The Magus Era

On one side of the Evil Dragon Bay, on top of a barren mountain, Yu Yu was wearing a red cloak, looking afar with a pair of glowing eyes.

When the sense of Miao Lian’s power suddenly became dimly discernible, and his voice became archaic and intangible, from the grey, lusterless sheath hung around Yu Yu’s waist, a cyan beam of light zipped out three-inch far along with a sudden clang. It released a fierce sense of sword power, which seemed to reach the sky. When that sharp sword light was going to rise and slice clouds in the sky into pieces, it was pressed back into the sheath by Yu Yu’s left hand. All the sword power released by it returned into the sheath as well.

After that, a purple lightning ball popped out from Yu Yu’s belt, letting out millions of lightning bolts following a series of sizzling noises. Watching these lightning bolts striking onto the hill where Ying Yunpeng and his army were hiding, Yu Yu pointed his right hand at the lightning ball. Along with his move, this purple lightning ball instantly moved back into his belt.

Within only a second, different magical scenes happened around Yu Yu’s body for tens of times. Sword light, lightning bolts, or chaotic yet stable streams of power, or the earth rumbling under his feet, water, fire or wind swooshing and surging around his body… Each time these magical scenes happened, an original and prehistoric sense of power would be released. Sometimes, that power seemed even older than this world, causing a horribly strong , unstoppable, force vibration, seeming to even open up a new world.

After a series of scrambling patting and slapping on his own body, Yu Yu finally pacified and re-sealed all those magical powers popping out from his body one after another. He yelled in a deep voice, “I am the one who has a fire of anger in my heart, what are you all agitating for? Is it your turn to make a move yet?”

Gui Ling and a few of her disciples stood behind Yu Yu. She narrowed her eyes, looking at Yu Yu, who was now in a flurried state, not saying anything as she smiled.

Po was smilingly looking at the embarrassed shape of Yu Yu as well. He then turned around, explained to the few of his disciples standing behind him which amazingly powerful treasure was responsible for each magical scene that happened just now around Yu Yu’s body, with a gentle voice.

“This cyan sword light is an incredibly powerful treasure crafted by my Shifu, who is your grand-Shifu, and is capable of breaking the nature’s mystery, cutting off the causality of all things and beings; it has the supreme power that could shatter the void, even reverse time. No matter how powerful and capable a living being is, my Shifu is able to destroy the gain of millions of years of severe cultivation of his, her or its, by simply wielding this sword.”

“This purple lightning ball is even more fantastic. It’s condensed from the very first, most original lightning bolt of this world, caused by the collision of earth, fire, water and wind powers which had burst out from the chaos when this world was opened up by the ancient, legendarily powerful being. Its power was immense, and could frighten all kinds of evilness; anyone who tries to fight against it would be routed.”

“These six black and red silhouettes of streamers are…”

Hearing Po speak of those six streamers, Yu Yu slightly snorted, and Po gave a grin, instantly stopping his explanation. He wiped the saliva stream, which he couldn’t help but let out flowing down from his mouth’s corner, then grinningly said to the few disciples of his, “The biggest wish of mine, your Shifu, is to imitate these genuine treasures that belong to my Shifu. Even if my imitations could only be eighty to ninety percent as powerful as the real ones… that would be enough.”

Gui Ling stood beside Po, smiled and said, “Brother, you’re quite greedy. Each one of these supreme treasures that belong to our Shifu had an extraordinary, supernormal history. If you could imitate even fifty to sixty percent of powers of these treasures, that would be more than enough to shock the heaven, earth, and netherworld… if you could make it eighty to ninety percent…”

Hearing Gui Ling, Po was going to say something to disprove her words, but Yu Yu suddenly raised his head, looking at the sky with his left hand pressed on that gray, lusterless sheath, slightly sighed and said, “My hands are itchy! My hands are truly itchy!”

The looks of both Po and Gui Ling changes immediately. Gui Ling gave a loud shout.

“Shifu!”

Yu Yu coughed slightly, then his ten fingers began flicking in the air like water streams. From each fingertip of his, tiny beams of sword light darted out to many feet far. Those sword light beams sliced the air apart, and from those tears of the air, thin streams of Chaos power[1] silently spread out, shrouding Yu Yu’s body in the form of mist.

An arcane, mysterious and unspeakable, yet extremely dangerous vibe emerged around Yu Yu as if he was now capable of destroying the world thoroughly. His pair of eyes had become like immeasurably deep pools, and streams of the power of Chaos had been rotating slowly inside those eyes as if every single thing in this world was about to be swallowed by this pair of eyes.

