Chapter Eighty-Eight: The Great Emperor of the Western Peak

An Youyu caught the commotion behind him and glanced back carelessly. Seeing that all the servants he had brought were already dead from snakebite, a faint pang crossed his heart. After all, they had been living human lives; however little he might have cared, he could not help feeling some reluctance to see them die.

No one is born wicked. There is no way to give a simple verdict on good and evil. An Youyu had released the snakes for the sake of that strange phenomenon of his, but over time it had also become a habit, and he could not bear to see life snuffed out.

Yet the moment he saw that uncanny display from Wang Yuanfeng, his face twisted into something fierce and hideous.

"If he had not stolen my divine power, none of these people would have died. These servants could all have escaped, but because they trusted me, they lost their lives." An Youyu thought this bitterly. With renewed hatred, he glared at Wang Yuanfeng and sprang forward at greater speed, ready to fight him to the death.

Wang Yuanfeng found it utterly baffling. What divine power? He had not even used a spell in this place. The only thing he had done was release a surge of his own sword energy to repel the snakes around him, and only after seeing them rush in from all directions.

Seeing An Youyu charge at him, Wang Yuanfeng kicked him in the chest without a second thought.

With a heavy thud, An Youyu felt as though he had been struck in the chest by a massive blow. He flew backward like a torn sack, rolled twice on the ground, and finally stopped.

By then, Second Green, Little Green, and Zhang Sangu had all arrived in succession. Seeing the yellow smoke rising at the mouth of the snake cave and the corpses strewn across the ground outside, their hearts grew all the more desolate.

"Put out the fire quickly!" Second Green cried in alarm and flew forward at once, only to drop abruptly from midair.

Wang Yuanfeng understood at once that the realgar had taken effect. When he saw Little Green also about to fly toward the blaze, he leaped up and yanked her down, saying, "Little Green, don't go over there. There's realgar up ahead."

"Let go of me. I have to put out the fire!" Little Green was pulled back by Wang Yuanfeng, but her momentum did not lessen. She still struggled toward the flames, not only because Second Green had fallen from the sky and was now standing there in visible pain.

Zhang Sangu was less affected, but she was not skilled in water-based spells. She could only use a few simple techniques to draw water vapor, with little effect.

"I don't know how much realgar An Youyu used. It even suppresses Second Green," Wang Yuanfeng thought, watching Second Green bitterly resist the pain while the fire grew ever fiercer. He could only keep to the edges.

Then a thought struck him: this place was the domain of the Great Emperor of the Western Peak, and immortals possessed not only sacred titles but also invocations. Turning to Little Green, he said, "Knife Ax Mountain is the Great Emperor of the Western Peak's domain. Recite the emperor's invocation and see whether you can make contact. If you succeed, quelling this mountain fire will be no trouble at all."

"Of course. How did I not think of that?" Knife Ax Mountain was where the three Green siblings had been born, and this was also the ancient seat of the Great Emperor of the Western Peak. Each year when people came to this mountain, it was in truth to offer sacrifices to that deity.

An invocation is the true speech of immortals; it must not be recited carelessly except in dire emergencies. If the person's spiritual affinity is deep enough, the deity's divided spirit will descend at once to relieve the disciple's calamity.

Little Green composed herself, formed a Tai Chi seal with her hands, and silently recited a sacred invocation. As soon as she finished, she felt as though some invisible presence had taken notice of her. Then, with a thunderclap that shook the ground, a mass of dark clouds gathered over the mountain.

A rumble of thunder rolled through the clouds. Knife Ax Mountain fell silent, and even the fire on the slopes seemed to be pressed down considerably.

Wang Yuanfeng stared in astonishment. He could not help admiring just how profound Little Green's karmic bond with the Great Emperor of the Western Peak must be. On reflection, it made sense. The three Green siblings had been born here and had cultivated for more than five hundred years. After five centuries of unbroken practice, they had long since formed a deep connection with the Great Emperor. It was no wonder that a single invocation could bring about such a manifestation.

At the same time, Second Green and Zhang Sangu were awakened by the thunder and hastily drew back, for thunder carried immense force and was the natural bane of demons. They feared it instinctively.

Fortunately, this was not directed at anyone in particular but was meant only to bring rain. In an instant, a torrent poured from the sky, and the flames were gradually driven down by the downpour. In another little while, they would likely be extinguished completely.

The sudden thunderbolt not only startled Second Green, Little Green, and Zhang Sangu, but also awakened An Youyu, whom Wang Yuanfeng had kicked flying.

Yet just then An Youyu had been in a dazed state, convinced that Wang Yuanfeng had stolen the strange power that belonged to him. Coincidentally, he had also been caught in a time of pivotal change, faced with a calamity that had obscured his true spirit and thrown his mind off balance. His thoughts had fallen into a dead end.

He had failed to judge others' words, forgotten the teachings of sages and worthies, and thus committed the deed of destroying the spirit of an entire mountain. Only after the thunderclap shocked him awake did An Youyu recall everything he had done. He also looked at the various bodies lying at the mouth of the snake cave—some servants, some snakes.

An Youyu had studied books, and he knew this was the sort of act that damaged one's blessings. After this affair, a deep sense of guilt arose in his heart. His ancestors had remembered to do good deeds, yet he had ruined all that with a single blaze.

