Wielding the Thunders Across Two Worlds

"I hear Elder Huai Yi and the others are getting a little anxious. Because of us?"

"Mm, it seems so."

"But we haven’t exactly been high-profile. What are they so anxious about?"

"That’s precisely it. We’ve been too low-key, so they have no idea what realm we’ve reached. That’s why they’re anxious."

"Tsk, tsk. Such an attitude goes against the carefree and untethered principles of our Taoist Family!"

"Then why don’t you wash the blood off your hands first?"

By the river, Taoist Gao Yue was washing his hands, which were covered in blood. Beside him lay a massive, dark green snake, as thick as a water basin and slightly charred. A section near the middle of its body had been torn open, leaving a gaping wound.

Taoist Gao Yue pulled his hands from the river. Now clean, they held a snake gallbladder a full size larger than an adult’s fist.

"All clean now," Taoist Gao Yue said with a smile.

Taoist Xu Xing smacked his lips, eyeing the gallbladder in Gao Yue’s hand without a word.

"A Snake Demon with nearly three hundred years of Dao Practice! And one that awakened its intelligence by eating a Spirit Medicine from the mountains, no less. Forget Alchemy—this would make for some incredibly potent wine!" Taoist Gao Yue exclaimed with delight.

Taoist Xu Xing was speechless. "But we don’t need it!"

Taoist Gao Yue retorted, "But don’t you want to try it? Snake Gallbladder Wine made from a three-hundred-year-old Snake Demon?"

Taoist Xu Xing fell silent for a moment before finally saying, "Give me a jug when it’s ready."

"Of course!" Taoist Gao Yue boomed with laughter.

Taoist Xu Xing steered the conversation back on topic. "This snake had a good deal of Evil Qi on it, but it wasn’t the main culprit behind the recent disappearances in the mountain villages."

"It was one of them, I should say." Taoist Gao Yue nodded, glancing at the snake’s disemboweled stomach. Inside was the lower part of a human leg, not very long.

Taoist Xu Xing stood up. "The Water Element here is complex. If those River Demons are truly determined to hide, they’ll be hard to find."

Taoist Gao Yue rubbed his fingers together, and a flicker of Thunderbolt appeared at his fingertip. "Then we’ll just lie in wait. We’ll kill these Demons one by one as they come out, and the job will be done."

Taoist Xu Xing stroked his beard and smiled. "Excellent."

...

The sun sank in the west, its fading light bathing the world in a golden hue.

The little fishing village was also cloaked in this golden sunlight. What was once a plain, even dilapidated, hamlet now took on a warm and gentle glow.

The village was nestled between the mountains and the water, with a range of green hills at its back and a winding river before it.

The village had no roads connecting it to the outside world; all necessities of life were transported by water. At this moment, the river was dotted with fishing boats: small vessels returning with rice, flour, and other goods from beyond; boats coming back from selling fish in the county town; and skiffs returning late from a day of fishing on the river.

Shouts echoed from the boats and greetings were exchanged endlessly on the docks. Plumes of smoke drifted up from cooking fires within the village. It was a picturesque and harmonious scene, like a living ink wash painting.

"Niuniu, look what Papa bought for you!"

On a small fishing boat, a bronze-skinned man stood at the prow, holding up a lifelike cloth doll and waving to the little girl who had come to the dock to greet him.

"Papa! It’s a dolly!" the little girl shouted, jumping with glee, her face wreathed in a happy smile.

As the boat neared the shore, the girl ran to the edge of the dock. The man, not waiting for the boat to fully dock, took a light leap into the water. He then employed the fisherman’s special skill of treading water, keeping the upper half of his body exposed as he sped toward his daughter.

Just then, a ripple suddenly appeared on the water’s surface not far from the dock. It paused for an instant, then shot toward the man in the water with incredible speed. The ripple even seemed to twist slightly, as if with a sense of cruel playfulness.

In the span of a single breath, the ripple reached the man. In the next moment, he seemed to sense something was wrong. His years on the water had made him acutely aware of changes in the current. He whipped his head around and saw a massive black shadow in the water beside him.

The man’s pupils contracted. He instinctively tossed the cloth doll to the little girl on the dock. Instead of continuing toward the shore, he twisted away, shouting to his daughter, "Niuniu! Run!"

The next instant, the shadow was less than five feet away. He could almost see its mouth full of sharp teeth.

The man was filled with despair.

But just as he closed his eyes to accept his death, he felt as if a great, invisible hand had lifted him. With a WHOOSH, this force yanked him out of the water.

At the same time, a deafening clap of thunder exploded in his ears.

"CRACK-BOOM!"

Everyone near the dock saw a flash of purple light. A bolt of violet-gold Thunderbolt descended from the sky and struck the water directly.

"BOOM!"

The river erupted. In the instant the lightning hit the water, a black fish over ten feet long suddenly appeared in everyone’s sight. It was struck by the Thunderbolt and let out a mournful cry before disappearing back into the water.

The man was gently placed on the dock. Before he could even register what had happened, a small figure threw herself into his arms. "Papa!"

The man instinctively pulled the little girl into his embrace. When he looked up, he saw an elderly man in a blue robe standing lightly on the water’s surface in the distance, as if it were solid ground.

"Since you’ve come, there’s no need to leave."

Taoist Xu Xing smiled faintly. He reached out and grasped, and a Seven-Star Sword appeared in his hand. Then, with a smooth motion, he swung it downward.

A blast of frigid Sword Qi shot out from the tip of the Seven-Star Sword, instantly expanding to several dozen feet. As it sliced into the river, the water before Taoist Xu Xing was parted in two, revealing a nearly ten-foot-wide gap. The river split, exposing the riverbed.

At the same time, the residual Sword Qi did not dissipate. Instead, it continued to press forward, carving an empty channel nearly a thousand feet long and revealing a ten-foot-long black fish as it fell onto the exposed riverbed.

The moment the black fish landed in the channel, Demon Qi flared around its body. It then transformed into a seductive woman in black gauze. She shot a terrified glance at Taoist Xu Xing and tried to dive into the wall of water beside her.

But before she could move, blades of Sword Qi emerged from the wall of water, making the hair on her body stand on end.

The woman didn’t dare to move forward, so she could only retreat.

However, Taoist Gao Yue was already waiting behind her. He held no sword, but a violet-gold speck of lightning crackled at his fingertip—incorporeal, just a gentle flicker.

The woman’s expression changed drastically. Gritting her teeth, she circulated her Demon Power to protect her body, preparing to brave the Sword Qi in the water wall and find a chance to escape.

But Taoist Xu Xing and Taoist Gao Yue gave her no such chance. With a flick of his finger, Taoist Gao Yue sent the speck of lightning across space. It appeared instantly on the woman’s chest and then erupted, engulfing her entire body.

And Taoist Xu Xing simply raised his hand again. The seven stars on his Seven-Star Sword converged, forming a beam of silver-gold Sword Qi that instantly pierced the woman’s body and shredded her heart meridian.