Chapter 137 — The Heartbroken
劍問蒼天 · Page 3 of 7
The disciple was plainly in great awe of the Hades Lord, and even his voice trembled a little. "Re—reporting to the Sect Master, the Vice Sect Master shut himself in his room for three days and three nights without a sound. Just as this disciple was growing worried, this morning he suddenly came out with that grey-furred monkey and left this place straightaway."
The Hades Lord was taken aback. Qinglong frowned. "Where did he go?"
The disciple kept his head bowed. "This disciple followed the Vice Sect Master all along. I saw him leave the mountain belly and then take to the air. His face—his manner—was terrible to see, and I dared not step forward to ask. I could only come back here and wait..."
A flash of anger crossed Qinglong's face, but the Hades Lord ahead of him suddenly said, "Eh?" He stepped forward, picked up a sealed letter from the head of the bed, glanced at it, and handed it to Qinglong. "It's for you."
Qinglong started, took it, and saw that it was indeed from Mingli. Puzzled, he glanced at the Hades Lord, who looked back at him expressionlessly and then turned his eyes elsewhere. Frowning, Qinglong tore open the seal and read the letter through.
The letter was not long, and he finished it quickly—but his face too fell somewhat, and he said in a low voice, "Sect Master."
The Hades Lord said mildly, "What is it?"
Qinglong said, "In the letter, he asks me to trouble myself with a journey—to escort the shaman's ashes back to the Seven Li Cave of the Miao people in the Southern Border."
The Hades Lord shook his head slowly and suddenly sighed. "Enough. Enough!"
Qinglong was startled, but the Hades Lord turned to the Hades Sect disciple and said, "You may go."
The man looked as though he had been granted a great pardon. He knocked his head three times heavily on the ground and hurried out.
Qinglong looked at the Hades Lord. "Sect Master, then Mingli..."
The Hades Lord cast a glance around the empty room, his eyes full of desolation. After a long while he turned, and without a word to Qinglong or Yousi, walked silently away. From his retreating back came a low, faint voice:
"We are all heartbroken souls..."
In the Southern Border, Burning Cloud Valley.
This great orthodox sect, so plagued by upheaval of late, was today shaken by yet another astonishing piece of news that spread through the whole valley in an instant. From deep within the valley, at the Tianxiang Residence, the heavenly drum sounded seven times, ringing far and wide—a sign that Yun Yifeng, Valley Master of Burning Cloud Valley, long in seclusion, would emerge from it that very day.
All the disciples of Burning Cloud Valley hurried back to their posts; no one dared be negligent. In the valley's main hall, the Shanhe Hall, with Shangguan Lue, Lü Shun, and the others at the head, and Li Xun and a host of disciples ranged behind them, they lined up before the hall and waited patiently.
Among them, the most striking was a woman standing beside Li Xun—none other than Yan Fei. Ever since the night not long ago when the nine-tailed heavenly fox escaped the Mystic Fire Altar, Shangguan Lue had recognized, even amid the chaos, that this Yan Fei was an impostor. It was afterward proven that she had been impersonated by Jin Pingyue of the Devil Cult's Soul-Bewitching Sect. But the real Yan Fei had not been found until three days ago, in a cellar beneath one of the houses in Burning Cloud Valley.
It seemed Jin Pingyue had, by some uncanny art, subdued Yan Fei and hidden her in such a place. In those days the whole of Burning Cloud Valley had turned out to search every hill and knoll nearby, yet no one had thought to look inside the houses of the valley itself. It was only three days ago that a male disciple, going down into that medicine cellar to fetch an herb the valley had run short of, discovered Yan Fei—otherwise there was no telling how long the poor woman might have waited in that cellar.