劍問蒼天 - 第58章 傷心 - 翰墨軒

Bili could not at first make out what it was and dared not take it head-on; she checked her flight, and her right hand beckoned in the wind. Between fingers like jade appeared a small, pure white blossom—her prized treasure, the Heartbreak Flower.

At her incantation the Heartbreak Flower rose into the air and checked the strange thing. Bili looked closely and did not know whether to be angry or amused: the object before her was a six-faced cube, dotted on every side with numbers—it was a die. She had never thought the righteous path could harbor such a renegade magic treasure; it was rare indeed.

The white light of the Heartbreak Flower pressed forward and drove Du Biyan's die back a full fathom. Plainly Du Biyan was no match for Bili. Yet though his cultivation fell short of Song Dayi's, he was far quicker of wit: seeing his power insufficient, he did not force the issue but sent up his other two dice to harry her, dancing high and low.

The three dice flew swift as lightning, one striking high, one darting low, wheeling and turning, covering left and right. They could not break within the Heartbreak Flower's compass, but neither could Bili force her way through for a time; and in that brief delay, Song Dayi behind her had already charged up again.

Bili had crossed blades with Song Dayi already and knew the depth of his cultivation; in single combat she might not have beaten him. Add to that the sly fellow in front of her, and standing to one side the "Ling'er shijie" Zhang Qingyue had spoken of—she reckoned she would gain nothing by staying tonight. She threw one last look toward Zhang Qingyue, and cursed in her heart: "You wretch!"

Song Dayi was about to give chase when the sorceress dueling with Du Biyan suddenly hurtled backward through the air. The flower in her hand burst into a thousand strange blooms that blotted out the sky, and he started in alarm, hastily gathering his wits to guard himself. But it was only one of Bili's feints; amid the myriad flowers her green figure shot skyward and sped away.

Song Dayi was just about to pursue when he heard Du Biyan call out, "Eldest Brother, don't chase her."

Song Dayi came to his senses, quickly sheathed his immortal sword, and ran with the others toward Zhang Qingyue.

On Liubo Mountain in the East Sea, the island's peaks rose grand and perilous, and it covered a vast expanse of land. In sheer size it could well be counted first among all the islands and mountain ranges of the East Sea, yet because it lay in a remote corner where human traces were rare, its fame fell far short of the East Sea's other two celebrated mountain islands -- "Mount Penglai" and "the Isle of Yama."

But at this moment Liubo Mountain was enjoying the greatest bustle it had known since ancient times. For days on end, figures of the demonic path had been searching the mountain for something. Vast as the mountain was, cultivators came and went on their swords with such speed that encounters happened without warning. The two sides were bound by bitter, age-old hatred; the moment they laid eyes on one another they hurled their magic treasures, and blow answered blow until the din shook the heavens. Comrades and fellow disciples rushed in to help, and the affair turned into a general brawl, with countless magic treasures -- some dazzling bright, some sinister and venomous -- flying to and fro above Liubo Mountain.

For several days running, each side lost a dozen or so of its number, and numberless little peaks and hillocks on Liubo Mountain were innocently sheared flat or blasted to rubble.

Since joining Tian Lingsu and the others that night, Zhang Qingyue had at last been led by them to where Liubo Mountain stood, and there he saw his master Tian Buhui and his master's wife Su Wan.