Chapter 255 — Nestling Close
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 8 of 8
Xiao Hui was held up in midair. Though those hands were fair and beautiful as well, their owner was in no mood just now for courtesy, and unconsciously her grip grew tighter and tighter. Xiao Hui, growing annoyed, flailed its limbs and began to squeak. But before the monkey could even voice its protest, Lu Xueling's gaze had already drifted past it—and there, behind that broken wall, deep in the dark shadow, a motionless figure sat silently.
"Crack!"
The protesting monkey, its support suddenly gone, tumbled out of midair and hit the ground, and by the look of it he scraped against some wound in the fall. Little Gray yelped in pain, bared his teeth, leapt to his feet, and made furious faces at Lu Xueling's receding back.
Lu Xueling slowly rounded the broken wall and came to stand beside Ming Li. What met her eyes was a husk that seemed to have lost all life—a pair of vacant, lightless eyes staring blankly, fixed on some nameless point; the whole face written over with haggard exhaustion; and even a faint reek of decay rising from his body, so that one nearly mistook him for a corpse already rotting from within.
"Clang!" The Celestial Dipper Divine Sword slipped from her hand and fell lightly to the ground beside her, yet Lu Xueling did not spare it even a glance. Slowly, she knelt down before Ming Li, and two glittering strings of tears slid down her pale cheeks.
"Xiaofan..."
Ming Li's body stirred abruptly, as though that half-familiar cry had faintly touched something deep within him. Yet moments later he sank back into his former blankness—like a weary bird that would rather huddle in its own small, formless nest than look even once more upon the world outside.
Trembling slightly, Lu Xueling reached out both hands and slowly cupped his face. Those familiar contours—they were the very one carved into her heart, the one she had yearned for through countless nights. Her lips quivered, and with a choke in her voice she whispered, "Xiaofan, I'm here. It's me—I'm Xueqi..."
He did not move. His face was wooden.
The night wind blew cool and clear, rustling through the grass. The gray-furred monkey sat crouched to one side, watching them without a sound. Beneath the cold, cold moonlight, who would spare a thought for this lowly, insignificant corner of the world, and for the man and woman struggling, sinking and rising, in the tides of mortal love?
Drip. A translucent tear rolled from her cheek and fell upon Ming Li's face—moist, and faintly warm. Lu Xueling sat gently down beside Ming Li; wherever she touched, he was cold as ice.
"Don't be afraid. You mustn't be afraid..." Behind the tear-stains on Lu Xueling's face there slowly surfaced a courage edged with resolve. Gently she gathered Ming Li's head against her bosom, warming with the heat of her breast that body about to collapse in despair.
She held the man in her arms tightly and would not let go again, and slowly she raised her head to gaze at the vault of heaven, at that bright moon, so clear and luminous.
"Xiaofan, don't be afraid."
"It will be all right..."
"Everything will be all right!"
She spoke softly, her voice tender yet firm.
Moonlight like water poured down upon the mortal world, gently illuminating that pair of figures leaning against each other.