劍問蒼天 - 第44章 天書 - 翰墨軒

Bili knelt and struck her head three times against the ground with great solemnity and utter devotion, then rose and stole a glance at Zhang Qingyue. He stood motionless, his eyes fixed elsewhere, and though his brows knitted slightly, he said nothing. Only after a moment did he murmur coolly, "Let's go."

When they had first entered the tunnel together, Zhang Qingyue had felt a measure of warmth and closeness toward the woman. But now, beholding these two heathen deities, he recalled at once the gulf between their sects and the teachings of his masters from childhood, and his face hardened of its own accord. He gave a slight nod. "Very well."

Bili glanced at him, then walked deeper into the cave. Zhang Qingyue followed behind her. This time they did not go far, and soon entered another spacious chamber. But this place was not like the stone room outside, which had been finished and furnished; it was a natural cavern of hanging stalactites and jutting rock, where every kind of limestone formation assumed the strangest shapes, and the colors were dazzling in their variety. Before the two of them, at the mouth of the chamber, stood a great stone stele, upon which ten characters had been carved with the flourish of dragons and phoenixes: *Heaven and earth are not benevolent; they treat all things as straw dogs.*

Each of the ten characters was nearly half a man's height. The strokes were archaic and ungainly, the force of the writing vigorous and unyielding, flowing like dragons and serpents—as though they might come sweeping off the stone at any moment and go roaring into the vault of heaven.

At first Zhang Qingyue noticed nothing amiss, but after staring a moment, his head swam and, before he knew it, he had taken a step backward.

Startled, he hastily steadied himself. The characters remained upon the stele, utterly still; it was only the sheer power of them that was so frightening.

Alarmed, Zhang Qingyue looked around and saw that Bili had already gone round the great stele and was heading deeper into the cavern, so he followed. Past the stele, on the far side, grotesque stalactites were everywhere. The two of them wound their way for a time through that forest of stone, until Bili, who was in front, suddenly stopped and gave a soft cry of dismay.

Almost at the same moment, Zhang Qingyue felt the dark iron rod he used to brace his arm suddenly begin to glow with a strange light—and the pearl at the tip of the rod in particular shone with an unearthly blue-green radiance. But this time the light was gentle, as though it had met an old friend or familiar companion after many years apart, full of endless longing and fond remembrance.

Astonished, Zhang Qingyue looked ahead. Past Bili's shoulder he saw what had startled her: at the foot of the cavern was a smooth stone wall, and on either side of the wall a tunnel ran off to unknown places. But beneath the wall lay a platform of bluestone, and upon it sat a skeleton, cross-legged and upright, resting there in perfect stillness.

And the pearl on the iron rod was now pointed straight at that skeleton, shedding its soft blue-green light.

Bili stood in front and had not noticed Zhang Qingyue's strange expression or the change in the iron rod in his hand. After her first fright, she quickly regained her composure.

She was, after all, of the demon cult—why should she fear a skeleton? She stepped forward and examined it closely, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Turning her head, she smiled at Zhang Qingyue. "Perhaps this is none other than the Blackheart Old Ghost, who terrorized the world eight hundred years ago!"

Zhang Qingyue, of course, had no fondness for anyone of the demon cult. He gave a cold snort. "We'd better hurry and see if there's a way out."

Bili shot him a look and pursed her lips. "If you want to look, look yourself."