Chapter 52 — The Fire Dragon

Zhou Yixuan raged, "Nonsense! All my life I've hated these sweet, cloying things! If you're going to offer anything, offer beggar's chicken, steamed sleeper fish, or the like!"

Xiaowan nodded. "Grandfather, I'll remember. You can go in peace now."

Only then did Zhou Yixuan relax. "That's more like it. Then I can go with an easy mind—wait, wait!" He suddenly came to his senses, his beard and brows bristling. "Dead girl, easy mind about what? Go where? You heartless thing, I—"

Listening to Zhou Yixuan rattle on and on without pause, pouring out a torrent of scolding at Xiaowan—and judging by his manner, he would not finish before tomorrow—the two immortal-like young people both frowned, exchanged a glance, and simultaneously withdrew their artifacts.

The woman said, "Senior Brother, I see no demonic aura about them. They don't seem to be demons."

The man said, "Indeed." Then he turned to Zhou Yixuan and shouted loudly (nothing less would have interrupted Zhou Yixuan's lengthy discourse): "Who are you people?"

Zhou Yixuan started, then immediately adopted a calm and genial expression. "Heh heh, this old man and his granddaughter learned that demons were running rampant here and came specially to subdue them and rid the people of this scourge."

Xiaowan was struck dumb beside him. She stared at her grandfather, but Zhou Yixuan remained utterly composed, his expression unchanged.

Unexpectedly, the man looked the two of them up and down, gave a cold laugh, and said, "Your Daoist arts look shallow to me—I doubt you're a match even for an ordinary lesser demon. Yet you dare come to such a dangerous place. You'd best go back while you can."

Zhou Yixuan's old face flushed red, and he could only say, "Yes, yes." He took Xiaowan by the hand and turned to walk away.

After the old man and the young girl had vanished into the darkness, the man turned to look at the cliff ahead and said, "Junior Sister, it seems we must go down."

The beautiful woman said, "Yes. This time Heaven truly favors us—letting us learn from that small town that the remnant of the demon fox is actually hiding in this Black Stone Cave. If we can truly eliminate the demon and recover the Mystic Fire Mirror, the Valley Master will be overjoyed."

The man smiled with easy grace. "No time to lose. Let us go."

With that, light blazed forth, and the man and woman, like lightning streaking across the sky, plunged toward the bottomless abyss below the cliff.

But atop the cliff, in the darkness, a torchlight flickered, and Zhou Yixuan and Xiaowan slowly stepped out once more—they had not gone far after all.

Zhou Yixuan's brows were tightly knit. After a moment's thought, he said to Xiaowan, "Those two young people have excellent aptitude and profound cultivation. Just now I noticed a flame pattern embroidered on the edges of their sleeves. I fear they are disciples of the Burning Cloud Valley."

Xiaowan was startled. "Burning Cloud Valley?"

Zhou Yixuan nodded. "The Burning Cloud Valley is immensely powerful, ranked alongside the Canglan Sect and the Brahma Sound Temple as one of the three great orthodox sects of the cultivation world, with many masters among its ranks. Lately I've heard that two exceptionally outstanding disciples have emerged there—also a man and a woman. The man is called Li Xun, the woman Yan Fei. Judging by the artifacts they used just now, it is most likely these two."

Xiaowan glanced down over the cliff and could not help feeling some worry. "Then those three who went down just now..."

Zhou Yixuan shrugged and, taking Xiaowan by the hand, walked outward, saying, "That's none of our concern. In any case, with all the excitement tonight, we won't be getting any advantage. Ah, what a pity."

Xiaowan gave a soft laugh and said nothing, following her grandfather outward.

Only below the cliff did all remain pitch-black, and the figures of Li Xun and Yan Fei had long since vanished.

Zhang Qingyue, situated in the darkness, felt the temperature around him growing hotter and hotter, with the occasional beast's eye fixed upon him—it truly felt as though he had returned to the Dead Spirit Abyss.

The caves around them grew larger and larger; by now most of the openings were as tall as a man and a half, even two men, and the creatures within were fiercer and more enormous still. But the empty caves were also growing more numerous. And the smell of blood in the air seemed to grow ever stronger.

He even faintly heard, during the descent, a soft chewing sound from some unknown place—as if some unknown giant beast were tearing and swallowing its food. It made one's hair stand on end.

It was at this tense moment, when everyone's muscles were taut and they could almost hear their own heartbeats, that suddenly, from the darkness below, Zhang Qingyue felt a violent gust of wind sweep past beneath his feet.

Almost by instinct, his mind moved with his will, and in the instant the wind touched his body, the Dark Iron Staff swiftly shifted three feet to the side.

"Crack!"

With a tremendous crash, illuminated by the faint light, something in the depths of the darkness—something immeasurably huge, like a tentacle—lashed past Zhang Qingyue like a whip and struck the pitch-black cliff wall with tremendous force.

The entire precipice seemed to shudder. Dust flew everywhere with a clatter, and stones large and small came tumbling down. A moment later, a shrill cry suddenly rose from the abyss, from the cliff wall, wailing without cease. Zhang Qingyue and the others were greatly startled. Looking back, they saw that the enormous tentacle, ghastly as a demon, had plunged into a huge cave in the cliff wall; after a few convulsive, twitching movements, it withdrew.

Zhang Qingyue drew a sharp breath as a gust of bloody wind struck his face. A massive five-eyed saber-toothed tiger had been seized by that enormous tentacle and dragged bodily from its cave. Though the beast bared its fangs and claws and roared without end, its body—twice the size of an ordinary man—was, compared to that inconceivable giant tentacle, as tiny and helpless as an infant.

Once the tentacle had seized the tiger, it immediately retracted swiftly toward the darkness below, vanishing in an instant, leaving behind only the tiger's shrill, despairing roars.

The three of them halted in midair, exchanging pale glances—especially Bili, whose face had gone even whiter.

The darkness beneath their feet was deep and bottomless. Who knew how many more horrors lurked within?

After a moment, Shi Tou coughed and was about to speak, when Bili, sharp-eyed, suddenly cried out in alarm: "Below—look out!"

Zhang Qingyue and Shi Tou were startled again and hastily looked down. In the darkness beneath their feet, a firelight suddenly flashed; in an instant the temperature in the surrounding space surged, and the firelight rapidly expanded, rushing toward them with a howling gale of heat. As it drew near, the three saw it clearly, and their expressions all changed at once: a fire dragon, rearing its head and roaring, came charging and bellowing straight up from the abyss below.

In appearance, the fire dragon was much like the one the three-tailed demon fox had summoned with the Mystic Fire Mirror, but for some reason, this fire dragon now far surpassed the earlier one in both size and might.

Though the three wondered at this, now was hardly the time for reflection. Seeing the fire dragon's ferocity and the sky filled with heat waves, it was upon them in an instant, irresistible. The three hastily scattered, driving their artifacts to evade its charge.