Chapter 213 — The Inner Demon
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 6 of 6
The ancient cauldron, of crude archaic design, bore many fine, damaged spots; yet upon its deep-blue-with-a-purple-cast body one could still clearly see many twisted, mysterious inscriptions. And on the back of the cauldron, at the very center of those inscriptions, there was a design that impressed itself upon Ming Li's eyes: flames blazing high, and within the fire an enormous cauldron being seared; around the cauldron, four strange beasts—be they birds or be they beasts—howled at the heavens; and above the cauldron black clouds churned, and there, unmistakably, was the hideous, fearsome face of a demon lord, leering down upon the mortal world.
The design flashed but once before Ming Li's eyes, yet somehow it had already sunk deep into his mind, impossible to erase. And in his memory, that demon lord's face seemed faintly familiar—yet for the moment, try as he might, he could not recall whether he had ever truly seen this demon lord's visage before.
Hades quickly left the stone chamber and vanished beyond the door; calm returned within. The monkey Little Gray hopped over from one side and leaped onto Ming Li's shoulder, settling down slowly—but its face showed no joy at all. From time to time it turned to look toward the doorway, uttering low "zhizhi, zhizhi" cries.
Ming Li said nothing; he reached out and gently stroked Little Gray's head. After a moment of silence he gave a soft sigh, then turned and walked out of the stone chamber, going wherever his feet led.
The long corridor seemed to run in every direction, like the roads of a life—no one knows where they lead; or rather, even if you think you know, where that road truly leads, who can say?
Half an hour later, Ming Li stopped short, struck mute with astonishment. He found that he had halted outside the ice-cold stone chamber.
The thick stone wall stretched before him, yet suddenly he was somewhat afraid. He, who had shown no fear even when facing the demonic arts of Hades's Fulong Cauldron, now could not help but be afraid.
That stone door stood there, so quietly, before him.
A faintly trembling hand reached out.
The stone door, as it had countless times before, gave a low rumble and opened.
In the first crack as it opened, dimly, he glimpsed a slender figure standing before the ice-cold stone platform; in the air there seemed still to be the clear, familiar sound of tiny bells.
He seemed to fall into a trance.