Chapter 2 Chapter Two — Mount Longhu, the Five-Thunder Talisman

A high wind under clouded dark — the hour when demons come to kill.

Black wings flecked with blood settled before a coffin. Blood-red claws shoved aside the several-hundred-pound stone weighing down the lid, then pried the coffin open inch by inch.

Inside, Li Daoxuan lay still, eyes shut, breath drawn out thin as hibernation — the sleeping art still holding. A wooden pin held his topknot; his robe cuffs were worn from the road.

The monster sniffed. Thick strings of drool dripped onto the coffin rim. Young blood, warmer and fuller than the two old ones it had already tasted.

It opened its maw, baring two sharp fangs.

A bat demon. What it loved most was to drain human blood. Tonight it meant to feed at leisure.

The moment its teeth drove at his neck, golden light flared hard enough to paint the courtyard walls.

The Six Ding Six Jia Protective Talisman!

The bat shrieked. Fur around its mouth scorched black in the glare; the stink of burnt hair cut through the night wind.

At the same instant Li Daoxuan's eyes snapped open. He slapped a prepared talisman onto the demon's chest, then sprang from the coffin like a wildcat and put half the courtyard between them before his boots found purchase.

A sharp whistle of parting wind — wings. He ducked to roll. Too slow.

He had underestimated its speed. A claw caught him hard across the skull; pain burst white behind his eyes; he stumbled and nearly went down.

Golden light rebound hurled the bat several yards. It hit the packed dirt and fixed him with a wary, narrowing stare.

The back of his scalp prickled cold. Without the protective seals, his skull would already be in pieces.

Two strikes had burned through two talismans — each layer stopped only one solid blow from this thing. Eight left of the ten he had stacked in the coffin. The math was ugly if the fight ran long.

Clouds tore open. Moonlight found the yard. Li Daoxuan studied the bat and sucked in a sharp breath.

It stood a head taller than he did, green face and bared fangs, a faint human outline in the features — it could walk upright. Wings spread over a yard, the span of two grown men. Claws still wet.

Every ghost he had purged on the road before this was small prey beside it.

Then he saw what had become of the old monk and the old witch.

The monk no longer looked immortal or venerable. He was skin stretched over bone, eyes bulging — drained of blood, well and truly dead.

The old witch had fared better, yet she too had lost a great deal of blood. Her cultivation had kept her from dying outright; she lay on the ground at her last gasp. Her urn of ashes lay shattered, contents scattered across the earth.

When golden light blazed from Li Daoxuan's body, a flicker of regret crossed her eyes. She had misjudged him. Had she known this young Daoist had real power, she might have sought him out earlier and joined forces.

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"ROAR!"

The bat demon drew in a great breath, then loosed a piercing cry at Li Daoxuan. Sound rolled in visible waves; the water vat in the courtyard split with sudden cracks; the roof tiles trembled and dust sifted down.

…

Xiaosha Village, at the village elder's home.

The village was pitch black. Doors locked; villagers huddled under quilts, trembling. The white-haired elder held his little granddaughter close. At the bat's cry he sighed softly.

He knew — those three outsider masters were surely finished by now.

Over the years, how many had perished here, lured by Squire Wang's demon-subduing proclamation and its promise of rich reward? The villagers dared not speak. The few who had tried to report it to the yamen had simply vanished.

Squire Wang had once been nothing but a local ruffian. Only by clinging to the bat demon of the Five-Tong Temple had he become the wealthy man he was.

"Grandfather… that Daoist big-brother who gave me candied fruit — is he going to die?"

The little girl looked up, despondent. "I warned him, secretly. Why wouldn't he listen?"

The elder sighed. "What can we do? We can only hope the young Daoist has the means to protect himself."

As for slaying the demon — at first they had pinned their hopes on outsider masters. As the dead piled up, Xiaosha Village grew numb.

…

Golden light blazed, wrapping Li Daoxuan and shutting out the savage sound waves. Yet his face was grim — of the ten Six Ding Six Jia Protective Talismans he had used, five were already spent!

The bat panted heavily; it too had clearly burned through much.

Li Daoxuan formed the seal with his hand and went on the offensive.

"Five thunders, five thunders, hasten to Huang Ning; mist and change, roar of lightning and thunder; at my call you come, swift send the yang sound — swiftly, swiftly, as the law commands!"

The Five-Thunder Talisman he had stuck to the bat's body caught fire of its own accord and crumbled to ash.

Boom!

A small dark cloud appeared in the sky, and a dazzling bolt of green lightning came down — thin as a chopstick — and struck the bat demon square on the head.

An agonized shriek tore loose. The bat crashed to the ground, half its body seared black. Smoke rose from the wing-joint.

Fear flickered in its eyes. This Daoist who could call down heavenly thunder — it now dreaded him utterly.

It wanted to flee. But demons are the most vengeful of creatures, loath to leave empty-handed. After a heartbeat's hesitation, it spat out a vermilion demon core, round and smooth as a red bean, yet radiating a thick, baleful aura.

Whoosh!

The core struck Li Daoxuan like a thunderbolt, too fast to dodge. Golden light flared again from his body and hurled the core back.

Three more protective talismans spent!

Li Daoxuan, too, felt the urge to retreat. He had only two talismans left. One more strike from that demon core, and he was finished.

But when the bat saw that even its core could not break this foe — and that the blow had cost its hard-cultivated core dearly — fear overtook hatred.

It swallowed the core, beat its wings, and rose into the air. It meant to flee.

Yet Li Daoxuan was quicker. He flung a talisman from his hand, and another Five-Thunder Talisman stuck fast to the bat demon's wing.

Sensing demonic aura, the Five-Thunder would cling of its own accord — once stuck, all but impossible to remove.

Watching the bat already climbing into the moonlight, Li Daoxuan pinched the thunder seal again and snapped the command short.

Boom!

Another chopstick-thin bolt of lightning fell, striking true on the wing and knocking the creature from the sky.

It tottered, then scrambled desperately toward Squire Wang's house.

Li Daoxuan ran to give chase — and a hand suddenly seized his trouser leg. He looked down. The old witch.

She gazed up at him with a look of pleading.

"Fi…ve-Thunder Talisman… you… are… from Mount Longhu… a Celestial Master…"

"Please… save… the village…"

Li Daoxuan's voice gentled. "I am no Celestial Master of Mount Longhu. But rest easy — I will destroy this bat demon, so Xiaosha Village suffers it no longer."

Yet to his puzzlement, the old witch did not relax. Instead her eyes flew wide, full of unwillingness, as if she were struggling to make something clear.

"Save—"

The word died unfinished. In a sudden breath she was gone, the plea and the resentment frozen forever in her eyes.

Li Daoxuan frowned. Could the village she spoke of… not be Xiaosha Village?

But there was no time for such thoughts. He turned toward where the bat demon had fled, and a glimmer of anticipation lit his eyes.

Once he slew this dreadful bat, what would the Heaven-Subduing Demon Scripture pay him?

A new talisman — even a spell, a divine ability? He meant to collect.