Foreword: The Gengwu Upheaval (Part Two)

Inside the cavern, the air was bitingly cold and filled with an eerie, unsettling atmosphere.

Without warning, a thin, deep-red stream of blood began to seep from beneath the strange, desiccated corpse resting against the cave wall. As if possessed by a life of its own, this slender trail of blood crept silently toward the clothing of Tail-Yaojiu. A fierce struggle was brewing in the shadows.

Before long, the heavy, rhythmic snoring that had filled the cave abruptly ceased. As the silence took hold, faint whispers began to echo through the hollow space. In a heartbeat, Tail-Yaojiu, who had been deep in slumber, felt a bone-chilling cold permeate his entire body, as if he had been plunged into a thousand-year-old ice cavern. Shivering violently, he snapped his eyes open and surveyed his surroundings through a hazy, dim lens.

The seven brothers with whom he had shared life and death were standing before him, weapons drawn, gazing at him with bewildered expressions. Only the man pillowing his head on a long, slender black blade remained sound asleep.

Suddenly, a sinister, dark aura swirled around Tail-Yaojiu’s brow. His clear eyes shifted; one turned pitch black, the other stark white. At that moment, he looked exactly like a terrifying demon from the underworld. Seeing this, the others stood frozen, their hearts pounding in dread.

Tail-Yaojiu knew all too well the anomaly taking hold within him. It was already too late; the situation was beyond salvation.

*Whoosh!*

As he opened his mouth, a blast of icy air erupted from within. His consciousness began to fade, sinking into an abyss, while an overwhelming, boundless bloodlust surged to the surface.

"Kill... kill!" he roared like a wild beast.

*Snap!*

Possessed by the evil spirit, Tail-Yaojiu instinctively drew his sword. The cold glint of the blade pointed directly at his eight companions.

*Swish!*

The long scabbard flew like a bolt, hurtling toward them. The brothers, caught off guard, ducked in alarm. *Thud!* The gemstone-encrusted scabbard embedded itself deep into the cold stone wall, vanishing halfway into the rock.

Faced with this terrifying assault, his brothers pleaded with him in earnest, "Tail, drop your weapon!"

The commotion finally stirred the bladesman resting on his black sword, who opened his eyes slowly. "What's going on?"

As he looked up, he was met with Tail-Yaojiu’s ghastly, deathly-pale face—a demonic visage with bared fangs and eyes burning with malice, as if he hungered for human flesh. A web of eerie blood vessels spread across his skin, pulsating with chilling cold.

*Clang!*

With a strange, unnatural gesture, Tail-Yaojiu swung his sword. A surge of sword energy, accompanied by visible, swirling black mist, slashed toward the group. In an instant, a jagged, terrifying trench was carved into the cave floor.

As the dark mist surged forward, the Eighth Brother—a man of ethereal, Taoist grace—leaped before the others and bellowed, "Sanqing Mystic Armor!"

A golden turtle-shell shield manifested, enveloping the brothers behind him. *Clang!* The dark, misty energy struck the golden shield and was deflected, carving a deep, harrowing scar into the cavern wall.

"Manipulating Qi into form? Brothers, be careful!" Gu Yanzhi warned.

Before his voice had faded, a shadow flickered. The sword-wielding, maddened Tail-Yaojiu had vanished, reappearing behind them. A rugged, bald monk carrying a massive bell suddenly hurled his weapon, while the gaunt physician of the group cast out the medicine gourd attached to his staff.

*Boom!*

The massive, heavy brass bell struck Tail-Yaojiu, pinning him against the wall like a piece of sticky rice cake. A heavy iron chain, as thick as a man’s wrist, connected the bell to the monk.

*Puff!*

Tail-Yaojiu vomited a mouthful of deep-red blood, which splattered into the dust. The entire cave shook as debris rained down from the ceiling. The brothers felt a pang of unease, finding the Seventh Brother’s "Giant Bell" strike too brutal, showing no regard for their comrade’s life.

But before they could move to check on him, Tail-Yaojiu, driven by madness, charged at them again, his sword dancing in a dizzying display of energy.

"Let me have a go!" shouted a burly man wielding a heavy iron hammer, lunging forward.

*Clang!*

The clash of blades and hammers erupted, the sounds ringing out in a chaotic, desperate struggle. For dozens of rounds, the two moved with such speed that they were mere blurs of motion, sparks flying as the cave echoed with the din of their combat. Even in his crazed state, Tail-Yaojiu could not gain an advantage over the burly man.

The hammer-wielder was short and stout, his black night-garb stretched to the limit over his thick frame. His appearance was enough to make one’s skin crawl: a hairless, leopard-headed man with wide, staring eyes, thick eyebrows, and a broad nose, his iron-blue lips obscured by a dense, wiry beard. In the dead of night, he looked like a grim reaper come to claim a soul.

