The First Wave Settles, the Next Wind Rises

The instant murmured dream-talk squeezed from the middle-aged Daoist's lips.

A deep drowsiness, yearning to sink into those gorgeous, resplendent trails of light—even the carefree beauty of birds shaped from pure azure radiance—erupted in his mind like a volcano.

Yet at the same time, the sense of crisis from facing life and death in a bloody battle of spells, at its most critical moment, remained like an ice awl driven deep into the very depths of his mind.

Driven by that sense of danger, nearly beyond the limits of what his consciousness could bear, the middle-aged Daoist finally hurled out the beam of Sky Light gathered in his hand seal at the crucial moment.

But aiming it at Liu Dongqing was no longer possible.

At the same time, the intense drowsiness brought by the azure light's spirit-bewildering effect, along with the chaos of two conflicting thoughts wrenching against each other in his mind, left him unable to maintain either his accuracy or the follow-through of his spell.

Thus.

A beam of emerald Sky Light slanted directly down toward the plot of soil in the courtyard. The instant that light illuminated its target, the middle-aged Daoist seemed to have lost precise control even over his own techniques and incantations.

Through the haze clouding his consciousness, the emerald Sky Light diffused.

In but an instant, emerald flames flashed and vanished, and the Jade Cloud Fruit plants across half the field were burned to ashes.

A surging heatwave rolled back at once.

That sudden eruption of physical sensation forced the middle-aged Daoist to struggle free from the icy, fiery storm in his mind for half a moment.

Perhaps he truly possessed the instincts of an experienced spellcaster, or perhaps the ever-worsening threat of death spurred him on.

In that flash of lightning and stone, seizing that half-moment of clarity, the middle-aged Daoist fiercely bit down on the tip of his tongue without hesitation.

The instant the taste of blood filled his mouth, piercing agony shot through his body and soul, overwhelming every sensation and suppressing all the mental chaos caused by the Heavenly Light Bewildering Spirit technique.

His mind became clear once more.

But at that very moment, incomprehensible confusion appeared between the middle-aged Daoist's brows.

Hot!

No, scalding!

How could the heatwave rolling back from a single burst of Sky Light feel so searing?

And amid the crackling of the flames, why was there a sound of something tearing through the air, as though it were right beside him?

Layer upon layer of confusion erupted in an instant. First, the middle-aged Daoist couldn't tell whether he was awake or not. Then, as every sensation drew ever closer, as all his thoughts were pulled from the chaotic storm and summoned back by his clear consciousness—

When he followed the sound and looked toward Liu Dongqing again.

Under the illumination piercing the dark night, where were the splendid trails of light formed by those carefree Azure Flame Flying Birds?

Before the middle-aged Daoist's shocked and despairing gaze, the four wheeling Azure Flame Flying Birds had originally flown in strange paths, each following a different pattern. Their disorder seemed to conceal a strange tacit understanding.

At last, when they neared the middle-aged Daoist, they converged in one place by the finest of coincidences.

At the instant their forms overlapped, the birds became looser, rougher, and more freeform. It was as though they had dispersed their bodies and returned to streaks of Sky Light.

Then, from the overlap of those four streaks of Sky Light came a piercing shriek through the air, like the hoarse cry of a crow that struck straight into the soul.

The Azure Flame Fire Crow burst from the Sky Light, bathing in flame.

Carrying that piercing air-rending cry, like a hoarse crow's caw, it erupted with savage force from a point already extremely close to the middle-aged Daoist.

Caught off guard, even with his mind clear, the middle-aged Daoist could only barely raise a hand.

The unprepared emerald Sky Light, scarcely even forming a proper incantation, had just shone upon the Azure Flame Fire Crow when it shattered like fragile glass beneath the crow's impact.

Then, without the slightest loss of momentum, the Fire Crow slammed fiercely and heavily into the middle-aged Daoist's chest.

This hurts far more than biting my tongue.

The instant that thought surfaced, the middle-aged Daoist felt as though an invisible hand had directly drained every ounce of strength from his body. Then his entire body flew backward uncontrollably along the force of the Azure Flame Fire Crow's strike.

Then.

His whole body crashed into the courtyard wall. Like a heap of rotten flesh, he fell back to the ground.

One breath, two breaths, three breaths...

Seeing the middle-aged Daoist lying there motionless, dead or alive unknown, with more and more blood spreading across the ground.

Only then did Liu Dongqing, holding a cluster of azure flames in one hand—with a Fire Crow Spirit Form seemingly ready to coalesce within at any time—slowly pace forward, stopping with every step as he cautiously approached the middle-aged Daoist.

When he drew close, Liu Dongqing finally let out a breath and extinguished the azure flames in his palm.

A wound had pierced straight through the middle-aged Daoist's chest.

Death had descended upon him together with the Azure Flame Fire Crow.

Only his final trace of life had yet to fully dissipate.

Lying in a pool of blood, the middle-aged Daoist struggled to look at Liu Dongqing. All he could see was a blurry dark silhouette.

"What a remarkable Heavenly Fire Spirit Aspect. This old man misjudged you—you were actually such an extraordinarily gifted figure..."

At those words, Liu Dongqing merely shook his head calmly.

"What is astonishing isn't Liu's talent. This is the fruit borne from Liu's years of suffering."

The middle-aged Daoist smiled with difficulty, and that smile carried an inscrutable meaning.

"Call it whatever you like."

"No matter what, my master miscalculated the first step. But now that I've died here today, Liu Dongqing, you're in for great trouble.

Ha... talent..."

As he uttered that final word, foul air carried away the last thread of lingering life from the middle-aged Daoist's utterly stilled corpse.

The last of Liu Dongqing's taut nerves finally relaxed.

Perhaps their deadly exchange had been too tense. The moment the man died and the string in Liu Dongqing's heart loosened, thoughts suddenly sprang up one after another, and his mind grew scattered.

The Heavenly Light Bewildering Spirit technique is immensely useful, but I'm still using it too crudely.

When the Azure Flame Flying Birds sweep across the sky and wheel around, their paths should be more deceptive. And the trails of light left by the bird spirit aspects should work in concert as well.

This may even involve formations, and more profound methods of bewildering the spirit.

These are all directions for me to enrich this technique.

Those thoughts flickered into being and vanished. Pushing them down, Liu Dongqing craned his neck to look at the leg the middle-aged Daoist had originally stepped into the furrow with.

But under the explosive impact of the Azure Flame Fire Crow, most of the middle-aged Daoist's body was already covered in scorch marks and densely packed tiny cracks. There was no longer any sign of that "old injury" from before.

So Liu Dongqing smiled.

It doesn't matter.

Then the faint smile on his face vanished like smoke.

I've killed him, but how am I supposed to deal with the corpse? And how am I supposed to handle this courtyard full of wreckage?

Bury him in the ground as fertilizer?

But how will I make up for the missing Jade Cloud Fruit?

No! No!

Those aren't the most pressing matters. The key is that this man isn't without backing.

Who is this so-called master of his?

The one who set his sights on me wasn't him, but the master behind him!

If I don't solve the source of this, there's no use in how I clean things up!

Where people pass, traces remain.

Sooner or later, his death will be traced back to me.

Manager Hou could keep me under his thumb for three years. A single casual word from someone higher up on Departure Peak could crush me so thoroughly I wouldn't be able to rise for a lifetime!

At that thought, Liu Dongqing's brows had already knit tightly together.

He was right. With his death, my real trouble has only just begun!