Volume 1, Chapter 18 – Whirlpool in the Night

South of Longhua Temple, out in the hills and fields, a dark figure was leaping and slipping along at speed.

After running for several li, the shadow ducked into the shade of an elm and pressed a spot on his ear.

“This is Ao Lin.”

“The item’s in hand. Preparing to pull out.”

[Efficiency’s not bad~!]

Cheers came over the other end.

[Even faster than expected. Seriously not a single guard?]

“It was supposed to be Huang Qian personally holding this post,” Ao Lin smiled at one corner of his mouth. “But these people can never tell what’s actually worth guarding…”

“I’ll make a loop before heading back. Shengge and Yang Xing, report!”

[No problem on my side~ Once they all gathered, I slipped right out~]

That was the waitress’s enchanting voice.

[But Yang Xing… he still hasn’t contacted me. I thought my channel was jammed—no signal on your side either?]

“Most likely something went wrong.” Ao Lin’s smile vanished.

Per the plan, Yang Xing didn’t need to take the field at all; just drive the Demon Pool ‘Shenli’ to sow chaos, let it butcher everyone—including the Fang family’s noble daughter—then withdraw.

‘Shenli’ is a complicated Demon Pool, and with Yang Xing—who had just begun to “stain the body”—guarding it from the side, anything short of Forge-the-Sword couldn’t have cleaned that up quickly.

For something so simple to go sideways—Ao Lin had a bad feeling: Yang Xing had probably been killed.

That was Protector Lü’s younger brother…

His heart sank. Ao Lin hesitated—should he circle back to check around No. 1 High?

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Suddenly! A warning flared in his gut. He looked up into the moonlight overhead and glimpsed a man standing on the treetop, the moon at his back, a long sword across his shoulders.

“Who?”

Backing off fast, he finally made out the newcomer’s outline: a Dao-robed elder, gaunt with jutting cheekbones, white brows and beard trailing to his chest, eye sockets hollowed—yet his eyes burned bright as torches.

“Zhou Jing’an!”

Ao Lin gnashed his teeth. “…You knew from the start our target was Longhua Temple?”

“A great demon at the Stain-the-Body stage.”

From above, the Daoist looked down at Ao Lin. “I wondered why you drew Huang Qian away. Turns out you were eyeing the secret treasure used to treat Hua’an.”

“Weren’t you trying to frame this old man?” He narrowed his eyes lazily. “Leave the treasure, and I’ll let you go.”

Save it for the ghosts!

Ao Lin clenched his jaw. Suddenly every pore on his body dilated, releasing torrents of thick, rank fluid.

The fluid caught fire in the wind, a skyful of black flames surging up. Ao Lin spat, whipping up a gale that drove the black blaze at the Daoist.

“Black Spittle Venomfire?”

The Daoist gave a soft chuckle. Unhurried, he drew his sword, set it upright before him, and closed his eyes.

“Fang King.”

The long sword glimmered with a dusky green light. From that glow a sinuous green serpent took form, swelling a hundredfold in the blink of an eye; it opened a bloody maw toward the black fire and swallowed the formation whole.

“Fang Wind.”

The Daoist pinched another sword seal and swept the blade. Bands of green light condensed midair into solid form—like gigantic, razor-sharp poisonous fangs—that slammed into the ground and detonated.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

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The earth heaved as if under missile strike. In the billowing dust, a figure was flung out—Ao Lin.

Barely managing to land, Ao Lin glanced around from the corner of his eye and blanched: the whole tract of forest had been flattened.

Pits gaped everywhere from the fang-blasts, and more terrifying still, a faint green mist wafted up from their depths.

“Qingya Dragon Python…” Ao Lin glared up at the Daoist, bitter unwillingness in his eyes.

He was this ragged, yet the other still stood atop the branch without moving a step.

The gap was too large.

Unwinnable head-on.

“Since you recognize the Qingya Dragon Python, you should know how fierce its poison is.” The Daoist nodded, stroking his beard. “Hand over the treasure, and I’ll spare you some pain.”

