Blind Phoenix

The events in the Murim Alliance echoed throughout the Central Plains as the death of the General Strategist of the Alliance meant that every faction would be busy readjusting its cards. The White Crane Scholar was a man whose reputation and name kept the peace for many decades; in actuality, he was the functional head of the Murim Alliance.

There was always a rift between the Five Noble Clans and the Nine Great Sects One Union, resulting in a Dual Leadership of the Alliance split between the heads of each faction. So the Namgong Family Patriarch and the Shaolin Temple Abbot were the leaders of this fragile alliance.

Still, with the impending danger of the Demon Cult and many external enemies, this alliance was kept united and served its purpose of keeping the peace. However, what disturbs this peace the most is not external threats but rather internal ones. This time the annoying buzz created by the Yaoguai of Shuangliu that hadn't been dealt with was the most critical case.

It has been a month since the annihilation of the group Lee Song was part of, after that, the wounded warrior has woken up from his coma, silent and brooding. A few days ago, he was visited by a group of Daoists from the Qingcheng Sect and he was questioned about the monster as he was one of those who survived it.

According to those who spoke to him, he was the only one who clashed with the monster directly and lived to tell the tale.

Feeble and broken, Lee Song provided all the information he could on the monster with his head lowered down with shame. A man of his seniority among warriors was now reduced to such a state and was forced to give his testimony to junior members of Jianghu. While Lee Song was an independent vagabond who was neither Orthodox nor Unorthodox, he walked the proud path of the warrior and never expected his situation to turn like that one day.

A week later, an incredible piece of news spread through Shuangliu and the surrounding areas all the way to the south of Chengdu…

"The Demon was slain!"

People cheered in the streets and the markets, celebrating the end of the terror that plagued their trade routes. It was thanks to the Doaists of the Qingcheng sect who used their famed Evil Yin-Yang Demon Slaying Talismans in order to subjugate the monster.

The cheering lasted for an entire day and almost half of the following night, until a scout rode in with the news of another attack by the demonic monster, causing a huge embarrassment and public disapproval of the Qingcheng Daoists who claimed to have slain the demon.

The problem with this particular demon is how it died. Even the Qingcheng Daoists were unable to understand what happened in this when the demon was finally trapped in their formation, it caught on fire and disintegrated to ash.

This unique problem prevented the Daoist shamans from providing evidence of subjugation other than the ash of the monster, which was hardly anything convincing. Still, the reputation of the Qingcheng sect vouched for them but that was all over with the sudden reemergence of the monster.

"Hurry! Find him. He must know something."

On the lead of the shamans rushing back to meet Lee Song was an Elder Daoist of the Qingcheng sect named Han Taejin, but right before the entrance of the house Lee Song stayed in, he was stopped by an unwelcoming face.

"Hm? Oh, if it is not Daoist Han. Too far from Mt. Qingcheng, aren't we?"

On the gate of the house was a single woman with a shaved head, rough withered skin, and wearing a dignified yellow and red robe.

No doubt a Buddhist nun… no doubt from the Emei sect.

"Nun Oh Jiyong. It is a pleasure to meet you here of all places, senior."

Leading the group, the Daoist Han Taejin greeted her with a proper martial greeting as one of the two guardians of the Emei Temple.

"A pleasure or a surprise, one way or the other, one is bound to meet the carp if they keep swimming downriver." She replied and had a confident face as she alone blocked the way.

Her words meant that the Qingcheng Daoists were unwelcome in the territory of Emei.

"Thank you for your advice, senior." While appearing much older with white strands in his long black beard, Han Taejin bowed down respectfully before looking with sharp eyes to Oh Jiyong, "I will not beat around the bush and I will assume that Senior Oh is here for the escort warrior."

"Indeed. I will also not beat around the push and remind you that Shuangliu is still within the territory of our Emei Temple." She said while making sure her presence was enough to dissuade the Daoists from overstepping.

"Of course. However, the demon in question is a monster that we, Martial Artists of the Qingcheng sect, are qualified to exorcise by our demon-slaying talismans."

As Daoist Han Taejin said so, only a smile appeared on the sly face of the bald nun.

"Namo Amitabha! Is that the same demon-slaying talisman you claimed that you had killed the monster earlier this day?" The nun asked with clear mockery.

"Why you?"

From the side of Daoist Han Taejin, a Daoist disciple wanted to step ahead and face the mockery of Oh Jiyong but the Doaist Elder immediately stopped him with his hand. He then looked ahead and continued asking.

