Chapter 58 — Heartbreak
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 5 of 7
It turned out that this time the demonic cult had risen with alarming force. Not only had a number of old demons who had lain hidden for years emerged from seclusion, but countless new faces had appeared as well, and their cultivation was by and large far from shallow. Clearly the cult had bided its time all these years, nursing its schemes and moving only when the moment was ripe.
The enemy's strength was considerable, and the orthodox cultivators dared not be negligent. After deliberations with Fanyin Temple and Fenxia Valley, Dao Yan Zhenren, head of Qingyun, dispatched the elite disciples of four of the seven branches under his gate -- Longfeng Peak, Chaoyang Peak, Dazhu Peak, and Xiaozhu Peak -- with Daoist Cangyan of Longfeng Peak and Tian Buhui of Dazhu Peak at their head, supported by several elders and leading scores of Qingyun disciples. Together with Fanyin Temple, Fenxia Valley, and a handful of other orthodox wandering immortals, they had come to Liubo Mountain.
At the first sight of Zhang Qingyue, Tian Buhui was taken aback; though joy showed in his face, he kept it in check. His master's wife Su Wan, however, had fewer scruples; beaming, she drew Zhang Qingyue aside and plied him with endless questions.
Gratitude filled Zhang Qingyue's heart, and looking at his master's wife he nearly burst into tears again. He forced them back and gave a rough account of what had happened. But mindful of Bili's identity, he left out all mention of her and of the Dripping Blood Cave, saying only that he had been trapped in the mountain's belly for days on end and had been fortunate enough at last to find a secret passage and escape.
The listeners all sighed over it -- a true escape from the jaws of death. Among the Dazhu Peak disciples who had come this time were Song Dayi, He Dachuan, Du Biyan, and Tian Lingsu, and from their lips Zhang Qingyue learned that of the eight who had been in the Ten Thousand Bats Ancient Cave that day, Facheng and Fajing of Fanyin Temple and Li Xun and Yan Fei of Fenxia Valley were all safe and sound, and that Qi Hao and Zeng Shuyan too had come through narrowly but unharmed.
The most perilous case was Lu Xueqi, who had fallen with Zhang Qingyue into the Abyss of the Dead. She had been gravely poisoned by the red-eyed boar demon and wounded again in the struggle with the yin spirit tree demon; then, in the great "tidal wave" raised by the sudden coming of the ancient beast, the Black Water Mystic Serpent, she had been struck senseless by the monstrous waves and lay unconscious at the bottom of the abyss. Yet by the blue light of the Tianxuan Divine Sword, which shielded its master, Qi Hao and the others who risked the descent to rescue her actually found Lu Xueqi surrounded by countless yin spirits, and thus snatched her back from the very halls of Yama.
When Lu Xueqi first came to her senses, she said at once that Zhang Qingyue was still alive, down there in the Abyss of the Dead. But the others searched for days without finding a trace. Lu Xueqi's lingering poison was not yet purged and her grave wounds were not yet healed, yet for some reason she insisted on finding Zhang Qingyue. After several days she could hold out no longer, and the others, disregarding her fierce objections, gave up the search and carried her back to Canglan Mountain.
This time the Canglan Sect had come east in force, and of Zhang Qingyue's old acquaintances, all but Zeng Shuyan had joined the expedition.
Tian Lingsu said with a grin, "If Senior Sister Lu Xueqi knew you were safe and sound, she'd be overjoyed. You've no idea how frantic she was down there in the Abyss of the Dead when she couldn't find you!"