Chapter 224 — Striking at the Heart
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 1 of 7
"Tsk, tsk..." A hoarse, ugly chuckle sounded—from the mysterious figure. It startled everyone awake. "Master and disciple reunited at last. How touching!"
Ming Li drew a long breath. However stirred, delighted, stunned, and bewildered he was, with a hundred questions crowding in on him at once, he was no longer the ignorant youth he had been, and he quickly steadied his mind. Still, he could not keep himself from looking toward Tian Buhui, his heart surging with a tangle of feelings.
Tian Buhui, for his part, was no less stunned, his heart a jumble of every flavor. But his experience far exceeded Ming Li's. He composed himself, his face turning stern, and wheeled on the figure cloaked in black qi, sneering, "Those two are also disciples of my Canglan sect. Since you dared to do such things, do you now lack the courage to face them?"
Ming Li was taken aback. His gaze fell first upon the mysterious figure—clearly he had never imagined this man had any connection to the Canglan sect. But a moment later his expression shifted, and he looked toward Tian Buhui with a complex look on his face.
Standing to one side, Lu Xueling's lips curved in a faint smile as she watched Ming Li. As though sensing her gaze, he glanced her way. She gave him a lovely smile, tenderness flashing in her eyes—comfort, it seemed, and joy alike.
Sure enough, the mysterious man gave two cold, mirthless laughs, pointed at Ming Li, and said, "What, is he a disciple of the Canglan sect too?"
Tian Buhui said flatly, "He is the seventh disciple under my Dazhu Peak. I, Tian Buhui, say so. What of it, Senior Brother Daoyan?"
Ming Li's whole body jolted, his face beyond description, utterly dumbfounded. After a long moment his gaze traveled from Tian Buhui to the mysterious figure, and he said, hardly able to believe it, "Daoist Master Daoyan?"
The mysterious figure laughed aloud. The black qi shrouding him suddenly roiled, then slowly dispersed downward, gradually revealing his body from the chest up. He had a long beard that reached his chest and a lean, ancient countenance—and who else could it be but the revered, world-renowned abbot of the Canglan sect, Daoist Master Daoyan?
In those few brief moments, Ming Li had been startled again and again. Now, seeing Daoyan's face, he could not help stepping back, his heart in knots and his mind a blank. And though Lu Xueling had been prepared for this, when she truly saw the face of the master she had revered as a god for years, she too was shaken to the core, her face turning faintly pale.
Daoyan's features were unchanged, yet at a glance it was plain that his bearing was utterly different from before. Cold light flickered in his eyes, and not a trace remained of the benevolence and compassion he had once possessed.
Ming Li studied Daoyan from head to toe, his brows gradually drawing together, a sharp light flashing through his eyes. This man before him had, quite literally, changed the course of his life. Ten years ago, on Jietian Peak of Canglan Mountain, that heaven-shaking sword strike that slew an immortal had blasted Bil'i's soul to scattered fragments—and it had also cleaved the former Zhang Qingyue into the Ming Li of today.