A black eagle alighted upon the cloudbank, transforming into a handsome young man with a bare torso. His exposed skin was covered in blood-slick wounds, demonic blood seeping down in thin rivulets.
He bent at the waist with humility. “Master, there’s a water demon watching this place.”
Gu Ruhui’s long, narrow eyes were cold. “I told you, you needn’t follow me.”
The eagle faltered, fell silent, and settled in a corner of the cloud. Suddenly his long brows drew together; he sprang into the sea with a clean dive.
A surge of spell power rippled from the depths. The deep blue water blossomed from pale to dark, blooming with a vivid red.
The shock of magic scattered the surrounding cloud-mist. How long had passed was impossible to tell.
At last, a small turtle bobbed to the surface. He wore an official’s cap and trembled as he paddled desperately towards Gu Ruhui.
“Your Excellency!”
Before he could come any closer, a snow-white streak of sword-light forced him back.
Gu Ruhui opened his eyes just as a great hawk burst from the water. Its wings were torn and bedraggled; it circled helplessly, finding nowhere to perch.
Suddenly its eyes brightened, and with careful flaps it settled upon the young swordsman’s raised arm.
Gu Ruhui regarded the hawk with icy indifference; its blood-stained feathers drooped pitifully.
The little turtle was so frightened his shell nearly came loose. He felt a cold surge of killing intent pierce straight down from his crown to his lungs. Terrified, he hurried to pledge himself.
“Benefactor, wait. This is all a misunderstanding! My brother below struck in error. I am the nine-thousand-nine-hundred-and-ninety-ninth Turtle Chancellor of the Dragon Palace. By divine oracle of the dragon clan, I have been stationed here to await a fated opportunity for the water tribes. Benefactor, you are the opportunity I have been waiting for!”
“What opportunity? Speak clearly.”
The Turtle Chancellor scratched behind his ears, trying to summarise the muddled oracle he had stammered his way through for days. But he only babbled and stumbled, then gave an embarrassed grin and lifted his own shell. “I-I…”
He was only a few hundred years old, newly transformed and thrust into office in haste. This was very much at the age of knowing absolutely nothing.
Gu Ruhui rose to his feet. “This opportunity… take me to see it.”
The Turtle Chancellor’s eyes lit up. He immediately summoned the crabs and prawns to bring forth the dragon boat, so the benefactor could be conveyed to the deep-sea straits.
The eagle, uneasy, asked quietly, “Why does Master wish to go? What if it is a trap?”
Gu Ruhui held his bamboo sword and gave no reply.
The dragon boat surfaced. The little turtle ushered the pair aboard, poured tea, and even organised a dance and musical performance by the prawns.
A troupe of untransformed water spirits wriggled and posed in their attempts at seduction. The eagle burst out laughing, licking his lips. Gu Ruhui shot him a glance; the eagle scratched his head and muttered, “I grew up by the sea cliffs. Used to go fishing. Delicious, it was.”
The dancing crab was so shocked its crab-roe nearly curdled.
The Turtle Chancellor crouched on the deck as the great fish soldiers gathered behind him. “Chancellor, are we really taking them? That sword cultivator looks like he has quite a background.”
By now, the little Turtle Chancellor’s eyes were sharp, none of his earlier panic or timidity to be seen. Hands on hips, he said, “A strong background is good. We can’t rely too much on oracles. Let’s gather more cultivators. An iron rod ground to a needle, and who knows, we might just pry the Dragon Palace open.”
“If the Dragon Palace doesn’t open, we get nothing. I only fear they won’t be greedy enough.”
The fish soldier hesitated. “And if it does open?”
The Turtle Chancellor said, “Then I’ll thank the heavens. Whatever treasures are inside, let him take as he pleases! And if he can’t open it, we’ll send him back. Without us he won’t find the Dragon Palace again. And if his intentions turn evil, we’ll toss them into the trench and feed them to the eels.”
The dragon boat was an ancient dilapidated relic, but astonishingly swift underwater. Before long, they had plunged into the deep sea.
