Chapter 211 — Embrace
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 4 of 5
The southern borderlands, the Hundred Thousand Wild Mountains.
The tremendous roar that shook heaven and earth, the volcanic bellow that made the ground tremble, finally began slowly to subside after three days and three nights of frenzied eruption. The rain of fire that had filled the sky like a vision of the apocalypse had stopped at some unknowable hour, but upon countless peaks and rivers and stretches of land, everywhere were the scars of scorching; gazing into the distance, it seemed there were still innumerable fires burning upon this suffering earth.
Yet at last the dark clouds at the horizon slowly dispersed, and once more cast down a gentle and warm radiance, shining upon this land.
Though one stood far away, a faint trace of irritable sulfur and scorched air still lingered in the atmosphere, but by this time, in the light breeze blowing down from the distant sky, what was more abundant was already the scent of freshness.
Everything, in the end, must come to an end.
And everything, it seemed, was about to begin anew...
Sun and moon revolve, ceaseless in their passage; the stars turn and the constellations shift—who has ever seen all the vicissitudes of this world?
Countless stars twinkled, and the bright moon had just risen.
The night wind blew softly, and the forest sighed in waves.
A calm night quietly descended upon this place.
A soft, low murmur, like an infant in slumber; instinctively she reached out her hand and caught hold of something.
It was warm skin, a place of safety, right beside her, solid and never gone. At the corner of her lips, as though she had found some small comfort in her dream, there was a faint smile.
In the night, beneath the starlight, the light wind blew quietly past.
Her lovely hair was somewhat disheveled; several strands of black hair trembled gently in the night wind and fell upon her jade-like cheeks. She frowned slightly, with an expression of childlike innocence; that beauty amid such disorder seemed, in the calm, to seep slowly deeper into the depths of the soul.
Ming Li gazed silently at that sleeping face. She was right beside him, closer than she had ever seemed to be. She slept peacefully, breathing the fresh air of this southern night; the wind passed by, her chest rose and fell slowly, and the corners of her mouth were faintly smiling.
Suddenly he raised his head. That bright moon was just climbing to midheaven, casting a soft and warm radiance, shining upon the world.
Moonlight like water, spilling over them both.
Clothes like snow, and a person like jade!
This was a cliff upon a high peak in the Hundred Thousand Wild Mountains, jutting out from the mountainside some ten feet or so. Because it was rather far from the scorched-black peak where the Zhenmo Ancient Cave lay, the great volcanic eruption triggered by the cave's collapse had not affected this place much; only a few flames and scattered bits of lava among the rubble that fell during the rain of fire had set a few spots burning, but these had quickly died down.
And upon that high cliff, one could still faintly make out the place where that frenzy had occurred; yet all that remained there were countless ashes.
The two who had been in dire straits that day, after being rescued by the divine artifact the Xuanguang Mirror through its Mystic Fire Spirit Shield, had both quickly fainted from sheer exhaustion; and when Ming Li awoke again, he found himself and Lu Xueling upon this cliff.
After all the clamor, there was such a calm and cool night.
Suddenly a soft cry came from beside him. He turned to look: that beautiful woman in her sleep, after a faint smile, slowly opened her eyes.
Those clear, gentle eyes that reflected his figure...
In an instant, it was as if heaven and earth had gone still, and somewhere deep in his soul, something quietly burst open!
Then, after gazing deeply at him, she smiled faintly, as though still bearing a trace of shyness.