Chapter 243 — Glad Tidings
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 4 of 5
Outside, the emerald bamboo grove swayed gently in the wind, sending up wave upon wave of pleasing rustling, a sight to delight the eye; yet within the bamboo hermitage in the grove, the air seemed only the more oppressive.
Mount Huqi, the Nether King Sect.
In the days that followed, Ming Li tried every day to heal Bi Li with the Universe Reincarnation Wheel, but for some reason, after that first time when the Wheel had unexpectedly caused the Aeon Bell to change, each attempt thereafter was the same: the Universe Reincarnation Wheel remained the Wheel, but the Aeon Bell gave no response at all. Each time Ming Li placed the Aeon Bell above the Universe Reincarnation Wheel, there was no chiming or glowing of its own accord; each time it dropped straight down into the jade disc like a small pebble.
Ming Li refused to give up, still clinging to the faintest hope and trying again and again, but all that awaited him was countless failures. In the beginning the Nether King had often kept watch in the ice chamber, but after witnessing failure upon failure, he seemed to give up even earlier than Ming Li, coming less and less often, and in recent days had not come at all.
Perhaps, for the Nether King, watching Ming Li fail again and again was in fact a still more painful thing.
"Clack..."
With a soft, crisp sound and a faint echo, the Aeon Bell dropped once more from midair, landing at the center of the Universe Reincarnation Wheel. It spun lightly a few times, then came to rest.
Ming Li's face was blank; even disappointment seemed to have grown numb. He did not try again. He sat in silence for a while, then put away the Universe Reincarnation Wheel and carefully placed the Aeon Bell back into Bi Li's hand.
He gazed deeply at Bi Li's serene face. Ten years now, and she was still as beautiful as when they had first met, and even the faint smile at the corners of her lips could summon countless deeply engraved memories from his mind.
Only the chill of her skin beneath his touch coldly reminded Ming Li of the difference between reality and days gone by.
Ming Li rose silently, cast one deep look at Bi Li, and his lips moved—yet in the end he said nothing. Then he slowly turned and left the ice chamber.
Outside the ice chamber, the passage was as empty as ever. Ming Li walked slowly along it. The cracks in the stone walls on either side seemed to have grown more numerous and deeper, but none of it left the slightest impression on him; he merely walked on in silence.
Behind Ming Li, deep in the passage in the other direction, in a shadowed corner, the Nether King stood silently watching the young man walk farther and farther away. He did not go up to ask Ming Li how things stood in the ice chamber. After all these years, he could tell Bi Li's condition from a single gesture or expression of Ming Li's.
Was there truly no hope left, after all?
A flicker of sorrow crossed the Nether King's face. He turned and walked into the darkness.
When he reappeared, he was already at the Blood Pool deep within the cavern. He walked slowly up onto the Blood Pool platform, and as he had expected, Mr. Ghost's black figure still stood there all alone, brooding bitterly. The Coiling Dragon Cauldron likewise hung suspended in midair, but beneath the glow of the blood-red light that filled the sky, one could faintly see that the mysterious white pillar of light above the ancient cauldron seemed much brighter than before, while the demonic face on its body had receded further still in blood color, appearing all the more twisted and hideous.
A nameless anger suddenly surged in the Nether King's heart, and his hands clenched involuntarily. His most beloved daughter showed no improvement, and now even the Four Spirits Blood Array, into which he had poured such effort, had ground to a halt because of some baffling ancient divine seal.