Chapter Thirty-Six: The Female Drought Demon

"Hou Yi, damn you, Hou Yi! I’ll tear you to pieces!" The Nine-Headed Serpent sensed Hou Yi’s presence. Its eyes turned crimson, and it began to rage uncontrollably.

Whoosh—nine beams of light arrows were released side by side, flying straight for each of the serpent’s nine heads.

With a roar, one head spewed venomous flames, instantly incinerating all the light arrows.

In a flash, the serpent lashed out with a dragon’s claw toward where Hou Yi was standing, but Hou Yi leapt into the air. Drawing his bow again, he fired off three more arrows in quick succession, each pinning one of the serpent’s claws deep into the earth. Though the arrows appeared small, their force was as mighty as missiles.

The Nine-Headed Serpent roared and swatted Hou Yi away. Yet as soon as Hou Yi hit the ground, he sprang up and unleashed a rapid volley of arrows at the beast, a relentless barrage like a Gatling gun gone mad. The serpent was pinned down, unable to even lift its heads.

“Damn, the Chief can actually be this impressive?” Wu Ming muttered, his face a mix of envy and grudging admiration. Even as he cursed under his breath, he wasted no time retreating quickly from the battlefield to avoid being caught in the crossfire. The monk Lofall was still slumped unconscious on his shoulder, sleeping like a dead pig.

A pillar of water rose and began to coil toward Hou Yi.

Hou Yi loosed several light arrows beneath his feet, stepping on them as if ascending a staircase, deftly evading the swirling pursuit of water and fire. He mocked his foe, “A beast is always a beast. After all these years, you still only have the same few tricks!”

"Arrow Rain!" Hou Yi drew his bow toward the sky. A massive arrow shot upward, soaring higher and higher until its light vanished from sight.

Three light arrows flew out in a horizontal line. Hou Yi jumped onto one, dodging the sweeping tail strike, and fired three more arrows. Six arrows in two waves shot straight for the central head of the serpent.

The serpent dodged with lightning speed, and none of the six arrows hit. Hou Yi was struck by its front paw and sent flying again.

A shrill, triumphant cackle burst from the serpent, but it was cut off almost instantly. The Arrow Rain Hou Yi had loosed moments earlier came crashing down—a dense storm of thousands of light arrows piercing the serpent's entire body. Blood gushed from its wounds, dark red and bubbling, staining the mud beneath in a wide swath. By now, the sky had begun to lighten with dawn.

Hou Yi drew his bow once more, this time notching nine massive arrows at once. The bowstring stretched ever tighter as more light gathered at the arrowheads, swirling with growing intensity.

"Nine-Headed Serpent, I send you back to the Netherworld of Mountains and Seas! That is where you belong!" Hou Yi shouted, letting the bowstring fly. A blinding white light erupted, and in that instant, all else lost its color—everything became a field of dazzling white.

The fierce wind and searing brilliance faded gradually. Where the light had scorched the earth, the mud had hardened into a layer of brick-like ground. The serpent’s form was nowhere to be seen.

"Yes!" Music leapt up in delight.

"Whew, that thing is finally dead, right?" Chief Tyrannosaurus muttered, still shaken.

"No, something’s wrong! Be careful!" Wu Ming felt a sudden pang of unease.

With a thunderous crash, Hou Yi was slammed deep into the earth.

The Nine-Headed Serpent now drooped eight heads, its body halved. The ninth head, however, wore a cruel smile, a severed arm clenched in its jaws—clearly Hou Yi’s.

A harsh, gloating laugh came from the ninth head. "Hou Yi, this time I’ve won! Now, let me send you to the Netherworld of Mountains and Seas!" The mouth opened wide, a pillar of flame swirling forth, lancing toward Hou Yi’s motionless form.

"Watch out!"

Just as rescue seemed impossible and Hou Yi was about to be consumed by the fiery serpent, a figure flashed past. A striking silhouette appeared beside Wu Ming: it was Xiao Mei.

Xiao Mei handed the armless Hou Yi to Ling Mei, then turned to confront the serpent herself, darting at high speed to all sides of the beast, launching surprise attacks.

The serpent, grievously wounded by Hou Yi’s finishing move and left with only a fraction of its strength, now found itself evenly matched by Xiao Mei, who managed to keep it in check.

"Boy, return my Hanzhu projection to me!" A woman robed in green, her face veiled in white, appeared at Wu Ming’s side.

"Elder Hanba, hello!" Music greeted her sweetly, hands clasped behind her back as she skipped over.

