劍問蒼天 - 第135章 異術 - 翰墨軒

The Jade Balance Hall, destroyed in a fierce battle ten years before, had long since been rebuilt, and now it stood magnificent and imposing, grander in scale than ever before. Dozens of great red stone pillars upheld the beams; the roof was of yellow glazed tile, and beneath the sunlight it dazzled the eye in a blaze of splendor.

At the center of the roof rose a spire like a pagoda's tip, a round ring of jasper shaped in the form of a treasure pagoda, thirty-six tiers from large to small, from bottom to top, capped with a yellow stone, translucent and luminous.

The eaves swept out toward the eight directions. On the four sides—east, south, west, north—were carved golden dragons sporting with pearls; on the four corners—southeast, southwest, northwest, northeast—were carved brilliant phoenixes in flight. From the mouths of dragons and phoenixes alike hung glazed wind chimes, swaying with the wind and giving out crisp notes that lent the place an added air of the immortal.

Amid the crane calls and the chiming of bells, Lu Xueling, robed all in white, climbed slowly up the stone steps before the Jade Balance Hall.

Now and then a few Qingyun disciples sweeping the steps saw her and nodded in greeting. Among them were one or two young lads newly admitted, whose cultivation was still shallow; captivated by her beauty, they dared not look again after the first glance, and lowered their heads with faintly reddened faces.

Lu Xueling returned each greeting, her face as expressionless as ever, and walked on toward the towering hall at the top of the steps.

Behind her there came a sudden great splash, and a sound like a dragon's cry broke the stillness. Lu Xueling did not turn; it was the water qilin, the mountain-guarding spirit beast of the Canglan Sect, in the cold blue pool, hauling itself out onto the bank once more to bask in the sun and doze.

Everything here was so tranquil, so harmonious. And who would know that a youth had once stormed out from this very place and thrown himself into another world, filthy and blood-soaked?

Lu Xueling finished the long climb of steps, glanced silently at the towering Jade Balance Hall, and went in.

Within the great hall, light poured in through windows open on every side, making it especially bright, with no hint of gloom at all. The sect master of the Canglan Sect, Dao Yan Zhenren, foremost of the orthodox path in the world today, sat smiling upon the master's seat. At his lower right sat another—Lu Xueling's honored teacher, Master Shui Jing, head of the Xiaozhu Peak of the Canglan Sect.

Lu Xueling was startled. She had returned this time from the southern frontier at Dao Yan Zhenren's dispatch, and so had first come back to the main sect on the Heaven-Reaching Peak to report to him, intending afterward to return to the mountain and see her master. She had not expected Master Shui Jing to be here on the Heaven-Reaching Peak as well. And in this Jade Balance Hall, apart from Dao Yan Zhenren and Master Shui Jing, no one else was seated—as though the two of them had been waiting expressly for her return.

Seeing Lu Xueling enter the hall, Dao Yan Zhenren was the first to smile kindly; beside him, Master Shui Jing, though ever cold of manner, was naturally different toward this, her most beloved disciple, and a measure of tenderness showed in her eyes.

Lu Xueling went forward and first bowed to Dao Yan Zhenren. "I pay my respects to the Sect Master."

Then she turned and bowed to Master Shui Jing as well, but with this teacher who was to her as a mother, her speech was far more casual. "Master, why have you come here too?"

Dao Yan Zhenren laughed. "Yesterday I received word that you would return to the mountain today, so I sent someone to inform your master. And it happened I had a few trifling matters to discuss with her, so I simply asked her to come."