"YOU! IMPOSSIBLE! YOU! THE IMMACULATE COMMUNION?!" With blood squirting uncontrollably from his severed wrists, Mr. Huang howled with pain and agony in his voice. "You really haven't placed much thought into my one-week disappearance, have you?"
The question left a shocked Mr. Huang wordless. Shang Pei's ice guandao hissed and sizzled, and in a puff of vapor, it disappeared. He formed up beside me, wearing a proud smile. "Well, I see there's no need for old men like me here any longer!" With that, he wheeled around and walked back to Old Men Xie and Chen, and just beside them, Zhu Mei cried loudly with glee, "Good job, my dear boy! Now destroy him!"
With my sword-hand lowered but the Shiyan Blade still firmly in my grasp, I approached Mr. Huang. "Spirit of the Heirloom Axe," I addressed, "Through millennia, you and I have been nemeses. Well, I don't know what methods you've used to assume human form, but it appears you cannot become one with your weapon. So
Mr. Huang rose up amidst the dust and splinters of wood like a phoenix rising from its ashes, reborn and renewed. Patting the dust off his clothes, he sniggered. "Did you really expect that I'd be defeated so easily?! I created this Real and Fog World. This is my domain. Mine and only mine! So long as ghosts still wander here, they can be sustenance to me!"So this is what he's after?! I gasped, Sergeant Zhan was trying to buy him time! Gods, we've been thoughtless about that! This dimensional Real and Fog Worlds was created by Mr. Huang, the Spirit of the Heirloom Axe, and they were filled with damaged ghosts missing parts of their Souls. If Mr. Huang could easily dabble with modifications of their Souls, then it should only be expected that he was highly skilled in the manipulation of Souls and that would mean he could just as handily consume any of the damaged ghosts to heal himself and the time that Sergeant Zhan had bought him had allowed him to do just that!
Big Sister screamed and screamed to no avail. Father did not appear nor did he respond in any way. There was only Big Sister's hoarse voice resounding through the void outside.Hum! Another wave of energy swept forth from its epicenter where the two men were still fiercely raining blow after blow at one another. Their weapons met, steel clashed against steel, sending more jolts that the offices and cubicles around us looked as if the ground beneath them would be giving way any moment now. Even on the floating swords, the waves of energy pulsed and nearly knocked Uncle Quan and the others off.Shang Pei's fight with Mr. Huang could not have been any more vicious. None of them would yield to each other and the heavy blows they exchanged were testaments to their unyielding tenacity. But they were not equals. With my Spirit Sight, I could see that Shang Pei was gradually turning weak while Mr. Huang had invariably succumbed to a maniacal bloodlust, the thick ma
The sudden voice ringing in my head made me shudder. Father?! Is that you?! I reeled as the sight of the Heirloom Axe coming nearer reminded me that I was not dreaming. A deep but sonorous hum reverberated in my ears, nearly knocking me out and Mr. Huang's battleaxe came down with a bursting force that erupted and really had me keeled over, unconscious.I did not know how long had passed. After what felt like a very long time, I opened my eyes frantically, remembering that we were still in danger only to inhale heavily in awe at what I saw! I was standing, right in the middle of the auditorium and my leg was fine! The auditorium which had been battered to ruins and only one door still flapping on one last hinge at the frame of the entrance had been restored to what it was before when I first came and everyone was behind me—Zhu Mei, Old Men Xie and Chen, and even Shang Pei! I panned around, spinning on my heels like a spindle. The same podium that Mr. Huang had been spea
