Chapter 87 — Physiognomy

Shi Tou went on, "My Vajra Sect is thin in numbers; for several generations it has passed down a single line. My master, the Venerable Great Strength, met me years ago in a remote little village and said my nature was plain and my frame stout and powerful—just the sort to excel in the arts of his Vajra Sect—and so he brought me to the path of cultivation. He told me that traced back far enough, the Vajra Sect does indeed have some connection with Buddhism, but the years are too many and no one remembers it now. Moreover, the incantations have passed down generation by generation and long since grown quite different; they cannot be compared at all with the true Buddhist cultivation of the Brahma Voice Temple today."

Here Shi Tou paused, and a simple smile came over his face. "But my master also said that though our cultivation is humble, we are also free of the Buddhist precepts that bind. A cultivator should naturally do deeds of merit for the world; so when one meets a demon running rampant, one should raise a hand."

Zhang Qingyue felt admiration. "Ah, your master is truly a man of high virtue!"

Shi Tou nodded. "Yes. My master is very upright."

Zhang Qingyue smiled and said nothing, but something stirred in his heart, and for no reason he thought again of that day's talk with Wan Rengui. He thought to himself: A man like Shi Tou's master—if he knew that the treasure I carry is such an evil thing, would he ever allow his disciple to keep company with me?

And for that matter, the elders of the Canglan Sect themselves would surely loathe such an evil thing to the bone!

Then what of me, who bears this evil thing?

Am I truly already one of the demonic path...

Zhang Qingyue fell silent. Shi Tou took it that he was gathering himself as the Black Stone Cave drew near, and paid it no mind, but searched his own person all over, making ready for a great battle with the demon.

The sky at last went dark.

When the first star quietly poked its head out at the edge of the sky, the two of them reached the edge of a small wood.

Shi Tou drew a deep breath and said to Zhang Qingyue, "The town head told me the Black Stone Cave is in these woods. The cave yields black stone in plenty; in past years the townsfolk often came here to quarry it for road-building, though of course they come no more. They say the cave runs down deep beyond measure. We must be careful."

Zhang Qingyue nodded, thinking to himself: however deep it goes, it cannot be deeper than that abyss of the dead beneath the Ten Thousand Bats Ancient Grotto on Kongsang Mountain. The two of them settled their gear and were about to step into this dangerous place when, all at once, from some thirty feet away came a faint cry tinged with alarm:

"Aiya!"

Both of them started, and turning to look, Zhang Qingyue was immediately taken aback: two figures came running from the right, one old and one young—none other than the grandfather and granddaughter who had read his fortune that very day. The little girl looked fine enough, but the old man was gasping for breath, with not a trace left of that otherworldly, crane-boned air about him.

Zhang Qingyue went to meet them and barred their way. "You two—what happened?"

Zhou Yixuan was running in a panic when a figure suddenly flashed out before him and gave him a fright. A closer look showed it was that foolish young man from the daytime, and only then did he relax. He glanced back, saw the road behind them quiet and utterly empty of any living soul, and let out a long breath. Drawing up, he said to his granddaughter, "Xiaowan, stop running. Looks like the fellow didn't follow us."

Xiaowan was gulping for air, but she still clutched a skewer of candied haws in her hand; plainly she was very fond of such sweets. Hearing Zhou Yixuan's words, she ran a little further on before finally stopping, puffing and blowing without pause.

Shitou had come over by then too and stood beside Zhang Qingyue. Seeing the old and the young in such a state, like strays with nowhere to turn, he said, astonished, "What's going on?"

Zhang Qingyue had the same question, but before he could speak, Xiaowan was already complaining loudly: "It's all your fault, Grandpa! Swindling that fat woman wasn't enough—you had to go and read that young woman's fortune too. I saw it from the start: that woman's sharp as a needle. How could we ever fool her?"

Zhou Yixuan said angrily, "Then why didn't you say so earlier? Thanks to you, your grandpa got slapped by that woman, and it still hurts. If I hadn't had our founder's secret art of earth-burrowing, I'd have been done for by now..."

Before the words were out, a clear, sharp cry came suddenly through the night air: "Old swindler, where do you think you're running?"

Everyone was startled. A white light came streaking like lightning, like a bolt of silk, like something refracted down from the sky, hurtling straight at Zhou Yixuan. He knew no true methods of cultivation at all, and caught utterly off guard, with no time even for his crooked tricks, he seemed certain to be struck by the white light.

Zhang Qingyue, watching from the side, could not in the end forget the little acquaintance between them and could not leave him to die. Besides, in the urgency of the moment—though what they had just said made him dimly suspect that he too had been taken in by the pair—there was no time to think of such things. He beckoned, and the Dark Iron Staff shot out, swift as an arrow, and took the blow in his stead.

"Bang"—a great crash, and the white light was deflected back. An astonished female voice came from the air, and then, where the white light had passed, a woman alighted before them all.

A moment later Zhang Qingyue was struck dumb, for the woman was dressed all in water-green, a tiny golden bell hung at her waist and chimed crisply, and between her fingers she held a small white flower, translucent as jade. Her face wore a half-smile, half-smirk, and she had long since stopped looking at old Zhou Yixuan; her bright eyes rested only on Zhang Qingyue, and she laughed softly: "What a coincidence, Zhang Qingyue."

And who was this but that young maiden of the demon cult, Bili?