Chapter 192 — Hidden Wounds
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 6 of 6
Jin Pingyue did not take them at once. Her gaze turned over the hand extended before her, and suddenly her face brightened in a smile. "Sharing your food with me like this—surely you have no misgivings left in your heart?"
Ming Li frowned and gave a humph. His palm turned and closed into a fist, about to withdraw—but at that very moment Jin Pingyue reached out swiftly and caught his hand in hers. Smiling, she said, "I want them, I want them."
Ming Li's expression shifted slightly. He looked at Jin Pingyue, then slowly opened his fingers, revealing the few wild fruits.
A soft palm's skin; far off, a faint wisp of something scarcely there, drifting through the wind. Jin Pingyue's gaze now seemed suddenly soft as rippling water, flowing gently, gently, as she reached out slender, pale fingers and picked the wild fruits from Ming Li's palm, one by one.
Her delicate nails brushed, as though carelessly, over the coarse skin of his palm—warm, and carrying an odd chill.
She gazed at the man before her, slowly and lightly let go of his hand, then smiled, put one wild fruit to her lips, took a few bites, and said with a smile, "Delicious."
Her smile was the fairest flower of that midday hour, enough to stir the heart.
Ming Li looked at her and said not a word.
Jin Pingyue's smile grew more bewitching still. "What is it? Not a single word—you look like a simpleton."
Ming Li watched Jin Pingyue laugh behind her hand, his own face betraying nothing. Only after a moment did he suddenly say, "The Violet Radiance Blade is a weapon of the utmost yin and malevolence. That you could cultivate it to the stage of 'Gathering Yin into the Abyss' and fuse it with your own meridians—that is truly remarkable."
"Pop"—the few wild fruits in Jin Pingyue's hand burst in an instant. Before even their juice could spatter, they had been frozen solid by the strange, chilling yin energy suddenly released, and dropped to the ground.
The gentle smile on Jin Pingyue's face vanished in an instant; her gaze turned to a blade, fixed deep upon Ming Li.
Ming Li, however, seemed not to notice at all, and said mildly, "It is only that although you possess a pure yin constitution and share a natural affinity with the spirit of the Purple Radiance Blade, the cold yin qi within you is too abundant. A solitary yin cannot flourish, yet you insist on cultivating; the yin qi seeps into your body, and your meridians and blood are all injured by it. With this magic treasure your power is surely formidable, but if in the future you wish to advance another layer and take another step upon the path of cultivation, I fear it will be harder still."
Having spoken, he paid no heed to the exceedingly ugly expression Jin Pingyue now wore, turned, and walked away, calling out as he went. The monkey Xiaohui, which had been eating wild fruit off to one side, leaped over, scrambled up onto his shoulder in a few bounds, and he continued striding toward that distant scorched-black peak.
Only Jin Pingyue remained where she stood, watching that receding figure, then slowly raising her right hand and gazing at it in silence. In the sunlight, that pale, slender, and beautiful palm gleamed like translucent jade, yet from its deepest recesses, faint but unmistakable, one could still see a dim, unnatural pale blue, spread like the finest blood vessels through the depths of the muscle's grain.
Jin Pingyue's face was calm as water. Suddenly she gave a cold snort, said nothing at all, and set off straight in the direction Ming Li had gone. As she lifted her foot, she ground the wild fruits that had been frozen into ice blocks heavily to pieces.