"Master!" Ling Mei bowed respectfully.

"Your grandfather asked me to bring you back to the Spirit Realm," Hanba said, gently stroking Music’s hair and smoothing her slightly disheveled locks.

"Elder, please act quickly—I can’t hold on much longer!" Xiao Mei’s teleportation was growing sluggish as her spiritual power waned.

"Elder, how do we get Hanba out of this?" Wu Ming asked respectfully, producing the bronze mirror and handing it over with both hands.

Hanba nodded at Wu Ming, extended her slender, fair hand, and traced a sigil in the air above the mirror. Instantly, a fiery figure shot out of the mirror and knelt before the seventh elder.

"Do you know your wrongdoing?" Hanba’s voice grew stern.

"I fought for the Yellow Emperor against Chi You, defeated the Wind God and the Rain Master, and, with Yinglong, captured Chi You alive. Where is my fault in that?" The flames atop Hanba’s head flared even brighter.

"Let me ask you: whenever Hanba walks the earth, the land becomes parched for a thousand miles. Have the people of the world ever wronged you?"

"I fulfill my duty as the Drought God. This is simply how it is—this is not my fault!"

"Unrepentant!" Hanba’s tone turned harsh.

"You and I are one and the same. My thoughts are yours—why go through all this pretense?"

"Very well, we’ll set this aside for now. Let’s deal with the Nine-Headed Serpent first." With a sweep of her sleeve, Hanba spoke.

The fiery figure stood up and walked toward Hanba. The two merged into one, forming a stunning woman clad in red, exuding a demonic beauty.

Wu Ming was utterly dumbfounded by what he saw—was this even possible? Ling Mei and the others were also struck with disbelief. Evidently, none had known that Hanba and the Drought Demon were one and the same.

"Hanba? I've done you no wrong in the present or the past. Why meddle in my affairs?" The serpent’s ninth head protested, as the other eight heads, limp before, slowly began to regenerate.

"Sorry, but you don’t belong in the human realm. The human realm is under our protection," Hanba retorted with a graceful flick of her sleeve, pointing at the serpent.

"So, will you go back quietly, or must I beat you until you weep before you return?"

"Don’t push me too far! Don’t think I’ll fear you just because you’re the Yellow Emperor’s daughter!"

With a furious roar, all eight of the serpent’s other heads rose in an instant.

A torrent of pressurized water shot out, aimed straight at Hanba.

"Stop Water," Hanba intoned, her red lips parting as she drew a finger across the path of the rushing torrent. Instantly, the spinning water column froze in its tracks, then splashed harmlessly to the ground.

"I advise you to surrender. Now that I am united into one and possess a divine rank, even my father would have a hard time subduing me. As for you, in your current state, you have not the slightest hope of victory." Hanba soared into the sky, looking down from above, her presence overwhelming and absolute.

The serpent began to unleash streams of fiery serpents.

"Come, fire." Instantly, all the serpents’ flames obediently gathered, dancing in Hanba’s palm, before she flicked her fingers and scattered the fire to nothingness.

"This is incredible—so powerful, so majestic! What would it take for me to become this strong?" Wu Ming daydreamed to himself.

"Boy, I’ll borrow your mirror for a while!"

"Of course, Your Majesty," Wu Ming nodded vigorously.

"Your Majesty?" Hanba was puzzled but chose not to dwell on it.

Hanba raised the Mountain-Sea Mirror high. A white beam shot out, enveloping the serpent’s head. Despite the serpent’s struggles, the light forced it inside the mirror, all in one smooth, flawless motion.

"Here, take it back. This treasure is quite something—it once belonged to an old friend. The seal is now undone," Hanba said, tossing the bronze mirror to Wu Ming and nodding to the others.

"Since last we parted, two lands have kept us apart. We said it would be three or four months, but who knew it would be five or six years? The seven-stringed zither lies untouched, eight lines of letters go undelivered, the nine-linked ring is broken in the middle, and from the pavilion ten miles long, I gaze in vain. A hundred thoughts, a thousand cares, yet with all my helplessness, whom can I blame?

A thousand words cannot express it all. Bored, I lean by the railing ten times over. On the ninth day, I climb high and watch a lone goose. At Mid-Autumn in August, the moon is full but people are not. On the Ghost Festival in July, I burn incense and ask the heavens by candlelight. In the heat of June, everyone fans themselves, but my heart remains cold..."

Hanba returned to her form in a green robe and white veil, and walked slowly into the distance.

"Yinglong, where are you now..."