Chapter 41 — The Blackwater Serpent
劍問蒼天 · Page 2 of 6
Zhang Qingyue turned to look. Sure enough, Lu Xueling had shifted slightly, her lips moving twice, and was slowly opening her eyes. Overjoyed, Zhang Qingyue turned back. "You're awake!"
But to his surprise, a look of alarm came over Lu Xueling's face, and she struggled to say, "Look out—"
Before Zhang Qingyue could react, a strange fragrance suddenly filled the air around him, there was a flash of white light, and a white blossom appeared before his eyes.
In the darkness, down here in the Vale of Death Spirits, where would flowers come from? Startled, Zhang Qingyue fell back a step — and saw the blossom stir with no wind, as though it were smiling at him ever so slightly in midair, nodding to him. In an instant the flower burst apart, petal after petal pure and lovely, yet along their edges flickered a faint ghostly green light, and they flew at him.
Even without knowing the girl was of the demon cult, the strange flower alone was enough to tell him something was wrong. Caught suddenly off guard, Zhang Qingyue scrambled back several steps and in his fluster raised the dark iron staff before him as a shield. The petals, flying at him fast, met the staff's dark blue-green radiance, and most were blocked — but a few slipped past, narrowly grazing him, and nearly wounded him.
His heart still pounding, Zhang Qingyue cursed inwardly: these demon-cult fiends really were every one of them treacherous and cunning; what his master, his mistress, and his senior brothers had said was wisdom itself, word for word. But then his eye swept past, and he saw the girl move — she was flying toward Lu Xueling.
Zhang Qingyue was greatly alarmed. Lu Xueling, gravely wounded, had scarcely the strength to strike back, and he had been drawn too far away. In desperate haste he waved his hand and sent the dark iron staff hurtling at the girl in green.
Hearing it come, the girl in green smiled serenely and reached up her right hand to meet it. In an instant every petal flew back like lightning and gathered upon that single bud; the little flower, still giving off its faint white glow, rose to meet the staff. White radiance met dark blue-green, and the two hung locked in midair. For a moment neither gave way, as though evenly matched, and then each flew back to its own side.
In the darkness, a soft cry of surprise rang out.
Seizing the chance, Zhang Qingyue caught the dark iron staff even as he hurried back to Lu Xueling's side and planted himself before her, so that the sinister, treacherous demon witch could work no more of her tricks.
But this "sinister, treacherous" witch had now suddenly halted and came no further, letting Zhang Qingyue return to Lu Xueling's side; in the look she bent on him there was no small astonishment.
In that exchange just now, she had fully expected that with the wondrous flower "Heartbreak" in her hand she could subdue Zhang Qingyue with ease. Yet when "Heartbreak" and the dark iron staff had locked in midair, the strange fragrance that should have passed through the object straight into the heart and left a man slumped where he stood had been driven back — and there had even been a faint suggestion of backlash. It astonished her beyond measure.
Standing before Lu Xueling, Zhang Qingyue helped her to her feet and asked in a low voice, "Are you all right, Sister Lu?"
Lu Xueling shook her head slightly, and only then did Zhang Qingyue set his mind at ease. He turned and said bitterly, "Shameless witch — sneak attacks are all you know!"
The surprise in the girl's eyes vanished at once, replaced by a flash of anger. She gave a cold sniff. "Fine. In a moment I'll show you just what this witch can do!"