by Jeremy Bai
“What’s that?”
“Magic. Dark magic. If you’re serious about attacking them, this will ensure our victory. There’s no way that Sunan and Bao can deal with an army of slink demons from the underworld.”
***
Hui leaned back against the tree and pushed her hand down over the wound on her thigh, hoping to staunch some of the blood flow. She had other more superficial cuts and wounds, ensuring that her gray robe was now more than half soaked with blood. But the thigh wound was the worst of all. Hui could tell that the stab of the Love General’s spear had missed the major blood vessel, otherwise she would already have passed out and would most likely be dead.
I was careless, she thought. Careless and unlucky. I can’t believe ogres are this strong. Maybe I should have just spoken to Sunan and Bao directly.
The Love General stood over her, spear leveled at in the direction of her throat.
Hui looked up at her with a grimace. “Well, go ahead and do it.”
The Love General looked down at her for a moment, then waved her hand, causing the spear to shrink back down into the form of an ebony hairpin, which she placed into her sleeve. “I have no desire to kill you. What I said was the truth. I’m here to watch over Sunan.”
Hui wasn’t sure what to think of this. “But why? You’re one of the ogre generals! It’s your scheming that led to the Massacre of the Yangu Plains!”
The Love General frowned. “Massacre of the Yangu Plains? Are you mad? The King of the Pure Ones hasn’t even sent a single soldier to the Yangu Plains.”
Hui shook her head to try to clear it. “You will be responsible. In the future.”
“In the future? What are you? A prophet? An immortal?”
“It doesn’t matter. Even if you don’t kill me, I’m still dead. I’ll bleed to death unless someone treats this wound.”
The Love General looked down at Hui for another long moment, then reached into her robe and produced a medicinal pill bottle. “Crush these pills into a paste and apply it to the wound. You’ll recover within a few days.”
She tossed the pill bottle down to Hui.
“Why are you doing this?” Hui asked.
“I don’t know who you are or where you come from, but I can see you mean Sunan no harm. For the moment, that’s enough for me to trust you. Unfortunately, you lack fighting experience, and eventually Sunan himself will surpass you. How will you help him then?”
Hui looked at the medicinal pill bottle for a moment, then back up at the Love General. “Knowledge.”
The Love General’s eyes narrowed for a moment, and then she nodded. “Don’t get in my way again.”
With that, she lowered herself into a crouch, then leapt into the air, transforming back into a beautiful zhen bird, which slowly flew higher and higher into the evening sky.
***
The two sects continued to march south through the unnamed mountains. Considering how far away they were from the most populated and “civilized” parts of the empire, these mountains were considered relatively wild lands. No maps existed that Sunan and Bao could procure, so they were forced to send out scouts and rely on the information brought back before making decisions about the exact path of travel.
One morning, as the sun was just rising, Sunan sneezed and woke up. After opening his eyes, he found an envelope lying next to him on the ground, his name written on the front in flowing calligraphy. Upon opening the envelope, he found a piece of thin paper folded inside with the following message.
Sunan: The Golden Immortal leads bandits and soldiers to attack you from the east and south. Lead your people into the ravine to the west. Hurry.
Not bothering to wake Bao, he went directly to Wang Tian and showed him the message. Wang Tian didn’t need any orders. He immediately woke four of the Eyes of the Phoenix and sent them out to scout.
Sunan inquired with the guards on duty, but none of them had seen anyone enter or exit his tent. After the Eyes of the Phoenix left, Sunan finally went to wake Bao.
When she saw the message, she frowned. “This calligraphy looks like it was written by a woman.”
Sunan frowned. “Perhaps. Sun Mai’s calligraphy is fairly flowery, and he’s not a woman.”
“True,” Bao replied. “Whether it’s a man or woman doesn’t matter too much. Whoever it was, how did they get a message into your tent? And how do they know that the Golden Immortal is leading troops our way?”
