Chapter 237 — The Strange Treasure

But now Ming Li was not on Mount Foxqi, so naturally she had no chance to speak of it. As it happened, not long ago she and Ming Li had passed each other by outside the ruined charity hall beyond He Yin's city walls. Had she been present—with her thousand years of cultivation—perhaps the matter Ming Li encountered might have taken a different turn. Yet fate moves in mysterious ways, and no one can say for certain.

Xiao Bai turned it over in her mind: the world is vast and boundless, and to seek out one man, Ming Li, was truly harder than fishing a needle from the sea. But Bi Li was here on Mount Foxqi, and surely Ming Li would return here sooner or later. In any case, all along the road she had been wavering over what exactly to say to Ming Li; better to make use of this waiting time here to think it through properly.

With that thought, Xiao Bai made up her mind, and unconsciously turned her steps toward Ming Li's dwelling. Her footfalls echoed through the corridor. After she had walked some distance, Xiao Bai's brow suddenly furrowed, and she stopped.

In the long corridor, where in days past Hades Sect disciples would often come and go, chatting and laughing—at this moment it was utterly empty, with only her solitary figure standing there in the passage.

Everyone, for some reason, had hidden themselves away. Not a trace of them remained!

Xiao Bai looked back the way she had come. At the end of the corridor, it seemed as though a deep darkness hung, so thick it could no longer be dissolved.

She gazed at it silently for a moment, then turned and continued forward. Her soft footfalls echoed through the empty corridor, seeming several times louder than usual.

In that eerie stillness, Xiao Bai slowly made her way to Ming Li's dwelling. Somehow, though Ming Li was absent, she had still unconsciously come here. Just as she was about to reach out and push open Ming Li's door, her body suddenly went rigid, as though she had sensed something, and she slowly raised her head to look upward.

On the hard stone wall of the outer wall of Ming Li's stone chamber, there were unexpectedly seven or eight deep fissures. The exposed rock was rough and pitted, as though torn open by some immense force, twisting in agony like enormous wounds carved into the stone—only one could not tell whether blood would flow from those fissures!

Xiao Bai's body gave a slight, sudden shudder. Her pupils contracted slightly as she stared at those fissures. With her thousand years of cultivation, she could even faintly and keenly sense that around her and upon those glaring, twisted fissures, a strange aura drifted, now visible, now hidden.

That aura filled her with instinctive revulsion!

But before she could sort out these matters, a sudden upheaval erupted. From far down the corridor behind her, a tremendous roar suddenly came, as though tearing heart and lungs apart, and in the very next instant shrill cries rose on all sides—some in furious rage, some in terror—shouts of anger, cries of accusation, the sound of weeping, all borne toward her as if on the wind.

Xiao Bai's figure flickered and she darted toward the source of the cries. Only at this moment did she truly confirm that something strange and unknown to her had indeed happened here on Mount Foxqi—and most likely it was a horrifying mutation!

Her white figure flew swiftly through the corridor. The passage that had been empty just moments before was suddenly crowded with people pouring out from who knew where—though some fled into the distance, more came surging with killing intent, blades in hand, toward the place where the roaring came from. Far off, someone cried out through tears, "It's happening again, again! This time it's Old Li gone mad..."

Xiao Bai's heart gave a jolt. Somehow, all at once, her heart sank, and then her figure had already swept close, stopping beside an open space surrounded by many people.

Every face bore murderous intent, but Xiao Bai could clearly see that behind their fierce looks there was far more fear. In the midst of the crowd, a man covered in blood held a blade, howling viciously like a cornered beast, slashing the air with his weapon from time to time. At his feet lay several people, each bearing deep gashes from many cuts—most likely beyond saving.

Xiao Bai stared blankly at the killer, who seemed to have fallen completely into madness. Just moments before, at the cave mouth, she had heard him speak like a normal man, had heard his anxious worries—and yet in the blink of an eye, several of his companions lay at his feet, slain by his hand, while he himself, like a crazed and savage beast, ceaselessly howled and roared.

The surrounding crowd bellowed in fury. After a moment, the crowd surged forward with a great roar. Old Li swung his blade, wanting to kill, but in an instant more and sharper blades had already cut him down. After a good while, the crowd slowly dispersed, and Xiao Bai looked on in silence: his body still twitched faintly on the ground, and his wound-covered head slowly turned. For one brief instant, Xiao Bai's eyes met his gaze.

"Boom!"

It was like a soundless thunderclap in her mind. Xiao Bai involuntarily staggered back half a step, all color draining from her face. The man's eyes had turned wholly blood-red, and within them there was no longer the slightest trace of humanity—only slaughter. That cruel despair was such that even her thousand years of cultivation seemed to leave her unable to breathe.

What kind of madness was this!

The crowd whispered among themselves and slowly dispersed in fear. Xiao Bai took her steps slowly and gradually drew near the lifeless body.

Bright red blood flowed silently, slowly seeping into the earth and rock.

Those mad, blood-red eyes, perhaps because life had left them, had grown dim and turned a dull crimson. Xiao Bai gazed deeply at them—then suddenly she whipped around, her face cold as ice, and looked toward the depths of the corridor that had once more become utterly empty.

In the darkness ahead, an intensely thick stench of blood poured forth unceasingly, like a greedy, bloodthirsty beast glaring fiercely at all that lay outside, craving endless blood.

A figure stood quietly in the depths of the darkness, now visible, now hidden!