Chapter 252 — The Loss of Heart

Xiao Hui, perched on his shoulder, now drew back its gaze from the Dragon-Subduing Cauldron as well and gave a few low, mournful cries, as though pleading—begging Ming Li to save the Taotie and the other spirit beasts below. Strange lights flickered in Ming Li's eyes and his brows knitted tight. He had sensed something amiss when he first glimpsed the four great spirit beasts below in the confusion; now, looking closely, he saw plainly that these four so-called ancient spirit beasts, relics of the primordial wild, had all suffered grievous loss of vital essence—nine parts in ten of the spiritual power on which they relied to rampage through the world was gone.

Ming Li had never before heard of such a venomous art of devouring spiritual essence existing in this world. Plainly the strangeness lay in the mysterious array laid down throughout this vast cavern—and in that Dragon-Subduing Cauldron overhead.

He could not help hesitating. This venomous Four Spirits Blood Array inspired in him not the slightest liking, and of the four spirit beasts below, three had no small connection to him, ties of some depth; by reason and feeling alike, it seemed only right to help them break free. But he was long since no longer the simple youth of former days. On second thought, he realized that an array of such power as this—to say nothing of all the rest—must surely have cost the Nether King untold pains to set in place. If he acted rashly and ruined the Nether King's great design, would that not be as good as falling out with him?

In truth, if it were merely a falling-out with the Nether King, Ming Li felt no fear at all; fall out they would. But there was Bi Li lying there between them—ten whole years...

At the thought of Bi Li, the light in Ming Li's eyes dimmed. He sighed softly, slowly straightened, and silently shook his head at Xiao Hui on his shoulder. Xiao Hui grew frantic at once, scratching its ears and cheeks, waving both hands, its face all entreaty—plainly it wanted Ming Li to save the spirit beasts below. Ming Li's brows drew tight; his face shifted between light and shadow, and his heart wavered.

Just then a clear, crisp sound came from behind them. Ming Li and Xiao Hui both started and turned to look. There stood Master Gui in his black robes, who had somehow come to be on the platform behind them—and that ancient divine artifact, the star plate, was blazing with light, rolling radiance surging like waves, gathering about the plate into a pillar of light that shot straight up into the sky and, wonder of wonders, echoed the miraculous pillar atop the Dragon-Subduing Cauldron.

And the star plate, within that dazzling pillar of light, had conjured beneath it countless pure white petals, joined one to another like the lotus throne beneath a bodhisattva of the Buddhist faith, translucent as crystal, arching around the plate. Above the plate, amid billowing auspicious radiance and precious aura, a golden ancient character lit up, glowing brightly, floating and sinking within the light—but this time the golden character did not dim again; instead it grew brighter and brighter.

As the golden character blazed, the dagger-like radiance that bound the Dragon-Subduing Cauldron brightened in answer.

Ming Li's heart clenched. He stepped forward and said sharply, "What are you doing?"

But Master Gui seemed not to hear him. His black-robed figure was now wholly wrapped in the radiance pouring from the star plate, his eyes fixed upon the plate suspended before him; somehow, he looked to have shed some of his usual ghostly air and gained instead a certain solemnity.

There beneath the plate's dazzling radiance, Master Gui's hand moved like the Buddha plucking a flower—unhurried, ethereal—and lightly touched the very heart of the plate's brightest light. Almost at his touch another golden character leaped forth, blazing with light, drifting gently in the radiance above the plate. And Master Gui paused not an instant; eyes fixed on the center of the light as though searching for something, in a moment he tapped four more times upon the plate's center.

Four golden characters emerged in turn. The plate's radiance swelled; the surrounding pillar of light more than doubled in girth. And in answer, the Qiankun Lock pillar above the Dragon-Subduing Cauldron in the sky abruptly swelled several times over, and with a series of light clicks began to shudder—it looked as though it might tear free of the cauldron itself.

Ming Li was badly startled. Even a fool, after the fierce battle just past, would know that the miraculous pillar on that demon visage was the only thing now holding that invincible, uncanny force in check. Should the Qiankun Lock be undone, the consequences were only too easy to imagine. He could no longer spare a thought for courtesy; in his alarm he launched himself at Master Gui, shouting, "Stop!"

But swift as lightning though he was, when he came within five feet of Master Gui and the star plate, a soft yet immeasurably abundant formless force rebounded him away. And it was just as Ming Li was blocked that Master Gui once again reached out and touched the plate.

This time, though, he seemed to touch it very slowly; his finger seemed to tremble faintly—whether from nervousness, or from exerting every ounce of his strength, who could say. The trembling finger reached into the plate's radiance, paused there for the space of a breath, and then, after a moment, with a light, clear chime, the seventh golden character slowly rose above the star plate.

This seventh golden character looked somewhat larger than the six before it, and deeper in hue. Having risen above the plate, it did not drift and bob like the others but climbed slowly and then hung fixed in midair. As the seventh character rose, the other six at once drew near and ranged themselves in a ring about it. In an instant all seven blazed with golden light, converging into a pillar of gold no thicker than a finger, shooting straight up toward the Qiankun Lock pillar above the Dragon-Subduing Cauldron.

In that vast cavern—which but moments before had been a churning tempest—a strange stillness now fell. All was quiet; even breathing ceased. Every gaze—Ming Li's, Master Gui's, Xiao Hui's, the spirit beasts' in the blood pool, even that uncanny presence hidden in the unseen—held its breath, watching what was about to happen!

"Crack!"

A very light, very light, crisp sound.

The Qiankun Lock pillar above the Dragon-Subduing Cauldron swiftly dimmed and vanished, leaving at the very center of the demon visage's brow a small hole the size of a fingertip—and the golden pillar of light shot from the star plate struck precisely upon that hole. After a moment, a pearl came rolling slowly out of the hole, deep blue in color, and fell into the golden pillar of light.

The golden pillar slowly withdrew, descending little by little, and the mysterious blue pearl descended with it, drifting toward the star plate. When the pearl came nearer the ground and could be seen more clearly, one saw that the blue within it was like a boundless ocean, endless and inexhaustible, faint mist locked within, slowly revolving like the rise and fall of tides, like sun and moon traversing the heavens, unbroken since the beginning of time.