Chapter 233 — Sorrow
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 2 of 5
Xiao Bai could not be bothered with them. Following the roads in her memory, she flitted soundlessly through the caverns. With the depth of her thousand years of cultivation, to say nothing of these minor Miao shamans, even accomplished adepts of profound practice might not have detected her. In but a short while she had arrived outside the spacious cave that had once been the Great Shaman's dwelling.
There she halted, brows knitting slightly as she peered within. Though still far off, she could already sense that one person remained inside—and this person seemed unlike the others she had felt before, for at least he was not asleep.
Within the cave, the blazing fire still cast a bright radiance, and in the shadows of that light the stone-carved statue of the Dog God flickered in and out of view. Xiao Bai fixed her gaze for a moment upon the dog's head atop the statue, then drew it back and let it fall before the fire.
A young figure sat upright before the flames, his back to the cave mouth. Xiao Bai could not make out his features clearly, only that he was a young man. Facing the fierce fire, he sat upon the ground yet never ceased moving: from time to time he traced mysterious, uncanny patterns in the air before him, while in a low, reverent voice he chanted something in the Miao tongue.
Xiao Bai came soundlessly to stand behind the man. The firelight gradually fell upon her, drawing a long shadow behind her. She quietly inclined her ear to the young man's low voice—half song, half chant—echoing through this ancient cavern, as if it were telling of something.
That low echo seemed to have no end. Seen from the side, the young Miao shaman's face was full of devotion; he had most likely dissolved entirely into that illusory world.
A look of bewilderment gradually surfaced on Xiao Bai's face, and she gave a soft sigh. That alien sound at once startled the young Miao shaman; his body jerked, and he made to whirl around and see what it was. But before he could move, a fair, delicate hand flashed before his eyes and came to rest upon his forehead with a light pat.
The young Miao shaman's eyes suddenly rolled back; his body trembled a few times, and within moments he lost consciousness and toppled to one side upon the ground.
The mysterious chanting in the cave, together with its echoes, quietly subsided. Xiao Bai looked upon that young face and suddenly smiled, saying softly, "Whether there truly is a Dog God, and whether that Dog God will protect your people—that I do not know. But with someone as devout and steadfast as you here, I daresay the Great Shaman may rest easy."
With that, she shook her head slightly, stepped around the young shaman's body and the fire, and walked past—straight toward the statue of the Dog God. Down the ages the Miao had worshipped the Dog God, believing that he had granted them new life and protected the tribe's continuance; thus even the shamans in this cave scarcely dared approach the statue.
And now Xiao Bai stood before the Dog God carved of black stone.
The statue was carved throughout from black stone unique to the southern borderlands, its color black yet lustrous, with a faint silver radiance seeming to emanate from within its body. Xiao Bai knew the south well enough to understand that this was no miracle of the Dog God as so many Miao devoutly believed, but merely a most rare variety of black stone laced with glimmering silver flakes, whence came that mysterious, beautiful faint light.