Rituals, prayers for rain, slaying monsters, comforting the people... these were the duties of a sect disciple.
Chen Xuan couldn't help remembering when he'd first met Liu Shuyue.
He had no idea what to say, so he went along with her. "Sure. If slaying monsters has that many benefits, then we should do it. Is this Great Demon what you wanted to show me?"
"I want you to witness all of this. Even if our plan to escape Qingzhou fails, someone will remember us." Liu Shuyue paused. "Chen Xuan, once you get Broadly Read Through the Ages back, these stories will be recorded in it too, won't they?"
What does she mean, get Broadly Read Through the Ages back?
Didn't I trade that ability away?
As he stood there dazed, he heard a long shriek.
It sounded neither human nor birdlike. The piercing noise made his head swim!
"Xuan is here." Liu Shuyue looked toward the mountains.
Already? I'm not ready for this! And that sounds nothing like the dragon's roar I imagined.
Chen Xuan followed the sound and saw a green "snake" appear among the stone spires. It wound nimbly around several columns, rose into the air, and flew toward them. It really could fly without wings. It had two pairs of claws beneath its body, an enormous head, and gleaming horns. It looked just like a dragon from legend.
But knowing it liked to eat people made its majestic appearance frightening.
At the same time, wind rose over the hillside.
A moment ago, the weather had been clear and pleasant. Now the sky was gray, and even the refugee camp below the valley had grown hazy.
"Don't worry. Xuan causes this change in the weather," Liu Shuyue explained. "The Azure Dragon can summon wind, thunder, and thick fog. Trapping prey in the mist and toying with them until they die, or sweeping them into the sky and dropping them to their deaths—it's skilled at both."
"...Want to borrow the Thousand Thoughts Sword back first?"
"The Thousand Thoughts Sword is good for slaying lesser monsters, but it won't do much against a Great Demon like this." For some reason, she laughed softly. "Only you would still be thinking about the rental at a time like this. Business really does come before everything else for you."
"But someone like you actually puts me at ease." Liu Shuyue drew the long sword from her back and held it in one hand. "At least you won't welch on a deal."
"Of course. In my line of work... sincerity is everything." Chen Xuan didn't explain further. "Am I right to think you've been holding back an ability even stronger than the Thousand Thoughts Sword?"
"Of course. I couldn't sell my best asset first, could I?" she said matter-of-factly. "But powerful as it is, it isn't easy to use. You probably wouldn't like it much."
Really? I'll have to get my hands on an ability before I can judge it.
"You seemed certain that Great Demon would come." Chen Xuan raised a hand to shield his face. The wind was so strong now that he could barely keep his eyes open. "I thought monsters skulked around and came and went without a trace."
"Why would Xuan hide? It's effectively the king of this place. Have you ever seen a king sneak around to avoid outsiders?" Liu Shuyue said. "It doesn't just hunt along the border. Every few years, it ventures deep into Qingzhou to feed, leaving hundreds dead or injured each time. Now that so much food has been delivered right to its mouth, there's no way it could resist."
"It's that brazen?" Chen Xuan was surprised. "Then why didn't you slay it before?"
Or rather, why hadn't any previous sect disciples killed it? The Lotus Cloud Sect had records of Xuan, which meant it had been around for at least several hundred years.
That didn't seem to make sense.
After all, every part of an Azure Dragon was precious, and its blood could even turn ordinary people into cultivators. A major sect might not be interested, but surely the emperor wouldn't pass up the chance?
Could the emperor and his army not defeat it? He could still call on sect disciples like Liu Shuyue.
"Because legend says dragons are born from a ruler's fortune..." she said with a hint of self-mockery. "Threatening a dragon means threatening the dynasty's rule. So even though it's a Great Demon that terrorizes the region, even though everyone knows there's one in the south, it has lived on undisturbed. Looking back, those predecessors of mine weren't much better..."
"You're saying a dragon is born from the emperor's fortune, and you're still going to slay it?" Chen Xuan was astonished. "If word gets out, won't your position as the emperor's immortal adviser..."
Seeing her unruffled expression, he suddenly realized something else must have happened during the eight days they hadn't seen each other.
