Chapter 205 — Schemes Within Schemes

Zeng Shuyan turned around. "Since that is so, let us enter. But this place is hardly ordinary, after all; we would do better to be careful. Let it be thus: I shall take the lead and clear the way, Junior Sister Lu will hold the center and provide support, Senior Brother Li will bring up the rear, and the other senior brothers of Fenxia Valley will walk in the middle. Is that agreeable?"

Li Xun nodded and was about to consent when Lu Xueling suddenly said mildly from the side, "That will not do. Let us change it."

Both Zeng Shuyan and Li Xun were taken aback. Zeng Shuyan said, "Junior Sister Lu, what do you mean, then?"

Lu Xueling considered for a moment and said, "I shall walk in front. Senior Brother Zeng will walk at the very rear. Everyone else, and Senior Brother Li, will be in the middle. Senior Brother Li and the others are all disciples of Fenxia Valley; should anything happen, there should be someone to give orders and speak for them."

Li Xun's expression shifted slightly; he seemed about to say something, but Zeng Shuyan had already laughed. "Ah, you are right. How did I not think of that? Junior Sister Lu has reason. Then it is settled."

Li Xun frowned, but in the end closed his mouth and said nothing, which counted as tacit assent. Lu Xueling looked at him, then turned back to Zeng Shuyan. "Senior Brother Zeng, walking at the rear, you will have the better view and should take in the whole situation, keeping the plan in your mind."

Zeng Shuyan smiled faintly. Suddenly, at an angle where Li Xun and the other Fenxia Valley disciples could not see, with his back to them, he winked at Lu Xueling, then laughed. "Rest easy, Junior Sister Lu. With me guarding the rear, no trouble will daunt us. Hahaha—"

Lu Xueling gave Zeng Shuyan a deep look, and the corners of her mouth seemed to show a faint trace of a smile—only to vanish at once. Even so, that moment of grace was enough to set the hearts of the young Fenxia Valley disciples in the distance, who stole glances at her from time to time, churning; someone could not help but sigh aloud.

Li Xun gave a cold snort, his face stern, and at once the strange sounds vanished without a trace. Lu Xueling's face returned to its cold indifference. She glanced around and said, "We are going in." With that, paying the others no further mind, she walked on ahead.

Zeng Shuyan turned to Li Xun with a smile. "Senior Brother Li, let us be off as well."

Li Xun nodded, signaled to the other Fenxia Valley disciples, and followed. By the time Li Xun and all the rest had entered that deep, dark gloom behind Lu Xueling, Zeng Shuyan still seemed in no hurry. He gazed about at the surrounding scenery for a while longer, as if turning something over in his mind. At length he gave a mysterious smile and slowly walked into the ancient cave.

Low footsteps echoed out from the darkness, and the entrance of the Zhenmo Ancient Cave sank once more into silence. As the footsteps grew softer and more distant and finally died away, a figure suddenly flashed in the darkness. Then Hei Mu's form slowly emerged from the shadows, walked gradually to the stone statue of the woman, and stood silently looking at it.

Behind him, illusory white mist slowly drifted up and gathered, and the enormous form of the fierce spirit Black Tiger appeared once more. But this time he did not immediately turn vicious words upon Hei Mu; instead he turned back and gazed long into the darkness deep within the cave. Suddenly he gave a cold laugh. "These people of the Central Plains—their scheming and infighting never ceases. Even here, they are still at it without end."

Hei Mu turned around and said mildly, "The human heart has always been thus. Never mind them—are not you and I, and even the Lady of those years, the same?"

"What?" The fierce spirit Black Tiger's enormous frame whirled around, so abrupt and swift that a muffled sound like a wild beast's growl issued from midair. His face was now full of rage, hideous in the extreme. He roared, "What did you say? You dare slander the Lady—and before the Lady's own statue?"

Before that terrifying, colossal form of the fierce spirit, Hei Mu's body seemed utterly insignificant. Yet somehow, though his face could not be clearly seen, from his calm tone one could tell he felt not the slightest fear—and more than that, what seemed to lie within it was a profound weariness.

"Elder Brother, if the Lady had had no schemes back then, what do you think has kept that undying, indestructible demon sealed within this ancient cave all these years?"

The fierce spirit Black Tiger was visibly checked, but plainly he did not wish to admit it. He roared, "What nonsense are you spouting? That was all the Lady's doing back then—"

"Enough!" Suddenly, contrary to his usual manner, Hei Mu shouted sharply, cutting off the fierce spirit Black Tiger. "Do not keep hanging the Lady, the Lady, on your lips. In my reverence for the Lady, I yield not one part to you."

The fierce spirit Black Tiger's enormous frame stiffened, and an expression of astonishment rose unbidden on his face. After a long while, he did not fly into a rage; instead his expression calmed. Looking down at this kinsman from a past life, he suddenly smiled and said mildly, "What has come over you? You never used to speak to me like this."

Hei Mu gave a cold laugh, as if mocking himself, and slowly turned his gaze back to the stone statue of the Witch Lady Linglong. Slowly he said, "Yes. I never used to speak like this. But why have I become this way now? I do not know myself—who can tell me?"

The fierce spirit Black Tiger said coldly, "That is your own affair. I have no interest and no wish to know. Just tell me one thing."

Hei Mu stared blankly at Linglong's statue and said, "What?"

The fierce spirit Black Tiger said, "Back then it was you who betrayed the Lady's dying charge, you who committed that monstrous impiety, secretly helping that demon recover the five sacred relics of the five Southern Border tribes and bring him back to life. But why today do you bid me let people into the cave, with intent to do him harm?"

Hei Mu's gaze had never left Linglong's statue. After a long while, his voice low and laced with anguish, he said, "The Lady was wrong to seal the Beast Lord back then. We who followed the Lady and sought that art of longevity, and so created such a monster—we were wrong too. I thought the Beast Lord did not deserve such a fate, never expecting that he would vent his wrath upon all living things under heaven, bringing about that cataclysm such as the world has never seen. I was wrong as well."

He laughed a wretched laugh. Suddenly he turned, flung wide his arms, and with a shrill, desolate voice cried out to the heavens:

"Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! So we were all wrong—"

That cry echoed far and wide, and the mountains answered it. But heaven and earth looked on cold and indifferent, as though nothing at all had changed, gazing down chill upon this mortal world.

The fierce spirit Black Tiger stood to one side, watching Hei Mu's figure suddenly convulsed with agony, and fell silent as well. He said not a word, only stood quietly behind him, the complex emotion in his eyes flickering faintly—yet there was not the least glimmer of tears.

Whether it was he or Hei Mu, in this desolate world, across a thousand myriad years, they had long since lost the right to weep.

Lu Xueling, walking within the Zhenmo Ancient Cave, suddenly seemed to sense something. She halted, turned, and glanced back at the way they had come. But the path behind was pitch-black and silent; beyond silence, there was not a sound at all.

Only that sudden throb, churning and echoing in her heart, would not quiet for a long time.

Li Xun, not far behind her, said in a low voice, "Junior Sister Lu, what is it? Have you found something?"

In the darkness, Lu Xueling slowly turned her body forward—and there too was only black, heavy darkness.