Chapter 206 — Demon Beast

The stone walls around them began slowly to tremble, as though some vast force were beginning to seep forth, and even the ground beneath their feet showed a faint tendency to quake; in the darkness ahead, the uncanny commotion grew stronger still, as though answering something, wailing in response to something.

In the midst of this vast upheaval, like mountains crumbling and the earth splitting, Lu Xueling's figure, for some reason, did not retreat a single step. Apart from the companions behind her who had formed their ranks and stood ready, she stood alone before the darkness, ahead of the pale-blue radiance, and the darkness seemed to face her with a savage leer, ready to swallow her at any moment.

Without the slightest warning, a wave of heat came bursting out from the depths of the darkness, surging through the ancient cavern like a towering tide that overturns mountains and seas; Lu Xueling's garments and her flowing hair were instantly swept up, yet her figure did not waver in the least.

The heat that struck her face carried a faint trace of madness, and it was hard even to imagine what the source of that power, deep in the cavern, must look like at this moment. Lu Xueling said nothing; she only stood in that raging wind, gazing at the darkness that danced in savage revelry ahead.

The hot wind was raging!

Yet she suddenly lifted her head.

The wind lashed her face to a frost-white pallor, and yet in her eyes it seemed a fiercer fire was burning deep within her heart.

Into the depths of that darkness, toward that distant dark...

All at once she gave a long, shrill cry, and her figure, there amid the quaking earth and the surging hot wind, rose against the gale toward the mountain, as though she meant to shoot into the depths of the darkness.

Behind her, Li Xun, Zeng Shuyan, and the others turned pale with shock, unable to fathom her intent. Li Xun had just opened his mouth to shout when he saw that figure wreathed in pale blue radiance, like an arrow loosed from its string, without the slightest pause or hesitation, vanish into the darkness in the blink of an eye.

His voice died in his throat, and for a long while he could say nothing.

Zeng Shuyan slowly came to his side and patted him on the shoulder. Li Xun did not turn to look at him.

The blast of heat gradually weakened, and the violent trembling all around slowly steadied; everything little by little returned to what it had been. Were it not for the shattered stone and rubble strewn about, one might almost have mistaken it all for a dream born of the darkness.

Only that lovely figure, now vanished, made it unmistakably clear that this uncanny cave was riddled with peril.

Li Xun fell silent for a moment, steadied his nerves, and had just been about to speak when a young Fenxia Valley disciple beside him suddenly cried out, "Someone—who is that over there?"

The rest all started in alarm and hurried to look ahead. Sure enough, a shadow flickered in the darkness, and out walked a person—slender of figure, with a trace of allure in her step, a beautiful woman.

Everyone was struck dumb for an instant, and for a moment all thought it was Lu Xueling returned. Li Xun, in his near-elation, almost cried out her name, but the words died at his lips. Suddenly his smile stiffened, slowly turned ashen, and into his eyes came hatred, mingled with a cold, incredulous laugh, as he said, "So it is you..."

The woman, hearing the voices, seemed startled as well. She raised her head to look, and her expression shifted once more.

This woman had delicate features and a bone-deep seductiveness about her—none other than Jin Pingyue.