Main Line Chapter 11 Weird Change A
Shaw Danon looked at the bead for a while, his breathing gradually grew calmer. Aside from the colour, the brightness of the bead looked somewhat different; he couldn't find any other differences so he put it back on his chest. He looked at Hidi and saw that she was still unconscious, but her face wasn't as pale as it was before. She seemed much better now.
He held out Phoenix Soul and carefully looked at it. This was his first time looking at an esper so closely. It felt soft and very comfortable; reminding him of the flying figure of Hidi, his heart filled with envy.
After a moment, his hand gestured like Hidi's and he called out "Up!"
Phoenix Soul was like a dead snake; no reaction and motionless.
“Jiji Jiji,” the grey monkey held its belly, fell on the ground and laughed.
Shaw Danon stared at it; but after struggling through difficulty together with this monkey, he felt a little friendliness and the hostility from the past was gone. He spit out his tongue then made a face to the monkey and ignored it. He put the Phoenix Soul back next to Hidi; then his eyes looked at the pond in the open ground.
It was a small pond, could not locate where the water cane from; probably from underground springs. The pond water was jade green, impossible to judge its depth. There was a gap on the west side of the pond where the water flowed out and merged into a stream.
In the center of the pond, there was a stacked pile of rocks of varying sizes and shapes; a small part of it showed above the water. Among the rocks, there was a black rod. One foot of the rod was exposed above the surface, the rest of it was under water. It was black all over, could not tell what type of material it was composed of, but it was ugly for sure.
Shaw Danon didn't care about it, he only felt this place was very odd and that they should leave as fast as possible. Although Hidi was fine, she was still unconscious. No matter how hard he tried she didn't wake up. But the gray monkey on the other hand, was extremely energetic, scratching its head and catching lice restlessly; sometimes it pounced between the trees. It picked a few wild fruit and tossed two to Shaw Dannon; then, it sat down on the ground and began to eat.
Shaw Danon took a bite of the wild fruit. It was sweet and juicy; his appetite could not help but increase. Since he went up to the mountain early in the morning and chased the monkey, he had not had a drop of water for the whole day; and now, near noon, he was already hungry. He finished one after a few bites and was about to pick up the second one; he suddenly shook his head, gently set it beside Hidi.
After eating the wild fruit, the hunger in Shaw Danon's belly diminished and he felt refreshed. He stood up and stretched, looked at the surrounding area. The ancient forest, gurgling streams; such a beautiful scene, who would know this place was strange.
At this moment, Shaw Danon suddenly felt heat against his chest. A moment later, several muffled "Kaka Ka" sounds arose, seemed like something had broken. He was shocked and quickly took the bead away from his chest. He was surprised to see green light glowing on the bead. The green energy inside was as aggressive as wolves and tigers and hit hard against the surface of the bead. The "卐" that was inhibiting the energy became weaker and dimmed; seemed like it was not able to withstand any more.
Shaw Danon didn't know this common looking bead was actually the well-known evil item – "Sinister Orb." The bead's origin was unknown; however, it's special ability to absorb creatures' essence and blood was notorious. If any living thing came near it, "Sinister Orb" will suck out all the essence and blood to their death in just a moment; leaving only the skin and bones behind. It was the most horrible evil item. A little more than a thousand yeas ago, the bead was obtained by Elder Blackheart. He used it's power to siphon out blood to refine it to an esper; suddenly, he became the strongest individual and killed a vast number of people from the side of Good. His reputation increased dramatically. It later became one of the Four Evil Treasures. After the death of Elder Blackheart, the bead went missing.
Skysong Pozhi Divine Monk came across it by chance in the large swamp to the west thirty years ago in an accidental discovery of this fierce bead. Within a ten mile radius, numerous bones of the dead were strewn about, with no presence of a single living thing. The resentment of the dead was everywhere. Pozhi's merciful heart was moved and he utilized Fuwa incantation to purify the area; then he used the incantation of Mojon Tamer day and night to defend against the evil force, never stopping for thirty years straight and strung it with the Buddhist treasure “Jade Prayer Beads” using the purified energy to resist the sinister affection and finally covered the evil spirit. With the help of the beads the energy was unable to break through the layer upon layer of Fuwa power.
Unexpectedly, in Grasstemple Village battle, Pozhi was heavily injured by the mysterious man and was nearly killed. Although the man in black was also wounded, Pozhi knew he had not injured him on the inside; the man would try to obtain "Sinister Orb" again once he had healed. Pozhi took "Three Days Death Pill" to extend his life for three days. He chose the risky path, gave Sinister Orb to Shaw Danon and told him not to show it in front of people and throw it off a cliff when he had time. Although innocent lives may still be hurt, it would be better than the orb falling into the hands of Evil.
However Pozhi could have never imagined Shaw Danon, wanting to remind himself of the monk's kindness, kept that fierce item as a souvenir. "Sinister Orb," no longer suppressed by the influence of Pozhi's Fuwa incantation and the purified energy of Jade Prayer Beads, gradually eroded the incantation with evil energy. Skysong Mojon Tamer incantation, however, could not be taken lightly; although the incantation lost its master, it still worked in devotion to its duty and suppressed the evil energy for three years. Unaided over the course of time, it could not completely withstand the energy, gradually it grew weaker. Then today it could be seen that "Sinister Orb" will break through the incantation and harm people once again.
