劍問蒼天 - 第219章 猥瑣 - 清風書屋

What thoughts passed through the mind of the demon sorcerer, lying rigid inside the coffin, none could say. His scheme to deceive heaven and earth by hiding himself in a coffin had fooled no one; first Shangguan Lue and then Xiao Bai had discovered him, and what was worse, a living man had actually entered the coffin before him, and he had not even noticed.

One imagines his mood must have been one of utter defeat.

Xiao Bai's brow furrowed slightly. She took a step forward, but then stopped again, and at the same time cast another glance around the darkness, the bewilderment in her eyes deepening. It seemed that deep within this darkness there was something that made even her wary, so that she hesitated to advance.

She was silent a moment, then said, "I know who you are. You must have seen me that day in the Ancient Cave for Suppressing Demons. That being so, there is no enmity between us. I have but one thing to ask of you."

Her voice drifted and echoed through the room. Outside, the sinister wind still whistled, and through the great hole Shangguan Lue had just smashed in the wall, a good deal of chill air now seemed to blow in as well.

After a long while, the demon sorcerer's voice suddenly sounded from within the coffin: "Very well, I remember you. What do you wish to ask?"

Xiao Bai's brows lifted. Fixing her eyes on the coffin, she said, "Can you not come out and speak?"

The demon sorcerer choked for a moment, then said slowly, "This is how I like it. Say what you have to say quickly."

Xiao Bai gave a cold snort. "Fine. Then I won't waste words either. I ask you: why did the Heavenly Fire arise?"

At these words the demon sorcerer was plainly startled. After a moment he said in a low voice, "Why do you ask such a thing?"

Xiao Bai said indifferently, "Your former master promised me something, and then died before he could deliver. It cost me no small effort to learn that a fish had slipped through the net, and that fish was you. Naturally I have come to ask you for a clear answer."

The demon sorcerer snorted. "He was not my master. Only the Holy Maiden of the Sorceresses was."

Xiao Bai retorted, "Then what have you been doing all these years?"

The demon sorcerer was silent a long while, then said, "What I have done was not done so that the people of the world might understand reason."

Xiao Bai grew somewhat impatient. "Enough. I have no patience for your reasons, nor any wish to meddle in them. I want only to know what concerns me. Will you tell me or not?"

The demon sorcerer fell silent again. After a long while he said slowly, "The five tribes of the Southern Wastes are the descendants of the Sorceress Clan. You know this, do you not?"

Xiao Bai frowned. "What of it?"

The demon sorcerer said indifferently, "The secrets of the Sorceress Clan ought to be inherited by the descendants of the Sorceress Clan. That is all I have to say. Ask no more."

Xiao Bai turned these two baffling remarks over in her mind several times, but her expression did not change. She only gave a cold sniff and said, "Playing the mystic!"

With that, as though she had made up her mind, she strode toward the coffin where the demon sorcerer lay. The room was not large, and the several coffins were scattered every which way; a few steps brought her past one, and two more would bring her to the demon sorcerer's coffin.

In the darkness, something seemed to stir and grow restless, its gaze fixed straight upon Xiao Bai's figure.

Xiao Bai's face betrayed nothing. She was about to walk on when, in the very midst of her stride, she suddenly twisted about. Her slow pace turned in an instant to that of a hare breaking free, swift as lightning, and her right hand shot out, her slender, graceful fingers seizing the huge coffin beside her.

With a thunderous crash!

A roar went up, and that enormous coffin, a colossal thing nearly twice the size of Xiao Bai herself, was unbelievably hoisted aloft by her five delicate fingers alone!