Chapter 74 — Two
劍問蒼天 · Page 4 of 6
Zhang Qingyue had not walked the mountain path from Dazhu Peak to the back hills in a long time. Along the way the roadside was lush with green, birdsong rang out in bursts, drifting now and then from afar.
The mountain breeze met him and brushed his face, bringing a touch of coolness; following this winding little path, it was as though he had returned to former days.
So here, truly, nothing had changed at all! Even the white clouds drifting far off across the mountainside of Dazhu Peak seemed exactly as they had been all those years ago.
The monkey Little Grey was overjoyed; it leaped down from Zhang Qingyue's shoulder at once, chittering as it darted into the grass beside the path, then suddenly scrambled up a great tree and swung back and forth among its branches.
Watching it, Zhang Qingyue could not help but smile faintly, recalling the scene of how he had first met Little Grey; it seemed the weight pressing on his heart eased a little in that moment.
On he walked, and on, Little Grey darting excitedly among the treetops above his head; but Zhang Qingyue's gaze gradually came to rest only on what lay ahead—that stretch of emerald bamboo grove, growing clearer by the moment.
How many memories were frozen here!
He stopped at the edge of the grove.
The mountain wind came, and countless black-jointed bamboos danced in the wind, rustling loudly, as though welcoming an old friend home.
Zhang Qingyue drew deep breaths of the fresh, sweet, free air that belonged in all the world to this place alone.
Then he walked in.
The emerald grove was as dense as ever; in the soil beneath those tall, green bamboos, countless shoots had broken through the earth and were growing freely.
Without thinking, he came again to the place where he had once done his bamboo-cutting lessons, and saw that the slender black-jointed bamboos of those days now seemed to have grown a ring thicker.
Bamboo shadows swayed, bamboo waves rustled, as though crowding around him.
The past surged up like a tide into his heart.
He stared blankly at everything around him, as though in a trance.
"Zhang Qingyue!"
Suddenly, a soft call, faintly tinged with delighted surprise, rose from deep within the bamboo grove.
Zhang Qingyue started as though struck. That voice was so familiar—and yet it was the last voice on earth he had ever expected to hear in this place. He wheeled about at once and looked toward the sound, and his breath caught in his throat: there, amid the shadows of the bamboo, stood Bili in a gown of water-green that melted into the colors around her, smiling, watching him with a gaze full of tenderness and something near to infatuation.
"You—how did you get here?" Zhang Qingyue faltered at last, after the two of them had stood gawking at each other like a pair of fools for a long while.
Bili came slowly toward him, even the light in her eyes a gentle smile, and said softly, "I came to see you, of course."
A surge went through Zhang Qingyue's heart; unconsciously he bit down on his lower lip, and only after a long moment managed, "But if anyone found out—you'd be in terrible danger!"
Bili shook her head. "I don't care. I just wanted to see you."
Zhang Qingyue felt a jolt. It was the first time he had ever heard Bili put her feelings so plainly. As though she had noticed his astonishment, a flush rose to Bili's cheeks, and she went on, "Your Canglan Sect has stood untroubled as a mountain for over a hundred years—they let their guard down long ago. I slipped up the mountain without anyone noticing."
Zhang Qingyue nodded silently, but then it came to him that everyone in the orthodox path knew by now that Bili was the daughter of the Infernal Sovereign, master of the Netherworld Sect. If he were seen talking with her here, the consequences needed no guessing.