Chapter 114 — Breakout
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 3 of 7
Her voice broke off abruptly. She lay flat on the ground, utterly still. In that moment all seemed to fall silent around her, yet in her mind it was like a raging, billowing sea, and a glimmer of light flickered amid those waves, now visible, now gone. She strained with all her might to seize it, to remember it.
Slowly she raised her head and cautiously looked toward the statue of the Heaven-Bane Ming King on her right, again and again. A thought was shouting loudly in her heart: "No—no, something is missing from this idol…"
She stared and stared, not daring even to breathe. At last her gaze came to rest on the statue's empty right hand.
She sprang to her feet, unable to contain her joy any longer, and cried out loud, "The Heaven-Splitting Axe! That's it—where has the Heaven-Splitting Axe gone?"
According to demon-sect legend, the Holy Mother of the Dark Void was the deity who nurtured the countless living things of the world, while the Heaven-Bane Ming King was the fierce god who split heaven from earth and held sway over punishment—quite different from the ancient tradition of the giant deity Pangu who created the world. Legend held that the Heaven-Bane Ming King bore in his hand a "Great Axe that Splits Heaven," and so later generations, when carving his image, invariably gave it the same great axe. Yet the statue before her had an empty right hand. Bili knew well that within the demon sect, the Heaven-Bane Ming King was one of the two great honored deities—no one would ever have deliberately shown him disrespect. And the Blood-Refining Hall, which had built this Blood-Drip Cave, was itself a faction of the demon sect. There had to be a reason behind it.
Zhang Qingyue had returned to the stone chamber and sat on the platform in silence, just then thinking fondly of the old friends on Great Zhu Peak, when he saw Bili rush in, her face alight with joy. Seeing him sitting there, she cried out, "If you want to live, come here quickly!"
"What?" Startled, Zhang Qingyue saw Bili dash like a gust of wind into the treasure chamber on the right. He hesitated a moment, but in the end the longing for life won out and he followed her in. He had no sooner stepped into the chamber than he heard Bili give a cheer of triumph. He saw her laboriously pick up a huge axe cast of iron from a pile of scrap metal. From the way she strained, it must have been exceedingly heavy.
Zhang Qingyue ran over and helped her support the great axe. Sure enough, it was extremely heavy in his hand—even the two of them together could scarcely manage it. Astonished, he asked, "What are you doing?"
Bili did not waste words on him. She said flatly, "If you want to live, help me carry this iron axe over to the idols."
Zhang Qingyue drew a sharp breath and exclaimed in alarm, "You—what are you going to do?"
Bili could not be bothered to explain further; she dragged the axe along and set off, but before she had taken many steps her strength gave out and she was gasping for breath. Zhang Qingyue shook his head and sighed, yet in the end he still went over. The two of them together, expending every ounce of effort, finally hauled the axe into the stone chamber where the statue stood. Then Zhang Qingyue rolled his eyes and, with the greatest reluctance, heard Bili say that this heavy brute of a thing still had to be fitted into the evil god's hands.
Zhang Qingyue had harbored grave misgivings from the start, and now that he heard they were to do service for the demon cult's evil deity, his spirits sank at once. Yet he could not overcome Bili; watching her, drenched in sweat, straining away all alone, his heart softened, and he thought that before they died, he might as well grant her one wish. So he stepped forward and threw all his strength into helping her.