Bruninga

Wei Fengniang and Bruninga had spent a long time planning this treasure hunt. By the time they arrived, it was exactly the hour of the Son.

Bruninga was more cautious. "That vile beast should be unconscious at the bottom of the lake now. We could go down and kill it easily. But the hexagrams we divined earlier showed many uncertainties. The beast understands human nature and knows its tribulation is upon it, so it may well have laid an ambush underwater. Let's drain the water before we act. Without water, the Monster Dragon will lose many of its powers and transformations. That will leave no chance of failure!"

Wei Fengniang nodded. "Very well, we'll do as you say! You draw out the water. I'll set up the Ten Thousand Li Yellow Sand Formation to stop the beast from slipping away when it sees things turning against it."

She took out fifteen small triangular flags and tossed them into the air. All were yellow, though their shades differed, as did the talismanic runes and seal-script characters embroidered on them. First, five flags hovered above the center of the lake, corresponding to the central earth of Wu and Ji. The other ten formed a circle around the outside.

Five was earth's generating number, and ten its completing number. Generation and completion together formed a spiraling, three-dimensional space, which began to spin faster and faster. With her hair loose and sword in hand, Wei Fengniang flew swiftly around the lake, casting her spell as she went. Suddenly, she gave a sharp cry, and the flags vanished into thin air. She returned to where she had first stood. The lake remained quiet, as though nothing had happened.

Bruninga formed the precious lotus seal with his hands and muttered an incantation. His Demonic Magic lifted the lake water, which seethed with bubbles like a boiling pot. Then the water gathered toward the center and rose into a massive column, abruptly shooting dozens of zhang into the air. The column grew thicker and thicker as torrents of lake water were drawn upward, forming a rapidly expanding sphere in the sky. Below, the lake's surface steadily fell.

At the bottom of the lake, Shi Feiyang looked up and watched the water level plummet. He hastily extended a dragon claw and drew a mass of clear water toward him from a distance. Drawing on the True Water Core within his body, he cast a spell, and the water swiftly took the shape of a Long.

He dripped three drops of his own blood into it. After a moment's thought, he seized Sikong Hu's Primordial Spirit and slapped it into the water as well. "This tribulation had nothing to do with you, but you insisted on coming to my door..." he said quietly. "I've lifted the restrictions on your Primordial Spirit. If you can preserve it through today, go seek rebirth!" With that, he rubbed and kneaded the water between his claws, and the water Long seemed to come alive.

Sikong Hu discovered that the restrictions on his primordial spirit had been lifted. He really was free again, but in the blink of an eye, he had also acquired a body—a water dragon more than ten zhang long. He had no idea what had happened, but he sensed danger. I have to get out of here! With all his strength, he bared his fangs and brandished his claws, shooting upward like a rocket.

The two atop the peak were still casting their spells. As the lake's water level continued to drop, the sphere above had grown as large as a mountain peak, hanging in midair in a magnificent spectacle. Suddenly, they saw a dark, dragon-shaped shadow shoot up from below. With a dragon's roar, it raced along the water column into the sphere above, stretching out into an enormous dragon more than ten zhang long.

"The vile beast couldn't stay hidden any longer!" Wei Fengniang shouted. She pointed, and her Flying Sword shot out.

Bruninga also cast his spell at lightning speed, sending a demonic saber wreathed in yellow flames alongside it.

Both possessed extraordinary magical power and discernment. Had Shi Feiyang merely conjured an illusion or shaped water into a Long, they would have seen through it at a glance. But with Sikong Hu's Primordial Spirit slapped inside, they sensed that their target possessed both form and spirit. For the moment, both were deceived and attacked with all their strength.

The saber and sword plunged into the water sphere and sheared the dark Long silhouette in two at the waist.

"Oh no!" Bruninga's cultivation was higher, and he recognized the danger sooner. Realizing it was a fake, he hurriedly looked down again. By then, Shi Feiyang was already clinging to the cliff face. His enormous Long head opened its mouth, and, mustering every scrap of magical power in his body, he spat out both his water and fire Inner Cores.

Shi Feiyang knew the original story well and knew that Bruninga's magical power was greater. Better to sever one finger than wound all ten, so he sent both Inner Cores hurtling straight at Bruninga. Bruninga hurriedly brought every trick he had to bear. With no time to deploy another magical treasure for protection, he invoked the Western Yunnan Demon Cult's Wheel-Turning Great Method with a thought to block the attack, while flying backward at full speed.

The two Inner Cores slammed fiercely into Bruninga's protective yellow radiance. The tremendous impact carried him down past the peak, yellow light and raging fire trailing a long blazing tail, streaking brilliantly through the night like a comet.

Wei Fengniang immediately tried to redirect her Flying Sword to strike Shi Feiyang. He spat out his White Light Sword to parry it, while rubbing his two Long claws together to cast a water-controlling spell. The great sphere overhead slipped free of its control and crashed down like the collapsing heavens. It held nearly a third of the lake's water, and now fell diagonally toward Wei Fengniang like a crumbling mountain.

