Chapter 146 — A Vicious Scheme
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 4 of 9
Along the way he encountered many Mingwang Sect disciples, but toward this vice sect master who had vanished so long and now suddenly reappeared, every one of them without exception lowered his head and walked on; in their eyes, it seemed, the farther they kept from this man the better. Mingli, plainly, paid no attention to their manner, only walking silently on. His room was not far from the icy stone chamber, and he soon arrived before it—and thus saw the figure standing outside the chamber.
Yousi.
A thought suddenly flitted through Mingli's mind: how was it that every time he came to see Bili, Yousi seemed to be standing outside this stone chamber? It seemed she truly held deep feeling for Bili...
As he was thinking this, Yousi seemed to hear his footsteps too; she raised her head, and as though she had not expected Mingli to appear so suddenly, her body gave a slight start.
Mingli nodded silently to her, by way of greeting, then passed by her side and walked toward the door of the icy stone chamber.
Beneath the black veil, Yousi was silent.
Just as Mingli was about to reach out and push open the stone door, he suddenly stopped, turned to look at Yousi, and said, "You..."
He seldom spoke with Yousi, and now for a moment he did not know how to address her.
Yousi said coolly, "Whatever Bili calls me, you call me the same."
Mingli fell silent, as though something had been stirred in his heart again; for a moment there was a certain quiet between the two, but at last it was Mingli who spoke: "Aunt You, when I left last time, I asked the Azure Dragon Holy Envoy to carry the Great Wizard's ashes back to the southern border..."
Yousi's black veil dipped twice; she said in a low voice, "Rest assured, my brother has already delivered them. Only, for some reason, he has sent no word back to this day." At this, though Yousi's expression could not be seen, her voice still faintly betrayed a rare anxiety: "The southern border has lately been overrun by beast demons. Though my brother's cultivation is profound, but—but I do not know why he has still not returned."
Mingli frowned, was silent a moment, and said, "Rest easy as well. The Azure Dragon Holy Envoy's cultivation is formidable; those beast demons cannot harm him." He paused. "Then I will go in."
Yousi nodded silently and said no more.
"Rumble."
The heavy stone door gave out a low sound, sliding open and then shut behind him; Mingli once again stood within the icy stone chamber, gazing silently at that serene and beautiful figure.
Threads of white vapor rose lightly from the ice, drifting in wisp after wisp through the air, wandering slowly, giving one a faint sense of unreality. On the smooth floor the traces of that soul-summoning rite of old—that heart-shaking witchcraft—could still vaguely be seen; the dim, dark red color now seemed to have quietly melted into the stone itself.
Mingli's lips, for some reason, began to tremble slightly. Slowly, step by step, he walked over, treading across the fading red traces, passing through the pale white smoke, until Bili's serene countenance appeared before his eyes.
As though it had never changed—seen thus, she was still, faintly, the beautiful maiden he had first met ten years ago...
Mingli's body shook harder still. Before Bili's stone platform he bent lower, bit by bit, and within the stone chamber there rose faintly the sound of choking sobs that he strove desperately to suppress and yet could not.
Suddenly Mingli's body swayed; with his back hand he struck himself a ringing slap across the face. The loud sound of palm meeting cheek echoed at once through the stone chamber—a man's pain and remorse, it seemed, could only be vented a little in this way.
"Forgive me, Bili, forgive me..." that low voice, desperately stifling itself, said so softly, over and over.