Chapter 98 — The Giant Tree
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 5 of 6
Moreover, it still stretched upward; upon that enormous trunk, besides branches equally astonishing in their thickness, it continued straight toward the sky.
Ming Li raised his head and gazed into the distance. Deep in the blue heavens there seemed to be a faint shadow.
He suddenly smiled, smiling up at the blue sky.
What man, faced with such a scene as this, could fail to feel his spirit surge with heroic ardor?
He leapt up and shot into the sky, cleaving the air as he went!
Faster and faster he flew, letting the fierce wind slice at his face like a blade.
The higher he climbed, the more the trunk of the giant tree shrank, until at last it was only some tens of zhang across—and even so, it remained a thing to strike the world dumb with awe. By now clouds and vapor had begun to gather, drifting past the trunk from time to time.
This giant tree seemed like nothing so much as that stairway to heaven in the legends of old, rising straight into the blue.
Another five zhang up, and Ming Li's body finally came to a halt. Before him, the trunk that had run so straight suddenly split into two vast limbs, spreading out to left and right.
Ming Li brooded a moment, then flew slowly over and came to rest at the fork of the giant tree. A fork it was called, but such was the tree's immensity that dozens of men could have stood there without feeling crowded. No sooner had Ming Li alighted than—with a squeak—little Grey hopped down first, his monkey head turning this way and that, and then he began cautiously to poke and pat at the bark, plainly consumed with curiosity; in all his life the little beast had never seen a tree so huge, and even a monkey could not help but be astonished.
Ming Li smiled faintly and paid Grey no mind. That swift flight up had shaken him to the core; before this he could never have imagined such a tree could exist in the world. And now, the first shock past, a thought had already taken hold of him: could it be that the wondrous treasure lay here, upon this inconceivable giant tree?
The two limbs of the fork were of like size, each nearly tens of zhang thick, stretching out into empty space like two dragons leaping across the heavens. From this point the branches and leaves grew ever more luxuriant, and the limbs seemed to reach a very great distance indeed—standing at the fork, he could see no end to either side.
Ming Li pondered in silence for a while, then made up his mind. He turned his head and called, "Grey."
The monkey Grey was bounding and skipping across the trunk, seemingly not in the least afraid of such a height above the ground; now and again he ran to the very edge of the limb and craned his neck to peer down—a monkey of uncommon nerve. Hearing his master's call, he gave two squeaks, then came hopping back in high excitement and leapt onto Ming Li's shoulder.
Ming Li smiled faintly and said, "Let's go."
Grey's eyes rolled round and round, and he nodded again and again. It seemed the monkey's curiosity was a formidable thing too; his mouth gaped in a ceaseless grin, and he looked altogether thrilled.
Ming Li glanced to left and right, brooded a moment, then without further hesitation summoned the Soul-Devourer once more. In a blaze of dazzling dark-blue light, he flew toward the left-hand limb.
That flight too went on a long while. Though they were high in the sky, the great limbs of the giant tree still bore countless enormous leaves, luxuriant beyond measure. Yet for some reason no fruit or blossom was to be seen; instead, the nameless vines that had coiled about the tree ever since the base of the trunk were in full bloom, their flowering branches flaunting their beauty.
As Ming Li flew on, the branches on this side gradually grew smaller, yet for some reason the vines grew ever thicker, and the blossoms ever more numerous, until at last they were strewn everywhere, too many for the eye to take in, and a strange fragrance drifted on the air.