280 The Sword Calls

The boxes were very heavy. The moment they appeared, Chen Changsheng and thosetwo women began to descend even faster to the lake bottom. Astonishment crept into the eyes of the two women. They had no idea how theseboxes appeared or what was in them. The boxes were not locked, so under the pressure of the water, their lids toreopen, illuminating their contents in the gentle and beautiful light of thosewings. At the same time, the items within the boxes began to emit their ownsort of gentle and beautiful light. It was an almost sacred white light, holding an unimaginable amount of magic,at least for humans. If this were not such a tense and perilous moment, perhaps even those twowomen would also think this way. The boxes contained silver, and the light they emitted was called silverlight. It was even more real than starlight, even more enticing, and thus, morebeautiful. The silver came from various places. Some was gifted to Chen Changsheng by hismaster and senior before he left Xining Village for travel and living expenses,some was given to him by Luoluo as when she was paying respects to him as herteacher. There was also some from Tang Thirty-Six's generous donations, as wellas generous gifts from various priests from the Li Palace. Chen Changsheng hadnever counted up exactly how much silver there was. He just had them convertedinto silver ingots and carried them with him. Now, when his life was at its most perilous moment, he had used up all thesilver in one go. In the space formed by those two wings of light, the rushing of the watercaused those silver taels to roil about. Like stone, they pounded against thefaces and bodies of all three people. However, this was still not enough; it was not sufficient to break throughthose wings of light. He still needed more things. Thus, Chen Changsheng's spiritual sense continued deeper into the hilt of thedagger. The next thing to come out was a Night Pearl. The Night Pearl was very large and very round, even more than the Night Pearlsembedded into the Dew Platform, even more than the Night Pearls that attachedto the roof of the Black Dragon's underground cavern. The Night Pearl had beenLuoluo's first gift to him, and it looked very much like a big washing bowl. Ofcourse, for those two women who had grown up in Xuelao City, perhaps they wouldbe willing to use the sacred moon to describe this extraordinary Night Pearl. Only, the two women could not be like ordinary women, being shocked and moved,then fall into a fervor. One reason was because they were engaged in battle.The other reason was that the Night Pearl directly smashed against the demonwoman's face. Even in the water, the boom could be clearly heard. Soon after,that demon woman's nose began to bleed a stream of green blood. The demon woman was filled with rage, and also very confused. She simply hadno idea where this Night Pearl had come from, and its impact was not light. But this still was not enough. It was not sufficient to help Chen Changshengescape the constraints of those wings of light. Thus, Chen Changsheng continued deeper into the sword hilt, taking out itemafter item. The next item to appear....was half of a whole roasted lamb. The half a roast lamb, from which steam still seemed to rise, appeared withinthose wings of light, then collided with that dignified woman's body. It was very obvious that the dignified woman was somewhat of a clean freak, sowhen that half roast lamb caked with oil embraced her, she almost went crazy. But this still was not enough. One roast chicken, two roast chickens, three roast chickens… around a dozenroast chickens, like thrown stones, appeared between those wings and smashed ather body. There was Liaobei County's roast deer tail, Wanzhou County's roast fish,Wenshui's spicy thirteen plates, the South Sea's steamed double fish heads... With the continuous stimulation of Chen Changsheng's spiritual sense,innumerable pieces of food appeared one after the other. In a flash, the spacebetween those wings of light was crammed. These were pieces of food that the Black Dragon had required him to preparewhen they left the capital. Right now, the Black Dragon was merely a spiritualsoul inside a jade ruyi, so she could not eat very much. Thus these foods had been stored away, extremely fresh, very hot and pungent,and still maintaining their original flavors. Within those wings of light, roast chicken took flight with duck wings, redsoup blurred together with persimmons. It was complete confusion, absolute chaos. Countless foods and juices mixed together, producing a revolting mix. "Just what's going on here?!" That demon woman pushed her head through a Yingou stew jade cabbage andangrily shouted, her eyes expressing bewilderment. The last thing Chen Changsheng took out was that which he possessed the mostof—books. Nobody knew that the three thousands scriptures of the Daoist Canon were nolonger in Xining Village's old temple, but rather with Chen Changsheng. He took out the three thousand scriptures of the Daoist Canon so that he coulduse the scriptures to beat the demons. Boom! Countless books filled up that space created by the two wings of light. The two wings of light could no longer stay closed. Accompanied by a cry of shock and even a little absurdity, those two wingsfinally separated. The books and food shot off in all directions like powerful arrows, thengradually slowed down. Regretfully, even though the wings of light had come apart, those two womenstill held Chen Changsheng tightly. He continued to sink towards the bottom ofthe lake. Those books and food, the Night Pearl and the boxes of silver, all sank withhim, creating an exceptionally strange scene. The Night Pearl was not far from him. It illuminated the pitch-black water,letting him see very clearly some of the things that were falling with him. Those books and food, the Night Pearl and the silver, the various herbs: theywere his living, his memories. In other words, they were his life. Seeing the items, he very easily remembered those days more than ten years agoin Xining Village's old temple where he recited the Daoist Classics with hissenior by the riverside. He remembered the little girl that climbed the wallfrom the Hundred Herb Garden to the Orthodox Academy. As he sunk towards thebottom of the lake, he thought of many things and many people. The rich Tang Thirty-Six, the poor Xuanyuan Po, Jin Yulu drinking tea by thegate of the Orthodox Academy, the Pope, Mei Lisha, master, senior, are youstill doing okay? Then he saw a letter and a little trinket, and this made him think of thewhite crane. As he continued to sink, it grew colder and colder, and death grew closer andcloser. His Qi grew increasingly weak, although judging by his still-open eyes,he seemed very calm. His eyes were so clean that even in the water, they still gave off theimpression of a clear and limpid lake, able to reflect one's innermost thoughts. This sort of calmness and cleanliness made those two women feel anunprecedented unease. It was like that first day in which they possessed lifeand still saw Nanke's cold and indifferent appearance. Amongst the items that were sinking to the lake bottom with Chen Changsheng,the brightest was obviously the Night Pearl. They did not notice that behindthe radiance of the Night Pearl was a metal ball. Through the gentle movementsof the water, the metal ball slowly landed in his palm. He subconsciously drewhis fingers together and gripped it tightly. The extremely faint and elusive sword intent was still in the deepest depthsof the lake, seemingly calling him, wanting to him to cut open a path to live.Yet his blood had almost run dry, his Qi was about to disappear. Even if hecould perceive it, what use was it? Even if he could grip that metal ball, hehad no means of taking out the Yellow Paper Umbrella, so what use was it? Suddenly, the metal ball fiercely shuddered in his hand, then began to quicklyspin. With a clamor, the scales on the metal ball split open, then with the clashingand rubbing of metal, an umbrella swiftly bloomed in the water, splashing waterin all directions.  The Yellow Paper Umbrella was once more in Chen Changsheng's hand! Only now did the two women realize, but they were too late. The Yellow Paper Umbrella began to quickly revolve, stirring up the water. Theseemingly dull edge of the umbrella scored countless deep and bloody wounds onthe bodies of those two women. With cries of agony, the two women were jolted apart by that powerful force. The water at the bottom of the lake stirred once more, and once again itseemed like it was boiling. The Yellow Paper Umbrella brought along the finallyunconscious Chen Changsheng as it barreled through the lake like a dragon madeof water, breaking open a path. It hurtled swiftly towards some place severalli away. That elusive sword intent was there.