Chapter 151 — Purgatory
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 3 of 6
The Underworld King regarded him for a good while, then nodded. "Since you put it so, I will not force you. Yao'er is entrusted to you for the time being, and I trust you can care for her. But remember: the beast demons are terrifying and keen of sense. To guard against the worst, it is best to seal the mountain gate and its wards, and then you need only come in to check once every month or two, and there should be no trouble."
Ming Li nodded slowly, taking it as agreement. The Underworld King looked once more at his daughter, and after a moment he let out a sigh, turned, and walked out.
Just as he was about to reach the door, Ming Li's voice suddenly came from behind him: "Sect Master..."
The Underworld King paused, somewhat surprised. Ming Li rarely spoke to him of his own accord; this sudden address left him wondering what it was about. "What is it?"
Ming Li was silent a moment, then suddenly said, "Do you hate me in your heart?"
The Underworld King stood with his back to him, motionless, saying nothing, his expression hidden.
Ming Li said slowly, "Bi Li became like this because of me. In your heart, do you not hate me bitterly?"
His face was blank, as though he were speaking of something that had nothing to do with himself, but the Underworld King did not speak. In the stone chamber the two men stood back to back, and the air between them seemed to stiffen.
Thin wisps of cold mist rose gently from the Cold Ice Stone Platform beneath Bi Li and drifted into the air. How long passed, none could say, when the sound of the stone door sliding open came from behind; the Underworld King said nothing, and quietly walked out.
"Rumble!..." With a low, deep sound, the stone door closed once more, and in the Cold Ice Stone Chamber only Ming Li remained, keeping watch at Bi Li's side. His face was wooden, and he stared blankly at the woman before him.
In the ancient, dense primeval forest, a foul, scorched stench came drifting on the wind. Like ugly scars, the marks of the beast demons' havoc lay everywhere across the once-green woods: giant trees fallen this way and that upon the ground, the bones of countless forest creatures strewn everywhere, and the peaceful air of the whole forest utterly gone.
On the second day after finding that maddened Demonic Cult disciple, Xiao Yichen, Fa Cheng, and their party of seven orthodox disciples followed the ever more obvious traces of the beast demons and gradually drew near the valley hidden deep in the mountains. The forests along the way showed everywhere the same sight they had just seen. Though they came upon no human bones, the spectacle was still enough to make the heart quail.
In many hearts the same thought rose unbidden: could these beast demons truly have been born into this world for no purpose but to kill?
At midday on this day, the party appeared upon the broken old road outside Viper Valley. The marks of ravaging by the beast demons and their monsters were so plain here that the group scarcely had to exert themselves to see them. That old road had been trampled by countless beasts and monsters until it had been widened several times over. Everywhere were the huge footprints and sharp claw marks the creatures had left, and a rank stench still hung in the air. Beyond that there seemed another odor, fainter yet more unendurable still, though no one could tell what it was.
Looking toward the valley mouth ahead, they saw the same ruin within as without; the land and forest ravaged by that dreadful flood were plainly visible. The old road curved and wound onward, and no one knew what still awaited them inside that valley.