Chapter 93 — Miasma
劍問蒼天 · Page 4 of 6
Amid the pursuit Ming Li's brows were locked tight. The one behind him had exceedingly high cultivation; in the haste of it he could not clearly see what artifact she wielded, but the ferocity of that killing intent was unmistakable. She was certainly no comrade of his—most likely one of the righteous path, sworn to his destruction.
Which formidable figure of the righteous path could this be?
The thought had scarcely stirred when his hands were already beginning to strike back. If they kept chasing like this, the one behind might be untroubled enough, but he himself would be blundering about like a headless fly—and who knew what further strangeness he might run into?
The blue radiance suddenly blazed brighter. Ming Li's figure shot up abruptly, wheeling about in midair, and Shihun hung dimly before his chest. The blue sword glare behind him seemed to sense something as well; it surged and grew still more ferocious, driving straight at his chest.
Ming Li seized Shihun before him, and the blue bead set in its black shaft blazed with light. Beneath that radiance, thread upon thread of blood-red lines seemed to kindle as well, the red blood flowing darkly within—red light and blue glare, dim and deep—as he turned to meet that blue sword glare head-on.
"BOOM!"
Ming Li's body shook violently, and he was driven back a full zhang willy-nilly. But the blue sword glare before him was likewise hurled back with a great shock, and someone in the clouds seemed to give a stifled grunt, plainly none too comfortable either.
In these years Ming Li had day and night cultivated the Demonic Heavenly Book, and with the "Blood-devouring Bead" ever at his side, the violent temper in his nature had long since grown heavy. Now he said not a word more, but flew straight forward, and Shihun went tearing through the air.
To his surprise, the moment Shihun struck, the clouds ahead split asunder. The enemy was every bit as unyielding; no sooner had she steadied herself than she attacked with all her force. Ming Li gave a fierce whistle, drove his artifact, and in an instant was locked in combat with that blue sword glare.
By now Shihun and the blue light were already battling in flight, but the clouds rolled and churned, and Ming Li's naked eye could no longer make out the artifacts' forms; he could only steer by his own sense of Shihun.
This sudden fight was perilous in the extreme for both sides. Both were figures of very high cultivation; one misstep, and even if one did not die by the other's hand, a single wound or lapse of attention would let the deadly miasma around them invade the body—and that too meant death with no way out.
The one ahead had plainly not expected to meet such an opponent. Though she was within the clouds and her face could not be seen, her swordplay showed she was not about to yield an inch.
In that flash of a moment, Shihun and the blue sword glare collided furiously within the miasma. With a great rumbling boom, and centered on those two artifacts, the miasma churned and faintly formed itself into another vast vortex.
Though far apart, Shihun was an artifact forged in Ming Li's own blood, and their bond was still as flesh to flesh. Ming Li felt that cold sensation upon Shihun gradually begin to boil, as though the artifact itself had a spirit and was growing excited. The feeling was truly strange; it had not come to him once since his cultivation had reached its height.
Only, long, long ago, when he had still been an ignorant youth, he had felt this sensation before...
His heart gave a sudden start!
As though something faint and hidden had stirred within him.