Chapter 49 — The Demon Fox
劍問蒼天 · Page 4 of 6
Not long after they had gone in, a flash of green appeared, and Bili stood where they had just been standing. She gazed at the dark mist ahead, frowned, pondered intently for a while, then plunged in.
The night in the forest wavered dim and uncertain in the darkness. Now and then a few inches of moonlight fell through gaps in the leaves overhead, lighting upon the underbrush and trembling softly.
All around, there seemed to be nothing but the low chirping of insects from far away.
Suddenly Shi Tou caught hold of Zhang Qingyue. He started and said, "What is it?"
Shi Tou said in a low voice, "Listen."
Zhang Qingyue listened intently, and heard only a faint sigh, drifting toward them from ahead.
A shaft of moonlight, like a bright lamp in the darkness, a beam of frosty radiance, shone gently down, lighting the mist there as it swirled and drifted. And out of the depths of the darkness, a woman in white slowly walked forth and stood within that light, gazing faintly toward them.
Zhang Qingyue and Shi Tou both held their breath.
She was a woman of surpassing softness and charm. Her long, straight hair was not bound up but lay over her shoulders, gentle as water; on her fair skin were delicate brows, a slender nose, lips faintly red, and eyes like water, and as she looked at them it was as though she looked into the depths of their hearts.
She was a woman who seemed to wound the heart at a single glance. So she stood there timidly, standing in the moonlight, gazing at them.
Time itself seemed to have stopped at that moment.
"Have you come to kill me?" she asked faintly.
Zhang Qingyue and Shi Tou were both startled. Shi Tou bit his lower lip, steadied his resolve, and cried out loudly, "Are you that three-tailed demon fox, that monster?"
Her water-like gaze swept over Shi Tou, then passed over Zhang Qingyue's face, and in that instant Zhang Qingyue felt as though a gentle hand were stroking his cheek.
He was greatly shocked. He had never imagined there could be such a bewitching woman in this world—truly not of human kind.
She did not answer, only frowned slightly, as though some sorrow were graven between her faint brows.
She lifted her head to look at the moon again, and saw it hang flawless in the mid-heaven.
"I am she," she said faintly.
The night was deep. In the darkness behind her, something seemed to stir stealthily.
Shi Tou's face darkened. In his hand the great golden wolf-fang club, Break-Evil, slowly began to shine, and the woods around them seemed to turn to gold in its light. Zhang Qingyue stood at his side and drew a deep breath.
But the woman seemed to show no great reaction. She glanced at them, shifted her feet lightly, and walked to one side, her snowy white sleeves waving gently. The two saw the underbrush draw apart, revealing a well. From a distance the stones about its rim looked ancient, furred with green moss; plainly it was of great age.
She went to the well and looked down, and with her hand gently smoothed the hair that hung at her side.
Seeing her strange behavior, the two dared not stir for a moment.
Then her voice came drifting through the forest: "This is a well three thousand years old. They say that on the night of the full moon, if you look down into it with a devout wish, your wish is sure to be granted." There seemed something forlorn and lost in her voice. "But since I came here, I have looked three times. Why is it that his illness still shows no sign of improvement?"
Zhang Qingyue and Shi Tou looked at each other in amazement. From her looks and her words she was plainly a woman grieving for love, but Shi Tou was far firmer in such matters than Zhang Qingyue. He knit his brows, stepped forward, and at once the wind began to rise in the forest. "Shameless monster!" he roared. "You still dare to lead the world astray! Come here and meet your death!"