I just hope we have enough time, Huxian thought. The roar they’d heard was disconcerting. He looked at the egg, which glowed softly as it completed absorbing the last of the nectar. Huxian grasped the hatching egg in his giant jaws and raced toward the Water Essence Core.
Unfortunately, it seemed that Zhou Li had predicted this move. He saw causality shift and match up. As he’d retrieved the egg, Zhou Li had pulled out a large scroll. Now the beautiful painting of death and destruction came to life as it battered against Silverwing. But Zhou Li was nowhere to be found. He had severed karma to duck beneath Silverwing’s guard and shot out a concentrated burst of sin flames.
No! Huxian thought. The black and white threads around him representing space and time tightened as he willed them to change to the limit of his ability. He spent a portion of his vitality, his very existence, to try and snap them into a more favorable position.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t Jade Moon Planet. He was far weaker here without the Jade Moon Blessing. Even with the power of his brothers, all he could do was give them a chance. The black and white threads snapped into place, and Huxian found himself just beside the Water Essence Core. He used his purifying light and devouring shadows to purge the sin flames that had just touched it. Then he took the damaged orb into his storage space, protecting it from further damage.
It’s time to run! Huxian sent to his brothers, who nodded. They’d heard the growl. Zhou Li had disappeared after his failure, but they didn’t have time to chase him. What was coming was far worse. It was a three-hundred-foot-long, psychopathic creature of death and destruction. Its bright blue eyes, strangely adorable to humans, bored holes into the four terrified demons.
It was an orca.
Zhou Li had somehow summoned an orca, and a peak-level one at that. As much as sharks were known as the killers of the sea, and dolphins were known as the playful friends of the ocean, they would rather fight loads of them at a time than fight a single orca.
Scatter! Huxian yelled, blanketing them in a cloak of light and darkness.
Gua swung his fan, pushing them out as quickly as possible, all the while congealing pieces of water as they retreated. The shadow behind them grew larger despite the interference. It grew closer, and Huxian, through his mysterious violet goggles, could see exactly why.
Shit! Huxian shouted. He tied a karmic thread between us and the orca!
The black-and-white bringer of death appeared before them, its toothy, deceptively friendly smile ready to bite their flippers off on a whim.
Can you deal with it? Silverwing asked.
Huxian nodded.
Then I’ll buy you the time you need.
The brave bird flew out against the unspeakably powerful demon. It flew through the waters, raking the creature’s body with sharp feathers and steely claws. The orca barely registered the vicious blows, shrugging them off like mosquito bites. His flesh regenerated as soon as it was cut, leaving only barely visible trickles of blood in the nearby water.
Work quickly, boss! Lei Jiang shouted. He too jumped into the fray.
While Huxian carefully fashioned a saw out of light and shadow, slowly but surely severing the thread of karma, the brave mouse flew onto the orca and dug four claws into its back. Then he summoned unrestrained, unfocused lightning. The orca roared in anger as black-and-violet lightning raged through its body, causing it to twitch uncontrollably.
Demon dung, Huxian thought. We pissed it off.
He heard a soft pluck as a quarter of the string of karma peeled off. It was soft light in a dark tunnel. A dark tunnel that contained a psychopathic killer. Lei Jiang’s lightning wore off, and the creature grinned. It flung the mouse off its back and bit at it. Fortunately, Silverwing had anticipated the move and caught their brave friend.
As the orca moved to eat them both for the insult, he was suddenly distracted by waves of disgusting water. Gua was below them, waving his shell-shaped fan like filthy merchandise in a cheap body house. The move confused the creature and caused it to forget the annoying pests who’d slightly wounded it. He was intrigued by the frog. He wanted to eat it.
Gua fled frantically as two more thin strands of the thread peeled away. Huxian gathered energy from Lei Jiang and Silverwing, redirecting most of it to the fleeing Gua and using the rest to continue cutting. He poured his heart and soul into severing the connection that could only lead to one possible end—their death and destruction.
Finally, after much gut-wrenching effort, the thread snapped. Huxian summoned light and shadows once more, enveloping Lei Jiang and Silverwing. They swooped down to pluck Gua out from the literal jaws of defeat. As they fled, Huxian severed another thread to Zhou Li he’d discovered during his inspection. They looked down almost in pity as the orca, confused, wandered over to the crowd of warring sharks and dolphins.
Look here, look here, Lei Jiang exclaimed as they swam away on Silverwing’s large back. The stone egg was now glowing brightly. Huxian and Gua moved forward excitedly while Silverwing craned his neck. The bright white egg began to show fissure after fissure until it finally cracked.
Revealing nothing.
Huxian was confused. There should have been something. He looked around, but to no avail. Then, as though thinking of something, he slipped on his goggles once more. Through the violet lenses, he eventually spotted a soft violet mist.
Holy hell, it’s an illusory demon, he whispered.
An illusory demon? What’s that? Lei Jiang asked, sniffing at the water curiously.
An illusory demon is a rare demon that can turn corporeal and incorporeal on a whim. It imprints a shape at birth, which becomes unchangeable. Normally, given where it was raised, it would have turned into something awesome like a rockwurm or a clay dragon. Possibly even a worldborn titan.
But we’re now at the bottom of the ocean,
