Chapter 34 — Ten Thousand Bats
劍問蒼天 · Page 3 of 6
The veiled woman glanced at the flower in her hand; the veil stirred lightly—she seemed to nod. "Those four are of the Canglan Sect." Her voice echoed in the garden, deep and drifting; soft as it was, it carried a ghostly edge. "The one in the lead is Qi Hao of the Dragon Peak faction. The other three I have not seen before; they look to be of the younger generation. I do not know their names."
The green-clad girl smiled faintly. "I know one of them. The one who just went past—his name is Zhang Qingyue. What a plain, rustic name."
The veiled woman glanced at her. "Bili, it has been a long time since I have seen you admire flowers."
The green-clad girl—Bili, as she was called—seemed to freeze for a moment. Then her exquisite face broke into a smile again. "Yes, Aunt You. A long time."
She lifted the flower and looked at it closely once more. Then, under the veiled woman's gaze, the green-clad girl smiled—and yet her hand clenched, firm and decisive, and crushed the lovely blossom to shreds.
The next day the four of the Canglan Sect rose and washed. Qi Hao gathered them and said, "Kongsang Mountain lies three thousand li to the east. That is no short road; we had best make haste." The other three raised no objection, and so they settled the bill and set out.
The owner of the Mountain-Sea Inn did indeed hold the Canglan Sect in esteem; the room rate, steep as it was, was cut by half, till it was nearly the same as an ordinary lodging. Zhang Qingyue watched Qi Hao laugh and reckon the accounts with the owner, while his own eyes darted about. But even as they left, he did not catch sight of the green-clad girl and her companions again.
The four traveled by air, and the three thousand li took them a full ten days. Along the way Zhang Qingyue naturally dragged the pace badly, but in the last few days, as his command of the arts of Dao grew more practiced and he became better acquainted with the "Mystic Iron Staff," he managed to fly quite respectably. In those days, soaring high through the sky, that sensation of cleaving through blue heaven and white clouds kept him exhilarated for quite some time.
At last they reached Kongsang Mountain. As they dropped from the clouds, all of them were startled: within a hundred li all around, one great mountain rose sheer and steep, but it was mostly rock and sparse of grass and trees, and at its foot there was not a trace of human habitation—a desolation entire.
It was near dusk now, the sun sinking west, and the hazy yellow light of the setting sun fell upon Kongsang Mountain as though bearing a touch of bleakness, and a touch of the fearsome too. The four came down at the mountain's foot and put away their immortal swords and treasures. Qi Hao looked at the sky and said, "I see no household here where we might lodge. Better we go up the mountain at once—hunt for that 'Ten Thousand Bats Ancient Grotto' and look for some fit place to rest the night."
Zeng Shuyan said, "Elder Martial Brother Qi speaks sense. Let us go up the mountain." Zhang Qingyue, seeing that Zeng Shuyan agreed, had no objection of his own. Lu Xueqi glanced at the sky and said nothing, but she was the first to walk toward the summit.
Kongsang Mountain could not match the absurd height of Heaven-Reaching Peak on Canglan Mountain, but it was no low hill either; and being remote and sheer, with no path to be found, the four had climbed from the foot only to the mountainside when the sky went fully dark.
The four came to a broad flat ledge, and Qi Hao called them to a halt. From his robe he drew a small bronze mirror. All three recognized it at a glance as the supreme treasure of the Canglan Sect, the ** Mirror, and for a moment they were startled, not knowing what Qi Hao meant to do.