劍問蒼天 - 第110章 暗殺 - 清風書屋

Watching from the shadows, Ming Li saw that the old man was thin and sharp-featured, dressed in a plain grey robe, his bearing composed, with nothing in the least remarkable about him. Had he been walking the streets of some ordinary town, no one would ever have taken him for a cultivator.

Yet judging by the expressions of the two who followed him, even Li Xun—arrogant as he had always been, to say nothing of Yan Fei—seemed to hold this unremarkable old man in the deepest respect, not daring the slightest negligence in look or manner.

At the old man's question, Li Xun hesitated a moment, then said, "Shishu, you see clearly—the truth is that the chieftain of those fish-men barbarians met a violent death, and so the beasts flew into a frenzy, and that was what—"

The three of them had by now come down from the Mystic Fire Altar. The grey-robed old man frowned and said mildly, "How did the fish-man chieftain die?"

Li Xun gave a bitter smile and shook his head. Yan Fei spoke up beside him: "Replying to Shishu—three days ago the fish-man chieftain met with Shishu Lü Shun at the Nameless Ancient Temple in Mount Hewu to the north. Less than a li after he left the temple, he was struck down by an expert lying in ambush."

The grey-robed old man gave a startled "Eh?" and said, "Who was the killer?"

Li Xun shook his head and said, "We have investigated for several days without finding any lead." Here he seemed to hesitate, then went on: "This matter should long since have been reported to Shishu. It is only that the Valley Master reflected that Shishu has guarded the Mystic Fire Altar, this vital ground, for nearly a hundred years and has long since withdrawn from worldly affairs, and so was unwilling to disturb you."

The grey-robed old man smiled and said, "How could I fail to understand the Valley Master's good intentions? I daresay that if these barbarians had not still been of some use, and if I had not won a certain reputation back when I subdued them, the Valley Master would not have troubled an old wreck like me."

Li Xun gave a sheepish laugh and was about to say something, but the grey-robed old man seemed unwilling to pursue the topic further, and said instead, "Was Lü Shun not there at the time? Less than a li away—could even he not find the killer? He might have dug three feet into the earth and found him by now."

At this Li Xun could not help exchanging a glance with Yan Fei beside him. Yan Fei hesitated a moment, then said softly, "No doubt the killer was simply too cunning, and his cultivation too high; having struck his single blow he fled at once, and so even Shishu Lü could not catch him."

The grey-robed old man gave a snort, but said nothing more this time; yet in his expression and his voice a note of contempt was plain to hear, as though he thought very little indeed of this Shishu Lü Shun of whom Li Xun and Yan Fei spoke.

The three walked on as they talked, and had already covered a good part of the mere three zhang of open ground, drawing gradually farther from Ming Li. Ming Li slowly relaxed, though he still dared not let down his guard. Then he heard the grey-robed old man seem to ask something from afar—the distance was too great for the words to be clear, but vaguely he caught that the old man was asking after the present state of the rebellious fish-men barbarians.

Li Xun answered from behind: "The situation is now under control. Shishu Lü has led a group of disciples to block the monsters at the valley entrance and has used his divine powers to beat down the fish-men's ferocity; the two sides are at a standoff. The fish-men keep crying out that they will avenge their chieftain, and the Valley Master is unwilling to tear all ties with the southern barbarian tribes, and so sent us to fetch Shishu—"