Chapter Eighty-Nine: An Autumn Lake Moonlit Melody

Many of them searched for a long while more, and their spirits sank. Far away they saw another group of young disciples locked in battle with a giant elephant. In the air, three cultivators of the True Mystic Realm were joining forces, the struggle fierce beyond measure. Ye Hua was walking at the front; when he fixed his gaze on the scene, he had not dared hope, yet he vaguely made out a familiar figure shielding a young woman, his right hand gripping a sword as he desperately warded off bolts of lightning firing down from above. It seemed only a matter of moments before he would be overmatched.

Ye Hua’s heart stirred. Then Tian Liang was heard to say, “Big brother, fellow disciples, that must be Senior Brother Gao Lu and Senior Sister Jing Yun. Let us hurry...” Before he could finish, Ye Hua’s flying sword had already turned into a streak of black light and shot away.

In the distant sky, the old man laughed heartily. With the thunderbolt drill in his left hand striking the thunder hammer in his right, a brilliant flash of lightning crackled forth and lashed toward the young man on the ground. “Ha ha! If not for the order from the Great Prefecture Temple, that today those of the Sun-Moon Divine Alliance are to be taken and then executed, I might truly have spared you a way out! To be so hopelessly devoted as to shield this woman—truly... ha ha, truly... hmm...” His tone carried a faint trace of admiration.

Gao Lu lifted his long sword horizontally to block the incoming bolt. His right arm went numb, and the sword was knocked away. A sharp pain shot through the web of his hand; glancing down, he saw it had split open and blood was flowing. The old man opposite gave a sinister laugh and unleashed another streak of lightning. The girl behind him cried out, “Senior Brother Gao!”

Gao Lu lunged backward, snatched up the girl, and rolled aside. Just as it seemed impossible to avoid the old man’s strike, the two of them were about to close their eyes and await death. They looked at one another, and both seemed to think, “So today we truly die here. Still... still to die here is... is not without worth.” A faint look of relief appeared in their eyes.

Then a streak of black light arrived in an instant. With a thunderous impact it forcibly held back the lightning. The bolt struck the black light and, little by little, was extinguished. The old man was startled and turned to look. In the distance, three or four figures were rushing over, with several dozen more following behind. The old man waved a hand and pointed. The giant elephant behind him suddenly let out a deafening trumpeting cry and turned to charge straight at the newcomers. Then he shouted to the two others high in the air, “Fellow Daoist Li, Fellow Daoist Feng! This has become rather troublesome!”

Far away, an elderly woman looked over and said with a cold sneer, “Brother Lin, if you had used some means earlier, none of this delay would have happened. If these few really get away, let’s see how you explain yourself to King Du!”

That Daoist surnamed Lin looked awkward and said, “How can this be my fault?” With that, he glared fiercely at Gao Lu, then cast a sidelong look at Ye Hua and the others racing over. Muttering to himself, he said, “Very well, I have no time to care about that Daoist Patriarch Heqing anymore!” A flash of silver gleamed from the thunderbolt drill in his hand, and he shot up into the sky.

When Ye Hua and the others saw the giant elephant charging straight toward them, Luyun Ke said, “Junior Brother Ye, stop this elephant! I’ll go rescue Junior Brother Gao!” As soon as he spoke, white radiance burst forth from his body, and he vanished from where he stood.

Yellow light flickered in Ye Hua’s hand, and in his left he was already holding a bronze mirror. He shone it toward the giant elephant from afar. At once, brilliant light exploded before him, and an identical giant elephant appeared, charging headlong to meet the one rushing in.

The charging elephant was stunned, then became furious, apparently not realizing the elephant before it was an illusion and thinking only that another of its kind had arrived. It wound its trunk, and dozens of stone spikes suddenly sprang from the ground, shooting toward the opposing elephant.

The opposite elephant imitated it as well, flinging up its trunk and launching dozens of stone spikes in reply. Thunderous crashes rang out, and a cloud of dust filled the air before everyone’s eyes, blinding them. Ye Hua’s hands flashed with white light as he poured his inner power to the limit, then with both hands he slashed at the giant elephant with all his strength. A streak of brilliance flashed, followed by a gale that howled skyward and swept past.

By then Zhang Ke and the others had just arrived, and they saw the force of Ye Hua’s strike. The wind it raised slapped their faces and cut painfully against the skin. In the dust on the other side, the giant elephant let out a shrill cry as if badly wounded. Everyone simultaneously unleashed their magical implements toward the far side, and the illusory elephant also sprang forward.

“Ha ha! A bunch of bratty children, coming here to court death? This elephant is not something you can damage!” Suddenly a piercing cry rang out. Ye Hua and the others felt a sharp pain in their ears and were all startled. Then they heard a clattering sound from within the dust. Their treasures were bound to them by their spiritual sense, and all of them changed color at once. They formed hand seals and recalled the treasures they had sent attacking into the dust. A series of low hums followed, and five or six magical implements shot back through the air.

“Ha ha ha, you youngsters do have some ability!” As the dust gradually dispersed, everyone finally saw what lay within. Somehow, seated upon the opposing giant elephant, was a middle-aged man in black, thirty or forty years old, holding a jade flute of a deep green hue. He swept his gaze slowly across the crowd and spoke with bland ease.

Ye Hua’s elephant, conjured through the Illusion Moon Mirror, actually recoiled in awe of the black-clad man’s bearing and dared not advance, remaining dozens of paces away as it gave low, long cries and roars.

