劍問蒼天 - 第11章 幽谷 - 翰墨軒

In open ground, such was the speed of the Amber Vermilion Silk that Tian Lingsu would have caught the gray monkey in moments; but here in the dense bamboo it was a great hindrance. The gray monkey was clever indeed, never fleeing in a straight line but swinging left and right, twisting and turning through the grove as it fled. Tian Lingsu had at once to keep the monkey in sight and to guard against the black-jointed bamboo that came at her from every side — a great nuisance. As for Zhang Qingyue, he could only run along the ground in a fever of anxiety, of no help at all.

So the two of them and the one monkey raced on, amid the gray monkey's shrill "tsk-tsk-tsk-tsk," and who knows how long the pursuit lasted. Zhang Qingyue's breathing grew heavy and he felt his strength failing; he judged that they must have run a long way indeed.

Yet the green bamboo before him seemed endless, coming at him layer upon layer. Zhang Qingyue's mouth was dry and his tongue parched, when suddenly a gray shape flashed ahead and dropped straight down. He was overjoyed; his spirit revived at once, and he charged forward with all his might — and at that very moment Tian Lingsu cried out from above, "Look out!"

All at once a cliff opened before Zhang Qingyue. He checked himself in frantic haste, nearly pitching over the edge. Steadying his breath, he saw a deep valley below the precipice, its farther reaches drowned in thick fog so that nothing could be made out, while on the nearer walls the black-jointed bamboo had given way to a tangle of wild trees, pines and cypresses for the most part. They had chased their quarry clear to that secluded ravine, far back in the rear mountain.

Zhang Qingyue watched the grey monkey drop, work its old trick again in midair — catch a branch, swing, drift — shed the force of its fall, and flee onward.

He was in the midst of his panic when a whistle of air reached him. He looked up and saw Tian Lingsu in her fluttering red robes, riding the void toward him, one jade-pale hand stretched out. "Up here," she called.

Zhang Qingyue did not stop to think. He put out his hand and caught hers, and Tian Lingsu pulled hard, hauling him onto the crimson silk. The Amber Crimson Silk dipped at once, then righted itself.

He had never done such a thing in his life and had no idea where to put himself. Tian Lingsu drew him behind her and snapped, "Hold my waist. Quickly."

Zhang Qingyue obeyed. Tian Lingsu, too impatient to wait, urged the silk into flight; a red shadow swept past, and the two of them, riding the Amber Crimson Silk, plunged straight down into the deep valley in pursuit of that grey shape.

The wind screamed. Zhang Qingyue heard nothing but the roaring of it and could scarcely keep his eyes open; and the Amber Crimson Silk beneath his feet, neither yielding nor firm, made him feel that one careless instant would drop him into the void, so that his heart hung forever in his throat. Frightened, he could not help tightening his arms around Tian Lingsu. He felt the red robes drifting before his eyes like cloud; his senior sister's back was like a fairy of the Nine Heavens, lovely beyond telling, and a faint, secluded fragrance stole into his nostrils. Joy swelled in his heart, and he truly wished this moment would never pass.

Tian Lingsu had no notion of the strange thoughts churning in the boy behind her; her mind was fixed wholly on the grey monkey ahead. Pampered and praised all her days by her parents and her senior brothers, she was proud by nature, and to fail to catch a monkey was simply not to be borne.

So through the deep valley, among the shadows of the trees, a grey shape fled and a red shape pressed close behind, twisting and turning, darting and doubling.