劍問蒼天 - 第37章 怪目 - 翰墨軒

Then, far ahead, a glimmer of light appeared. The Wild Wolf Daoist and the tall man at once flew toward it with all their strength, Qi Hao and the others in close pursuit, Zhang Qingyue following behind them — and he realized that the pain in his shoulder was gradually fading. He had gritted his teeth and pulled out the small fork, and yet he had still managed to keep up; even he was rather surprised. His shoulder hurt, but within his body the blood and breath ran quick and lively, as though he had a strength that could not be exhausted. Yet the moment his thoughts turned to what he had just witnessed, to those two words the Wild Wolf Daoist had spoken — "bloodsucking" — his heart went cold, cold to the marrow.

The speck of light ahead grew nearer and brighter. The six of them, like arrows loosed from the string, hurtled toward it.

That light was like a strange, uncanny flower suddenly blooming in the darkness, illuminating all before their eyes. Zhang Qingyue leapt into the light with the others; his vision swam bright, and at once he was stunned by what he saw.

The place where they had ended their pursuit was a broad, straight passage; beyond it, incredibly, lay a vast open space. The rocky roof of the cavern was a full hundred zhang above, while the floor lay ten zhang below. Not far ahead, on the ground, stood a huge boulder that blazed with intense light, illumining the whole space.

But what was most astonishing was not the boulder, but what lay behind it: in the depths of the light, a vast abyss gaped open. The radiance from the boulder lit the dome of the cavern, yet it seemed unable to penetrate even a fraction of the way into the abyss behind it. Seen from the air, that place was pitch-black, so black that not even the far side of the abyss could be seen — nothing but a dead, stagnant, sinister darkness.

Before the boulder stood three people: a burly, heavily bearded man; a rather handsome young woman; and a pale-faced youth in white robes whose whole face was steeped in wickedness. The Wild Wolf Daoist and his tall companion dropped down and took their stand before the boulder. Qi Hao, seeing that every one of them was strange in form and appearance, dared not be careless; he signaled to his fellow disciples, and they landed five zhang from the group beneath the boulder.

Zhang Qingyue steadied himself and looked out. On that strange, glowing boulder three great characters were carved in ancient seal script, sweeping and dancing like dragons and phoenixes:

Abyss of the Dead!

The four from the Canglan Sect had landed, and the group beneath the boulder showed no particular reaction — only the heavily bearded man frowned and said, "Wild Dog, Liu Hao, you two are worse than useless. You ran into a few Qingyun youngsters and came back in such a sorry state — and you even led them here, to the Abyss of the Dead!"

The Wild Wolf Daoist's dog-face reddened, and he was about to protest when a middle-aged woman standing behind the big man glanced at them and suddenly cried out in a shrill voice, "Where's Jiang the Third?"

Wild Dog glanced toward the Canglan Sect group. "Dead at their hands."

"What?" Those who had stood as steady as mountains were thrown into commotion — though it seemed not because the Canglan Sect's cultivation was deep enough to kill Jiang the Third. The woman stared a moment, then shook her head. "Now when the Old Fiend of Bloodsucking comes asking, we'll have a hard time explaining ourselves!"

The bearded man pondered a moment, then turned and looked toward the Canglan Sect group. "Then we'll take these Qingyun youngsters alive and hand them over to the senior of Bloodsucking when the time comes. That will settle it."