Chapter Ninety-Three: Encirclement and Slaughter

In the valley, four figures stood apart in the four directions.

All four were cultivators of the Second Heaven. Of the two elders, the one surnamed Fan and the one surnamed Guo were both at the peak of that realm; the other two were by no means newly entered into the Second Heaven.

At the center of the valley stood a dark silhouette.

It wore a black robe that was tattered beyond recognition, so ruined that it scarcely covered the body beneath it. The hood had been torn away, revealing a face covered in coarse fur, dark in color, with a crown of white hair. It was unmistakably the head of an ape.

Its eyes were gold, blazing like fire. Its arms hung longer than its knees, its ears drooped to its shoulders, and its frame was massively built, taller than an ordinary man by a full head, like an iron tower.

In its right hand it held a long blade, the tip snapped off, the edge behind it full of nicks and cracks, clearly ruined beyond repair.

In its left hand it carried a black object.

At first glance it looked like a human head; on closer inspection, it was merely a sphere woven from countless strands of hair.

Elder Fan, whisk in hand, swept it forward and shouted coldly, "You fiend, put down the divine thunder and I may spare your life!"

Gu Cang gave a low, beastlike roar. "Before I die, I will drag you down with me!"

At that, Elder Fan's expression changed abruptly.

The other three, however, exchanged looks of bafflement.

If Elder Fan died... the treasures would be divided among them, but the divine thunder... who would get it?

Each of the three had his own thoughts, but bound by their earlier oath, none dared to act.

"This creature is likely some kind of rare variant..." The man surnamed Feng suddenly smiled. "My knowledge is shallow; I do not recognize it."

"Monkey-like in shape, broad and powerful, covered in black fur, with white hair atop its head, golden eyes, arms longer than its knees, ears drooping to the shoulders," said Elder Guo in a grave voice. "It must be a mountain goblin. Rumor has it that such beings carry the blood of a demon immortal."

The man surnamed Feng immediately laughed. "Since it's a variant, I rather want to take it alive and bring it back to guard my house and estate."

"That won't do. You already have a frost-silk dao robe and a whisk, and what you've gained is already worth a listening shell's toll," said Fellow Daoist Xu slowly. "I happen to know someone who can open a furnace and refine pills. Since this thing carries the blood of a demon immortal, why not capture it and use it for alchemy? Once the pill is made, half can go to the alchemist, and the other half... Elder Fan already has the divine thunder, so there is no need to think further about him. As for the two of you..."

He chuckled. "Perhaps the three of us can divide it equally? Surely that would be better than taking it home to guard the gate, would it not?"

The others all burst into laughter at that.

Within that laughter, a streak of azure light suddenly shot forth.

It was a talisman.

Gu Cang had long been on guard, and he hurled the broken blade in his hand forward.

With a thunderous crash, the broken blade shattered and fragments of metal and steel sprayed through the air.

A strange gleam flashed through Gu Cang's golden eyes. In its mind, this was far inferior to the fire talisman from that gentleman.

"Quick enough..."

Since his first strike had failed, the man surnamed Xu raised his hand and shouted, "Attack!"

The four men each employed their methods and came at once.

Gu Cang roared and sprang upward, its movements as nimble as a shadow.

After breaking into the Second Heaven, it seemed to have changed. Its speed was astonishing, and it kept evading again and again.

But no matter how fast it was, it could not withstand the combined assault of four cultivators, especially now that it had lost its weapon and was forced to fight bare-handed.

"Kill!"

An azure talisman came straight at it, while attacks struck from both sides, leaving no room to dodge. It reached out and grabbed.

Gu Cang only felt a burst of pain in its hand. Its wrist sagged at once, rendered powerless.

Its claws and teeth were as sharp as blades, yet after seizing the azure talisman, the talisman burst apart and still wounded its palm. Flesh was torn open, blood streamed down, and several sharp fingernails flew off into the air.

Gu Cang glared furiously at Elder Fan and roared, "I will kill you first!"

It evaded what it could; what it could not evade, it simply endured with its powerful body.

