Chapter 30 — Strange Arts
劍問蒼天 · Page 3 of 8
Standing high upon the platform, the rising sun's warmth fell softly on Zhang Qingyue, warming his body but not his heart. He stood expressionless on the stage, facing Lu Xueqi, who stood across from him, beautiful as a fairy.
The contempt in that frost-cold woman's eyes was plain for all to see. On the square, everyone knew that he had reached the final four more by luck than by strength.
Behind her, Tianxuan gave off a faint blue radiance. Zhang Qingyue looked at that legendary divine object and thought dully: In a little while, I will be facing it, won't I?
And then, in a moment, he forgot the question entirely. Ever since returning the night before, his spirit had been rising and falling in a kind of daze.
Above the sea of clouds there were only two great platforms remaining now, but judging by the number of Qingyun disciples gathered to watch, those watching Qi Hao and Zeng Shuyan's contest on the western platform were likely fewer than three in ten of the crowd here. Almost everyone had been drawn to Lu Xueqi, the most dazzling figure of this tournament, and Zhang Qingyue, whose luck was too good—and among the elders, the great majority, including Sect Master Dao Yan himself, sat beneath this platform.
Yet when the crowd saw Lu Xueqi step onto the stage, after a burst of cheering, most of the talk was of whether Zhang Qingyue would be defeated in a breath or in an instant.
Below the stage, Tian Buhui's brows were tightly knit. He knew Zhang Qingyue's foundations well enough, but hearing the contemptuous chatter behind him still made him deeply uncomfortable. Beside him, Su Wan was turning this way and that, searching for her daughter. After last night's great quarrel, Tian Lingsu had run off weeping, and this morning she was nowhere to be seen. Knowing her daughter as a mother does, she feared the stubborn girl had gone to the platform where Qi Hao was fighting.
She shook her head. Though she doted on her only daughter, this time she stood wholly on her husband's side. Perhaps it was a mother's instinct, but she had always felt that the people of Dragon Peak were not quite right.
She turned her head and looked up at the stage. At the same moment, Zhang Qingyue on the stage was looking back at her, expressionless. Their eyes met in the air, and after a moment Zhang Qingyue glanced at the places around her, as though he had not found the person he was looking for, and silently withdrew his gaze.
Su Wan frowned slightly and said to Tian Buhui, "Xiaofan looks off today—as though the life has gone out of him."
Tian Buhui said mildly, "He's just nervous. The boy has never seen anything like this. Nothing strange in it."
Su Wan fell silent and said no more.
Zhang Qingyue withdrew his gaze and let it fall on Lu Xueqi's face across from him. In the rising sunlight that peerless face glowed, radiant and striking. Soon Lu Xueqi felt his gaze and the contempt in her eyes appeared once more.
But this time Zhang Qingyue did not look away. He did not even register the mocking look across from him. That beautiful face meant nothing at all to him now. Only deep in his heart a voice was murmuring, low and anguished: She isn't here. She's gone to watch Qi Hao's match!
Clever as Lu Xueqi was, she soon realized that this opponent's eyes were on her, yet in that vacant gaze he was plainly thinking of something else and ignoring her existence altogether. This was almost the first time in her life such a thing had happened, and a flicker of surprise seemed to show in her eyes.
"Dang!"
Bell and cauldron rang out together, echoing over Jietian Peak. All around, silence fell swiftly.
Lu Xueqi straightened, drew a deep breath. Only two more victories—just two—and she could realize her dream and her master's hopes. Tianxuan was at her back, its blue light gradually brightening.
"Disciple Lu Xueqi of Xiaozhu Peak. Pray instruct me."