Chapter 194 — Sword Qi Soars Above the South, Vast Righteousness Pierces the Vault of Heaven

Whoosh….

Whooosh——

The wind roared as it swept across the city. The streets were in complete chaos. Atop the highest pavilion of the imperial palace, Chen Shubao’s eyes widened as he watched a black shadow winding its way from outside the city toward this side.

“Th-this… what thing is that?”

That thing was already so large that distance no longer diminished it. In the instant it drew closer, its winding segments and long body, red head and long whiskers, could all be seen clearly. Amid the rumbling, muffled thunder, an even more enormous form behind it also became visible.

The emperor’s hair stood on end in that instant.

“Protect the emperor!!!”

As the panicked shout rang out, outside the city, five beams of divine light that had long been waiting revealed their Dharma Bodies. Yet for several years now, the capital’s City God incense had not prospered. Even the temple keeper had sought another livelihood. Only occasionally would a few faithful men and women come to offer sacrifice and sweep a little, which merely kept it from falling into a state of tangled cobwebs and dust blanketing the incense altar.

Seeing the gigantic centipede charging straight in, the City God, together with the four chief judges, could only exert their greatest Dharma power to intercept it.

Hiss——

The insect’s cry became clear. In the instant that the winding, long body flew in, behind it, the Toad Daoist opened his toad mouth wide. A long tongue shot out like lightning, coiling around the insect’s body and yanking backward.

Unable to advance, Pudu Cihang shrieked and writhed. Suddenly, it opened its mouthparts, and a brownish-yellow ray of light sprayed out, rapidly spreading toward the city wall.

Yin Gods, invisible to ordinary people, lined up before the city. 

“Block it!”

The white-robed City God hurled the ritual staff in his hand into the night sky. The chief judges on both sides almost simultaneously threw out the ritual implements in their hands, suspending them in midair. With his other hand, the City God pressed the tiger tally onto the netherworld arrest register.

In the instant the divine light shifted away from the tiger tally, it flashed brilliantly, joining with the five suspended implements above to lay down before the city wall a barrier mixed from incense-faith power and Dharma power.

In but a moment—

The brownish-yellow poisonous smoke slammed into the divine-light barrier, instantly producing a wide spread of sizzling corrosion sounds. The generals and soldiers atop the city wall could not see the barrier blocking outside; they only saw the smoke spewing from the monster’s mouth spreading everywhere beyond. Their faces went pale with fright. For a time, they even forgot to flee, gripping their weapons and trembling where they stood.

“Commander, the barrier can’t hold!”

As the Chief Judge maintaining the divine-light barrier forced out those words, in the darkness behind, the toad’s eyes glanced at the centipede, then toward the city—toward the countless humans running about in panic.

“…This old man’s time is running short.”

The next instant, the toad’s mouth slowly opened.

On the city wall, the sizzling sounds grew clearer. The hazy golden glow outside was being corroded until that layer of divine light trembled on the verge of collapse. Yet just as it was about to be pierced and surge into the city—

A gale howled. The qi that had seeped through cracks in the barrier suddenly reversed, together with the spreading poisonous smoke outside, forming a long vortex that rolled back upward, arcing through the air toward another enormous dark shadow.

Hooo… sss…

That was the sound of inhaling. The Toad Daoist’s cheeks caved inward, his toad mouth bulging outward, as the brownish-yellow poison smoke was sucked into a whirling funnel and drawn into his mouth.

Pudu Cihang tilted its red head slightly, opened its mouthparts, and hissed, “Toad, I’ll let you suck!” Then it spewed forth that ominously auspicious light-qi again, rushing toward the city.

“This old man will suck again!”

The sprayed poison smoke reversed once more, curving through the air into the Toad Daoist’s mouth. Inside his swollen white belly, gulong-gulong sounds rumbled like dry thunder rolling and exploding.

“I spray!”

“This old man sucks again!”

Between the insect and the toad, one exhaling and the other inhaling, it went back and forth several times. Lu Liangsheng came hurrying along the Toad Daoist’s footprints, carrying the Veiled Moon Sword in hand. Beside him was now a thick-bearded man, supported by the Daoist.

The rumbling sounds in the toad’s belly continued without cease. The scholar looked at his master’s body gradually changing color, then at the divine-light barrier swaying on the verge of collapse, and at the City God and the several judges. His hand unconsciously tightened around the sword hilt as he closed his eyes.

His teeth ground together with a chattering sound.

