劍問蒼天 - 第50章 玄火鑑 - 翰墨軒

In the distance, in the darkness of the woods, Zhou Yixuan and Xiaowan crept stealthily behind the tall trees, watching the crowd in the clearing from the shadows.

Xiaowan frowned and whispered, "Grandfather, instead of running for your life, why did you double back to this dangerous place to watch the fun?"

Zhou Yixuan kept his eyes fixed on the clearing and whispered, "I've long heard that these demon caves are often full of treasure, only I never had a way in before. Today, by good fortune, all these people have opened the road for us. How could I not come and take a look? There might be something to skim off the top."

Xiaowan's fair, powdered face turned sour. "And what if we don't get anything to skim, but run into a demon instead?"

Zhou Yixuan turned back with a chuckle and said, "No matter, no matter! Your grandfather carries the peerless arts secretly passed down by Patriarch Canglanzi himself—the Earth Escape, the Water Escape, the Thousand-Mile Escape. Absolutely no problem..."

Xiaowan said under her breath, "Hmph. It's plainly the art of running off when a swindle fails, and you call it peerless!"

Zhou Yixuan paid no heed to his granddaughter's words and went on smugly, "And didn't you read Grandfather's fortune once? You said my forehead was full, with a vein of gold between my brows, and that the wealth line in my palm was straight and thick—the very mark of a man destined for great riches. Heh heh, tonight it will come true. Xiaowan, Grandfather has great faith in your physiognomy!"

Xiaowan: "..."

"Eh?" Zhou Yixuan suddenly seemed startled and turned his head toward the clearing. Zhang Qingyue had already closed in, the black iron staff glinting dark as he charged at the soft, alluring woman.

"The Supreme Mystery Pure Dao! This youth is actually of the Canglan sect."

"What?" Xiaowan's interest was instantly roused, and she too looked toward the clearing, where demonic cries rose loud and the two sides fought on without pause. She asked Zhou Yixuan, "So he shares our ancestor, does he? Is he strong?"

Zhou Yixuan gazed intently. The money-grubbing grin faded little by little from his face, his expression growing calm. He frowned and said, "The youth is not old, but his cultivation seems already to have reached the fifth level of the Jade Purity Realm. Strange..."

Xiaowan glanced at her grandfather. Others might not know, but she did: Zhou Yixuan was greedy for money, yet he had drifted all his life, and his discernment was no small thing. She said, "You'd never guess this one was such a prodigy."

Zhou Yixuan was silent a moment, then shook his head slightly. "As for this youth's natural endowment, I wouldn't call it poor, but at best it is above average. He is certainly no world-splitting genius like Patriarch Qingye of old. By rights, with his endowment, his progress in the cultivation of the Dao should never be this fast!"

Xiaowan was taken aback and for a moment did not know what to say. She could only turn her head and keep watching the clearing.

On the ground Shi Tou shouted in fury, golden light flashing, and the demons shrank away on every side. But Zhang Qingyue leaped into the air, the black iron staff alternating green light and black, and charged the soft, alluring woman.

The woman fixed her water-like eyes on him alone and swept out a long snow-white sleeve, which met the black iron staff head-on. The two rushed forward, and in the blink of an eye—whether by design or not—they were pressed close together.

Zhang Qingyue was startled. That soft, utterly enchanting face was close enough to touch, a faint, hidden fragrance drifting to him, and in the night those stirring eyes, beautiful as agate and jade, mirrored his own figure. For a moment he could not keep his heart from wavering.

"You—in that well, what did you see?" Even at this critical moment of the duel, the woman's voice seemed still gentle and somewhat beguiling, slipping softly into his ear.