"Senior, I still see no reason for you to block our way. A demon of such a caliber needs cooperation. Even if it faked its death once, you won't do much blocking our way and not questioning the escort warrior either." Han Taejin said.

"I am not the one doing the questioning." Oh Jiyong replied before turning around, "It's about time you got out…"

"That!"

Seeing who was coming out of the small courtyard, the Daoist party and the nun watched another nun as she came out, walking with a cane, and heading towards them.

"Master aunt! We are done here." Said the younger nun as she approached Oh Jiyong.

She then sensed the people who were looking at her and with a smile, she turned to them but didn't quite meet their eyes.

"Daoshi Han, it has been a while, senior." She said and greeted the Daoist Elder.

"Blind Phoenix. Glad to see you well."

Facing the famed Phoenix of the Emei Sect whose name is Yang Yuran, Han Taejin displayed a proper attitude despite his seniority. After all, this young lady is someone reared by the Emei Sect to be the next Abbess.

"If you excuse us, we must begin our pursuit of the yaoguai." Yang Yuran said as she took the initiative to leave first. 

"Blind Phoenix, would you please hear me out." Han Taejin spoke immediately before she left. 

"Yes, sir. How can I be of help?" Yang Yuran turned while but completely facing him.

"The monster… we hunted it. It is a man-shaped thing. No doubt a Jiangshi."

"I've already heard that from the warrior, sir."

"And once we killed it. It burned like dry leaves and turned to foul ash."

"What are you doing, Sir Han? Trying to cover up your situation. Why don't we just call it bad luck and not find faults with one another." Rather than Yang Yuran, Oh Jiyong said with a vicious smile.

"Amitabha!" Yuran sighed, knowing exactly what her martial aunt was trying to do.

"Nun Oh! I am not looking for anything other than answers. Please, allow me and my disciples to tag along. We want to confirm with our own eyes if it is true."

"How do y…"

"It's alright. You can tag along, Senior."

Before Oh Jiyong could turn it into a headbutting match, Yang Yuran immediately replied.

"Blind Phoenix, you have my sincere thanks."

"One condition though. That Yaoguai, if it is alive, I'll be the one to deal with it." Yang Yuran still added a condition though. 

"Very well. Shall we depart?"

Joining hands to overwhelm the Yaoguai of Shuangliu, the Emei and Qingcheng sects were bound to be the first-ever Murim forces to encounter the horror of the night.

***

Somewhere deep in the woodland, a figure traveled through the trees and boulders with nimbleness and speed. Despite that, blood was all over him as he held his shoulder tightly.

He kept looking left and right as if trying to make sure of his surroundings then jumped up with absolute ease before hiding on a tree. As it did so, a group of people passed under the tree running at an incredible speed.

He watched them closely and kept his injured shoulder in check while enduring the pain. There, he could finally sense that the group was encountering something.

GROWL!

"Shit!"

The man jumped nimbly across the trees before arriving at a small clearing between the trees with a large boulder centered in the middle. On top of that boulder was the monster that terrorized the entire region for a whole month, slaying numerous people.

Seeing the monster, its size was double the testimony of the survivors and its appearance became way more monstrous.

Immediately, the man jumped down from the tree and rushed at the Martial Artists.

"CAREFUL! DON'T GO THAT WAY!"

He tried to warn them but as they noticed him, they had already taken their formation.

"Who is this? Get out of here! Hurry!"

"That thing is a demonic breast. If we work together, we can get out of here."

"This is useless."

The martial artists were as stubborn as it is known, refusing to take a single step back from their formation. Knowing the fate of their action, he spoke in desperation.

"You won't be able to contain it. This one is stronger than the rest."

Stronger than the rest? There was a bit of energy in the voice of that young man, faint but enough to make his voice echo across the ranks.

What rest?

Does it mean there are more of these monsters?

Just how much more?

While the Qingcheng Daoists were usually resilient against evil spirits and the sort, the fight ahead of them proved on a whole new level compared to the one they had before.

The monster was twice the size of the one they met, more animalistic, faster, and clearly stronger. While it wasn't larger than a big tiger, every time it swung its claws, trees and rocks were shattered, in front of him only two women held their ground while the rest were preparing for a trap.

"Get your heads together! Our formation will annihilate all evil. Prepare your swords."

Elder Han Taejin of Qingcheng shouted at his men to bolster their morale, knowing full well that if their minds weakened, the formation wouldn't last.

