Chapter 40 Jiang Er IV

　　—The seed of hatred has already been planted. The flame of vengeance will never be extinguished.

　　Jiang Er had already awakened and, crying aloud, flung himself toward his mother. Xuejizi hurriedly restrained him and, using the art of mind control, quieted him.

　　Before long Chen Qing’s wideopen eyes blinked twice and she regained consciousness; her gaze, however, remained cloudy and had lost its former brilliance.

　　Only after great effort did she recognize the person standing before her.

　　“Master Xuanjizi—is it you? Where am I? Where is Jiang Er? Where is my son Jiang Er?”

　　“Mother, Mother, I am here.” Jiang Er threw himself upon her.

　　Chen Qing’s breath was as faint as a thread; she had recovered her soul for only a short while by the spiritual power Xuanjizi had infused. Looking at Jiang Er she said with joy: “Good child, you are safe—how wonderful.”

　　“Master Xuanjizi, the humans of the Wolf Tribe?”

　　“Qing’er, rest assured—they have all safely entered the Immortal Valley of Qiongling.”

　　“That is good. Master Xuanjizi, and Master Xuejizi, from now on my son Jiang Er can rely only upon you two elders. I hope you will accept him as a disciple.”

　　“Rest easy. Jiang Er is gifted and intelligent, his potential limitless; in the future he will certainly become a pillar of our Tianyou Clan.”

　　“Master, with those words I can die without regret. Where is Master Tianyouzi? Why do I not see the venerable one?”

　　“Great Master Tianyouzi is still in seclusion; today is the day she emerges. All the masters of our clan are protecting her, so the distress signal you sent through that bird was not discovered in time. Qing’er, it is all this master’s fault—we came too late.”

　　“Master, please do not say such things. You two elders have given my husband and me a second life; even if we become oxen and horses in the next life we cannot repay your kindness. Jiang Er, come to Mother—let Mother look at you once more.”

　　Chen Qing gazed tenderly at her son one last time, then released little Jiang Er’s hand, her head tilted, her eyes closed, and she departed in peace.

　　“Mother… Mother…” Once more Jiang Er’s griefstricken sobs filled the air.

　　“Ah!” Xuanjizi struck his left palm with his right fist.

　　The scene was filled with desolation…

　　Before long an urgent voice of an elder sounded outside: “Qing’er, Qing’er—where is Qing’er?”

　　The door opened and a whitehaired old woman entered.

　　Seeing the old woman, Xuanjizi started in great alarm: “Great Master Tianyouzi—what has happened to your eyes?”

　　“Xuanjizi, it is of no consequence. During this seclusion a small accident occurred and my physical eyes went blind, yet the spiritual power of my celestial eye has increased many times over. Ah—Qing’er, you…” When the old woman “saw” Chen Qing lying upon the bed she froze.

　　She walked slowly to the bedside, felt Chen Qing’s pulse, and shook her head heavily: “Qing’er, you have suffered. Had I known it would end thus, after Jiang Sheng’s sacrifice I should have brought you back.” Tears flowed from her already blind eyes.

　　Seeing the old woman’s slow movements, Xuanjizi said with concern: “Great Master Tianyouzi, the dead cannot be restored to life. You have only just emerged from seclusion; your health is of first importance—please restrain your grief!”

　　The old woman stroked Jiang Er’s head: “I am all right. This child is the son of Qing’er and Jiang Sheng, is he not? Child, rest assured—we shall certainly avenge your mother!”

　　At that moment a bluerobed master entered from outside and reported: “Reporting to Great Master Tianyouzi: the Centaurs will not leave the mountain pass and keep challenging us. They…”

　　“They what?”

　　“The words they shout are extremely foul; they have cursed our ancestors for eight generations.”

　　Tianyouzi gritted her teeth: “They killed my beloved disciple Qing’er and still dare to curse at our gate. Xuanjizi, Xuejizi—when has our Tianyou Clan ever suffered such bullying?”

　　“Great Master Tianyouzi, you need not trouble yourself. I shall send out the Xuanji Beast; in a mere moment those beasts can be wiped out.” Xuanjizi was a skilled craftsman, expert in fashioning all manner of divine weapons and tools; the Xuanji Beast was a mechanical great serpent of his invention that could burrow through the earth.