As if sensing Lu Liangsheng’s arrival, Pudu Cihang spat out another mouthful of poison smoke. Its suspended long body suddenly rammed toward the divine-light barrier. The city was reflected and magnified in its insect eyes. The hissing insect-cry sounded almost like laughter—

Then it turned into human speech.

“Lu Liangsheng, the Mysterious Yellow Qi of the Elixir Cauldron, is a method cultivated by this Venerable Master alone. The great toad’s cultivation is formidable—I am no match. But if ordinary people in the city encounter it, their bodies and bones will not remain. If you wish to save these mortals, then draw your sword and strike!”

“Liangsheng, you mustn’t—” the Toad’s voice spread outward as the suction in his mouth increased. “Let your master absorb it…”

Across his body, the dark purplish skin and warty lumps had turned red-violet.

Countless people in the city heard those words. Some screamed and stopped watching, turning to flee and crashing into those behind them, groaning in pain. Women hiding at home wept as they held trembling children against their shoulders. Husbands shut the windows, barred the doors, and anxiously hauled whatever they could move to pile behind them.

On the imperial palace pavilion, the emperor, his crown tassels askew, shoved aside the guards in terror and staggered toward the stairs.

The entire city was filled with chaos and spreading fear.

Outside the city, the wind roared. Within Pudu Cihang’s shout of “Strike!” and the Toad Daoist’s “Let your master inhale…”, there were also the wails of turmoil from the city.

Lu Liangsheng weakly opened his eyes. His clenched hand pulled upward on the sword hilt. The blade slowly slid from its scabbard, and the engraved patterns of drifting clouds and cold moonlight began to flow.

The Daoist hurriedly reached to grab his wrist. “Don’t be rash—” His fingertips had not yet touched when they were flung back as if struck by lightning.

“Strike, then—!”

“I’ll grant it to you!”

Pudu Cihang’s voice rang out again. At the same moment its hard, long whiskers pierced the divine-light barrier, Lu Liangsheng’s voice also sounded. A figure in white robes and a blue outer gown leapt skyward with a shua, sword in hand. Beneath the moonlight, he traced a long arc and, with a bang, landed on the tail of the insect’s body.

Tap tap tap tap…

His steps lifted the hem of his robe as he ran, his steps flew along the hard carapace. His temples’ hair streamed backward. Holding his body sideways, he gripped the sword across him. Along the blade of Veiled Moon, four beams of Dharma light flared—Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain.

“AAAAAAAH—!”

A hysterical roar shook the night sky. His form became a white afterimage, shooting upward like a cannonball. The sword edge quivered for a brief instant, then turned into a resonant, droning chant.

In the sight of countless people in the city, Dharma light illuminated the night.

The brownish-yellow qi rolled and scattered. Lu Liangsheng gripped the hilt; the blade blazed with radiance, dragging a tail of flame. His white robes and blue gown snapped loudly in the wind.

“I’ll grant your wish—!”

Pudu Cihang burst into loud laughter. Raising its long whiskers and red head, it met the descending Veiled Moon sword head-on.

BOOM!!

The sword tip pressed against the centipede’s crown. In the instant that fate, artifact, and wielder fused together, an immense white flash blazed past. With a bang, the arranged divine-light barrier shattered and scattered.

Moments later, as the light filling the vision faded, the soldiers atop the wall lifted their heads. A gigantic abdomen flew overhead into the city. They hurriedly turned. In their horrified gaze, the enormous centipede seemed drunk, lurching crookedly across the sky above the city, trailing wind as it smashed toward the imperial palace.

Boom!

On the palace wall, soldiers scattered in panic. In the instant they fled, the gate tower exploded with a thunderous crash. The tower, only recently repaired, burst apart. Fragments of wreckage and splinters sprayed outward. The massive dark shadow suspended above continued plunging forward. The glazed tiles atop one palace after another clattered wildly as they were scraped loose by its limp, dangling legs.

The emperor, who had fled down from the Yingchun Pavilion, screamed in terror, dragging his dragon robe as he ran. Hearing the rumbling thunder, he saw the black shadow smash through a corner tower and sweep toward him amid shattered bricks, beams, and debris.

“Ah—ah!”

Chen Shubao’s pupils dilated. Staggering backward, he stepped on his robe hem and fell with a thump onto the ground. In the cold moonlight before his eyes, the gigantic shadow crashed down onto the palace square, shoving up countless paving stones as it loomed larger and larger in his vision—revealing its savage form, and atop its head, the white-robed, blue-gowned scholar standing with sword in hand.