Relentless pursuit

Shi Feiyang had never imagined Yue Qinbin would spout such brazen lies, turning black into white. He had always felt that although Wutai disciples acted almost like Monster fiends, theirs was still a renowned immortal sect, ranked alongside the Emei Sect and different from other sinister rogue cultivators. They could be ruthless, they could be wicked, but surely they ought to conduct themselves with some dignity, some limits—some shame!

He growled low in his throat, "Yue Qinbin! You're supposed to be a renowned Sword Immortal of Wutai, yet you're this shameless? You claim Luo Ziyan and Bai Guyi are your good friends? Would you dare show your face before them? You..."

"Why wouldn't I?" Yue Qinbin retorted, stiffening his neck defiantly. Then he told the Two Maidens of Xiandu, "I'm known as the Iron Zither Master, unrivaled in the zither, chess, and sword. Bai Guyi has a disciple named Yue Wen who also enjoys chess. She's a dear friend of mine despite our difference in age."

The Two Maidens of Xiandu had been found in their swaddling clothes by their adoptive father, Xie Shan, who sent them to study the Dao under the Jade Parasol Immortal, Cui Wu. They were now in their teens, but their figures and faces still resembled those of eight- or nine-year-old girls.

Ever since their beloved foster mother Cui Wu had passed away in seated meditation to enter her next incarnation, they had visited their adoptive father in the Wuyi Mountains only once a year. The rest of the time, they remained in seclusion in Jinchun Valley on Mount Xiandu, cultivating behind closed doors, and knew very little of worldly affairs. But the Three Immortals and Two Elders were far too famous. They did not know Luo Ziyan, but they knew Bai Guyi was a venerable elder of the orthodox teachings. Seeing Yue Qinbin's immortal bearing and dignified appearance, they believed most of what he said.

Yue Qinbin continued, "This Monster dragon is the truly heinous criminal. He harmed all those children down below, devouring their souls to cultivate Monster arts. My two junior brothers and I happened to pass this way. Though our abilities are modest, how could we ignore such a thing? We never expected this Monster dragon to have grown so powerful. We were no match for him, and he killed both my junior brothers. Fortunately, you two young immortals arrived in time. Only then did those children have a chance to live!"

Hearing this, the Two Maidens of Xiandu were filled with righteous indignation, their fury blazing three fathoms high. They shouted together in clear, ringing voices, "You Monster! You vile beast! Come and meet your death!"

Two streams of Xin Metal Sword Qi and two Jade Centipede Hooks flew at him together, red and jade-green light interweaving amid piercing whistles through the air—a fearsome sight.

Shi Feiyang blocked them with his two Inner Cores and demanded of the girls, "You're just going to believe him? Won't you go down and investigate for yourselves?"

Since mastering their arts, the two girls had suffered at a Monster cultivator's hands only once, back when Cui Wu was still alive. Their adoptive father Xie Shan had arrived soon afterward and shredded the man to scraps with the Nine-Heaven Duluo Divine Blade. After that, they had grown much more cautious. Blessed with excellent innate aptitude, they had cultivated diligently over the years, advancing with fierce determination. Whenever they ventured out and fought other cultivators, they had never lost.

Now, after repeatedly unleashing her sword energy and Flying Hook only to have them blocked by the two Inner Cores, Xie Lin grew indignant and brought out the Mountain-Guarding Treasure Cui Wu had given her, the Five-Star Divine Halberd.

The moment the treasure left her hand, it became a dazzling, halberd-shaped radiance. Its center shone too brightly to look at directly, with five stars faintly visible within, spraying brilliant five-colored rays in every direction. As it spun, colored light splashed outward, shooting stars raining down.

Shi Feiyang instantly felt the danger of a sharp blade cleaving down upon his head. He considered blocking it with an inner core, but while his divine-fire core was still more than a hundred zhang away, the divine fire upon it parted to either side. He immediately recognized its power. Even if his inner core could stop the treasure head-on, it would suffer damage.

From among the clouds, his deep, forceful voice shook the surrounding mountains with echoes. "You two fools know nothing but how to run amok with Magic Treasures passed down by your elders. Since you're determined to protect this Monster cultivator, so be it. Just make sure you don't regret it later. Know this: however profound the Buddhist teachings, you cannot remain blind to karma; however mighty your Daoist arts, you must still heed Heavenly Tribulation. Mind what you do! As for the children below, rescue them yourselves and take them back southwest to the banks of Lianjin Creek, returning them to their parents."

He kept retreating as he spoke, withdrawing into the depths of the Cloud-Mother Veil. The Five-Star Divine Halberd pursued him furiously, cleaving through the clouds, locked firmly onto him as it spun without pause. By the time he finished speaking, it had chased him more than a hundred li away.

Shi Feiyang opened up some distance, turned, gathered in the clouds, and flew straight toward Dinghu Peak.

