Chapter 213 — The Inner Demon
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 5 of 6
Hades's face gradually emerged from within the red glare: white hair flying, eyes crimson, murderous aura billowing—where was the calm, steady man of former days? He looked near enough a slaughtering fiend. And Ming Li, by contrast, showed not a whit of fear; rather he strode forward, pressing the attack.
The Fulong Cauldron turned without cease, the strange inscriptions on its body flickering unendingly, red light pulsing in waves. Hades raised his right hand, and the great ancient cauldron settled upon his palm—he looked like a demon lord descended into the world, utterly terrifying. Ming Li, wreathed in radiance, had plainly gathered all his own divine powers to the utmost as well; here they would fight the decisive battle.
The two masters faced each other, killing intent thick in the air. In this sudden strife, both seemed long since to have forgotten its cause; only now, as though their reason—suppressed for years in each man's heart—had suddenly broken loose, they struck with all their might, inner demons dancing wild.
Ming Li strode forward, drawing ever nearer to Hades; and the baleful aura in Hades's eyes burned ever fiercer. The Fulong Cauldron slowly tilted in midair, turning to face Ming Li's body.
A great battle seemed about to erupt at any moment.
No one would ever have guessed that the two most important figures in the Demonic Sect today would, in such a remote stone chamber, plunge for no discernible reason into a battle to the death.
"BOOM!"
A great crash rang out from within the stone chamber.
Hades and Ming Li—two men—each seemed to see the other's eye corner twitch faintly; yet at that critical instant, neither of them moved.
The door of the stone chamber slowly toppled. Beyond the doorway a figure gradually appeared—a figure that seemed to tremble slightly from head to foot.
"Stop!"
The voice was slender, carrying anger, bewilderment, and a measure of panic. Yousi, her face veiled in black gauze—she who was also the Vermilion Bird of the Demonic Sect—stood in the doorway.
The face beneath the black gauze could not be seen, but the indignation in her poured forth unmistakably: "You... what are you two doing? Have you both gone mad?"
A dead silence fell over the stone chamber. The two men faced each other, silent, saying nothing, and in the air that killing intent lingered still, impossible to dispel.
"Fine. Fine. Fine!" Yousi seemed to speak through gritted teeth, biting her lip in fury. She raised a hand and pointed in that direction: "Go on, kill each other, kill each other, die, both of you—dead, and all's quiet. Do you even remember—there, there..."
Her voice caught slightly. "In that ice-cold stone chamber—is there not still someone lying upon the stone platform? Have you both forgotten?"
"Which of you still remembers the name Bili?"
The red blood-glow quietly dispersed; the dazzling blue and golden lights gradually withdrew and vanished.
The killing intent and stench of blood that had flowed through the stone chamber receded, one knew not when, like the ebbing tide.
Only silence remained, lingering still in this place, unwilling to leave.
The two men gazed at each other, and deep in their eyes it seemed some unspoken light collided.
Yousi stamped her foot in vexation, turned, and left without a backward glance. By the direction she took, it should be toward the ice-cold stone chamber where Bili lay. And the two men still in the stone chamber seemed yet locked in their standoff, quietly probing at certain secrets.
After a long while, Hades gave a faint, cold hum, waved his right hand to settle the Fulong Cauldron upon his palm, and strode out of the room. As he passed Ming Li's side, the sharp light in his eyes seemed ready to leap forth and dazzle.
And Ming Li's gaze in that moment was not on Hades—it had fallen upon the body of the Fulong Cauldron.