Chapter 108 — Stealth
劍問蒼天 · Page 4 of 6
Ming Li smiled faintly and was about to say something when his body suddenly shuddered, and a look of bewilderment came into his eyes.
Those words, that voice, that brimming smile—suddenly they churned in his mind. The night was deep and dark, the night wind cold, yet his heart gave a sudden pang, heaving like the waves of a furious sea.
Once upon a time, he too had heard such words.
They belonged to years long sealed away in the past, yet in an unguarded moment they surged up in his heart.
A clear little stream, glittering with light, a brimming smile, the whisper of the wind…
On Kongsang Mountain, behind the cliff, two people fresh from the jaws of death sat around a fire, also roasting meat.
That smiling figure in water-green robes suddenly overwhelmed him, seizing every crevice of his soul, and he trembled beyond his control.
Bili…
"Delicious! The best thing I've ever eaten in my life is this hare you're roasting now."
That sentence from those years echoed faintly in his mind, slowly turning into a thorn, into a needle, piercing his heart.
…
"Young master? Young master?" A voice tinged with surprise sounded at his ear, drawing Ming Li back to reality.
Jin Pingyue had risen at some point; her left hand still held the stick, but her right had somehow slipped into her sleeve.
Ming Li's eyes narrowed. He drew a deep breath, steadied his mind, and said at once, "I'm fine."
Jin Pingyue looked at him deeply, the light in her eyes shifting. "Young master, why is your face so pale? Is something the matter?"
Ming Li met her gaze and suddenly smiled faintly. "What could be the matter with me?"
Jin Pingyue regarded him, and the faint sharpness in her eyes slowly receded. The alluring look surfaced once more in her brows, and she smiled. "So long as the young master is well."
A sudden irritation rose in Ming Li's heart, though he showed nothing on his face. He was about to say something when Little Grey, who had been quiet at his side, suddenly stirred and turned to look back.
Ming Li and Jin Pingyue both sensed something at once and rose to look south. There in the southern sky, above the quiet Fenxia Valley ringed by mountains, a shrill cry suddenly came from afar; a bolt of red light shot up into the heavens, lighting a swath of sky before slowly falling.
Light kindled in the eyes of both Ming Li and Jin Pingyue at the same moment.
Within Fenxia Valley, the lamps that had been extinguished for the night's depth now lit up one by one.
Voices rose near and far, mingled with a few low, irate curses from those roused from sleep. But amid this swelling clamor, furious shouts mixed with eerie roars like the bellowing of wild beasts drifted in from the valley's entrance.
Moments later, the sounds of fighting carried over; at the same time, crisp bells and alarm gongs echoed above the valley. At this dead of night, an enemy had forced their way into Fenxia Valley.
Having arrived without a sound and hidden on another peak, Ming Li and Jin Pingyue watched the lights at the valley entrance and the figures hurrying there from within, and both were secretly startled.
Who on earth would dare so brazenly affront Fenxia Valley, one of the foremost orthodox sects under heaven? Even they, two outstanding masters of the Devil Sect's new generation, had thought only of slipping in unnoticed, faced with the hidden dragons and crouching tigers within.
When they had first arrived, Jin Pingyue had not been able to resist asking softly, "Could it be your Hades King Sect?"
Ming Li naturally denied it, but for all his pondering he truly could not think of any power in the world besides the Devil Sect that would be so arrogant and bold.
In the darkness Fenxia Valley was a hubbub of voices; even now, figures kept streaming toward the valley entrance. By the look of it, the situation there had not calmed but was worsening.