Chapter 208 — Terror
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 3 of 5
Ming Li said calmly, "This Crimson Flame Beast is plainly the guardian spirit beast of the Eight Fierce Profound Fire Formation handed down by the Witch Clan. So long as this formation remains and can still be activated, it can summon this peerless beast. Only, the Crimson Flame Beast is a soul-beast confined within the formation; the greater the profound fire power the formation contains, the greater its might."
He glanced at the brazier before the Beast Venerable. "This brazier—is it the legendary Fire-Gathering Brazier that can gather the essence of heaven and earth's Li Fire?"
The Beast Venerable smiled. "Correct, it is the Fire-Gathering Brazier."
Ming Li nodded and said indifferently, "With this Fire-Gathering Brazier, you can use the Li Fire within to drive the profound fire and activate the formation to summon the Crimson Flame Beast. But though this treasure is wondrous, it cannot compare to the thousand-year store of firepower in the molten lava beneath the Profound Fire Altar of Fenxia Valley, which supplied the formation ceaselessly. So the Crimson Flame Beast you summoned this time, though it looks imposing, is nothing but an empty shell."
"Haha, good, good." The Beast Venerable laughed heartily and clapped his hands. "Well said—'nothing but an empty shell.' Well said indeed. A pity that in this world, apart from you, I wonder who else could say such a thing?"
Ming Li looked at him deeply. "At the very least, the one who wounded you so gravely is qualified to say it."
The Beast Venerable's smile suddenly vanished. His face darkened, and his gaze turned cold as he looked at Ming Li. Ming Li met his eyes directly, calmly returning his stare, yet he too felt a daunting presence radiating from that sickly, frail body.
The Beast Venerable looked at Ming Li and spoke slowly. "I have heard that the one who wounded me seems to have some grievance with you as well?"
Ming Li's expression changed at once.
The two men faced each other, and neither spoke again, yet the atmosphere in the stone chamber seemed to have dropped to freezing point.
Just then, both of them seemed to sense something at the same time. The Beast Venerable raised his eyes slightly, while Ming Li turned his body and looked toward the entrance of the stone chamber.
That glance, like a startled swan sweeping through the darkness, left a mark upon the heart…
The Crimson Flame Beast was gone, and the vast stone chamber had once again fallen into darkness. Only in the brazier before the Beast Venerable did a cluster of flame still burn quietly, illuminating the small space nearby, giving off a little light and warmth. Even the halo of the Eight Fierce Deities slowly revolving above the brazier was not particularly dazzling.
Yet in that instant, deep in the darkness, a figure stood quietly, gently veiled in a soft pale blue radiance. A familiar face came into view, and for one stunned moment it was as if a thousand years, ten thousand years, had passed.
In a daze, he looked at her.
One step, another step, slowly drawing near.
Lu Xueling's hand looked very pale in the dim light of the darkness—perhaps because she gripped Tianxuan too tightly. Yet upon her face there seemed not the slightest stir of emotion, just like that icy, frost-cold woman at their first meeting.
Slowly, she drew near.
She came to his side, and stood.
No words, no speech. In her eyes now there remained only the reflected light and shadow of that flame. How much time had passed in that moment?
The Beast Venerable watched in silence the somewhat strange behavior of this man and woman, but said nothing and did nothing. In those deep eyes of his that could never be fathomed, complex feelings flickered—but who could understand them?
She stood shoulder to shoulder with him.