Chapter 36 — The Fiend

Facheng, standing at the front, murmured a Buddha's name under his breath. A moment later, a round bead wreathed in solemn golden light rose from his palm. At first the radiance seemed to cling to Facheng, but as he poured his power into it, the golden light blazed up in an instant. With the bead at its center, the light surged outward in every direction like a tide. Zhang Qingyue stood where he was, and for a moment he could have sworn he heard a great rushing "whoosh" beside his ear as the golden halo swept past him.

Every face in the cavern was washed a pale gold, and at the same time a ease settled over their hearts; even the trace of tension they had felt was smoothed away in an instant. The vast space was bright as day in the blink of an eye. Had it not been for the grotesque rocks and the writhing bats, one might almost have thought they had stumbled into a Buddhist paradise.

Li Xun, who ordinarily looked down on everyone, now wore a flicker of astonishment. Standing to one side, he blurted, "The Wheel of Rebirth Bead!"

Facheng glanced at him. "Senior Brother Li has a keen eye."

Li Xun's tone, however, seemed to have turned notably more courteous toward Facheng. "You flatter me. It is you, Senior Brother Facheng, whose cultivation runs deep."

By the light of the Wheel of Rebirth Bead, Zhang Qingyue could now see clearly that he was indeed standing on clean, solid ground. He looked up and saw that on the rocky roof of the cavern those black bats had vanished, he knew not why—yet the rustling "shasha" sound was unmistakably still there at his ear.

He looked more closely, and only then did he realize that on the cavern roof behind them, countless black bats still clustered along the ceiling. But directly above the solid ground where they stood, a thin red line ran across the rock of the cave roof, looking for all the world like a vein grown within the stone itself.

With that red line as the boundary, the countless bats crowded and jostled on the far side; not one had crossed it. And on the ground beneath their feet, mere inches away, there was no trace of the foul, stinking bat droppings.

Facheng looked around and said in a low, grave voice, "There is much that is strange in this place. We must all be on our guard."

They all knew it well enough, but having finally found clean footing, and having scouted the surroundings and found nothing amiss, most of them set about tidying their clothes. Zeng Shuyan, standing beside Zhang Qingyue, took off his shoe and poured out the disgusting mess inside, then muttered to Zhang Qingyue, "This is the first time in my life I've learned what a comfort it is to walk on clean ground!"

Zhang Qingyue smiled and quickly cleaned himself up, and felt somewhat better for it. After a while, when Qi Hao saw that everyone had more or less recovered, he said, "Let's go." And with that he took the lead toward the depths of the cavern.

The others followed. Soon, as they pressed forward, the darkness closed in behind them once more, endless and complete.

And ahead, the darkness was like some demon beast spreading its arms wide, baring its fangs in a grin, welcoming them in.

A single point of light moved slowly through the dark.

How far they walked, none could say. The ancient, deep cavern seemed to have no end at all. It remained spacious throughout, yet it twisted and turned, winding this way and that, and save that it seemed to slope gradually down into the earth, one could hardly tell which direction was which.

The rustling of the bats at the cave mouth had long since faded from hearing. In that darkness there was no sound but their own footfalls. Zhang Qingyue felt the damp growing heavier around them and could not guess how deep beneath the earth they had come.

The Wheel of Rebirth Bead that Facheng had summoned still shed its golden Buddhist radiance over them all. At the front, Qi Hao, to guard against the worst, now raised the ** Mirror as well. The two treasures shone in mutual reflection, and so they walked on a while longer—until Qi Hao, who had been leading all along, suddenly stopped and held up a hand toward those behind him. "Wait."

Everyone halted at once.

All around was stillness, without a whisper of sound.

The light of the Wheel of Rebirth Bead and the ** Mirror gradually brightened. There before them, the cavern ahead abruptly split into two forked paths, both deep and dark as pitch, leading they knew not where, like the gaping maws of demons. And between the paths, at the very center of the fork, stood a massive stone stele fully six men tall, carved with four great characters in blood-red:

The Way of Heaven is with me!

Li Xun of the Fenxia Valley gave a cold snort and said angrily, "Demonic cult fiends, daring to claim the Way of Heaven for themselves!"

Facheng, however, knit his brows and studied the stele for a while longer. "When I came, I once heard my honored master, the Venerable Pucheng, say that eight hundred years ago the demon cult did indeed have such a stele in this cavern, but that it was then split open with a single swordstroke by an immortal of our righteous path, wielded with vast divine power. Seeing it again today, how is it whole and unmarked?"

At this, Yan Fei of the Fenxia Valley, who had kept silent all this while, suddenly spoke: "Look at the stele, a quarter of the way down—is there not a seam?"

Her voice was soft and alluring, and hearing it sent a stir through the heart. Moreover, the Canglan Sect disciples were all hearing Yan Fei speak for the first time, and each felt a private wonder. They stepped up for a closer look, and indeed there was a faint crack there, slanting upward, dividing the whole stele in two. The grain of the stone along the seam showed a dim red, though one would never notice it without a careful eye.

Qi Hao nodded and said to Yan Fei, "Junior Sister Yan is keen-eyed indeed."

Yan Fei smiled faintly, lowered her head again, and said no more.

Qi Hao looked at the stele a moment longer, then turned to the company. "Since this stele has been repaired by someone, it is plain enough that the demon cult fiends are most likely here, about some business not fit for the light of day. We've come to the right place."

Facheng continued, "Senior Brother Qi speaks sense. As things stand, this cavern is thick with danger, and here before us is our first problem: these two forked paths—which do we take?"

Qi Hao pondered briefly. "Senior Brother Facheng, you said just now that your master, the holy monk Pucheng, once spoke to you of this place. Did the venerable one ever mention these forkings?"

Facheng nodded. "My honored master did speak of them, but he had it from the patriarchs of the generation before him. It is said that in the great war between righteous and demon long ago, there were demon cult lairs beyond both of these paths. As for how things stand now, he was not at all certain."

Silence fell. After a moment, Qi Hao glanced at the three others of his sect and said to Facheng and the rest, "In that case, I say we divide our forces. We four of the Canglan Sect will take the left fork and scout it; you, Senior Brothers Facheng and Fajing, with the two of the Fenxia Valley, take the right. If you meet demon cult fiends, give a long whistle as warning. How does that sound?"

Facheng was silent. He knew well enough that splitting up was no good thing, but the cavern was deep, and there was no telling how far these two paths ran. If they chose wrong and had to double back, they might lose far too much time—and everyone here was the finest of their respective sects, hardly unable to fend for themselves. He turned and looked at Li Xun and Yan Fei of the Fenxia Valley; seeing no objection from either, he said, "Then let it be as Senior Brother Qi says. Everyone, be exceedingly careful."

As he spoke, he glanced, whether by design or not, at Zhang Qingyue once more.