Volume One: The Dragon Rises in the Wilds Chapter Ninety-Eight: I Am Here

With a thunderous crack, a streak of sword light came lashing in. Tao Feng swung his blade to meet it, but the impact sent him flying backward. He slammed to the ground with a dull thud. Several companions rushed forward in alarm to help him up. He staggered to his feet, blood leaking from his nose and mouth, his face wild with madness. Suddenly wrenching free of his companions, he shouted hoarsely, “Run for your lives...”

Again and again, sword light flashed. Two more men fell into the pool of blood.

Several cultivators, together with a band of sect disciples, had blocked the stone steps leading down the mountain, sealing off the last retreat of more than twenty Dao sect disciples and dozens of martial men. Meanwhile, two Foundation Establishment experts hovered overhead, relentlessly hunting down one fleeing soul after another.

There was no escaping now.

Even if they broke through the encirclement, they could not outrun those flying swords!

Tao Feng’s companions sank once more into despair, yet none were willing to wait for death. Each raised his long sword or short blade and charged forward as though life and death no longer mattered.

Ahead of them, sword light whirled, blood stank thick in the air. It was like a chasm of life and death; to survive, they had to gamble everything, and only death would grant release.

At that very moment, a familiar shout rang out once more:

“Follow me and break through!”

Amid the roiling smoke, a gale suddenly surged up. The raging sword light was driven back with sharp ringing clashes, and a flash of blue dragon shadow vanished in an instant. Then a sword beam burst out of nowhere, slicing through a swath of sect disciples at once, before striking again and again at the cultivators, forcing them to retreat in disarray and unable to defend themselves.

“Move!” came the shout again. The killing intent grew heavier, the bloodier stench stronger, yet the road to survival was now in sight.

“Go!”

Tao Feng dared not hesitate. Roaring in response, he led his companions forward with blades in hand. The martial men who had been trapped with no way out seized the chance and rushed in as well. More than thirty people surged together like a flood, madly forcing their way through the blockade and fleeing straight down the mountain.

The four or five cultivators refused to let them go and fought desperately to stop them, but they were tangled by that ghostlike sword light. With danger hard to anticipate, they quickly split up and charged into the crowd to continue the pursuit.

At the same moment, the two Foundation Establishment cultivators in the air returned in time. Wherever their sword light passed, severed limbs and broken bodies flew through the air. Along the long stone steps, flesh and blood littered the way in gruesome ruin.

“Ah!”

“Miss Qing!”

A woman cried out in alarm. She was the only female disciple on the Beiqi Mountain expedition. She had always been protected by her fellow travelers, so it had been nothing to worry about. But now her companions were barely keeping themselves alive. She stumbled and fell, and even the long sword in her hand was nowhere to be seen. Another young man tried to rush back to save her, but a sword beam struck his back. His protective spiritual force shattered, and he fell heavily before her, coughing up a mouthful of hot blood.

“Brother An...”

Just as the woman and man locked eyes, helpless and panicked, both were suddenly seized by someone and whisked downward through the air.

Caught off guard, they cried out in shock.

“Who are you...?”

“Never mind who I am. Get down the mountain and live!”

“How are we supposed to survive?”

“Sigh. I’ll hold them off!”

The two were dropped from high above, tumbling more than thirty feet. The moment they hit the ground, several jars flew out and burst open with a roar of flames. Fire surged in all directions, instantly igniting the forests on both sides of the path and sending flames towering skyward.

Still, the one who had intervened remained unseen.

Then a cultivator who had chased after them suddenly froze. A bloody hole burst open in the center of his forehead, and his body flew backward uphill through the air. Clearly he was already dead, yet he had been lifted high enough to frighten the others. It was a retaliation in the manner of South Mountain, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, a provocation and a taunt besides. And then a voice rang out in all directions:

“With me here, the Great Marsh Dao Sect shall not fall!”

The young man and woman were deeply moved. Tao Feng and the others charging downhill all turned back at once, only to see the forest fires already spreading and cutting off the stone steps little by little. None dared delay. One after another they ran through the inferno, over corpses, and along the blood-soaked stairway, fleeing for their lives down the mountain.

The cultivators, watching their dead companion pass by in silence, were likewise stunned. In the next instant they recovered, no longer caring about the Dao sect disciples, and turned to chase uphill.

By now, the forest fires had joined into one immense blaze.

From afar, the once-grand and towering North Qi Mountain now looked like a giant torch, with half the peak engulfed in roaring flame. Fierce firelight shot into the sky, and billowing smoke blotted out the sun and veiled the heavens. Even at the mountain foot, one could feel the ferocious heat burning at the face. The survivors, terrified beyond measure, poured out through the mountain gate in a frantic rush and fled into the distance.

Several li away, at the edge of the woods, stood a few people: Zhong Jian, Yan Chi, and the Tianbao brothers. Watching the mountain burn in that spectacular display, each of them felt both awe and relief.

“Hmph. Better to burn North Qi Mountain to the ground than let outsiders lay hands on it!”

“Exactly. This fire was set at the perfect moment. But it was extremely dangerous as well. The Black Tortoise Pavilion housed the formation, and the defenses all around were tight. Fortunately, the underground vault was unguarded, so we managed to set off the Five-Thunder Stones.”

“Haha, I never imagined the Five-Thunder Stones would be so terrifying. Good thing the fuse was long enough, or the two of us never would have gotten away!”

“You two did well. Brother Zhong Jian and I also made our contribution. Anything with a roof, a tower, a grove of trees—burn it all, damn it! Now that most of them have escaped and North Qi Mountain has gone up in flames, let me see how their sect still stands, haha!”

