劍問蒼天 - 第216章 血陣 - 清風書屋

Shangguan Lue gave a dry laugh and said in a low voice, "To win praise from you, Witch Fiend, is no easy thing." This man in black was in fact the Witch Fiend who had escaped from the Demon-Suppressing Ancient Cave in the Southern Borderlands that day—though how he and Shangguan Lue had come to this chase, none could say.

The Witch Fiend looked Shangguan Lue up and down, then suddenly sighed. "Old friend, ours is no mere acquaintance of a day or two—why must you press me so relentlessly?" Shangguan Lue said mildly, "I have told you my purpose long ago. There is nothing else to it: our Valley Master of Fenyin wishes to see you, and there are matters we might discuss at length. So please, honored sir, come to Fenyin Valley. It is as simple as that." The Witch Fiend shook his head with a bitter smile. "That senior brother of yours, your Valley Master—his schemes run too deep. Though I have lived on in this world without dying, I know well I am no match for him. And besides, do I not know full well what brings you? It is nothing but the secrets of our Witch Clan." Shangguan Lue snorted. "So long as you know it. The Southern Borderlands are in ruin, the five clans in turmoil—it is time Fenyin Valley stepped forth to take charge of the great design. And we mean no ill will; after all, we are surely better than that savage, monstrous Beast Fiend, are we not?" The Witch Fiend looked at him deeply. "The secret of the Witch Clan's Heaven Fire—I truly do not know it. Old friend, for the sake of our many years of friendship, let me go." Shangguan Lue shook his head. "I too am not my own master." With that, the Ninefold Chill Ice Spike in his hand traced a slow half-circle through the air, radiating bitter cold, and once more he pressed toward the Witch Fiend. The Witch Fiend stood motionless, whether because he had understood that escape from Shangguan Lue was impossible and had given up the effort, and said only mildly, "Old friend, this world is vast, and all things change without end. The reason I did not follow the Lady and my elder brother down to the Nine Springs that day was that I wished, while life remained to me, to see the Central Plains once more and behold the countless ways of this world. Would you deny me even this small request?" Shangguan Lue gave a cold snort and paid him no heed, plainly not believing a word of it. By now he had closed to within three feet of the Witch Fiend—but at that very moment his expression changed drastically, and his eyes fixed upon the ground.

There in the broad daylight, under the shining sun, the Witch Fiend's form seemed to drift and waver, yet cast no shadow at all; and his body trembled gently in the wind, looking as though it might float away.

Shangguan Lue moved, and in a blink was before the Witch Fiend. The Ninefold Chill Ice Spike came down in an overhead slash, and a single blade of cold light, with the force of something that nothing could withstand, clove the Witch Fiend clean in two from the middle—but the two halves of that body in an instant became black smoke, which swiftly scattered through the air.

Shangguan Lue's old face went white with rage as he realized that unwittingly he had again fallen for one of the Witch Fiend's illusions. He stamped his foot fiercely, sprang up, and leaped into midair, gazing all about. He saw a black shadow fleeing far off, making northward—and without another word he dissolved into grey light and gave chase straightaway.