Chapter 44 — The Book of Heaven
劍問蒼天 · Page 2 of 6
He had not gone two steps before he was shaking his head at himself in the dark. How was it that before this Demon Sect girl he could not keep his temper, flying off at the least provocation? Doubtless she was watching him now, mocking him, laughing at him.
But think as he might, once he had taken the step he could not turn back. He walked on a few paces, and there was no sound behind him; it seemed Bili had not followed. Zhang Qingyue felt, he knew not why, a faint sense of loss — then at once cursed himself for a worthless fool, pulled himself together, and proceeded cautiously deeper into the tunnel. The passage he now found himself in was no different from the way they had come in, only far deeper and quieter; looking far ahead, all was dim murk, and the road seemed longer besides. He truly could not fathom how the men of the Blood Refining Hall of the Demon Sect in those days had ever carved out such a vast work.
He walked on thus for some time, and then Zhang Qingyue suddenly became aware that the way ahead was gradually brightening. His heart leaped; he quickened his pace, and saw at the end of the road a soft light spilling out, piercingly clear amid the darkness, like gentle tentacles luring the people of the world.
Zhang Qingyue drew a deep breath and stepped into that light.
Bili watched Zhang Qingyue's figure vanish into the tunnel, and stood blank for a moment, her face darkening. Her father was a man of high rank and great power in the Demon Sect; from childhood she had been treated like a princess, and no one had ever dared defy her.
Who would have thought that here, in this dead-end place, she would meet a young fellow of the righteous path — not old in years, but grand in temper — and that she could not help but be angry.
As it happened, Zhang Qingyue had been a good-natured youth back on Canglan Mountain. Why he should clash at every turn with Bili, apart from the barrier between their sects, was more than he himself could have explained.
Of all this Bili naturally knew nothing, but that Zhang Qingyue had crossed her again and again was plain before her eyes, and it rankled badly. Yet at present they were both trapped in a place of no return, and it would not do to teach the boy a lesson by force. She could only give a cold snort and store it away in her heart. But that Bili should humble herself and follow after Zhang Qingyue — that was utterly impossible.
Almost without thinking, she turned and walked into the tunnel on the right.
After a few steps, Bili felt that this was much the same sort of road as the tunnel outside, only with fewer glimmering things along the rock walls, so that the passage seemed a little dim.
Fortunately the road was not long. Soon Bili came to its end and stepped once more into a stone chamber.
It was a chamber of middling size. Along one side stood many racks; on the other lay a heap of refuse, mostly iron implements — sabers, swords, spears, and the like — most of them broken and battered. Most conspicuous was an axe flung carelessly on top, all over rust and rather huge, yet still intact; the whole of it looked as though it had been cast of iron.
Bili gave it two glances and lost interest. She turned to the racks, looked them over briefly, and her face first lit with great delight — but before long it changed, against her will, to disappointment.
On the racks, shelf by shelf, were labels. Some of the writing was long since blurred, but some could still just be made out, and every one of them made the heart leap: names such as "Five Peaks Divine Halberd," "Moon-Watching Cord," "Parting-From-Man Awl."