Chapter 102 — Little Grey

Xiao Hui, hidden beneath the wooden platform, was frightened at first, but by degrees it found that the two great creatures were only fighting desperately overhead and never came down, so it quietly poked its head out to watch. And in that one glance it saw that the screen of light which had shrouded the wooden cup had vanished along with the collapse of the Heaven Emperor's Treasure House.

Xiao Hui crept slowly up onto the wooden platform and, raising its head, looked upward: high in the air the serpent's head and the bird's head thrust and pecked, battling with abandon, and from time to time huge scales and feathers drifted down like rain.

The monkey scratched its head, blinked its eyes, and looked down; there beside it in the wooden cup the liquid lay like water, mirroring its own shape, and a single small stone floated upon the surface, somehow not sinking, translucent and clear—what it was, none could say.

It stared at the wooden cup a few moments, then suddenly flopped over it, thrust its head into the cup, and began gulping, glug, glug.

Glug, glug, glug glug...

The Blackwater Mystic Serpent and the Yellow Bird, which a moment ago had been fighting to the death, the two giant beasts whose battle a moment ago had shaken heaven and earth and changed the color of the winds and clouds—suddenly both seemed frozen stiff.

Glug, glug, glug glug...

This thin, tiny sound was utterly negligible amid countless dreadful crashes, yet for some reason, all at once everything in heaven and earth fell still, leaving only this somewhat comical sound of a monkey drinking water.

The cup was small, holding no more than half a cup of liquid, and the monkey Xiao Hui quickly drained it; then it raised its head and glanced about. High in the air, the Blackwater Mystic Serpent looked down, seeming not yet to have grasped what had happened, then raised its head to look at its sworn foe the Yellow Bird across from it; and the Yellow Bird, in almost identical fashion, looked at Xiao Hui, then at the Blackwater Mystic Serpent.

...

Tsk, tsk.

Suddenly there came another odd sound; the Blackwater Mystic Serpent and the Yellow Bird looked down at once, and saw only that Xiao Hui had stuck out its tongue and smacked its lips twice, then shook its monkey head—plainly the water in the cup had not tasted good at all, far inferior to the delicacies its master had once cooked in the kitchen on Dazhu Peak of Canglan Mountain; Xiao Hui was most dissatisfied. Then its monkey eyes turned, and it saw that though the water in the cup was gone, there remained a small, glimmering stone lying quietly in the wooden cup; it simply picked that up too, tossed it lightly into the air, opened its mouth, and—ahm—swallowed it down in one gulp, like a human eating a peanut.

...

In the distance, Facheng and the others broke out in a sweat!

Suddenly, with a roar and a shrill cry, the Blackwater Mystic Serpent and the Yellow Bird charged down in a rage together, serpent head and bird beak smashing toward this poor little monkey; Xiao Hui turned pale with fright—even the fur on its head stood on end—but there was nowhere to flee, so by instinct it flattened itself face-down on the wooden platform and clutched its head with both hands.

It looked as though Xiao Hui would die beneath the combined assault of the two giant beasts, when in that instant, not a hair's breadth to spare, a streak of pure light flashed by—Ming Li, arriving with all his strength, reached out and snatched Xiao Hui up, then flew off with all his might.

They had scarcely left the wooden platform when a thunderous crash came from behind, and the whole remnant of the Heaven Emperor's Treasure House was reduced to flying ash...

The Blackwater Mystic Serpent roared loudly upon the trunk, but though it was invincible on land, it was helpless against a flying foe; after bellowing for a long while it could do nothing, and with the spirit medicine lost and its natural enemy present, it finally turned away in fury, slowly crawled down the great tree, and soon vanished into the mist.

But the crisis for Ming Li and Xiao Hui was not over; the Blackwater Mystic Serpent might be thwarted, but there remained the divine beast that had ranged across the nine heavens and eighty thousand li—the Yellow Bird—which now beat its wings and came pursuing relentlessly, unwilling to let them go.

Sweat stood on Ming Li's brow. The Yellow Bird flew with incredible speed, but for one thing it had just fought a fierce battle with the Blackwater Mystic Serpent and was covered with wounds, its strength greatly spent; for another, Ming Li was small and nimble, constantly wheeling and turning in midair, and only thus had the Yellow Bird failed to catch him. Even so, the Yellow Bird, weary as it was, slowly closed the distance, and it seemed that before many more turns he would be overtaken; Xiao Hui, clutched in Ming Li's bosom, screamed loudly in great alarm—but after only a couple of cries it suddenly gave an "urp," and whether from having drunk its fill or something else, it chose this very moment to let out a belch.

Ming Li was both exasperated and amused, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, but he had no time to spare for such things now and could only dodge desperately the sharp wind at his back. As he flew, from the corner of his eye he suddenly glimpsed ahead a bed of flowers, which, unlike the devastation all around, still bloomed in profusion, and among them a faint red glow was rising.

He started, and in an instant had seen what was hidden there; he had not expected that they too had come to this place—but why had they not told him?

Doubt rose in his heart, but this was after all a moment of life and death, and he had no time to think it through; at once he flew toward it, with the Yellow Bird in hot pursuit.

In the distance, Lu Xueling and the others cried out in alarm, seeing the Yellow Bird's talons about to close on Ming Li's back, seeing the rage in the Yellow Bird's face—it would not rest until it had torn to pieces these thieves who had stolen the Heaven Emperor's spirit medicine!

Quick as thought, Ming Li spent all his strength and, turning to azure light like lightning, shot over the bed of flowers, while the Yellow Bird, noticing nothing else, pressed close behind and just barely flew over the flower bed.

Sudden change struck.

Beneath the flowers, red light abruptly surged, joining into one body; and high in the sky appeared an ancient cauldron glowing red all over—none other than the Suppressing Dragon Cauldron, the treasured guardian artifact of the Ming Wang Sect.

And standing upon the Suppressing Dragon Cauldron was a man of calm countenance, chanting incantations—none other than Ming Wang.

The mysterious incantation echoed once more, and at the same time Qinglong and Yousi appeared beside the flower bed, their hands weaving in rapid succession; in an instant, driven by the arcane spiritual power of the Suppressing Dragon Cauldron, the "Trapped Dragon Enclosure" formation sprang to life again, red light sweeping upward and linking into one, forming a dark red curtain that gathered upon the Suppressing Dragon Cauldron high above and trapped the Yellow Bird fast within it.

How could the Yellow Bird submit to capture? At once it dashed left and charged right, but whether because it had spent too much strength in its fierce fight with the Blackwater Mystic Serpent, or because the power of the Trapped Dragon Enclosure was simply too great, it struck the walls again and again and could not break out no matter how it tried; instead the mysterious force rebounded upon it, and its wounds all over its body looked the worse.

At last, as though it knew it was helpless, the Yellow Bird gave a mournful cry, settled within the red curtain of light, and moved no more.