劍問蒼天 - 第251章 妖物 - 翰墨軒

The ground was trembling violently, loose rocks tumbling down on every side, while the astrolabe blazed with myriad brilliant rays that lit the entire Netherworld Stone Chamber as bright as day. A foul stench of blood assailed the nostrils in the air, so thick and cloying that one might almost believe oneself steeped in an ocean of gore.

Ming Li had no idea why this sudden upheaval had come about, but after the first shock of astonishment, he abruptly came to his senses, spun around, and shouted, "Xiao Hui!"

His shout rang out far into the distance, and after a moment the echo of his cry came back through the stone chamber—only to be drowned out by an even more violent tremor and roar. In the rumbling din, dust flew in all directions overhead, and the falling stones grew larger and larger.

Yet there came no answer. That familiar chattering *zhizhi-zhizhi* did not sound. Anxiety rose on Ming Li's face; after a brief moment of thought, his gaze had already fixed upon the inner chamber. Beside him, Master Gui had at some point drifted over as well. The black veil hid his features, so his expression could not be read, but his tone as he now spoke seemed not the least flustered—rather, in a strange calm, it faintly betrayed a thread of excitement.

"Your monkey ought to be in there," Master Gui said lightly, standing beside Ming Li.

Ming Li shot him a glance, and without further hesitation his body stirred—he had already darted into the inner chamber. Then he halted, frozen in place. In the empty inner room, the dark hidden door in the stone wall gaped like a deep black hole, watching him coldly.

Behind him, light suddenly swept in—Master Gui came following with the astrolabe blazing in his hands. When he saw the hidden door in the wall, he too visibly paused, plainly not having expected a door to open there in the rock. Or perhaps he had known of it, but had not expected it to open. For a moment neither of them spoke.

Both were men of profound cultivation. After standing in the inner chamber only a short while, they had both sensed that the source of that thick, rank smell of blood lay within the pitch-black hidden door. Ming Li's expression turned cold; he gave Master Gui a long, deep look. Master Gui's eyes flickered. After a moment's hesitation he said blandly, "Don't look at me. All these days I haven't stepped out of your sight for a single instant. I don't know what this is either."

Ming Li gave a cold snort. Though his heart was full of doubts, the quaking around them grew fiercer by the moment, and the missing Xiao Hui had clearly gone off through that opening. In any case, this was no time for assigning blame. He made his decision at once and said coldly, "We go in."

Master Gui furrowed his brow and seemed rather hesitant and uncertain. He had just opened his mouth to say something when Ming Li's figure flickered and he had already plunged into the darkness of the hidden door. Master Gui stood there in silence a moment, glanced at the glimmering astrolabe in his hand, then at the hidden door, and suddenly gave a soft sigh. "Man proposes, Heaven disposes," he murmured. "To think a monkey would be the one to ruin the grand scheme..."

With that, he shook his head and gave a low, bitter laugh. His black-robed figure rose as well, and swept into the hidden door in the stone wall.

The passage within the stone wall was narrow and long. As Ming Li pressed swiftly deeper, the ground sloped gradually downward and the surroundings grew damp, but worst of all was this: with every measure of depth, the stench of blood thickened a measure more.