Was the only problem really a lack of disaster relief grain?
Chen Xuan was about to ask when a gust of wind struck him head-on, making him turn away instinctively. When he looked back, she was gone.
Where did she go?
Don't tell me—
He looked up and nearly cried out. Holy shit, she can fly!
Liu Shuyue really had taken flight! She climbed steadily into the wind, shrinking to a speck the size of a sesame seed in the blink of an eye. The Azure Dragon had also emerged from the Myriad Mountain Great Wilderness and was charging toward them.
So this is a battle between an immortal and a monster?
Chen Xuan's heart pounded. He had spent plenty of time with Liu Shuyue, but he had never seen her fight in earnest.
How far will this battle go?
Is it even safe to watch from the top of this hill?
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind, but his body followed its most basic instinct: he pulled out his phone, opened the camera, and aimed it at the churning clouds.
Liu Shuyue tossed her sword into the air and pointed two joined fingers above her head. As though it were alive, the sword stood upright against the wind, hovering over her fingertips!
Then brilliant, seven-colored light bloomed along its blade!
The Azure Dragon opened its enormous jaws too. Only then did Chen Xuan realize how huge it was. Its mouth alone could easily swallow a locomotive.
Liu Shuyue swung her sword.
She simply swept her fingers downward, without a single unnecessary movement.
The raging wind in his ears suddenly fell silent.
In an instant, a surge of radiant light shot from the sword tip. Like a blindingly bright thread, it swept down across the dragon's head! The dragon's mouth remained open, but the lightning flashing around its horns went out, as though the strike had cut off its power.
Did she hit it?
The thought had barely formed when the dragon's body split down the middle, a horrifying wound opening across its massive belly!
But that wasn't all the strike had done.
The sky split open too!
The roiling clouds and mist parted along the sword's path. The gray heavens looked as though they'd been cleaved in two, revealing the clear blue sky beyond.
That single strike had cut through not only the dragon but all the raging wind and monstrous mist it had brought!
Patter, patter...
Sound returned, but Chen Xuan heard no more howling wind or thunder. He heard rain.
It was raining.
Normally, rain after a storm's winds died down came down hardest.
But this was no ordinary rain.
It fell as gently as spring rain, red and smelling of blood.
He looked down at his feet. The blood rain fell soundlessly, staining the once-green earth a darker shade.
Was that it?
Slaying a dragon took her just one strike?
Chen Xuan suddenly felt like reciting a few stirring lines of poetry, but in the end, only one phrase seemed fitting: "Fucking incredible."
This! Is! Cultivation!
He hadn't been the one to slay the dragon, but his blood still surged with excitement.
Perhaps one day, he could do something like that too—
Chen Xuan looked up to find Liu Shuyue again, only to freeze. The split sky hadn't returned to normal. Even the blue beyond it had cracked open. Through the opening, he thought he could see countless high-rises...
High-rises?
Am I seeing things?
He rubbed his eyes and looked again in disbelief. This time, he even activated the Divine Eye Method, magnifying his view several times over.
The buildings came into sharper focus. He could see not only their smooth glass curtain walls but also some of the advertising signs on their rooftops.
"Tianheng Life Insurance Co., Ltd.?"
He read the words aloud, then sucked in a breath. Wasn't that the landmark building near his apartment complex!?
A red warning light spun wildly inside the room, and the alarm's beeping nearly burst their eardrums.
"Can someone shut that damn speaker off? No matter how loud it gets, we can't fly there!" Wang Baihu shouted to the colleague at the desk as he hurriedly gathered his gear. "Has the threat level been confirmed?"
"Yes! The system rates it as..." The colleague paused, then said in shock, "An A-class contamination breach!"
"Where?"
"Toward Heping Avenue in Tianlu District. Captain Wan is on his way."
"Got it. I'm heading over." Wang Baihu jogged to the underground parking garage and found his partner Honglian waiting behind the wheel of their assigned vehicle. The moment he got in, she hit the accelerator.
"Slow down! I haven't shut the door!" Wang Baihu yelped. He grabbed the handle, hooked the door shut with his foot, and exhaled. "An A-Class breach. This is going to be a big one."
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