Chapter 189 — Blood
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 2 of 7
Ming Li's brows furrowed. He opened his mouth as if to speak but said nothing, nor did he look much upon the peerless beauty beside him. He only fixed his attention upon the carvings—yet somehow, another thought suddenly rose in his heart:
That day, Xiaobai had said she would go to the southern frontier to seek the method of the 'Eight Ferocious Mystic Fire Formation,' but no word of her had come for so long. He wondered how she was faring now. And it seemed this was the only place in all the world with a clue to the Eight Ferocious Mystic Fire Formation—yet Xiaobai was plainly not here. Then where could she be now?
Was she well...?
This faint, elusive thought flickered through Ming Li's mind from time to time over the days that followed.
Only, it seemed the destruction wrought by that skyward eruption of lava that day had been far greater than Ming Li had expected. Though the stone carvings of the ferocious gods upon the ground still looked more or less intact, they had clearly lost the spiritual essence that had once dwelt within them—or rather, that baleful aura of immense power. What remained now was nothing more than a series of stiff, lifeless carved images.
Ming Li and Jin Pingyue sat together in the Xuanhuo Altar, secretly pondering and deciphering, for seven full days—and still gained nothing.
From time to time, disciples of the Fenxia Valley came in to inspect the place; on several occasions, Shangguan Lue himself even led men in for a routine patrol. But Ming Li, and Jin Pingyue as well, had by now advanced greatly in cultivation; hiding themselves in the gloom above the Xuanhuo Altar, they evaded these searches with ease.
Yet they could never grasp the essentials of the formation, and that was truly a headache.
This day, the two of them had again sat facing those rigid, lifeless carvings for a whole morning, when suddenly Jin Pingyue stretched languidly. Her slender waist seemed then like the body of a seductive serpent, possessed of a soul-stealing charm all its own. Alas, the only man presently at her side still stared fixedly at the carvings on the ground, lost in bitter thought, taking not the slightest notice of Jin Pingyue's display of graceful figure.
Jin Pingyue gave a soft humph and shot Ming Li a glare, a flicker of something complex seeming to pass through her eyes—but only for an instant. A moment later, she sighed and said, "Have you seen anything?"
Ming Li stirred, and only then slowly came back to himself. He turned and glanced at Jin Pingyue, shook his head, and said, "And you?"
Jin Pingyue gave a bitter laugh and did not answer, but Ming Li already understood.
Jin Pingyue frowned and said, "We have been staring at these cursed things for seven days now. In these seven days we have done all we could, yet not only can we not activate this formation—we cannot even stir a single carving. What on earth is going on?"
Ming Li pondered a moment, lifted his head to glance at the darkness above, and said, "That day, when I came here to save someone, I triggered the mechanism within this hall, and the Eight Ferocious Mystic Fire Formation was instantly set off. But..."
His gaze flicked toward the center of the hall, and a strange note entered his voice. "But that mechanism—it is gone now."
Jin Pingyue followed his gaze, and indeed saw at the center of the hall a small raised stone platform—but the stone there was scorched black, congealed into an ugly lump. How could that be the appearance of any cunningly wrought mechanism?
In truth, the moment Ming Li had arrived here and seen this sight, he knew that the wondrous stone mechanism he had seen on his first visit had already been destroyed. And when he had come last time and seen those carvings of ferocious gods on the ground, the various violent, baleful energies that had surged and resonated within his heart—this time he could feel not the slightest trace of them.