With a great battle seemingly on the verge of erupting, He Bang spat out her apple core and suddenly said, “Wait!”
All the Daoist practitioners turned to look, and even Chunyu Lin paused his incantation. He Bang wiped her hands on Zhenren Xingzhi. “I think we’re missing a step… What is it again? Oh right — when righteousness and evil confront one another, shouldn’t both sides first engage in an extended debate, arguing the nature of good and evil all the way through, to prove that evil cannot triumph over righteousness? And then you fight?”
“…” The Daoist practitioners fell silent. Finally, Qingxuan sidled over. “Shimu, the people on our side are all venerable, distinguished figures — not a single one of us is suited to a war of words. Besides, our opponent is a serpent. Don’t you think it’s beneath the dignity of a gathering of Daoist sages to quarrel with a snake? On top of that, we currently outnumber him, and the outcome is still uncertain. If we say something too absolute during the bickering and end up getting routed by the Resonant Serpent, wouldn’t that be a public humiliation?”
He Bang was still unsatisfied. “Then Resonant Serpent — why aren’t you saying anything either?”
Chunyu Lin gazed at her tenderly, and after a long moment said, “I feared Her Majesty might laugh at an inopportune moment, given how tense and solemn the occasion is.”
…
He Bang remained unsatisfied. “Well then, this great battle will surely result in casualties. I think it would be best if everyone settled their affairs in advance — no wait! It would be best if each person wrote a final letter, putting their affairs in order. That way, things would have a proper beginning and end.”
By now even Chunyu Lin had seen through her. “Her Majesty is stalling for time. Who is she waiting for?”
He scanned everyone present, his voice carrying a note of genuine puzzlement. “I truly cannot think of anyone in Daozong whom Her Majesty could still be counting on.”
He Bang was equally at a loss. “If you’re truly curious… would you wait with me?”
Chunyu Lin’s smile did not fade, his voice gentle. “Since Her Majesty is waiting, he will come sooner or later. Why wait in vain?”
As his words fell, he began reciting the incantation. All the ghostly flames across the mountain blazed suddenly with brilliant radiance, and the deep pool before the mountain churned like boiling water. Every iron and stone surface was burned red-hot. Zhenren Xingzhi let out a furious shout and charged forward first. Zhuang Shaoqin cast out a silver talisman and followed close behind.
Rong Chen Zi gave He Bang a gentle pat on the head, murmured a quiet “be careful,” and took up his sword to join the fray. Within He Bang’s body dwelt both the Heaven Wind Spirit Essence and the Heaven Water Spirit Essence, which quickly suppressed the temperature. The Resonant Serpent was, after all, a fearsome beast of ten thousand years. Though it had sustained heavy damage in the previous battle, it had been replenished by dragon energy, and its power had recovered with remarkable speed.
Now wielding seven-tenths of its power at full strength, it considered these mortal practitioners of Daozong no challenge whatsoever, and so held them in no regard. He Bang alone was a different matter — her cultivation was exceptional, and with both the Heaven Wind and Heaven Water Spirit Essences within her, she was not to be taken lightly.
He Bang sat atop a stone stele, controlling the water, making no move to help. This place was in the midst of the imperial mausoleum, overflowing with dragon energy. Chunyu Lin could absorb it freely, but she could not — absorbing dragon energy was to sap the nation’s life force. To affect the national fate was to affect the lives of countless ordinary people, far more catastrophic than any natural disaster.
This was no small thing. An ordinary demon with insufficient cultivation could not even approach the imperial family, or it would be wounded by the dragon energy. And a demon of profound cultivation would be even less willing to touch this dragon energy, for fear of invoking heavenly retribution.
He Bang had long since ceased to fear the dragon energy. But now, trapped here, with Chunyu Lin able to draw upon the dragon energy at will while she sat surrounded by boundless spiritual energy she did not dare touch, the only thing at her disposal was this single pool of water — she was at a severe disadvantage. Add to that the Resonant Serpent’s nature as an ancient preternatural beast with ten thousand years of cultivation, and if she did not carry within her the Wind and Water Spirit Essences, she would not have stood a chance.
