Chapter 47: Vermilion Bird
Crack!
A wild gale howled, sand and stones whirling through the air—someone had brazenly cast a spell, harnessing the wind’s fury.
One man was suspect.
And if one among them had a problem, it was likely that most of his companions were also compromised.
The wind tore by, but a massive hand emerged, clawing through the tempest.
“Wait, I have nothing to do with him.” He immediately cast out his own soul, which bore a striking resemblance to himself.
But no one paid him any mind.
The first to strike lifted his hand; from his fingers sprang five crimson flames, which whirled above the soul and coalesced into a gigantic Vermilion Bird—its body blazing red, immaculate and pure. With its long beak, it pecked at the soul like a chick picking at rice, swallowing it whole.
The man’s body fell limp, and a clamor rose among the crowd.
“That’s Prince Zhu Zhen of the Vermilion Bird Clan—when he acts, he is as fierce as ever,” Dun Xuan remarked.
The Vermilion Bird beat its wings, and with a flap, blue smoke billowed, distorting the light and sending two waves of searing wind toward the man’s remaining comrades.
Seeing all escape cut off, the two resorted to every trick they knew.
But beneath the Vermilion Bird’s might, there was no room to resist.
The Vermilion Bird returned to Zhu Zhen’s side, vanishing into the five luminaries within him.
Having finished, Zhu Zhen strode directly to Xu Zhong and his companion. “May we join you?”
Behind him stood a girl who looked timid and nervous.
“Yes,” came the reply.
Xu Zhong tugged at Dun Xuan’s sleeve from behind, and Zhu Zhen noticed the gesture.
“Would you like to verify our souls?” Zhu Zhen asked Dun Xuan.
“No need for that!” Dun Xuan shook his head. “I’ve heard that those of the Vermilion Bird Clan are born with the ability to ignite their essence, spirit, and mind within their niwan, transforming it into True Sunfire. The Nightmare Demons have neither soul nor spirit, only a speck of undying soul-light. Should they attempt to possess a host, they would instead be incinerated by the Sunfire.”
“Just show us your Sunfire and that will suffice.”
“Indeed, the Hundred-Eyed Clan is truly knowledgeable. I do have a handful of Sunfire within my niwan!” As he spoke, he opened his niwan and drew forth a blazing Sunfire.
It hovered in his palm like a miniature sun, radiating an intense aura of fire, so hot it seemed to ignite the very air, sending ripples of heat shimmering outward.
“Ling Guang!” he called to the girl beside him.
Ling Guang, as she was named, also conjured a handful of Sunfire.
Two Vermilion Birds!
Xu Zhong murmured inwardly.
“Hm?” As Zhu Zhen and Ling Guang approached, Dun Xuan sensed a celestial phenomenon.
He looked up.
Reflected in his eyes were the images of fifty-one stars.
“The Southern Seven Mansions?” Dun Xuan felt a surge of joy and turned to Zhu Zhen. “You are the Vermilion Bird, one of the Four Symbols.”
Zhu Zhen was puzzled.
Dun Xuan quickly explained, “Perhaps, here and now, I can summon a Vermilion Bird from nothing!”
Then he turned to Xu Zhong: “A Vermilion Bird formed purely from starlight.”
“What does that have to do with me?” Xu Zhong asked.
“You possess two forms of sword energy—one forged from the Great River, and another rooted in starlight.”
“If you can draw down the starlight, I can manipulate the celestial omens and shape it into a true Vermilion Bird.”
His tone was certain, his excitement growing with every word.
“The Vermilion Bird is the southern god of fire. Once it descends to earth, the hidden celestial order will be restored.”
Xu Zhong felt thoroughly confused.
“However, you alone may not be able to summon the starlight of all seven mansions.” Then, raising his voice, he called out, “Are there any cultivators here who practice the Sword Intent of the Starry River?”
Every word they spoke rang clearly in everyone’s ears.
At once, a Qi Refiner stepped forward.
“I, too, practice the Sword Intent of the Starry River!” He released his sword intent, his face aglow with dazzling starlight.
With the first came the second, then the third.
In the end, Dun Xuan gathered seven Sword Intent cultivators, including Xu Zhong.
“We have enough!” He was very pleased.
He then led Prince Zhu Zhen into the array to observe the stars, finally pinpointing the positions of the seven mansions.
After arranging the seven in their respective places, he sat in the center. “I will cast a spell to link our perspectives, so you may all sense the positions of the seven mansions.”
A divine radiance flowed from him, like chains binding the eight together.
Prince Zhu Zhen and Ling Guang, meanwhile, stood guard over them.
Xu Zhong felt an itch at his brow, as if something were moving inside.
The next moment, his brow split open, and an eye emerged.
At that instant, Dun Xuan’s own eyes were reduced by four.
This new eye seized all vision, spinning restlessly as it sought its bearings, at last gazing upward.
Within Xu Zhong’s eye shone a reflection of the Well Mansion.
The Well Mansion, ruled by eight stars, resembled a well—hence its name.
It glittered in the sky like an immense net, gathering starlight. The starlight faintly formed a portal, spanning the Milky Way.
“This is the gateway of the Southern Seven Mansions—the Ascension Gate.”
The Four Symbols are also four gates, safeguarding the Heavenly Way.
To push open the gate is to see the Heavenly Way clearly.
Of course, this is but legend.
Xu Zhong attuned himself to the Way of the Sword.
