劍問蒼天 - 第93章 瘴氣 - 翰墨軒

The wind swept across the Dead Marsh.

Beneath his feet the water grasses swayed, ripples spreading across the water. As far as the eye could see, the expanse had no end; though there was no trace of human life or smoke from hearths, it possessed a beauty all its own.

Shihun gave off a faint dark-blue glow, its light turning and flowing as it hovered in midair. Ming Li stood upon it, hands clasped behind his back, gazing ahead.

This day was one of the rare fine days in the Dead Marsh. Warm sunlight shone down, and the former gloom had largely dispersed. Yet a few dozen zhang ahead of him lay a dense, gray, fog-like expanse of immense miasma, billowing up in vast surges, stretching left and right, so high its top could not be seen, writhing and churning against itself as though it had no boundary at all.

This was the inner marsh of the Dead Marsh—one of the most perilous places in the world!

The monkey perched on his shoulder, Xiao Hui, gave a low, uneasy cry.

Ming Li reached up and patted Xiao Hui gently. The monkey quieted, though its bright, quick eyes remained fixed on the miasma ahead. Just then a whistle suddenly sounded behind him, and a streak of light came flying like lightning.

Ming Li shifted, and Shihun, as though reading his mind, slowly turned about.

The light halted abruptly before him. It bore a young man riding the air, with sword-like brows slanting toward his temples and a gaze bright and sharp. In a flash he was before Ming Li and bowed. "Deputy Sect Master, everything has been arranged."

Ming Li did not ask what everything referred to; presumably he already knew full well. He nodded slightly. "Good. Then I leave this place to you." Having said so, he seemed to recall something more. "Yan Hui."

The man called Yan Hui said, "What is it?"

Ming Li glanced behind him. "You have always been calm, and I trust you. But the Slaughtering Monk has a violent temper and kills too readily. With every faction gathered here in the Dead Marsh, he must not act rashly. Keep him well in hand."

Yan Hui smiled faintly. "Rest assured, Deputy Sect Master. Slaughtering Monk may look down on everyone, but he has never dared defy your orders, and I will restrain him as well."

Ming Li looked at him and nodded, about to turn away, when Yan Hui suddenly said, "Deputy Sect Master, there is one more matter."

Ming Li regarded him. Yan Hui pondered a moment, then urged his artifact forward to draw near Ming Li and lowered his voice. "A message just came from the main hall. Two of the Four Holy Envoys—the elders Azure Dragon and Vermilion Bird—set out toward the Dead Marsh several days ago."

Ming Li's expression shifted slightly, but he at once composed himself. After a moment of silence he said, "There is no need to spread this about. You will carry on as usual and wait quietly to see how matters unfold."

Yan Hui bowed his head. "Yes."

With that he bowed to Ming Li and turned to go.

Ming Li watched Yan Hui's figure disappear, then slowly turned back, his gaze falling once more upon the vast miasma before him. After a long while he said suddenly, "Xiao Hui, let us go."

Xiao Hui, crouched on his shoulder, raised a paw and scratched its head, chittering twice.

Ming Li smiled faintly. Shihun's light flared, and man and monkey dissolved into the dark-blue radiance, soaring forward into that immense wall of miasma.

The instant they entered, all light around them vanished in a heartbeat. The bright sky of moments before was gone without a trace; only a gray, boundless haze of miasma remained on every side, so thick that the eye could not see even half a zhang.

Almost at the very moment Ming Li entered the miasma, Shihun's dark-blue radiance blazed up, surging from beneath and rising to form a ring of light that shielded Ming Li and Xiao Hui securely. The miasma churned endlessly around them but could not encroach upon that ring by so much as a hair.