Chapter 133 — Resurrection
劍問蒼天 · Page 3 of 5
Gradually, strange sounds rose all around; the solid rock walls shook once more, and those white bones in the darkness cried out again, greeting the demon reborn.
Only the shaman—his figure hidden in the darkness—felt the formless demon dancing wildly before him, felt the reborn soul and the coursing blood.
That feeling seemed almost to consume him…
"BANG!"
With a great crash, a colossal force smashed a deep pit into the hard ground. Jin Pingyue was flung backward, barely dodging the blow that had come stabbing from behind, her face draining white despite herself.
The stone-maiden figure had seemed almost to possess a magic of its own, drawing in all her spirit and soul until she forgot everything outside herself; only when the wind rushed above her head did years of hard-won instinct jolt her awake, and she hurled herself out in the barest sliver of a moment, snatching back her life by sheer luck.
Jin Pingyue had scarcely caught her breath when a sharp wind rose behind her—the fierce spirit had already clung to her like a burr. Though its body was nothing but formless white vapor, the great sword and shield in its hands it wielded as lightly as a child's toys.
Jin Pingyue knew how formidable it was and dared not block head-on. With a flash she hurried backward—but beneath those two sword strokes the fierce spirit had already driven her several zhang away from the mouth of the Ancient Cave of Demon Suppression.
The moment her feet touched ground, Jin Pingyue turned her right hand and violet radiance sprang up: her treasure, the Violet-Edge Blade, was already out and in her grasp. Against this savage ghost she dared not be careless in the least.
Yet though she gathered herself in guard, the fierce spirit, having driven her three zhang from the cave, pursued no further. Its formless body still drifted beside the stone maiden.
"Who are you, to dare come to this land of demons, and to dare defile the shrine of the Shamaness?" The fierce spirit glared with its great copper-bell eyes and spoke coldly.
Jin Pingyue breathed a silent sigh of relief, steadied herself, and said clearly, "You misunderstand. I meant no offense to this… Shamaness's image. It was only that at first sight she was so beautiful that I could not help but touch the stone."
The fierce spirit snorted, its expression softening somewhat—plainly it too knew the stone image possessed a strange power—but its voice remained as cold as before: "You are young, and this is your first offense, so I will not hold it against you. This is a land of demons and ghosts, no place for you. Be off at once!"
Jin Pingyue frowned. In her heart she reckoned that, having trailed the shaman so long, the greatest secret must surely lie within this Ancient Cave of Demon Suppression—yet here at the cave mouth stood so formidable a fierce spirit on guard, which was truly troublesome. And to force her way in would likely stir the shaman or whatever monsters lay within, to say nothing of the fact that this one fierce spirit before her would be hard enough to deal with.
As she brooded over this, the fierce spirit saw the woman's gaze sweeping between itself and the Shamaness's image, and from time to time glancing toward the dark depths of the cave behind, plainly scheming after the cave. Its expression changed abruptly.
"Hah!" The fierce spirit barked angrily. "Girl, I advise you not to seek trouble for yourself. Within this cave is a demon of peerless power; to enter is to seek your own death. And I guard this ancient cave—I will never let an outsider pass. Give up this notion at once!"
Jin Pingyue gave a cold little laugh, unwilling to abandon it so easily. "That man in black just now—did he not go in all the same?"
The fierce spirit started, and its eyes blazed with light. "So you came following that man?"