Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Five Elements Against the Heavens Charm?”
As a Taoist, one should be able to recognize things like charms with an inscribed invocation at one glance.
This charm was rated as second grade. After it had been activated, it could display the instinctive method of the Five Elements Against the Heavens. Nothing in the world could hide from the Five Elements.
As the Array of Prohibitions of the Demon Slaying Department was connected to the Earth’s pulse, it was also under the jurisdiction of the Five Elements.
Shortly after, a fat monk appeared. He was holding a string of gold rosary beads that were all the size of an adult fist.
“Eh? When did Taoism start colluding with the demons and monsters?”
Monks were generally very experienced and knowledgeable people. So, it was not surprising for this monk to know that there were only a few Taoist priests in this world who were capable enough of drawing a Five Elements Against the Heavens Charm.
Regardless of where the dragon’s soul got this charm from, a Buddhist would always push the responsibility to the Taoists first. This was absolutely the right thing for a Buddhist to do.
The Taoist priest frowned and retorted, “With neither proof nor evidence, you should not speak so presumptuously, Zen Master Jing Ming,!”
“Priest Xuan Qing is right. Why would Taoists collude with demons and monsters? The most important thing to do now is to catch that demon. According to the law, we need to mete out the capital punishment to maintain the authority and reputation of the Demon Slaying Department!”
The one who spoke was a general fully clad in a suit of basalt-colored armor, with only two holes where his eyes were.
The laws of the Great Qian dynasty strictly forbade demons and monsters from entering the Demon Slaying Department. Any violators of this order would be killed without amnesty. There was no need for any trial at all.
“King Chu, fret not! The demon enabled its soul to escape through forced means, so there’s still some lingering residual aura of its soul. We will be able to locate its trail.”
Xuan Qing was one of the Taoist representatives in the imperial court, so he had to clarify that Jing Ming was making a false accusation. So reluctantly, he took out a tortoiseshell.
The tortoiseshell was made of white jade that was pristine and crystal clear. It was naturally inscribed with patterns that depicted the nine palaces of the heavenly court and the Eight Trigrams and were extremely exquisite and profound. The only flaw it had was that there were three cracks to be found on the entire piece of white-jaded shell.
Xuan Qing’s magic power captured a wisp of aura from the spot where the dragon’s soul escaped and injected it into the white-jaded tortoiseshell. Then he took out three sandalwood incense sticks, lit them, and bowed thrice to the white-jaded tortoiseshell.
The white-jaded tortoiseshell trembled slightly, and another crack appeared on its back.
The sweet scent from the burning sandalwood incense sticks spread despite the windless environment, and it drifted off in the southeast direction.
“Let’s go!”
Holding onto the sandalwood incense sticks, Xuan Qing turned into a green streak of escaping light and left in a flash.
“Amitabha! Master Xuan Qing has resorted to using his psychic tortoiseshell. It seems like he really has nothing to do with the demons and monsters.”
Zen Master Jing Ming took a step forward and the vast ground beneath his feet shrunk drastically. Instantly, everything that was more than tens of feet away came into view.
In terms of speed of covering far distances, the siddhi-video technique in Buddhism was not inferior to the escape method in Taoism at all.
King Chu did not take off right away. He waited for officials of the Demon Slaying Department and captain of the prison to arrive and ordered them to carry out a thorough investigation of prison cell B13. Then, he tracked the aura left by Xuan Qing and gave chase.
…
The Lake of Green Waves.
One of Luodu’s most magnificent landscapes.
The lake water was linked to an underground fire, so the water temperature was persistently high. This made the place a natural hothouse.
The surrounding verdure remained vibrant and green even in the cold winter season, and there were still many visitors every day.
No one would have thought that there would be a dragon living in seclusion within this Lake of Green Waves, not to mention the fact that it had even built a water residence in the lake. It called itself Dragon King of the Green Waves and had gathered many water demons under his command.
The dragon’s soul fled into the Lake of Green Waves and dove right back into its physical body in the water residence.
Then, the Dragon King of Green Waves slowly opened its pair of eyes. Now, it was able to control the tremendous demon aura within its body again and immediately felt more at ease. However, after successively spitting two mouthfuls of spirit essence, it needed at least ten years for a full recovery.
With a gloomy and terrifying look on its face, the Dragon King of Green Waves gave orders to the water demons under its command.
“Someone, capture that human and bring him to me.”
A moment later.
A middle-aged man in fancy clothes was escorted into the room. Regardless of how well dressed he was, he was a wretched sight to behold. From how badly bruised and swollen his face was, it was obvious that he had been put through a grueling time.
“Lord Dragon King, it seems that you have already entered the Demon Slaying Department and rescued your son.”
The middle-aged man was neither subservient nor disrespectful and carried himself with an imposing bearing. Though he was only a lower third-grade cultivator, he did not cower in the face of the mighty Dragon King.
“I have just returned from the Demon Slaying Department….”
The Dragon King of the Green Waves grabbed the middle-aged man by his shirt and lifted him in mid-air. Then, it said, “If I wasn’t fast enough, I would most probably be fed into the Demon Refining grotto by now!”
“Impossible. So long as we follow our Lord’s method and make use of the carcass of a dead snake demon as a substitute for your actual physical form, there will definitely not be any problem.”
The middle-aged man felt that the Dragon King of Green Waves was welching on the debt now that it had gotten what it wanted. There had been precedence where demon kings went back on their words, but eventually, they all died miserably.
