Chapter 37 — Strange Eyes

They had spied on Qi Hao's party the night before and seen the bats attack them; on that basis they had laid this ambush deep in the ancient cavern, striking suddenly to break that seemingly impregnable circle of the "** Mirror" and then destroy the four Qingyun disciples one by one. That plan had indeed gone as intended — but the cultivation of these Qingyun disciples was far beyond expectation, and they were hard to handle.

In this ambush, the Devil Sect's leaders had been the Wild Wolf Daoist, the tall man, and the vampire Jiang the Third. They had judged Zhang Qingyue to be the weakest of the four, and so agreed that the three of them would strike together, meaning to finish Zhang Qingyue quickly and then deal with the other three separately. Yet matters had turned uncanny: Zhang Qingyue was wounded, but Jiang the Third had inexplicably been drained of all essence and blood and died.

Now, though they were just barely holding off Qi Hao and Zeng Shuyan, there was still that beautiful woman with the strange blue sword, and behind them that wretched boy — wounded, yes, but very strange indeed. If those two joined in together, the situation would turn very ugly. After two more exchanges, they saw Lu Xueqi cut down several Devil Sect followers and turn back toward them. The Wild Wolf Daoist was the first to shout, "Run!"

The tall man beside him, thinking as one with him, withdrew his magic treasure at the same instant, and the two of them plunged forward with two swift whistles, transforming into two streaks of uncanny light and fleeing deep into the cavern. Seeing this, the remaining Devil Sect followers gave a cry of alarm and scattered in all directions.

Qi Hao made his decision on the spot and shouted, "After those two!" With that he rose on his sword and gave chase, Zeng Shuyan close behind. Lu Xueqi turned the blue light of Tianxuan, about to pursue, when something seemed to occur to her; she was just turning back when she saw Zhang Qingyue rise into the air on the Xuantie Staff, which shimmered with a dark-blue glow, blood streaming from his shoulder — but the small dark-red fork that had been lodged there had already been pulled out.

Zhang Qingyue flew on ahead. Lu Xueqi watched his figure, seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then followed.

This chase deep in the mountain caverns had something of the flavor of that old pursuit of the monkey Xiao Hui through the back hills of Dazhu Peak, when Zhang Qingyue and Tian Lingsu had chased him — winding and strange, now veering left, now right, now shooting straight up into the air, now plunging straight down to the depths, and later splitting into one fork after another. Yet the four of the Canglan Sect paid no mind to any of it; they kept their eyes fixed on those two streaks of light ahead, one yellow and one grey, and pressed on relentlessly.

The cavern was jagged with grotesque rocks and sudden peaks. Zhang Qingyue kept close behind his fellow disciples, wholly absorbed in steering the Xuantie Staff. Some places narrowed until barely a single person could squeeze through, and Zhang Qingyue had no time at all to be afraid or to consider; with a whistle he shot through them all the same. The pursuit, back and forth, resolved itself in the darkness of the cavern into six streaks of light moving at astonishing speed; Zhang Qingyue felt as though the wild wind and the darkness were twined together, rushing at his face unceasingly from ahead.

The chase went on for nearly half an hour more. The Wild Wolf Daoist and his companion, relying on their familiarity with the terrain, twisted and turned this way and that; though they could not shake off those four relentless pursuers behind them, neither were they losing ground.

Then, far ahead, a glimmer of light appeared. The Wild Wolf Daoist and the tall man at once flew toward it with all their strength, Qi Hao and the others in close pursuit, Zhang Qingyue following behind them — and he realized that the pain in his shoulder was gradually fading. He had gritted his teeth and pulled out the small fork, and yet he had still managed to keep up; even he was rather surprised. His shoulder hurt, but within his body the blood and breath ran quick and lively, as though he had a strength that could not be exhausted. Yet the moment his thoughts turned to what he had just witnessed, to those two words the Wild Wolf Daoist had spoken — "bloodsucking" — his heart went cold, cold to the marrow.

The speck of light ahead grew nearer and brighter. The six of them, like arrows loosed from the string, hurtled toward it.

That light was like a strange, uncanny flower suddenly blooming in the darkness, illuminating all before their eyes. Zhang Qingyue leapt into the light with the others; his vision swam bright, and at once he was stunned by what he saw.

The place where they had ended their pursuit was a broad, straight passage; beyond it, incredibly, lay a vast open space. The rocky roof of the cavern was a full hundred zhang above, while the floor lay ten zhang below. Not far ahead, on the ground, stood a huge boulder that blazed with intense light, illumining the whole space.

But what was most astonishing was not the boulder, but what lay behind it: in the depths of the light, a vast abyss gaped open. The radiance from the boulder lit the dome of the cavern, yet it seemed unable to penetrate even a fraction of the way into the abyss behind it. Seen from the air, that place was pitch-black, so black that not even the far side of the abyss could be seen — nothing but a dead, stagnant, sinister darkness.

Before the boulder stood three people: a burly, heavily bearded man; a rather handsome young woman; and a pale-faced youth in white robes whose whole face was steeped in wickedness. The Wild Wolf Daoist and his tall companion dropped down and took their stand before the boulder. Qi Hao, seeing that every one of them was strange in form and appearance, dared not be careless; he signaled to his fellow disciples, and they landed five zhang from the group beneath the boulder.

Zhang Qingyue steadied himself and looked out. On that strange, glowing boulder three great characters were carved in ancient seal script, sweeping and dancing like dragons and phoenixes:

Abyss of the Dead!

The four from the Canglan Sect had landed, and the group beneath the boulder showed no particular reaction — only the heavily bearded man frowned and said, "Wild Dog, Liu Hao, you two are worse than useless. You ran into a few Qingyun youngsters and came back in such a sorry state — and you even led them here, to the Abyss of the Dead!"

The Wild Wolf Daoist's dog-face reddened, and he was about to protest when a middle-aged woman standing behind the big man glanced at them and suddenly cried out in a shrill voice, "Where's Jiang the Third?"

Wild Dog glanced toward the Canglan Sect group. "Dead at their hands."

"What?" Those who had stood as steady as mountains were thrown into commotion — though it seemed not because the Canglan Sect's cultivation was deep enough to kill Jiang the Third. The woman stared a moment, then shook her head. "Now when the Old Fiend of Bloodsucking comes asking, we'll have a hard time explaining ourselves!"

The bearded man pondered a moment, then turned and looked toward the Canglan Sect group. "Then we'll take these Qingyun youngsters alive and hand them over to the senior of Bloodsucking when the time comes. That will settle it."

The others nodded in agreement. Qi Hao saw how overbearingly confident each of them was, and grew warier still. In a low voice he said to the three behind him, "These people look to be the Devil Sect's leaders here. Their cultivation is likely above that of the ones we just fought. Everyone, be careful."

Zhang Qingyue answered. He turned his head, and suddenly saw Lu Xueqi's gaze sweep across the wound on his shoulder. He paused slightly, and at once Lu Xueqi looked away.