Qingcheng sent twelve men in total including Elder Han Taejin, three peak-ranked disciples, and eight first-class disciples. In contrast, the Emei duo was only made of an Elder and a peak-ranked disciple, Elder Oh Jiyong and Blind Phoenix Yang Yuran. While the Qingcheng party seemed stronger by number, the fact that the two Emei nuns took the demonic yaoguai head-on showed the large gap in skill between the two groups. 

"Yuran! We can't last longer than this!"

While completely deflecting the claws of the monstrous Nosferatu and pushing it away with her staff, Oh Jiyong seemed to have reached her limit while waiting for Yang Yuran to finish her part of the plan.

The blind phoenix supported her master aunt from the side by deflecting the monster's attacks whenever it felt too much for Oh Jiyoung to handle. While barely as strong as a peak-ranked warrior, the Yaoguai was incredibly agile and hard to pin down. It could move so fast even for an Elder of Oh Jiyoung's level to be overwhelmed. To her, the monster was so elusive it could be in two places at once.

While such an ability was indeed weird, the role to incapacitate that monster fell to the Blind Phoenix who was preparing her prayer beads and charging them with internal energy. As each bead radiated with a golden glow, the monster became more desperate and violent, almost trying to skip Oh Jiyong and jump at Yang Yuran, however, the old nun was an expert in frontal combat and kept forcing the monster to retreat.

"Master aunt!"

But just as the time was right, Yang Yuran shouted and Oh Jiyoung cleared the stage for her, retreating behind her left shoulder.

"Now, Yuran!"

Giving her the signal, the blind nun threw her beads accurately at the monster charging at her, and in a dramatic scene, the beads expand themselves in a large circle and surround the confused monster that tried to struggle left and right as the prayer beads started to tighten themselves suddenly around it.

SCREECH!!!

The monster screamed and seemed to be withering from pain. A burning sensation started to spread across its body as smoke started to rise from each place touched by the beads. Slowly, it was burning by the internal energy infused in that unusual weapon.

"The demon is incapacitated! Our turn!"

The Daoists of Qingcheng saw the opening made for them and charged ahead. Oh Jiyong and Yang Yuran retreated following the plan prepared by the two parties. First, the nuns would incapacitate the demon, second, the Daoists would ready their talisman formation to exorcise it.

"This burning! Master aunt, why is the monster burning by the beads?" Yang Yuran asked.

Despite not seeing, her senses were unique, allowing her to feel things others could not. Along with her acute hearing and keen memory, Yang Yuran was not a martial genius, but one of the important assets of the entire Orthodox Murim.

Hearing her question, Oh Jiyong would also be suspicious of anything unfamiliar but the situation was favorable. Despite how tricky it was to face that demonic yaoguai, if the prayer beads can hurt it this badly, then it is something she would definitely welcome.

"It is all good luck. Let's observe the situation now." Oh Jiyoung said as she decided to stand back and ensure the Qingcheng Doaists were not disturbed while handling their part of the plan.

Formations are martial techniques that transcend normal techniques in power and utility. Not to be confused with magic formations and other mystic arts, a combat formation is a series of strategies utilized by warriors to face powerful opponents in groups. The famed formation of the Qingcheng sect contains two lines that surround a single target, the inner line consisting of four warriors for each cardinal direction, and the outer line consisting of eight warriors representing the eight trigrams. With sufficient training and internal energy connection, the warriors can trap and eliminate any threat that may outrank them in power.

And as they had this monster trapped, it was only a matter of time for them to emerge victorious.

However, a certain bystander wouldn't stand for that and he was just waiting for the right moment from the start.

Yang Yuran sensed something strange from the young man who was standing twenty paces from the scene and her keen ears started to hear something that made her quite baffled.

"Such recovery!"

She said as she could hear the flesh of the young man not too far from her join back together with the same sound one would expect when the flesh was getting torn apart. It was an eerie sound that even the Blind Pheonix shuddered from and by the looks of it—for her superior senses rather than her vision—that young man was holding his wound from healing by his own hand.

Then something she could have never anticipated happened.

The young man's presence thinned like a ghost but moved at an unprecedented speed towards her.

"Careful!"

She pushed her master aunt from the way and dodged in the other direction but just as the presence passed her, it continued forward towards the shaman's outer circle, and with consecutive slashes, she could only hear the cries of men being shredded by something sharp.

The encirclement broke and the young man stood near the yaoguai before extending his hand and letting out a burst of energy that broke the prayer beads.

A terrifying development caused both the nuns and the shamans to reel back in bewilderment as the demonic yaoguai rose to its full, awe-inspiring height beside the young man. It stood protectively, a terrifying guardian roaring its wrath into the night, silencing all who would dare approach.