劍問蒼天 - 第213章 心魔 - 翰墨軒

Hades walked toward Taotie, his steps steady and calm. Little Gray, perched on Ming Li's shoulder, turned its head to watch Hades's receding back, gave two squeaks of "zhizhi," and suddenly fell silent.

Taotie, sprawled on the ground, seemed to sense something. Its massive head shifted to one side, then lifted; its huge eyes opened as well, and two beams of ferocious light fell instantly upon the approaching Hades. A low, rumbling growl rolled faintly from its great maw.

"ROAR..."

The once placid, tranquil atmosphere of the chamber turned inexplicably tense. Behind Taotie's head, the armor hard as iron plating tightened plate by plate; its great mouth slowly parted, baring a fearsome array of sharp teeth.

Hades faced this dreadful beast without a trace of fear on his countenance; rather, in the gaze he turned away from Ming Li, strange lights flickered without cease, and among them a wild joy and craving that could not be concealed.

He faced the Taotie—visibly enraged now—without even pausing his steps. And behind him, Ming Li watched his back, brows already faintly knit.

Taotie plainly could not abide such provocation. Its ferocity fully bared, its great eyes gradually shifting to a red glow, its enormous body slowly rose, assuming a posture of attack. Hades, by contrast, seemed utterly to disregard the beast's reaction, all his attention fixed solely upon observing Taotie's every aspect.

At last, when Hades drew near and set one foot within three feet of it, Taotie could contain itself no longer. With a mad roar that set the surrounding stone walls trembling faintly, its vast bulk leaped abruptly into the air, claws and fangs spread wide, and pounced upon Hades.

Within the once-calm stone chamber a gale rose abruptly with that enormous body; chairs and tables that had stood neatly arranged were blown instantly outward, striking the walls with a series of "bang, bang, bang" and splintering into pieces. Quick as a blink, the colossal beast had already hurtled down upon Hades's head.

In the distance, the monkey Little Gray let out several calls—"zhizhi, zhizhi..."—though it sounded not in the least worried, but rather somewhat gleeful at another's misfortune. The monkey, long since possessed of uncanny intelligence, clearly held no fondness for Hades in his present peril, and would have been glad enough had Taotie smashed the fellow dead with a single blow.

Ming Li, however, plainly did not share Little Gray's view. His faintly knit brows, after a few imperceptible flickers of doubt passed through his eyes, drew even tighter—as though in that instant he had glimpsed something he had not anticipated.

The enormous body came crashing down amid a howling gale, a sight to shake the soul—yet in but a fleeting moment, like a ghost or specter, Hades's form vanished clean out of being from a place where escape seemed utterly impossible. Taotie's devastating pounce met only empty air.

The next instant, Hades's grey figure appeared abruptly behind the momentarily astonished Taotie. He reached out a hand and, swift as lightning, seized the flesh at the nape of Taotie's neck—by his manner, it seemed he meant to lift this beast that all the world feared with his own magic, as one might pick up an ordinary cat or dog.

The grab looked none too swift, yet Taotie could not dodge it. With a low snarling roar, its neck was already held fast. But Taotie was, after all, a beast of unnatural kind; held though it was, it showed not the slightest intent to submit—rather it seemed only the more enraged, bellowing again and again, the iron hide over its whole body tightening at once until its entire frame appeared to swell by a third. Hades's expression changed; at the same moment he felt a sharp pain in his right hand—the palm he had warded with the true arts of the Demonic Sect seemed unable, after all, to withstand this beast's monstrous strength.