She cursed the “idiot” once more under her breath, then finally drew a conch shell from her bosom and gave it a light blow. In the midst of the battle, Chunyu Lin seemed to recall something and suddenly became extremely agitated. Disregarding the Daoist practitioners around him, he lunged directly toward He Bang.
Fortunately, Rong Chen Zi had been keeping a constant watch on He Bang. He immediately cast a spirit talisman as a barrier, and used that brief window to pull He Bang out of the way. As he did, He Bang helped herself to a few candies from his pouch.
While she was eating candy, she couldn’t blow the conch shell. Chunyu Lin appeared to calm down as well. When the candy was finished, He Bang blew the shell again. He snapped his head around, scrambled across the iron chains, moving as though he had no bones in his body. He Bang put away the conch shell and retreated slowly. “Chunyu Lin.”
He shook his head with effort, then suddenly spun around and seized one of the Daoist practitioners, tearing him violently in two. A rain of blood splattered in every direction. The blood’s sharp metallic scent maddened him further, and he pressed toward Zhenren Xingzhi, striking him with a palm that sent him plunging into the water. Ye Tian cried out in alarm. Rong Chen Zi turned his sword to go to the rescue, but Chunyu Lin suddenly plunged into the water as well, disappearing with him.
He Bang, who had been watching from the bank, suddenly stood up, clicking her tongue. “Oh dear — Xingzhi can’t die.”
She launched herself into the water. Chunyu Lin’s five fingers had just grazed Xingzhi when a great torrent suddenly surged from the center of the pool. He looked over at He Bang, and his smile was as gentle as water itself. He Bang’s heart lurched. He suddenly burst upward — and the moment He Bang had just pulled Zhenren Xingzhi to her side, the entire pool flash-froze into ice.
Chunyu Lin stood upon the ice and pressed his fingers against it, looking at her through the frozen surface. “Your Majesty, the Heaven Wind Spirit Essence and the Heaven Water Spirit Essence are formidable indeed, but both require movement to function. In the deep sea, there is perhaps no one who could control the water. But in a lake or a pool — you must never allow yourself to be trapped beneath the surface. You have commanded the water for a thousand years, and yet you do not understand this.”
He Bang was encased in ice, unable to move so much as a finger. Even her wind-based techniques could not be deployed with no room to move. She could melt the ice around her bit by bit, but how long would that take before she could stir?
Rong Chen Zi and the others saw she was unharmed and first breathed a sigh of relief — then there was nothing they could do but watch in desperate helplessness. Chunyu Lin entangled Rong Chen Zi, clearly intent on killing him outright. Zhuang Shaoqin exerted his full effort to help. Ye Tian’s cultivation was not on par with the two of them and could only feel frantic and at a loss. The others — Qingxuan, Zhuang Haotian, and the rest — had even less power than she did, and were almost entirely without fighting capacity.
Rong Chen Zi found it a strain to hold his own against Chunyu Lin. After all, he now inhabited a mortal body, and his spiritual power amounted to only a few decades’ worth at most — the disparity in strength was simply too great. Chunyu Lin pressed forward step by step, his voice carrying a note of sardonic contempt. “A person like you — what exactly does Her Majesty see in you? Apart from that fine body of yours…”
Rong Chen Zi cast out a silver talisman, hurling it into the air, then locked into another bout with him. At the bottom of the ice, He Bang struggled until she was exhausted and still could not move, in such a desperate panic that she burst into loud weeping. “Zhiguan! The ice is squeezing me and it hurts terribly, wuu wuu wuu…”
Rong Chen Zi could not bear to hear her cry. He immediately forced Chunyu Lin back with a surge of palm force, then darted onto the ice surface and struck down with his palm — the force measured to perfection. A hairline crack split the ice surrounding He Bang. Chunyu Lin would not let such an opening pass, and instantly delivered a strike to Rong Chen Zi’s back.
Rong Chen Zi forcibly held down a mouthful of blood, then struck the ice again. The crack lines spread outward. Chunyu Lin struck once more, and Rong Chen Zi spat a mouthful of blood onto the ice.
Chunyu Lin looked at him with the gaze of one watching a dying plaything. “What virtue or ability have you to remain by her side?”
Rong Chen Zi’s lips were still wet with blood. He heard the words, and merely smiled faintly. “Though you have survived for countless millennia, in the end you are nothing more than a beast that walks the earth. How could you possibly understand human emotion?”
