劍問蒼天 - 第191章 洩密 - 翰墨軒

Neither Ming Li nor Jin Pingyue carried an umbrella—most likely they had none to carry; and in a forest this dense, even an umbrella would only snag and drag, making each step impossible. Xiaohui said not a word, hunched itself small, and lay flat on Ming Li's shoulder. The rain dripping from the branches above had soaked its fur through, so that it lay plastered flat against its body.

There were beads of water on Ming Li's face as well, but his expression remained as indifferent as ever as he walked on ahead, seemingly unable to sense the strange air around them at all. Jin Pingyue followed him, and she too showed no sign of weariness; yet her slightly disheveled hair and somewhat cold expression seemed to betray a mood that was less than pleasant.

This forest was in fact the Black Forest she had passed through on her last visit. Jin Pingyue knew perfectly well that once out of this forest and over a few more ridges, they would reach the destination they sought—and indeed, this was precisely what she had told Ming Li.

"Sha…"

Ming Li reached out and snapped a hanging branch. It looked as tough as an ancient vine, yet in his hand it was as fragile as bean curd. Behind him, Jin Pingyue silently glanced at that palm of his, a thoughtful look in her eyes, and frowned slightly.

Suddenly Ming Li gave a startled "Eh?", halted, then turned left and strode several paces quickly—and all at once the view before him opened wide, a blaze of brightness. He stood on a cliff; for some yards around the rock there was no grass or tree, and below his feet lay an empty sea of clouds, billowing and churning, brilliant with the five colors—quite a sight.

Footsteps sounded, and Jin Pingyue came to stand beside him, her expression shifting slightly. This was precisely the place where she had last been ambushed by that mysterious man in black; after her narrow escape she had, by chance, found beneath a cliff stone a Slaughtering Blade that had once belonged to Monk Shasheng. But she glanced at Ming Li and said not a word—plainly she had no intention of telling this man everything she had once discovered.

Ming Li gazed far out over the sea of clouds below. After a long while he shook his head slightly and said, "Those clouds below are brilliantly colored—I fear they are poisonous miasma as well."

Jin Pingyue nodded. "So I think too."

Ming Li looked at her. "How much farther?"

Jin Pingyue raised a hand and lightly wiped the water from her brow. After a moment's thought she said, "It should not be far now. I remember that when I came here last, I walked on only about an hour or so before I was out of this Black Forest. Once out of here, over two more mountain ranges, and we reach the Ancient Cave of Demon Quelling." Here she paused, and said with some puzzlement, "Strange. When I came here last, there were plainly many savage beasts in the Black Forest—so why, all along this road, apart from those venomous insects, have I not seen a single savage beast worth the name?"

Ming Li said mildly, "I fear those monsters you saw have all followed the Beast Lord out of the Ten Thousand Wild Mountains to eat men."

Jin Pingyue started, then reflected that this was very likely indeed, and a look of disgust came over her face. Whatever else, even though she came from the Demon Sect, she seemed still to hold such a calamity as the beast-demons—utterly devoid of human nature and human bonds—in deep repulsion. Or perhaps, at the battle in the Viper Valley of the central plains that day, the Mihun Sect had been wiped out to a man; though Ming Li still did not know how Jin Pingyue had escaped alone, and had even thrown in her lot under the Underworld King, one could well imagine that she would feel no goodwill toward these beast-demons.

Ming Li drew a deep breath, rallied his spirits, and said, "Let us go."