Shaw Danon did not know these many twists of fate, but his mind did not feel good. That year in the battle at Grasstemple the "卐" had appeared multiple times when Pozhi dueled with the man in black. Although he was young he could still remember it quite clearly. Now, seeing the situation of the mantra on the bead was growing critical, his mind grew anxious; clasping the bead tightly with his hand he transferred a little of his "Fawin Wisdom" into the bead.
Both incantations were similar. The "卐" mantra grew a lot brighter; however, not even waiting until Shaw Danon smiled, it turned dim a moment later. At the same time, an icy cold energy invaded his body; half of Shaw Danon's body turned numb.
The grey monkey suddenly saw suffering on Shaw Danon's face; green light glowing on his face, "creak creak" it called twice quite anxiously. Shaw Danon couldn't worry about too much, he felt all his blood went in reverse, all flowed toward his right hand where the odd bead was. The Fawin Wisdom in him collapsed immediately, no longer acting as the cold energy's opponent. Pain went through all his nerves.
He couldn't bear it any longer, staggered back a few steps and suddenly the entire body flicked. A familiar disgusting feeling came back, straight into the five internal organs. He had accidentally stepped into the open ground again; however, this time there was no more warmth coming to his chest.
The grey monkey was worried, let out "creak creak" many times, but still didn't dare to step into the open ground.
Shaw Danon didn't know what to do. His body felt both hot and cold, like being bitten by thousands of ants. He wanted to throw up, but there was nothing in his stomach for him to vomit. He felt like living death. His mind was gradually getting blurred, he stumbled and went forward, unaware that he had went in the wrong direction. His strength was gradually dissipating.
Main Line Chapter 11 Weird Change B
His body was shaking, hands and feet were drained of strength. He fell on the ground. At this moment he already reached the edge of the pond, he used the last of his effort to channel Tai Chi Xuan Qing Dao, barely absorbing the spirit into his body and turned them into Fawin Wisdom. It helped reduce the pain slightly but it it was already gone shortly afterward. Shaw Danon couldn't care about much right now; doing the best he could to reduce the pain as much as possible. The cold energy, however, was too powerful and there was also a strange disgusting feeling; almost all of his internal organs turned upside down and flooded their energy to his brain. Stars began flashing before his eyes; his breathing was uncontrollable. His throat suddenly felt a little sweet, then a large amount of blood spurted out of his mouth. He almost fainted.
At this time, a small muffled sound arose, the sky darkened instantly, Sinister Orb's green glow grew bright; the entire bead turned green, while dim golden light flashed, "卐" was completely shattered. Shaw Danon's body was immediately covered by green light, like a bloodthirsty demon was once again reborn.
The strange thing had not yet completely ended; almost at the same time when the green gas regained its freedom, a huge sound came from the center of the pond. Suddenly a storm and the cracking of rocks shooting in all directions made a huge noise. The green water turned into a great wave, circling the center of the pond as a huge vortex. In the middle of the vortex, between the water spray, an item slowly rose up with black gas all over it. It was the mysterious black rod, about two feet long, not metal nor iron, rushing Shaw Danon with vicious sense.
Shaw Danon screamed and fell backward. "Sinister Orb" seemed to be stuck to his hand, he could no shake it off. Light redness, the colour of blood, could be faintly seen slowly flowing from Shaw Danon's body into the bead.
Within the sound of crashing water waves, the mysterious black rod whistled through the air targeting the green flashing light of Sinister Orb. A moment later a loud crash roared, two of the most wicked things on earth crashed together. Shaw Danon was shocked, his whole body dropped one yard's height. The ground under his body formed a large hole with the great force.
Shaw Danon fell back on the ground, blood all over his face, his head was dizzy and sight was blurred; however, the pain inside of his body seemed to lighten slightly. His eyes were bleeding, sight turned red. He rubbed his eyes and saw the mysterious black rod had smashed on Sinister Orb. The black gas kept on advancing and attacking. The Sinister Orb seemed to know a great enemy was ahead and took back all the green energy to defend; the cold energy and the disgusting feeling in Shaw Danon's body disappeared.
Shaw Danon was surprised and panting, subconsciously shook his hand, but the two strange objects were just like part of his hand; he could not remove them no matter how hard he tried. Black gas and the green light were still battling.
Shaw Danon was frightened. He just wanted to get as far away from these two strange things as possible. He used all his strength to get up, but then his head felt dizzy immediately. His entire body staggered, then his legs were out of strength and fell back to the ground again. The two energies from the green orb and black rod seemed to be enjoying the fighting, but the black rod seemed to have gained the upper hand.
Just a moment later, the black energy invaded deep into the green energy; seemingly unable to resist. Just at this moment, Shaw Danon felt terrible pain at the center of his palm. He saw that at the area where his palm attached to Sinister Orb, the fresh blood came out continuously and merged into a large drop of blood.
Shaw Danon trembled and his face turned pale. As Sinister Orb bathed in a large drop of blood, the green light grew brighter and began to counter-attack. Not only regaining control of the situation, but also starting to overwhelm the black gas.
With more and more blood coming out from his hand, Shaw Danon started to lose his consciousness. The red blood flowed to the joint between the black rod and Sinister Orb, and after a moment, the blood began to sink in; slowly dying the tip of the rod blood red.
A faint smell of blood wafted in the air.
As time passed, it became darker and darker red. The black gas and green light that were fighting had dimmed down. The difference had changed into harmony.
After a long time, the strange change had finally came to an end. The black rod and green bead lost their brightness and combined together; they fell off from Shaw Danon's hand.
That night, Shaw Danon's sleep was restless. The hunger was intolerable. He slowly fell asleep around mid-night.