With speed we never thought him to be capable of, he bolted! He should be dying already, I gasped. Bitterness and grudge flared effervescently in his eyes despite the foul aura that fueled his powers earlier now completely missing. Still, he looked no less murderous from before! And to make things worse, I spied a newly-cut wound on his wrist; he had slicked the Heirloom Axe with his blood again!But how long could he stand without the supply of power from his ghosts? I wondered. Without it, can this middle-aged man, now almost fifty, sustain any longer in battle? Shang Pei, the mightiest among everyone here, skittered forth to meet him. The blade of his saber gleamed blue as it appeared in his grasp, glowing with an icy-cold fury! Only, before he could do anything, I zipped right past him just as his fingers clasped around the hilt of his freshly-conjured weapon, charging straight at Mr. Huang. I zipped from where I stood in a flash, the tip of my sword p
The Windchaser magic might not help them to cover several miles within seconds, but they were quick enough to keep up with the speed of my sword. That alone was marvel enough for me to behold. As he ran, Zhu Mei screamed, "Third Brother!"Shang Pei responded by landed hard on the ground with a crash. I looked and saw he had already reached the level of the art gallery. Only the unexpected happened again. He had barely touched the ground when the statues, effigies, and sculptures in the gallery all began writhing to life! Gods in Heaven, they're really alive?! Godammit!Within moments, we reached the broken French window outside the sculpture wing of the gallery. Zhu Mei charged at the front and before I could warn him about the magical barrier, he planted a foot right in front of the hole in the window when the huge "jin" rune shone brightly like neon lights again!Only nothing happened as I anticipated. Zhu Mei rushed headlong at the hole and
Old Man Xie's eyes traced everyone's faces and to his dismay, no one could answer him. He sighed and instructed Lin Feng, "Put the girl down. You carrying her just puts me right in front of her naked bottom."Lin Feng's face blazed a full red and he quickly laid Lu Shengnan on the ground. Old Man Xie examined her pulsed and muttered with frustration, "Gods in Heaven, she's no good." "What's wrong with her, old man?" I asked. "Her ghost's damaged," Old Man Xie complained, his lips pursed. "The Spirit of the Heirloom Axe inherited an infernal sort of magic from Tribe Nine Li. It allows its user to strip out one's Heaven and Earth Souls and replace them with others." "So that means that this girl's Heaven and Earth Soul could still be somewhere inside this Fog World." I answered quickly, "Naturally!" And Old Man Xie shot me an offended look. The same one he usually made when he was impatient, as if he had been wasting time with a fool, saying, "Then what are you waiting fo
The voice made everyone spun. Everyone, including me, Edelweiss, and those who had slipped away just now, wheeled around and we saw a magical portal ripped open right in front of us, a bright, radiant swirl of colors that churned and admitted a man.Uncle Quan's jaw fell, his eyes now as wide as eggs as he stammered, "Master Six?!" Shang Pei and Zhu Mei hurried to the demigod and knelt before him, bowing deeply at his feet while saying, "Lord Immortal!" Shang the Younger and the mute boy flustered uncertainly, although they quickly dropped to their knees reverently themselves after their fathers.I was so surprised to see Master Six here that I was stunned for seconds before I could recover. I got up at once, "Master Six! Gods in Heaven, what brought you here?! Heh heh heh heh!" The immortal glared at me, saying "Your father's son indeed!" I scratched the back of my head sheepishly and giggled. "Come on now. Anyway, how did you know we're here?" The immorta
Jin Qichen reset the crumpled can of Coke on the table and lay back on the sofa, his expression blank as he swam in his memories. "The fox spirit bestowed upon Na San the shamanic instruments and he bade us abandon our search. As if we would...""Of course you wouldn't and Time has proven that," I answered dryly."For the next ten years, we wallowed in ignorance. We did not know how to use the shamanic instruments, much less the fates of our parents. Hell, we did not even know who killed them." I bobbed my head absentmindedly and added, "And Mr. Huang came to look for you and told you everything, did they?" Jin Qichen chuckled. "Actually, after the henchmen of Mr. Huang had left, the fox came back again. This time, it warned us against working with those people, or there could be..." He stopped abruptly as his eyes found Na San's corpse on the floor. He burst suddenly with regret, "I've killed him! I have as well as killed Na San with my own hands! We knew