NOVEL NEXT Chapter 96 - Endgame
Chapter 96 Endgame
I extracted my Spirit Gourd from my pocket and muttered some incantations, sucking the souls of the dead Apostles into my calabash gourd.
The Tenth Apostle beheld the sight of his dead comrades with grief and hatred. “May the blessings of the Sages be upon us!” He cried at the top of his voice, “How dare you commit the sacrilege of slaughtering innocent lives! I’ll never forgive you!” I step forward and waved him off. “Cut your blather,” I cut him off dismissively, “You lot have done nothing but desecrate the good name of Taoism! There no need for fake Taoists like you who abduct children and butcher them for the sake of your diabolical rituals! True Taoists have suffered persecution since the Qing Dynasty, all thanks to you lot, that they were nearly on the brink of extinction! After so many years, you returned from your slumber and continue your witchery and harming the innocent! How dare you invoke the name of the Taoist Sages! How ignorant you are, that you do not fear retribution from them! Enough talk! We end this once and for all, NOW!”
The Tenth Apostle produced a calabash gourd that resembled my very own Spirit Gourd. He began reciting incantations and four spirit foxes flew out of the mouth of his gourd, filling me with surprise! The spell that he used was the same as mine!
The Creed of the Eight Trigrams had long been operating under the guise of a Taoist order when in fact it was a many spoils as they could carry! This was only an organization of depraved and insidious disposition. Hence the familiar spirits they used were mostly spirit rats or foxes that were helpful to their felonious operations. Spirit foxes were not only good at thieving, but they were good at hiding as well!
I was hardly perturbed by the four spirit foxes! Immediately I yanked the cork off my Spirit Gourd and released my six spirit wolves and eagle! My familiar spirits were the kryptonite to the four spirit foxes, especially my spirit eagle! The four spirit foxes remained motionless, fearful and terrified at being surrounded by my wolves. My eagle swooped down from the air and sank its claws into one of the foxes before taking to the air. The fox was lifted off the ground like a helpless ragdoll and was toyed to death within moments. The rest of the foxes froze with terror and panic, trembling gently, powerless and weak.
One by one, my spirit eagle made short work of the foxes, completely destroying them all. “ARGHH! YOU!” The Tenth Apostle shrieked with anger. He drew his sword and dove at me. But before he could say anything else, I gripped my sheathed sword and pointed it at him while reciting my spell. My sword shot out of its scabbard and spun in the air before returning to my grip. I pointed my sword menacingly at my opponent and barked, “Cut the crap!” We charged at each other, stabbing our weapons at each other. With a little sidestep, I evaded one of the blows and struck at his weapon from below, causing him to stagger as I land a kick into his abdomen, sending him backward before he collapsed to a sitting position on the ground.
The Tenth Apostle immediately got up, biting off the cork of his calabash gourd with his teeth and took a gulp of water from within his gourd. He spewed the water on the blade of his sword and muttered some unknown spells. This might be another of his witchcraft, I mused. I began reciting another spell of my own and swung my sword. A strange sensation began to fill me as if a vortex was trying to engulf me. My sword suddenly grew lighter in my grasp and began to tremble and respond to my will. It freed itself from my grip and flew into the air, circling around the top of my head!
At the same time, the Tenth Apostle had reached the end of his incantations. “Go!” He commanded loudly and swung his sword at my direction, sending a crescent-shaped projectile toward me. “Come!” I yelled at my sword and it streaked towards the incoming projectile. With the whistle of winds and the keenness of the sharpest blade, my sword penetrated the crescent-shaped position and immediately punched a hole in the chest of the Tenth Apostle, pinning him to the wall of the pool in his death.
As the effects of my spell came to its end, I almost collapsed to the ground; every ounce of my strength was spent! The technique had sapped all of my inner energies! I plopped to my knees, fatigued and exhausted. It was the first time Lin Feng and Yuan Chongxi truly witnessed me using my magic and they were amazed and shocked. But I could barely speak, let alone pay any heed to their reactions. With my final iota of strength, I hissed, “Back!” and summoned my sword. It forced itself free from the concrete wall and the Tenth Apostle’s carcass before spinning triumphantly mid-air in circles while shaking off the blood and viscera before returning to its sheath.
