Chapter 188 — A Sudden Appearance
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 5 of 7
The young Great Shaman paused, then said quietly, "If I too gave way to despair and grief, what would become of the people in Seven Mile Gorge? It is not that I do not grieve—it is that I cannot grieve!"
At that Ming Li was silent a long while, and then took his leave.
Once away from Seven Mile Gorge, Ming Li did not hurry on his way. He walked slowly, turning the young Great Shaman's words over and over in his mind, and that strange "Eight Wraiths Mystic Fire Formation" brought unbidden to his thoughts another person—Xiaobai.
She had left in anger that day, and there had been no word of her since. Her cultivation and powers were such that he need not worry overmuch on her account, yet when he thought of the purpose behind her going—most likely to find that "Eight Wraiths Mystic Fire Formation"—Ming Li felt a measure of guilt at heart.
The demonic power of the Blood-devouring Bead had plagued him for years, but not long ago, beneath the Wordless Jade Wall at the Fan Yin Temple on Mount Sumeru, he had come to understand the four volumes of the Heavenly Book, and had fused the Blood-devouring Bead's demonic power with the true arts of Buddha, Dao, and Demon alike—and even with the pure yang force of the Mystic Fire Mirror—until he stood at the very threshold of the Ten Thousand Arts Returning to One. As his cultivation advanced day by day, the Blood-devouring Bead's demonic power was no longer the mortal hindrance it had once been.
Yet somehow, with that sudden enlightenment beneath the Wordless Jade Wall, he had gradually come to terms with many things; matters he had once failed to see now slowly revealed themselves in recollection.
Xiaobai's treatment of him—surely it was not all on account of Bili and her own connection to her?
She had gone alone, returning to the southern frontier to seek the formation in the very thick of the beast-fiend's havoc, and now, heaven and earth so vast, there was not a single word of her. At the thought, Ming Li felt a pang he could not name—but the world was wide and the earth broad, and he truly knew not where to begin searching.
Ming Li brooded a long while, and at last resolved to go secretly to the Burning Cloud Valley first. Not for any other reason—first, because he had heard Xiaobai say that the Eight Wraiths Mystic Fire Formation had once appeared at the Mystic Fire Altar in the Burning Cloud Valley; that being so, if Xiaobai sought the formation, she would most likely go there too. And even if she were not there, it would do no harm to look for himself.
His mind made up, Ming Li set off for the Burning Cloud Valley.
The Burning Cloud Valley had once been one of the three great orthodox sects of the world, but in this calamity it bore the first brunt, standing squarely at the mouth through which the beast-fiend rampaged—its fate could well be imagined. Fortunately, on that day the valley master, Yun Yifeng, had led his disciples to the Central Plains ahead of the rest to join the Canglan Sect and other orthodox schools against the beast-fiend, and so, though the Burning Cloud Valley was utterly laid waste, the disciples of the sect itself did not lose their core.
Yet for a great orthodox sect to come to such a pass was no credit to them, and after the calamity many rumors and whisperings spread abroad, implying that the whole of the Burning Cloud Valley had been craven and timid, that a sect of orthodox renown had not dared face the beast-fiend's calamity alone but had hidden itself behind the Canglan Sect.
Now the Canglan Sect and Daoist Zhenren stood supreme in the hearts of the orthodox world, their prestige lofty and revered; against them, the Burning Cloud Valley folk seemed all too dim indeed. As great hosts of orthodox disciples poured into the southern frontier seeking the Beast Lord's whereabouts, the Burning Cloud Valley disciples naturally would not be left behind—though in their everyday dealings they had shed much of their former arrogance.