Chapter 247 — Waiting

Just as Mr. Gui reached out to push open the stone door, Ming Li suddenly spoke from behind: "Is this not the stone chamber of the Ghost King Sect Master?"

Mr. Gui slowly turned around and said quietly, "Indeed. This is the place."

Ming Li frowned. "You would study the astrolabe here?"

Mr. Gui nodded. "Indeed."

Ming Li gave him a cold glance. "There are thousands of stone chambers in the Ghost King Sect caves. Why did you pick this one alone?"

Mr. Gui glanced at Ming Li, a light flashing through his eyes. "Oh? Do you find something improper about choosing the Ghost King Sect Master's dwelling?"

Ming Li fell silent. If he truly had to say what was wrong with the Ghost King's stone chamber, he could not put it into words—yet in recent days, in order to investigate that mysterious force, he had secretly searched every corner of the Ghost King Sect caves; only the place where the Ghost King lived had he, after all, somewhat scrupled to search thoroughly.

Gazing at that stone door, he was silent for a moment, then said quietly, "I have no objection. But this place, after all, is the Sect Master's dwelling. Would it not be better to report it to him first?"

Mr. Gui laughed softly. "Set your mind at ease. I have already spoken with the Sect Master. Upon learning it was to save Miss Bi Li, the Sect Master naturally agreed at once. As for why I chose this place..." A strange light flashed in his eyes, and he said quietly, "Only because this place is quiet."

Ming Li glanced at Mr. Gui and suddenly gave a cold laugh. "Quiet, is it? Nothing more?"

Mr. Gui, however, seemed wholly unable to hear any other meaning in Ming Li's words. "Nothing more," he said mildly.

Ming Li shut his mouth and said no more. Mr. Gui nodded, reached out and opened the stone door. Amid a low, familiar rumble, the door slid slowly aside, revealing the plainly furnished chamber within.

Ming Li followed Mr. Gui inside and cast a glance around. The paintings hanging on the walls were exactly as he remembered them from his last visit. But then his brow furrowed—he found that even he could not for the life of him recall when he had last come to the Abode of the Underworld King to see him.

The Underworld King was not in the chamber. Mr. Gui turned around and, meeting Ming Li's faintly questioning gaze, said calmly, "The Underworld King gave his instructions beforehand: we are to settle ourselves here and devote our minds to comprehension. He is a busy man, and will not come to disturb us these next few days."

Ming Li nodded silently, then seemed to remember something. "By the way, Bi Li—"

Mr. Gui waved a hand to set his mind at ease. "Rest easy. The sect master has said that during the days we spend in comprehension, he will look after Miss Bi Li himself. If you trust no one else, surely you would not distrust Miss Bi Li's own father?"

Ming Li was silent a moment, then nodded. "Then my mind is at ease. If there is nothing else, sir, shall we begin?"

Mr. Gui fetched two meditation cushions from the side, tossed one to Ming Li, and seated himself on the other. "Very well."

Ming Li sat down on the other cushion and drew from his robe the astrolabe treasure wrapped in black cloth. He undid the cloth, gazed at the astrolabe for a moment, then slowly handed it to Mr. Gui. The monkey Xiao Hui, perched on Ming Li's shoulder, followed the astrolabe with its eyes as it moved, and its expression seemed to have abruptly turned somewhat strange.

Mr. Gui took the astrolabe. It was warm to the touch, and a soft pale-white radiance seeped from it, drifting gently before his face and mirrored in both his eyes. Mr. Gui gazed at the astrolabe in silence, his look traveling over it inch by inch, as though he meant to see straight through this treasure.

Silence fell over the stone chamber, so complete that even the sound of breathing seemed to have faded to nothing.

On the other side of the caverns of the Underworld King Sect in Mount Huqi, after Ming Li had departed with Mr. Gui, the icy stone chamber had sunk back into its wonted stillness. White cold vapor drifted quietly through the room, carrying with it a touch of loneliness.

In the empty chamber, that green figure still lay quietly, motionless, a serene expression on her face and a faint smile at the corners of her lips, as though everything were exactly as it had been ten years ago. Time had not left the slightest trace upon her features.

She was as beautiful as ever—yet who could say whether, somewhere in her heart, there lay a faint sorrow, or a quiet regret?

The white cold vapor drifted like thin smoke, growing gradually hazier to the eye, like a dream dreamed too long, a shadow half-visible within the dream.

"Ding!"

Suddenly a sound, exceedingly clear, fine yet distinct, rang out in the icy stone chamber. An invisible wave of sound swept past like a gentle breeze, and the pale mistlike cold smoke drifting in the room all at once quivered faintly.

"Ding!"

Another soft chime, clearer still this time. The sound came from the small Bell of Union clasped between Bi Li's pale hands.

In the stone chamber, the once-scattered thin smoke seemed to quicken its drifting, and the sweet echo of the bell rebounded from the stone walls on every side, each note following on the last without cease, weaving itself into a faint, lingering melody—now joyful, now sorrowful, now stirring, now a sigh.

"Ding!"

The third chime, ringing of itself, suddenly soared high. In an instant the white vapor in the chamber reversed its flow entirely, churning up and down like the waves of a sea of clouds. A single clear cry split metal and stone, pierced the clouds, and shot straight upward—and a faint golden light, unmistakably, was seeping out from between Bi Li's hands.

Within the stone chamber came faintly the sound of wind and thunder; but after a moment it seemed to lack strength, the force failing, and the keen clear note slowly sank. The golden light seeping from between Bi Li's fingers likewise dimmed little by little.

The sound of the bell slowly died away in the icy stone chamber. The white vapor returned to normal, drifting gently, as though nothing at all had happened, leaving not the slightest trace behind.

Stillness returned to the stone chamber.

How long passed, none could say, when the stone door of the icy chamber suddenly gave a low rumble and slowly opened. The figure of the Underworld King appeared in the doorway and came slowly inside. He walked slowly to the side of the icy stone platform, looked at his daughter, and after a long while said in a low voice, "Yao'er, Father has come to see you."

Bi Li's expression showed not the slightest change—just as in every moment of these ten years.

The Underworld King had clearly long since grown used to such an outcome. His gaze upon his daughter was filled with tender affection, not a trace of ferocity remaining. He sat down lightly at the side of the stone platform, raised his head, and looked at the white vapor drifting in midair within the chamber.

"Yao'er... ten years. Before anyone knew it, you have slept like this for ten years." He suddenly gave a small laugh, a hint of bitterness at the corners of his mouth, and said softly, "If you woke now, would you perhaps no longer know your father?"

He paused, then gently shook his head and gave a wry laugh, as though laughing at himself, and murmured, "How could that be? Of course you would know me. Though I daresay you would surely say: Father, how is it you have so much more white hair?"

The Underworld King's hand passed lightly over his own smooth hair, and his expression turned somewhat dazed. Between his fingers there was white hair in abundance.