Gui Ling was astounded. She took a step forward, put her face up to Yu Yu and said in a deep voice, “Shifu, you cannot make a move.”

Po puffed his chest out. The sense of an immense, vast power spread out from his body. Numerous cyan-colored lotuses faintly emerged from the air, surrounding his body, and from the sky above his head, extremely thin beams of golden light fell down like a golden rain. The continuous pattern of golden light beams blasted right away after falling on his body into spheres of golden light. From within every sphere of golden light, a golden lotus bloomed, forming a delightful contrast with those cyan lotuses.

He turned around, and said to the few disciples that stood behind him in a deep voice, “My Shifu said that his hands are itchy… you should prepare for a good big fight.”

Gui Ling paused for a second, glanced at Po then helplessly shook her head and sighed. After that, she turned around as well, saying to her few disciples also in a deep voice, “Prepare to make a move. Once you launch your moves, spare no efforts to attack. No matter Dishi Yanluo or Miao Lian or Ku Quan, kill them all… Do not leave even a trace of their souls!”

“Eh-hem,” Yu Yu coughed, then slowly said, “What’s the hurry? I only said that my hands are itchy, it’s not yet the time when you have to launch the move. I’m just annoyed by that shameless twat, how could he entrap others in such a lowly, dirty way?”

Gnashing his teeth, Yu Yu continued in a cold voice, “Have you seen clearly? The changes that happened in Miao Lian’s body?”

Gui Ling raised his eyebrows. That stunningly beautiful face of her gave an incredibly dangerous feeling, like an iceberg, while she said, “Wasn’t he possessed by divided spirits of those two?”

Yu Yu gave a cold and faint smile, and responded, “If they were shameless enough to this degree, to possess Miao Lian with their divided spirits and forcibly turn Ying Yunpeng, I, your Shifu, would have chopped that Miao Lian already. I would like to see who will be the first one who dares to personally step in the conflicts happening in the human world, and break the agreements we signed together back then on top of the Sky Pillar.”

Po said in a low voice, “It’s a spirit talisman crafted by that one, inside the bottle held in Miao Lian’s hand, which is releasing airstreams of Yin and Yang, isn’t it? Miao Lian has forcibly turned Ying Yunpeng only with the help given by the power of that talisman, instead of the power of that one’s divided spirit itself.”

Hearing Po, the truth suddenly dawned to Gui Ling. She smiled to Po and nodded, then said, “Brother, you indeed have sharp eyes… I, Gui Ling, am not as good as you.”

Yu Yu’s fingers twitched for a short span of time while his face twisted from time to time. After quite a while, he finally sat down on a rock, like a flat rubber ball, and said, “Never mind, this place is surrounded by eyes… not like high up in the void, where the fierce wind of natural power is blowing. We can’t freely launch our moves in here.”

Remaining silent for a while, Yu Yu again sighed slightly and said, “However, my hands are still itchy after all. Therefore, Po, Gui Ling, take my sword talismans and make some arrangements. Give these unreasonable, stupid kids a pleasant surprise. Especially this Dishi Yanluo… hehe… How can you just bully the others like this?”

He then rummaged in his sleeve for a short while and took out three-hundred and sixty sword-shaped jade talismans, which he gave to Po and Gui Ling.

“You’re little brother is protected by my sword formation. No matter how many military forces his enemy bring to him, as long as they dare to walk into the formation, he would chop them all. But I’m afraid the humankind is facing a severe trouble. You, take my sword talismans and go set up a ‘prehistoric, favorable and adverse, nine palaces sword formation,’ around the Evil Dragon Bay…Since those two could give out their spirit talismans, this sword formation of mine can’t be counted as breaking the rule.”

“Yes.” Po and Gui Ling responded, taking over those sword talismans, then took their disciples, transforming into streams of winds and disappeared.

Yu Yu smiled, and all supernatural and magical scenes happening around his body were restrained, as that red cloak of his turned back into an ordinary, flax long shirt.

He leaned against a rock with a wine calabash carried in his hand, silently looking at the stars moving and clouds changing shapes in the sky, and hearing the wind roar, while slightly humming a folk song.

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[1]Chaos(混沌, pinyin: hùn dùn): According to Greek mythology, Chaos refers to the personification of the infinity of space preceding the creation of the universe. (This explanatory note is given on the basis of the context, as the author didn’t give a precise explanation of this term.)