No amount of supposition or theorization on their part led anywhere. Preferring to play things safe, they roused the camp and issued orders to prepare to march in battle formation. Dragon Lord Sima Zikang’s decision to train in military formations during their time at Mount Fohe had not been a waste.
As the camp was being cleared and the ranks were forming, the scouts returned from the east and south within minutes of each other.
“Chieftainess. Sect Leader. It’s true. There seem to be about four hundred men marching on us from the south.”
“There are men coming from the east, too. Perhaps three hundred.”
The two sects immediately began to march to the west. Not too much time passed before the scout returned from that direction.
“Chieftainess. Sect Leader. There is indeed a ravine to the west. It seems like an ideal location to hole up for a fight. I rode the length of the ravine, and I even scouted the northern ridge. I didn’t see anything untoward.”
At this point, Bao and Sunan handed control of both sects over to Dragon Lord Sima. As they closed in on the ravine, he personally deployed the troop formations, including sending a contingent of archers to the north ridge, which was slightly higher than the south ridge.
By the time the enemy troops arrived, the two sects were completely arrayed for battle.
The enemies seemed to be mostly bandits, wearing a mishmash of armor and carrying a variety of weapons. A few Demon Emperor soldiers could be seen among them, and in the lead of the entire force was a very familiar face: the Golden Immortal.
“Where’s Geng Long?” Bao muttered through gritted teeth.
“Who’s that?”
“The one who poisoned me,” she replied, her eyes flashing with flames of rage. “I knew him back in Yu Zhing. I expected him to be here too.”
When Sunan looked over and saw the look in Bao’s eye, he decided not to ask any more questions.
The Golden Immortal didn’t waste any time. With a simple gesture and a barked command, he sent his men charging toward the mouth of the ravine, pinning down the archers on the north ridge with crossbow fire.
The bandits had numbers on their side, but the two sects were superior fighters, and their front line didn’t budge. In fact, it began to creep forward.
Dragon Lord Sima remained on horseback, barking out orders as necessary.
After the fighting had been going on for roughly half an hour, Dragon Lord Sima approached Bao and Sunan.
“Sect Leader. Chieftainess. Something seems odd here. These bandits aren’t fighting to break our lines. They seem hesitant. Like they’re waiting for something.”
“A trap?” Bao asked.
“Perhaps.” Dragon Lord Sima looked back in the direction of the fighting. “Plus, they have hundreds of men in reserve. We may want to consider breaking through their lines and bringing the fight to the Golden Immortal.”
After observing the fighting for another minute or two, Bao looked over at Sunan. “Sect Leader, I have an idea.”
Before she had a chance to speak any further, Sunan squinted his eyes and pointed at the south ridge. “What’s that?”
Bao and Dragon Lord Sima turned their heads.
“Is that the Bone General?” Dragon Lord Sima exclaimed.
“No,” Bao replied. “But it’s a Bone Slicer all right. Same type of armor. That’s Geng Long!”
“What is he doing up there?”
Bao began to walk toward the south ridge. “I don’t know, but it can’t be good.”
Before she even took t
wo steps, Geng Long cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, “Hey Bao, I have a little gift for you. Hope you enjoy it. Bitch!”
With that, he pulled an ornate scroll case out and opened it. A scroll painting unfurled, although from such a distance, it was impossible to make out any details on the painting. However, the details didn’t matter. As soon as the scroll opened, the ink on its surface began to swirl and bubble. Rumbling sounds could be heard, like distant thunder, and then a shadowy figure emerged from the scroll.
It stood about knee high and resembled a skinned cat, with blood dripping down its exposed muscles and a vicious-looking face complete with glowing green eyes.
Then another appeared, and another. After jumping out of the scroll painting, they began to leap off the edge of the south ridge and scramble down the slope.
More and more of them poured out of the painting. Soon there were ten, then twenty, then fifty. They emerged in seemingly endless waves, emitting yowling screeches that grated at the ears and tugged at the soul.
