Chapter 131 — Parting
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 1 of 6
Qili Tong, the Miao altar.
A new day had come, and even the sunlight falling upon the altar's platform seemed to carry a fresh tang. Ming Li and Xiao Bai stood on the platform before the altar halfway up the mountain, gazing down at the land below, ravaged by the flames of war.
Amid the broken walls and ruined foundations that met the eye everywhere, the Miao folk came and went; seen from such a height, they looked like ants scurrying about their own homes.
Xiao Bai sighed, turned her head, and said to Ming Li standing beside her, "Have you thought this through? The monsters in the Ten Thousand Wild Mountains are not so easily dealt with!"
Ming Li's expression did not change. "I no longer fear even death. What is left to fear?"
Xiao Bai shrugged, smiled faintly, and shook her head. Just then a burst of strange chattering broke out nearby; the two turned to look, and there came Xiao Hui running toward them—though its gait was somewhat odd.
A moment later, their eyes fell at the same instant upon the monkey's hands. In each hand Xiao Hui carried a large sack—the very wine sacks the Miao used for holding liquor.
Ming Li was stunned for a good while, then slowly turned to look at Xiao Bai. Xiao Bai smiled bitterly. "Do not look at me. I have no idea either."
Xiao Hui quickly came near. Its expression was utterly unlike the heavy-hearted look of its master and Xiao Bai; plainly it was in high spirits, grinning so wide its mouth would not close, and a faint scent of wine drifted from the two great sacks in its hands. The sacks bulged full, evidently stuffed with Miao strong liquor—very different from the small remnant of a single sack left after the drinking contest of a few days past.
The day before, while Ming Li, Xiao Bai, and the Great Shaman had been deep in discussion, the monkey Xiao Hui had grown thoroughly bored waiting in that gloomy altar. Monkeys are lively by nature, and it could not endure it; it slipped quietly out. Ming Li, his mind full of weighty matters and caught between alarm and joy, had not even noticed Xiao Hui's departure.
Xiao Hui, without quite knowing how, had recalled the fine wine it had drunk that day and its craving had surged. So it stole down the mountain into Qili Tong. After the fierce battle the Miao homesteads lay in ruins and all was busy and chaotic; and since Xiao Hui looked to be nothing more than a gray-furred monkey, who would pay it any mind? After several searches, amid the confusion, the monkey actually found two great sacks of unopened strong liquor in the ruins.
Where Xiao Hui had hidden those two sacks through the whole of the previous night, no one knew; but this morning, just as they were about to set out, the monkey had darted off and dragged the two sacks back, plainly intending to savor them along the road.
Only now, seeing that the faces of its master Ming Li and of Xiao Bai were both somewhat strange, Xiao Hui was puzzled; it opened its monkey eyes wide and looked at the two of them. After a moment Xiao Bai covered her mouth and gave a soft laugh, saying to Ming Li, "Forget it. You have agreed to do the Miao such a great service—even taking... er, taking two sacks of their wine hardly counts for anything!"
Before she finished speaking, she was laughing at herself. Ming Li shook his head and slowly turned away, leaving Xiao Hui to stare with its monkey eyes, first at Xiao Bai, then at Ming Li; it set down one sack, freed a hand to scratch its head, and looked rather bewildered.
Deep within the altar, the Miao chieftain Tu Magu and the Great Shaman sat facing one another, and no one else was near.
Tu Magu was silent a long while, and the Great Shaman did not speak either; a suffocating air hung in the space between them. At last Tu Magu's expression shifted, and as though he could hold back no longer, he said, "Great Shaman, your wounds are so grave—why must you still go with these two men of the Central Plains?"