Legends of Ogre Gate

At the same time, a bronze beam of light spiraled out from the drum, heading toward Bao with lightning speed, and at the same time, in slow motion.

Bao had no time to think, so she immediately sent Qi rushing to the meridians in her legs as she used one of the Dragon Phoenix Sect’s Qinggong techniques to try to evade the light. The edge of the brightness slashed through the leg of her trousers as she leaped to the side with Sunan in her arms. Because of his added weight, she wasn’t able to successfully complete the move, and landed hard on her back roughty a meter to the left of her original position. At the same time, the bronze light hit the table that she had been standing in front of, wrapping around it and dragging it toward the drum. Apparently, the table couldn’t withstand the force crushing down onto it, and shattered into splinters.

Even as the light began to fade away, and the crushing pressure in the room vanished, the Bone General looked over at the Love General and growled, “What do you think you’re doing, Ai!?”

“What are you doing, Gu? You don’t know what the Drum of Midbar will do to humans!?”

“I’ve tested it!” he replied, his voice grim. “It will hold them!”

As they exchanged words, Bao rolled over and climbed to her feet. Sunan was still unconscious, and considering his size and weight, picking him up and trying to move around didn’t seem wise at the moment. The pressure from moments ago had stopped the fighting in the room, and currently, everyone was focused on the two Ogre Generals.

As Bao got to her feet, the Love General threw the cloak off of her shoulders and took a few steps forward, simultaneously drawing an iron dagger with a pearl hilt, the blade of which was so polished it was almost white. She also reverted from human form to Ogre form, leaving her taller, with broader shoulders and a sturdier frame.

The Bone General snorted. “The Dagger of Sarilla? You’re going to try to fight me with that?”

Bao took a step forward, first feeling her sleeve to confirm the location of the paper spike hidden therein, and then drawing a knife with her other hand.

“I’m not interested in fighting you, Gu,” the Love General said. “You know that. But we made a deal, remember? Why aren’t you living up to it?”

“We did have a deal,” he replied. “Fine. Live up to your part, and I’ll live up to mine.”

When the Love General didn’t respond, a very bad feeling rose up in Bao’s heart. She suddenly felt as if she were in a cage with two angry, hungry tigers. Just when she was about to take a step back, the Love General spun in place and lunged toward her.

Considering how close they were to each other, Bao had no time to react. Before she could even blink, the Love General’s enormous Ogre hand latched onto her throat.

A faint choking sound escaped Bao’s lips as she swung her knife toward the side of the Love General’s head. However, the Love General easily blocked the blow with her white dagger. “Sorry girl,” she said. “But Sunan wasn’t meant for you anyway.” With that, she lifted Bao up and hurled her through the air in the direction of the Bone General.

Bao tumbled head over heels, flopping onto the ground two meters away, placing her almost exactly halfway between the Love General and the Bone General. As she once again crawled to her feet, the Bone General lifted his hand and then swung it down toward the drum.

However, even as his hand began to descend, Lin Cuirou, who moments ago had been fighting one of the Bone Slicers, threw an iron ball out in front of him, projecting it with a blast of Qi that caused it to instantly accelerate with unbelievable speed.

In the moment before the Bone General’s hand reached the drum, the iron ball struck, twisting the drum and pushing it to the side. The Bone General’s hand still managed to hit the surface of the drum, albeit at an awkward angle. The entire room shook as a thunderous roar again filled the ears of everyone present. Simultaneously, the bronze beam of light spiralled out. However, thanks to the last-minute interference of Lin Cuirou, the beam shot right past Bao and instead headed toward the Love General.

The Love General’s eyes went wide and she leaped to the side, but not fast enough to avoid the bronze light. The beam latched onto her ankle, instantly yanking her off her feet and dragging her toward the drum.

She let out a shriek of dismay, and even tried to grab at a nearby table, but it did no good. “Dammit, Gu, you’d better free me as soon--”

Before she could finish her sentence, her foot made contact with the drum, and her body began to ripple and distort as she was sucked inside. In the blink of an eye, she and the bronze light were gone.

The pressure in the room vanished, and the Bone General looked down at the bronze drum. “Well that’s one way to end your meddling, Ai,” he said. “Maybe I should have done this a long time ago.”

