Chapter 157 — Secret
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 3 of 6
Ming Li gave a low whistle and beckoned with his right hand; the Soul-Devouring Black Staff flew back, pierced the clod from behind, and in an instant it crumbled to pieces—yet a black silhouette darted out, drifting light as a wraith to alight upon the mysterious coffin deep in the room. It was, unmistakably, the figure of Mr. Ghost.
The Soul-Devourer drifted slowly down and returned to Ming Li's hand. Ming Li fixed his eyes on Mr. Ghost and did not move; and Mr. Ghost too turned slowly and looked at Ming Li, then suddenly said, "How did you see through my hiding place?"
Ming Li was silent and gave no answer, only watching him coldly. Mr. Ghost's black veil stirred slightly; he nodded and said, "Very well. You and I may not be friends hereafter, so it is only natural you will not say. But tonight is not yet over—I should like to see just how deep the cultivation runs in this man who, by all accounts, has mastered the true arts of three great factions at once."
Ming Li's pupils contracted slightly. Though he had caught Mr. Ghost off guard and driven the Soul-Devourer into his hidden place, gaining the upper hand, his expression had not eased in the slightest. He had struck the unforeseen with the deliberate, driving the Soul-Devourer into the clod of earth—yet Mr. Ghost was truly like a wraith, hollow and empty, showing not the least sign that the Blood-Devouring Bead's demonic power affected him at all. This man was so unfathomable that he was unlike any Ming Li had ever met.
Seeing the two locked in confrontation, and sensing that another fierce contest of arts was about to begin, Zhou Yixuan, his shaken nerves somewhat steadied, hastily tugged at Xiaowan and Wild Wolf Daoist. The two came to themselves, knowing that with two men of such uncanny arts dueling here, the place was perilous in the extreme; they scrambled to find a gap in the already battered wall and squeeze through. Just before leaving, Xiaowan seemed to remember something, reached out a hand, and took up Zhou Xingyun's spirit tablet as well.
The three of them left the house one after another—Ming Li and Mr. Ghost were of course perfectly aware of it, but Ming Li gave no sign, and Mr. Ghost, with a formidable foe before him, seemed unable to spare them a thought. Barely had they gotten clear when a great wind rose again within the gloomy house, sand flying and stones hurtling, and where Zhou Yixuan and the others stood beyond the gap in the wall they were still shoved back several feet by the violent gale.
Zhou Yixuan pulled Xiaowan far back—a full three zhang away—before he turned to gaze at the house from afar. But from this distance he could no longer sense that two masters were dueling fiercely within; it seemed they had kept their power confined to the compass of that room all along. And seen from afar, the house now flickered with strange lights: besides the ghostly green that had been there from the start, there now flashed from time to time gold, red, deathly white, azure, and many another uncanny hue—were it not for the grim ghostly aura and the thick killing intent, one might almost have called it a gay and pretty sight.
Xiaowan stared at the house and said softly to Zhou Yixuan, who seemed about ready to flee: "Grandfather, is it really all right for us to just leave like this?"
Zhou Yixuan and Wild Wolf Daoist, walking beside him, both started and turned to look at Xiaowan. Zhou Yixuan frowned and said, "Silly girl, what are you thinking? Those two are murderous fiends, both of them. We are lucky to escape with our lives—what would we stay here for?"
Xiaowan hesitated a moment, then said, "But—but he did it to save us, that's why he..."