劍問蒼天 - 第21章 魔蹤 - 清風書屋

In Yuheng Hall the seven peak lords of the Canglan Sect had gathered, and at this moment every eye was fixed on the Perfected One Dao Yan.

The lord of Luoxia Peak, the Daoist Tian Yun, rose first. "Senior Brother Sect Master, did you discover what was wrong with the Spirit Lord just now?"

Dao Yan sighed and said slowly, "I examined it carefully. There is nothing unusual about the Spirit Lord."

"What?" Surprise rose on every peak lord's face.

Dao Yan looked at his fellow disciples. "It is true. I looked again and again; the Spirit Lord is entirely as it has always been. I simply cannot fathom why such fury should have seized it so suddenly, or why it should have vanished so quickly."

Tian Buhui considered for a moment. "The target of the Spirit Lord's attack seemed to be the young disciples. Could someone have provoked it?"

The lord of Xiaozhu Peak, Master Shui Jing, took this up. "Impossible. If a disciple had truly provoked the Spirit Lord, why would it have given up after a single strike?"

Shui Jing was a striking beauty, but the moment she spoke her tone turned ice-cold, as though a thread of frost ran through it. Tian Buhui glanced at her and said no more.

Dao Yan shook his head. "The Spirit Lord is an ancient spirit-beast, and its nature has long been attuned to the divine. In a thousand years it has never once lost control so abruptly. There must be a reason."

Zeng Shuchang, lord of Fenghui Peak, seated on the left, his temples frosted white and his face the oldest of the seven, spoke up: "Then has the Senior Brother Sect Master already reached a conclusion?"

Dao Yan gave a soft sigh. "To be frank with you all, I am as much in the dark as anyone. But the Spirit Lord is the guardian spirit-beast of our Canglan Sect, and no small matter. I meant to use our sect's secret Spirit-Communion Art to probe the truth of it, but—"

There he stopped short. The others had been listening, and when he broke off, Tian Buhui was the first to press him: "Senior Brother Sect Master, what is it?"

A look of embarrassment crossed Dao Yan's face. "The Spirit-Communion Art is a minor side-technique, but it does allow a degree of communication with the Spirit Lord. As it happened, just as I was about to use it, the Spirit Lord had already fallen asleep. There was nothing I could do."

The others were struck dumb.

Dao Yan cleared his throat twice and put on a solemn expression. "There is no cause for worry in this matter. Once the Spirit Lord wakes, we shall consider it again at our leisure. But there is another matter I should like to discuss with you, Senior Brothers."

Seeing how grave Dao Yan's face had become, the others judged it no trifle; the smiles faded from their faces and they sat up straight.

Dao Yan returned to his own seat, mused for a moment, and said, "Tell me, do any of you know of a Kongsang Mountain three thousand li to the east?" (Note 1)

The others were taken aback. The Daoist Cang Yan was the first to recover. "Does the Senior Brother Sect Master mean the Kongsang Mountain that holds the Ancient Cave of Ten Thousand Bats?"

Dao Yan nodded. "The very same."

Zeng Shuchang frowned. "I have heard that this Ancient Cave of Ten Thousand Bats is a vast natural cavern plunging into the earth, unfathomably deep, cold and damp within, inhabited by nothing but countless bats. Millions of them, they say. A barren, godforsaken place—why should you raise it now, Senior Brother?"

Dao Yan said slowly, "There is much you do not know. Desolate as that cave appears, unfit for man or beast, eight hundred years ago it was an important stronghold of the Demonic Cult. The cold and the damp within suited those heretics well for the practice of their demonic arts. Later, when the righteous cultivators of our path besieged them, the demons were routed and fled, and the place fell into ruin."

Master Shui Jing spoke coldly. "And why does the Senior Brother Sect Master bring it up again now?"