As he looked away from the drum toward Bao, she gritted her teeth and took a step forward. At the same time, Lin Cuirou let out a shout and used a Qinggong move called Pounce of the Lion, leaping high into the air and then shooting down toward the Bone General.

Ordinarily, Pounce of the Lion was used to pin an opponent, immobilizing them and even inflicting damage via momentum and Qi. However, the Bone General was no ordinary opponent, and before Lin Cuirou could complete the move, the Bone General reached out, grabbed him by the hair, and then slammed him into the ground.

Lin Cuirou let out a muffled grunt, and grabbed the Bone General’s wrist with both hands.

By that point, Bao was within striking distance, and didn’t hesitate to swing her knife toward the Bone General’s neck. The Bone General immediately dropped the bronze drum and then used his freed hand to grab her forearm. The knife came to a stop a handbreadth from his neck.

“You never learn, do you?” he said with a cruel grin. “I’m going to enjoy your screams when I slice the flesh off of--”

Relying only on the power of her muscles, Bao sent her left hand shooting out. Within it was the paper spike, which stabbed right into the Bone General’s right eye. Screaming with rage, Bao used the heel of her palm to shove the spike as deeply as she could into his head.

He did not cry out in pain or shock. In fact, it was difficult to determine if he had even seen the blow coming. His grip on Lin Cuirou’s hair loosened, and he dropped Bao’s other hand. Faint wisps of smoke joined the blood which spurted out of his eye as he swayed in place for a moment and then fell down flat on his back.

Bao stood there breathing heavily, the Bone General’s hot, red blood flowing from the middle of her palm down to her fingers, where it began to drop to the ground below. Lin Cuirou looked down at the Bone General with a grim expression.

The Dragon Phoenix Sect fighters were looking over with wide eyes, and the Bone Slicers’ faces were covered with expressions of complete and utter astonishment.

Bao wasn’t sure how she felt. For years now the Bone General had been stalking her, always lurking in the shadows of her mind. Even in the security of the palace on Zun Shan, she had always feared that he would step out from a corner to try to take her head.

And here he was, lying dead in front of her, an enemy who had haunted her dreams from Fan to Tung-On to Daolu.

“Finally,” she murmured.

The blow to the psyches of the Bone Slicers caused by the sight of their leader being cut down, ensured that the rest of the fight didn’t last for long. The Dragon-Phoenix Sect outnumbered them, and showed absolutely no mercy. All of the Bone Slicers were killed. The few who weren’t cut down in the heat of battle fell on their own weapons rather than be captured. The Dragon-Phoenix Sect suffered only one casualty, with the rest of the fighters coming out with only a few minor wounds. Unfortunately, in the chaos of the fighting, the Golden Immortal managed to slip away undetected.

It took Sunan about an hour to regain consciousness, and when he saw the pile of bodies heaped in the corner, with the Bone General on top, his eyes went wide.

The bronze drum which had sucked the Love General into its depths now seemed like nothing more than a simple bronze drum. They wrapped it up tight with cloth and resolved to study it further after they got back to Zun Shan. What they would find was that it was sealed with powerful magic that surpassed their comprehension. Eventually, it would be buried deep in the caverns of Zun Shan, never again to see the light of day. At least, not for many, many generations.

That night, they burned the bodies of the Bone Slicers and the Bone General, keeping the Bone General’s identity medallion as proof of their victory over him. Before lighting the blaze, they removed the Bone General’s head and put it in a box. Lin Cuirou accepted the task of delivering it to the Demon Emperor. He and two of the other members of the sect would make the long journey up the Zun river to the city of Jin Yu. From there, they would skirt Mount Hai’an and head north to Yu Zhing, where they would surreptitiously deliver the head to the city magistrate. By the time it reached the Demon Emperor, Lin Cuirou and his companions would be long gone from the city. The round trip would take at least two or three months, but the message that would be sent to the Demon Emperor would be well worth it.

The following day, they provided compensation to the owner of the inn for the damages caused by the fight. The man seemed to be in shock. After all, everyone in the empire knew how the Demon Emperor treasured his Ogres. One could only imagine his rage when he found out that one of them had been killed, and an Ogre General at that.

With that, the Dragon-Phoenix Sect proceeded to their meeting with the Scorpion Swordsman. When he saw the identity medallion of the Bone General, and heard their tale, he immediately agreed to join a formal alliance with the Dragon Phoenix Sect.

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