Chapter 27. Jiufang Changming, my shizun

While Chen Ting was pondering over these questions fruitlessly, the battle between Changming and the giant spider became incomparably fierce.

As if the Guyue Sword had gained a more mighty force, its light was illuminating the whole place. Although the giant spider’s shell was solid, and it took two or three sword swings on average to cut through it, the woman attached to the giant spider was not that tough. She was trapped between two puppets summoned by Changming, and her head was wounded by the sword. She wailed in pain, and revealed her face hidden under her disheveled hair.

Half her body was blended with the spider, which was terrifying, but her face was unexpectedly delicate and pretty.

If they were elsewhere, she would have resembled a dignified daughter of a noble family, with a pure soul, only waiting for her sweetheart to come.

She opened her mouth, and stared at Chen Ting unwaveringly, with an expression of suffering. She opened her mouth wider, as if she wanted to say something, but could only gasp.

The woman’s actions enraged the giant spider, and it threw itself on them in a frenzy.

Chen Ting noticed that all these spider threads were poisoned, as his limbs grew tired and lifeless, and his line of sight became a little vague.

“Help me first!”

He shouted. At the same time, cobweb threads suddenly hit his face with force. Chen Ting’s face went numb, and he could say nothing more.

Changming also knew he should rescue Chen Ting first.

But he really couldn’t do it.

The giant spider had eight legs, and cobweb silk was incessantly gushing at them, with no hints of its quantity decreasing over time. Changming had to avoid attacks from the legs, at the same time paying attention to the corrosive spider venom. He had little time to attend to other things.

What was even more annoying, Changming’s cultivation had greatly advanced by now, and the explosive power of his attacks was much stronger than before, but his body was nevertheless still the same body that was unable to sustain a long fight against an enemy. His endurance couldn’t be compared with that of this creature of darkness. Moreover, he had sustained injuries. If there is a hole in the roof, the rain pours all night; soon, he got physically exhausted.

If there is a hole in the roof, the rain pours all night: if it rains, it pours.

Sweat was dripping from his forehead.

His hand that was gripping the Guyue Sword tightly began to feel moist heat.

It was not only sweat, but also blood.

The back of Changming’s right hand was cut by a cheliped-like leg of the spider. Blood was streaming down to his palm from arm, soaking his fist.

He had already thrown the Buddhist cane to the side, and his soul energy and spiritual powers were not enough to fight off the woman and the giant spider at the same time.

Moreover—

The creaking noise sounded again.

This time it was even more grating on their ears.

A pair of arms stretched out from the spider’s shell behind its eyes, sticky and moist.

And a head right after them.

After that, the whole upper half of a human body appeared in front of their eyes.

This person was naked as well, had no hair on his head, and was covered in mucus. His face with demonic features was handsome.

But it was a grim and vile kind of beauty, and one could tell right away that this person wasn’t ordinary.

“You, wounded her.”

The man said slowly. Probably because he hadn’t spoken for a long time, his voice was hoarse, and his intonation odd.

And yet Changming and Chen Ting could hear his words clearly.

“You had the audacity, to wound her.”

The cobweb threads shrank, pulling the woman back to the spider’s abdomen. The man leaned down, and some threads came out from his mouth, dragging the woman into his embrace. Holding her in his arms, he gently caressed her, his movements full of infinite love. The cobweb tangled the two of them together, and he brushed her hair from her face tenderly, looking in her eyes with passionate adoration.

This scene made Chen Ting’s hair curl, freezing his blood.

Holding back the nausea, he opened his mouth: “Daoyou, we came here by accident, we didn’t mean to offend you. Please, show us the way out, and we will go away immediately and leave you alone!”

Chen Ting’s thoughts were simple. Since their opponent was able to speak human language, obviously, there was a chance to communicate with him. If they succeeded without crossing their weapons, that would be just perfect.

But the man started laughing.

While he was laughing, his chest trembled, and the woman in his embrace trembled as well.

