The Ancestor of All Demons

Wei Fengniang and Brooyinca had been scheming for a long time for this treasure hunt, and when they arrived here, the time had just reached the hour of the Rat.

Brooyinca was more cautious, "That monster should be lying unconscious at the bottom of the lake by now; we can easily slay it once we go down. However, the Gua Xiang that we derived earlier showed many variables. The beast has human intelligence and knows that its doom is near. It's highly likely that it has set up an ambush in the water below. Should we drain the water first before we make a move? Without water, the Demon Dragon will be stripped of many of its divine abilities. That would ensure we leave no room for error!"

Wei Fengniang nodded, "All right, as you say! You draw the water, and I will set up the Miles of Yellow Sand Formation, to prevent the beast from slipping away once it sees the tide turning."

She took out fifteen triangular flags and tossed them into the air. The overall hue of the flags was yellow, but with varying shades, and the runes and characters embroidered on them were different. First, five flags were suspended above the center of the lake's surface, corresponding to the central Earth element, while the remaining ten formed a circle around the perimeter.

Five is the birth number of Earth, and ten the completion number. With both birth and completion, they formed a spiral-shaped three-dimensional space that began to rotate, increasing in speed. Wei Fengniang, her hair flowing, wielding her sword, flew rapidly around the lake, casting spells all the while. Suddenly, with a light shout, the flags disappeared from the sky, vanishing into thin air, and she returned to her original standing spot. The lake's surface remained eerily quiet, as if nothing had happened.

Brooyinca formed the Lotus Treasure Seal with his hands and mumbled spells under his breath. The lake water began to be drawn up by his magic, bubbling furiously like boiling water. Then the water in the lake converged toward the center, shooting up a huge water column tens of feet high. As the water column thickened, the lake water roiled and continued to be drawn upwards, forming a rapidly expanding water sphere in the sky, while the lake water level kept dropping.

Shi Feiyang, from the bottom of the lake, looked up to see the water rapidly lowering. Hastily, he stretched out a Dragon Claw and snatched a handful of clear water, channeling the True Water Primordial Pill within his body and casting a spell. That handful of water swiftly transformed into a dragon shape.

He dripped three drops of his blood into it, thought for a moment, then grabbed Sikong Hu's Primordial Spirit and impressed it into the water, whispering softly, "This calamity was not originally related to you, but you brought it upon yourself... I've lifted the prohibition on your Primordial Spirit. If you manage to preserve it after today, then go and be reborn!" With that, with a rub and a squeeze of his claws, the water dragon seemed to come to life.

Sikong Hu found his Primordial Spirit's prohibition lifted and had actually regained freedom. Yet, as he waved his hands, he realized he inhabited a new body—a Dragon Body over thirty feet in length. Unaware of what had transpired but sensing danger, he thought he should make a swift escape and used all his strength to propel himself upwards, shooting up like a rocket.

Atop the peak, the two were casting spells, watching the water level continuously drop and the water sphere above grow as big as a mountain, suspended in mid-air, a magnificent sight to behold. Suddenly, they saw a dragon-shaped shadow rocket up from below, accompanied by a dragon's roar, shooting along the water column and into the water sphere above, where it unfurled into a Giant Dragon more than thirty feet long.

"The monster couldn't help but come out!" Wei Fengniang shouted loudly, pointing a finger, and her Flying Sword shot out.

Brooyinca also cast spells at high speed, and a Demon Blade wreathed in yellow flames flew alongside it.

Both were extraordinary in their mana and knowledge. If Shi Feiyang had merely cast an Illusion or used water to mimic a dragon shape, they would have seen through it instantly. But Shi Feiyang had embedded Sikong Hu's Primordial Spirit within it, making the target appear fully tangible and alive, and they were both deceived, attacking with full force.

A blade and a sword plunged into the water sphere, severing the dark dragon's shadow in half at the waist.

"Oh no, it's a decoy!" Brooyinca, who had a higher Dao Level and quicker reflexes, realized the trick sooner. He hastily looked down again, but Shi Feiyang was already clinging onto a cliff. A massive dragon's head opened its mouth, channeling all its mana to spew out both the Water and Fire inner cores.

Shi Feiyang, well aware of the original story, knew Brooyinca's mana was more powerful. An attack that could hurt all ten fingers was less effective than breaking one. He directed both inner cores directly at Brooyinca. Brooyinca frantically deployed all his skills, and in the haste, he had no time to use another Magical Treasure to protect himself. Instead, he instantly cast the Revolving Wheel Great Method from the Demonic Teachings of Dianxi to fend off the attack, retreating at high speed.

Two inner cores violently collided with Brooyinca's protective yellow light, the powerful impact carrying him as he flew down the peak. The yellow light, like a blazing fire with a long tail, streaked magnificently across the night sky like a comet.

