Chapter 53 — The Strange Beast
劍問蒼天 · Page 3 of 6
Those two beams of light were, of course, Shitou and Bili. Seeing that they had caught up with the Three-Tailed Demon Fox, their hearts leaped with joy—though Bili, more cautious, noticed that Zhang Qingyue was nowhere in sight, and her heart sank with worry. But before the two of them could steady themselves, in response to the demon fox's actions, a fierce wind suddenly rose within the great stone cave, and another enormous tentacle burst forth, lashing at them with a thunderous crash.
Trapped in the darkness, Zhang Qingyue was dragged ever deeper by the tentacle. Along the way he was battered against the stone walls of the cave, and it seemed to twist through several turns. Though he was not left broken and bleeding, he was inevitably covered in dust and grime—though in a place where he could not see his hand before his face, no one could see it anyway.
How much deeper he was dragged, he could not tell. He only felt the stench growing thicker and thicker, while all around was pitch-black, without a glimmer of light, so that he could make out nothing of his surroundings. Fortunately, though the giant tentacle still bound him tight, the Three-Tailed Demon Fox seemed to have given an order not to harm him for the moment, and the tentacle did not tighten further, so Zhang Qingyue was granted a brief chance to catch his breath.
At last the giant tentacle came to a stop. In a pitch-black place it ceased to move, yet still held Zhang Qingyue fast.
Zhang Qingyue gasped for breath, his soul still shaken.
Darkness loomed like a mountain before him, endless and immeasurable.
Zhang Qingyue suddenly felt that ahead of him, deep in that darkness, there might well be an inconceivable monster of immense size crouching there. At the thought, a chill ran from head to foot through his entire body.
In this ancient cave, it seemed as though no light had penetrated since the beginning of time—black as ink. Yet this unknown world instilled in him the most ancient and most profound of fears.
The massive tentacle coiled around his body seemed to remind him at every moment of what kind of inconceivable creature he now faced.
Time seemed to congeal.
From somewhere in the distance came faint sounds of fighting and great crashes—low and muffled, yet somehow familiar.
Suddenly, deep in the darkness, something seemed to stir uneasily. Ripples of movement spread through the black. Zhang Qingyue could not see, but a thousand thoughts raced through his mind—was this enormous monster's body here, and had it extended another tentacle to fight Bili and the others outside the cave?
But that thought did not last long. Zhang Qingyue suddenly felt that the tentacle which had ceased to exert force was now, as if startled by something or for some other reason, beginning to tighten again. Though it did so slowly, given the tentacle's immensity, the crushing force was truly like mountains toppling and seas overturning.
Zhang Qingyue's vision went black; agony seized his whole body. He gave a great cry and, regardless of all else, desperately sustained himself with his own Taiji Mystic Clarity Way—but the tentacle was like a vengeful ghost, its force irresistible, and he could not hold out.
He felt his ribs creaking, his blood surging. Zhang Qingyue could hold back no longer; in desperation he resorted to any remedy he could think of, and fiercely set in motion the other half of his secret cultivation—the Buddhist true art 'Great Brahma Prajna,' passed down from the holy monk Puzhao of the Brahma Sound Temple—hoping to withstand it a little longer. But no sooner had he set it in motion than this supreme Buddhist true art and the Canglan Sect's Daoist wondrous art, utterly different in their methods of cultivation and even more so in their manner of channeling qi, immediately began to churn and repel each other within his body like a raging sea. In an instant, every meridian in his body was pierced with agony as if by needles.