"Ha ha ha..." Rain poured down over An Youyu with such force that it stung against his face, but he seemed not to feel it. With several wild bursts of laughter, he got up and staggered down the mountain.

Wang Yuanfeng turned to look at An Youyu stumbling through the rain and saw that the brilliance he had once possessed when they first met was gone. He had become utterly ordinary; even the halo of fortune around him had turned gray-white, worse than that of common folk.

Wang Yuanfeng sighed inwardly. He knew he must not follow in such footsteps. If one were like An Youyu, drawing fortune from this mountain and yet slaughtering its living beings, then it was only natural for that fortune to scatter of its own accord.

Soon the fire was washed away completely by the rain. Even the charred trees on the mountainside pushed out new tender shoots, their tips faintly wreathed in the breath of heavenly thunder.

Then the dark clouds overhead slowly thinned and brightened, taking on human shape and transforming into a man clad in golden imperial robes.

"The Great Emperor of the Western Peak!" Wang Yuanfeng cried inwardly in shock. So it really was the Great Emperor of the Western Peak. He had almost begun to think this was some figure out of legend. Someone who had lived from antiquity to the present was unimaginably ancient, and yet he truly existed. No one knew where he had gone, but this projected true form seemed real indeed—a veritable immortal.

"Father!" Wang Yuanfeng was still deep in thought when he heard Little Green crying out to the figure in the sky.

Only then did he notice that Little Green was calling as she ran beneath the Great Emperor of the Western Peak, and Second Green wore the same excited expression. Wang Yuanfeng thought that the "father" they were calling must be the snake charmer.

Wasn't the snake charmer supposed to have died centuries ago? How had he become the Great Emperor of the Western Peak? After some consideration, Wang Yuanfeng realized that, indeed, who else could have had such patience as to cultivate three ordinary green snakes into demon beings? It was likely that he had been one of the Great Emperor's incarnations.

By then Zhang Sangu and Second Green had already knelt before the Great Emperor. Seeing Little Green running toward him, Wang Yuanfeng shook his head and prepared to offer a disciple's salute as well.

Then he saw the Great Emperor of the Western Peak nod in his and Zhang Sangu's direction, before affectionately glancing at Little Green and Second Green. Slowly, he dissolved into motes of light and vanished.

Wang Yuanfeng looked at Little Green and Second Green again, and then recalled the look on the Great Emperor's face just now. He thought to himself that this Great Emperor was probably related to the snake charmer from centuries ago after all.

Once the great fire had been extinguished, the group gathered the corpses scattered across the mountain and burned them in a single pyre. Though their moods had all been poor at first, the appearance of the Great Emperor of the Western Peak had jolted everyone back to clarity.

The rise and fall of all things is the natural law. They were all practitioners, and now that this calamity had passed, the road ahead was open and smooth.

Wang Yuanfeng examined the fortunes of the others and saw that each had grown to some degree. He himself had also received a fair share of benefit, especially Second Green, who now seemed to shimmer with spiritual light and had gained quite a lot. Wang Yuanfeng thought to himself:

"This must have been Second Green's death ordeal. I never expected to ruin it. Still, my spiritual platform has not yet fully opened. There must still be something unresolved."

With that, he let his mind rest upon his three-inch flying sword and quietly contemplated the matter, using the clarity of his sword heart to expand his consciousness countless times over and then sense the auspicious and inauspicious currents related to himself.

"It seems this matter is not yet finished, though it no longer concerns those around me. Then all that remains are Zhang Xiangzi and An Youyu. Zhang Xiangzi is already dead, so the only thing left is to see what fate awaits An Youyu."

While the others were still recuperating, An Youyu staggered into Shadowflow County. Though Knife Ax Mountain was being lashed by torrential rain, not a drop had fallen in Shadowflow County.

"Isn't that Young Master An?" said one man who recognized him.

"Yes. Didn't he take dozens of servants to hunt demons? How is it that only he came back, and in such a miserable state?" said another who had witnessed his departure.

"Most likely the others are all dead, and only he returned. How could the demons on Knife Ax Mountain be so easily dealt with?"

"Though there are demons in this Dark Mountain, it has long been a place of good deeds and accumulated virtue. Such a place has already given birth to spiritual beings. This young master An's attempt to exorcise it will bring him no merit at all; it will only become a disaster," said an old man in coarse hemp clothes with a basket on his back.

When the bystanders heard him speak, they felt at once that he was no ordinary man and all turned to look. Though the old man wore rough cloth garments, the hemp had taken on a yellowish-gold hue. Though aged, his face was smooth as a child's; with the basket on his back, he looked like a country farmer, yet he carried himself with uncommon bearing, as if he were some recluse of the mountains.

Finding him unusual, one person asked, "May I ask, sir, about the incidents of snakes saving people in this mountain? I have often heard of them, and have even experienced one myself. Once I injured my foot in the mountain and could not return. Without treatment, I would have starved to death. But a green snake came and brought me a medicinal herb. After I used it, my foot healed at once. I still have the scar."

As he spoke, he rolled up his trouser leg, revealing a scar four or five inches long.

Everyone found this astonishing, and another person said, "I encountered something similar. My son once fell off a cliff in the mountain. We all thought he was dead and were about to go down to collect the body, but unexpectedly a giant snake over two zhang long dragged him back up."

"I know about that case, I know about it!" People began speaking all at once of the many times snakes in Knife Ax Mountain had saved human lives.