劍問蒼天 - 第217章 故鄉 - 翰墨軒

But on this day, a singular guest arrived at the Shanhai Yuan. She was a young woman, of striking beauty—and that alone would have been enough; but beneath that lovely face, every smile and every glance carried a strange, heart-stealing quality, as if one sweep of her water-like eyes could soften the bones of any man nearby by three parts.

She was none other than the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox—Xiaobai—who, after the great upheaval in the southern frontier, had been separated from Hades and Lu Xueling and vanished without a trace.

She walked into the Shanhai Yuan tavern with just such unruffled poise, casting her beguiling glances this way and that. For a moment, from the proprietor down to the serving boy, including the guests at the only two occupied tables, all stared dumbstruck—not one came forward to greet her. Fortunately, Xiaobai seemed long accustomed to such scenes and was not offended; she only smiled faintly and said, "Is no one going to attend to me?"

Those words woke them as if from a dream. The proprietor, being older after all, still retained a shred of composure; he hastily collected himself, then cuffed the back of the head of the serving boy who stood gaping nearby, and snapped angrily, "A guest has arrived—aren't you going to attend to her?"

The waiter stumbled, and whether it was guilt weighing on his conscience or not, he shuffled forward haltingly, not daring to look Xiao Bai in the eye, and forced a smile. "Miss, would you, would you like to eat or take a room?"

Xiao Bai thought for a moment. "Let's have something to eat first. Do you have a private room here?"

The waiter nodded repeatedly. "Yes, yes, please go upstairs, miss."

Xiao Bai nodded and started up the stairs. "Find me a quiet seat by the window."

The waiter kept his smile fixed. "Rest assured, miss. The private rooms upstairs are empty—you may have whatever seat you like, and I guarantee it will be quiet. No one will disturb you."

Xiao Bai paused slightly. "How could it be empty? I heard business here used to be quite good."

By now the waiter had reached the top of the stairs, and at her words he smiled bitterly. "You're not wrong there—business was wonderful back then. Everyone in He Yin City used to come here for a drink. But then, damn it all, that beast demon came a while back and threw everyone into a panic; in the end countless were dead or wounded. At a time like this, not many people care to come here anymore."

Xiao Bai nodded slowly and gave a soft sigh. "So that's how it is. No wonder, then."

By this time the waiter had led Xiao Bai to a table by the window upstairs and was wiping it down with the rag he carried. Xiao Bai sat and looked out the window. The street was bustling enough, with passersby coming and going, but most faces bore little sign of smiling—there were more drawn and worried looks than anything else.

Xiao Bai watched in silence for a while, then suddenly asked the waiter, "Waiter, there's something I want to ask you. Answer me honestly."

The waiter nodded. "Go ahead, miss."

Xiao Bai hesitated a moment. "Do all the people of He Yin City—yourself included, of course—hate that beast demon in their hearts?"

The waiter gave a snort, and indignation rose at once on his face. "Of course we do! In that beast demon calamity, nine out of ten households in He Yin City were emptied. Go grab anyone off the street and ask—I guarantee he'll have kin who died under that beast's claws. We common folk are helpless, no weapons to fight back with. But luckily the immortals on Cang Lan Mountain took pity on us and showed their divine power, driving that cursed beast demon away, and only then did we get to live like human beings again."

Watching the waiter's agitated expression, Xiao Bai smiled bitterly to herself. Somehow, before her eyes flickered once more the image of that man in the depths of the ancient Demon-Suppressing Cave in the southern borderlands, lingering on beneath the dying embers.