“Buzz!”
Golden light flared, filling the entire room with brilliance, then gradually dimmed, revealing the old crone sitting blankly in her chair.
“Nothing?”
“Could she have been frightened into madness? Seen monsters eating people and lost her mind?”
The Supreme Heaven Celestial Master’s eyes flashed. He looked at the old woman who had just retreated, her gaze flickering. “You keep dodging our eyes. Are you perhaps afraid because you have seen us?”
As soon as he spoke, the three turned the bronze mirror on its wooden frame towards the old woman.
“Ten thousand Buddhas pay homage, command the thunder! Demons, ghosts, and monsters, reveal your true forms!”
Golden light flashed again, so bright the old woman could barely open her eyes. She waved her hands frantically.
Shen Ying sent a quiet sound transmission. “This demon-revealing golden light is rather miraculous. If the girls from Five Beauties Manor were hit by it, they would definitely show their true shapes.”
Lu Zheng nodded. These three celestial masters looked part-Buddhist, part-Taoist, and did not seem highly cultivated, yet they knew a wide variety of arts.
This demon-revealing golden light combined Buddhist and Taoist principles and was quite interesting. Once an evil creature was illuminated, not only would it be forced into its original form, its cultivation would also be suppressed and weakened.
The three celestial masters did not look particularly clever, yet they managed to roam the counties unchecked. Clearly they had real skill.
“Phew…”
The Supreme Heaven Celestial Master let out a long breath. Urging the demon-revealing mirror to release its golden light twice in quick succession had drained him considerably.
He withdrew the light. The old woman’s eyes were streaming with tears from the glare. She kept waving her hands and shrank back into a corner.
The three saint celestial masters looked at one another.
“This one is not it either? Could it be…”
At that moment Third Miss Zhu Yiping appeared in the doorway, leaning against the frame. She looked at everyone and laughed sweetly. “The side dishes for supper are all ready. Only the main course is missing.”
“Third Miss, be careful! Your two elder sisters may have a problem!” the Form-Manifesting Celestial Master shouted.
The three saint celestial masters turned and saw Zhu Yiqin and Zhu Yishan smiling faintly, gazing at them with eerie calm.
The Supreme Heaven Celestial Master spun the wooden frame, preparing to activate the demon-revealing mirror again. But having already used it twice, his breathing was slightly unsteady and his movements a fraction slower.
In the next instant, terrifying demonic aura erupted from Zhu Yiqin.
She raised her hand. A strand of jade-white spider silk shot from her sleeve, grew larger mid-flight, and stuck fast to the wooden frame in the Supreme Heaven Celestial Master’s hands.
“Not good!”
The Earth-Suppressing and Form-Manifesting Celestial Masters both rushed forward to help, yet they could not stop Zhu Yiqin from flinging her hand.
The wooden frame flew through the air, smashed against the wall, and shattered into pieces. The bronze mirror and the seated Buddha statue scattered across the floor.
Lu Zheng’s eyes glinted. He had not expected these three spider demons to have cultivated such excellent aura-concealing techniques. Even he had failed to notice anything earlier.
“Spider demons?”
“What thick demonic aura!”
“They are greater demons. Everyone be careful!”
The Supreme Heaven Celestial Master cried out in alarm and stretched a hand towards the Form-Manifesting Celestial Master, who immediately pulled a wooden repeating crossbow covered in runes from the sack on his back and handed it over.
“So what if you broke our Golden Light Demon-Revealing Thunder Method with trickery? We still have plenty of secret arts. Heavenly Sound Demon-Suppressing Incantation, Demon-Pinning Heavenly Rockets, Four Extremities Demon-Subduing Swords. Just try breaking another!”
The three slowly retreated while speaking. “Third Miss, step back. Accept our condolences. Your two elder sisters are already dead. They have been replaced by demons using the painted-skin art!
Let us retreat outside first. The room is too cramped for proper combat. If we are careless for a moment and these demons exploit an opening, it will be disastrous!”
While staring fixedly at Zhu Yiqin and Zhu Yishan and backing away, the three suddenly heard a dry cough from the side.
“Brother Lu?” The Supreme Heaven Celestial Master looked at Lu Zheng, whose expression had turned strange.
Lu Zheng lifted a hand and pointed behind them.
The three turned. Third Miss Zhu Yiping stood smiling sweetly, having already sealed the room’s doors completely with layers of spider silk.
