Chapter 114 — Escape
劍問蒼天 · Page 1 of 7
For Bilu, this incident from her past was a wound that had cut her to the quick, buried deep in her heart all these years, and now, at this critical juncture of life and death, it had surfaced once more, churning her spirit, and combined with the scarcity of food these past days and her growing frailty, she had lapsed into unconsciousness for a long while.
Zhang Qingyue gazed at the demon-cult girl who even now clung tightly to him, still deep in slumber, and could not help shaking his head with a bitter smile. Not long ago he himself had been a patient who had walked to the very gates of death and back, and now the tables had turned—it was Bilu's turn to fall ill. The two of them had collapsed one after the other; truly, it seemed harder to die than to live.
After some time, Zhang Qingyue himself grew drowsy, but he forced himself to sit upright, for Bilu was lying in his arms, and looking at her gaunt face, slightly twisted with pain, he found he could not bear to leave.
Yet sitting like this was no easy matter. He sat on the platform, one leg dangling in the air and one foot on the ground, leaning at an angle, his body ramrod straight with nothing to lean against. As time wore on, not only did aches spread through every part of his body, but worst of all was the place where Bilu gripped him—her fingers dug in with such force that even in her deep sleep the pressure did not slacken in the least, and the pain pierced to the very marrow. It was only thanks to Zhang Qingyue's rather resilient nature that he gritted his teeth and endured. Anyone else would have leapt up long ago.
Even so, the suffering was no light matter. Zhang Qingyue cursed inwardly, yet in the end he did not move away. As time passed, drowsiness crept over him, and amid the gradually numbing pain and soreness, he actually dozed off while sitting there.
"Ah..."
Zhang Qingyue stretched and awoke to find his whole body aching. He was just sighing when he suddenly realized he had somehow come to be lying on the platform, and Bilu, who had been at his side, was nowhere to be seen.
Startled, Zhang Qingyue rose to his feet and looked around. Still no sign of Bilu. The entire cave was empty—not even the faintest sound. A chill suddenly crept into his heart, as though he had found himself alone in a tomb. He frowned, stood up, and without a second thought began searching for Bilu.
He searched the Stone Chamber of the Heavenly Book, then went to the treasure chamber, but found no trace of Bilu. After a moment's thought, Zhang Qingyue headed outward, and sure enough, before long he caught sight of her in the stone chamber that enshrined the two evil gods of the demon cult.
There, before the kindly-faced Holy Mother of the Dark and the hideously featured Ming King of Heavenly Slaughter, Bilu knelt on the ground, her shoulders heaving. Though she strove desperately to suppress it, low choking sobs still escaped her.
She was crying.
Zhang Qingyue stood frozen in place. Never in his wildest imaginings would he have guessed that this demon-cult girl—always so strong-willed and proud—would be secretly weeping before these divine statues. He stood rooted to the spot, at a loss for what to do, but in the end he slowly walked over and said hesitantly, "You—uh—you, what's... don't cry!"
Alas, he might as well have said nothing. The moment she heard his voice, the grief Bilu had been forcing down burst out all at once. Her voice rose sharply and she wept aloud, slowly lifting her head, and on that face, once like polished jade, there now hung tears like strings of pearls.
Zhang Qingyue was struck dumb. He was himself no more than a youth—how could he understand the thoughts of a young woman's heart? He immediately grew flustered, as though he himself had been the one to make her cry, and even his words came out stammering: "You—don't—this, this way... I, I—no, you—that's not—I mean I..."