By now the situation in the distance was clear. Luyun Ke was locked in combat with an old man. Gao Lu and the young woman had fallen to the side, their fate unknown. Farther away, an old crone was fighting five or six young men, and the five or six young men were clearly at a disadvantage, on the verge of defeat.

Ye Hua grew anxious and said to Tian Liang, “Senior Brother Tian, would you trouble yourself to lead our fellow disciples at once to aid those junior brothers? Leave this place to Senior Brother Ma and the rest of us.” Tian Liang looked at Ye Hua and saw only resolve in his eyes. Knowing his inner power was exceedingly profound, he hesitated briefly before saying, “Very well, then it shall be so. But please, all of you junior brothers, be careful.”

With that, Tian Liang turned to the others behind him and said, “Junior Brother Li Tao, Junior Brother Fang Chao, Junior Brother Gao Yuan, take a dozen men and remain here to assist Junior Brother Ye. The rest of you, come with me at once to help Junior Brother Yao Di!” As soon as he finished, a bead flashed in his hand and flew toward the black-clad middle-aged man seated on the elephant.

The black-clad man gave a sinister chuckle. “Trifling tricks!” He turned the jade flute in his hand and tapped forward. A wind drill whirled out. The bead that had flown at him took the blow and spun upward. The black-clad man narrowed his eyes and looked up, only to see the bead suddenly flash with light as dozens of translucent beams shot forth and closed around him like a transparent bowl turned upside down, trapping him neatly within it.

The black-clad man frowned at this and said, “A Dragon-Trapping Pearl. I wonder what grade yours is, and how much power you can actually bring out of it. A waste of a precious thing!”

Tian Liang shouted, “Fellow disciples, quickly, come with me!” He shot away at once, and more than a dozen people followed him in a streak of light.

The black-clad middle-aged man chuckled. “What a clever little plan. Why not listen to my Autumn Lake Moonlit Night Melody before you go?” With that, he placed the jade flute to his lips and began to play.

The transparent dome formed by the Dragon-Trapping Pearl suddenly seemed to take on a shimmering layer of ripples, yet it could not block the music in the slightest.

At first the notes from the jade flute were soft and tentative, and as everyone listened, their minds grew momentarily dazed, as though a painting of gently rippling blue water had appeared before their eyes, leaving them a little spellbound, a little weary.

Then came a passage that was indescribably lovely. It was like an immortal breeze brushing past, or the midnight tolling of bells from a remote mountain monastery; autumn dew blanketed the heavens, the jade rabbit sank in the west, the vast dark waters stretched boundless, and sea and sky merged into one. Everyone felt a deep pleasure, as though they were at ease, tranquil, and far removed from the world. Looking upon this autumn moon over a clear lake, they also felt an indescribable surge of spirit and vigor.

Looking at the beautiful scene before him, Ye Hua could not help thinking of Zhang Xiaoxiang’s famous verse, "Prelude to Water Melody: Crossing Dongting":

Dongting and the green grasslands, near Mid-Autumn, without the slightest breath of wind.
Thirty thousand acres of jade mirror and pearl field hold my one leaf of a boat.
White moonlight shares its glow, the Milky Way casts its reflection,
within and without all are crystalline clear.
Yet the heart’s communion with this wondrous place
is something I can scarcely tell you of.
I should think of my years in Lingnan and Lingbei,
where one lonely brilliance shone upon itself, and my liver and gall were all of ice and snow.
My short hair is desolate, my collar and sleeves cold.
I ride the boundless blue waves with steady ease.
Drain the whole Yangtze, and pour it in fine sips into the Dipper.
All things in creation become my guests.
Leaning against the rail, I cry alone into the night,
not knowing what night this is.

While he was savoring and pondering it, the cluster of blue light within his sea of consciousness suddenly blazed for reasons unknown. The sea of consciousness, which had been dim and muddled, cleared all at once, bringing a coolness like flowing water. Ye Hua instantly came to his senses. Before him, the black-clad elder was calmly playing the flute, while the junior disciples seemed to have forgotten altogether what they had meant to do, standing dazed and listening in silence.

The black-clad middle-aged man seemed not to have noticed Ye Hua’s oddity. The tone of his jade flute now shifted at times like a clear autumn stream, at times like a hollow flute murmuring endlessly, deepening the music’s sense of loneliness and seclusion. It painted, without omission, the countless impressions of lake and mountain, serene and distant, wind light and moon bright, rippling waters, moonlit lakes and skies, vast blue waves, and a small boat drifting in the center of the autumn night lake.

Ye Hua was greatly startled, then puzzled. Why did he only feel a cool clarity in his mind, as though a mass of blue light had suddenly blazed and woken him? Thinking it over carefully, he came to sudden understanding.

That cluster of bluish light in his sea of consciousness had been obtained together with Golden Roc while they were in the Blue Pool. He had even been hunted by the Cloud Mountain Twin Flood Dragons for it. Later, the blue mass had entered his sea of consciousness by accident, and he had never known what use it might have. He had almost entirely forgotten it. Unexpectedly, it had now proved its effect and displayed the power to calm the spirit and steady the mind. He had never before discovered this.

Seeing that all his fellow senior brothers seemed to have fallen into an illusion, Ye Hua grew alarmed. He suddenly opened his mouth and roared, “Roar!” It rolled out like spring thunder, reverberating through the heavens.

This was a Buddhist art, the Lion’s Roar, which shatters demons and dispels delusion, and is often the most effective means of deafening the ears and awakening the mind.