The latter now resembled a lifeless puppet controlled by the other. But the painful expression on her face became only more vivid, and because of this, the whole scene seemed only more terrifying.

“Since you came to this place, just stay here, make her company.”

Changming wasn’t like Chen Ting.

He had no intention to engage in a conversation with a demon.

Since this man could take this appearance, if he wanted to communicate, he would have done it a long time ago.

Changming still hadn’t recovered, and was waiting for a chance to take action.

For a chance to give him the fatal blow.

But he soon realized that such chances were extremely difficult to come by.

Their opponent seemed to be insane. The eight scythe-like legs of his lower body had securely sealed their way forward, and even if they wanted to retreat—

The cobweb threads would cling to them from all sides, preventing them from going away.

The only solution was to join hands and attack him from two sides simultaneously.

Chen Ting was even unable to fend for himself, and if Changming made an attempt to help him, the man would notice it at once, and not only would Changming fail his rescue attempt, but he would even fall into the enemy’s hands himself.

And Yun Hai had gone missing again.

Where did he go?

This name crossed Changming’s mind, and he frowned slightly. His old wounds reopened, and his chest started aching dully once again.

It’s unknown how much time this man had spent alone. Chen Ting continued chattering nonstop, but, surprisingly, the man didn’t kill him; on the contrary, he was watching them with great interest.

“Daoyou, I inspected this place when I first came here. The spiritual power is thin here, it’s not suited for cultivation. Moreover, you love your spouse so affectionately, so you shouldn’t let her spend years in this pitch-black place which not a single ray of the sun visits. As I see it, it’s better for you to follow us out, admire beautiful rivers and mountains outside, and visit blessed spots of the world. My sect has some resources; if daoyou doesn’t look down on us, you can go to my sect together with me. Given how gifted you are, you will definitely be able to achieve great results in Jianghu.”

Chen Ting was persuading him patiently; he said so much that his mouth and tongue became dry. The other was only watching him with a faint smile, as if Chen Ting was a child jumping around joyfully.

“Oh, daoyou, may I know your honorable name? This is the first time we meet, such a pity it happens to be in a place like this. If we were outside, who knows, maybe we would have already burned some yellow paper and chopped a chicken’s head to become sworn brothers…”

Burn some yellow paper and chop a chicken’s head: a ritual to become sworn brothers/sisters.

While he was blabbering this nonsense, Changming was thinking.

Chen Ting swallowed.

He also realised that their opponent wasn’t taking them seriously.

But he was afraid that the man would attack them as soon as he stopped, so Chen Ting could only continue to jabber on, hoping for Changming to notice his painstaking efforts.

Chen Ting’s limbs were tied, and he couldn’t move. He wanted to give Changming a hint with his expression, so his eyelids were soon almost cramped up, but the other didn’t seem to notice.

“I, I was born a demon, but she, she is a human.”

Unexpectedly, he opened his mouth, and looked down on the woman in his hands with delight.

It’s great that he is willing to talk! Chen Ting happily answered him with no hesitation: “Although people and demons take different roads, there is a good saying among common people: ‘All lovers in the world would be united in marriage eventually’! I believe that the Heavens won’t bear to see you two separated! I wish you to live together in a long-lasting harmonious union until your hair turns grey!”

Changming: …

His physical strength and spiritual powers had almost been restored, but it was still not enough to attack him. Even though their enemy was a demon, his cultivation was comparable to that of a great master. If one blow from Changming didn’t make the other unable to strike back, his and Chen Ting’s deaths would be imminent.

The man laughed.

This laughter was creepy, and Chen Ting got goosebumps.

“She is like you, also from the outside.”

“Her name is Meng Li.”

“She said, her name, it is a kind of plant, with scalloped margins, very beautiful. Is it so?”

Her name: Meng Li’s name, ‘Lí’, means ‘white goosefoot’.

The man looked at them.

Chen Ting could only nod: “It really is so.”

“She is really beautiful ah!”

It seemed that the man had plunged into his memories, and his expression became gentle.