The seabed was pitch-dark, lit only by faint glimmers of coral and crystal. Gu Ruhui stepped out of the cabin and beheld a deep grotto. Along the path the dragon boat cut, the light fell upon enormous dragon scales and gargantuan dragon bones buried in the narrow seabed passage.
The Dragon Might was vast as the sea itself. Even the bamboo sword trembled faintly.
They travelled through the cramped fissures between the dragon skeletons. The Turtle Chancellor abandoned the rudder and leapt to Gu Ruhui’s side. “Benefactor, this is it.”
Nestled in the crevice was a colossal, transparent crystal stone, radiant with light like a shimmering wall. Beyond it lay countless heavenly treasures, magical artefacts and immortal soldiers enough to make one’s heart race.
The Turtle Chancellor asked, “Do you know how to open it?”
The young man gazed at the crystal wall calmly, sensing the remnants of Dao-rhyme, the traces left behind.
His master’s wife wielded the Dragon Might Sword.
Dragons did not need magic weapons; they themselves were the laws of the Great Dao.
Gu Ruhui sought to comprehend even a sliver of the ancient dragon’s Dao-rhyme.
Eyes closed, hands clasped behind his back, he roamed and wandered freely within the rhythm of the Dao… unbound, like wind and rain. He heard the war-song of dragons, the booming of drums, distant roars. Cold raindrops seemed to strike his cheek, turning into searing flames.
He remained silent.
Who knew how long passed… three days, perhaps; two nights. The eagle, on the verge of draining himself of demonic energy and suffocating at the sea-bed, waited in agony.
The young swordsman finally opened his eyes and drew his sword.
The snow-white sword-light was barely perceptible. It was no more than a thread of silver. No sound, no grand vision. Merely a wisp of sword-light.
The Turtle Chancellor scrambled upright, staring fixedly.
Crack—
A fissure, fine as a cow’s hair, appeared in the crystal wall.
The crack was fine as a hair. Little Turtle Chancellor’s eyes bulged; his heart thumped wildly. He flung himself at Gu Ruhui, clutching the young man’s thigh.
“Benefactor! Benefactor! Strike it again. Just once more. Make it bigger this time!”
Gu Ruhui said, “The fated chance you seek does not lie with me.”
Little Turtle Chancellor cried, “A green-robed cultivator!”
“There are countless cultivators in green.”
The little chancellor decided to be honest. “A master of talismans!”
“I cultivate only the sword.”
The chancellor’s eyes brimmed with tears. “His surname is Xue.”
Gu Ruhui’s cold expression stalled. His gaze lowered a fraction. “What did you say?”
—
South Sea.
A high mountain outside the Temple of the Civil and Martial God.
“Are you truly going through with this?”
“I only meant to lodge a complaint, but they refused to give me the chance.”
Xue Cuo, dressed in deep blue and wearing a bamboo hat, stood balanced upon a treetop, idly chatting with Xuan Zhao. He held a lotus of Dao-rhyme, within which flickered a trace of foetal fire stolen from Reincarnation… already refined.
In a low voice he said, “Once a man reaches eighteen, he can’t keep using childish methods to solve his problems.”
Xuan Zhao spat, beard bristling as he glared. “And this is the brilliant plan you, an eighteen-year-old lad, have come up with? Let me possess the Earth God of Mount Qi-Lao and take a beating in his stead?”
Xue Cuo said, “Then I’ll send Ao Mu.”
The little golden dragon instantly poked his head out of Xue Cuo’s arms. “Eldest shixiong, Eldest shixiong, I’ll go!”
Xuan Zhao immediately hissed, “You? Can you shout as loudly as I can? Can you take a beating like I can? Think back. Three goddess-officials pounded my shell for three days and nights before I poked my head out to beg for mercy. And you think you can compare?”
“Master Xuan, your skill is unmatched,” Xue Cuo said gravely, bowing at once. He stuffed the little golden dragon back into his clothes and straightened his bamboo hat. “It’s about time. Let’s go.”
Xuan Zhao: “Very well.”
Temple of the South Sea Civil and Martial God-Lord
Night had fallen again; mortals had closed their shops and withdrawn indoors.