Geng Long began to laugh uproariously.
Chapter 60: An Offer
If Dragon Lord Sima Zikang was shocked by the sight of dozens of catlike demons racing down the slope, he didn’t show it. Before the first of the creatures could even get halfway down to the bottom of the slope, he shouted, “Golden Dragon squads four and six, Pure Phoenix squads five and seven, reform to the south!”
Four squads of fighters ran to meet the cat demons.
Within moments, bizarre, otherworldly screeches filled the air, and blood began to splash. The Golden Dragons and Pure Phoenixes soon found that although the bizarre cats were ferociously strong and terrifyingly vicious, they could die just as any living animal could die.
However, the cat demons had not stopped pouring out of Geng Long’s painting.
“Dammit,” Sunan said. “How many of those things does he have?”
Dragon Lord Sima began to shake his head slowly. “There are already enough to threaten to overwhelm us. Any more and…”
The demons continued to pour out of the painting, accompanied by Geng Long’s maniacal laughter.
Sunan gritted his teeth. “Who is this psycho…?”
“The biggest bastard in the world,” Bao snarled.
However many cats the fighters killed, more popped up to replace them.
The lines were holding but clearly wouldn’t continue to do so for much longer.
“Sunan,” Bao said, her voice low. “I think we need to use that technique.”
He looked over at her. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
Sima Zikang turned his attention from the cat demons to look at Bao and Sunan. “Which technique are you talking about?”
Bao clenched her fists. “The technique we learned in the cave beneath Mount Fohe.”
“You learned a technique there?”
Sunan took a deep breath. “Yes. We saw an ancient battle. Or rather, participated in it. There was a war in which a dragon warrior and a phoenix warrior fought against an army from Emo-Cheng. An army of demons. In the end, the dragon and the phoenix combined their power into a single strike…”
“And wiped out the entire army of demons,” Bao concluded. She took a step forward. “Sunan, are you ready?”
He gritted his teeth. “I… I don’t know. We’ve never even practiced this.”
“We practiced it on that ancient battlefield.”
“That wasn’t us! What if we can’t control it?”
A demon cat pounced on one of the Pure Phoenixes and ripped his throat out. Two nearby Golden Dragons hacked the cat with their sabers, killing it. Then they lunged to fill the spot vacated by the now-dead Pure Phoenix fighter.
“Dammit!” Sunan muttered. “Bao…”
“Look, Sunan, you have to trust yourself. Be confident in your abilities and your skill. We did this before in that ancient illusory world. We can do it again.”
Sunan took a step forward. “Fine. Let’s do it. Let’s unleash the Dragon Phoenix Strike.”
Bao looked over at him and grinned. “You mean the Phoenix Dragon Strike? This was my idea.”
He chuckled. “Fine. The Phoenix Dragon Strike. Dragon Lord Sima, once we start moving, have the men make room.”
Dragon Lord Sima nodded.
Without any further discussion, Bao and Sunan accelerated into a run.
Behind them, Dragon Lord Sima called out, “Squads four through seven, Rippling Willow Formation!”
The Golden Dragons and Pure Phoenixes fighting the cat demons quickly began to execute one of the many maneuvers they had practiced. As Bao and Sunan neared, they formed a wedge shape, then surged forward, pushing the cat demons back in a sudden vicious charge. Then, just as quickly, they fell back, inverting the wedge shape to leave a wide opening in the middle.
The cat demons were taken by surprise. As their front lines scrambled to recover from the sudden charge, Bao and Sunan leapt into the gap that had been opened. They touched hands left to right and extended their other hands forward.
Neither of them spoke a word, nor did they shout the name of the technique, as had become the convention among qi fighters.
As their hands shoved forward, a flood of qi erupted, two blazing streams of energy, one of which vaguely resembled a dragon, the other, a phoenix. The streams of energy combined, causing intense rumbling sounds to echo in all directions. The ground trembled, and a powerful wind kicked up.
