Chapter 113 — The White Fox
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 6 of 7
But he was no ordinary man after all. After a moment he had steadied himself, knowing that the mysterious killer was even now lurking in the shadows, watching like a tiger, and that he must not lose his head. And in all these hundreds of years, this was truly the first time anyone had been so brazen as to run wild in the Burning Cloud Valley. If this were not properly punished, he feared that in future every Tom, Dick, and Harry would dare come here to make trouble!
Shangguan Lue composed himself a little, then moved his head slightly to one side. Li Xun understood and stepped forward. Shangguan Lue said coldly, "Pass the order down: every disciple is to be mobilized, sealing off every exit from the valley. In addition, release all the 'Red-Eyed Eagles' to circle overhead. We absolutely cannot let this killer escape."
Li Xun nodded, hesitated a moment, and said in a low voice, "Martial Uncle, what about the Valley Master..."
Shangguan Lue shook his head and said, "Since the Valley Master told you tonight to pass on the order for me to handle this matter, he must still be unable to spare the time. You know how he is..." Halfway through, Shangguan Lue suddenly stopped and glanced up at Li Xun. "Later on, I will naturally go and explain it to him myself."
Li Xun lowered his head and said, "Yes, disciple will go at once." With that he turned and left.
As his tall, imposing figure walked away, the Burning Cloud Valley disciples around him made way one after another. And Yan Fei, who had stood by his side from the very beginning and had heard every word of the exchange between him and Shangguan Lue, watched Li Xun's retreating figure, a strange light seeming to flicker faintly in her bright eyes.
Li Xun's figure quickly vanished into the darkness deep within the Burning Cloud Valley. Over there the fish-men stirred restlessly, and several of them began squeaking and shrieking at once. The tall, hulking fish-man at their head exchanged a few words with the other monsters, then turned back, his face full of fury, and went on and on with "squeak squeak squeak squeak."
Shangguan Lue frowned, and beside him Sun Tu had already translated: "They demand that we hand over the killer of their clan chief at once, or else they will slaughter us all."
Shangguan Lue gave a cold snort and looked at the fish-men with icy eyes. The fish-men were clearly somewhat afraid of him, and for a moment all of them looked taken aback; but once their savage nature got the better of them, more fish-men actually began to roar in fury.
Shangguan Lue knew well that these savage fish-men could not be judged by ordinary reason, and that with great matters imminent in the Burning Cloud Valley, this was no time to fall out with these southern barbarian tribes. Moreover, that peerless figure hidden in the Ten Thousand Savage Mountains was one whom not only he, but even the Valley Master Yun Yifeng, whose cultivation reached the heavens, regarded with a measure of fear.
He was just pondering how to temporarily placate these wild alien tribes when he slowly began, "Gentlemen, for today's affair I, Shangguan Lue, will certainly give you an explanation. But for the time being, I must ask you to bear with being here..."
Before the words were out of his mouth, suddenly, without the slightest warning, the ground beneath their feet trembled violently.
The quake was so fierce and so sudden that many Burning Cloud Valley disciples and fish-men were caught off guard, losing their footing and stumbling to the side.
Shangguan Lue, with his profound cultivation, was naturally not like those ordinary disciples; he steadied himself almost instantly. In his astonishment, his gaze happened to drift sideways, and he saw that Yan Fei, standing beside him, had also lost her balance—though she had regained her footing only a little more slowly than he.
"Ah! The sky—the sky has changed color!"