劍問蒼天 - 第52章 火龍 - 翰墨軒

Though the two of them were still a good ten feet from Zhou Yixuan and Xiaowan, the man's wave had set a magical artifact, shaped like a jade ruler and of pure, warm luster, against Zhou Yixuan's neck, while the beautiful woman at the same time controlled a cyan immortal sword at a distance, holding Xiaowan in check. Poor Xiaowan, scared pale, still clutching her candied hawthorn skewer, had already burst out crying. "Demon brother, demon sister, don't eat me! I'm small and there's little meat on me—I won't taste good. If you must eat someone, eat my grandfather!"

Zhou Yixuan nearly fell over. "Dead girl!" he raged. "I've raised you all these years for nothing! Who'd have thought—at the moment of life and death, you'd sell out your own grandfather!"

Xiaowan said, her voice thick with tears, "Grandfather, don't blame me. After you're dead, at least I'll still bring you a skewer of candied hawthorn now and then..."

Zhou Yixuan stormed, "Nonsense! All my life I've loathed nothing so much as these sweet, cloying things! If you're going to offer anything, offer beggar's chicken, steamed dream fish, something of that sort!"

Xiaowan nodded. "Grandfather, I'll remember. You can go in peace."

Zhou Yixuan breathed a sigh of relief. "That's more like it. Then I can go with an easy mind... Wait, wait!" He suddenly came to his senses, beard and brows bristling. "Dead girl, easy mind about what? Go where? You heartless—I'll—"

Listening to Zhou Yixuan rattle on and on without pause, pouring out a torrent of scolding at Xiaowan, and seeing that by the look of him he would not finish before tomorrow, the two figures, lovely as immortals, both furrowed their brows, exchanged a glance, and at the same time withdrew their magical artifacts.

The woman said, "Senior Brother, I see no demonic aura about them. They don't seem to be demons."

The man said, "True enough." Then he turned to Zhou Yixuan and bellowed—for nothing less would have cut short Zhou Yixuan's long discourse: "Who are you people?"

Zhou Yixuan started, then at once put on a calm and mild expression. "Heh heh, this old one and his granddaughter learned that demons were running rampant here, and came specially to subdue them and rid the people of a scourge."

Xiaowan was struck dumb at his side, and stared at her grandfather—yet Zhou Yixuan stood there composed, his expression utterly unchanged.

But the man looked the two of them up and down, and gave a cold laugh. "Your Daoist arts look shallow to me—I doubt you're a match even for an ordinary little demon. And you still dared come to such a perilous place. You'd best hurry back."

Zhou Yixuan's old face flushed red, and he could only say, "Yes, yes." With that he took Xiaowan by the hand and turned to walk out.

After the old man and the young girl had vanished into the darkness, the man turned and looked at the cliff ahead. "Junior Sister, it seems we must go down."

The beautiful woman said, "Yes. This time heaven truly aids us, letting us learn in that small town that the remnant of the fox demon had hidden herself here in the Black Stone Cave. If we can indeed rid the world of the demon and recover the Mystic Fire Mirror, the Valley Master will be overjoyed."

The man gave a dashing smile. "No time to lose. Let's go."

With that, light blazed forth, and the man and woman, like a flash of lightning, flung themselves down into the bottomless abyss beneath the cliff.

But upon the cliff, in the darkness, a torchlight flickered—and Zhou Yixuan and Xiaowan slowly stepped out once more. They had not, it seemed, gone far at all.

Zhou Yixuan's brows were knit tight. After a moment's thought, he said to Xiaowan, "Those two young people are of excellent aptitude and deep cultivation. Just now I saw a flame emblem embroidered along the edges of their sleeves—I fear they are disciples of the Fenzia Valley."

Xiaowan started. "The Burning Cloud Valley?"