Chapter Eighty-Seven: The Seven Arrows with Nails in Their Heads

The Heaven-Piercing Seven Arrows Scripture was a handwritten grant bestowed upon him by the Supreme Sacred Emperor of the Primordial Beginning.

Upon it was recorded a mysterious Dao art known as the Seven Arrows of the Nail Head.

With this art, one could kill at a distance.

Xu Zhong studied the manuscript carefully.

To perform the spell, one needed only the scripture itself, a straw effigy, two lamps, and a set of bow and arrows.

When he opened the book, he found within it a small hidden realm, and astonishingly, a complete set of ritual implements was already prepared there.

A thought stirred in Xu Zhong. With a sweep of his sleeve, he sent out the white pennon. In an instant, the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise appeared around him. He divided his attention, keeping control of the pennon, then transformed himself into a streak of spiritual light and plunged into that little inner world.

The realm was not large; it was more like a secluded grotto.

The moment he entered, he saw an altar standing within. In front of it sat a square cauldron, and inside the cauldron swam two carp: one red, one a dragon-and-phoenix brocade carp.

These two fish contained a faint spiritual energy. Their tails traced the pattern of yin and yang within the cauldron, as though a Dao resonance were being born from them.

Where yin and yang unite, spiritual energy is generated.

That spiritual energy poured toward a person, seeming capable of aiding cultivation, allowing him in a short time to breach the hidden chambers, condense a golden core, and attain oneness in stillness.

These yin-yang fish were also intelligent. The instant Xu Zhong appeared, they cast him a sidelong glance, then went back to sleeping in the cauldron.

Xu Zhong did not know their true nature and dared not examine them directly, so he took a detour and circled rightward to the altar.

On the altar stood an incense burner, and beneath the burner lay a straw effigy.

Above the effigy’s head and beneath its feet floated a pair of bronze lotus river lamps.

These lamps flickered with a dim glow, gathering an obscure Dao resonance.

Xu Zhong took out the corner of Yi's discarded garment and贴 it to the straw effigy.

Then from his chest he drew out three drops of heart blood. He infused them with spiritual power, and at that moment the three drops of blood seemed to become three nails, pinning Yi's garment to the effigy.

At the same time, he drew forth the pure yang fire of the three essences from his own body and, as if creating from nothing, refined three sticks of incense.

He placed the three sticks into the incense burner, then ignited them with his essence, energy, and spirit. The fragrance rose thickly, without smoke or flame.

After that, he lifted the straw effigy, cut his fingertip, and used his blood to write the two characters of Yi's name upon the effigy and the garment.

Once the name was complete, the straw effigy tore free from Xu Zhong's hands and began walking through the air. With every step, more of the straw upon its body fell away on its own. By the time all the straw had dropped off, it had taken on a human form, as though it were a true living being of flesh and blood, only a foot tall.

It gradually made its way to the incense burner, drawing in the incense lit by Xu Zhong’s essence, energy, and spirit. Slowly it turned back, and its features bore a threefold resemblance to Xu Zhong himself.

Then, in the next instant, the scrap of cloth wrapped around it. The two characters of Yi's name flashed with brilliant light, and after a moment the straw figure’s appearance shifted from Xu Zhong’s to Yi's.

To nurture yin and yang with straw; to transmute essence, energy, and spirit through incense; to fashion flesh with blood essence; to bind the immortal spirit-light in the muddy pellet with a name and a personal belonging.

Seeing such marvels before him, Xu Zhong could not help but sigh.

"With only seven days, and three bows each day, one can conjure Yi's three souls and seven spirits from nothing. In this way, the straw figure may become the true Yi."

This thing had originally been prepared for Situ Nan or Thunder Ancestor, but it had to be tested before anyone could know whether it was of use.

If it proved useless, Xu Zhong would have no choice but to seek another method.

At that thought, he bowed three times before the straw effigy.

After the three bows, as though springing from nothing, one soul and one spirit were formed within the effigy.

He then removed the bow and arrows from above the incense burner and loosed an arrow at the straw figure.

At the same time, the red carp and the dragon-and-phoenix brocade carp within the great cauldron before the altar suddenly transformed, taking on the form of yin-yang fish.

The two fish churned the water within the cauldron, and in an instant the qi of the moon and the sun arose. Yin and yang joined, yin behind and yang in embrace, and the whole pool underwent endless change.

First the sun qi descended into the bronze lotus lamp above the straw figure’s head, becoming a sun to nourish the soul. Then the moon qi flew out and fell beside the figure’s feet, becoming a moon to nourish its seven spirits.

Meanwhile, the pool itself transformed into a polished mirror, and within that mirror lay an image.

Xu Zhong hurried over to look.

What appeared in the mirror was Yi's current position, along with the monk confronting him.

The monk had eight nagas manifested behind him, hiding within the void as they summoned clouds and rain. Yet strangely, thick fire energy seemed to persist around those nagas.

In one hand he held a crescent-shaped Buddhist staff; in the other, eighteen prayer beads wound around and supporting a begging bowl.

"Monk Konghui?" The monk was naturally the same Konghui Xu Zhong had met on several occasions. "He seems to be inside Wei Yan's Fire Radiance Hidden Realm."

It seemed the appearance of Sky Abyss City had also aroused Konghui and the great monk's curiosity.

But why was Konghui not together with the great monk?

Xu Zhong felt somewhat puzzled.

At that moment, Yi, reflected in the water, seemed to sense something and looked upward with the corner of his eye.

As if tearing through illusion itself, that glance seemed to land upon Xu Zhong.

