchanging through generations. But if the world itself were a hell, and all men were fiends and slaves alike. Would that not be a truer equality?”
“If all are ugly, then ugliness ceases to exist.”
“If all lands are hells, then hell itself loses meaning.”
“Is that not better than suffering in misery while watching others revel in wealth and ease?”
“Fellow Daoist, you stop me only because you’ve not yet seen through your path!”
Xue Cuo was ever cold and sparing of words. He remained silent.
Bo Jinling laughed. “You cannot comprehend it. You cannot answer!”
A lightning flash tore across the sky, illuminating Xue Cuo’s face. His lips curved faintly as he breathed two soft words “Idiot.”
“That’s why you’ve ended up neither man nor ghost.”
Bo Jinling’s face darkened, his fangs lengthening.
Xue Cuo said, “Hell in every place? Why not paradise in every place? Peace and well-being for all?”
“You dwell in hell yourself, and you’d drag every other soul down with you. Bo Jinling, do you even consider whether you’re worthy?”
“Have you asked the billions of living beings, who among them wishes to die with you?”
“Was it the Dragon King you enslaved?”
“The creatures you slaughtered?”
“Dare you even speak?”
“Are you worthy?”
Bo Jinling roared in fury. “Silence! You know nothing of the Divine Way! Only through fear and awe can the world find unity! I am fit to be a god… to live as long as heaven and earth!”
Xue Cuo flicked his sleeve and said evenly, “Fit for nothing.”
Bo Jinling’s cords trembled with rage. He drove the golden dragon forward in blind wrath.
Xue Cuo raised his talismans once more… this time without restraint and borrowed the power of the storm itself. Each one was a summoning charm.
[Great Golden Crow God!]
[Your Ladyship!]
Behind him, a vast oceanic Dao-image unfurled. Within that sacred expanse loomed a divine figure. She was radiant in rosy light, her form merging with the rivers, a ship’s rudder haloed behind her head.
The goddess turned her gaze.
The golden dragon froze, trembling, unable to advance.
Bo Jinling’s face stiffened. Ten years of devotion. How could all his labour fall before a silver-tongued Daoist and his tricks?
[Evil]
[Extreme]
The golden dragon shuddered, eyes flooding red. The bone-piercing nails tore deeper into his flesh. Bo Jinling, forgetting all divine caution, called forth the manifestation of his god.
A faint bronze temple rose behind him; within it lay a corpse, head tilted toward the heavens, eyes wide in death. Yet from that lifeless shell burst a murderous aura so fierce it shattered the Great Loch Dao-image, engulfing the goddess’s shadow.
A thread of blood traced down Xue Cuo’s lips.
Bo Jinling’s divinity drew power from the blood of countless mortals; his true spirit resided within.
The god was on the brink of resurrection.
And so, come what may, he would fight head-on.
Xue Cuo gave a thin, cold smile. The talisman in his hand ignited. From the storming waters rose the blazing Golden Crow Sun Wheel, wreathed in flame, crying out as it hurtled straight toward Bo Jinling.
Bo Jinling’s face drained of colour. He spun sharply, the red cord in his hand unraveling into a silken ribbon that bound the Golden Crow Sun Wheel’s image. The golden bell upon it rang with killing force, shattering the divine flame.
Xue Cuo’s next talismans followed without pause.
“Ignite!”
“Calamity!”
“Bewilder!”
Bo Jinling, cornered and desperate, slammed a fierce palm against the black dragon and, gritting his teeth, wrenched out the thirty-two bone-piercing nails embedded in its body.
The revered deity could not be resurrected, and neither Ah-Mu nor he could ascend to godhood. The golden dragon, burdened with wrath and resentment, was on the brink of losing control.
“Ah-Mu!”
Bo Jinling’s eyes brimmed with tears, yet his hand moved with ruthless precision as he shook the soul-snatching bell.
“For the last time, die for me once more!”
“I’ll remember you through all my lives!”
As the thirty-two bone-piercing nails were pulled free, an aura of dreadful majesty erupted. Xue Cuo’s face paled; he immediately spun back, landing on a drifting wisp of cloud.
The black dragon’s body began to change. It swelled to twice its former size, the black miasma of resentment surging and receding against the gleam of gold scales.
He lowered his head, panting heavily.
