The words came without warning and echoed through heaven and earth!
As the voice fell, clouds billowed, the sky churned, waves surged across the Grand Canal, and fish and shrimp leaped from the water!
The speaker had not even arrived, yet his presence had already stirred such a spectacle!
Everyone aboard heard it clearly, as did the soldiers on both banks.
They immediately formed ranks and took their positions, ready to meet and resist him. For a time, people hurried back and forth across the great ship in a tremendous bustle.
The three monks walking along stopped at the sound. They looked up at the sky, then exchanged glances, each showing a trace of astonishment.
The scar-faced monk gave a low laugh. "We wore out iron shoes searching in vain, only to find him without lifting a finger. Even if that isn't Buddha's Foe himself, it must be an important Incarnation. Destroying it would deal him a grievous blow. Then we can trace the threads back to him and cut off his path forward!"
Behind the three monks, Yuwen Chengdu stood as still as a mountain.
"Jiao Tongzi?" He frowned. "Who is this man? What a grand entrance! Isn't the Marquis of Linru County he's looking for that Dream Immortal of the fallen Chen?"
He heard the reverence in Jiao Tongzi's words and could not help feeling puzzled.
After Yuwen Chengdu had used his position to learn the Black-Robed Daoist's true identity from his father, Yuwen Huaji, he had gone to visit the man and tried to coax him into admitting it. The result had been a bitter disappointment.
*I thought the legendary Lord of Southern Chen had fought his way out of desperate straits time and again, surrounded on every side and drenched in blood. He should have been