Demon Spirit Jiangshi (3)
Cheonhwa swept Okgyeong through the air, sword wind coiling tight around the blade.
He could have used sword qi, but the drain was still too heavy to wield it freely. Against anything short of a Peak Expert, the Blue Wind Rain Technique was the better choice.
The Blue Wind Rain Technique is only a mid-stage application form, but against First-class opponents it is more than enough.
A sharp, slicing noise cut the air. The head of the jiangshi in front of him spun free of its neck.
The true terror of the jiangshi lay in the fact that they were already corpses: ordinary wounds meant nothing to them. Even if their limbs were severed, the trunk alone would keep crawling forward, jaws snapping. The surest way to stop one was therefore to take the head—exactly as he had just done. The art that animated a jiangshi worked through the upper dantian in the skull.
Good. Exactly as the Jegal Family deduced.
Once the head was gone, the body stopped moving. Confirmed: they were not immortal. That left only one task.
Cut their numbers down as hard as I can, and keep our losses to a minimum.
He spread the Six Harmony Sensory Path across the field. Demon Spirit Jiangshi and Martial Alliance fighters were locked in a chaotic melee. Warriors from the same sect sometimes managed to form coordinated sword formations, but the mindless rush of the jiangshi had scrambled every line; most of the fighting was a tangled free-for-all of mixed sects.
Cheonhwa moved to pull the endangered free. Every time the jade-green arc of his sword flashed, another jiangshi head sailed into the air. The corpses sensed the threat by instinct and poured out demonic qi in answer, yet no matter what they tried, Cheonhwa carved them down cleanly.
Is this what it means to be a Peak Expert? The same forms hit far harder than before.
His first true battle since stepping into the Peak realm. He had trained hard to adjust to the new height, yet even without calling on sword qi the difference was staggering. The Demon Spirit Jiangshi were weaker than true Peak masters, but cutting them down like autumn leaves was still another matter entirely.
Gaining a Spiritual Nature has thickened the intent that saturates every form.
It was not as sharp as deliberately reinforcing a technique with intent, yet when his mental image aligned with the intent already woven into the art, the power of each form rose of its own accord. That he could reach this level at the very entrance of the Peak realm made him wonder what the same techniques would become once his cultivation deepened further.
Still, I cannot afford to grow careless.
Every Demon Spirit Jiangshi had mastered the Essence-Stealing Qi Absorption Art. Whenever an ally fell or a jiangshi was disabled, the survivors drank in the surrounding essence and death qi, swelling their reserves. The longer the fight dragged on, the more the undead side would grow stronger.
So I have to end this before they can feed and become something worse.
Cheonhwa unfurled the Cloud-Gathering Free Roam Art and streaked across the battlefield. Wherever he passed, he propped up the line; answering shouts rose from every quarter.
“Follow the Flash Sword Dragon! Aim for the jiangshi’s necks!”
“Keep them from reaching Wuhan!”
“How dare a corpse raise its hand against the living? Crawl back to the underworld where you belong!”
His presence lit the Martial Alliance’s fighting spirit again, and for a time they drove the Demon Spirit Jiangshi back. It did not last. Exactly as he had feared, the longer the battle continued, the stronger the jiangshi became. The demonic qi they had gluttonously swollen now pressed down on the field like a physical weight.
“Can a corpse really hold this much internal energy?!”
“Careful—their cultivation has grown dangerous!”
“Internal power like that… one solid hit and you’re as good as dead.”
Those with sharper senses cried out the warning. Sheer numbers had already been a headache; now every jiangshi that fell only made the rest more powerful. They never tired, and their internal energy only increased. To martial artists unprepared for a war of attrition, they were a nightmare.
Even the First-class fighters are starting to struggle.
Whether because they were corpses or for some other reason, the Demon Spirit Jiangshi lagged behind Wol-ak—whom Cheonhwa had once faced—in pure skill. He had heard that even their earlier victory over the Namgung Family’s force had been little more than a numbers-driven war of attrition. If this continued, the Martial Alliance would be pushed back the same way the Namgung had been.
Time for the next stage.
The moment the thought formed, the Six Harmony Battle Voice of the Jegal Family—watching from the rear—rolled across the entire field.
—Retreat!
At the signal the Martial Alliance fighters broke free of the jiangshi and fell back. The undead lunged after them like beasts after fleeing prey; Cheonhwa and the other experts stepped forward to cover the rear. The two forces, which the melee had thoroughly scrambled, finally pulled apart.
At once a new mass of presence rushed in from behind the jiangshi horde: men in blue robes, their sky-like qi blazing without concealment. The Namgung Family’s armed force, answering the call for support.
“Destroy the jiangshi and restore the Namgung name! Charge!”
The commander’s face was the mirror of Namgung Myeong’s—Namgung Yo, the family’s second young master. The Namgung warriors crashed into the jiangshi’s rear with a roar.
—Counterattack!
The Six Harmony Battle Voice rang out again. The retreating righteous fighters wheeled as one and slammed back into the Demon Spirit Jiangshi. A perfect pincer from both flanks.
“Brother Namgung, I’ll take the lead!”
“I won’t let Paeng run wild alone.”
“Haha—donors, your vigor never fades. This humble monk will do his best to keep pace.”
