Chapter 57 — To Sea
劍問蒼天 · Page 1 of 6
The night was deep, and wind and rain swept across the world. Fallen leaves, from where no one knew, drifted lightly through the storm and were carried away on the wind.
Beneath the blue-green oiled-cloth umbrella, her garments swayed gently, and a few strands of black hair clung to her snow-white cheek.
Zhang Qingyue stood where he was, yet in that single instant a flicker of bewilderment passed through his heart. In this deep night of an alien land, in an unfamiliar place, there was a wind and rain that seemed somehow familiar...
Slowly, he walked over, and stepped into the wind and rain.
Behind him, deep within the faint darkness, a profound gaze watched in silence.
As he drew near, the whole world seemed to quietly fall still.
Her eyes were there, just ahead.
Tender beyond words.
"Why are you still up?" Zhang Qingyue said slowly.
Bili did not answer, only looked at him, her bright eyes like water, reflecting his shadow.
The rain gradually soaked through his clothes, slowly condensing from his hair into tiny, crystalline droplets that ran through his black locks, dripped softly down, and slid from his face.
"And you?" she asked in return. "Why are you still up?"
Zhang Qingyue was silent a moment, then said, "Shitou snores in his sleep. He's too loud. I can't get to sleep."
Bili was taken aback, then let out a soft "pfft" of laughter, her eyes flowing with light, and the faint glow that seemed to surround her suddenly seemed to brighten as well.
In Zhang Qingyue's eyes, she was like a lily blooming softly in the rain of the deep night.
Smiling, she reached out and took Zhang Qingyue's hand, and he found himself stepping forward. In the wind and rain, that small green umbrella turned and came over him, shielding his head.
Beneath the umbrella was the soft sound of her breathing.
Zhang Qingyue's heart suddenly beat faster, and he looked away, not looking at her, yet that faint, delicate fragrance that seemed to emanate from her body still lingered around him.
"Tomorrow, you're going to Liubo Mountain?" Bili said quietly.
Zhang Qingyue's heart stirred. "That's right!" he said, then looked up at her. "And you?"
Bili smiled faintly. "I'm going too."
Zhang Qingyue's expression changed, and he frowned. "Don't be childish. There will be a great many of the righteous sects there, and my master has an even worse temper. It will be dangerous for you to go."
Bili fell silent, only gazing at him in silence. Zhang Qingyue felt a vague unease but could not put it into words. Yet he thought that standing here in the rain with her late at night was hardly proper, so he said, "I'd better go back first."
Bili did not answer, and Zhang Qingyue left her side and walked back.
But when he was halfway there, her voice suddenly came from behind him, in the rain.
"Xiaofan!"
Zhang Qingyue froze. It was the first time Bili had called him so intimately.
He slowly turned around. The wind and rain lay between them, and seemed to have grown heavier, so that Bili's face became somewhat blurred, yet her voice came through so clearly.
"Just now, standing here alone, I was thinking that if the two of us were to die in the Blooddrop Cave, unable to escape, that wouldn't be so bad either."
Zhang Qingyue's body jolted. Then he forced a laugh and said, "Don't joke about such things." With that, he walked quickly away.
Bili watched his figure, slowly lowered her head, and softly, in a voice only she could hear, said, "At least I won't have any regrets."
Zhang Qingyue stepped onto the covered walkway, out of the wind and rain, and felt as though he had breathed a sigh of relief. Somehow, facing Bili, this beautiful woman of the demon cult, he always felt an inexplicable tension—perhaps it was the pressure brought by her identity.
He sighed inwardly, yet could not help glancing back once. In the wind and rain, the woman still stood there. He shook his head and walked back toward his room.