Chapter 239 — Hope
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 5 of 5
Ming Li slowly set Xiao Hui back on his shoulder and once more set his feet in motion, walking slowly forward. Xiao Hui lay on his shoulder, its three eyes wide open, watching its surroundings with the utmost vigilance. This passage, once thronged with people coming and going, now held only the figures of Ming Li and Xiao Hui; the Infernal King Sect disciples of ordinary days had all vanished.
Empty, desolate corridors, one branching junction after another; as Ming Li's figure advanced slowly, the mysterious cracks in the stone walls on either side grew ever denser and broader. An uncanny aura seemed to begin spreading through the passages around him, as if some invisible monster had opened its eyes in the dark and was watching them.
A blood-stench, now faint, now almost gone, drifted eerily through the empty passages.
Ming Li's steps grew slower and slower. As his gaze moved from one crack to the next, it too grew deeper and keener. Something had indeed happened here!
He stopped abruptly, as if something had come to him, and in an instant his face went pale. This strange, unknown power shrouded Mount Huqi—and Bi Li was still lying in the Ice Stone Chamber deep within the passage...
In an instant Ming Li's figure shot forth like lightning, tearing a shrill sound from the still air of the passage, and vanished at its far end.
"Boom!"
The heavy stone door echoed once more through the passage. Ming Li stood at the entrance of the Ice Stone Chamber, frantic with anxiety. Almost before the door had opened wide enough for a single person to pass, he had hurled himself through.
The soft, dreamlike white vapor still rose from the Ice Stone Platform, drifting through the air of the chamber. A green-clad figure, wearing a faint, serene smile, still lay there quietly.
Ming Li stood silently at the door. After a long while he let out a great breath, and the tension on his face slowly subsided. He looked at Bi Li for some time, then walked slowly forward and came to one side of the Ice Stone Platform. For a long while he gazed at this beautiful woman's face, still as lovely as in former years, and said softly, "I'm back, Bi Li."
There was no answer; only a cold silence replied. The corner of Ming Li's mouth moved slightly, and a flicker of grief passed through the depths of his eyes.
He sat down beside the Ice Stone Platform and glanced around. He found that this Ice Stone Chamber, for some reason, was not like the passages outside, riddled everywhere with cracks—the stone walls around him were wholly intact, without a single fissure.
Ming Li frowned slightly, a look of puzzlement passing through his eyes, but at this moment he seemed to have no heart for probing such matters. Soon his attention and gaze were fixed on Bi Li, lying on the Ice Stone Platform. He reached into his robe and slowly drew out something wrapped in black cloth. He unwrapped the cloth to reveal the Universe Reincarnation Disc, its surface warm and lustrous. A soft white radiance spread from it and swept across Bi Li's somewhat pale face.
"Bi Li..." Ming Li called softly.
But before he could say more, from the stone door at the chamber's entrance behind him came a voice, cold and majestic: "Hold!"
Ming Li frowned and turned to look toward the door. There stood the Infernal King, hands clasped behind his back, his gaze sharp as a blade. He fixed his eyes on the Universe Reincarnation Disc in Ming Li's hand and said coldly, "What is that you hold?"