Chapter 141 — Bewilderment

Qinglong said with solemn courtesy, "The chieftain is too kind. The Great Shaman showed our Hades Sect great grace, and our reverence for the elder is no less than yours. The Hades Lord of our sect truly wished to escort the master back in person, but he was unavoidably detained by matters he could not set aside, and bade me especially to apologize to you all."

Tu Magu nodded and said, "The Hades Lord is too courteous; I dare not accept such words. Honored envoy, this way, please."

With that he extended a hand, inviting Qinglong to walk into the altar.

Qinglong was taken aback, puzzled inwardly. He had assumed this sacred altar was no place for outsiders to come and go at will—could the chieftain have something more to say to him?

Yet even as he thought this, his feet carried him onward. Sure enough, only Tu Magu accompanied Qinglong into the altar; the other Miao warriors who had been attending them did not follow, and the shamans from a moment ago had likewise vanished, presumably having gone deep into the altar.

Seeing that no one was around, Tu Magu stopped. Qinglong stopped as well, looked at this Miao chieftain whose face held such complex emotions, and said in a low voice, "What is it, Chieftain? Is there something else?"

Tu Magu hesitated a moment, then said, "There is indeed one more thing I must ask the honored envoy."

Qinglong said, "Pray speak."

Tu Magu said, "That young man who came to our Miao Qili Gorge some time ago and took the Great Shaman away with him—do you know how he fares now?"

Qinglong started. The image of Mingli flitted across his mind, and after a moment's pondering he said, "To be frank with you, Chieftain, that young man is the vice sect master of our Hades Sect. But at present his grief is too great, and few know where he has gone."

A look of disappointment crossed Tuma Gu's face, but he quickly composed himself. After a long silence, he said, "Then I must trouble the honored envoy, when the chance comes to see him, to pass on a few words from this old man."

A faint unease stirred in Qinglong's heart, but he nodded nonetheless. "Speak, Clan Chief."

Tuma Gu cast his gaze toward the dark depths of the altar, and his voice grew somewhat drifting. "Please tell him this: an old man's request, made that day within the altar of Qili Cave in the southern lands, still hopes that he will keep it in mind."

Qinglong frowned. He too was a man of exceptional shrewdness, and from a single hearing he guessed that Mingli had likely promised the Miao people something, which was why the shaman had resolved to risk everything to save Bili. A pity Mingli was not here; otherwise he would truly have liked to ask what matter could be so important.

Such thoughts he kept to himself, and his face showed nothing. He only nodded gravely. "Rest assured, Clan Chief. I will deliver it."

Tuma Gu sighed and was about to say more when, all at once, from beyond the altar, a distant shriek came piercing through.

The shriek seemed to come from the edge of the sky, unending, yet so muffled it might have risen from the depths of the Nine Hells. It was steeped in the will to kill and slaughter, bearing an inexhaustible savagery that came rolling in.

In an instant, there beneath the clear blue sky, the sound of ghosts wailing erupted throughout the mountains of Qili Cave. Countless fierce beasts roared and bellowed, shaking the valleys. Peal upon peal of thunder came surging with a mighty crash, like the great waves of the sea, swallowing the little island of Qili Cave in a moment.

Tuma Gu's expression changed abruptly, and even Qinglong's face shifted slightly. The two of them shot out of the altar at once, and saw that above Qili Cave, the originally azure clear sky had at some unknown hour been covered by heavy, black clouds.

The shrill shrieking still thundered on without cease, the black clouds churning. Below the mountain, the Miao people were thrown into panic, children and women screaming aloud.

Gust upon gust of cold, sinister wind blew chillingly from the black clouds in the sky, like a proud demon leering down at the earth with a vicious grin.

The sound of pounding footsteps finally drew near, and from a distant mountain peak appeared the first enormous figure.

Its white bones stood out starkly beneath the black clouds, but the three pairs of brilliantly colored wings behind it were strangely beautiful. Yet such beautiful wings, growing from the body of a giant serpent that was nothing but bare white bone save for its head, made it seem all the more horrifying.

A white-boned demon serpent nearly thirty feet long beat the three pairs of wings upon the bones of its back. The forked tongue at its head flickered in and out without pause, spewing jets of black vapor.

Moments later, from behind and beside this white-boned demon serpent, and from the rolling mountain ranges, the valleys and peaks around Qili Cave, amid the endless wailing of ghosts, countless bizarre beasts and alien races came surging forth, shrieking and leering, brandishing weapons and flailing claws, charging down from the mountains to fall upon the terrified people in the valley.

And at that moment, high in the sky, amid the howling of the sinister wind, a thunderclap suddenly exploded, a rumbling roar that came rolling in like surging waves, shaking heaven and earth, mingled with a faint, indistinct cry:

Linglong...