While facing the assaults of the other three, it charged toward Elder Fan, as though intent on dying together with him.

The other three each harbored secret thoughts. Even if they were not deliberately holding back, their attacks still slowed almost by instinct.

Elder Fan was faintly alarmed and retreated repeatedly, shouting, "Why don't you hurry and beat it to death?"

Gu Cang's injuries were already severe. If it had been an ordinary cultivator, it might already have been dead, but as a bearer of demon-immortal blood, its flesh was strong and its vitality immense; it had not yet died.

"Die!"

A strand of golden light suddenly flashed in Gu Cang's eyes.

Elder Fan was horrified. On the day he had witnessed it before, this mountain goblin had used that golden gaze to daze even Lu Yu, a man who had already condensed his own spiritual intent, and then escaped.

Now that he saw that same glimmer of gold, Elder Fan's heart jolted and he tried to flee. But those twin golden gazes were like something real, flashing instantly into his pupils. He only had time to think of fleeing before his consciousness was seized, leaving him dazed and confused.

"Elder Fan, dodge!" Elder Guo could not simply stand by after all. He shouted warning and struck at the same time, sending a black wooden nail covered in talismanic markings toward Gu Cang's back.

The other two had sworn an oath and were not intentionally withholding their hands; still, because of the strange thoughts in their hearts, they hesitated, and their attacks were a little slower than Elder Guo's.

Elder Fan, mind clouded, was roused by Elder Guo's shout.

Only then did he clearly see the scene before him, where a claw was seizing toward him.

Gu Cang's hand was much like a man's, except for the black fur covering it, the rough, wrinkled skin, and the nails that were thick, sharp, and blade-like.

Elder Fan cried out and swept the whisk in his hand across his chest to block it.

Gu Cang's claw landed on the whisk's filaments, then pressed onto Elder Fan's chest.

The whisk was made from silk spun by northern frost silkworms, but in the end it was still only thread, unable to withstand such force.

With a sickening crack, Elder Fan's chest caved in. His entire body flew backward for three or four zhang before crashing to the ground, utterly still.

Gu Cang's fingers and palm were seared in agony, cut by the whisk's filaments, but there was no time to think further. A searing pain suddenly exploded in its back, so intense it seemed to pierce its bones.

It was the talisman-marked wooden nail, driven deep into its back.

"Fiend!"

Along with the shouts of Fellow Daoist Xu and Fellow Daoist Feng, Gu Cang took consecutive blows to the back and coughed up a mouthful of blood. It lurched forward more than two zhang, and the hair-covered sphere in its hand rolled away, coming to rest right before Elder Fan's body.

Elder Guo came to stand beside Gu Cang and looked down. His gaze flicked, almost imperceptibly, toward Elder Fan's side, only to see that Elder Fan lay motionless. Even though the hair sphere wrapped around the divine thunder was now within reach, there was still no response.

His eyes passed over Elder Fan, then settled on the hair sphere. A variety of strange lights flickered within them, and his gaze quickly swept past the other two.

He sensed that the other two wore similar expressions.

Elder Guo's heart tightened.

Now that Elder Fan was dead, was the next step to be a struggle over the divine thunder?

But that matter could be set aside for later.

Elder Guo drew a deep breath and looked at the mountain goblin sprawled on the ground. In a sorrowful voice he said, "Fiend, you killed Elder Fan. I have known him for decades; if I do not kill you today, I shall have betrayed an old friend of many years."

As the words fell, he turned his hand and produced a small sword, likewise made of wood, dull yellow in color and covered in talismanic markings.

"Subdue demons and crush fiends!"

Elder Guo thrust the sword toward the mountain goblin's back.

Gu Cang sensed a chill behind it, and the golden light in its eyes dimmed.

Just then, a clap of thunder rang out like the heavens cracking open.

Elder Guo cried out miserably.

Red light flickered, thunder echoed on and on.

"You want its life?"

A voice, cold to the bone and biting with frost, slowly sounded. "Have you asked its master?"