Wei Fengniang immediately tried to control her Flying Sword to strike at Shi Feiyang, but Shi Feiyang spat out the White Light Sword to parry while simultaneously rubbing his two Dragon Claws together, unleashing the Water Control Technique. The large water sphere above lost control and fell down like the collapse of the heavens, approximately a third of the lake's water now resembling a collapsing mountain, slanting down towards Wei Fengniang.

Wei Fengniang cursed angrily and swiftly recalled her Flying Sword. Merging with it, she transformed into a yellow light more than ten yards long, Body and Sword Combined, and broke through the "Water Peak" shooting up to the sky. Upon reaching mid-air and looking back down, the Demon Dragon hadn't pursued; it had already retracted its inner cores, with the majority of water sinking back to the bottom of the lake, while Brooyinca showed no signs of activity. Although she knew Brooyinca's mana was strong and his life wasn't in danger, she couldn't help worrying. Not continuing to descend to the lake to slay the dragon, she turned the sword light and flew to the dark base of the mountain to rescue her companion.

She found Brooyinca in the muddy mess beside Alchemy Creek quite quickly. The Demon Monk's wretched state gave her quite a scare—his body was covered in mud, clothes torn to shreds, bleeding from every orifice, scorched black all over as if he had just fallen into a pit of fire, with severe burns from head to toe.

In her memory, Brooyinca had always appeared as a high monk from the Western Regions—a visage of dignity and grandeur, if not altogether resplendent. But now he was barely breathing, on the brink of death!

She hurriedly placed Brooyinca under a tree and gave him an Elixir, then bolstered him with True Yuan.

After much effort, Brooyinca finally opened his eyes, his voice weak but filled with raging fury. Clenching his teeth, he handed over the Magical Treasure Black Crow Needle to Wei Fengniang, "My injuries are severe, yet not life-threatening. I will recover after a few months of healing. We cannot give up halfway now. Today is the day the Demon Dragon is weakest. You must take this treasure, return to the peak, and be sure to slay the Demon Dragon and secure the Heavenly Book!"

Wei Fengniang took the Black Crow Needle, turned around to control her sword and flew back up to the peak, her killing intent surging. First, she cast a dazzling flash towards the sky, then used her sword to stir the water in the lake, making it rotate and form a vortex—spinning faster and faster, while snowflakes began to fall from the sky, the temperature in the air plummeting suddenly.

As the temperature dropped lower, the rotating lake water started to freeze, rapidly solidifying from top to bottom, creating a huge ice funnel. When it was fully frozen, an ice pit several yards in diameter formed at the very bottom, right above the Lying Stone. Wei Fengniang dived in, sword in hand.

Shi Feiyang, lying on the Dragon Stone, looked up to see the sword light approaching, aware of the impending danger, he spat out two Primordial Pills to meet the foe.

The Divine Fire True Water's two inner cores pierced through the ice pit to face the rushing Flying Sword of Wei Fengniang, first a series of fierce bombardments, then entangling together.

Wei Fengniang's Immortal Sword glowed with a hint of yellow amongst the blue; her mastery of the Heavenly Mountain Swordsmanship was not the orthodox teaching of the Mysterious Sect, so her sword light was never purely blue. However, the heterodox schools she followed all emphasized power, and her sword strikes were even more fierce. Unleashing her moves, her sword light was consuming, the blade energy scattering around, cutting the surrounding ice into fractures and flying shards.

Now was when Shi Feiyang was most vulnerable. He had swallowed another Angry Mysterious Pill, stimulating his meridians and eliciting his potential, paralyzed on the Dragon Stone, enduring the pain from the Scraping Immortal Pill while dueling with Wei Fengniang. He did not seek to defeat Wei Fengniang in a short time; as long as he could hold out until the hours of Zi, his mana would gradually restore.

Wei Fengniang was clearly aware of this as well and kept driving her Immortal Sword down fiercely. But the Water and Fire Inner Core contained immense power; with the ground not spacious enough, she was continuously blocked mid-air, unable to break through.

"Despicable beast, you dare to resist stubbornly!" Wei Fengniang shook her right palm, whipping up True Yuan, pouring her mana inside her hand, which immediately filled with golden light and began to swell rapidly.

Wei Fengniang was nicknamed Divine Hand Monk, but in reality, it was only after she betrayed her master that he saw through karma and realized that even if one's Daoist magic was immensely powerful, one couldn't escape the tragedy of a disciple betraying and murdering their master. Even the most powerful Immortal Sword couldn't dispel vexations; only Buddhist Law was limitless, capable of extinguishing boundless vexations, hence he cut away his three thousand locks of hair, turning from Dao to Buddhism.

Wei Fengniang, however, learned not a bit of Buddhist Law from her master. Instead, it was from her intimate moments with Brooyinca that she learned the groundwork of the Great Handprint. Then with modifications based on her lifelong practices, she mastered the Technique of the Great Vajra Palm. Relying on this, she roamed the world unchallenged; many Sword Immortals couldn't withstand a single slap from her, and that's how she earned such a moniker.