Wei Wei mirrored my expression. He leaned over and whispered, "What the heck does that mean? Has Master Liu ever mentioned it?"
I could only shake my head and say, "I don't know."
Xu Liang adjusted his baseball hat and popped his head between Wei Wei and I. "It means, that he opened the swords' eyes so it can seek out foul spirits." He looked younger when he smiled. "Of course, that doesn't mean that the blade actually has eyes, but when Master Nangong infused his power into it, he can basically see through it."
"Ohh…" Wei Wei and I said as one.
The sword was approaching the bathroom. I sidled to Nangong Zhentian and whispered, "How is it down there?"
The master snorted and moved his hands in a tactic. The sound of breaking glass filled the hallway, replacing the fading sound of water.
"Stop running away from me!" Nangong Zhentian shouted down the hallway. His body flew into action, moving with speed that denied his age.
Wei Wei, Xu Liang, and I followed, our tools clinking and clanging around us.
We rounded into the bathroom to find Nangong Zhentian's peach wood sword quivering and embedded into one of the mirrors. Broken glass glinted around the room, reflecting water.
Nangong Zhentian grunted and the sword shivered out of the wall. It floated limply back to the man like it'd been drained of all energy.
"She's using water to fend off my tools…" He said more to himself than the rest of us. He raised the blade and looked at it closely. "Good thing I used unicorn blood." He said with a grin.
"Unicorn blood? This guy is impossible." I thought. I watched him continue to admire his sword. "And proud."
"Master…your blade…" Xu Liang said hesitantly. He was pointing at the peach wood sword with a look of dread.
"Don't worry." Nangong Zhentian said, "The unicorn blood will attract Yang air. It'll be back to normal any minute now."
"Where did she go?" I asked them. I was so tired of everyone stroking the man's ego.
Nangong Zhentian gave a wicked smile. "We'll find her. I've got her marked."
"What mark?" I asked looking around. The bathroom was dark, grimy, and full of Yin air, but no mark stood out.
Nangong Zhentian only said, "Let's go back downstairs."
The four of us got back to the main hall without pause. Nangong Zhentian called through the open front hall. "Bring the basin, Liu Qing!"
Liu Qing came to us with the basin, holding it carefully in hands that shook. Nangong Zhentian bit into his finger, raised his damaged blade, and then traced a sigil on it in his blood. He murmured the incantation and wiped through it.
I watched in awe as the blade glowed red. An identical red ring glowed into existence around Master Nangon's bleeding finger. He pointed to the basin of sparkling water and spoke, "Lead the way for me triple purity."
The glyph Nangong Zhentian traced appeared in the water below a paper amulet. It glowed with a red deeper than the blood dripping down his hand. Inside the water, the glyph drifted just above the bottom of the basin and then to the left. It carried the amulet along with it like a tracer.
"Northwest. Second floor." Nangong Zhentian said in a low voice. "The water compass sees you, witch."
I gawked at him, feeling the supernatural air pulse from the basin before us. "What can't he do?"
"Back to the altar, Liu Qing." Master Nangong ordered. "Xu Liang, take the basin and guide us upstairs."
We reached the second floor again and found the amulet in the same place. It sat in the northwest angle of the basin.
Wei Wei was staring into the water like it was made of gold. "Master Nangong…the water compass isn't usually used like this. Are you sure it's accurate?"
Nangong Zhentian's face hardered, "Show me your compass if you have one!"
Wei Wei gave him a puzzled look and then took out a small compass from his frock. He paused and uttered a small, "Huh."
I looked at the compass in his hands in amazement as the needle whirled uncontrollably. "There's no way that's going to help." I whispered.
"The old woman is all around us. She has haunted this building for so long. She is the walls. She is the floor and ceiling. Your compass will be of no use here." Nangong Zhentian said.
Wei Wei put his compass away. His face was quickly taking on the color of a tomato.
"After what you two did last night, I'd say she is more than awake, but not at her full power yet. She's probably gathering energy to attack as we speak." He continued.
Wei Wei, Xu Liang, and I stepped closer to the old master.
"I don't know why we're even here if we can't fight her." I thought, all of a sudden angry with myself. "Is this a learning exercise or are we bait?"
Nangong Zhentian, as many masters have before, seemed to read my mind. "You're going to be fine boys. You're each equipped with powerful Taoist tools, tools that emanate Yang air. She is afraid of you a little I think, but afraid of the tools more. All three of you are protecting me. Do you understand?"
I scowled at him. "You're using us as armor." I said. My voice echoed in the dark hallway as we crept along. He didn't respond.
The red glyph and amulet in the water quivered as we approached the bathroom. "Is she there?" I asked, pointing ahead.
"I think she is." Nangong Zhentian said, "She knows what I'm capable of so she is probably seeking the most concentrated Yin area."
Xu Liang frowned at his master's words. "Why don't we use a soul attracting ritual? We could pull her away from the Yin air and kill her here where it's safe!"
Nangong Zhentian shook his head and spoke softly, "It'll be a difficult fight. That is for sure. We can win in the washroom though, and set the stage for our advantage as well. I will go in alone. I want you three to paste thunder amulets along the hallways."
He didn't turn to see if we were following directions, only walked steadily towards the bathroom door.
Wei Wei and I took handfuls of amulets from Xu Liang and began pasting them along the hallway. "This outta keep her from running away!" I thought with a strange delight.
Sky Master Nangong disappeared into the bathroom. His voice rose almost immediately in a shout and the sound of flaming amulets crackling into Yin air ricocheted down the hall.
I crept towards the bathroom taking tiny half steps. I knew what he would say, but a part of me had to see.
"Stop, Shi Yong!" Wei Wei said. "It's not our place to look. He might be using secret skills!"
"And?" I wanted to shout at him.
Xu Liang appeared behind Wei Wei with a look that answered my unsaid question.
I opened my mouth to make an excuse for sneaking towards the bathroom when the hallway filled with an explosive boom. The floor felt like it was shaking us off. I groped at the wall and Wei Wei, trying to stay afoot.
A shade of green filled the hall and moved over us. My eyes were wide open, but I never saw her. One by one, the amulets we'd pasted began to spark and burst into flames. A screech of pain replaced the very air itself. The green light flashed back towards the bathroom and settled onto the open door.
With a cry, the metal door began warping and scraping into the semblance of a face. Clouds of black Yin air curled out of her makeshift mouth as she growled at us.
I couldn't move or think. I couldn't react at all. "We're going to die." The thought filled my head with such impossible surety.
Master Nangong appeared next to the door. His hand clenched around a sky thunder amulet. With no hesitation, he rammed his fist into the door's open maw, thrusting the amulet through the clouding Yin air and into the woman's throat.
The hallway filled with another deafening blast. Xu Liang fell backwards, spilling the basin onto his chest.
The green face molded into the door faded away like it'd never been there, leaving Master Nangong with a crumpled and burnt fist buried into the metal. The door curled around his hand like he'd punched it with the force of twenty men. With a flourish, the remaining amulets down the hall lit as one and burst into the flames. "She's running."
Nangong Zhentian wrenched his blackened hand from the door and gave a half hearted dash towards the rapidly burning amulets. His frock was now soaking wet and stuck to his skin. He stopped after a few steps and watched as the amulets burnt to ash and fell onto the hallway floor. The sound of burning paper falling into water filled my ears.