Blade - Unbound

The ridge where Sha Lifei and the others had taken position was not particularly high.

Thus, Peerless Yuan and Venerable Xiaoyue charged up the slope one after the other. Wary of arrows from above, they constantly tacked to and fro as they rapidly closed the distance.

But they were outpaced by the giant hornets.

Buzzz! Buzzz! Buzzz!

The droning of countless wings quickly reached the ears of the three men.

Lu San frowned. "This is bad. These venomous hornets have been refined by someone. They're extremely agitated. I can't drive them away."

"Leave it to this Daoist!" Without another word, Wang Daoxuan wrapped yarrow stalks around his fingers, formed a hand seal, and began chanting. "Nuogao, three stars upon the left, three prisons upon the right. Heaven overturns and Earth reverses. All nine paths are sealed. Let your mind be lost as east become west, south become north..."

This was the Thousand Gold Protection!

The moment the spell was completed, a formidable aura erupted outward.

Buzzz! Buzzz! Buzzz!

The hornets that had been rushing toward them immediately descended into chaos. Instead of attacking the three men, they scattered wildly in every direction.

Below, Daoist Bao let out a disdainful sneer. "A protection spell?"

He drew another yellow talisman from his robes, stepped in a celestial formation while muttering an incantation, and then slapped the talisman onto the gourd.

No one knew what was hidden inside the gourd, but the instant the talisman adhered to the gourd, it began rocking violently from side to side. High-pitched squeals immediately rang out, as though something inside was suffering immense pain.

Savagery filled Daoist Bao's eyes as he snapped, "You still dare resist?"

As he spoke, he bit the tip of his tongue and sprayed a mouthful of blood onto the talisman.

Buzzz! Buzzz! Buzzz!

The swarm overhead immediately regrouped. Ignoring their instinctive terror of the protection spell, they once again charged toward the three men.

Above, Wang Daoxuan felt his chest tighten. Without hesitation, he bit his fingertip until it bled, picked up the Soul-Calming Bell beside him, rapidly drew a talisman upon it, and once again cast the Thousand Gold Protection.

It was an idea he had learned from Li Yan. Casting the spell through the Soul-Calming Bell greatly amplified its power.

Many of the hornets were shaken by the bell's ringing before they could even approach. They dropped one after another onto the ground with soft thuds, fluttering their wings helplessly as they struggled in a dazed stupor.

"Hurry, disrupt that man!"

Wang Daoxuan could clearly feel himself reaching his limit. He knew the cultivator below possessed greater cultivation than he did, and was likely at the third level of cultivation. It was only a matter of time before his defenses collapsed.

Lu San sprang to his feet and drew the bone-club firearm from his waist. "There's no time!"

But by then, Peerless Yuan and Venerable Xiaoyue had already reached the mountainside. They were less than one hundred and fifty chi away! In moments, they would be upon them.

The moment Sha Lifei saw the situation, he immediately abandoned the idea of extending the fuse.

"Fuck! What's the rush?!"

Their plan had been a good one. But with only hurried preparations, they had ultimately been too late. Seeing no other alternative, Sha Lifei simply lit the Fire Caltrop immediately. Grasping the chain attached to its top, he swung it twice like a meteor hammer before hurling it forward with a whistle.

Well, that was the proper way to use a Fire Caltrop.

According to the Military Classic, it was originally a weapon for defending city walls. When deployed, iron spikes were heated red-hot and embedded into the fireball. Siege engines then hurled it toward choke points through which enemy cavalry had to pass.

Upon exploding, it scattered iron caltrops in every direction, crippling horses by shredding their legs and hooves. While waiting in the village outside Chang'an, Sha Lifei had happened upon a kiln. Having already prepared some gunpowder beforehand, he had taken the opportunity to recreate the weapon.

Of course, his Fire Caltrop was not a complete replica. The true military version used an iron sphere. His version substituted a clay jar instead, with sharpened iron fragments affixed to its exterior. It was much smaller than an actual one, but for battles in the jianghu, it was more than sufficient.

Peerless Yuan was nothing more than a brute. He had never read the Military Classic. Seeing the object flying toward him, he assumed it was merely a meteor hammer. With a cold laugh, he reached out and caught it using a clever technique, intending to throw it right back.

The instant it landed in his hand, he realized something was terribly wrong. A muffled explosion erupted as smoke billowed everywhere. Peerless Yuan was blasted clean off his feet and hurled backward. Along with the smooth blast, he crashed heavily onto the ground.