The three saint celestial masters: ???
The Form-Manifesting Celestial Master cried out in shock. “You are a spider demon too? Then what supper were you preparing?”
Zhu Yiping smiled brightly. “Did I not say it already? The side dishes are ready. We are only missing the main course.”
The Form-Manifesting Celestial Master was dumbfounded. “So we are the main course?”
Blocked ahead and pursued from behind, the three saint celestial masters stood back-to-back in a defensive circle.
The Supreme Heaven Celestial Master shouted, “Brother Lu, we have dragged you into this. Hurry and take your lady and jump out the window. We will cover your rear!”
Zhu Yiping looked at Lu Zheng with a cheerful grin. “Do not be impatient, you two. We will all dine together shortly.”
Lu Zheng blinked. “Are we eating, or being eaten?”
Zhu Yishan laughed from the side. “Young Master Lu is so witty. I almost hate to kill you. We already have enough main course for tonight. No matter how eager Young Master Lu is, you will have to wait until tomorrow.”
The Earth-Suppressing Celestial Master roared in fury. “That corpse stench I smelled. It was the people you killed but have not yet eaten?”
Zhu Yiqin looked at him and spoke faintly. “A man about to die still concerns himself with such things?”
The Form-Manifesting Celestial Master bellowed, “You dare provoke the Three Saint Celestial Masters of Golden Light? I think you are simply tired of living!”
“Hehe!” Zhu Yishan sneered coldly. “From the moment you killed Fourth Sister, we were already locked in mortal combat!”
“Fourth Sister?”
The Supreme Heaven Celestial Master blinked. “You mean that giant crab demon that was killing people in Stone Town?”
“You are the crab! Your whole family are crabs!” Murderous light flashed in Zhu Yishan’s eyes. “Three ignorant brats, you are courting death!”
“Kill!”
Zhu Yiqin gave a clear cry. The three spider demons shot out strands of spider silk in unison.
“Brother Lu, run!”
The Supreme Heaven Celestial Master shouted fiercely and fired a Heavenly Rocket backwards, not at the three spider demons, but at the window now sealed with layers of webbing.
The Form-Manifesting Celestial Master struck his wooden fish. A wave of sound surged towards Zhu Yiqin and Zhu Yishan. The Earth-Suppressing Celestial Master crossed his two swords, warily guarding against Zhu Yiping at the door.
All three took purely defensive stances, truly buying time for Lu Zheng and Shen Ying.
Yet… the couple did not move!
Lu Zheng drew his sword, face burning with righteous fervour.
“How could Lu abandon three such honourable celestial masters who risk their lives for justice? I would rather fight shoulder-to-shoulder with you and vanquish these demons!”
“Brother Lu!”
The three saint celestial masters were deeply moved.
“Brother Lu, these spider demons have centuries of cultivation. You are no match for them. Leave at once and report us to the authorities!”
“Yes, yes! There is Yulong Temple near Yeyu County. The abbot there possesses profound dharma power. Go beg him for help!”
“We brothers have no family to worry about, but Brother Lu, you have your lady with you. You must not…”
Before the Form-Manifesting Celestial Master could finish, he saw Lu Zheng swing his sword, blood and qi surging.
“Roar!”
A dragon’s roar resounded. Boundless pressure suddenly descended, enveloping the entire room.
Using the True Dragon Grand Seal to power his sword technique, Lu Zheng thrust forward. His blade danced, producing two sword flowers, and two dragon-shaped phantoms shot forth, one towards Zhu Yiqin, the other towards Zhu Yishan.
The true dragon’s conceptual realm suppressed all under heaven!
The two spider demons were terrified beyond measure. They instinctively tried to flee, only to discover their bodies completely locked by draconic might, unable even to twitch.
“Senior, spare our lives!”
The two women begged for mercy in unison, but the true dragon sword qi had already entered their bodies and shattered their vitality.
Lu Zheng turned. The three saint celestial masters stared in stunned silence, while Third Miss Zhu Yiping had already slipped out of the room and was leaping onto the wall to escape.
Only…
Shen Ying suddenly appeared atop the wall, her pink dress fluttering like an immortal from the heavens. The corners of her peach-blossom eyes curved with laughter, enchanting and bewitching.
“Miss Zhu, the guests are still here, yet the hostess wishes to leave? That is hardly proper etiquette, is it not?”