Still, despite our victory, everything seemed so surreal to us. For three days we had been working hard to prepare ourselves for this duel, only for the entire episode to end in barely half an hour. Our opponents were weaker than we had expected. Suddenly, my phone rang; it was Father. “Your fight has ended, I guess?” His voice came from the other end as I answered the call, “I’m sure you find the sorcery of using your sword very potent and compelling, no?” I was hardly worried or anxious during the fight, knowing that Father would most probably be watching our duel using some unknown means. But his care-free and devil-may-care attitude really got on my nerves. “It has ended! We’re so tired!” I barked into the mouthpiece. “Hahahaha! Come on! Cut the complaints!” His voice came again, “Think about it! You’re now a genius in the magic of flying swords! Do you think arcane techniques such as these are easy to learn?” But at the other end of the line, I was only confused and slightly annoyed. My father was extremely displeased with my seemingly “lack of progress” when during my one-month long training with him. But today, he sounded awfully satisfied!
In the phone, he told me that the magic of sword telekinesis was not a skill that many could easily learn, let alone master. To be able to manipulate swords without physically in contact with them and use this skill in actual combat was testament enough for me to know that I was actually quite formidable myself. The Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Apostles were powerful individuals in their own right; we would not have won without Yuan Chongxi’s heirloom luopan, Lin Feng’s combat prowess, and my magic. Father had been extremely strict towards my tutelage, hence I did not realize that my present skill level already made me a dangerous and extremely powerful foe in battle.
After several minutes, I ended the call. Yuan Chongxi and Lin Feng helped me to my feet. With my Spirit Gourd, I retrieved the soul of the Tenth Apostle. As it turned out, the dead bodies of the three Apostles had transformed into carcasses of dead rats! Their remains were all at least half the size of a human’s arm! They were rat demons who had disguised themselves as humans and their dead bodies reverted back to their original forms once I collected their souls.
We arrived at the Center when night came, me dragging my wearied body to our usual haunt, the hawker stalls with my companions in tow. Zheng Shuang was already there, waiting for us. We told him everything about the duel. “Oh my God… Look at the things you’ve just told me… There’s just so much that I do not know about this world we live in! Demons! I would never have thought this is possible!” Zheng Shuang exclaimed, smacking his lips. “You don’t say… Even demons have good ones and evil ones… Be careful of what you just said, lest you anger any one who might be listening,” I remarked with a smile. Zheng Shuang broke into a smile too, mistaking my advice for a joke. Lin Feng and Yuan Chongxi then plunged into a lengthy and embellished detail of our fight against the Apostles, keeping Zheng Shuang mesmerized for most of the dinner.
Halfway through our dinner, I noticed Zheng Shuang, aroused with budding curiosity, was trying to ask me about my magic. Quickly, I steered our subject elsewhere. “All right, back to business,” I said suddenly, “Bai Chuanwei was not among the three Apostles we defeated. I guess that means that the fight was their own plan and Bai Chuanwei, fearing the worst, immediately fled. That might explain why he was already gone when the plump boy led us to his lodgings.” Zheng Shuang nodded. “That must be it,” he agreed, “I have instructed Zhu Jun to give us a call if anything suspicious arises. Now that Bai Chuanwei is alone, he will have to operate personally and show himself. It will not be long until he is caught, I guess…”
Our wait did not take long. Zhu Jun called a few days later, and told us about a very suspicious thief. How so? Apparently, Zhu Jun knew him from university. The man was a former schoolmate of his who came from a rich family. It could only be suspicious that a rich man needed to steal! Early investigations revealed that he was never known to have such behavior, rather, he was well acclaimed to be a generous person as head of his class! Never would anyone believe that he was capable of thieving if he was not caught red-handed! Even he himself admitted so, but somehow, in the spur of a moment, a strong and overwhelming urge overcame him and forced him to steal.
“Bring him here!” I told Zhu Jun immediately. With the man assent, Zhu Jun brought him to the Center. With my Spirit Sight, I instantly noticed that something was wrong. I took a mouthful of water from my Gourd and spewed it at the man. “Please try to remember and tell me everything that has happened within 24 hours before your first theft,” I said, “Tell me everything and leave out no details, especially things that you might have found strange and peculiar!”