The Sword Immortals of Chongming Island

Shi Feiyang opened his mouth and swallowed the Jade Casket back into his belly, then shook his head and swished his tail as he swam silently upward.

Dinghu Peak in this world of Mount Shu stood a thousand zhang tall—more than three thousand meters from its base to its summit. Half its upper reaches rose above the clouds, with sheer cliffs on all four sides. Not only was it difficult for monkeys to climb and birds to cross, even sword immortals generally went around it; very few flew over the top.

The lake lay within the peak and was more than three hundred zhang deep. Ordinarily, anything done at the bottom would have gone unnoticed.

Unfortunately, the lake water was far too clear, and Shi Feiyang was unlucky. He had barely spat out the Heavenly Book Jade Casket to examine it when someone arrived. Seeing colored light rippling through the water, they decided there must be a treasure in the lake and discussed going down to find it.

Shi Feiyang watched quietly from his hiding place in the water. Two men in Daoist robes stood on the shore, one tall and one short, both handsome and distinguished.

The taller man appeared to be in his thirties. He wore an ebony crown and a blue-green Daoist robe, with three long strands of beard beneath his chin, giving him something of an immortal's lofty bearing. His voice rang out strong and full: "Legends have always claimed that Dinghu Peak conceals a wondrous treasure. Countless people have come searching over the years, yet none have gained so much as a scrap. Now that radiant light is shining, surely a treasure's time to emerge has finally come!"

The shorter man looked to be in his early twenties. Dressed in a Bai robe, he held a two-pronged fork about a foot long, his face brimming with excitement. "Brother Sikong, hurry and find a way to part the water so we can go down and seek the treasure!"

The taller man took an object from his sleeve: a tiny boat no larger than his thumb. Its hull and gunwales were made of bamboo strips, its black canopy woven from bamboo fibers. There were oars along its sides and windows in its canopy, all exquisitely crafted and charming.

"Fortunately, when I visited the Withered Bamboo Hermitage in Qingjiangpu the other day, I borrowed this black-canopied boat to search the sea for thousand-year Pearls to refine a Magic Treasure. Otherwise, with this lake a thousand zhang deep, getting down there would be no easy task."

He tossed the black-canopied boat onto the water, where it spun and rapidly expanded until it was three zhang long.

The two men leaped aboard. The taller one formed a hand seal and chanted an incantation, and a mass of black cloud immediately rose from the gunwales to envelop the entire boat before it sank beneath the surface. Lake water pressed in from every direction, but the black cloud held it all back. Inside, the two men stood at the bow and stern, chatting and laughing freely.

Shi Feiyang did not want to kill anyone. Nor did he know who these men were, so he was unwilling to strike rashly. Pressing his body against the sheer rock wall, he concealed himself with a Water Escape art and waited until they were halfway down before swimming toward them.

He kept his concealment art active throughout. Despite the clear water, the two men failed to spot him and were still discussing what treasure might be hidden at the bottom. Only when they came within ten zhang of one another did the taller Daoist suddenly sense something amiss. "Something's wrong! Something is coming!"

The Daoist slapped the back of his head and spat a streak of sword light from his mouth, yellow tinged with blue and Bai, which shot straight toward Shi Feiyang.

Shi Feiyang opened his mouth and spat out his True Water Core. The bowl-sized orb was as flawless as crystal, seeming to merge with the water without leaving the slightest trace, and moved forward to intercept the Flying Sword.

Having gauged the range of the Daoist's perception, he first retreated several zhang, then shifted position before speaking. "Who are you, to dare disturb me here?"

As an enormous dragon more than thirty meters long, he could have unleashed a piercing roar that rang through the clouds. Instead, he deliberately lowered his voice, making it deep and powerful, a rumble with the might to split mountains and shatter stone that shook their very souls.

The two Daoists aboard the boat could not see him and had no idea what was speaking. The taller man's Flying Sword had been stopped by something invisible, and the force transmitted back through the blade was immensely heavy, as though he were trying to lift a mountain on its tip.

The shorter man launched the two-pronged fork in his hand. Dazzling sparks burst from its tips as it circled him, protecting both men and their boat. Standing at the stern, he scanned their surroundings. "I am Jade-Faced Flying Fox Ma Cheng, disciple of Golden-Thread Divine Matron Fairy Pu of Chongming Island, Jiangsu. This is Three Talents Venerable Sikong Xuan, disciple of Perfected Sikong, the island's Eight-Eyed Vajra. Who might you be, and why are you barring our way?"

Shi Feiyang said, "I have cultivated here for many years. Just now, I was refining a Magic Treasure, and its light shone up through the surface. You saw it and actually discussed descending into the lake to claim it. Do you mean to seize my treasure from me?"

He meant to pose as an accomplished elder and frighten them away. What he had not expected was that Sikong Xuan, a Sword Immortal renowned throughout Jiangsu and Zhejiang, had already taken out a Three Talents Mirror and aimed it at him.

