Chapter 47: Phoenix Eyes

Wolf Girl was Ji Wushuang’s disciple, so she had also studied the Poison Devil Art under him.

However, she found its techniques sinister and its mental methods abstruse. She rarely used it in daily practice, instead focusing on perfecting her whip skills.

Now, heartbroken by Zhuo Yihang, she had no remaining goodwill towards any man on earth. She no longer cared about sinister or not.

From Wudang to Songshan, she killed as she traveled, leaving no one alive in her wake. Her poisonous hair became a terrifying legend in the martial world.

At this time, half a month had passed since the night Wudang was wiped out. Zhuo Yihang was nowhere to be found. The fury and hatred in Wolf Girl’s heart burned ever hotter, showing no sign of abating.

Surrounded by seventy-two Shaolin monks, Wolf Girl’s true qi surged. She still handled them with ease, her body shifting as she casually took several lives.

Her dazzling white hair seemed to have a will of its own, automatically entwining around her attackers. The fine tips, like steel blades, stabbed deep into flesh.

“Don’t move! Her hair is poisonous. If you pull it out, the poison will reach your heart and you’ll die!”

Seeing his companion trying to extract the hair, an older monk quickly shouted a warning. With his rich experience, he knew the power of the Poison Devil Art better than the younger ones.

The dozen or so monks entangled by the white hair dared not move. They stood frozen in place, faces pale with fear.

Even if they didn’t pull, Wolf Girl would not spare them. In her eyes now, all men in the world deserved to die, even these monks who were pure-hearted and devoted to Buddha.

The hugely unequal battle ended in just half an hour. Wolf Girl stood among the corpses, her white robes splattered with blood. She smiled, tilted her head back, and took a deep breath, as if savoring the thick scent of blood.

But when she looked up and saw a black-clad man standing on a treetop not far away, her cruel smile turned to shock. She hurriedly stepped back several paces. Her hair floated up, driven by her true qi, forming a defensive stance.

“Master!” Wolf Girl called out stiffly, her expression as if facing a great enemy. She had entered the demonic path and greatly increased her power. She could sweep away the experts of the eight sects and even fight her junior brother. But the only person she feared was her master.

Though the bloody battle was intense, she had remained vigilant and aware of her surroundings. Yet she had not sensed her master’s arrival at all.

If he had wanted to strike her down, would she have died without knowing how, silently? The thought sent a chill down her spine.

Wolf Girl’s eyes flickered. Ji Wushuang’s face was pale, and his body looked normal. Then she saw him standing on a few tender leaves and twigs. His body swayed with the branches in the breeze, as if he had no weight at all. Wolf Girl was horrified.

In this world, who had such profound internal energy to use lightness skill to such ethereal extent? Without those few leaves, Wolf Girl believed Ji Wushuang could fly through the air without any foothold.

It seemed that after the separation, Ji Wushuang’s power had not diminished but grown even deeper. Wolf Girl trembled with fear. Her dark eyes dared not leave Ji Wushuang for a moment, afraid he might suddenly attack.

Standing on the high treetop with his hands behind his back, Ji Wushuang watched Wolf Girl kill. His gaze was cold as ice, his heart calm as still water. There was none of the excitement or joy he had anticipated.

Did he really care that much for Wolf Girl? Would he really have flown into a rage for her and been severely injured in an ambush? Ji Wushuang wondered, feeling uncertain.

Especially when he heard her trembling cry of ‘Master’, the emotion that welled up in his heart was not pity but aversion.

Ji Wushuang stared at her beautiful almond-shaped eyes. In her dark pupils, he saw defensiveness, fear, hatred, all negative emotions. He raised his slanted brows.

He was more certain that something was wrong. In his memory, these eyes were not round almond shapes but slightly upturned, captivating, narrow phoenix eyes. The gaze in those phoenix eyes should have been warm as water, clear yet slightly intimate.

To be looked at with such eyes, how refreshing and comforting it would be? A vague image of those eyes formed in his mind. Ji Wushuang’s straight lips unconsciously curved.

When he came back to himself from the unconscious reverie and looked down at Wolf Girl again, his mood became even more irritable. A familiar stabbing pain returned to his temples.

He circulated his internal energy to suppress the pain. He cast a cold glance at the wary Wolf Girl below and then flew away into the distance. He disdained to attack Wolf Girl. It was better to let her deal with the remnants of the eight sects.

Wolf Girl stared at his back until he disappeared from sight. Then she relaxed her guard. Her thin underclothes were soaked through.

Fearing that Wushuang might return, she dared not stay. She fled at once, running as she wondered: Since Master had come all this way, why had he left so easily?

Pushing aside these thoughts, Wolf Girl sped up, hoping to put as much distance between herself and Ji Wushuang as possible.

***

After leaving Wolf Girl, Ji Wushuang did not return to the Demon Sect. His twin sister was dead.

Their greatest enemy, Ziyang, had perished. Wolf Girl was slaughtering the remnants of the seven sects for him, so he didn’t need to act himself. Suddenly, he felt lost. It was as if a piece of his heart had been gouged out, leaving it hollow.

He knew he had lost something very important. But whenever he touched this blank space, a pain like an explosion in his head prevented him from thinking further.

Forcing down the waves of intense pain in his mind, Ji Wushuang left Songshan like a wandering ghost. He traveled aimlessly through the mountains and forests.

