Chapter 3365 — A Scapegoat

Tuo'ertu and Tuo'er Riyue came to the room where Wei Zhao was resting, and Wei Zhao wasted no words—he began healing Tuo'ertu's injuries straight away, while Tuo'er Riyue and Tuo'ertu Long stood guard at his side. When they saw Tuo'ertu restored to the peak grand-perfection strength of the late Heaven rank, they wept for joy.

These past days had passed for the Pali clan as though in darkness; now at last the light had come.

Grateful for kindness and eager to repay it, Tuo'er Riyue did not rest at all. He gathered Tuo'ertu Long, Tuo'er Shan, Tuo'ertu, and two elders of the Pali clan, and together they set out for the rooms of He Yi and Kang Zhaoming.

When Kang Zhaoming opened his door, he found a crowd of people standing outside, and for a moment he was puzzled. "Old Patriarch, you have come here... with so many people, so ceremoniously—what is the meaning of this?"

"Heh, it is nothing." Tuo'er Riyue gave a faint smile and stepped into Kang Zhaoming's room, and the five behind him poured in after him.

"No—the strength in you..." Kang Zhaoming suddenly pointed at Tuo'er Riyue and cried out in horror, "How are you no longer a cripple?"

"Surprised? There is more to come! Strike!" Tuo'er Riyue bellowed, and with that he drew slightly back, and the five behind him charged straight at Xiao Yi.

Xiao Yi's pupils contracted slightly; he had not expected the Pali clan to turn on them. Still, he reacted swiftly and readied his defense—but to his dismay, all five before him were masters of peak grand perfection at the late Heaven rank.

Against a single late Heaven-rank peak grand-perfection master, he might still have won—after all, he was of the Five Luminaries Sect, and his strength exceeded that of other cultivators of the same tier. But now five struck at once, and however mighty he was, he could not stand against them.

"Let us talk this over..." Xiao Yi shrank back; under their combined assault he had no hope of survival at all.

But Tuo'ertu Long, Tuo'er Shan, Tuo'ertu, and the two elders had no mind to explain or to halt. All five channeled their heart-method incantations in unison, drew from their waists divine weapons that seemed to be fashioned from the bones of some wild beast, and brought them down upon Xiao Yi together.

The divine weapons of the Pali clan were made from the bones of spirit beasts, somewhat different from those used in the cultivation world of the Central Plains—naturally, this had to do with their race as well.

Heaven-rank divine weapons or none, Xiao Yi was no match even bare-handed, for his own divine weapon had been taken by Wei Zhao and never returned. At the sight before him, Xiao Yi wanted to weep but had no tears—they meant to kill him outright!

And every strike was vicious and merciless, leaving him no way to guard against them. Though true qi shielded his body, with five top masters attacking at once, no defense could save him; there was surely no hope of survival.

And so Xiao Yi grew desperate. He gritted his teeth—if he must die, he would drag one down to be buried with him.

"Boom!"

The five Pali masters struck He Yi at the same instant, and their bone weapons crashed upon He Yi's body with a thunderous roar.

Yet in the very moment Xiao Yi was struck, he too moved. He violently unleashed his mightiest martial art—the Five Phases Reincarnation Fist—and drove it straight at Tuo'ertu Long, who stood foremost.

"You want me dead? Then I will drag one down with me before I die!" Xiao Yi's face was hideous with rage. Never had he thought he would meet his end here, but since he could not live, with his last breath he would take one with him.

Tuo'er Shan had struck with all his might, and he had not expected that He Yi, under the full combined assault of several men, could still struggle in his death throes. Though he hastily channeled his heart-method incantation to shield himself with true qi, it was already too late—and He Yi's Five Phases Reincarnation Fist was one of the Five Luminaries Sect's strongest techniques, second only to the Five Phases Eight Trigrams Palm.

But the higher the cultivator's rank, the more the flaws of the Five Phases Eight Trigrams Palm showed themselves. It had only ten forms, so Earth-rank cultivators could use it well enough, but once Heaven-rank cultivators employed it, its advantage was utterly lost.

The Five Phases Reincarnation Fist was different—though at the Earth rank it was not so formidable as the Five Phases Eight Trigrams Palm. Of course, this referred to the fist as it existed now, for the present Five Phases Reincarnation Fist was in truth an incomplete martial art. Originally, only those possessing the five phases' attributes could cultivate it, and like the Five Phases Eight Trigrams Palm, it could display its greatest power only when all the attributes were fused as one.

But though the sect was called the Five Luminaries Sect, how many within it possessed the five phases' attributes? Small wonder, then, that Patriarch Xuanchen set such store by Tagan Long and Tianchan.

In years past, a senior of the Five Luminaries Sect of surpassing talent had modified the Five Phases Reincarnation Fist so that any single one of the five attributes could unleash it—though its power was thereby much diminished. Even so, it remained far mightier than ordinary martial arts. Yet each unleashing had its drawback: it drained every ounce of physical strength and true qi from the body. Thus, unless there was no other choice, Xiao Yi would never have used it—but now he was certain to die, and there was no need to leave himself any way out.

The original Five Phases Reincarnation Fist was immensely powerful, mightier even than the Five Phases Eight Trigrams Palm—but it had been lost. After that senior took the Five Phases Reincarnation Fist away to modify it, he carried the original manual of its heart-method incantations into seclusion, hoping to perfect the version he had altered and see whether he could make it a martial art that cultivators of two or three attributes could unleash.

But that senior never emerged from seclusion. While modifying the manual he suffered a deviation and his body burst asunder, and the original manual of the Five Phases Eight Trigrams Palm was destroyed in the blast with him. From then on, the martial art was lost. Otherwise, Patriarch Xuanchen would surely have had Tagan Long and Tianchan cultivate the original Five Phases Reincarnation Fist.

"Boom—" Struck by He Yi's dying blow, Tuo'ertu Long was sent flying through the air. He crashed into the door and smashed clean through it, then landed in the corridor, blood streaming from all seven openings of his head—plainly he had suffered grave internal injuries.

He Yi laughed "ha ha" and collapsed on the spot, journeying to the Yellow Springs well satisfied.

As for Kang Zhaoming, he was frightened out of his wits. He did not know what had happened, or why Tuo'er Riyue had ordered He Yi killed the moment he entered—he himself had given no offense. He huddled to one side, trembling, at a loss what to do.

"Tuo'ertu Long!" Tuo'er Riyue roared, and rushed out of the room... (End of Volume Nine. The final volume, "Volume Ten: The Way of Heaven," begins tomorrow, and the book enters its closing chapters.) RS

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