劍問蒼天 - 第46章 傷痛 - 翰墨軒

After that violent fit of raving, whether because Zhang Qingyue's constitution was naturally robust or because Bili's consolation had taken effect, the fever that had persisted so long gradually abated, and Zhang Qingyue slowly regained his senses and his clarity. Even so, his illness remained grave, and for the most part he kept to his bed.

One day, with nothing to do, Bili wandered about the cave and at last came again to the four lines left by Lady Golden Bell. She studied them closely and could not help sighing. Zhang Qingyue, sitting nearby, asked despite himself, "What are you sighing for?"

Bili snorted. "I sigh for the lady. With her talent and her beauty, to be let down by scoundrels like you men, to suffer all her life — what a waste!"

Zhang Qingyue was struck dumb.

Bili read the lines over once more, and suddenly she uttered a cry of "Yi!" — for she had noticed something strange. In the last character of the last line, "ku," the "mouth" radical below was sunk deep inward, quite unlike the other characters. Her eyes darted; almost at once she understood. She reached for the Hehuan Bell at her waist and held it up to compare — and indeed it fit exactly, neither too large nor too small. She could not help giving a cheer.

Behind her Zhang Qingyue asked in surprise, "What is it?"

Bili turned and smiled at him. "We're saved!"

Zhang Qingyue started, and at once his spirits revived. "Truly?"

Bili inserted the bell and saw no response. She tried turning it left and right, and after a moment, suddenly a clattering sound rose within the stone cave and the rock wall trembled. Bili, alarmed, clutched the golden bell and hurried back, and with a great "boom" the once-smooth wall collapsed a layer deep, revealing the layer beneath — on which, like the Book of Heaven in the inner chamber, characters were carved.

Zhang Qingyue's first reaction was joy, but as he examined the wall to left and right, his face gradually fell. It seemed this mechanism had been set by Lady Golden Bell only to conceal the wall, and offered no way out. At this he was utterly cast down.

Bili, however, gazed intently at the wall. Whatever Lady Golden Bell had left, hidden away with such care, could not be any common thing. After a long while, her expression shifted from light to dark, but wonder and admiration outweighed all else, and she murmured, "So this is the 'Fool's Passion Incantation.'"

Zhang Qingyue, impatient, came over and glanced at it, and saw that the first lines read:

Spirits of the Nine Hells, gods and demons of all heaven,

By my flesh and blood, I make of myself a sacrifice.

Through three lives and seven ages, forever fallen into Yama's realm,

For love alone — though I die, I do not repent.

...

At a glance he knew it for a vile and venomous curse of the demon path, yet seeing that Bili looked mostly pleased, he could not suppress a snort. "Does it say where the way out is?"

Bili was taken aback. "No."

Zhang Qingyue said mildly, "Then what use is learning it?"

Bili was silent, and only after a long pause said, "You don't know the origin of this Fool's Passion Incantation. This text has been handed down in our Holy Cult since ancient times — but legend says no one has ever been willing to use it."

Hearing this, Zhang Qingyue's curiosity was roused. "Why?"

Bili sighed. "They say this passage was comprehended from the Book of Heaven by a brilliant woman founder of ours long ago, but only women may cultivate it. I hear it takes a woman's whole essence and blood and transforms them into a fierce curse of unmatched power..."

Before she had finished, Zhang Qingyue cut her off, contempt plain in his eyes. "Then call it the 'Fierce Blood Curse' and have done. Fool's Passion Incantation — heretics putting on airs of refinement!"

Bili's face changed, but then she was struck still, and said quietly, "You're right. Even Lady Golden Bell herself, in the end, did not use it."

Zhang Qingyue paid her no heed.