Chapter Thirty-Five: Disappearance

As soon as the words fell, monstrous waves surged across the Teng Sea and violet lightning split the sky. Huai Yin, seeing the peril closing in, raised his hand and conjured a celestial light to shield himself and Yi Qingchen. But atop the cresting waves, Suhe stood untouched, the thunderbolts unable to come within three feet of him, instead sparking furiously at that invisible boundary.

High above, the Sovereign Bird gazed down with the disdain of a king regarding ants beneath his feet. With haughty scorn, he declared, “Human, I shall make you understand that before absolute power, all schemes are futile.”

With that, he spat forth a sphere of wind, brimming with thousands of blades sharp enough to obliterate flesh from bone. The sphere grew larger upon meeting the air, changing form ceaselessly. It charged at Suhe as though it had eyes of its own, surging like thunder, even threatening to rend the very fabric of space.

But Suhe fixed his gaze, standing firm, one hand grasping Mercy Unparalleled, the other balancing Yin and Yang. “Divine Law of Spirit and Heaven, Heaven and Earth as One—Transform!”

In an instant, Mercy Unparalleled split into two poles, water and fire intertwining in perfect harmony. The wind blades unleashed by the Sovereign Bird were caught and entangled, drawn into a titanic struggle, like twin tornadoes locked in a deadly tug-of-war.

The Sovereign Bird unfurled his wings, summoning a hurricane of blades from under his pinions, his contempt evident. “Is this all? You think you can contend with me?”

Suhe grunted, blood trickling from the corner of his lips. A fierce light flashed in his eyes as he spoke, voice thick with blood, “Your power is beyond my reach. In this contest, I am defeated.”

“Ha! What are you waiting for, then? Are you not coming to offer yourself, to let me devour you?” With a gaping maw, he inhaled.

The world around them was drawn inexorably toward him; boulders, seawater, and even red serpents could not escape the pull of his wind.

Huai Yin watched as their protective aura was forced back inch by inch. He looked down at the unconscious Yi Qingchen and called anxiously to Suhe, “Brother…”

Suhe did not reply. Instead, he met the Sovereign Bird’s eyes and smiled. “Since the wager was mine to make, let me be the first to fulfill it.”

With those words, he shifted his stance, palm turning upward.

The Sovereign Bird sneered, eyes alight with murderous intent. Nodding, he silently declared: Show me what trick you possess.

One step, two steps, three steps… Suddenly, Mercy Unparalleled flashed, sword-edge whirling. With deft skill, he redirected the entangled wind blades toward Huai Yin and Yi Qingchen, harnessing that immense force to fling them out of the Sovereign Bird’s reach.

At the same moment, he unleashed the power he had been gathering in his palm.

The Sovereign Bird, seeing his prey slip from sight, was seized by rage. He withdrew his wind and beat his wings, sending forth a force that threatened to shatter heaven and earth. He met Suhe’s attack head-on, their powers colliding in a cataclysm that shook the sea and sky, flinging even the red serpents into the air, leaving countless dead and wounded.

Struck by this blow, Suhe fell like a kite with a cut string, plunging into the sea.

The Sovereign Bird gazed at the floating bodies of the red serpents and pierced the depths with his golden eyes, searching every corner but finding no trace of Suhe’s corpse. Nor could he see any sign of Huai Yin or Yi Qingchen.

“Damnation.”

At that moment, the King of the Red Serpents surfaced, his massive head crowned with two horns and clustered with fleshy protuberances, a terrifying sight. He bowed respectfully to the Sovereign Bird. “Honored Crown Prince, I just saw a white light flee north. Shall I pursue it?”

Twin jets of white breath flared from the prince’s nostrils. He snapped, “Pursue? North lies Lion Island, home to a pack of ancient monsters. Do you wish my father to think I seek to provoke war between the two islands?”

The Sovereign Bird’s domain bordered human lands, but the nearest neighbor was Lion Island, five hundred miles away, a place renowned for its extraordinary inhabitants. The two islands had long been rivals. Although the Sovereign Bird’s kin were unmatched in battle, their kind could not leave the island’s territory—no farther than four hundred miles—or their bodies would explode. This was why they preyed only on solitary immortals passing by and never invaded the heavens.

Hostilities with Lion Island stemmed from mutual casualties, entrenching their feud. Yet, the Sovereign Birds’ inability to fight prolonged wars off-island limited their power, while Lion Island’s defenders could not breach the serpents’ protection, nor could they break the island’s many wards. On their home ground, the Sovereign Birds held the advantage. Thus, despite frequent battles, neither side could conquer the other.

If the humans had indeed been rescued by Lion Island, the prince could not pursue. Should his brothers bring word of this to their father, especially with the succession undecided, it would become a weapon against him. United, his brothers would be a grave threat. War could wait.

The Red Serpent King, failing to please, grew anxious. “Then… shall I send my young to hunt the remaining humans?”

He glanced at the sea, heart aching at the floating corpses of his offspring. Yet the Sovereign Birds were born nemeses to serpents; to preserve his lineage, the Serpent King had no choice but submission.

The Crown Prince narrowed his eyes coldly. “No need. Though those two escaped my grasp, they remain on the island. If they survive the wards, they will deliver themselves in time.”

The Serpent King showered the prince with flattery, then hurriedly gathered up the bodies of his dead children with his tail and disappeared beneath the waves, offering their flesh to his queen so she might hatch more serpents, ensuring the line would not die out.

