Chapter 213 — The Inner Demon

The Coiled Dragon Cauldron spun ceaselessly, the eerie inscriptions on its body flickering without pause, red light pulsing in waves. The Nether King raised his right hand, and the great ancient cauldron came to rest upon his palm, looking like a demon lord descended upon the world, utterly terrifying. As for Mingli, radiance cloaked his whole body — plainly he too had gathered all his divine powers and magic, ready for a decisive battle here.

The two great masters faced each other, killing intent thick in the air; it seemed both had long since forgotten the cause of this sudden strife — only that at this moment, as though reason, suppressed in each of their hearts for many years, had suddenly snapped, they struck with all their might, their inner demons dancing wild.

Mingli strode forward, drawing closer and closer to the Nether King, while the killing aura in the Nether King's eyes grew ever denser; the Coiled Dragon Cauldron slowly tilted in midair, turning to face Mingli's body.

A great battle was on the verge of erupting.

No one would ever have imagined that the two most important figures of the present-day demon cult would, in such a remote stone chamber, inexplicably fall into a struggle to the death.

"Boom!"

A tremendous crash rang out from within the stone chamber.

The Nether King and Mingli, the two men, seemed each to see the other's eye corner twitch faintly, but in that split second, on the very brink, neither of them moved.

The door of the stone chamber slowly toppled, and beyond the doorway a figure gradually appeared — a figure that seemed to tremble slightly all over.

"Stop!"

The voice was slender and clear, carrying anger, bewilderment, and a measure of alarm. Yousi, her face veiled in black gauze — she who was also the Vermilion Bird of the demon cult — stood in the doorway.

The expression beneath her black veil could not be seen, but the fury in her was unmistakable, bursting forth: "You... what are you two doing? Have you both gone mad?"

Silence fell over the stone chamber; the two men faced each other and were silent, saying nothing, and in the air that killing intent still hung, impossible to dispel.

"Fine, fine, fine!" Yousi seemed to speak through clenched teeth, biting her lip in anger. She raised her hand and pointed in that direction: "Then kill, kill! Just kill each other and be done with it — dead, and all will be quiet. Do you even remember — that place, that place..."

Her voice caught a little. "In that Cold Ice Stone Chamber, is there not still someone lying upon the stone platform? Have you all forgotten?"

"Which of you still remembers the two words — Bili!"

The red blood-radiance quietly dispersed; the dazzling azure and golden light gradually withdrew and faded.

The killing intent and the smell of blood that had flowed through the stone chamber receded at some unknown moment, like the ebbing tide.

Only silence remained, lingering here as before, unwilling to leave.

The two men gazed at each other, and deep within their eyes it seemed some unspeakable light clashed.

Yousi stamped her foot in vexation, turned, and left without a backward glance; judging by the direction she took, it must have been toward the Cold Ice Stone Chamber where Bili lay. And the two men still lingering in the stone chamber seemed still locked in confrontation, quietly probing at certain secrets.

After a long while, the Nether King gave a faint, cold哼 — no, a faint, cold snort — and with a flick of his right hand bore the Coiled Dragon Cauldron up in his grasp, then strode out of the room. As he passed Mingli's side, the sharp light in his eyes seemed about to pierce through and dazzle.

And Mingli's gaze at that moment was not on the Nether King, but had fallen upon the body of the Coiled Dragon Cauldron.

The ancient cauldron, of archaic design, bore many fine places of wear and damage, yet on its deep-green, faintly purple body one could still clearly see countless twisted and mysterious inscriptions; and on the back of the cauldron, at the very center of those inscriptions, a single design imprinted itself upon Mingli's eyes: flames blazing fiercely, and within the firelight a great cauldron being roasted; around the great cauldron four strange beasts — some birds, some beasts — howled skyward; and above the cauldron black clouds rolled and tumbled, and there, unmistakably, was the hideous, fearsome face of a demon king, grinning maliciously as it watched the mortal world.

The design flashed past Mingli's eyes in an instant, yet somehow it had already sunk deep into his mind, impossible to shake. And in his memory, that demon king's face seemed somehow a little familiar — only for the moment he could not for the life of him recall whether he had ever seen this demon king's appearance.

The Nether King quickly walked out of the stone chamber and vanished beyond the door, and calm returned within. The monkey Xiaohui hopped over from the side, leaped onto Mingli's shoulder, and slowly sat down, but there was no joy in its face at all; from time to time it turned its head to look toward the doorway, giving low "chitter, chitter" cries.

Mingli was silent; he reached out and gently stroked Xiaohui's head, and after a moment of silence he gave a soft sigh, then turned and walked out of the stone chamber, wandering on at an easy pace.

The long corridor seemed to lead in every direction, just as on the road of life no one knows where to go — or rather, even if you think you know, where that road will truly lead, who can say?

Half an hour later, Mingli stopped in his tracks, struck dumb and unable to speak, and found that the place where he had halted was outside the Cold Ice Stone Chamber.

The thick stone wall stretched across before him, and yet he was suddenly a little afraid — he, who had not flinched even when facing the Nether King's demonic arts of the Coiled Dragon Cauldron, now could not help but feel fear.

That stone door stood there, so quietly, before him.

With a faintly trembling hand, he reached out.

The stone door, as it had countless times before, gave out a low rumbling sound and opened.

In the first narrow gap as it opened, dimly he saw a slender figure standing before the Cold Ice Stone Platform, and in the air there seemed still to be the crisp, familiar sound of a bell.

He seemed to be lost in a trance.