Chapter 120 — Seven-Mile Vale
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 5 of 5
The Miao soldiers seemed not to have expected such fury from these Miao women, who were angrier even than the warriors, who must be of the truest faith in the gods to be deemed worthy of guarding the altar—so deep was their loathing for these outsiders who had insulted it, that the slightest word in their defense earned a beating with staves.
The foremost Miao soldier seemed to be the leader of those dozen or so. He glanced at the young men still floundering miserably in the river, cleared his throat, and looked at Ming Li and Xiaobai, his face turning to frost. He did not so much as glance at Xiaobai, but fixed his gaze dead upon Ming Li, as though afraid the man might slip away, or afraid his own eyes might slide aside and leave matters unclear and unexplained. "Haha lulu jilili, guala jili hululu!" he bellowed in fury.
Ming Li too was greatly anxious. Though he knew not why a host of Miao women had suddenly rushed together in the crowd and seized several young Miao to beat them soundly and fling them into the river, he supposed the Miao were a strange people with strange customs aplenty, and thought no more of it.
But as things stood he could not make himself understood to these Miao, and just now he had unwittingly given offense against a Miao taboo and roused their anger. He watched the Miao gather thicker and thicker around them. Though he and Xiaobai were both cultivators and feared not these Miao for all their numbers and bulk, yet he had no choice but to seek a favor of this Miao tribe.
These ten years he had gone from hope to disappointment and well-nigh to despair, and the pain of it had been bitter indeed. Now that so fair a hope had suddenly been rekindled, he would not lightly let it go for anything. Yet now words failed him, and he dared not resort to gestures, lest he fail to make himself understood—or, worse, unwittingly give offense against some other Miao taboo, which would be injustice indeed.
He stood there: to force his way was no good, to turn back he was even less willing. Caught between, he was thoroughly embarrassed.
And the Miao around them, seeing these two persist in their error without the least remorse, still standing in the same spot without a word—the man at least showing some anxiety, but the woman, perversely, smiling ever more brightly, seeming positively delighted to be gaped at by the crowd, her smile growing more bewitching by the moment, and in the midst of it she even smiled at several Miao men who had been staring at her all the while, instantly leaving them dazed and dizzy.
This sight, falling upon the eyes of the Miao women around, set them off like a pan of oil on the fire. This was beyond all bearing. The clamor grew louder and louder, till Ming Li and his companion were all but drowned in spittle.
The crowd was on the verge of breaking loose, the multitude of Miao women about to rush forward and give that flirtatious little vixen a proper lesson, and in the name of the gods upon the altar work off a good measure of their own spite, when a great shout came from behind the warriors guarding the mountain road.
The voice was deep and mighty beyond measure, and it bore down the clamor of all those many people; and it was full of authority. The Miao around them seemed to know the voice as well, for all at once they fell silent and looked up the mountain. Plainly this man commanded great prestige among the Miao.