Chapter 105 — Sword Dance
劍問蒼天 · Page 1 of 5
Deep into the night.
On Canglan Mountain, atop Xiaozhu Peak.
The sky was dark and overcast, without moon or star, and boundless darkness shrouded Xiaozhu Peak. Lu Xueling, dressed all in white, stood alone upon the Moon-Viewing Terrace behind the peak.
This Moon-Viewing Terrace was in fact the most famous spot on Xiaozhu Peak. Together with the "Sea of Clouds" and the "Rainbow Bridge" of Jietian Peak on Canglan Mountain, it was counted among the Six Scenes of Qingyun as one of the "Moon-Viewing" wonders.
The rear slope of Xiaozhu Peak was likewise thick with dense bamboo groves, but unlike the "black-jointed bamboo" of Dazhu Peak's rear slope, Xiaozhu Peak was famous for a different and wondrous bamboo called the Tear Bamboo. These stalks were emerald green and slender, with nearly half as many joints as ordinary bamboo, yet their wood was of such extraordinary toughness that it was called the finest under heaven; no common woodcutter could fell one. But the Tear Bamboo's greatest renown came from the fact that its emerald trunk was covered all over with tiny spots of pale pink, like the tearstains of a gentle woman grieving—exquisite beyond words.
And from this the name of Xiaozhu Peak itself was derived.
As for the Moon-Viewing Terrace, it was in truth a cliff hanging alone in midair; apart from the rear portion that joined the mountain, most of it hung suspended high in the sky. It was said that on nights when the moonlight was bright, the moon would slowly rise from below the mountain, climbing gradually up the terrace, and the very moment the moonlight fully illumined the terrace was also the moment when the moon stood at its zenith.
And that was the terrace's most beautiful hour: of a sudden the pure radiance of the moon would come pouring down in sudden, dazzling splendor, glancing off the smooth rock of the terrace and lighting the whole of Xiaozhu Peak in an instant. In that moment anyone standing upon the terrace seemed nearly to stand in a fairy realm; indeed, it was said that on the night of the full moon that appeared only once in sixty years, one felt as though one stood upon the bright moon itself—a thrill that truly inspired endless yearning.
Yet tonight was moonless and windswept—clearly no time for savoring the terrace's beauty. And at this hour, not to speak of the Moon-Viewing Terrace behind the peak, even the front slope where the disciples lived was all dark and lightless; plainly everyone had long since gone to sleep.
Only Lu Xueling, for reasons unknown, had come alone to this remote and deserted place.
Tianxuan, which never left her side, was still behind her, softly shedding a gentle blue radiance in the dark and lighting a little of the space around her. The night wind blew cold, stirring the white of her garments like snow.
A few strands of soft hair at her temples had been blown into disarray and brushed across her fair cheeks, but she seemed not to notice at all. Silently she stood at the very edge of the Moon-Viewing Terrace cliff, gazing fixedly into the distance.
The mountain wind gradually grew stronger, and her garments began to flutter in it.
One step farther, and there was only darkness—a bottomless abyss.
At the cliff's edge, in the faint light, the woman in white stood alone.
Bit by bit, something was surfacing from the depths of her heart. It had begun as tender feeling, so how was it that little by little it had turned to sorrow?
Again and again, like an invisible blade, it pierced her heart deeply.
The trace engraved upon her heart's depths was, it turned out, the face of one person.
Longing, carved into the bone...
In the dark hour when no one was near, in this secluded and deserted place, she slowly spread her arms. Before her lay boundless darkness, as though heaven and earth were vast and blurred.