His uncle Sikong Hu had obtained this precious mirror by chance. Above, it could illuminate a hundred zhang of sky, piercing clouds and dispersing mist; below, it could illuminate a hundred zhang of sea, revealing shrimp and shellfish; between, it could expose every demon, monster, ghost, and Demon Ghosts. It was through this treasure that Sikong Xuan had made his name as the "Three Talents Venerable."

The mirror cast a Lan-green beam straight onto Shi Feiyang, instantly breaking his concealment art and revealing the enormous upper half of the Black Dragon's body.

Sikong Xuan sneered at the sight. "I wondered what lofty master you might be. So you're nothing but a mud loach stirring up the water! How dare a wretched beast play tricks and pretend to be human before us!" He spat out a stream of true qi, making his sword blaze with light as it pushed forward against the True Water Core. Holding the precious mirror in his left hand, he shook his wrist at Shi Feiyang, and waves of Lan light pressed toward him one after another.

He had cultivated on Chongming Island for years. The Yangtze River teemed with alligator dragons and held no shortage of flood dragons, which he often killed with his Flying Sword to harvest their blood for refining treasures. Thus, the sight of Shi Feiyang's true form did not frighten him; instead, it strengthened his resolve to kill him.

Nonhuman beings had no rights in Mount Shu. Whether righteous or evil, the Sword Immortals of every sect killed them at the drop of a hat. Those who fared well might catch the eye of a righteous Sword Immortal and secure a place as a mount or pet. Those who fared poorly were simply sliced into several pieces at the waist by Flying Swords.

If their bodies yielded precious materials, or they possessed some rare treasure, their fate was even worse. Not only would their flesh be blasted to ash and rubble, often their primordial spirits would be destroyed as well!

Moreover, the nonhuman beings of this world could cultivate only by instinct. Even after a thousand years of bitter cultivation, without someone to guide and teach them, they could not defeat humans who had cultivated for twenty or thirty years and mastered various spells. If those humans also carried Magic Treasures, their plight was worse still. In the original novel, great Monsters who had cultivated for thousands, even nearly ten thousand years, were slaughtered by juniors wielding supreme Magic Treasures as easily as chopping melons and slicing vegetables.

Shi Feiyang turned and fled toward the lakebed. His dragon body already swam swiftly, and with the added power of his escape art, he far outpaced the black-canopied boat, reaching the bottom in an instant.

Sikong Xuan shone the mirror downward. The lakebed was very small, forming a neat circle. A ring of golden light rose from the stone walls below and blocked the mirror's Lan beam. The bright radiance rippled with the water, and an enormous dark shape was faintly visible at its very center.

"That Monster dragon is afraid of us! Worthy brother, ready your flying Trident and join me in slaying it!" Sikong Xuan urged the black-canopied boat downward as quickly as possible.

The Three Talents Mirror's blue light was blocked by the golden radiance of the Zhoutian Divine Talisman. Only when he drew very close could he see clearly: there was nothing on the lakebed but a large stone. The Black Dragon he had seen moments earlier had vanished without a trace.

The two landed on the stone and hurriedly searched their surroundings. Yet the space at the bottom was so small that a single glance took it all in. Never mind a Monster dragon more than ten zhang long—even a carp weighing two or three catties could not have hidden there.

"Where did the Monster dragon go?" The two exchanged bewildered looks. While they were still puzzling over it, Sikong Xuan sensed something strange above them. He hastily looked up and saw an enormous, sinuous figure!

Shi Feiyang had already slipped around above them. Now he opened his great jaws and spat out the True Water Core once more.

This time, he poured all three thousand years of his cultivation into the inner core. The precious Pearl shone and spun at tremendous speed, tearing through a hundred zhang of lake water like a cannonball in an instant before slamming into the stone at the bottom!

That stone was a piece of yellow jade refined through the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan's magic. It held hidden mysteries, and neither water, fire, wind, nor thunder could damage it. The core struck it, sending ten thousand rays of rosy light and a thousand ribbons of auspicious radiance blazing outward, instantly filling the entire lake with dazzling colors.

Shi Feiyang had been overly cautious and had misjudged both his own strength and his opponents'. Thinking that even a lion used its full strength to catch a rabbit, he had unleashed all his magical power. He had also readied his second core, the Divine Fire Core, intending to blast it out as well if the first failed!

Even Sikong Hu or Pu Miaomiao could not have met this all-out strike head-on, much less these two juniors.

The black-canopied boat atop the stone was blasted to pieces by the inner core. Ma Cheng was crushed into pulp, his soul scattered as well. Sikong Xuan resisted with all the power of his Three Talents Mirror's light and his flying sword while simultaneously using an escape art to dodge backward. He managed to save his life, but his body was hurled into the stone wall, breaking every bone and sinew. Blood streamed from all seven orifices, and he was left with barely a breath.