After pondering for a moment, Shi Feiyang took out the Heavenly Demon Immortal-Slaying Sword. Holding it in his hand, he stroked its spine and said with a smile, "You deserve a stroke of good fortune too. Go on. This time, you can indulge yourself to your heart's content." Without waiting for the Sword Spirit to answer, he threw the sword out.
Jiang Xiaotie was kneeling before the ceremonial archway, gazing up the mountain, when a streak of red light suddenly flew down along the multicolored stairs and hovered before him.
Shi Feiyang told him, "Take this sword with you. Designate the four targets you want killed, then raise your hand and throw it. Whatever happens afterward, leave it alone, and do not approach this sword again."
Jiang Xiaotie found the sword's design peculiar. In particular, its blade seemed neither iron nor quite anything else, resembling jade instead. A transparent layer of "glaze" covered its surface, through which he could see red mist surging within, as though blood were flowing inside.
He did not know why, but the moment he saw the sword, he fell deeply in love with it. He reached out and grasped its hilt. A warm current poured into his arm and coursed throughout his body, making the sword feel as though it had grown from his flesh. Boundless ambition swelled in his heart. With this sword in hand, he felt he need fear no one in heaven or on earth—he could kill any man who barred his way, any Buddha who stood in his path!
He kowtowed to Shi Feiyang once more in thanks, then rose and soared high into the sky with the flying sword, heading toward Xi'an.
When he reached the outskirts of Xi'an, the sky above Baqiao Abbey was even more thickly shrouded in