Chapter 213 — The Inner Demon
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 2 of 6
Ming Li and Little Gray, standing to one side, saw it clearly: upon the iron hide of Taotie's neck — hide that no blade or spear could pierce — there were now five gashes red as blood, and the wounds looked anything but shallow, blood already seeping slowly out. Taotie flung up its head and roared, sunk now in a frenzy of rage, and wheeled suddenly to face Hades. And Little Gray, which had been lying on Ming Li's shoulder, now leapt up as well, waving both hands and pointing at Hades with a stream of "squeak-squeak" cries, in a passion of fury. Though no one in that stone chamber understood monkey speech, it needed no asking to know that Little Gray's words were, in all likelihood, curses and abuse.
After a few curses, Little Gray seemed still unsatisfied. It gathered itself and was about to leap down to the ground, evidently meaning to lend its friend a hand and teach this loathsome Hades a lesson. But it had scarce sprung into the air when a hand reached out from behind, caught Little Gray, and dragged it back by main force — it was Ming Li.
Little Gray was somewhat startled and somewhat angry, and set up a ceaseless "squeak-squeak-squeak" at Ming Li. Ming Li paid it no heed, only frowning tightly at the scene before him. Little Gray had cried but twice when it too suddenly turned its head — plainly drawn by something in the chamber.
Amid Taotie's enormous roar, the huge body of fang and claw hurtled at Hades; and Hades this time showed no intent to dodge, but only raised his arm.
A streak of dark red light swept across from within Hades's sleeve, silent, yet in an instant filling the whole stone chamber with a faint smell of blood. A deeper, stranger roar burst forth from the shadowy void — there was no sound of rending silk, yet it seemed to tear open the very space of the chamber; even Taotie's earth-shaking bellow was, for a moment, struck dumb.
The dark red light blazed up in an instant and wrapped Hades's entire body in its glow, flickering uncertainly; his figure could no longer be made out, and Taotie too seemed to sense something, and in its astonishment showed a measure of fear, involuntarily falling back a step.
An ancient tripod, crude in form and somewhat battered in appearance, rose slowly from the depths of the red light. With its coming, the chamber was bathed in a bloody red, and no object but showed a ghastly crimson; and the smell of blood grew so thick it turned the stomach.
The fear in Taotie's eyes deepened, yet under the sting of that bloody reek, the savagery hidden in its very bones seemed lured forth and to burst out; after several hesitations it did not turn and flee, but with a great roar hurled itself once more at the ancient tripod.
In the distance, Ming Li's brows knit tight. He could not keep his body from stirring, then forced himself to hold still, his eyes fixed hard upon the ancient tripod.
Once upon a time — ten years ago, perhaps — on Liubo Mountain in the East Sea, he had seen this ancient artifact; he had never thought that, seeing it again today, it should seem wholly changed.
Taotie's enormous body lunged at the Fuxing Tripod, but when it was yet three feet from the vessel, suddenly a great humming sounded from within it, as though a deep and mysterious incantation were being whispered in the void; then a beam of red light descended head-on and enveloped Taotie's whole body.
Taotie trembled from head to tail, its face twisted in the utmost agony; it howled at the sky, yet as though its strength had been drained away, it toppled from midair. Ming Li's expression shifted slightly: the power of this Fuxing Tripod exceeded his expectations — plainly it was no longer what it had been in years past.