Chapter 86 — King's Village

The Ghost King laughed heartily, then said, "Oh! Then what of the righteous path you came from—how is it there?"

Ming Li's body seemed to tremble slightly. After a moment, he said, "The wicked deeds done by those of the righteous path are no less than those of the Demonic Sect!"

The Ghost King regarded him with interest. "Then this is not right, and that is not right either. In your heart, what do you consider 'righteous'?"

Ming Li did not answer. He was silent for a long while, then lifted his head and looked at the sky.

Blue sky, white clouds.

"I do not know!" he said, very low, as though speaking to himself.

After that figure, which from behind looked somewhat lonely and desolate, had gradually receded into the distance, the smile on the Ghost King's face slowly faded as well. In his deep eyes there seemed to flicker a mysterious light, shining without cease—no one could tell what he was thinking.

Just then a voice came from the other side, saying, "Sect Master, I—"

The Hell King cut him off. "Qinglong, come up."

"Yes." Qinglong walked over the wooden bridge, followed the Hell King's gaze toward the distance for a moment, and said, "Was the Vice Sect Master here just now as well?"

The Hell King nodded. "What is it?"

Qinglong said, "That old monster from the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect has sent someone secretly again, asking when the Sect Master will dispatch men into the Death Swamp so that we may all join together for the great undertaking."

The Hell King gave a cold laugh. "Tell them this: three days from now, the Hell King Sect will enter the swamp together with the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect and the Soul-Lure Sect."

Qinglong nodded. "Good."

The Hell King was silent a moment, then suddenly seemed to think of something and turned to Qinglong. "Qinglong, what is your opinion of Mingli?"

Qinglong started, then raised his eyes to the Hell King. The Hell King's brow was calm and placid, yet his gaze was deep beyond fathoming; for no reason at all a chill passed through Qinglong's heart, and for a moment he quite forgot to answer.

The Hell King smiled. "What is it?"

Qinglong came to himself, then fell into thought, though a certain hesitation showed in his face. The Hell King saw it and said mildly, "Qinglong, you and I have known each other for many years. Speak freely."

Qinglong shook his head with a bitter smile, then said, "Let me put it this way. When I was his age, my cultivation was not his equal, nor was my cunning as deep—"

There he suddenly stopped. The Hell King frowned. "What is it? There is more. Say it."

Qinglong hesitated a moment, then looked at the Hell King and said, "And my methods were not as ruthless as his."

The Hell King glanced at him but said nothing, and slowly turned away, gazing out over the lake, whose green waters were smooth as a mirror. Behind him Qinglong went on slowly, "Over these years, and especially in the last two, Mingli's methods have grown ever more violent and savage. He kills at the slightest provocation, and in the struggles for power he is utterly merciless. And among the younger generation of our Hell King Sect, the more outstanding talents, such as Monk Shasheng and Yan Hui, are all gathered under his banner."

The Hell King said flatly, "You think this is a bad thing?"

Qinglong shook his head slowly. "Not that exactly. It is only that back then he was... how has he come to be like this now?"

The Hell King was silent a while, then said suddenly, "In truth, I misjudged him in the beginning as well."

Qinglong was startled. "Sect Master, what do you mean?"

The Hell King said, "When I passed down the two volumes of the Heavenly Book to him, I thought that with his aptitude it would take at least thirty years for him to achieve anything. But in these ten years, and especially in the last five, Mingli's cultivation has advanced by leaps and bounds—one might truly say a thousand li in a single day. I fear he has a talent hidden deep within him that even I failed to see."

As he spoke, in the eyes that had been turned away from Qinglong all this while there seemed to flash a cold light that no one knew of, but his tone did not change in the slightest. "His nature is enduring and stubborn, unyielding and indomitable—in truth greatly to his benefit on the path of cultivation. Yet I still suspect there may be some other cause at work."

Qinglong frowned. "Could he still be hiding some secret?"

The Hell King shook his head. "You should know that he carries within him both the Daoist true methods of the Canglan Sect and the Great Brahma Prajna of the Brahma Sound Temple?"

Qinglong nodded. "That is so."

The Hell King said slowly, "From what I have observed in secret, not only has he already mastered the true methods of the Heavenly Book of our Holy Cult, but the Taiji Mystic Pure Dao of the Canglan Sect and the Buddhist Great Brahma Prajna have likewise advanced by leaps and bounds. Is it possible that these three true methods secretly complement and reinforce one another in some wondrous way?"

He turned around and smiled at Qinglong. "With his cultivation as it is now, and that strange treasure in his hand, the Soul-Devourer, even you with your Qiankun Pure Light Ring would, I fear, have only a fifty-fifty chance of victory."

Qinglong smiled faintly. "I am old. I cannot keep pace with the young."

The Hell King suddenly laughed aloud and clapped him on the shoulder. "Nonsense." Smiling, he went on at leisure, "In those days I saw that this youth was no creature of the common pond, and his achievements now surpass even what I foresaw. If the Hell King Sect has such a man to succeed to its leadership, its future prospects will be beyond measure. Only..."

The Hell King stood with his hands clasped behind his back, yet suddenly broke off and said no more, walking to the edge of the pavilion and gazing out.

Qinglong stood quietly beside him, looking toward the Hell King. That figure, which held such weight of power in its grasp, now seemed suddenly to carry a faint desolation, silently conveying the words left unspoken.

Bili...

Three days later, Mingli left Mount Huqi and set off toward the southwest, and at his side he took with him the monkey Xiao Hui; besides that, the Wild Wolf Daoist followed along as well. The Wild Wolf Daoist had not wished to go to that perilous place, the Death Swamp, but Mingli merely said flatly, "After I leave, I guarantee you that Mount Huqi here will be a hundred times more perilous than that swamp. Do you believe me?"

At these words the Wild Wolf Daoist's face went white at once. His mouth was still full of stubborn talk, but his feet had already followed him out.

The vast land of Shenzhou stretches boundless and wide, and among it the plains of the Central Land are naturally the most fertile. Beyond the Central Land, to the north lies the frigid, snowbound northern ice plains, where human traces are rare; to the east lies the boundless sea; and to the south, beyond the Central Land, rise the Hundred Thousand Wild Mountains, towering along the frontier in an unbroken chain, a region of barren hills and foul waters, of pestilential vapors and venomous creatures beyond counting, and where legend tells of strange and uncanny savage tribes who eat raw flesh and drink blood, cruel beyond measure.

And to the west of the vast land of Shenzhou lie two great regions of peril. To the northwest stretches a desolate, empty gobi without end, called by the world "the Savage Wastes," where no rain falls for a hundred years and the climate is utterly dry. Here and there a few oases remain, but most are held by fierce beasts and monstrous things, so that for ordinary folk to enter at all is a road to certain death. And in the rumors, deep within the Savage Wastes stands a vast and magnificent holy hall—the auspicious ground of the Demonic Cult.