The Heavenly Wandering Sword

Chapter 41

Hearing those words, Fu Rong sat back down in her bed and frowned. Sun Li looked down awkwardly at her hands for a moment before looking up and smiling brightly. “I believe that the matter will be settled. I am currently staying here because I cannot just interfere with the matters of the Divine Hunts Ground. In fact, I think with the appearance of a yokai on this continent, it might serve as a catalyst for the five Hunts deities to unite together.”

Li Jian rather thought otherwise. He had images of Hei Chuin Zi the Deity of Martial Attack challenging him openly and privately, as well as the various attacks that had been launched at him to “ask him for advice.” Deities had started off in this world as cultivators. It meant that in their own way, deities were all concerned for power of their own choosing. For ones like Hei Chuin Zi, it was the sheer prestige that portfolios granted him. For others like Tan Tie his close friend, it was the power to forge ever greater weapons with ever more exotic material. For himself the Sword Deity, it had always been the absolute power to have no opposition.

“This may perhaps be a good time then to find our way back to Murk. Where exactly are we?” He looked over at Sun Li as he asked the question. Sun Li could only shrug with her hands up. “I don’t know where Murk is. All I know is that we are underneath the continent in the southern part of the continent.” Fu Rong thought about the southern part of the continent before nodding. “It is known that the southern part of the continent near the sea itself has a series of deep caves and caverns that are impossible to explore. This place is most likely part of the reason why, there must be a barrier around here.” Sun Li looked at Li Jian with a rather peeved expression on her face. “There is a barrier but the mortal here was able to get past it. Looks like I need to upgrade the barrier then.”

“There had been a barrier?” He thought to himself, but he did not voice the opinion out loud. The difference between a deity and a demi-deity was vast; the combination of a hundred demi-deities would not be a match to a deity in a normal circumstance. It was also concerning to find a demi-deity here in this continent, far away from the Heavenly Palace especially since the deity has parried any attempts to get a straight answer from her about what had transpired. “Deity Sun, I have a favour to ask of you.” He bowed slightly as he asked the question. “Please in the future, I hope you will grant us mortals the kind favour of healing if you were to find more of us injured.” She looked like she was going to object to his favour but she sighed after giving it some thought. “I am the Deity of Healing after all. I will of course heal those who are injured and in need.” There seemed to be more that she wished to say but she still held back.

After a few days, Fu Rong had recovered and it was time for them to leave. Waving goodbye to the two of them as they walked out of the field and back into the cavern, Sun Li sighed to herself. She must stay here for a while longer; she could still feel the slight gentle fading of her power. She didn’t know when or if she would ever regain her full strength. She did know that it meant her master was still injured, and the toxin still active within her.

As they wandered into the cavern, Li Jian made a mark just outside of the cavern entrance so that he would be able to find it again. He pressed a finger onto the cavern wall and infused it with a tiny bit of his Dao force. He had a feeling that he would need to find this place again in the future. Fu Rong was very quiet as they walked along the cavern. She was deep in thought about how could the five Hunts deities be in conflict with each other. They reach represented a nature of the Witch Elves. Noticing how deep in thought she was, he would emit a tiny bit of spiritual force as a pathfinding arrow. He would follow the slight trail on the ground that only he would be able to see and lead her forward until they were able to finally make it out of the cavern system.

The exit turned out to be a cave that faced north, from where they were able to see a long trail through the grassy plains that snaked through the various mountains and hills. “I think this is the way to Murk.” Fu Rong said quietly, her mind still deep in thought. His ears perked up as he heard the approaching sound of carriages and horses. The two of them walked down the path for a bit, the sound of the hoofs and slight creek of carriage wheels getting closer and closer. It turned out that it was a merchant convoy that was transporting various goods to the next city over, a witch elf city called Thuren. It seemed that the city was importing vast amounts of goods and food ever since a few days ago. The merchant agreeing to take them there in exchange for some spirit stones, Li Jian laid in the carriage carrying bags of wheat and other edible items while Fu Rong sat in the corner quietly.