His sword intent surged forth, in that instant drawing upon the boundless starlight within the Well Mansion.
That starlight flowed ceaselessly down, spanning eighteen li, like a celestial waterfall. As it fell, the width narrowed and the streams twisted together, forming flying swords of sword qi that circled Xu Zhong.
“His swordsmanship is formidable!” Prince Zhu Zhen fixed his gaze on Xu Zhong. “Among Qi Refiners I’ve seen, he’s easily in the top three.”
All eyes turned to Xu Zhong.
After all, not everyone could wield sword intent across eighteen li, drawing so much starlight to refine into sword qi for one’s own use.
It was proof of his mastery in the Way of the Sword.
The second strongest had only three li of starlight, the rest, pitifully little.
Xu Zhong’s extraordinary power was inseparable from his experiences.
He started learning the sword with a stream-like intent. But after entering the Abyss and obtaining Zhou Jing’s Great River Sword Intent, the two resonated, elevating his way.
Later, he journeyed with the Ghost Mother across the vast rivers and mountains of Yu Kingdom.
He carried all these within his heart, a mind holding a hundred thousand mountains and rivers—so too did his swordsmanship.
And now, Xu Zhong’s sword intent expanded at a monstrous rate.
Twenty li, thirty li...
With every breath, his sword intent doubled.
The starlight outside him transformed his swordsmanship.
“Change?” said Ling Guang.
Xu Zhong’s starlight sword intent brimmed with transformations—yin and yang, the five elements.
“Creation?” Zhu Zhen saw only creation.
He saw that Xu Zhong’s swordsmanship, rooted in yin, yang, and the five elements, subtly embodied both destruction and creation—true genesis.
He replayed this sword in his mind.
He could not withstand it.
When the sword light came for him, he felt not death, but vitality.
Each strand of sword qi was a strand of life force.
He would not be slain by the sword, but by the overwhelming vitality it carried.
The most terrifying thing was that this vitality sprang from within him.
“What has he witnessed to gain such monstrous understanding?”
He glanced at the others; each saw something different in Xu Zhong’s swordsmanship, as if it contained multitudes.
Naturally, Zhu Zhen could not know what Xu Zhong had experienced.
This explosive growth in sword mastery was the result of Xu Zhong turning all his encounters and sights along his journey into contemplation and enlightenment, storing them within his mirror-heart.
He had witnessed Gu Yue and others slay the Heavenly Way, and seen the Gu Yue Heavenly Way, by its own power, span eight thousand years, carve a segment of false history, and make fiction reality...
All of this was reflected in Xu Zhong’s sword insight, in his communion with the starlight.
The starlight poured down upon him, cocooning him in a white chrysalis of light, with endless sword qi surging around him.
The brand of swordsmanship within the gourd awakened, absorbing the starlight without end.
Some even sat near Xu Zhong, hoping to cultivate by basking in the starlight.
The sword qi within the gourd amassed into an ocean of starlight; when the gourd was shaken, the sound of water could be heard.
“Heaven’s will is the will of the people!”
This phrase echoed in Xu Zhong’s mind.
He continued to comprehend the celestial omens.
In his ears, whispers seemed to arise—close yet distant, audible but unfathomable.
“Perhaps this is heaven’s will, born of the people’s will?” Xu Zhong mused inwardly.
And then, his thoughts spiraled further.
“Nightmare Demons are the manifestation of human ignorance, clinging to a spark of undying soul-light, which lets them possess human bodies.”
“Shi Yao, too, was transformed into a corpse fiend by a remnant of undying soul-light.”
“A single thought from a powerful being can linger in the world for thousands, even tens of thousands of years.”
“If the Heavenly Way has witnessed the will of countless beings over millions of years, would it also, like Shi Yao or the Nightmare Demons, develop consciousness and wisdom?”
“Might the Heavenly Way, like Lei Zu’s incarnation Yi Xuanji, have its own form?”
His thoughts multiplied, growing ever more chaotic.
The more he pondered, the more terrifying it became.
When he looked skyward again, he saw not the sky, but a pair of eyes.
Those eyes gazed coldly from the heights of the heavens, indifferent to all beings, bringing calamity upon them.
In the next instant, the eyes shrank away, and the Heavenly Way slowly revealed its visage!
Gu Yue’s Heavenly Way?
Xu Zhong shuddered inwardly.
His heart was thrown into disarray.
His sword intent ceased its growth.
It halted at three hundred and sixty li.
The sword qi around him grew chaotic.
Black smoke gathered at his brow, like a dark cloud.
Zhu Zhen frowned. “He seems to have encountered a heart demon.”
That dark cloud was the outward sign of his inner demon.
From the cloud, tendrils of black smoke seeped, causing those who had been cultivating nearby to turn pale and retreat in haste.
At that moment, Dun Xuan snapped open his eyes.
“That’s enough!” he thundered.
He seized the boundless starlight, fusing it into a colossal Vermilion Bird.
It stood in the void, the Southern Seven Mansions tearing through the darkness, swirling behind it in rhythmic transformation.
The Vermilion Bird let out a piercing cry.
The southern sky brightened, driving away the shadows.
The gloom at Xu Zhong’s brow dissipated.
His heart demon withdrew; he regained clarity, though only barely.
The mighty Vermilion Bird beat its wings, and the clouds of darkness recoiled.
And just then, the eyes that loomed over the Nightmare Grass Sea reappeared in the sky.