But Yi saw nothing.

Though in some distant, indistinct way he sensed a prying gaze, and an inexplicable weakness, he attributed all of it to the doom of his own fate.

Seeing Yi distracted, Monk Konghui gave a furious shout. He seized the crescent staff and slashed a boundless arc of moonlight through the void, then flung the string of prayer beads forward.

In an instant, each of the eighteen beads stepped out as a monk with a staff in hand, joining together to strangle and kill Yi.

The shockwaves of the battle churned the water in the cauldron.

In that moment, the surface glittered; ripples obscured the image, and Yi vanished from sight.

"First condense the three souls and seven spirits, then shoot him with bow and arrow, and he can be killed."

Only, this spell had far too long a lead-up; it required a full twenty-one days.

Given Yi's luck, he might not even survive that long before being done in.

Xu Zhong felt a wave of melancholy.

Then he thought of Monk Konghui, and with a shift of form became a streak of spiritual light, flying out from that hidden realm.

Outside, Shiyue had already completely mastered the White Tiger Gengsha art.

Yet when she awoke, she did not see Xu Zhong anywhere.

Only the phantom forms of the Four Symbols and a handwritten scripture remained.

Though she did not know what the manuscript recorded, a single glance was enough to make her feel a dense, surging, and utterly ominous cold baleful energy within it. That extreme sense of ill omen and disaster made her scalp prickle.

She had never felt such a thing in any treasure before.

"This treasure harms the harmony of heaven and man," she thought. But after sensing the Dao resonance it gave off, she lowered her voice and murmured, "And yet it is immensely powerful."

"What use could such a treasure possibly have?"

While she was pondering this, Xu Zhong emerged from the Heaven-Piercing Seven Arrows Scripture as a streak of spiritual light.

Seeing that Shiyue had so quickly taken up the White Tiger Gengsha art and refined it into her own spell, he was momentarily surprised. Then he waved his hand, drew the four white pennons into his storage pouch, and stuffed the Heaven-Piercing Seven Arrows Scripture into the Fire Radiance Hidden Realm.

"You learned it?" Xu Zhong asked.

"My talent is not poor, and before I comprehended it, I had already seen you and the others use these arts!" Shiyue replied slowly.

White Tiger Gengsha was indeed mysterious, but compared with Xu Zhong's White Tiger Seven Lodges, it was still somewhat inferior.

The spell called White Tiger Seven Lodges seemed to reach directly into the source of the White Tiger itself, allowing one to master with ease any art derived from that origin.

"Then where should we go next?" Shiyue asked.

Xu Zhong thought for a moment, but for the moment he also did not know where to head.

"I have an old friend within this place, in the Fire Radiance Hidden Realm. Perhaps we can go there," he said after considering it.

Shiyue thought it over, then nodded.

The two of them walked toward the cloud waterfall and leaped into it, letting the torrent wash over them.

Though they spoke of going to the Fire Radiance Hidden Realm, both understood one thing: within the cloud waterfall, no one could distinguish direction, and where one landed depended only on luck.

It was more like an excuse invented to comfort each other.

Yet this time, they had not flown far within the cloud waterfall when they suddenly felt as though heaven and earth had overturned.

They rolled endlessly through the cloud torrent, while keeping watch ahead.

Before them, thunder met fire. A thunderous serpent shot forth from the cloud waterfall, charging through a rain of fire.

The stellar flames transformed into a Vermilion Bird and fought the lightning serpent in savage combat.

These two spells affected the entire operation of the cloud waterfall, standing like two mountains in their path and blocking the way.

Xu Zhong and Shiyue were thus forced to change course.

Then they heard a long cry, and the stellar Vermilion Bird drew forth even greater flames. At that moment the thunder weakened, and the entire cloud waterfall seemed to be set alight by those stellar fires.

In an instant, the space before them became a sea of fire, spreading endlessly forward and back.

"Not good."

At only the faintest touch of the change, Xu Zhong shuddered. The essence, energy, and spirit within his body seemed to be ignited by that stellar true fire as well, bringing about a rapid draining of his life force.

Xu Zhong hastily activated the Water Radiance Hidden Realm.

In an instant, the hidden realm locked away the vital essence within his body and isolated the stellar flames.

Shiyue followed suit.

But she was not as quick as Xu Zhong. The stellar fire had already ignited her magical power, and that flame surged along the flow of her power into the hidden chambers, almost burning everything there as well.

Within her body, her golden core was a divine turtle bearing a sacred mountain on its back.

The divine turtle stamped upon the stellar fire and drove it out from within her.

Shiyue was in a dire state.

And then Xu Zhong saw even more divine beasts manifest within the cloud waterfall.

White Tiger, Azure Dragon, Qilin, Phoenix.

These were enough to bring to mind the monstrous beast Pi Yao.

"Who is fighting Pi Yao?" Xu Zhong thought.

Then, in the next instant, he saw a bodhi tree bloom before his eyes.

"The great monk?"

Xu Zhong had seen that bodhi tree before.

But he had no time to investigate further, because the stellar fire had already reached their eyebrows.

At this moment, Shiyue could barely move.

So Xu Zhong wrapped one arm around her waist and leaped with her from the cloud waterfall, not knowing where they would land.

The moment Xu Zhong touched down, he could not help but spit out a mouthful of blood.

He had become terribly weak.

Shiyue beside him was no better off.

As soon as they landed, a gaze fell upon them.

And more than that, a divine arrow tore through the air, striking straight for Xu Zhong's brow.