Chapter 16 Chapter Sixteen — The Red Robe Escapes

Li Daoxuan collapsed to the ground, wholly spent; his mana was wholly consumed.

It was only his earlier advancement in cultivation that had made it possible to drive four Tier-Two Five-Thunder Talismans at once.

He lay there, undignified, and in a haze seemed to see white-haired elders bowing their thanks to him, then vanishing.

Li Family Village, in this moment, was truly and completely gone.

In Li Daoxuan's mind, the Heaven-Subduing Demon Scripture blazed again, and lines of script appeared.

"Early Zhenguan, fifth month — at Li Family Village, slew one vengeful ghost. Reward gained: high-grade artifact 【Fish-Intestine Sword】!"

"The Fish-Intestine Sword (one of the Ten Famous Swords of the Spring and Autumn, the sword of absolute valor with which Zhuan Zhu stabbed King Liao; forged by the great smith Ou Yezi from tin of Mount Chijin and copper of the Ruoye Stream, tempered by rain and thunder to gather the essence of heaven and earth; one foot nine inches long, a sword of slaughter. Ministers used it to slay lords, sons to slay fathers, generation upon generation without end — thus it is steeped in killing aura, able to shake ghosts and awe gods, to drive off evil and cleanse demons!)"

Artifacts are graded in three ranks: high, middle, and low. Li Daoxuan had not expected a high-grade artifact — and an attack-type one at that. Sheer fortune!

Artifacts are precious indeed; take that burial robe which had so troubled Li Daoxuan — it too was an artifact, and not necessarily even high-grade.

The only pity was that the Fish-Intestine was a short sword; he had rather favored a long one.

Li Daoxuan sat up, gathered his spirit, and prepared to regulate his breath. As for the Fish-Intestine Sword, he did not draw it out for now.

Items granted by the Heaven-Subduing Demon Scripture could be kept within the book until he chose to extract them; once extracted, they could not be returned.

Tempting as it was to behold this high-grade artifact, Li Daoxuan held back — kept within the book, it served as a hidden ace, with the virtue of surprise.

But Li Daoxuan, lost in his joy, did not notice: behind him, the still-standing ghost bride had twitched a finger.

Her wedding robe grew viscous-red, like slurry, like blood, and began to flow upward, slowly soaking through the Paralysis Talisman.

The Paralysis Talisman was dyed red bit by bit; her red veil fluttered in the wind, and at last was blown up, carrying the talisman with it into the air.

…

Li Daoxuan was regulating his breath, restoring mana, when something dropped and landed on his head — silken, it felt.

With a faint fragrance still clinging to it.

He opened his eyes, pulled the thing from his head, and cursed. "What the— who's flinging red veils around—"

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He trailed off; Li Daoxuan's pupils clenched violently. That familiar red veil, and the talisman soaked through with fresh blood…

A vast chill enveloped him, limbs icy, body rigid.

A few strands of long hair fell, brushing Li Daoxuan's neck, and he shuddered, gooseflesh rising.

Run!

Li Daoxuan worked the sliver of mana he had just recovered, meaning to flee with Shrinking the Earth, Divine Striding — but in the next breath, a pain struck his chest. He looked down: a pale, slender hand had pierced his chest and now held a beating, crimson heart.

…

At the moment he saw his heart dug out, Li Daoxuan went ice-cold — yet strangely, he felt no pain.

Then came a crisp crack; Li Daoxuan saw the heart that had been dug from him turn to an ancient jade, crushed to pieces in the ghost bride's grip.

It was the jade Zhang Qianyang had given him!

Li Daoxuan's vision blurred; his body shifted through the air a dozen yards, escaping the ghost bride's grasp.

At this moment his heart brimmed with gratitude toward Zhang Qianyang. That jade must be a precious artifact indeed — not only warding demons and dispelling evil, but bearing an effect of death-substitution!

Without that jade, he would now be a corpse!

At once, Li Daoxuan took to his heels and ran for the door.

But countless black threads drifted in, wrapping and winding about his waist. Li Daoxuan looked down — hair!

In the next breath, he felt something climb onto his back; a hand wound about his neck, reaching for his eyes.

A ruthless light flashed in Li Daoxuan's eyes — even in death, he would bite the foe a good one!

Fish-Intestine Sword — extract!

A short sword suddenly appeared in Li Daoxuan's hand, hidden in a plain, blackened scabbard.

With a clear clang of steel, Li Daoxuan drew it.

Beneath the moonlight, the Fish-Intestine Sword seemed to shimmer with faint light; its blade was like an autumn stream, clear and bright, wrapped in thick killing aura, and it slashed at the ghost hand reaching for Li Daoxuan's eyes!

In Li Daoxuan's ears rang what seemed a shrill shriek; the ghost hand snapped back, as if wounded.

A surge of joy in Li Daoxuan's eyes — worthy of a high-grade artifact, it worked indeed!

He struck again, at the long hair about his waist; in the next breath, beneath the Fish-Intestine's edge, those black tresses were severed in an instant, dissolving into black qi and vanishing.

An ordinary pig-slaughtering knife, having taken many lives, will gather killing aura and gain power to awe ghosts and gods. And the Fish-Intestine, a sword of slaughter, passed through countless assassins' hands over hundreds of years and revered as a treasure — how much blood it had drunk! Its killing aura was so strong it could wound even a Red Robe!

Yet Li Daoxuan did not think that, sword in hand, he could kill this fearsome Red Robe vengeful ghost. He did not even turn to glimpse the bride's face, but seized the chance to flee!

But the instant he threw open the shrine's great door, blood like a tide poured in and washed him back. The blood was like ocean waves, and swiftly turned the shrine into a crimson sea; Li Daoxuan plunged into the blood-sea, breath failing.

He knew he had been struck by illusion — all this was the Red Robe's conjured falsehood. But knowing was one thing; the real sensation fully forbade him to ignore it. He clutched the Fish-Intestine Sword and slashed all around, yet struck nothing.

Gradually Li Daoxuan's head began to swim; the light before his eyes dimmed; his face turned blue-violet. That suffocating feeling was all too real.

He tried to swim upward, but a hand seized his foot and dragged him down…

He knew not how long passed before Li Daoxuan could hold on no longer and fell wholly unconscious, even the Fish-Intestine Sword in his grip loosening.

Was this how he died?

A thick unwillingness filled Li Daoxuan's heart. Too much remained undone; he had yet to cultivate to immortality, to live forever; he had lived more than twenty years and never once been in love…

Damn it — had he known he'd die here, he'd have turned to see what the ghost woman looked like. Perhaps he would finally have seen her face…

Whether illusion or not, in the instant he blacked out, he fancied he heard Zhang Qianyang's voice.

In that voice was anger, and a trace of self-reproach.

"Taiyi Heavenly Gang, sword sweeps the eight directions; slay demons, execute ghosts, govern the capital and pacify the yang — swiftly, swiftly, as the law commands — sever!"