劍問蒼天 - 第154章 故居 - 翰墨軒

Morning came, and with it another day.

At the entrance to Sanfu Town, Ming Li and the youth stood face to face. Xiao Hui lay sprawled across his shoulder, while behind the youth the dread beast Taotie followed along, wearing an air of profound boredom.

The youth glanced at Ming Li and smiled. "Meeting like this is rare enough. After today we part, and who knows when we shall meet again. Take good care of yourself, brother."

Ming Li said flatly, "You as well."

The youth seemed to recall something just then. "The world is in chaos these days, and the situation in the north grows ever more tense. Have you no mind to go north and see the excitement for yourself?"

Ming Li felt a flicker of surprise and could not help glancing at the youth, whose expression remained perfectly composed, as though nothing particular lay behind the words. After a moment's thought he said, "We shall see. What, do you take an interest in such quarrels and bloodshed too?"

The youth only smiled faintly and made no answer, but clasped his hands in salute. "The road to the world's end is long, and the ways of this age are hard. Let us meet again if fate allows."

Ming Li returned the salute. "Indeed."

The youth laughed aloud, turned, and went on his way. Taotie gave a low growl, as though bidding farewell to the little monkey Xiao Hui, then followed after him. Xiao Hui, perched on Ming Li's shoulder, was rather reluctant to see them go and chirped a few times at Taotie's receding back. In a moment the mysterious youth and Taotie had vanished from sight.

Ming Li gazed at the direction in which they had disappeared and stood in silence for a while. Then he slowly turned around. Before him Sanfu Town lay utterly dead, without a trace of life. Xiao Hui smacked its lips twice and pulled the wineskin from behind its back to take two swallows. The night before, in the cellar of that tavern, the monkey had actually managed to find more strong liquor.

"Let's go, Xiao Hui," Ming Li said suddenly, in that same flat tone.

Xiao Hui chattered twice and set its little hand to Ming Li's hair, ruffling it. Ming Li gazed off into the distance, and only after a long while did he speak quietly: "That place, after all, is where we once lived together. Do you remember?"

The monkey made no answer, and whether it understood was impossible to say. Only, along the whole cold, silent street, it seemed as though a chill wind had passed...

********

Canglan Mountain, Dazhu Peak.

Tian Buhui, head of the Dazhu Peak lineage of the Canglan Sect, was at this moment alone in the Shoujing Hall on Dazhu Peak, hands clasped behind his back, pacing to and fro. His mood was foul; anger was faintly visible on his face, and with it a trace of agitation. His wife Su Wan, ever understanding, was not on Dazhu Peak at that moment but had gone to Xiaozhu Peak to see Master Shuijing. As for his disciples, they had always held him in great awe, and seeing their master in such a temper, they had long since fled far away. Even his eldest disciple Song Dayi, the only one who could ordinarily manage a word or two with him, was nowhere to be seen.

Tian Buhui knew the reason well enough. With the great calamity of the world looming, no one knew when those dreadful beast-demons might come surging in, and as one of the leaders of the Canglan Sect he was naturally troubled by it too. But it was precisely for this reason that, after several urgings from his wife Su Wan, and for the sake of his disciple Song Dayi's happiness, Tian Buhui had finally gone to Xiaozhu Peak three days earlier to propose marriage on behalf of Song Dayi and Wen Pei to Master Shuijing. To his astonishment, Master Shuijing had been like a keg of gunpowder that day, exploding at the slightest spark. She had not spared even Su Wan, who was present at the time, to say nothing of the ashen-faced disciple Wen Pei beside her. She had refused outright and mocked Tian Buhui in cold, cutting words.