Chapter 98 — The Giant Tree
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 2 of 6
They stood thus for a long time, yet the distance between them seemed now to have widened a little more. The morning light spilled over the face of that peerlessly beautiful woman, slowly radiating a beauty that stirred the soul; the faint, floating mist of the woods seemed drawn to her, too, and swirled softly around her.
In that instant, her face seemed to blur a little as well.
Lu Xueling turned, took a step, and without another word walked deeper into that shroud of mist, leaving the man behind her.
Only, just as her figure was fading into the mist, the voice of the man behind her came drifting, slow and measured: "Will you kill me?"
Her figure vanished into the white fog; no one could see her eyes anymore, her expression, her body.
In that silence-bound morning, how long it was before her wandering voice came from the mist, none could say: "I will. So when you can kill me, don't hold back either..."
The day was now fully bright, yet walking within the mist still felt dim and murky. The fog in this place was far thicker than anywhere else, and one's sight could not reach far.
Walking through the woods, Ming Li had already noticed that apart from the fog, this place, though still forest, was vastly different from the world outside. Aside from the tall trees still standing erect within the mist, the ground held little of the dense brush and brambles of the outer forest—perhaps because the fog here was too thick and the sunlight could not reach through.
But the strangest thing of all was that the countless venomous insects, fierce beasts, and rare flowers and herbs that had once covered the Dead Marsh woods had suddenly vanished. Ming Li had walked this stretch of forest for at least half an hour and had not seen a single venomous insect.
It seemed there was no animal life here at all—a dead, lifeless desolation.
Ming Li frowned and walked on. Little Grey on his shoulder had fallen quiet now, its paws clutching tightly at his clothing, though its bright, clever eyes still darted this way and that, ceaselessly scanning the surroundings. With no brambles or brush, and none of those troublesome poisonous insects and strange beasts, walking on the ground felt much easier. Since entering the inner marsh, this was the first time.
Lu Xueling had entered the mist before him; Ming Li had deliberately lingered outside it for a long while before going in, and now he had no idea where she might be.
Yet as he walked on through the woods, carefully watching for any strange movement that might appear, her white-robed figure kept slipping unbidden into his mind.
"Come back..." Ming Li murmured to himself, in a voice only he could hear, softly repeating those four words.
Canglan Mountain, Dazhu Peak, the Shoujing Hall, the little courtyard, the bamboo grove...
His lips moved slightly, bringing forth a faintly bitter smile, and he said, "I can't go back anymore, can I, Little Grey?"
"Cheep cheep!" The monkey Little Grey gave two soft cries; what it meant, no one could tell.
Ming Li reached out and stroked Little Grey. A moment later he suddenly rallied his spirits, gave a carefree laugh, and strode on into the depths of the mist.
Another small half-hour of walking, and the trees in the forest grew thicker and thicker, until nearly all around there were giant trunks too big for two men to encircle. Ming Li surveyed his surroundings, secretly alarmed.
In these ten years, spurred by that battle on Canglan Mountain and subtly shaped by the Blood-devouring Bead and the Soul Devourer at his side, he had not only devoted himself to cultivation until his temper grew ever more savage and bloodthirsty, but had also studied other disciplines under the Underworld King. And this generation's Underworld King was truly a talent the world rarely produced—not only was his cultivation marvelously high, but his mind held a vast erudition, encompassing all things.