Chapter 48 — The Town
劍問蒼天 · Page 4 of 9
Wan Ren Gui gazed up at the sky, and an air of authority slowly radiated from him, betraying a man long accustomed to holding power in his hands. Yet for some reason his expression seemed tinged with sorrow, and he said slowly, "To change a man's nature is not easy, but neither is it impossible."
Joy showed plainly on Bili's face. Wan Ren Gui turned and saw it, and smiled faintly—an expression no different from that of any father in this world watching his daughter rejoice. Bili smiled back at her father, but noticed the man beside them frowning, who said in a low voice to Wan Ren Gui, "Sect Master, he is but a nameless youth of the Canglan Sect. Is he worth such effort from us?"
Wan Ren Gui shook his head. "The youth holds in his hand a thing of great malevolence such as the world has never seen, and from the look of him he can wield it with ease. He will not remain a creature of the pond in days to come. If such talent could be won over, it would greatly aid my ambitions—to say nothing of the great service he has done us father and daughter."
Bili nodded again and again. "Exactly! I told him that day—if he could join our Holy Cult, Father would surely think highly of him. He simply would not listen."
Wan Ren Gui laughed. "How could he listen? With that temper of his, and raised in Qingyun from childhood, he has long loathed our Holy Cult to the bone. Only—heh heh—the Blood-Devouring Bead and the Soul-Stealer are both things of the utmost malevolence in this world. Though the youth has somehow refined them into blood-bound artifacts whose malevolent aura is now contained and no longer shows outwardly, can one carry two such things about and remain untouched? In my view, the youth's cultivation is shallow, and day and night he keeps company with these things of great malevolence. In time, invaded by the fierce qi within the artifacts, his nature will surely change—he will grow cruel and bloodthirsty. When the orthodox sects can no longer tolerate him, and we add a little scheme of our own, he will find it hard not to join our Holy Cult." With that he laughed heartily.
Bili was struck dumb, unable to say whether she felt joy or worry, and found herself speechless. She could only gaze blankly eastward, where the sun shone bright and stood at its zenith over the ancient road—but the youth's figure was long since gone.
Zhang Qingyue left the tea stall and went east alone.
It was the hour of noon, and sunlight flooded the earth. Beyond the hills of the Kongsang Mountains lay a broad fertile plain, open and sparsely peopled. Only an ancient road, trodden by who knew how many ancients and moderns, stretched straight on across the wilderness.
Zhang Qingyue did not fly through the air, but walked the ancient road alone in silence. The words he had exchanged with Wan Ren Gui had shaken him deeply. Though he had faced Wan Ren Gui with righteous indignation, now, alone by himself, he could not help asking himself: Am I truly right?
The black iron rod still rested quietly at his waist, and from its shaft came a faint thread of coolness, now present, now not.
On he walked, and walked, and walked...
Beneath the vault of heaven, upon the ancient road, the youth burdened with cares suddenly stopped and looked up at the sky.
The sky was azure, high above, and it seemed so utterly beyond reach.
Zhang Qingyue gazed blankly at it. His lips moved slightly, his brows knitted together, and in a low voice, to the sky—and as though to someone's inmost heart—he said softly:
"Why is it, after all, that people live in this world?"
Along the way Zhang Qingyue braved wind and slept in the open. He had little silver on him, but when hungry he caught wild birds and hares in the fields, and when weary he found a tree to sleep beneath. In any case, from his days on Dazhu Peak doing his bamboo-cutting chores, his body had grown strong, and he did not find it hard going.