So, the middle-aged man threatened the Dragon King, “Dragon King, you’d better think about this clearly. The Lord is mighty and resourceful. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!”
The Dragon King of Green Waves looked baffled. Had it really wronged this person? After all, the Five Elements Against the Heavens Charm that this man had provided it with did not have any problem.
Boom!
A loud sound came from outside the dragon’s water residence.
It was followed by a succession of thunder, as well as the miserable wails of water demons.
The Dragon King of Green Waves sensed three familiar auras. They belonged to the three steaks of escaping light that it encountered at the Demon Slaying Department.
“D*mn your human race, you actually brought your own people into my water residence, and up till now, you still want to deceive me!”
And then, without giving the middle-aged man any chance to retort, it shoved the man into its mouth, chewed, and swallowed everything into its belly.
ROAR…
Letting out a roar, the Dragon King, which was more than a dozen feet long, wove its way around the water. Under its leadership, the entire pack of water demons charged their way out.
“What a timely arrival. This humble priest here has been waiting for a long time!”
Xuan Qing reversed the direction of the thunder spell that he used against the Dragon King’s water residence earlier and the next moment, dozens of thunderbolts were blasted at the Dragon King of Green Waves.
At the same time, huge rosary beads fell from the sky and landed on the dragon’s body, firmly pinning it down in the water.
Purple divine thunder fell like rain on the dragon’s body. Dragon scales splashed in all directions, and the dragon blood dyed the Lake of Green Waves a crimson red.
“Despicable humans!”
Though the Dragon King felt that something was not quite right with its internal magic power, it still let out a roar and soared more than 30 feet high up into the air. Then it opened its mouth wide and attempted to engulf Xuan Qing in one bite.
Demons were not the best when it came to magic spells and supernatural power, but their physical bodies wielded great strength, hence they were naturally ferocious and violent.
Xuan Qing did not dare to crash head-on into the body of the dragon, so with a flash of light, he swiftly dodged the bite of the dragon’s claw teeth.
Deep down under Lake of Green Waves was the turf of the dragon king, so using the Art of Water Escape was just like acting instinctively. It trailed Xuan Qing very closely from behind and remained persistently in pursuit. There were several occasions where the dragon king almost succeeded in swallowing Xuan Qing into its belly.
Xuan Qing did not make things easy for his pursuer either. With a purple magic sword in hand, he continuously cast the thunder spell.
Underwater, a man and a dragon were fighting a battle with magic powers. They chased each other around, stirring up turbulence and intangible currents within the entire Lake of Green Waves. Many huge cracks had appeared at the bottom of the lake, and flaming red magma was constantly emerging from these cracks.
Zen Master Jing Ming clasped both hands together with fingers intertwined and began chanting a line from the Mantra of the Buddhist Attainment.
“Ommm!”
The rosary beads were tightening their grip around the dragon’s body, strangling it so hard that it almost seemed as if they wanted to snap it in two.
Humph…
The Dragon King of Green Waves was in extreme pain, and the pain was so unbearable that it shrunk its body till it was only three or five feet long.
At this point, a black shadow emerged from the bottom of the lake. It was none other than King Chu, who was fully clad in his basalt-colored suit of armor.
“The evil dragon has trespassed on the premises of the Demon Slaying Department. He ought to be executed!”
King Chu’s voice was as cold as ice as and he spoke in a way that sounded as if he was judging the Dragon King of Green Waves in a trial.
The armor over his right arm was rapidly transforming into a black spear about ten feet long, revealing the strong, robust muscles underneath the armor.
Ah!
Jing Ming found another timely moment to chant the next line of the Mantra, and the rotary beads suddenly became so heavy that they dragged the Dragon King of Green Waves all the way to the bottom of the lake.
King Chu grabbed a long spear. His Qi and blood had risen to the point where a manifestation had taken place and a crimson flame had started to burn on his right arm.
It was the union of man and weapon!
The long spear directly penetrated through the scales of the Dragon King of Green Waves, nailing it firmly to the bottom of the lake.
The dragon’s demon form was shaking tremendously, in turn causing the long spear that was used to pin its body down to tremble as well. On the other hand, veins were popping on King Chu’s arms, who was actually wrestling with a dragon with his human body.
Xuan Qing flicked all his fingers repeatedly. Then, streaks of spirit light fell upon the dragon to form a soul-sealing pattern over its demon body.
“Seal its soul!”
The body of the Dragon King of Green Waves froze, and then, it was dead silent. It was as if its soul had completely left its body because of extreme fright.
The other water demons in the water residence took advantage of the chaos to escape. Unfortunately, they found themselves being surrounded at the water surface by the captain and the team of Demon Slayers who happened to arrive at the lake in the nick of time.
After a fierce fight, all the demons were rid of their demon aura, with their souls were sealed, then without further ado, they were sent to the prison to await execution.
King Chu dragged the demon body of the Dragon King from the bottom of the Lake of Green Waves all the way up to shore, step by step. Along the way, the hideous dragon body also dug a deep furrow in its trail.
After Zen Master Jing Ming retracted his rosary beads, there was nothing left to suppress the dragon’s body, so it restored its original length which was more than thirty feet long.
And this made the scene of King Chu dragging a huge dragon out of the water look just like a small ant dragging a huge elephant.
“My lord, the soul of the prisoner, Blackwater Mystic Snake, in cell number B13, has been banished from its body. We have verified that it does indeed belong to the bloodline of the dragon race.”