Chapter 238 — Fear

Xiaobai was taken aback for a moment, then gave a cold laugh. "So he finally has time for me? He's finally willing to see me?"

Her tone carried no small measure of disrespect and anger toward Hades. Hearing it, the Hades Sect disciple's face flickered with fear, and he bowed his head a little lower. Xiaobai gave a humph, but had no wish to make things harder for him. She said mildly, "As it happens, I was going to see him anyway. Since that is so, lead the way."

The Hades Sect disciple seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. He nodded. "Yes. Please follow me, Miss." With that, not daring to look at Xiaobai again, he turned and walked deeper into the passage.

Xiaobai followed behind the Hades Sect disciple. The direction they took led straight toward Hades's dwelling; it seemed Hades had indeed emerged from his so-called "seclusion" and returned to his own chambers. The corner of Xiaobai's mouth twitched, and a cold smile flickered across her face.

The two walked on until they were still thirty feet from Hades's stone chamber, where the Hades Sect disciple stopped and said in a low voice, "Miss Xiaobai, the Sect Master instructed that he is to meet with you alone. I will go no farther."

Xiaobai frowned. Even if Hades had given such an order, to stop and leave her thirty feet short of the door was, by any measure, a gross breach of courtesy. But when she turned and looked at the young Hades Sect disciple, she was startled. His face was somewhat stiff, and his hands, hanging at his sides, seemed to be rubbing against the fabric by his legs of their own accord, as though sweat were pouring endlessly from his palms. He was in a state of extreme tension and fear.

Xiaobai was silent a moment, her expression softening. She gave a light sigh. "Very well. You may go."

The young disciple lifted his head to glance at Xiaobai, then at once lowered it again, but it was plain that his whole body had relaxed, as though a boulder of a thousand catties had in an instant been lifted from his back, and a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. He said quietly, "Thank you, Miss." With that, he turned and strode quickly away.

Xiaobai's gaze shifted to Hades's stone chamber. She pondered a moment, steadied herself, and took a step forward. Suddenly, at that very instant, from somewhere far behind her came a heart-rending howl. The sound was sharp as a blade, and in an instant it pierced the fragile calm of the cavern.

It was not the first time Xiaobai had heard such a sound, yet her chest still lurched. With a whoosh she turned around, only to find the passage before her still empty, with a single figure standing there stiff as a stone.

In the distance, the howls and the clamor of people rushing toward the sound mingled into an unbearable din, followed by a chaos of curses and sounds of struggle. A faint stench of blood, like an unseen stream, seemed to flow around Xiaobai's body.

But for the moment Xiaobai paid these things no mind. Her brows were tightly knit, and her eyes were fixed on the young Hades Sect disciple from before. Hades's stone chamber naturally occupied a quieter corner, and this passage was rather long; apart from Xiaobai and the young man, there was no one else here now. From the distance, those cries that made the heart go numb with dread still came without pause. Who knew which poor soul had gone mad this time.

Suddenly the young disciple's rigid body began to tremble, and the trembling grew more and more violent, until he let out a howl verging on despair: "Ah! I can't take it anymore..."

He drew the blade he carried for protection. As though the empty air around him were crowded with fiendish enemies bent on taking his life, he hacked and slashed wildly, the keen edge whistling shrilly through the air and now and then striking the hard stone wall, leaving faint scars behind.

The distant shrieks gradually subsided, but the crowd seemed to have heard something and began moving in this direction. Xiaobai gave a cold humph. A white shadow flashed, and she had darted to the young disciple's side. He seemed to have lost all reason, and his next slash came at Xiaobai. Her left hand seized at the air, swift as lightning, and caught the young disciple's wrist. With a slight exertion of force there came a sharp crack; the blade fell from the disciple's hand and dropped to the ground, and he himself slumped against the stone wall as though all his strength had fled.

Xiaobai looked closely into the man's eyes. He was panting hoarsely, his gaze scattered and somewhat mad, but apart from a few red threads in the whites, there was none of that bloodthirsty crimson.

Xiaobai let out a breath of relief, yet her ears caught the clamor in the distance drawing nearer. She pondered briefly, then raised her right hand and brushed it over the young disciple's head. As her white sleeve swept past, the young disciple's body convulsed, his eyes slowly closed, and he slumped limply to the ground.

Xiaobai's face was taut. She turned sharply and drifted toward the stone chamber where Hades dwelt, while behind her many figures were faintly appearing, running in this direction.