As the Teng Sea returned to calm, the long-absent Grand Mistress and Second Mistress appeared together atop the broken cliffs. Watching the crashing waves below, the Second Mistress draped herself bonelessly over her sister. “Sister, everyone’s gone. What do we do now? Keep waiting? I say Suhe is probably dead. You saw the Crown Prince’s power; even with ten lives, Suhe would be hard pressed to survive such a blow.”

But the Grand Mistress, eyes on the surging waves, was not so optimistic. “Perhaps. But remember: we must see the body, living or dead, before drawing conclusions.”

The Second Mistress hesitated, releasing her hold, a hint of doubt in her voice. “Surely not? The Crown Prince is no weakling. He couldn’t deal with Suhe?”

“Don’t forget where he came from. Ordinary immortals, upon death, return to the cycle and must cultivate from the beginning. Could you, avoiding reincarnation, return to the immortal path without losing your power?” The Grand Mistress cast her a scathing look—as if to say, be as foolish as you like, but don’t drag me down with you. “No one from the Nether Court is ordinary. Why do you think Ye Guqingfeng holds him in such regard, helping him again and again? Have you never thought of that?”

Stung and frustrated, the Second Mistress could only smile sweetly, suppressing her anger. “Oh, what am I? In all the Boundless Seas, apart from the Soul Command Sect, how could I have such ability? I’ll need you to look after me in the future.”

The Grand Mistress saw through her little ploys but let them pass, so long as she caused no trouble at a critical moment. After a moment’s silence, she said, “Come, let’s do what must be done.”

“What’s that?” Isn’t our business to keep an eye on that darling boy, trip him up when we can? Now he’s fallen into the Teng Sea, shouldn’t we keep watch? What if he finds some treasure and takes off?

“Send word to Xiao the Fourth, tell them to spread the news that Bai Li Suhe has entered the Sovereign Bird’s island to retrieve the stone. Such a treasure—who wouldn’t covet it?”

“Oh… Sister, you mean to win without drawing a blade?” The Second Mistress hid her mouth, laughing coquettishly. “Leave it to me. I’ll see it done to your satisfaction.”

With her sister gone, the Grand Mistress remained alone at the cliff’s edge for a long time, lost in thought as she watched the waves shatter into foam. She did not believe someone like him would die so easily.

Lion Island

In a thatched hut, a white-bearded old man had been watching over Suhe for nearly two hours. Another old man, garbed in a robe of trigrams and crowned with gold, dropped a chess piece onto the board. “Queyunzi, you’ve been staring for ages. Aren’t you tired? If you have time, play a game with me instead.”

Queyunzi replied, “Go on, go on. We’ve played together for thousands of years—one day less will hardly matter.”

“Now, now, if I hadn’t fished him out of the snake’s lair, what would you be staring at?”

“Hm… True enough. Patchpot, tell me, why hasn’t he woken after all this time?” Queyunzi scratched his tousled head, baffled. By rights, the medicine he’d given should have worked already, yet two hours had passed without a hint of waking.

“Enough with the ‘Patchpot’. My name is Bu Guo, not Patchpot,” Bu Guo grumbled, glaring. After all these years, his friend still joked about his name.

Queyunzi bared his teeth in a grin, ambled over to the chair opposite Bu Guo, grabbed a handful of peanuts, and pointed at Suhe. “How did you come across this lad?”

“I went out to buy wine for you—you drank yours and mine dry. If I didn’t fetch more, what would we drink, you old drunk?”

“A bit of wine, that’s all. Since I helped save him, let’s call it even.” Queyunzi waved it off, unaffected by his friend’s jibes.

Bu Guo immediately set aside his chess piece and sat up straight. “Honestly, Queyunzi, has anyone ever told you that you grow thicker-skinned with age? How old are you, still playing tricks?”

Queyunzi looked serious, face unflushed and breath steady. “No one—just you. All the immortals on the island say I’m a good man.”

“Ha, who would believe you?” Bu Guo waved him off and turned to Suhe. “Seriously, how is his injury? When will he wake?”

“Wait, weren’t you asking me just now? How did it become you asking me?” Queyunzi hopped off the chair and plopped down again.

“Enough. If you won’t say, you can forget about drinking my wine—go fetch your own.” Bu Guo, seeing through his act, turned away.

At once, Queyunzi felt his mouth water and his stomach twist with craving. Patting his belly, he pleaded, “Heh, old friend, can’t I talk once I’ve had a taste? I haven’t had a drop in three days.”

Bu Guo knew his ways well and, seeing the time was right, produced a jar of wine and tossed it over. “Speak.”

“Well…” Queyunzi hugged the jar, knocked off the seal, gulped down several mouthfuls, then wiped his lips with his sleeve. Only then did he answer, “Judging by his wounds, he must have faced Phantom.”

“That’s right. When I returned, there was a commotion on the Sovereign Bird’s island. I happened to see this lad fall into the sea—and saw he was up against Phantom. So I fished him out first.”

“That explains it. Of the Sovereign King’s sons, apart from the uninvolved Third Prince, Phantom is the most vicious. Judging by his wounds, they must have clashed head-on. Surviving is a miracle.” With that, he took another swig on the sly.

Bu Guo, seeing his behavior, grabbed a chess piece and threw it. “You shameless wretch, why did you bother pretending to ask me just now?”

Queyunzi hugged the wine jar, hopping in protest. “Don’t throw, don’t throw—there’s a patient in the house…”