Changming wanted to start moving. As if their opponent noticed that, one of his legs twitched.

The downy scythe-like leg rubbed against the tip of Chen Ting’s nose, making him break into a cold sweat. Changming knew that it was a warning from the spider yao, so he didn’t move.

“Living here from a young age, I’ve seen the most beautiful scenes, that is, the sun and the moon of the Weak Waters. But she is more beautiful than the sun and the moon. I can do nothing for a long time, only looking at her.”

“She said, she likes me too, she wants to stay with me. I was happy, I wanted to give her the best things.”

“But one day, I woke up, and she was gone.”

The man’s expression gradually became angry.

His hand tightened up cun by cun, and the body of the woman made a rasping sound.

It was the sound of bones breaking into pieces.

Chen Ting’s scalp went numb.

The man seemed not to notice it.

“I worried a lot, I was scared. I was looking for her everywhere, afraid that she was wounded, killed in a place where I couldn’t find her.”

“I sought and sought, from white day till black night, and I finally found her.”

“Before that, when she said she liked me, it was a lie. What she wanted was my Fenshui Pearl.”

Fenshui: dividing water.

“But it didn’t matter. She likes the Fenshui Pearl, I will give her the Fenshui Pearl, if that means she won’t leave me. But she wasn’t willing, and still wanted to run. So I could only cut off her legs, replace them with the silk, so that she won’t run away again.”

He smiled sweetly.

“And now we are together for eternity.”

Meng Li…

Only now did Chen Ting feel that this name sounded familiar. He had finally recalled that there was a female disciple called Meng Li in the Celestial Abode Shexiao. Her talent was high, and the sect master liked her. But one time, a group of disciples went down the mountain, and Meng Li never returned.

It was said that her soul lantern in the Celestial Abode Shenxiao hadn’t gone off, so people believed that she wasn’t dead. Chen Ting would have never thought he would meet a person his shifu had mentioned once in a place like this, and under such circumstances.

So to speak, this Meng Li was a shijie of He Qingmo whom they met on the Rainbow Bridge.

It was unknown whether He Qingmo and the others came to the Nine Layers of the Abyss to rescue her.

“Li-er.”

The man lowered his head, his expression tender.

“You betrayed me, but I don’t blame you. Just as he said, we have to live together in a long-lasting harmonious union until our hair turns grey, in life and death, never to separate. Do you agree?”

Ah! Ah!

Probably because she heard her name, the woman reacted strongly, struggling with all her might.

But the spider yao used a bit of strength, and her struggles were suppressed.

“I know you like it very much as well, Li-er.”

Blood was dripping down the corners of her mouth, and her expression gradually went blank.

But the man didn’t mind it. He stretched his arm to wipe the blood off.

Chen Ting couldn’t help but say: “She is going to die soon!”

The man smiled: “She died a long time ago.”

“She died…”

His smile became even more wide, but the man started crying.

“A long time ago.”

Right now!

As if Changming became one with the sword, it shone brilliantly like a rainbow, and rushed at the spider yao in a flash.

The latter abruptly raised his head, protecting the woman in his arms. He lifted his forelegs up high, and stabbed them towards Changming!

One begets two, two begets three, three begets the universe.

One begets two, two begets three, three begets the universe: from Dao De Jing, or Laozi; 42, the transformations of the Dao. The full quote starts with: “Dao begets one”. There exist different explanations of this statement. For example, ‘one is the Void, two are Yin and Yang, three are either Heaven, Earth, and man, or Yin, Yang, and Qi’.

The sword’s glow suddenly split into three!

The spider yao made a mistake. He only fended off two strikes, and the last one pierced his upper body.

Changming didn’t stop to take a breath, and swept his sword back, cutting through the spider threads wrapped around Chen Ting.

“Be careful!”

Chen Ting’s expression changed drastically.

The huge monster was approaching them from behind, casting a terrifying shadow over their heads.

Changming knew the spider yao would attack them from the back, but he didn’t turn his head.