When the blast of energy slammed into the first of the demon cats, they trembled, and their eyes began to bulge. Then, after only a breath of time passed, they exploded into clouds of blood, gore, and bone.
Then the cat demons behind them exploded, one after another.
The massive wave of energy surged up the steep slope, completely destroying every cat demon it touched and also destroying any plants and vegetation in the area. Blood began to fall like rain, accompanied by the miserable screams of the cats.
Geng Long’s eyes went wide as he stood there, the scroll painting still held in his hand, still belching out more cat demons.
As the flood of qi energy bore down on him, his jaw dropped, and his hand began to tremble.
It was only when the energy was about six meters away from him that he finally reacted, dropping the painting, planting his foot down, and pushing backward in an attempt to evade the blast.
However, he was too slow. The scroll painting was caught up by the flood of energy and shredded into pieces, and then the blast slammed into him.
Geng Long let out a miserable scream as he was sent tumbling backward like a kite with its string cut.
He flipped head over heels, blood spraying out of his mouth. By that point, he was out of Bao and Sunan’s line of sight, but they could hear his cry, and then it was cut short with a thudding sound.
It was in that moment that the blast of energy faded away, and the fighters relaxed the ready stances they had assumed before looking around. The few cat demons that hadn’t been caught up in the blast were being dispatched by the Golden Dragons and Pure Phoenixes that were near the outskirts of the blast radius.
At the entrance to the ravine, the fighting had stopped. Bandits and Demon Emperor soldiers alike were looking over toward Bao and Sunan and the blood-soaked ravine wall, their expressions that of shock and horror. Even the Golden Dragons and Pure Phoenixes fighting on the front lines were clearly shaken.
As for the Golden Immortal, his eyes were wide, and although no one could see it, his hands were trembling.
A short moment of silence followed.
Bao and Sunan were breathing heavily. They had just unleashed a powerful cathartic attack that had killed nearly a hundred or more cat demons, draining them significantly. However, they still had a bit of energy left to fight.
The silence was broken by Dragon Lord Sima. “Push the attack! Elephant Crushing Formation!”
A cheer rose up from the Golden Dragons and Pure Phoenixes, and battle cries began to ring o
ut as they executed the offensive formation, pushing hard against the bandits and soldiers.
Bao’s eyes flashed with flames of fury. “If Geng Long didn’t die, then I’m going to finish the job.”
Without another word to Sunan, she sped up the slope.
Sunan looked at the fighting, then turned his head to Dragon Lord Sima.
Sima Zikang quickly assessed the battlefield, then said, “The Golden Immortal is fleeing. The battle is ours. Go.”
Sunan nodded, then sped after Bao.
***
Geng Long was no fool. He had grown up on the streets of Yu Zhing, stealing, scheming, plotting, conniving, and even murdering his way into positions of power. Eventually he’d wormed his way into the Bone Slicers, where he felt right at home.
When Bao and Sunan unleashed power that seemed to surpass the level of mortal beings, Geng Long was temporarily stunned into immobility. By the time he regained his senses and attempted to evade the blast, it was too late, and he was thrown back violently from the edge of the ravine.
Thankfully, he had chosen to wear his Bone Slicer armor for the battle, something he rarely did. He preferred to skulk in the shadows and slice throats, not fight on a battlefield. It was his decision to wear that armor that saved his life. Not only did it provide a level of protection from the tail end of the blast of energy, it absorbed some of the force of the blow he sustained when he slammed into a tree a few meters away from the edge of the slope.
By that time, the pain wracking his body forced him into a position of clarity. And because of the intense sensation of deadly crisis that rose up from the pit of his stomach, his reactions were even quicker than normal.
As he fell toward the ground, he twisted to the left. Landing in a crouching position, he didn’t hesitate to burst into motion. Drawing upon the energy in his body, he moved with speed that surpassed even the best qinggong techniques of the Pure Phoenix Sect.
In the blink of an eye, he was gone.