Suddenly lightning flickered across the heavens. A three-inch-tall earth god tumbled and rolled his way to the temple gates, screaming, “My lord, save me!”
At this hour, the local earth gods, mountain gods, weed spirits, and temple guardians were gather all inside, each busy sending off or welcoming gods. A great press of bodies, heads bobbing like an unruly crowd.
The gods stared, stunned. What impudent little creature was this?
“Who goes there? No clamour in the temple!”
The temple guardian snatched up the little land god and roared, “What wild spirit dares bellow in this place? Insolent! Fit for execution!”
The little land god flailed in terror, tears streaming. “Mercy, my lord! I-I am the Land God of Mount Qi-Lao! I came to the city out of helplessness. My lord, the murderous evil god is right behind me. He’s almost at the gates! He means to tear down the temple. He’ll kill me!”
The guardian burst out laughing. “An evil god? Entering the city? You’ve lost your wits, little one.”
The land god’s eyes darted slyly. “My lord, it’s the truth!”
“That evil god is the Great King Shui Lingzun of Qianyun City. He commands countless fierce generals, evil gods beyond number!”
“There’s the Second King, Fish-Head, who can lift mountains and uproot hills. The Third King, the Red-Tailed Fox, cunning beyond belief, a god-slayer by the dozens. And the Fourth King, the Crow who governs life and death, and kills with a single touch!”
“The Fifth King is even more terrifying. She can burn whole cities to ashes. They’re already planning to march, destroy the gods, seize the city, slice up the South Lord and eat him with salt!”
“Nonsense,” the guardian scoffed. “Qianyun City has only a few petty demons. You’ve been frightened into gibberish.”
“What cheek. Storming into the South Lord’s temple! We could crush you with one finger!”
“Likely died without paying taxes. Resentment congealed into a little spook. Frightened this land god out of his senses.”
Just then a tremendous crash boomed across the sky.
The gods all jumped and looked up. A mass of black cloud smothered the heavens. Atop it stood a man in blue robes, one hand holding a lotus, the other gripping a blood-smeared head. From high above he gazed down, oppressive enough that even the gods struggled to breathe.
A mournful icy wind swept down… and cold rain, scented faintly of blood.
The land god shrieked, “The evil god has come!” and promptly keeled over in a faint.
“Who are you!”
“Come down and make yourself known!”
Their only answer was a flurry of talismans of white paper with cinnabar script, fluttering like spirit money.
“Everyone run!”
The land god jerked back to life, leapt from the guardian’s palm, and fled straight into the crowd of minor gods. The lesser spirits, swept up in his panic, scattered in chaos.
The blue-robed figure gave a cold snort. In an instant, lightning crashed down in torrents, all of it chasing after the poor land god.
The South Lord’s temple fell into total disorder. Several minor gods mounted clouds, trying to fight the so-called evil god. But the gale above was too fierce; they could not break through.
A guard rushed over, compass spinning madly. “Big brother. That one up there really is a Xianghuo Divine Dao god! The compass is correct!”
The guardian god stared. “Then hurry. Fetch the temple officiant!”
“The officiant and the South Lord went out to a banquet. They haven’t returned!”
“Damn it, this spirit is here deliberately with ill intent for certain!” the guardian snapped. “State your origin! What god are you?”
The god atop the cloud answered with another crack of lightning, releasing the flames of Reincarnation. His voice rang clear and proper.
“I am the Sixth Great King of Qianyun City.”
Xue Cuo, acting with great enthusiasm, jumped down from the cloud and smashed the temple to pieces. A small auspicious cloud tail peeked from his arms, quietly pilfering offerings.
Xue Cuo: “…”
Both he and Xuan Zhao wrecked the place entirely, throwing spirits left and right, then took advantage of the mayhem to flee the city and head for the coast.
Xuan Zhao asked, “Are you sure this stunt will work?”
Xue Cuo replied, “Watch and you’ll see.”
They were still bickering when Xuan Zhao suddenly said, “Why is there an eagle up ahead? No, Xue Cuo. Look over there. Someone’s coming. He’s carrying a bamboo sword.”