The cracks were extremely fine, but for He Bang, even the smallest sliver of space was enough. She used a wind-split technique to tear the ice apart, and through tremendous effort managed to pull Zhenren Xingzhi out of the ice fissure along with herself. Even as she pulled, she grumbled indignantly. “Zhiguan, I’m still a river clam… This is exhausting. No discriminating against animals.”
Seeing she was unharmed, the corner of Rong Chen Zi’s mouth lifted slightly. “Mm.”
Chunyu Lin was unconcerned. He even moved to comfort He Bang. “There is no need for Your Majesty to be aggrieved. In a short while, he will be a corpse. And then — what does it matter whether one is an animal, a human, or an immortal?”
He Bang sat on the edge of the ice fissure, catching her breath. “There’s still a difference. Zhiguan would certainly taste better than the others.”
Chunyu Lin’s smile grew gentler still. “Then when the time comes, I shall cure him into preserved meat as a gift to comfort Your Majesty.”
He Bang developed a sudden spine at this. “You wretched snake! If you dare strike my Zhiguan again, I’ll have you stewed later!”
Ye Tian grew frantic. “What point in time do you think this is? How can you still have the presence of mind to joke?”
He Bang spread her hands. “I was wrong. I should not have trusted that idiot.” Zhuang Shaoqin had cast talisman after talisman, and by now his energy was severely depleted, yet he continued to throw himself into blocking Chunyu Lin’s attacks, relieving the pressure on Rong Chen Zi.
He Bang leaped to Rong Chen Zi’s side and pressed her hand to his Tiantu acupoint. Rong Chen Zi was startled, then suddenly felt the spiritual energy within his body begin to circulate at an accelerated pace. After a moment, he steadied his breath, and felt as though his spiritual power was brimming to overflowing. When he looked back, He Bang had already taken up a position behind Zhuang Shaoqin.
Chunyu Lin sighed softly. “Even now, you will not change your allegiance, Your Majesty?”
He Bang let out a cold snort. “Stop trying to deceive me, you wretched snake. Chunyu Lin died long ago. You have always hated me to the bone. Right now you’re simply waiting until you’ve killed them before coming to kill me.”
Chunyu Lin smiled like a fleeting blossom. “Is that what you have always believed, Your Majesty?”
“No matter how fine your words, I will not believe you. Hmph!” He Bang stood behind Rong Chen Zi. In the midst of the chaos, Rong Chen Zi reached into his pouch and produced a candy to feed her. She held it in her mouth. Chunyu Lin’s right hand began to faintly glow red. “Then… I must momentarily offend Your Majesty.”
His experience far exceeded He Bang’s, and he knew precisely what method would be most effective against her. He Bang retreated slowly. Rong Chen Zi placed himself before her, his form as still and immovable as a mountain. He Bang’s courage surged considerably. “Damn it all, I’m not afraid of you, you wretched snake. Why hasn’t that idiot shown up yet…”
She was still grumbling to herself when suddenly rapid footsteps echoed from outside, and a voice called out from far away: “Your Majesty? Your Majesty? Hehe hehe, I’m back, Your Majesty!”
He Bang heard it and immediately erupted. “You great idiot, it took you half a year to absorb a Heaven Fire Spirit Essence?!”
The group looked up — and saw a serpent wriggling its way toward them, head swaying, tail swinging. It was now as thick around as a barrel, with a green base patterned with dark markings. Though its body was stout, it moved with extraordinary agility. It was none other than the little three-eyed serpent that had once lent its life force to He Bang. It crawled to He Bang’s side and rubbed against her affectionately. “Your Majesty, hehe, Your Majesty! I missed you to death. It’s been so long! Your Majesty, you remain as beautiful as an immortal, radiant as a peach blossom, and fat as two people—”
He Bang flew into a furious rage and launched a kick at it. “You’re the one who’s fat as two people! Your whole family is fat as two people! You dead snake, you wretched snake, you rotten snake — get up there and fight!!”
At the sight of Chunyu Lin, the creature faltered a little. “B-b-b-b… Your Majesty, I’m still a bit scared of him, what do I do?”
This time He Bang truly delivered a kick. “Then go and die!”