His face, chest, and abdomen were embedded with jagged iron fragments and shards of shattered pottery. Blood seeped from countless wounds, turning his entire body into a blood-soaked gourd.

There was no movement left as he lay motionless on the ground.

"Hahaha!"

Sha Lifei simply couldn't hold it in anymore and burst into laughter. Of course, he had no time to mock them further. Over on Wang Daoxuan's side, things were already on the verge of collapse. The most urgent task was interrupting the cultivator below with the hornets.

In a flurry, Sha Lifei hurriedly pulled out another Bamboo Thunder Arrow.

At this distance, the flintlock pistol had no chance of hitting its target. The Bamboo Thunder Arrow also possessed only limited destructive power. But those performing mystic arts dreaded being startled above all else.

Once the flow of qi was thrown into disorder, their technique might face a massive backlash.

Just then, Venerable Xiaoyue suddenly let out a thunderous roar as he burst forward. His left hand formed the Buddhist Fearlessness Seal. "Go, go, go beyond..."

The moment the three men heard his voice, their bodies turned stiff. Almost involuntarily, they looked toward Venerable Xiaoyue and saw his deathly pale eye.

The sound of Buddhist chanting grew louder and louder around them as their minds gradually became ensnared by that solitary eye.

Wang Daoxuan was the first to regain his senses. He quickly bit down hard on the tip of his tongue and yelled, "This is bad, he's using a bewitching art!"

Furiously shaking the Soul-Calming Bell, he once again cast the Thousand Gold Protection. This time, it was partly to block the swarm of hornets and partly to awaken the others.

However, Daoist Bao possessed cultivation at the third level while Venerable Xiaoyue reached the second level. With Wang Daoxuan's strength alone, he simply could not hold them back.

Still chanting his incantation, Venerable Xiaoyue steadily advanced. Within moments, he quickly arrived before them. A savage grin spread across his face as he raised his crescent moon spade.

Bang!

Smoke drifted from the muzzle of Sha Life’s flintlock firearm. It was pointed straight at Venerable Xiaoyue. Looking into his eyes, one saw only crafty amusement. There was no sign whatsoever that he had fallen under the spell.

Venerable Xiaoyue's face filled with utter disbelief. "You..."

Slowly, he looked down at his chest, as blood poured from the giant cavity where his heart used to sit. In an instant, his monk's robe was stained crimson.

By then, Lu San had also recovered. A throwing shuttle[ref]thin and long throwing knife-like weapon[\ref] appeared in his hand.

He hurled it with a powerful flick. That had always been Lu San's signature weapon. In the past, he had fought using throwing shuttles paired with a dagger. Now he had also acquired the firearm, and had been practicing how to use it every day.

Thud!

The throwing shuttle buried itself in Venerable Xiaoyue. Without uttering so much as a groan, he collapsed stiffly onto the ground.

Only then did Sha Lifei let out a long breath of relief. "That sneaky bastard... Good thing Brother Yan gave me this."

Reaching into his collar, he pulled out an object. It was a talisman carved from thunderstruck wood. Its surface was engraved with divine figures and densely packed inscriptions in gold thread.

It was Xiong Baodong's Six Ding Six Jia Protection Talisman.

Li Yan was no saint. When he had killed Xiong Baodong, he had naturally taken the treasure along with it. The talisman truly was extraordinary. However, since they were all cultivators, wearing it would interfere with their mystic arts. In the end, they left it in Sha Lifei’s hands.

With the talisman and his firearm, Sha Lifei had displayed overwhelming prowess throughout the battle. Thinking it over carefully, the majority of their enemies had actually died at his hands.

Meanwhile, Wang Daoxuan finally ceased casting the Thousand Gold Protection. He collapsed limply onto the ground with a deathly pale face. Cold sweat covered his forehead.

Buzzz! Buzzz! Buzzz!

The swarm of hornets gathered together once more before turning and flying back down the mountain.

Looking below, Li Yan had already emerged from the tomb. He had cut down the bandits who were releasing the poisonous smoke. Then, taking advantage of the chaos, he silently closed in on whoever was left.

Silver Snake already lay dead upon the ground, a throwing knife buried in her body. Daoist Bao, meanwhile, was panicking as he frantically waved a burning yellow talisman, attempting to recall the hornets to defend him.

But Li Yan didn’t move. He simply stood where he was as he waited patiently. His objective had always been to relieve the pressure on Wang Daoxuan and the others.