　　“Elder Brother Xuanjizi, your Xuanji Beast is not at hand at present. Better let me handle it—I need only scatter medicinal powder in the sky and in an instant they can be annihilated.” Xuejizi was skilled in preparing all manner of poisons and hidden weapons.

　　“I know both of you are highly capable, yet would that not be letting these beasts off too lightly?”

　　Xuanjizi attempted to use the art of mindreading upon Tianyouzi, wishing to perceive her thoughts, yet Tianyouzi’s spiritual power had already entered a transcendent realm; he could not penetrate the depths of her mind in the slightest.

　　The art of mindreading can be used only upon those whose spiritual power is weaker than one’s own. Xuanjizi had not expected that after this seclusion Tianyouzi’s spiritual power had already left him far behind; he therefore sighed: “We do not understand the Great Master’s meaning; we beg for instruction.”

　　“Blood debts must be repaid in blood. Since they used weapons to slaughter our humans so cruelly, we shall treat them in the same fashion and make them tremble under the blades of us lowly, cowardly humans.”

　　“Yet the celestial god of old once said that unless absolutely necessary one must not freely use spiritual power upon the common people, still less use it wantonly to kill the common people, otherwise divine punishment will surely follow…”

　　“Xuanjizi, is today not precisely such a case of absolute necessity? If you fear divine punishment you need not go. Today I shall open a great slaughter; only thus can the hatred in my heart be relieved.”

　　Hearing this, Xuanjizi no longer insisted on his own view: “In that case, Great Master Tianyouzi, let me take a dozen or so bluerobed masters out to teach them a lesson.”

　　“Xuanjizi, during this seclusion this old one has already perfected the great art of the primordial spirit leaving the body; I precisely wish to use these beasts for practice.”

　　“Congratulations, Great Master.” Xuanjizi was greatly astonished; he knew that the great art of the primordial spirit leaving the body was an ability possessed only by the celestial gods, and that for a human to cultivate such spiritual power was harder than ascending to heaven.

　　The great art of the primordial spirit leaving the body is an upperlevel technique whereby the spiritual body freely enters and leaves the physical form. When this art is employed the spiritual body can instantly reach any place one wishes. Moreover ordinary people cannot see the spiritual body, and ordinary weapons of the mortal world cannot harm it.

　　When the art of the primordial spirit leaving the body is cultivated to the highest level one can pursue and view the past, remotely view the future, freely traverse the universe, and become a god of complete freedom, omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence.

　　“Xuanjizi, Xuejizi, lead the disciples and follow behind. This old one can wait no longer and must go first to teach these beasts a lesson.”

　　Tianyouzi drew the twin blades at her waist; in an instant her spiritual body was already outside the mountain pass of the Immortal Valley of Qiongling. After the spiritual body left the physical form both the twin blades that served as magical implements and her spiritual body were invisible to ordinary eyes.

　　Outside the mountain pass the Centaurs were cursing merrily. Those who know nothing fear nothing; little did they know that catastrophe was about to descend upon them.

　　Hali said to the deputy beside him: “See? These socalled ‘Sorcerer Clan’ are all turtles that pull in their heads—nothing to…” Before the words were finished a sudden gust of wind passed and the deputy was spattered with blood from head to toe.

　　The deputy turned his head and was stunned to discover that the head which had originally rested upon Hali’s shoulders was gone. From the severed neck blood spurted like a fountain; the headless corpse still stood upright…

　　Such a bizarre scene terrified the deputy. While he was still panicstricken and at a loss, from the thin mist of the mountain pass dozens of human masters in brown and blue robes suddenly charged forth.

　　These human masters all held long swords; every one of them moved like flying swallows and in an instant were upon them. The Centaur warriors at once fell into chaos, exploding like a boiling pot.

　　How could these Centaurs be a match for these cultivated humans? This time the masters of the Tianyou Clan had come out in full force for revenge and left no survivors. Every master poured out his spiritual power without reservation, like tigers descending the mountain, irresistible.

