Chapter 211 — Embrace

Outside the desolate Hall of Mountain and River there was no sound but the low chirping of insects. The disciples of Burning Cloud Valley had for the most part gone peacefully to sleep, no doubt. Who would know that on a night such as this, two old men sat in silence in the Hall of Mountain and River?

Yun Yifeng's mood today seemed utterly unsettled; his usual composure was gone entirely, his feelings written plain on his face, and he looked harassed and fretful. He paced back and forth many times, and at last, after a long sigh to the heavens and a bitter shake of the head, he said nothing more and walked silently toward the rear hall.

Shangguan Lue sat where he was, unmoving. Just as Yun Yifeng's figure was about to vanish into the dim rear hall of the Hall of Mountain and River, a strange light suddenly flashed in Shangguan Lue's eyes; as though after hesitation and doubt he had at last made his choice and decision, he rose to his feet.

"Senior Brother!"

Yun Yifeng's steps paused. He turned. "What is it?"

Slowly, as though weighing each word with care, Shangguan Lue said, "I have thought it over carefully, and there may yet be hope in this matter."

Yun Yifeng's brows shot up. "What did you say?"

Shangguan Lue seemed to feel his throat dry; his throat moved, and he said slowly, "Of the two places in the world known to still hold a diagram of the Eight Evils Profound Fire Formation—the Profound Fire Altar and the Zhenmo Ancient Cave—both have now been destroyed. To try to plumb the mystery of the heavenly fire from the arrays alone—I fear the road ahead is bleak indeed."

Yun Yifeng snorted. "True enough. So what are you saying?"

Shangguan Lue was silent a moment. "I was thinking: the array diagram is a dead thing. Since this road is barred, perhaps we might begin from the living."

Yun Yifeng grew impatient. "From whom? Who else would know—" Suddenly his eyes lit up, his expression turning grave. He pondered a moment, then said slowly, "You mean that after the collapse of the Zhenmo Ancient Cave, some of the southern witch clan might still survive?"

Shangguan Lue drew a deep breath, as though some heavy burden had long been pressing on his heart; but after a moment he still spoke. "I cannot be certain of it now, but by my guess, after all within the Zhenmo Ancient Cave was reduced to ashes and smoke, of those several remnant witches—neither human nor demon—there was one, I fear, who would not have been content to perish along with the rest."

He raised his head slowly, his tone somehow bitter. "If I am not mistaken, that one may have survived. And if so, that person is now the one in all the world who knows most of the mysteries of the ancient witch clan's arts. From him we may gain something—there is no telling."

Yun Yifeng pondered in silence, but his expression slowly cleared and sharpened. After a long while he suddenly nodded. "Well said. You have true insight, junior brother. The hope is slight, but better than despair. In that case, I must trouble you to make the journey into the Ten Thousand Wilderness Mountains. Make this your chief errand, and while you are there, see how Xun'er and the others are faring. He went this time and met with great upheaval beyond all expectation—the boy has had a hard time of it."

Shangguan Lue sighed inwardly, rose to his feet, and nodded. "Yes."

Yun Yifeng glanced at him, and suddenly a smile surfaced on his face. "Brother," he said, "I was in poor spirits just now, and perhaps my tone was not what it should have been. Do not take it to heart."

Shangguan Lue shook his head. "What are you saying, senior brother? Of course not."

Yun Yifeng nodded with a smile, then turned and walked into the rear hall of the Shanhe Hall, vanishing into the shadows. In that vast hall, only a single lonely figure remained, standing silently.

Darkness crept in quietly and swallowed his silhouette.

The southern borderlands, the Hundred Thousand Wild Mountains.

The tremendous roar that shook heaven and earth, the volcanic bellow that made the ground tremble, finally began slowly to subside after three days and three nights of frenzied eruption. The rain of fire that had filled the sky like a vision of the apocalypse had stopped at some unknowable hour, but upon countless peaks and rivers and stretches of land, everywhere were the scars of scorching; gazing into the distance, it seemed there were still innumerable fires burning upon this suffering earth.

Yet at last the dark clouds at the horizon slowly dispersed, and once more cast down a gentle and warm radiance, shining upon this land.

Though one stood far away, a faint trace of irritable sulfur and scorched air still lingered in the atmosphere, but by this time, in the light breeze blowing down from the distant sky, what was more abundant was already the scent of freshness.

Everything, in the end, must come to an end.

And everything, it seemed, was about to begin anew...

Sun and moon revolve, ceaseless in their passage; the stars turn and the constellations shift—who has ever seen all the vicissitudes of this world?

Countless stars twinkled, and the bright moon had just risen.

The night wind blew softly, and the forest sighed in waves.

A calm night quietly descended upon this place.

A soft, low murmur, like an infant in slumber; instinctively she reached out her hand and caught hold of something.

It was warm skin, a place of safety, right beside her, solid and never gone. At the corner of her lips, as though she had found some small comfort in her dream, there was a faint smile.

In the night, beneath the starlight, the light wind blew quietly past.

Her lovely hair was somewhat disheveled; several strands of black hair trembled gently in the night wind and fell upon her jade-like cheeks. She frowned slightly, with an expression of childlike innocence; that beauty amid such disorder seemed, in the calm, to seep slowly deeper into the depths of the soul.

Ming Li gazed silently at that sleeping face. She was right beside him, closer than she had ever seemed to be. She slept peacefully, breathing the fresh air of this southern night; the wind passed by, her chest rose and fell slowly, and the corners of her mouth were faintly smiling.

Suddenly he raised his head. That bright moon was just climbing to midheaven, casting a soft and warm radiance, shining upon the world.

Moonlight like water, spilling over them both.

Clothes like snow, and a person like jade!

This was a cliff upon a high peak in the Hundred Thousand Wild Mountains, jutting out from the mountainside some ten feet or so. Because it was rather far from the scorched-black peak where the Zhenmo Ancient Cave lay, the great volcanic eruption triggered by the cave's collapse had not affected this place much; only a few flames and scattered bits of lava among the rubble that fell during the rain of fire had set a few spots burning, but these had quickly died down.

And upon that high cliff, one could still faintly make out the place where that frenzy had occurred; yet all that remained there were countless ashes.

The two who had been in dire straits that day, after being rescued by the divine artifact the Xuanguang Mirror through its Mystic Fire Spirit Shield, had both quickly fainted from sheer exhaustion; and when Ming Li awoke again, he found himself and Lu Xueling upon this cliff.

After all the clamor, there was such a calm and cool night.

Suddenly a soft cry came from beside him. He turned to look: that beautiful woman in her sleep, after a faint smile, slowly opened her eyes.

Those clear, gentle eyes that reflected his figure...

In an instant, it was as if heaven and earth had gone still, and somewhere deep in his soul, something quietly burst open!

Then, after gazing deeply at him, she smiled faintly, as though still bearing a trace of shyness.

That smile was like a pure white lily in the darkness of deep night!