Daoist Bao naturally understood that. But when an expert capable of casually killing a master at the Jin Transformation Realm closed the distance, how could he not panic? While recalling the swarm of hornets, he drew the treasured sword at his waist. He flourished it into position, lowered his stance, and leveled the tip directly at Li Yan.

He was actually a highly skilled swordsman.

Li Yan remained completely unfazed. He waited until the poisonous hornets were almost back before suddenly leaping forward with both feet. Stepping forward in a fierce charge, he slashed his blade upward at Daoist Bao's neck.

His movement technique doesn't seem all that fast...

Daoist Bao was puzzled. Just as he was about to raise his sword to block, the sound of rattling chains suddenly echoed beside his ear, and his body instantly stiffened.

He had awakened a hearing divine ability, which had allowed him to avoid Li Yan's sneak attack before. As for the Soul-Hooking Chain, he wasn't able to hear it during the Lantern Festival as too many things were happening and everything was too loud, but it was in his face this time.

Unfortunately, understanding had come too late. The instant his soul was suppressed, Li Yan had already swept past him. His blade flashed once, and the Daoist's head flew into the air before tumbling onto the ground.

That was the true might of the underworld divine ability. Ordinary divine abilities could only be used for detection. Most mystic arts required preparing materials, stepping in celestial formations, chanting incantations, and forming hand seals. The greater the power, the longer the preparation.

The underworld divine ability, however, could be cast without preparation. Combined with martial arts, they granted Li Yan an overwhelming advantage at his current stage. If he caught an opponent off guard, he could even slay true experts.

The moment Daoist Bao died, the yellow talisman attached to the gourd burst into flames on its own. The gourd suddenly swayed twice on the spot as though it were alive. The countless hornets immediately descended and circled protectively around it, seemingly warning Li Yan not to approach.

Li Yan sniffed lightly, his eyes filled with interest. "A demon? How interesting..."

Holding up his Eight Trigram Mirror, Wang Daoxuan aimed it toward the distant gourd. He dampened a sheet of yellow talisman paper, formed a hand seal, and pasted it over the face of the mirror.

Watching the patterns slowly emerge upon its surface, he exclaimed in surprise, "This thing... really is a demon!"

The Eight Trigram Mirror was also known as a Demon-Revealing Mirror, capable of revealing the true form of a demon. Yet strangely, the image that appeared was still a gourd. Inside it, however, was something resembling a honeycomb.

Sha Lifei's eyes immediately lit up. "I once heard the storyteller at the teahouse talk about the Investiture of the Gods. There was a gourd in it that released poisonous bees. Could this be that very treasure?"

Wang Daoxuan laughed. "That was a spiritual treasure, and besides, it came from a later work of fiction. It has nothing to do with this. This thing itself is a demon!"

"Huh?" Looking at the large gourd completely surrounded by poisonous hornets, Sha Lifei wore a puzzled expression. "A gourd can become a demon too? Is it like the Pipa Spirit?"

Lu San's face grew solemn. "Completely different."

He started to make strange sounds as he slowly approached the gourd.

Buzzz! Buzzz! Buzzz!

The surrounding hornets immediately grew agitated, and Lu San promptly halted. The strange sounds continued flowing from his mouth resembled an ancient and desolate song. It was also filled with rapid rolling consonants.

The sound struck Li Yan as strangely familiar. Suddenly, realization flashed through his mind.

"Spirit language!"

"That's right. It's the spirit language." Wang Daoxuan stroked his beard and nodded with a smile. "I never expected Brother Lu to know it as well."

Sha Lifei looked utterly bewildered. "What's spirit language?"

After thinking for a moment, Wang Daoxuan explained, "Many spirits, demons, and malevolent entities come into being through fortunate coincidence. They naturally know the spirit language from birth.

"It is said to originate from the secret arts of ancient shamans and spirit mediums. The spirit-medium disciples of the northern frontier, who constantly deal with foxes, weasels, hedgehogs, and snakes, also speak this language.

"Brother Lu's lineage... perhaps has some connection to the ancient shamans."

As he spoke, movement suddenly came from the gourd and the swarm of hornets gradually calmed. The gourd itself began rocking gently, producing a series of clicking sounds from within.

It, too, was speaking the spirit language.

Lu San leaned in, listening carefully. From time to time he nodded. Only after quite a while did he stand up and turn to the other three. "I've figured out its origins. It was originally a heavenly spiritual treasure nurtured by Mount Lao itself. Later, a colony of wild bees built a hive inside it, giving birth to intelligence.

