Chapter 34 — Ten Thousand Bats
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 5 of 6
By now the black bats crowding the air above and around the halo were beyond counting—not three layers within and three without, but three hundred layers within and three hundred without, one might fear. Yet their battering against the circle seemed gradually to slacken; as though they knew it was futile, they gave over the useless labor. Only, these bats seemed loath to give up the dainty morsel within reach, and still they encircled them and would not leave.
Zhang Qingyue's heart was in turmoil. Never in his life had he seen such savage creatures, and even now he was somewhat tense and afraid. Panting, he drew his gaze back from the bats on the outer ring, and from the corner of his eye he saw that Lu Xueqi's face, standing beside him, was also deathly pale.
As if at that very moment, Lu Xueqi too sensed his gaze and looked his way. Their eyes met in the air.
Lu Xueqi suddenly turned her head away. Her pale face seemed to grow paler still, but she did not look back again.
"Shh—"
Suddenly, all the bats beat their wings and rose. Watching them, Zeng Shuyan breathed a sigh of relief. "At last we—"
He did not finish. The whole sky was a black cloud; countless bats flew high, then abruptly wheeled and plunged down, one after another, like hailstones, dashing against the ** Mirror's halo—only to be flung back by it, whereupon a mist of blood burst forth, and beneath the pale yellow light they fell to the ground, smashed to pieces.
Filthy blood ran in streams, the reek of gore struck their faces, and countless hideous blossoms of blood flickered in the night and dropped to the earth; yet the bats that followed after seemed utterly unmoved by the deaths of their fellows before them, and battered on without cease. Each of the four Canglan Sect disciples was ashen, gazing at these savage monstrosities such as the world seldom sees.
Around the halo, in very short order, there piled up a thick mass of bat corpses nearly half a man's height.
Zhang Qingyue suddenly realized that the clothes on his back were soaked through with cold sweat.
How long that hideous spectacle lasted, none could say, until at last, when the bat corpses outside the halo had heaped nearly a man's height, the swarm ceased its ferocious assault. By now, even the ** Mirror's halo had dimmed somewhat, yet still it glimmered in the night, standing unbroken.
The black cloud filled the sky, encircling that one point of light in the darkness, and still would not leave.
The four did not dare so much as close their eyes, each gripping his own immortal sword or treasure, not daring to slacken for an instant.
Yet these hordes of giant bats seemed to have no better means left; they only encircled them and would not go, but made no further attack.
And so it continued until dawn.
When the first ray of sunlight touched the horizon, as though some hidden thing had called to them, all the bats suddenly rose, circled a while in the air, and then flew back toward the place from which they had come the night before. They had come swiftly and went swifter still; in a matter of moments, those countless bats had all vanished.
The four Canglan Sect disciples slowly relaxed. But it was a long while yet before Qi Hao, only when he was wholly certain the bats would not come out again, withdrew the ** Mirror.
The halo dispersed.
With a muffled thud, the bat corpses that had lain around the four like a small hill suddenly collapsed inward from every side, drowning the four in that revolting, hideous river. In that instant Zhang Qingyue's heart gave a violent leap, and he half thought he had stopped breathing; and at the same moment he heard a cry from beside him, and a slender jade hand reached out and clutched his arm.
So fierce was the grip that, through the cloth, her nails dug into his flesh.