Chapter 196 — Merit
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 1 of 6
The cold wind blew ever more fiercely, whipping the robes of Ming Li and Jin Pingyue until they snapped and fluttered. They stood at the mouth of the Ancient Cave of Demon Suppression, watching as a vast and uncanny figure gradually took shape before them—a malevolent spirit.
Eyes the size of bronze bells snapped open within the white mist, faint crimson light seeping through, and the spirit's immense shadow descended over them, its gaze falling upon the two mortals standing below.
"Who are you, to dare come to this place?"
The spirit's voice rang out suddenly, deep and deafening, as though the surrounding mountain walls trembled with it. Yet a moment later, as though he had discovered something, the spirit paused, and his gaze shifted to Jin Pingyue, who stood slightly behind Ming Li's shoulder. "You again?"
Jin Pingyue smiled faintly, infinitely charming, and said, "Yes, it is I. We meet again."
The spirit let out a furious howl that echoed far into the distance, as though even the deep, dark cave behind him carried his cry away. "Why have you come here again—was disturbing the Goddess's sacred image last time not enough for you?"
Jin Pingyue was already turning over in her mind how best to deal with this spirit; from what she had seen that day, this guardian of the Ancient Cave of Demon Suppression would be no easy foe. Yet while her thoughts raced, her face still wore a smile, and she was about to speak when she suddenly heard Ming Li beside her say, "Are you the Black Tiger—one of the Seven Heroes of the Southern Border who long ago followed the Witch Maiden Linglong deep into the Ten Thousand Wild Mountains?"
Jin Pingyue started and turned to look at Ming Li, but saw only that his face was blank and cold, his eyes fixed on the spirit's immense form. And almost at the very moment Ming Li spoke, the spirit himself could not help but freeze—as though the name "Black Tiger" had struck some deep place within him like a heavy blow.
Even having become a malevolent ghost, even abandoned by the world, even after a thousand years of lonely vigil, there were, in the end, still some memories buried deep in the heart.
"Who are you?" The spirit's deep voice seemed to have suddenly gone hoarse, wholly unlike the figure who had appeared moments before.
Ming Li gazed at that voice wrapped in gloomy ghost qi, complex and unreadable lights flickering in his eyes, and said slowly, "Of the seven who followed the Witch Maiden Linglong in those days, five returned and afterward founded the five tribes of the Southern Border. Two remained—the two brothers who had followed the Witch Maiden longest of all, Black Tiger and Black Wood—and they did not come back. The old witch-tribe legends say the elder brother, Black Tiger, was loyal and brave, and the younger, Black Wood, enduring and steadfast. I see you are exceedingly reverent toward this sacred image, maintaining your vigil with such fortitude through a thousand years, becoming a malevolent spirit without regret. So I guessed you were Black Tiger. Am I right?"
The spirit was silent a long while, his gaze fixed on Ming Li, and beneath that fierce stare Ming Li showed not the slightest fear, meeting his eyes squarely. Slowly, the pale white ghost qi around the spirit began to stir and surge, and the crimson in his eyes grew ever deeper; even the air at the entrance of the Ancient Cave of Demon Suppression, already bitterly cold, seemed to grow colder still.
The little monkey Xiao Hui, perched on Ming Li's shoulder, seemed uneasy too, and let out two low cries.
"Who exactly are you, that you know of the witch tribe's past?" The spirit's voice, so furious a moment ago, seemed to have changed entirely, its tone cold beyond words.