He was not afraid of the Two Maidens of Xiandu, only wary of the forces behind them. These two little girls had a terrifyingly powerful network of support, one that surpassed even the Emei Sect. In that brief moment, Shi Feiyang had run through a list of their elders:

Their father was Xie Shan. In his previous life, Xie Shan had been a great Buddhist monk of the Han dynasty; in this life, he had entered the Daoist path. His own magical power was immense, making him one of the foremost masters of the Zu Mountain World, and he possessed the supreme Buddhist treasure, the Heart-Lamp Flower-Scattering Candelabrum.

When Xie Shan had been a monk in his previous life, he had a senior brother named Chan Master Tianmeng, one of the three most powerful Buddhist monks in the Zu Mountain World. Chan Master Tianmeng had a junior brother, Chan Master Zhigong, who was the forty-seventh disciple under Shakyamuni in the West, a Great Arhat Reincarnation.

Xie Shan had also once had a beloved female confidante. In this life, she had become a nun, cultivating in seclusion on Mount Xiaohan under the name Master Ren. Though she fell somewhat short of those two monks, it was only somewhat. She was unquestionably a master beyond the first rank, capable of driving off an ancient demon with a casually gathered handful of incense ash.

In this life, Xie Shan had two particularly close friends. One was Ye Bin, the mistress of Golden Bell Island in the Lesser Antarctic, who had forged the Ice-Soul Divine Radiance Sword and sworn to sweep clean all the islands of the Lesser Antarctic. She was another ruthless figure.

The other was Elysium Immortal Li Jingxu, one of the very strongest living masters of the Daoist School in the Zu Mountain World, a true Golden Immortal. Had he not been unwilling to part with his wife and concubines, wanting to ascend with them all, he would long since have perfected his merit and entered the Immortal Realm.

There were others of lesser power, but those hardly needed mentioning. Of the people listed above, every one except Ye Bin could crush him as he was now with a single finger. Shi Feiyang had no choice but to find a way to avoid a conflict with the Two Maidens of Xiandu.

His main purpose in coming here was to save people, and the Two Maidens of Xiandu were also intent on slaying Monsters and vanquishing evil. If they could rescue the surviving children and return them to their parents, then his task would count as accomplished.

He wanted to leave matters there, but the Two Maidens of Xiandu refused, especially Xie Lin, whose vicious temper was the strongest. Hearing Shi Feiyang call them fools, she flew into an uncontrollable rage. "You beast who doesn't know when to die! Even before us, you dare flaunt your wickedness! Today, we'll cut you down and rid the world of a great scourge!" She pointed at the Five-Star Divine Halberd, locking it onto Shi Feiyang and sending it after him in relentless pursuit.

The sisters had always gone everywhere together. They had been abandoned together, then found together, and had never been separated since birth. Once Xie Lin gave chase, Xie Ying naturally followed at her side. She even remembered to tell Yue Qinbin, "Sorry for the trouble, Daoist master, but please rescue the children below and return them to their parents. My younger sister and I will kill the Monster dragon!"

Could there really be such a windfall? Yue Qinbin was overjoyed. "Go and slay the Monster dragon without worry, you two. Leave the children to me!"

He watched the Two Maidens pursue the Black Dragon, shouting curses as they each rode their Sword Qi. They soon vanished into the distance. He hurriedly rode his sword down to the ground, approached the bound children, and took a talisman-inscribed gourd from his Heaven-and-Earth Bag.

This attempt to forge the sword had failed. To set up the altar and try again, he would have to wait another twelve years. But he had carefully selected these children for their birth dates and times, and they could still be used to refine other Magic Treasures.

Wutai had many Magic Treasures that required human souls for their refinement: the Divine Infant Sword, the Six-Six True Essence Gourd, the Heavenly Demon Immortal-Slaying Sword, the Hundred-Spirit Immortal-Slaying Sword, and the Nine-Sons-and-Mother Yin-Soul Sword, for instance.

He planned to use these children's living souls to refine a Yin-Yang Soul-Splitting Shuttle, which would prove useful when they crossed swords with the Emei Sect.

Holding the gourd in his left hand, Yue Qinbin brought it before a little boy, aiming its mouth at the space between the boy's brows. With his right hand, he formed a seal and murmured several incantations. Suddenly, he pointed the seal at the boy's chest, sending a ray of red light from his fingertips into the boy's heart.

The heart housed the spirit; when the heart was unsettled, the spirit could not gather itself. The boy's heart pounded violently, his blood boiling throughout his body and surging madly upward into his skull. His whole face turned crimson, then his eyes became blood-red, bulging outward!

Yue Qinbin changed the seal formed by his right hand and pointed again at the gourd. A fierce suction arose from it. Soon, blood spurted from all seven openings of the boy's eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. His three ethereal souls and seven corporeal souls were forcibly drawn out along with the bloody vapor and pulled into the gourd.

When the ritual ended, the boy's head drooped. He had breathed his last.

Every child bound to a tree watched this scene in terror. They struggled with all their strength and opened their mouths wide to scream, but they could not break free, nor could they force the slightest sound from their throats.

Smiling in satisfaction, Yue Qinbin walked toward the next child, gourd in hand.