He only had one chance to save Chen Ting.

Only if Chen Ting was rescued and they joined forces, they would have a chance to survive.

If he left Chen Ting behind now, this would be seeking death for sure.

Changming was prepared to receive this attack.

His spiritual powers enveloped his body like a dim rainbow, and when silk threads struck, the barrier shook. Changming also trembled slightly, and blood started dripping from the corners of his mouth.

One hit was not enough, so the spider yao raised his leg once again.

Chen Ting stared at the sharp leg that was getting close to Changming’s nape!

At this moment, Changming was still cutting off the threads on Chen Ting’s body.

“Quickly, dodge!”

Changming’s movements slowed down.

The scythe-like leg was only three cuns away from his neck!

Three cuns: 10 cm.

Sharp as a knife, swift as a wind!

Changming’s head was almost pierced when he abruptly turned back, brandishing the sword!

A cup of water cannot put out a burning cart of firewood, but he still managed to block the attack partly.

Just when the spider yao was going to foil a new assault, a ray of white light stormed at him from the darkness. The yao screamed in pain and fell, his body knocked over by the formidable power. One spider’s leg was broken at this moment, flew to the side and thrusted deep into the floor.

Changming used this opportunity to save Chen Ting, and threw the Guyue Sword to him.

Chen Ting, cutting a sorry figure, caught it.

After Changming made the Guyue sword submit to him, using it at will, Chen Ting thought the other would continue to fight with it.

“You can use it!” He quickly gauged their situation.

“This sword is inconvenient,” Changming answered.

Chen Ting: …

He firmly gripped the Guyue Sword in his hand, as if his family’s favorite sword had suffered unjustly.

The spider yao was greatly annoyed by Yun Hai who interrupted him halfway, and the yao was even more frantic after having lost one leg. He wanted to slay the three of them.

But standing in front of him was Yun Hai whose powers were fathomless.

Yun Hai chose not to attack him from the front, but shifted from side to side instead, depleting his opponent’s forces. When a good opportunity arose, Yun Hai sneaked behind the spider yao and snatched the woman from him.

“Give her back!”

The spider yao’s eyes turned red immediately, and he unleashed tremendous pressure.

The spider threads attached to the lower body of the woman started pulling her back. Yun Hai sneered, raised his sleeves and cut off the threads directly!

Not only the woman, the spider yao shrieked miserably as well!

“Ah… Ah…”

The woman grabbed Yun Hai’s sleeve, as if she wanted to say something.

But Yun Hai had no intention to mind her since the beginning, and threw her towards the spider yao.

The spider yao stretched out to catch her instinctively.

And at this moment, Chen Ting attacked the yao with all his might!

The Guyue Sword in his hand was shining dazzlingly.

And Changming bashed the Golden Glass Beads Staff against the floor heavily, put his palms together, as if praying, and ripples spreaded from the cane, just like ripples on the water. As if the Buddhist prayers gained corporeal form, wherever the waves went, like the True Fire of Samadhi, from bits and pieces, from small to big, it quickly gained the force of a prairie fire!

The True Fire: Dao. heart fire, vitality.

Samadhi: Budd. deep meditation, a state of meditative consciousness.

When the spider yao was catching the woman, Yun Hai followed him as well, and two glowing swords appeared from his sleeves!

One sword struck the back of the yao’s neck, cleaving his head clearly.

The other pierced his heart mercilessly, nailing him and the woman to the hold’s wall.

At the same time, sparks started floating around their heads and under their feet. Little by little, the whole place turned into a sea of flames.

The ground quivered. Chen Ting lowered his head and noticed that spiders of all sizes started to hatch from the white balls on the floor. To avoid the fire, they crawled into four directions, swarming forward towards Chen Ting and the others. Some of them fell, but others followed in waves; however, the fire of the staff burned them to ashes.

Even so, Chen Ting still felt nauseous.

