Chapter 214 — The Secret

Wisps of white cold mist rose like smoke, drifting silently through the Chamber of Ice and Stone. That day the cold seemed heavier than usual, so thick that the air itself looked hazy, no longer the clear, bottom-visible transparency of former days.

The stone door gave a low rumble as it slowly opened, but the slender figure that met his eyes somehow seemed blurred, indistinct.

It must be Yousi.

So Ming Li thought as he stepped slowly inside. Within the Chamber of Ice and Stone the chill mist drifted, thread upon thread, dreamlike, wrapping his figure in its folds. The woman's silhouette stood quietly with her back to him before the ice platform, and around her the cold seemed especially heavy; even the white vapor condensed from that chill was like frost and snow, so that he could not see her clearly.

In the air, the faint, echoing chime of a bell seemed to sound close by his ear.

Somehow Ming Li's steps halted of their own accord. Perhaps because of what had happened that day, he found it hard to face Yousi, especially after she had berated him so fiercely and brought up Bili. Looking back, though he still felt some astonishment and doubt at the Hades King's uncharacteristic behavior, he could only meet with silence his own conduct—striking back with full force without a moment's thought.

Or perhaps, in the hearts of both men, a deep hatred had long lain buried?

Yet after all, there was still one person in this world named Bili, and she lay here in the Chamber of Ice and Stone.

Ming Li glanced at that somewhat blurred figure hidden in the cold mist, bowed his head in silence, and only after a long while said, "I was wrong to come to blows with the Hades King just now. I don't know how matters suddenly came to this. Don't be angry. I won't do it again." The figure's shoulders seemed to tremble, but she did not speak, keeping still as before; only the cold air around her seemed to swirl a little faster, and even the stone chamber seemed to grow a few degrees colder. But the Chamber of Ice and Stone was always cold, and Ming Li paid it no mind.

He sighed, as if to speak and then thinking better of it. He knew, of course, of the bond between Yousi and Bili: after Bili's mother passed away, the Hades King devoted himself to the affairs of the Hades King Sect, and Yousi had come to fill something of a mother's role for Bili—plain enough from the fact that Bili had always called her Aunt You. And now, facing her, especially here in this Chamber of Ice and Stone, Ming Li felt as if he were truly facing Bili herself; and the depth of his guilt toward Bili, deepened today by his clash with the Hades King, a duel that had come near to a judgment of life and death, was harder still to put into words.

After a long while he heaved a deep sigh and said in a low voice, "I know your heart aches for Bili, and you don't want to see me in conflict with her father again. In truth I had no such intent—it was only that at the time..." He frowned, and the Hades King's strange expression and manner flashed once more through his mind; he shook his head and said, "In any case, I promise you: in the future, for Bili's sake, I will yield to him somewhat." The slender figure seemed to stir again, but still did not turn around; from her back, though, she seemed to be nodding silently in approval.

Ming Li fell silent. After a moment he let out a long breath, unwilling to say more, and half turned, intending to walk toward the ice platform and have a proper look at Bili.

But he had scarcely begun to move when suddenly, in that instant, his whole body went rigid. Quick as a flash of lightning, a thought swept through his mind, crashing like thunder through his skull, roaring aloud.

Yousi's black veil—the one she never removed—why was it that, looking at this back from behind, he could not see it? Almost at the same instant, his disordered thoughts raced on: the hairstyle of this silhouette was that of a young girl, utterly different from Yousi's coiled matron's bun.

He whirled around like lightning and shouted, "Who are you?" The cold air in the Chamber of Ice and Stone turned in an instant to a piercing chill, and the light smoke shrouding that silhouette began in that same instant to whirl furiously. Ming Li's eyes went wide—that an outsider should have intruded into this Chamber of Ice and Stone was utterly unacceptable to him.

Just as Ming Li was about to act, a low rumble came suddenly from behind him. Startled and uncertain, he turned his head and saw that the stone door which had closed behind him was slowly opening again, and in the doorway stood a figure: slender and tall, black veil over her face, an air of quiet mystery about her—who else could it be but Yousi?

Yousi opened the stone door and suddenly saw Ming Li's bizarre expression—eyes wide, facial muscles contorted—and was herself startled; she could not help stepping back. But she was no ordinary person, and she quickly regained her composure. "Hmph," she said coldly, "you still have the face to come here and see Bili?" Ming Li stared hard at her, then suddenly his expression changed to alarm, as if he had remembered something of the utmost importance, and he turned swiftly to look—and at that look his whole body shook again; he stood rooted to the spot like a fool, unable to make a sound.

The vast Chamber of Ice and Stone—the very place where he now stood—had in that instant wholly returned to the way it ought to have been. The strange drifting white smoke was gone, the faint elusive chime of the bell had vanished, and that mysterious silhouette had likewise, in that instant, disappeared into thin air.

Everything seemed just as it had been before, like a dream, a hallucination, drifting past, drifting away...

Bili lay quietly upon the ice platform, that familiar faint smile still at the corners of her lips. Between her clasped hands, the light on the Union Bell flickered without cease, flowing gently, as if gazing at Ming Li.

Ming Li stood where he was, his whole body taut, as though he had lost all sensation, motionless.

Yousi, slowly entering the Chamber of Ice and Stone, soon noticed that something was off about Ming Li. She glanced at him and frowned. "What are you doing?" Ming Li's lips moved, but he said nothing; he only raised his head in silence and stared blankly about the chamber. Apart from that heavy stone door, the Chamber of Ice and Stone was surrounded entirely by hard stone walls, without the slightest crack; yet now those cold stone walls seemed to wear a cruel sneer, gazing coldly at a man who looked somewhat ridiculous.

His wandering gaze slowly drew back, returning bit by bit to the figure lying on the stone platform in the Chamber of Ice and Stone. Ming Li's eyes, somehow, grew a little blurry; ten thousand thoughts surged in like the tide, and at last that gaze came quietly to rest upon Bili's hair.

"What's the matter with you?" There was already a note of impatience in Yousi's voice.

Ming Li closed his eyes; after a long while he slowly opened them and said in a low voice, "When you came in, did you notice anything strange about this chamber?" Yousi gave a cold snort. "Strange? Isn't it just the same as ever—one platform, one person." The muscle at the corner of Ming Li's eye seemed to twitch.

Yousi slowly sat down beside Bili, a look of tender sorrow in her eyes. After gazing at her for a while, she said slowly, "I know you are not at ease either. I only hope you will think more carefully—if Bili knew you had come to blows and fought with her father, how would she feel?" Ming Li stared blankly and said nothing. After a moment he suddenly flung his head aside, drew a long breath, and said, "Rest assured, I know what must be done." With that he took one last deep look at Bili, then turned and strode out.