劍問蒼天 - 第221章 相救 - 翰墨軒

Inside the abandoned mortuary, Lu Xueling's sudden appearance had thrown the atmosphere into a strange kind of tension.

Zhou Yixuan frowned, forced a laugh, and said, "Isn't this the famed heroine of Canglan Mountain, Miss Lu? What brings you to a place like this?"

Lu Xueling glanced at Zhou Yixuan, then her gaze settled on Xiaobai. Xiaobai smiled faintly, her eyes rippling with a liquid charm, and she was studying Lu Xueling in turn.

Lu Xueling's fine brows knitted slightly. She turned her head away and said to Xiaowan, "Miss Xiaowan, that magical artifact you mentioned just now—was it truly the one used by the person who saved you?"

Xiaowan nodded with certainty. "That's right, exactly that. I remember it very clearly."

Lu Xueling's expression shifted, dark and bright by turns, as though she were pondering something. But she did not wait long before continuing, "Then where is this person now? And the other one you mentioned—the... demon—where is he? What is his station? Do you know?"

Xiaobai, standing to one side, also wore a look of close attention. Xiaowan, however, answered without pausing to think. "I couldn't tell you the demon's identity or origins. I only know his cultivation is truly unfathomable. But after he captured us, he locked us in those filthy coffins and then vanished. He generally appears once every three to five days. I remember he came back just yesterday, and then I didn't see him again—most likely we'll have to wait several more days for his return."

Lu Xueling gave a soft "oh," but her brows seemed to draw even tighter. "And the one who saved you?"

Xiaowan pointed behind her. "Isn't he right over there, in that coffin in the corner of the inner room?"

Lu Xueling was startled, and Xiaobai, standing nearby, also paled slightly. With her cultivation, she had not sensed until now that there was yet another person inside that coffin.

Lu Xueling nodded, mused for a moment, then walked toward the pitch-black abandoned room. Watching her figure, Xiaowan could not help calling out, "Be careful."

Lu Xueling's steps paused. She glanced back at Xiaowan, smiled faintly, and nodded. Then, steadying herself, she stepped onto the moss-covered stone stairs.

There were only three or five steps; a few strides carried her across. The darkness inside the little room was as it had always been—only the vaguest outlines of things could be made out. Yet apart from the faint starlight seeping through the doorway, the wall of this dilapidated room now bore a great hole freshly smashed through it, so that it was somewhat brighter than when Xiaobai had first entered.

Lu Xueling quickly spotted the coffin lying in the corner of the room. That spot was the darkest place in the whole room, far from any light, and in some vague sense the place where the yin energy was thickest—which was precisely why the witch demon, upon first entering, had found his way there at once.

Lu Xueling drew a deep breath. Her cultivation was such that the Daoist arts of her own sect, Qingyun, were already brought to perfection; and by the rare aptitude her intelligence had determined, the third volume of the Heavenly Book, which she had committed to memory alongside Ming Li in the great western marsh that day, had in her private practice proved of enormous benefit. Only she was ever careful in ordinary times, and few could discern what her true cultivation now was.

And now, standing inside the little room of this abandoned mortuary, Lu Xueling almost instinctively frowned. The density of the yin energy here far exceeded her expectations—and yet, just moments before, standing outside the room, she had sensed none of it at all. Clearly, someone of high attainment had laid a restrictive formation here, binding this violent, gloomy qi within a space of mere inches.

That attainment alone was no small thing!