Chapter 34 — Ten Thousand Bats
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 4 of 6
Qi Hao held the ** Mirror in his hand and softly intoned a few lines of incantation. The ** Mirror, which had been dull and lightless, seemed to sense it and slowly brightened; then it rose from his hand and hovered two feet above his head, its radiance swelling until a pale yellow halo lit a circle some six feet around the four of them, sheltering them at its center.
Only then did Qi Hao say, "Eight hundred years ago, Kongsang Mountain was a gathering place of the demon cult's fiends. And from what I see, this mountain is desolate and strange—I fear there are many mountain sprites and specters about. The ** Mirror has the power to ward off harm; we would do well to guard against trouble before it comes."
Zhang Qingyue glanced at the ** Mirror floating in the air. The little mirror looked unremarkable enough, yet within its archaic plainness there lurked an auspicious air; it was not to be slighted. Just then, all of them heard a great crash from the distance, and then a "pipa-pipa" sound arose, growing ever denser, until at last it was not only louder and louder but so rapid that even its rhythm could no longer be made out; only a vast rumbling clamor echoed across the wild mountain. Far off, by the faint light the ** Mirror shed in the darkness, they distinctly saw a black miasma suddenly billow up from behind a distant ridge—all the more eerie in that darkness—and it was from there that the rumbling din came.
Everyone's face changed. Zeng Shuyan cried, "The ** Mirror!"
Hardly had the words left his mouth, before the others could react, when that black cloud, growing ever vaster in the sky, seemed to sense something and shifted toward them. A moment later, as if a piercing shriek came from within the black cloud, the whole of it abruptly swung around and rushed at the four of them—at the one small point of light in that dark night.
In an instant, the starry night sky went pitch black, as though something had blotted it out. The four felt a stench of rot and gore fill the air around them in the blink of an eye, and Zhang Qingyue and the others were all stricken with horror. Only Qi Hao kept some composure, though his face had gone white as well, and he said urgently, "No one move about! Whatever you do, do not leave the circle of the ** Mirror's light!"
Another moment passed, and the shrieking and rumbling were at their ears. By the ** Mirror's radiance they finally made out that black cloud—it was, to their astonishment, countless black bats, packed dense as can be; and judging by their bulk, they were more than twice the size of any bat they had seen before. Each gaped wide its maw, and amid its black body the mouth showed a raw crimson—hideous and terrifying.
But the pale yellow light shed by the ** Mirror now proved its worth: every bat was held outside that halo, and batter and crush them as they might, the circle did not stir in the least. Nay, closer in, where the bats touched the pale yellow radiance, their black bodies gave off a sizzling "zzz" sound, and a moment later they dropped to the ground, thrashing, plainly not long for life.
Only, this swarm of bats was far too many—a glance showed them blotting out even the stars in the night sky; there must have been millions upon millions. Those dead on the ground were perhaps not one in a million of them. Countless bats came on one after another, hurling themselves forward, and the four were hemmed in the center. Though for the moment nothing was amiss, on every side were gaping, blood-red maws of the utmost horror, and the stench was near enough to make one gag.
Yet the ** Mirror was, after all, a supreme Daoist treasure. Beneath the assault of these countless savage beasts it showed not the slightest sign of weakness or wavering; the yellow halo seemed thin and flimsy, yet it stood firm as a mountain. Before long, the bat corpses around the circle were piling higher and higher.