Cold tears of blood slid from the dragon’s golden eyes. Looking down upon the earth, the golden dragon saw the river burst its banks, sweeping away houses, drowning thousands of fertile acres.
The creatures, the tiny mortals below were crying, begging for help.
But he could not.
He could not even save his own villagers.
He had slain them with his own hands, ripped out their hearts and livers. Even as they died, they begged only for mercy and they never once cursed him.
[Little Golden Dragon God]
The dragon’s pupils trembled violently, but at last were consumed by a flood of crimson. He threw back his head with a roar, obeying the only sound left to him. The bell. It then charged straight towards the village!
Rain poured down like a waterfall, thunder rolled through the wind.
A demon with a tiger’s head and a man’s body moved nimbly amid the chaos, kicking aside falling rocks and flinging two children up a hillside.
He darted through the yellow flood like a shadow. “This King’s not here to save anyone!”
Yin Feixue cursed under his breath, kicked away a piece of driftwood, and hauled several mortals to shore. Looking up, he saw the youth in blue locked in a furious duel with Bo Jinling… the battle twisting heaven and earth.
Pity Heaven wasn’t the King’s own domain.
Wiping the rain from his face, Yin Feixue suddenly noticed seven or eight plainly dressed cultivators. They had seen him too, their expressions wary.
“Hmph!”
Since ancient times, humans and demons have never coexisted!
Except for Xue Yinbing!
Yin Feixue turned and departed with a flourish, and none of the cultivators dared give chase. They hailed from small sects of the mortal realm. Having witnessed the celestial phenomenon above and the flooding of Hukou Town, they had followed their master’s command to rescue the living.
Most were seventeen or eighteen. They were the backbones of their humble sects. But being born of poor families in the human world, few had cultivated beyond the Spirit Void Realm.
“Shixiong, who was that tiger?”
“Don’t ask. Don’t look. Focus on saving people. Don’t invite trouble upon yourself.”
The senior shixiong tapped his junior’s forehead. “You’ll only bring calamity!”
Just then someone shouted, “There’s a baby floating in the water!”
The senior shixiong immediately blocked his juniors, shielding them. “The current’s fierce. How could a baby stay afloat? Beware! It may be a spirit taking advantage of the flood!”
“No, it’s not! Look, shixiong!”
A soaking-wet infant girl floated past, crying loudly. A great fish was pushing her along, nudging her safely to shore before diving back beneath the waves.
The disciples hurriedly scooped her up. She was cold, shivering, crying pitifully, so they took turns holding her close.
Some were rescuing the baby, others barred Yin Feixue’s path.
“Demon, such pure demonic power.”
One disciple, sword at his hip, eyed Yin Feixue with a smirk. “You and I are fated. I’ll keep you as my mount. How about it?”
Yin Feixue looked down at the incense burner in his hand. The cultivator noticed too and exclaimed, “Unaffected by water, its smoke rising straight. Golden sands within! A natural treasure. Truly fated for me!”
Before he could finish, a great blade came down and sheared off half his nose.
Yin Feixue tossed the incense burner lightly, a mocking smile on his lips. “My son. How dare you covet your grandfather’s relic?”
They clashed at once. Yin Feixue, a low-born demon, had cultivated to the Divine Void Realm even in the spiritual barrenness of the mortal world!
He had suffered a thousand defeats, slain ten thousand foes, and carved his bloody path all the way to the Heavenly Capital.
One Xue Yinbing had appeared in the mortal realm out of nowhere, and he was to bow his head? Since when did every stray cat or dog dare provoke him?
Murderous aura surged from Yin Feixue. The cultivator was no match for him. How could he have know that this tiger was actually at the Divine Void Realm and so ferocious? He quickly crushed a talisman.
“Come to my aid!”
“There’s a great treasure here!”
A voice replied through sound transmission: [Shixiong, what about the mortals here?]
[Ignore them! The more that die, the heavier the karmic burden and the greater our merit! Hurry over. This beast is f formidable!]
[Understood!]
Several streaks of light shot across the heavens.
Yin Feixue had sensed the disturbance long ago. He and Yinbing-xiong were attuned as one!
Rain dripped from the black blade.
Yin Feixue’s lips curled. He spread his arms and lifted off the ground, body light as mist. “Come then. Let’s see how well he’s mastered the stolen [Supreme Freedom Technique]!”
