Chapter 151 — Purgatory
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 6 of 6
The party slowly gathered before the spirit hall. Seeing how grim every face around him had turned, Xiao Yichen said in a hoarse voice, "Many died here. All the important figures of the Demonic Cult are here. The Ten Thousand Poisons Sect seems to have been wiped out entirely."
Beside him Yan Fei's face was frighteningly pale. In a low voice she said, "It's the same over there. The Sect of Lost Souls lost many as well—even Lady Sanmiao is, is over there..."
Lu Xueling's face was ashen, her teeth biting hard into her lower lip, her expression shifting through a complicated play of emotions—pity, revulsion, and, who could say why, a touch of fear as well. Having been the last to return to the group, she suddenly asked, "Has anyone seen anyone from the Hall of the Underworld King?"
Everyone shook their heads, then all paused at once. Li Xun, standing to one side, suddenly looked even grimmer. Xiao Yichen glanced at him and said to Lu Xueling, "Many ordinary disciples of the Hall of the Underworld King died, but I don't think we've seen... the corpses of any famous figures."
Lu Xueling's expression eased a little, but beside her Li Xun's eyes suddenly blazed with a sharp light. Coldly he said, "Xiao-shixiong, have you forgotten that these beast demons eat people? All along the way in, how many white bones did we see? Who knows whether those fiends of the Hall of the Underworld King might already have been..."
"Wah!" A cry cut Li Xun off. Yan Fei, unable to hold back any longer, had run to the corner of the wall and was vomiting again. Li Xun paused, then suddenly sighed and said no more.
Fa Cheng's face showed compassion, and he and Fa Jing softly chanted Buddha's names together. Everyone knew that however ugly Li Xun's words were, the possibility was only too real. Xiao Yichen, Lin Jinghong, and the others wore complicated expressions and slowly bowed their heads. Only Lu Xueling, her face bleak, had gone so pale that not a trace of blood remained, and even her body swayed uncontrollably a few times.
Yet this cold, aloof woman did not bow her head. She raised it slowly and gazed up at the sky. Across that boundless blue, even the clouds above the valley looked blood-red.
Lu Xueling's lips moved, as if she wished to cry out something—but in the end, not a sound came forth.