Chapter 241 — The Wheel of Reincarnation

A gray shadow flashed, and the monkey Xiao Hui leaped over and onto Ming Li's body, only to find him still lying face-down, utterly motionless, without the slightest reaction. Xiao Hui found this strange. It stretched its head forward and peered at Ming Li's face, and saw that his eyes were tightly shut and his complexion pale. Xiao Hui blinked its three eyes, seeming to understand something. It gave two soft "chee-chee" cries and then fell quiet, no longer disturbing Ming Li. It hopped down from his body and sat on the bed with its back against its master, saying nothing.

Silence fell over the stone chamber. How long it lasted, no one could say. Ming Li remained motionless as before. Xiao Hui watched its master with some worry, yet seemed hesitant to disturb him. Its monkey head turned this way and that, until suddenly it noticed something wrapped in black cloth lying quietly on the bed not far away.

Xiao Hui blinked its three eyes and stared for a good while, then turned to look at Ming Li again, seeing him still lying there without a sound. Its tail swayed gently, and it scratched its head. Then it leaned slightly forward, shot out a hand, and snatched the object up.

The monkey turned the cloth-wrapped disc over and over, examining it several times, but could make nothing of it. In the end, its paw slipped and failed to hold it steady, and since Ming Li had wrapped it hastily in his distracted state, the cloth was loose. The black cloth fell away in an instant, and a white jade disc slid out, landing with a soft "pat" on the bed before Xiao Hui.

Xiao Hui was quite startled and shrank back. The jade disc before it was decidedly peculiar: not only did it radiate a soft white glow, but in the center of the disc countless tiny jade pieces slid about of their own accord, ceaseless and unending, which was even more wondrous. Xiao Hui's attention was immediately drawn in. Its three monkey eyes stopped blinking altogether, fixed upon the Universe Reincarnation Disc. Then it cautiously extended a hand and lightly touched the edge of the jade disc.

The Universe Reincarnation Disc slid silently to one side, and Xiao Hui's hand darted back at once. It looked rather as though the monkey were testing this strange disc, but there seemed to be no danger. Xiao Hui brought the hand that had touched the disc before its eyes and examined it carefully: not red, not itchy, not painful. The monkey grinned, glanced again at the jade disc lying on the bed, turned its head to look around on both sides, and then reached out and seized the Universe Reincarnation Disc.

Soft white light spilled from the jade disc onto the gray-furred monkey's face. Xiao Hui opened its three eyes wide and gazed into the Universe Reincarnation Disc, where countless tiny jade pieces still slid silently on, like the passage of time itself, never ceasing.

Gradually, Xiao Hui seemed to be utterly captivated. Its three eyes drew closer and closer to the jade disc, fixed all the while upon those countless strange jade pieces sliding without end. Each tiny thing was reflected in its three pupils, faintly becoming like the reflections of countless stars in the vault of heaven.

Suddenly Xiao Hui lurched sideways. Without knowing how, it had left Ming Li's body and come to the edge of the bed without realizing it; one foot stepped into empty air, and Xiao Hui tumbled off the bed and onto the floor.

"Chee!" Xiao Hui let out a low cry and sprang up as if on a spring. Fortunately its grip had held tight, and the Universe Reincarnation Disc was still firmly clutched in its hand, never falling to the ground. Once on its feet, Xiao Hui looked left and right, its three eyes rolling upward, one hand dangling at its side casually gripping the jade disc while the other scratched its head. Plainly it was utterly baffled: it had been sitting perfectly well beside its master a moment ago, so how had it suddenly fallen off the bed?

Xiao Hui tilted its head and thought for a long while, but in the end seemed unable to puzzle it out, and could not help feeling a little crestfallen. Yet being a lively monkey, it did not stay dejected for long. It looked up at the bed and saw Ming Li still lying there in the same state, without movement, so it simply sat down on the floor again and set the Universe Reincarnation Disc before it.

Within the white radiance, the wondrous little jade pieces inside the disc were still moving.

This time, however, Xiao Hui was not drawn in and absorbed as before. Its eyes darted around, and suddenly it grinned, lifted its other hand, extended a finger, and reached toward the tiny jade pieces at the center of the disc.

Into the soft white light the monkey's finger quietly intruded. Suddenly it pressed upon one of the small jade pieces, but these pieces seemed each to hold hidden potential of their own; unaffected by the pressure of the monkey's finger, they still slid onward without the slightest pause.

Xiao Hui was taken aback. Rather than growing angry, it seemed delighted, as though it had found some amusing plaything. A second time it reached out to press another small jade piece, and sure enough, it could not hold that one down either. The monkey grew more and more pleased, uttering a few "chee-chee" cries, and repeatedly stretched out its finger to poke and press at the little jade pieces in the disc, playing with boundless delight.

Beneath the pale white light, the monkey looked so very happy...

But after pressing for a good while, Xiao Hui seemed to grow a little bored with the same repetitive motion. Suddenly it thrust out its finger and pressed hard upon one of the small jade pieces. This time the force was no light, casual touch but heavy and deliberate. Xiao Hui was a creature of rare breed, and having followed Ming Li for many years, its cultivation was in truth no small thing. Under this press, the situation was at once different from before: the jade piece was forcibly held down, and one could see it still struggling somewhat beneath the finger, wanting to break free and continue sliding onward, but Xiao Hui's face was alight with excitement, and its finger pressed harder still. After several feeble struggles, the jade piece finally came to a stop.

"Pff!"

A low, muffled thud sounded within the jade disc, giving Xiao Hui quite a start. Looking over, it saw that this jade piece had come to a halt, but the other pieces had not stopped. In a moment another small jade piece slid over and collided with it.

The two jade pieces met, and though nothing seemed amiss, in an instant a strange change occurred. The originally soft white light of the Universe Reincarnation Disc blazed up in an instant, and the matter did not end there. Almost simultaneously came a ceaseless "pff-pff-pff-pff..." as one piece after another, one after another, collided and piled up. More and more jade pieces ceased their sliding, and the white radiance above the disc grew ever brighter, until at last it was ten times brighter than what Ming Li had seen in the Cold Ice Stone Chamber. It was utterly impossible to look at directly, as though the blazing sun of heaven had fallen into this tiny stone chamber and scattered its brilliance everywhere.

Xiao Hui gaped at the jade disc in its hand. Even with its innate gifts, it seemed unable to endure the piercing glare. It stepped back, its grip loosening, and the Universe Reincarnation Disc fell to the ground with a "pat."

Yet the strange phenomenon did not vanish when Xiao Hui released its finger. The jade disc continued to cast forth its dazzling, silent radiance, and within those countless rays of brilliant light, scenes of mysterious patterns slowly began to emerge.