Chapter 120 — Seven-Mile Vale
劍問蒼天 · Page 4 of 5
Ming Li was struck dumb, at a loss for a moment what to do. In truth, for Bilu's sake he had these ten years been running east and west, seeking the whereabouts of the Black Sorcerer Tribe everywhere. Now that at long last he had some thread of a clue, to be stopped by these Miao warriors—his heart was restless beyond measure, and he truly wished to simply bowl these men over, charge into the altar, and find that great sorcerer, that he might heal Bilu.
Yet he was no longer the callow youth he had once been, ignorant of the ways of the world. He knew that at this moment he must on no account act rashly, for should matters come to a head, it would likely defeat his purpose. After a moment's hesitation, then, since words failed him, he pointed with his hand toward the altar halfway up the mountainside and said in a gentle voice, "We wish to go up to your altar and have audience with the great sorcerer."
Whether the Miao understood his words was unknown, but the gesture of pointing at the altar on the mountainside instantly roused the fury of every Miao around them, including the warriors standing farther off and the Miao who had followed them to gape. All at once they began shouting curses, and the Miao warriors came surging up with a great clamor, surrounding the two of them.
Ming Li was startled. Xiaobai said in a low voice at his side, "Oh no. You may have committed some great taboo of the Miao."
Ming Li asked in wonder, "What did I do?"
Xiaobai looked at the angry crowd around them and said quietly, "In Miao eyes the altar is a sacred place that may not be violated. Even in ordinary speech it is not lightly mentioned; to point at it with the finger is a grave disrespect—among the Miao, the greatest of insults."
Ming Li glared at her and said crossly, "A matter of such importance, and you never thought to tell me sooner?"
Xiaobai gave a light laugh, a faint tenderness seeming to show through. "You should consider," she said softly, "I was shut away three hundred years. How would I remember so much..."
Ming Li was struck dumb again, and for a moment his head ached beyond measure.
The Miao around them, seeing the two surrounded, yet showed no sign of fear; on the contrary, they stood there calm and at ease, conversing in low voices. The man seemed somewhat anxious, but the woman did not regard the Miao about her in the least, smiling sweetly and casting sparkling glances all around.
Many Miao women stood about, and seeing Xiaobai's elegant beauty there in the midst of the crowd, each secretly envied her. But when they saw the greater number of Miao men staring at Xiaobai with eyes aglow, the whole gathering was stirred, and in a trice a jabber of voices rose on every side, as though this shameless pair had insulted the sacred altar and deserved no pardon, but rather a thousand cuts and a lingering death by slicing.
Among them a few young men could not hold their tongues and argued a word or two: it was the man who had insulted the altar, and the woman was hardly at fault; better to kill the man and keep the woman—she would make a fine wife and all...
Before they had finished speaking, these young men were swallowed up in the crowd of Miao women—by their mothers, elder sisters, younger sisters, aunts, third cousins, sixth cousins, and even Miao women they had never known—some kicking with their feet, some seizing hair, some clawing ears, some pounding eyes, some butting with shoulders, in short, a whole heaven of hands and feet descending at once, and a bedlam of wails rising forthwith. A moment later came a series of splashes, one after another, as these men, black and blue and swollen of face, were flung into the stream, throwing up great gouts of spray.
The fierceness of Miao women—one glimpse suffices.