The woman fell from the spider yao’s embrace. Her lower body was missing, but she did her utmost to crawl towards Changming, opening her mouth, as if she wanted to speak, but only ‘ah’s escaped her mouth in the end. They couldn’t understand her at all, and her eyes showed despair; but she was so devastated that she wasn’t even able to shed tears.

“Let’s go, this place is collapsing!”

Yun Hai shouted. He grabbed Changming and retreated. Chen Ting’s ankle was captured by the woman tightly—no one knew how she got the strength to do it—and Chen Ting could only grasp her and follow.

Shaking.

The world was shaking as if heaven was falling, and the earth was crumbling.

Chen Ting could even feel the world around them gradually being torn into shreds.

The Golden Glass Beads Staff was lighting the surroundings.

All the furniture, slabs, and everything in the hold were breaking into pieces and falling down with the barrier.

Unexpectedly, behind the falling crumbles they saw the azure sky with pink clouds.

The sea melted into the sky, the morning clouds were colorful and magnificent.

Yun Hai was holding Changming with one hand. He rolled his sleeves and pressed the forehead of the woman who was still grabbing Chen Ting’s ankle.

After that, a pearl emerged from her forehead slowly, falling on Yun Hai’s palm.

Chen Ting recalled the spider yao’s story, and a thought dawned on him. He blurted: “The Fenshui Pearl!”

Yun Hai threw it right into the sea, and water immediately parted to the sides, making a way for them.

This path stretched beyond the horizon, and they vaguely saw a bridge in the distance.

“This, is this an illusion again?”

Chen Ting couldn’t believe his own eyes.

“The exit from the Seventh Layer of the Abyss is the Fenshui Pearl. And this spider yao just now was Fu Xiaoshan.”

Yun Hai released Changming.

For some reason, his expression was dark, but the others didn’t pay attention to it.

The owner of the Weak Waters, Fu Xiaoshan?

Chen Ting was stupefied. He would have never thought he would kill the owner of the Seventh Layer of the Abyss due to an unexpected turn of events.

“Then she, is she really daoyou Meng Li?”

He looked at the woman dying on the ground.

Her body was broken, miserable and wretched to the point she no longer resembled a human. Not a trace of the talented disciple from the Celestial Abode Shenxiao, of that immortal beauty who descended to the earth, of shijie Meng Li who everyone was discussing and who Chen Ting had only heard some rumors about, could longer be seen.

Chen Ting sighed, not knowing what to say.

The woman raised her head, looked almost with fascination at the sky that she hadn’t seen for so long, and slowly closed her eyes.

Changming had no time to pay attention to this matter. The prayers of the sea of flames that ripped apart the barrier had depleted his spiritual powers completely. He had a splitting headache, his heart was beating fast, and a sharp pain shot through all his limbs and bones, almost tearing apart his body.

A wheezing noise assaulted his eardrums. He squinted and saw Yun Hai slowly approaching him.

His sleeves were fluttering in the wind. The morning glow filled the sky.

It’s almost dawn.

These words suddenly resurfaced in his mind, and he braced his mind to see the other’s expression.

It was not a familiar cynical and mocking expression, but completely lifeless and chilling-to-the-bones one.

He didn’t think over Yun Hai’s words about the dawn coming, but now he suddenly understood them clearly.

The other came closer, stopped in front of Changming and looked down at him.

“Jiufang Changming?”

Changming heard his words.

His intonation was slow, and he was almost pausing after each word.

“Yun Weisi.”

It was not a question, but a statement.

Even though he could hardly see him, and his head was spinning, Changming laughed.

“Haven’t seen you for ages, who knew you would become this way.”

“Jiufang Changming, my shizun.”

Yun Weisi leaned forward, caught Changming’s chin with his fingers and made him raise his head to look at him.

“It’s you indeed, very good.”

Before he finished talking, a long sword appeared in his hand.

Its whole blade was pitch-black, it was a simple and unadorned long sword, and only golden words were glowing on it.

In a short while, Changming’s body was pierced by the sword.