Wei Fengniang cursed furiously and hastily recalled her Flying Sword. Merging with it, she became a streak of yellow light more than ten zhang long, pierced the "water mountain," and shot toward the sky. Once high in the air, she looked back down. The Monster Dragon had not pursued her. He had already recalled his Inner Cores and most of the water, then sunk back to the lake bottom. Bruninga, however, had gone silent. Though she knew his formidable power should keep his life out of danger, she could not help worrying. Rather than return to the lake to slay the dragon, she turned her Sword Light toward the darkness below the mountain to rescue her companion.

Soon, she found Bruninga in the mud beside Lianjin Creek. The demonic monk's wretched condition gave her a fright. He was covered in mud, his clothes torn, blood streaming from all seven orifices. His body was charred black, as though he had just fallen into a pit of fire, with extensive burns from head to toe.

In her memory, Bruninga had always looked like an accomplished monk from the Western Regions. Even if he did not possess the solemn majesty of a sacred image, he had at least been dignified and imposing. Now he could only breathe out, not in, hovering on the brink of death!

She hurriedly carried Bruninga beneath a tree, took out a medicinal pill and fed it to him, then infused him with True Essence.

After a great deal of effort, Bruninga finally opened his eyes. His voice was weak, but fury burned within him, and he gritted his teeth as he took out the Crow-Venom Thorn and handed it to Wei Fengniang. "My injuries are severe, but they pose no lasting danger. A few months of recuperation will see me fully recovered. Now that matters have come this far, we cannot abandon them halfway. Today is when that Demon Dragon is weakest. Take this treasure back to the summit. You must slay the Long and secure the Heavenly Book!"

Wei Fengniang accepted the Crow-Venom Thorn, turned, and flew back to the summit on her sword, brimming with murderous intent. First, she cast a spell, sending a sharp flash into the sky. Then she wielded her sword to churn the lake, setting its waters spinning into an ever-faster whirlpool. At the same time, snowflakes began drifting from the sky, and the air's temperature plunged.

The temperature fell lower and lower. The spinning lake water began to freeze, rapidly icing over from top to bottom into an enormous frozen funnel. Once it had frozen completely, an opening several zhang across remained at its lowest point, directly above the reclining stone on the lake bed. Sword in hand, Wei Fengniang plunged into it.

From atop the Crouching Dragon Stone, Shi Feiyang looked up and saw the approaching Sword Light. Knowing its might, he spat out both cores to meet the attack.

The two inner cores of divine fire and true water passed through the opening in the ice to confront Wei Fengniang's flying sword. At first, they clashed repeatedly, then became locked in a tangled struggle.

Wei Fengniang's immortal sword gleamed green tinged with yellow. The Mount Heaven swordsmanship she had learned did not belong to an orthodox Daoist lineage, so her Sword Light could never attain a pure green. Yet unorthodox paths placed great emphasis on power, making her sword's attacks all the fiercer. As she unleashed her art, Sword Light surged and ebbed, blade energy shooting in all directions and slicing the surrounding ice into fragments that burst and scattered.

Shi Feiyang was now at his weakest. He swallowed another Fury Profound Pill to stimulate his meridians and rouse his latent strength. Sprawled on the Crouching Dragon Stone, he endured the agony inflicted by the Immortal-Skewering Pill while battling Wei Fengniang with his magic. He did not seek to defeat her quickly. As long as he could hold out until the hour of the Son ended, his magical power would gradually begin to recover.

Wei Fengniang clearly knew this as well. She continually drove her immortal sword into fierce downward attacks, but the water and fire inner cores contained immense power, and the cramped terrain kept her trapped in midair, unable to force her way down.

"Vile beast, you still dare to fight like a cornered rat!" Wei Fengniang shook her right palm, stirred her true essence, and poured her magical power into her hand. Her pale hand immediately rippled with golden light and swelled rapidly.

Her nickname was the Divine-Hand Bhikṣu. In truth, it was only after her betrayal that her master had seen through the workings of cause and effect. Her master had concluded that even Daoists who cultivated their magical power to extraordinary heights could not prevent the tragedy of disciples betraying and murdering their masters. No matter how mighty an immortal sword was, it could not cut away worldly afflictions. Only the boundless Buddhist teachings could extinguish boundless suffering. Thus, she had shorn off her three thousand strands of hair and turned from Daoism to Buddhism.

Wei Fengniang had not learned the slightest Buddhist teaching from Abbess Guangming. She had learned the Great Hand Seal from Bruninga in bed, then refined it using everything she had cultivated throughout her life, developing her Great Vajra Palm. With it, she had roamed the world unchallenged. Many sword immortals could not withstand a single slap from her, and that was how she had earned the nickname.