Paeng Mu-jin, Namgung Myeong, Beomhye, and the other Peak Experts took the van and drove the jiangshi before them. As the undead numbers thinned their auras grew denser still, yet raw internal energy meant nothing if they were never given the chance to use it. The gap in skill between Peak masters and the jiangshi made that possible.
Just when everything seemed to be flowing smoothly, a handful of the jiangshi changed.
They began using the ordinary undead as bait and shields, their movements unmistakably intelligent—nothing like the mindless swarm that had charged before. Their raw ability outstripped the rest by a wide margin.
“These ones suddenly fight differently!”
“Damn it, they were already hard enough—how much worse can they get?!”
“Ugh—their bodies are tougher than the others!”
“Ink Spirit Jiangshi! The ones that broke the Namgung force! Call the Peak Experts, now!”
Ink Spirit Jiangshi—undead said to rival Peak masters—had entered the fray in earnest. Cries of shock rose on every side. The Peak Experts themselves handled the newcomers without trouble; the problem was the First-class fighters holding the gaps. The Ink Spirit Jiangshi deliberately avoided their Peak-level counterparts and concentrated on the lesser experts, steadily whittling away the Martial Alliance and Namgung strength.
Excellent movement—yet unlike earlier, they feel more like puppets than living things.
A deep wrongness clung to the Ink Spirit Jiangshi’s new behavior. Even the original Wol-ak brood that had served as the template for both Demon Spirit and Ink Spirit Jiangshi had been incapable of tactics this complex. If the enemy had unleashed the Ink Spirit Jiangshi from the start, the damage would already have been far greater. That they had waited meant there was a reason.
This change is entirely artificial.
Someone was controlling them. The same conclusion must have reached the Jegal support force waiting in the rear; a voice transmission arrived at once.
—Daoist Cheonhwa, we have detected a strange wave across the field. It seems to have no effect on the living, but the Ink Spirit Jiangshi are responding to it. Almost certainly the work of a sorcerer controlling the undead.
—Where is the source?
—Our people and the Beggars’ Guild disciples have gone to pinpoint it. A signal will come soon.
True to the word, a rocket streaked into the sky and left a crimson trail. Proof that their own side had found the enemy. The moment the sorcerer’s position was exposed, he would try to flee. It was time to spend the strength Cheonhwa had been holding in reserve.
Deep in his consciousness he drew the longsword of the Heavenly Dipper Sword Secret and laid its image over Okgyeong. The residual qi filling the wooden blade deepened at once; the sword began to sing with a pure, ringing cry.
“That sound—sword resonance?”
“Don’t tell me the Flash Sword Dragon has reached the realm of sword-and-man unity?!”
Awe-struck voices rose around him, but Cheonhwa had no attention to spare. He was already concentrating on condensing Intent Qi Manifestation while locked in the state of sword-and-man unity. Four-colored energy packed the blade so densely that the jade wood flashed like polished steel.
Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven, Twenty-Fifth Form—All Under Heaven, White Sun.
An Intent Qi Manifestation whose mental image was the full light of the sun.
“Kyaaaaah!”
The Demon Spirit Jiangshi swarmed toward him. Jade sword-light flickered, leaving a hazy afterimage in the air. Everything the light touched parted like soft tofu—the natural result of a form designed for maximum cutting power.
Good. I can work it without trouble.
His first real-combat use of sword qi built on sword-and-man unity had been a success. All that remained was to reach the place where the signal had flared. Cheonhwa carved every Demon Spirit Jiangshi in his path to pieces and drove forward like a storm.
The other Peak Experts answered in kind, unleashing the ultimate forms they had held back. A heavy blue sky pressed down upon the field; crimson lightning scoured the ranks; the boom of a temple bell rolled out as fist-force exploded. With their support Cheonhwa punched straight through the undead mass and raced toward the signal.
The jiangshi horde began to behave strangely.
So the pursuit has begun after all.
A portion of the undead peeled away to chase him—clearly suspicious movement. Whoever controlled them had judged Cheonhwa a threat. Realizing it, the righteous fighters latched onto the remaining jiangshi with desperate tenacity.
“Those ones must not get through!”
“Protect Daoist Cheonhwa! Don’t let them near him!”
Cheonhwa cut across the chaos and at last saw them with his own eyes: a group dressed like Taoist priests. They had already overpowered the Jegal martial artists and Beggars’ Guild disciples. Most telling of all was the silver bell that radiated an ominous presence. Cheonhwa knew at once that these were the true culprits behind the jiangshi disaster.
Wind wrapped his entire body as he accelerated again. With the Blue Heaven Qi Art’s movement technique—the Wind-Cloud Divine Form—assisting him, he pushed the Cloud-Gathering Free Roam Art to its limit. He became a single streak of wind and closed the distance in a blink, his steps so light they made no sound at all.
Sensing the danger, the Taoists snatched bundles of talismans from their robes—but Cheonhwa was a fraction faster. He shaped the mental image of a boundless sea and combined forms into an ultimate technique.
Heavenly Dipper Sword Secret
Thunderclap Lightning Flash
Lightning, thunder, and the crash of the heavens fused into one. A single streak of light tore into existence with a deafening roar.