Chapter 164 — The Forbidden Ground
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 4 of 6
The emerald-green Dragon-Slaying Sword glimmered with a faint, ghostly light, its blade seeming to tremble slightly, as though mourning something. The aged elder had lost all vitality and lay quietly on the ground, his head lolling to one side. Kneeling beside him, Lin Jinghong's face was terrifyingly flushed, a succession of furious expressions shifting through his eyes, his teeth clenched deep and tight; though he seemed silent, within that silence lurked a faint madness.
In the shadows of the woods, the black-robed Mr. Gui had still not departed, watching Lin Jinghong's figure from behind like a specter. His gaze moved from Wan Jiangu's lifeless body to Lin Jinghong, and at last to the Dragon-Slaying Sword. Then, as though something had occurred to him, he turned his head and looked toward the Phantom Moon Cave.
That path stretched cold and lonely into the distance, with not a stir of movement to be seen.
Beneath the black veil, no one could see Mr. Gui's expression.
Lin Jinghong's mind was in utter turmoil. Wan Jiangu's sudden murder had plunged him into a state bordering on madness. Ever since the great upheaval at Qingyun ten years ago, when his revered master, Daoist Cangyan, had betrayed Qingyun, Wan Jiangu's sudden appearance—his learning, his bearing, his breadth of mind—had made him a figure Lin Jinghong revered. For ten years, under Wan Jiangu's fostering care, he had cultivated diligently, and in his heart he had come to regard this utterly mysterious old man as half teacher, half father, with the deepest respect.
And now this man he revered most had become a corpse, lying there before his very eyes—and he did not even know who the murderer was, let alone avenge him. Grief, agony, and despair goaded Lin Jinghong's already somewhat extreme temperament, driving him ever closer to madness.
It was at this moment that a strange sound suddenly came from the woods behind him.
Lin Jinghong started violently and whirled to look. The undergrowth stirred, and a human figure suddenly flashed out from the forest, then darted away with the speed of lightning. The speed was astonishing—even with Lin Jinghong's cultivated eyesight, he could catch only a blurry shadow.
And what did the sudden appearance of a mysterious figure here, at this time and place, mean?
Lin Jinghong's body moved faster than his mind. Almost in the same instant he seized the Dragon-Slaying Sword, transformed into a rushing gale, and gave chase—never once considering how terrifying a man this might be if he truly were the murderer, one whose cultivation was sufficient to kill Wan Jiangu. In Lin Jinghong's heart at this moment there was no thought but revenge. And Wan Jiangu had taught him for ten years that the Dragon-Slaying Sword ever charges forward and never retreats—just as their lives should be!
The black shadow moved with extraordinary speed, and in a flicker it had left the Ancestral Hall. It paused briefly at the three-way fork, then with a whoosh headed straight onto the small path leading to the Phantom Moon Cave. Lin Jinghong burst out in pursuit, his eyes seeming to spit fire. Fixing his gaze on that faint, indistinct figure, he thought no more; his body like lightning, he plunged in an instant onto the path that was meant to be forbidden ground for Qingyun disciples, racing toward the Phantom Moon Cave.
The mountain wind blew, the tips of the branches swayed gently with a rustling sound, and silence soon settled here once more. Only that desolate old man lay quietly on the ground, gazing at the clouds drifting softly across the sky.
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Though Lin Jinghong had strained every sinew in the chase, he still could not close the distance on that fleeting figure. The trees on either side hurtled past him, yet the dark shape ahead remained forever at the edge of sight, now visible, now gone. By now the first blaze of his fury had ebbed a little, and in spite of himself he felt a cold prickle of alarm.