劍問蒼天 - 第30章 奇術 - 翰墨軒

Night had come again, deep and still.

Zhang Qingyue tossed and turned, unable to sleep, and even the monkey Xiao Hui beside him had opened his eyes wide and was blinking up at him. As for the other senior brothers, they had long since begun snoring loudly, and even Da Huang lay curled on the ground, fast asleep.

Moonlight poured in through the window like water, spilling across the floor like frost and snow.

Zhang Qingyue rose quietly. Xiao Hui immediately darted into his arms. He held the monkey, stroked its head, and walked outside.

The corridor was silent and empty, not a sound to be heard.

He smiled bitterly to himself. Ever since arriving at Jietian Peak, there had scarcely been a single night he had slept peacefully. At the thought of tomorrow's match with Lu Xueqi, an indescribable nervousness still clutched at his heart.

Just then, the monkey Xiao Hui in his arms stirred uneasily. Zhang Qingyue looked down and saw that, in the moonlight, Xiao Hui's bright clever eyes were fixed on the shadows ahead.

In the darkness, a figure seemed to flit past.

Zhang Qingyue's heart stirred, and he followed.

The figure did not run fast, and as it ran its shoulders seemed to shake without cease, as though it were weeping. Watching from afar, Zhang Qingyue recognized Tian Lingsu, and his puzzlement deepened; at the same time, seeing his senior sister weep so, an inexplicable sorrow rose in his heart.

Tian Lingsu ran all the way onto the sea of clouds, to the edge of the central platform. Seeing no one about, she seemed unable to hold back any longer, and crouching on the ground, she wept aloud.

Zhang Qingyue had never seen his senior sister so grief-stricken. His mind went blank for a moment, and he walked slowly to her side and called softly, "Senior Sister, you—"

Tian Lingsu gave a start and sprang up, turning around. Seeing it was Zhang Qingyue, she relaxed, but then her heart ached again, and she could not help but throw herself into his arms and weep loudly against his shoulder.

Zhang Qingyue's body went rigid in an instant, as though every inch of him had been turned to stone, unable to move so much as a finger.

Her sobs echoed in his ears; from his shoulder he felt the faint warmth of her body, as though a scene he had often glimpsed in dreams had today somehow come true. A wisp of elusive fragrance drifted faintly toward him.

Zhang Qingyue simply stood there, gazing into the distance. Though a thousand impulses urged him to embrace this woman, in the end he did not.

Perhaps if I truly held you, my life would be different from this moment on?

At that moment Tian Lingsu drew away from his shoulder. Zhang Qingyue felt a hollow emptiness in his heart, and dimly sensed that he had lost something.

His shoulder was already soaked with tears.

Tian Lingsu rubbed her reddened eyes with her hand and saw Zhang Qingyue's shoulder, wet with her weeping. Her face flushed, and she said, "I'm sorry, Xiaofan."

Zhang Qingyue shook his head and said, "Senior Sister, what's wrong?"

Tian Lingsu was about to speak when something at her feet gave two squeaks. Looking down, she saw that Xiao Hui had followed them. Silently she bent down and gathered the monkey into her arms.

"It's never happened before, Xiaofan, never before." The woman stood in the dark moonlight, desolate and beautiful, and said to Zhang Qingyue with a touch of sorrow, "Father and Mother have never scolded me like that."

Looking at that beautiful face in its grief, Zhang Qingyue felt a tearing pain in his heart, as though all her sorrow had been brought on by him. He steadied himself with effort and said gently, "Senior Sister, what happened? Why did Master and Mistress scold you?"