Chapter 72 — Desperate Straits
劍問蒼天 · Page 3 of 11
That brief check by Zhang Qingyue brought Tian Lingsu back to her senses; pale as a sheet, she tried to retreat. But Kui Niu, having been tricked by these humans tonight—who knew how many thousand years it had lived, yet surely it had never suffered such an affront—was in a towering rage, and cared nothing for who stood before it; it meant to kill first and vent its fury after.
Before Tian Lingsu had drawn back even half a step, just managing to summon the amber-red silk and about to take flight, that dreadful bloody maw came snapping down at her once more.
In the distance the crowd cried out in alarm; the pale-faced Su Wan and Qi Hao both rushed forward, and Tian Buhui, foremost of all, came flying like lightning—but they were too far away; a matter of several zhang, and rescue was beyond reach.
Yet Tian Lingsu was no common sort after all, and would not wilt and await death. In desperation she swept her hands again and again; the amber-red silk, like a red dragon coursing across the sky, shielded her overhead—if only she could hold the beast off a moment, there might be a gap to flee through. And Zhang Qingyue, nearest to her, hurled himself forward once more.
Perhaps because the red glow of the amber-red silk somewhat resembled the red light of the Enclosure, the beast's eyes blazed with even greater fury; with roars of "Gan-ao! Gan-ao!" it came biting down like Mount Tai itself crushing the summit.
At the first contact the outcome was plain: the amber-red silk was borne straight down beneath that vast maw. Tian Lingsu's face went stark white, her knees gave way, and she was forced down to sit upon the ground, dust billowing up around her. Yet out of the corner of her eye she saw Zhang Qingyue already at her side, and she cried urgently: "Xiaofan, get away, quickly!"
Zhang Qingyue knew better than anyone how savage this marvel-beast was, and that to stand against it was death with no hope of life—yet in that moment when heaven and earth changed color, when wind and cloud shifted, before that monstrous beast, this fragile woman had cried out to him in such anguish.
Get away, quickly—
The wind blew upon his face.
As if deep in his heart, something surged and thrilled!
That face, that form so familiar since childhood, was there before him now; the times etched into his heart through all the years past churned and would not still.
What drives you to madness? What fills you with pain?
Did he remember the grieving skeleton in the Blood-Drip Cave?
Did he remember the demon fox that leaped with him into the molten rock beneath the Fire Dragon Cave?
He drew deep breaths, deep, gasping breaths.
Heaven and earth, the whole world, were utterly still.
He gripped tight the Dark Iron Staff, clenched his teeth—and that youth's figure charged forward.
Charged forward just like that, reckless of all things, tore in between the monstrous beast and Tian Lingsu, flung wide his arms and roared aloud—like a warrior going to death, like a hero of sorrow, become one with the Dark Iron Staff, as though eight hundred years of time had come again!
For whom does the heart break?
For whom does one go mad?
Amid Kui Niu's furious roars, he too was roaring; the Dark Iron Staff blazed with a radiance never seen before, like a flame that burned his very life as its fuel, blazing fiercely!
With a thunderous crash—
Across the sky, a startling thunderclap rolled, shaking the firmament!
Zhang Qingyue's knees buckled; blood welled from all seven openings of his head and trickled silently down, dripping onto the Dark Iron Staff.
The stunned Tian Lingsu suddenly felt herself grow light, and was flung backward—Tian Buhui had come at last and pulled her clear. When he turned back in frantic haste, he saw, plain as day, that Zhang Qingyue was already pinned beneath Kui Niu's body.