Chapter 108 — Stealth

After another moment, Ming Li examined the hare carefully, drew the stick back, and holding it in one hand, reached to his waist with the other. After a moment he produced several small bottles and jars, from which he sprinkled what appeared to be powdered substances over the hare.

Jin Pingyue was startled. "What is that?"

Ming Li smiled. Seeing it, Jin Pingyue somehow felt there was a hint of bitterness in it. In a calm voice Ming Li said, "Some salt and seasonings. An old habit—I carry them wherever I go." With that he handed the stick to Jin Pingyue.

Jin Pingyue hesitated, but did not reach out to take it.

A light flickered in Ming Li's eyes; he smiled faintly, tore off a piece of hare meat, and put it in his mouth.

A flush rose to Jin Pingyue's cheeks. In the firelight a bewitching charm surfaced in her brows and eyes, striking to the heart. After a moment she reached out and took the stick, saying softly, "Thank you, young master."

Ming Li said nothing, turning his head away. He took a wild fruit from Little Grey's hand, put it to his lips, bit off a small piece, and began to eat.

"Ow!"

Suddenly another soft cry came from Jin Pingyue's direction, as though carrying a note of pain. Ming Li and the monkey Little Grey both looked up at her and saw Jin Pingyue pressing her pale hand to her lips, her fine brows slightly knit, a look of suffering on her face. But then, noticing that both Ming Li and Little Grey were staring at her, she blushed and after a moment said sheepishly, "I was careless—I burned myself a little…" Her voice trailed off toward the end.

Hearing this, Ming Li's lips twitched, though his expression did not otherwise change. But at his feet Little Grey suddenly made a sound—"squeak, squeak"—its mouth splitting into a grin. The half-eaten wild fruit in its right hand dropped to the ground, and it clenched its fist and began pounding the earth, evidently meaning to repeat that bizarre pose.

Jin Pingyue's eyes narrowed; she felt both ashamed and furious. But before she could react, and before the monkey's fist could strike the ground, Ming Li had already given a light kick and sent Little Grey tumbling away like a gourd.

After a moment Ming Li said mildly, "The beast doesn't know better. Pay it no mind."

Jin Pingyue glanced at him, steadied herself, nodded with a smile, then gently blew on the roasted hare beside her and used her slender, scallion-white fingers to tear off a small piece of meat, which she put to her lips and began to chew.

The moment it touched her tongue, Jin Pingyue's spirits leaped. In an instant she felt that fragrance, as though possessed of spirit, course through her whole body; her limbs seemed lighter, her mouth flooded with savor, and the taste was more delicious than anything she had ever known. The outer layer of skin was crisp without being charred, thin and fragrant; the meat within was smooth and tender, and with seasonings of some unknowable blending, the flavor seemed to seep into heart and spleen. One taste and she could not stop; she nearly lost herself to it. Never in her wildest imaginings would she have guessed that this man before her could produce such a taste.

For all Jin Pingyue's deep cultivation and firm resolve, her appetite was now thoroughly roused. She tore off piece after piece, and in but a short while had eaten a whole hare's leg. Only then did she feel somewhat full and stop. She smiled and looked at Ming Li, saying, "Young master has fine skill—an ordinary hare, and you can roast it into such a delicacy!"

By now the monkey Little Grey had run back and was crouched beside Ming Li, its extraordinarily nimble monkey eyes darting this way and that, now at Ming Li, now at Jin Pingyue.

Ming Li said indifferently, "A trifling trick. You flatter me, miss."

Jin Pingyue gave a lovely smile, her brows and eyes alluring and enchanting, her gaze soft as water. "In all my life," she said softly, "I've never eaten such a delicious hare!"

Ming Li smiled faintly and was about to say something when his body suddenly shuddered, and a look of bewilderment came into his eyes.

Those words, that voice, that brimming smile—suddenly they churned in his mind. The night was deep and dark, the night wind cold, yet his heart gave a sudden pang, heaving like the waves of a furious sea.

Once upon a time, he too had heard such words.

They belonged to years long sealed away in the past, yet in an unguarded moment they surged up in his heart.

A clear little stream, glittering with light, a brimming smile, the whisper of the wind…

On Kongsang Mountain, behind the cliff, two people fresh from the jaws of death sat around a fire, also roasting meat.

That smiling figure in water-green robes suddenly overwhelmed him, seizing every crevice of his soul, and he trembled beyond his control.

Bili…

"Delicious! The best thing I've ever eaten in my life is this hare you're roasting now."

That sentence from those years echoed faintly in his mind, slowly turning into a thorn, into a needle, piercing his heart.

…

"Young master? Young master?" A voice tinged with surprise sounded at his ear, drawing Ming Li back to reality.

Jin Pingyue had risen at some point; her left hand still held the stick, but her right had somehow slipped into her sleeve.

Ming Li's eyes narrowed. He drew a deep breath, steadied his mind, and said at once, "I'm fine."

Jin Pingyue looked at him deeply, the light in her eyes shifting. "Young master, why is your face so pale? Is something the matter?"

Ming Li met her gaze and suddenly smiled faintly. "What could be the matter with me?"

Jin Pingyue regarded him, and the faint sharpness in her eyes slowly receded. The alluring look surfaced once more in her brows, and she smiled. "So long as the young master is well."

A sudden irritation rose in Ming Li's heart, though he showed nothing on his face. He was about to say something when Little Grey, who had been quiet at his side, suddenly stirred and turned to look back.

Ming Li and Jin Pingyue both sensed something at once and rose to look south. There in the southern sky, above the quiet Fenxia Valley ringed by mountains, a shrill cry suddenly came from afar; a bolt of red light shot up into the heavens, lighting a swath of sky before slowly falling.

Light kindled in the eyes of both Ming Li and Jin Pingyue at the same moment.

Within Fenxia Valley, the lamps that had been extinguished for the night's depth now lit up one by one.

Voices rose near and far, mingled with a few low, irate curses from those roused from sleep. But amid this swelling clamor, furious shouts mixed with eerie roars like the bellowing of wild beasts drifted in from the valley's entrance.

Moments later, the sounds of fighting carried over; at the same time, crisp bells and alarm gongs echoed above the valley. At this dead of night, an enemy had forced their way into Fenxia Valley.

Having arrived without a sound and hidden on another peak, Ming Li and Jin Pingyue watched the lights at the valley entrance and the figures hurrying there from within, and both were secretly startled.

Who on earth would dare so brazenly affront Fenxia Valley, one of the foremost orthodox sects under heaven? Even they, two outstanding masters of the Devil Sect's new generation, had thought only of slipping in unnoticed, faced with the hidden dragons and crouching tigers within.

When they had first arrived, Jin Pingyue had not been able to resist asking softly, "Could it be your Hades King Sect?"

Ming Li naturally denied it, but for all his pondering he truly could not think of any power in the world besides the Devil Sect that would be so arrogant and bold.

In the darkness Fenxia Valley was a hubbub of voices; even now, figures kept streaming toward the valley entrance. By the look of it, the situation there had not calmed but was worsening.