Chapter 86 — King's Village
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 4 of 7
As he spoke, in the eyes that had been turned away from Qing Long all this while, a cold light seemed to flash, known to no one; yet his tone did not change in the slightest. "His temper is enduring and stubborn, unyielding—which is greatly to his benefit on the path of cultivation. And yet I still suspect that there may be some other cause behind it."
Qing Long frowned. "Could he still have some secret?"
The Ghost King shook his head. "You should know that he carries within him the Daoist true methods of the Canglan Sect and the Great Brahma Prajna of the Brahma Voice Temple?"
Qing Long nodded. "I do."
The Ghost King said slowly, "From what I have observed in secret, he has not only achieved mastery in the true methods of the Heavenly Book of our holy sect, but has advanced by leaps and bounds in the Canglan Sect's Supreme Mystery of the Ultimate Purity and the Buddhist Great Brahma Prajna as well. Do these three true methods somehow reinforce one another in secret?"
He turned and smiled at Qing Long. "With his cultivation as it now stands, and that strange magic weapon of his, the Soul-Devourer, even you with the Heaven-and-Earth Pure Light Ring would have, I fear, only a fifty-fifty chance."
Qing Long smiled faintly. "I am old. I cannot match the young."
The Ghost King laughed suddenly and clapped him on the shoulder. "Nonsense!" Smiling, he said unhurriedly, "I saw even then that this youth was no creature of the common pond, and his achievements now surpass even what I imagined. If the Ghost King Faction has such a man to succeed to it, its future is beyond measure. Only..."
The Ghost King stood with hands behind his back, then suddenly broke off and walked to the edge of the pavilion, gazing out.
Qing Long stood quietly beside him, looking toward the Ghost King. On that frame which held such heavy power there now seemed suddenly to rest a faint desolation, silently conveying what had not been said.
Bi Li...
Three days later, Ming Li left the Fox Cinnabar Mountains and headed southwest. With him he took the monkey Xiao Hui, and the Wild Wolf Daoist followed at his side as well. At first the Wild Wolf Daoist had no wish to go to that perilous place, the Deathmoor, but Ming Li merely said flatly, "After I leave, I guarantee you that the Fox Cinnabar Mountains here will be a hundred times more perilous than that marsh. Do you believe me?"
At those words the Wild Wolf Daoist's face went white at once. His mouth was still full of brave talk, but his feet had already followed him out.
The vast land of Shenzhou is boundless, and of it the Central Plains are naturally the most prosperous. Beyond the Central Plains, to the north lies the frozen, bitter northern ice plain, where men rarely set foot; to the east, the boundless sea; and to the south, beyond the Central Plains, rise the Hundred Thousand Wild Mountains, towering at the frontier and stretching without end, a country of harsh peaks and savage waters, of miasmas and poisons beyond counting, and, legend says, of grotesque and uncanny wild barbarians who eat their meat raw and drink blood, cruel beyond measure.
And to the west of Shenzhou lie two great perilous lands. In the northwest is a vast and desolate gobi, called by the world the "Barbarian Wastes," where no rain falls for a hundred years and the climate is utterly dry; here and there a few oases remain, but most are held by savage beasts, so that for an ordinary man to enter is simply to court death. And rumor says that deep in the wastes stands a vast holy temple—the auspicious ground of the demon cult.