“Compared with Brother Yu, our contribution is nothing worth mentioning. All of today’s plans were made by him alone. Every step, every hour, every person involved was weighed and considered again and again, with backups for every contingency. A single mistake along the way, and the consequences would have been unthinkable!”

“As Brother Zhong said, just two days ago he was still uncertain. Only after discussing it with me and Brother Zhong last night did he finally settle on the plan. His caution and precision leave me ashamed of myself. He even accounted for every detail—the contents of the Scripture Cave, the size of the underground vault, the foundations of the Black Tortoise Pavilion, the trees on the mountain, and more. It is no wonder he comes from a hunter’s background. From childhood he was skilled at traps and schemes, and he is adept at enduring hardship and showing weakness. Anyone who crossed him has only themselves to blame. Still, it is too early to speak of credit. Brother Yu may already be staying behind to cover our retreat, or else so many of us would never have gotten out. He has his own way of escaping; we should leave at once as well!”

“Haha, my Brother Yu is not as useless as you make him sound. He’s only a bit softhearted and overly stubborn. Zhong Quan and Zhong Yi are here. Let’s go!”

“Brother Zhong Jian, what about Third Brother’s mount?”

“That was the horse I gave him last year. He has already returned it to me!”

“Then doesn’t that mean he’s leaving us brothers? Ah, where is he going?”

“Who knows...”

A group of bloodstained men charged over, led by Zhong Quan and Zhong Yi and more than a dozen other brothers. They mounted up at once, rode onto the main road, and fled into the distance with the crowd of escaping people. As Zhong Jian and Yan Chi galloped away, they could not resist looking back.

The entire mountain was burning. The flames reaching into the sky seemed like a dragon soaring through the nine heavens, vanishing thousands upon thousands of li away...

The fire on North Qi Mountain was magnificent to behold.

Yet before the dragon had even taken flight, the summit had already become a hell.

Above the fire-ringed cliff, a corpse hung suspended in midair, swaying slightly. The scene was extremely bizarre.

But to the two Foundation Establishment cultivators in the sky, and the nine Qi-refining cultivators who had pressed up to the edge, it was perfectly clear.

Someone had used an invisibility art to kill a companion, yet had not fled. Instead, he was holding up the corpse to show off, to provoke them, to challenge them.

“Who are you?”

One Foundation Establishment cultivator roared, but he was forced to keep his sword circling beneath his feet. The flames, driven upward by the wind, were surging into the air, and the searing heat made sword flight difficult to control.

The Qi-refining cultivators present were in even worse shape. They had to keep pouring spiritual power into their defenses to withstand the fire, all while guarding against a sudden ambush.

Yet the enemy neither spoke nor revealed himself, and with the corpse held as a screen, the twisting heat haze obscured all traces of his movements. Even their spiritual sense could not clearly make out what he was doing, much less guess at his intentions. To face such a cunning foe was like enduring the torments of hell; unbearable in the extreme.

“Hmph!”

The two Foundation Establishment cultivators could take it no longer and thrust their hands out at once.

Two sharp sword beams howled away, determined to shred that invisible opponent to pieces. But the corpse suddenly dropped from the cliff, and the figure in their spiritual sense vanished with it.

The two Foundation Establishment cultivators hurriedly leapt onto their swords and gave chase. Below the cliff they found only a sea of fire, and the falling corpse was swallowed by the flames in an instant. They exchanged a hateful glance, then turned their sword light downward and were about to continue the chase without restraint when someone shouted:

“Hold!”

Bu Yi descended on a sword beam from above, and below him another Qi-refining cultivator, blackened and smoke-stained, came running in haste.

The two Foundation Establishment cultivators reined in their sword light.

“What is it?”

Before Bu Yi could answer, a Qi-refining cultivator cried urgently, “Senior Nanshan has fallen in the Dao...”

“What?”

Both Foundation Establishment cultivators were shocked.

They had been too busy hunting everywhere to pay attention to anything else. Besides, Nanshan had been busy killing people himself—how could he have met with an accident? With his cultivation, no one in the Great Marsh should have been able to kill him. And yet such a Foundation Establishment expert had died?

“Bu Yi, why are you only arriving now?”

“Did Nanshan’s death have anything to do with you?”

Bu Yi was suddenly faced with accusations from his two companions, but he did not grow angry. He only said lightly, “I went to put out the fire, but there were not enough hands. I was powerless to save the situation. What else could I do?”

“It is common knowledge that you and Nanshan were at odds. Don’t tell me this wasn’t you...”

“Bu Yi, go after that invisible man. You must capture him. Otherwise, if you want to clear yourself of Nanshan’s death, it won’t be so easy!”

The two Foundation Establishment cultivators threw down a harsh warning and hurriedly flew toward the Black Tortoise Pavilion.

Bu Yi did not argue. Sword light flashed beneath his feet, and he dived headlong off the cliff into the surging flames...

The collapsed Black Tortoise Pavilion had long since been reduced to ruins in the fire.

Within the smoke-shrouded wreckage, one Qi-refining cultivator stood guard. Before him, on an open patch of ground, lay a charred corpse like a piece of blackened charcoal.

Before the two Foundation Establishment cultivators had even landed their swords, both were already staring in shock...

A moment later, Bu Yi appeared on a mountain peak.

Behind him, more than ten li away, the flames reddened half the sky. The raging fire devoured the surrounding forests and wastelands, and its spread was already impossible to stop. He watched silently for a while, then turned with a bitter expression to gaze into the distance.

He could not stop the catastrophic blaze on North Qi Mountain, and he had no intention of chasing down the arsonist.

Still, he knew exactly who it was.

That brat had not only thrown the Great Marsh into chaos, he had even killed Nanshan. It was Yu Ye, Yu Ye of Yu Family Village...