　　The Centaur soldiers were thrown into complete disorder, their cries shaking the heavens, screams continuous; in a moment blood rain flew across the ground and corpses lay everywhere. In less than the space of a few breaths everything returned to calm; the more than three hundred Centaur officers and men had been completely annihilated.

　　In order to overawe the Shisen Tribe, Tianyouzi left one living mouth: a Centaur soldier almost frightened to death was made to drive a wagon laden with the heads of Centaur soldiers back to the Shisen Tribe.

　　The next morning the sky cleared after the rain.

　　Xuanjizi came outside the mountain pass, looked at the corpses covering the ground and sighed inwardly: those who live by the sword shall die by the sword. He ordered his subordinates to pile the corpses together, set them alight, and let the ashes scatter with the wind.

　　The Tianyou Clan had opened many fields in the basin of the Immortal Valley of Qiongling. Great Master Tianyouzi allowed the rescued humans free choice: those willing to live thereafter in the Immortal Valley of Qiongling might remain; those who preferred to return to the Wolf Tribe were not forced.

　　The greater part chose to remain; a smaller number of humans with families, escorted by masters of the Tianyou Clan together with the dozen or so wagons of grain that Hali had plundered, were sent back to the gate of WolfLair City of the Wolf Tribe.

　　Thereafter the Shisen Tribe repeatedly sent troops to the Immortal Valley of Qiongling for revenge; each time the result was the same as before—only a single living Centaur soldier drove a wagon carrying the heads of the dead back to the tribe.

　　In the end the Shisen Tribe was thoroughly subdued. Shisen himself came to the Tianyou Clan to apologize and, according to the contractual law established between the peoples of the continent of Mu and the celestial gods, concluded a covenant of intention with Great Master Tianyouzi.

　　Thereafter the Shisen Tribe was willing, in the manner of serving the celestial gods, to honor Tianyouzi as a humanclan celestial god, to submit forever and to serve Tianyouzi.

　　Tianyouzi might at any time use the art of intentional transmission to summon the Shisen Tribe to obey her orders and serve the Tianyou Clan. At the same time the Tianyou Clan promised to provide protection for the Shisen Tribe.

　　From that time the Shisen Tribe dared no longer go to the Nanyu Forest to raid the harvests. When Centaur adults disciplined unruly, crying children they always used the phrase “If you still do not obey, we shall let the Tianyou Clan come and take you away” to frighten them.

　　Jiang Er was gifted and intelligent; the speed at which he learned magical arts far exceeded that of ordinary people. He first took Xuanjizi as master and later received the personal guidance of Tianyouzi; within a few short years his spiritual power increased at a tremendous pace.

　　At the age of fifteen Jiang Er already ranked among the brownrobed masters and was the youngest brownrobed master of the Tianyou Clan.

　　Tianyouzi once told Jiang Er that from childhood he had differed from ordinary people, perhaps because of the inheritance of both parents being masters of the Tianyou Clan.

　　When Jiang Er was eight the celestial eye within his skull had not only failed to atrophy but had continually evolved and grown; therefore at the time of his mother’s tragic death, in the urgency of the moment he had naturally unleashed the art of summoning lightning.

　　One morning, upon the mountain peak on the eastern side of the Immortal Valley of Qiongling.

　　A human youth sat crosslegged upon a rock, cultivating. The youth wore a blue cloak, was solidly built with a sturdy, honest face; a pair of unusually bright large eyes were set in his round face, making him appear especially spirited.

　　The first ray of morning sunlight fell precisely upon the youth’s forehead. The celestial eye within his skull seemed to breathe; the skin of the forehead expanded and contracted, absorbing the energy of all things of heaven and earth.

　　As he entered a meditative state his entire body slowly rose into suspension, already more than ten meters above the mountain peak.

　　He was the fifteenyearold Jiang Er.

　　At that moment the sound of intentional transmission from Great Master Tianyouzi rang in Jiang Er’s mind: “Jiang Er, please come to Grandmother.”

　　“Old Granny, very well—I shall come at once.” Jiang Er replied by the art of intentional transmission.

　　Jiang Er opened his eyes, unfolded the art of aerial flight, and flew toward the great mountain on the western side of the Immortal Valley.