"It was originally meant to enter the service of the Mountain God and receive the incense offerings of that region. But Daoist Bao plucked it away, ruining its cultivation. It had no choice but to become a demon.

"Daoist Bao then used a forbidden demon-binding technique to enslave it, constantly forcing it to harm people. Now it can't even move. It's terribly frightened and is begging us not to destroy it."

The three of them clicked their tongues in amazement.

Remembering the danger they had just faced, Sha Lifei's heart immediately began itching. He suddenly spoke up. "Brother Lu. You can tell it we'll spare it, but it nearly killed us just now. It has to acknowledge you as its master!"

"Well..."

Lu San was clearly tempted, yet he also looked rather embarrassed. He understood exactly what Sha Lifei meant.

But to him, the animals and spirits of heaven and earth were no different from people. Doing something like that felt a little too much like taking advantage of someone in their hour of need.

Seeing his hesitation, Wang Daoxuan stroked his beard and smiled. "Brother Lu needn't feel troubled. No one else can understand what it says. Since it can't move on its own, if it ever harms someone while defending itself and falls into the hands of the Taixuan Orthodox Sect, they'll most likely burn it alive.

"At least if it follows you, it won't harm innocent people."

"Mmm."

That argument was impossible to refute. Lu San hesitated no longer. Stepping forward, he spoke another string of gibberish in spirit language.

As it turned out, he had been overthinking things. The moment the treasured gourd heard his proposal, it immediately agreed. Its only request was that it receive daily incense offerings, along with a little honey and fruit to eat.

The treasure also possessed another characteristic. It loved feeding on poisonous gu insects. After another exchange in spirit language, Lu San immediately walked over to Silver Snake's corpse. Finding several bamboo tubes on her person, he emptied all the bizarre-looking insects inside onto the ground.

Buzzz! Buzzz! Buzzz!

Before the gu insects could even scatter, the swarm of hornets descended in a frenzy, devouring every last one of them. Only when they were done did they all fly back into the gourd.

Lu San stepped forward, replaced the stopper, and lifted the gourd into his hands. His face was filled with delight, and he simply couldn't bear to put it down.

Caw!

Accompanied by a crisp eagle's cry, the hawk descended from the sky and landed upon Lu San's shoulder, leisurely preening its feathers.

Sha Lifei watched with unconcealed envy. "Brother Lu San, you've got to look after me from now on."

Embarrassed, Lu San scratched his head. "Well, you're actually pretty amazing too. You've got real talent for firearms. It's just that you talk a little too much."

Sha Lifei immediately protested loudly, "Hey! What do you mean I talk too much? You really don't know how to compliment someone!"

He reached out to pat Lu San on the shoulder, only to have the hawk nearly peck his hand. He was so annoyed he almost exploded right there and then.

Perhaps because he had obtained such a precious treasure, Lu San, whose face was usually as expressionless as wood, finally wore that childlike smile once again.

***

Two days later, the group set out once more.

Li Yan remained behind to consolidate the cultivation he had gained from the Northern Emperor Yin Mountain Rite, while Sha Lifei and the other two dealt with the aftermath.

After all, they had used a considerable amount of gunpowder. They had to erase the traces as much as possible.

The corpses were piled together and burned to ashes. Naturally, their spoils were substantial as well. There was no need to mention the treasured gourd. All of Silver Snake's gu insects had been devoured, leaving behind only strange dried grasses, mushroom powders, and various other peculiar materials. Unable to identify them, they simply packed everything together, intending to sell them to someone knowledgeable after reaching Mount Hua.

As for the lecherous Venerable Xiaoyue, his primary cultivation lay in bewitching arts. The string of prayer beads hanging around his neck had been fashioned from human bones. He also carried several aphrodisiac drugs.

They group simply threw everything into the fire and burned it to nothing.

Daoist Bao's belongings, including the yellow talisman paper, incense candles used for crafting talismans, and his treasured sword, were all handed over to Wang Daoxuan.

As for the bandits, a few explosive packs had failed to detonate. Sha Lifei carefully dismantled them and sealed away the gunpowder for future use.

What was more important was that they found over ten thousand taels' worth of banknotes on the three cultivators. When added to the ninety thousand taels earned from selling the qualification tokens, along with their previous savings, the little group's funds now exceeded one hundred thousand taels.

Even so, neither Li Yan nor Sha Lifei felt the slightest excitement. There were simply too many things that they needed to accomplish on their trip to Mount Hua.

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