“Sister Fu, you’re so very quiet. I miss the charming qualities of your beautiful voice.” He looked at her and gave her a playful smile and she giggled softly. “At a time like this Master Li is still such a jerk.” He shook his head and reached out to lightly caress the top of her head. “I have never been a jerk. Don’t forget, you are the one that blackmailed me to take a job at your Academy.” Fu Rong lightly blushed as she felt his hand brush through her hair and rested her chin on her knees, her legs pulled up to her chest as she rested against a sack of flour. “I worry about the students. I worry about the Academy. Master Li, do you think the gods truly care about mortals?” It was a hard question to answer especially for him. “Well, you should know the answer to that. Look at how you were healed.” He said the last part quietly to her. She nodded and combed through her hair with a hand before looking up at the sky. “When I was a small child, I always wondered if I would ever meet a deity. Now after hearing about what has happened, I don’t know if I ever want to.”

Li Jian just smiled at her calmly. “Sister Fu, I always believe that the deities will sort out their own affairs. After all, they are deities. They cannot just interfere in mortal affairs nor can they just turn a blind eye to certain things. After all, they have the power but also the responsibilities of a deity.” Fu Rong giggled slightly. “Master Li, why do I feel like that was one of your meaningless philosophical speeches that you always seem to spew around me?” He just shrugged at her words with a practiced casualness. “Because you do not yet understand the depth of my wisdom of course.” The two of them chuckled, Fu Rong release a bundle of built up tension that she had began accumulating as soon as she had woken up inside Sun Li’s hut.

When they were about a day away from Thuren, they suddenly found that the roads themselves were jammed with families escaping. After getting a solid answer from some of them, the merchants shook their heads. They had to turn around, there was no way they would be able to get into the city. The city was under attack.

“There is so bloodshed in the city! The Church is defending the city but they’re getting massacred!” A witch elf man yelled at him as he pulled his mule along the road. “There’s a goddamn yokai! You better head back if you want to stay alive!” The merchant would advise them but Li Jian shook his head and looked at Fu Rong. “We need to go to the city.” Fu Rong looked at him and nodded. Summoning a burst of spiritual force, he would fly up into the sky towards the city, Fu Rong following closely behind him.

After a few hours of flying, the two would arrive at the outskirts of the city to see a scene that looked to have come from hell itself. There were smears of blood everywhere, and the sounds of screaming filled the air. Crows were gathered around, sitting on top of the city gates as they waited for the slaughter to finish. The scent of blood filled the air as bodies as well as body pieces were left around, while the sound of steel ringing against steel could be heard everywhere in the city. The sounds of battle echoed through the formerly busy streets while the explosive thuds of spiritual force detonations can be heard rising about the ding of slaughter.

“What has happened here?” Fu Rong stared at the scene from the sky while Li Jian just grimaced to himself. “This is what battle truly looks like.” They would fly closer towards the sound of battle and Fu Rong gasped out loud at the scene that awaited them.

The Tengu Lord they had seen earlier seemed to have recovered his powers. With a wave of his hand, a powerful blast of bloody red energy was thrown into a mass of Witch Elf knights armed with halberds and shields. Their spiritual shield did nothing to alleviate the powers of the Tengu Lords attack. With a single strike, a dozen of the Church’s warriors died. All around the Tengu Lord were massive hordes of smaller yokais, each striking out with their claws and their asura forces activating in bursts of bloody red colour. A few sections were able to hold out against the assault of the lesser yokais but the section in front of the Tengu Lord could only be described as a slaughterhouse.

Warriors in shining armour of different cultivator levels were lifted up by the yokai lord’s powerful asura aura, before being crushed into a splatter of blood and absorbed by the monster. The bodies piled up all around the battle itself was tremendous, but much more were the bodies that had been absorbed by the yokais. In a single section was a witch elf more powerful than the others. He chanted as the twelve Heavenly Realm warriors around him cut and slashed through the yokai attack bit by bit, their capabilities marking them out as not just common warriors. “Who are they?” Li Jian asked. “That is the Pontiff of the Church, and those around him as the Twelve Paladins. They’re the most powerful force the Church can muster, and they rival the Three Rulers.”