When thirsty, he drank from streams. When tired, he found a hidden spot to meditate. He had no intention of returning to the Demon Sect.

During the days he had been unconscious, the Demon Sect had been orderly and stable. He felt like a redundant existence.

If he went back, what could he do? Lead the tribe to make a move? They only lurked in the valley, showing no activity. Clearly, they didn’t need him.

He was not good at strategy or managing the sect. Apart from killing, he had no other skill. Now most of his enemies were eliminated, and Wolf Girl was handling the rest.

He had no use anymore. Since the tribesmen wanted peace, he would give them peace.

With this thought, Ji Wushuang traveled further from the Demon Sect’s headquarters. One day, he passed through a dense forest. He found a towering tree, sat cross-legged on a branch, and began to meditate. After a moment, a group of uninvited guests arrived under the tree, breaking his peace.

“Hmph! Stop struggling. With your pathetic skills, you’re no match for me!” A masked expert said, surrounding a richly dressed youth and his attendant.

The youth had red lips and white teeth, delicate features. His most striking feature was his upturned phoenix eyes, carrying an air of proud purity and a hint of allure. His extraordinary bearing showed his illustrious family background.

Ji Wushuang looked down at the group below. His gaze lingered a few seconds longer on the youth’s jade-white face and captivating phoenix eyes.

The big man and his four followers all had stable stances, long breaths, and prominent temples, clearly experts in martial arts. Ridiculously, Ji Wushuang sat directly above them, yet none of them noticed him.

The youth’s expression was furious. Even though he was covered in wounds and nearly dead, he did not drop his pride. He pointed at the big man and cursed through gritted teeth:

“Ma Jin, you beast! My father saved your life, took you in, respected your martial arts, and gave you a high position. But before his body has even gone cold, you come to take my position as manor lord. When the six elders find out, they will not let you off!”

“Hahaha!” The big man threw his head back and laughed, then said contemptuously:

“You’re called the Linglong Gongzi, exceptionally intelligent, yet you can’t even see your own situation. What use is your skill in managing the manor?

Without martial talent or outstanding martial arts, even if you sit on the manor lord’s seat, which of the six elders would obey you? If I don’t contend, others will. If I don’t kill you, others will.

Those six old men honor you on the surface, but when it comes down to it, who listens to your orders? For the sake of your impending death, I’ll kindly teach you: in this chaotic world, to live well, brains alone are not enough.

You need martial strength. Without your father’s protection, you, the clever Linglong Gongzi, will soon be nothing but bones!”

The youth’s eyes turned bloodshot at the big man’s words. His heaving chest showed his fury. But no matter how angry he was, it was useless. His personal guards had been killed. He had no strength to resist. He could only wait for death.

As the big man finished speaking, he did not hold back. He raised his blade and swung at the youth. But unexpectedly, the attendant who had been holding the youth threw himself onto the blade, taking the fatal blow for him.

Warm, bright red blood splattered on the youth’s jade-white cheek. His eyes wide with despair, he watched his attendant die in his arms.

Suppressing his overwhelming rage and grief, he laid down the attendant and stepped back step by step until his back hit the thick tree trunk.

He stared at the big man, then suddenly curled his lips in a cold smile. He pulled a thin, translucent short blade from his bosom and pressed it against his chest. He said fiercely,

“Ma Jin, dying by your hand would be my disgrace! You don’t need to do it. I will end myself. But don’t be too pleased. After I die, you, a mere gatekeeper, will never defeat the six elders. In their eyes, you are nothing but a clown!”

The youth’s delicate jade-like face was stained with blood spots. His upturned phoenix eyes held a resolute cold light. Though he seemed wretched, he had a kind of broken, incomplete beauty.

Seeing the sudden fierce glint in the youth’s phoenix eyes, Ji Wushuang stared at his face, holding his breath. His head felt as if struck by a heavy hammer, throbbing with immense pain.

Below the tree, the big man named Ma Jin grinned viciously and said disdainfully, “Hmph, since I killed your father, I can kill those six old bastards too. Enough nonsense. Hurry down to accompany your dead father!”

Unexpectedly, just before death, he heard such a shocking secret. His father had not been killed by an enemy but was murdered by his most trusted subordinate.

The youth’s phoenix eyes turned bloodshot. He immediately changed his mind. He raised the short blade and charged at Ma Jin recklessly.

The youth was no longer afraid of death. He faced the big blade without dodging, thrusting his short blade persistently at Ma Jin’s chest.

Unfortunately, their martial arts were too far apart, and their builds were also very different. By the time the youth was cut in half, his blade had not even touched a hair on Ma Jin.

Seeing the youth about to die, a smug look appeared in Ma Jin’s eyes. But a green light shot over. He suddenly stopped in his tracks, his hand holding the blade went limp, and he let the youth’s short blade sink into his heart.

Ma Jin fell to the ground with a thud. The youth and the four other killers looked at his corpse in shock. Besides the short blade in his chest, a tender green leaf was embedded in his forehead.

Without doubt, Ma Jin had not been killed by the youth but by a peerless expert who could kill with a leaf from a flower.

The four killers now forgot about the youth. They paired up back to back, forming a circle. After scanning the surroundings, they shouted, “Who is it? Show yourself!”

The youth stood frozen next to the corpse, staring at the small leaf on Ma Jin’s forehead. His dark phoenix eyes, once filled with despair, now showed a glimmer of hope.

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