“The Qingya Dragon Python was a general of my Immortal Kingdom—you enslaved it by force!” Ao Lin snarled. “Heaven spat you out, and unwilling to accept a fate as blood-food, you shove the suffering onto others! This is the ‘human principle and Heavenly order’ you preach?”

“The weak are meat for the strong—that is Heaven’s order…”

The Daoist squinted; then, as if sensing something, his figure blurred atop the branch and in an instant shifted to stand before Ao Lin.

Squelch!

Ao Lin’s flesh split all over, bursting with sheets of black viscous fluid. As before, the stuff ignited on the wind, but the Daoist swatted it aside with a single wave.

“Ran?”

Gazing out over the empty wilds, the Daoist finally showed a trace of surprise.

“To neutralize Qingya’s poison, and that fast—could it be… the Jade Phoenix Sword?”

“Zhou Jing’an!!!”

A harsh shout split the sky from the horizon.

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Before the man appeared, a broad-bladed war sword plunged straight down out of the night, stabbing for the Daoist’s crown!

“Hmph!”

The Daoist swept his sword, sending arcs of green fang-light to clash with the war sword a hundred times over midair, only then bleeding off its momentum and knocking it aside to stick quivering in the earth.

“With a whoosh,” a black-faced strongman appeared beside the war sword. He yanked his own blade free to press the attack—when a cry sounded above: “Commandant, wait!”

Both men looked up to see the Chilong Circuit’s Watchman, Xu Zhe—white-haired, childlike face—wobbling in from afar astride a one-foot short sword.

“Commandant, wait!”

Barely touching down, Xu Zhe took a few breaths, then stepped forward to block the strongman. “This likely has nothing to do with him!”

“Wasn’t it his grandson who planted the Demon Pool?” the strongman demanded, furious. “And now he’s here in person! How could it be unrelated!”

“Commandant!” Xu Zhe cautioned. “Precisely because he’s here, I’m sure it’s unrelated!”

“Brute.” The Daoist slanted a contemptuous glance at the strongman. “If this old man truly meant to seize your things, how would you have intercepted me here?”

“Zhou Jing’an!” That stoked the strongman’s anger again, but with Xu Zhe repeatedly mediating, the mood finally eased.

“…It was the Demon-Immortal Dao!”

Xu Zhe said, “Plainly there’s a mole in the State Chancery. One prong plotted against the Fang family’s noble daughter to draw our eyes, while another struck Longhua Temple to steal the treasure Yuming lent to Master Hua’an for healing.”

“Dao Lord Zhou,” he turned to the Daoist, “the poisoning does touch your Dao. Even if your sect lets it pass, when Fang Xianzhang arrives he’ll still come looking for you.”

“What say you…”

“Zhou Ji will go to the Inspectorate tomorrow.”

After a moment’s silence, the Daoist spoke.

“This was demon-cult framing him. Watchman Xu, please speak on Zhou Ji’s behalf.”

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At last, a concession…

Xu Zhe let out a breath. After a few pleasantries, he and the strongman watched the Daoist depart.

“Letting him off that easy?”

The strongman—Huang Qian—still looked disgruntled.

“Fang Xianzhang is already en route. Someone will trouble Qingya soon enough; no need for us to stick our necks out.”

Xu Zhe shook his head, urging Huang Qian not to act on impulse.

“With the Jade Phoenix Sword stolen and Lady Fang endangered—with so many implicated in tonight’s harm—this is exactly when we must tread carefully.”

Huang Qian did the math and had to agree.

Master Hua’an, the Qingya Sword Dao, the Yuming Sword Dao, the State Chancery, the Demon-Immortal Dao… not to mention the Hantian Sword Dao behind Tao Shuohua.

With this many people and factions, a mere Commandant sticking his head up might just… vanish without knowing how.

“That girl—was she the adopted daughter Bai Shengju took in back then?”

Huang Qian asked, once more appreciating how much that student named Bai Xiang had done.

“Not really an adopted daughter—the age gap’s far too large.”

Xu Zhe thought for a moment, then seemed to recall something.

“But I do remember a rumor.”

“Her single name, ‘Xiang’—it was Master Hua’an who gave it to her.”