Chapter Forty-Six: Gazing at Spring Mountain, Azure Dragon Cave

“So, are you just going to keep fighting endlessly like this?”
Yun Qi couldn’t quite understand.

“Of course not.”
Hu Jinliu shook his head. “Let me think… Well, every ten years or so there’s a big fracas, and every thirty years, a real war breaks out. As for the usual skirmishes that leave a hundred or so dead or wounded, that’s nothing out of the ordinary—hardly worth mentioning. Alang, you’ve come at a bad time. The last conflict that involved over a hundred strongholds happened before I was born. Now you’ve run into it, and this time, it won’t end well.”

Yun Qi clicked his tongue in astonishment. Such hatred had seeped into their very bones.

“Now, I’m not trying to make excuses, but to be honest, most of these wars are started by the Hundred Barbarians Mountain. We’re just forced to defend ourselves. We can’t just swallow the insult and lose face, can we?”
Hu Jinliu added.

“Oh? Why is that?”
Yun Qi pressed for more.

“There’s a lot to it. Alang, listen to me. First, their sect likes to boast that they’re the leaders of the Southern Demon Cults. And as a leader, if he doesn’t come out and show off his power from time to time, who would submit to him? Wouldn’t you agree?”
Yun Qi nodded.

“Every time the Hundred Barbarians Mountain goes crazy, they don’t just go mad on their own. They’ll rally a whole crowd. Sometimes, the Northern Demon Cults even secretly send people down to support them! And these lunatics don’t just fight us heretical sects—when they go mad, they attack anyone, Daoists, Buddhists, you name it. That’s why I told you earlier, even if you go to Azure Dragon Cave, you won’t find peace there.”

“Second, I’ve heard the old villain is ill again. Both our sects cultivate the Asura Path, heh, and rumor has it that long ago, our ancestor and that Green-Robed Villain entered the ancient Asura treasury together. The two split the loot unevenly, which is how this blood feud began.

“But judging by the outcome, our ancestor got the better end. The cultivation method is harsh, but doesn’t harm the foundation, and the power it grants is immense. On the other hand, the Hundred Barbarians Mountain’s method is all about hurting the enemy at great personal cost, sometimes even self-destruction. But their path was flawed from the start, so they’ve only themselves to blame.

“I heard from the sect that the Green-Robed Villain was too ambitious. He insisted on cultivating Asura Bloodflame, but something went wrong, damaging his foundation and leaving him with a chronic illness. Now, whenever it flares up, the bloodflame burns within him, and even Dragon Blood can’t suppress it—only human blood will do!”

Hu Jinliu recounted the tale with vivid gestures.

Yun Qi chimed in, “So the Green-Robed Villain deliberately incites war to create rivers of blood, using all that blood to suppress his bloodflame?”

“Exactly!” Hu Jinliu clapped his hands. “Alang, you’re sharp. But the Green-Robed Villain is even more ruthless than that! He forces all his disciples on Hundred Barbarians Mountain to practice the Bloodflame Asura technique, then transfers the bloodflame from his own body into each of them!

“It sounds noble—self-sacrifice, deadly martial arts, and so on. Day to day, they can call forth the bloodflame burned into their flesh by simply injuring themselves, unleashing great power, with self-destruction as a last resort. But in truth, wielding such power beyond one’s abilities is addictive! Watch closely, Alang—see if there’s a single disciple from Hundred Barbarians Mountain who isn’t missing an arm or a leg. They eat themselves alive! And when they die, the bloodflame drains all their essence and returns to the Green-Robed Villain, fueling his demonic arts to perfection!”

Hu Jinliu curled his lip in disdain as he spoke.

Yun Qi was shocked as he listened. So this was the way of the Demon Sect—utterly lawless, more beast than man.

———

The three men and a dog spent the night in the cave and set out again the next morning.

They were currently at the southeastern border between Miao Territory and the Southern Wilds, in the region of Three Rivers Gorge. The gorge was the source of the Peach Blossom River. Of course, here you’d see no peach blossoms; only when the river flowed southeast, past Rotten Peach Mountain, and the petals from the mountain’s peach trees fell into the waters, would the Peach Blossom River sweep a riverful of petals into the Southern Wilds.

Every spring, when the peach trees bloomed, the sight of the Peach Blossom River bringing blossoms into the Southern Wilds was the most beautiful scene.

The domain of Redwood Ridge lay to the northwest of Three Rivers Gorge. Banyan River Village, home to Lang Shanliu and Hu Jinliu, was on the outskirts of the ridge, quite close to the gorge.

Azure Dragon Cave was even closer. Head north for about a hundred miles and you’d reach it. Like Redwood Ridge, it was a sect facing the Southern Wilds Demon Cults head-on.

Now, Yun Qi intended to register at Azure Dragon Cave. If there were any warrants for slaying demons, he’d take them. Having a local Daoist sect as a base and source of information was much safer than wandering alone. After all, if you blundered into the wrong area and a great demon appeared, you wouldn’t even know how you died.

Lang Shanliu and his nephew Hu Jinliu needed to return to Banyan River Village to recover. Though heading southwest would take them straight home, they insisted on escorting Yun Qi to Azure Dragon Cave before turning back.

Unable to refuse, Yun Qi went along.

Snow was still falling, though lighter now, and the land was blanketed in white.

“That old villain, he’ll freeze us to death!”
Hu Jinliu grumbled again.

Yun Qi recalled what he’d overheard and asked, “I heard Lang-ge say this snow was summoned by the Green-Robed Villain. Why is that?”

Hu Jinliu spat on the ground. “That dog of a villain! His whole clan cultivates the bloodflame but can’t control it, so they’re constantly burning up inside. Of course they need cold to cool themselves down. Meanwhile, those of us from Redwood Ridge practice Asura, fire, and wood arts—all vulnerable to cold. When the snow falls, our spiritual power slows down considerably!”

Yun Qi nodded. So that was the reason.

But White Dragon was unfazed by the cold, bounding joyfully through the snow.

“What a fine dog! The family that saved your life gifted you the king of dogs!”
Lang Shanliu remarked.

Yun Qi smiled and nodded. “That day, it was the dog who first found you.”

“What’s this White Dragon called?”
Hu Jinliu asked.

“Wait a moment.”
At his words, Lang Shanliu and Hu Jinliu immediately tensed up. “What is it? Is someone nearby?”

Yun Qi was taken aback, then quickly realized the misunderstanding. “The dog’s name is ‘Wait a moment.’”

The uncle and nephew exchanged glances, then Hu Jinliu blurted, “What kind of name is that?”

Yun Qi chuckled helplessly. “When I first took him from the village, he was so lively and fast that he’d always leave me far behind. I was constantly shouting for him to wait, and after a while, he thought his name was ‘Wait a moment.’ I tried to change it, but it stuck.”

The two burst out laughing, calling “Wait a moment, Wait a moment!” and teasing the white dog.

They also taught Yun Qi many tricks for raising dogs, saying White Dragon was exceptionally intelligent and, by the age of three, would understand just about anything.

Their pace was brisk and strong. Though they didn’t fly, they covered most of the mountain paths by midday. Since they were retracing their steps, they encountered no demon cultists and soon arrived near Azure Dragon Cave.

There, among the mountains, lay a flat stretch of land, in the center of which rose a solitary peak, like a great bronze bell standing upright—a place of unmistakable feng shui.

Hu Jinliu pointed at the mountain and said, “That’s Mount Springwatch. At its summit lies Azure Dragon Cave.”