Mid-combat, a shout rang out: "Third Brother, duck!"

The burly man retreated instantly. *Whoosh!* A flash of green light crossed the air as five small, naked ghosts wearing belly bands latched onto Tail-Yaojiu’s limbs and head, cackling.

*Hehehe!*

Tail-Yaojiu, his mouth filled with fangs, reached back and snatched the ghost from his neck. *Crunch!* He began to chew, the horrific sound accompanied by piercing, ear-splitting wails. In a heartbeat, all five ghosts were devoured.

The brothers watched in bewilderment. Tail-Yaojiu was the weakest of the nine, yet his power had surged beyond its limits, allowing him to easily manipulate Qi.

Gu Yanzhi, his brow furrowed, looked back at the corpse against the wall. Its eyes were now glowing with a blood-red, murderous light. He raised his hand, and withered, ghost-like hands erupted from the ground, pinning the corpse to the wall.

"The Immortal's remains are the source of this curse!" Gu Yanzhi roared.

The bladesman stepped forward. *Swish!* A flash of cold light, and the corpse was decapitated. This bladesman stood nine feet tall, his long braid coiled around his neck. His long, black blade—a strange, thin weapon, three fingers wide and over two meters long—was more like a curved longsword than a knife. It left no bloodstains on the ground, but a faint, scarlet glow shimmered along its edge.

"Fourth Sister!" Gu Yanzhi commanded.

The delicate woman in the group raised her hand. A strange blue light struck Tail-Yaojiu, sealing him in a glass-like barrier in the corner of the cave. He continued to slash at the barrier with frantic energy, his strikes creating hundreds of sparks in a single second, yet the barrier held firm.

"Ghost Brother, why did Yaojiu go berserk?" someone asked.

Gu Yanzhi pointed his pipe at the headless corpse on the ground. The brothers realized the gravity of the situation. "Damn it, this Immortal won't even let us rest after a thousand years of death!"

The Eighth Brother, with his Taoist elegance, pulled five yellow talismans from his sleeve and cast them into the air, perfectly sealing the limbs and head of the corpse. The beautiful woman then expanded her blue barrier, and the five talismans adhered to Tail-Yaojiu’s body. *Whoosh!* The barrier tightened, pinning him completely. The woman’s nose began to bleed, the strain taking its toll.

Tail-Yaojiu finally went still, his head drooping.

Just as the group breathed a sigh of relief, *Boom!* The five talismans spontaneously combusted and fell to the ground. The Eighth Brother’s face darkened. "This is bad! The Five Elements Talismans can't suppress him!"

*Crack!* The blue barrier shattered.

As the situation reached a breaking point, the others unleashed their full power, attacking their maddened brother. The woman threw stones from the cave floor at him, but Tail-Yaojiu stood his ground, looking at them with a face split between cold killing intent and a deathly, gray smile.

Tail-Yaojiu trembled, his voice strained as he forced the words out: "Brothers... my consciousness is being consumed by the Immortal. Kill me!"

The eight of them froze. Though not blood brothers, months of flight and shared suffering had forged an unbreakable bond. How could they kill their own kin?

Tail-Yaojiu roared, "Hurry! I can't hold him back much longer... or I will be forced to use the Soul-Severing Seal!"

The group’s hearts sank. The "Soul-Severing Seal" was a secret technique of his clan, usable only once. It would fuse their souls together, sealing them forever.

Suddenly, Tail-Yaojiu sank into a stance, and a surge of black ink-like Qi erupted from his body. "Sixth Brother, I entrust my family to you!"

A burning, blood-red seal appeared on his chest, incinerating his clothes. The bladesman lunged. *Swish!* A flash of light, and Tail-Yaojiu fell dead.

*Thud!* His body collapsed before them. The cave fell into a deathly silence.

"Yaojiu!" The bladesman fell to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably.

*Whoosh!* Two wisps of remnant soul escaped the warm corpse and fled the cave. While the bladesman remained lost in grief, the other seven gave chase. The eight artifacts of the underworld lay on the ground, forgotten.

They pursued the souls to a withered tree, where the spirits vanished into a hollow. Inside, they found the pale, cold corpse of a dead infant.

"Ghost Brother!"

They stared in horror as the Soul-Severing Seal began to glow with a strange red light on the infant’s chest. The monk raised his heavy bell to crush it, but Gu Yanzhi stopped him.

"Seventh, seal it. If the Immortal awakens again, we will use this to fight fire with fire."

With one of the nine gone, the remaining eight ground the Immortal's remains to dust. In the world of martial arts, two ballads remained:

*The Yin-Yang pugilist wields the sixth sharp edge, the medicine man and the iron-smith stand side by side. The bell hangs from the hand, and the Taoist hides his truth in jade.*

*The first, second, and sixth lead the way, the fourth, fifth, and third form the bond. The seventh and eighth stand guard alone, for the ninth has already passed.*