Chapter 104 — The Inquiry

Ming Li was silent a moment, then nodded. "Since I am asking the senior, there is no need to hide the rest from you. After you left, my subordinates were ambushed, it seems, by a pack of monsters like that fish-man, and suffered grievous losses. So I wished to learn what I could from the senior."

Zhou Yixuan's brows knit. He slowly straightened, a thoughtful look coming into his eyes, but said nothing. Ming Li was in no hurry and stood quietly to one side. After a long while Zhou Yixuan said suddenly, "Those men of yours who died—were their deaths cruel, their bodies mostly hacked into several pieces, too horrible to look upon?"

"Ah!" This soft cry came from Xiaowan; her face was full of horror, plainly much shocked.

Ming Li nodded slowly, gazing deeply at the old man before him. "That is so. Exactly so."

Zhou Yixuan nodded. "Then there's no mistake. It must be the work of the Fish People, one of the sixty-three strange tribes of the hundred thousand wild mountains of the southern border. This tribe is strange in appearance, born with the head of a fish and the body of a man. By their own legends, they are the offspring of an ancient fish god and a human woman, and so they have always styled themselves the descendants of the fish god. This tribe has always been cruel and bloodthirsty, and they believe that whether beast or man, only by hacking the corpse to pieces after slaughter can the spirit be cut to pieces and slain as well, and all future trouble averted. So under their hands, beast or man, few are left with an intact corpse."

Suddenly a strange sound came. The two looked over and saw that Xiaowan had gone pale, her brows tightly knit, somewhat nauseated.

Zhou Yixuan shook his head slightly and, looking at Xiaowan, sighed. "The world is vast, and there are still how many crueler and more savage things you have yet to know!"

Ming Li, being nothing like Xiaowan, still knitted his brows slightly and said, "How is it that such a savage, brutish race has never been heard of before?"

Zhou Yixuan said coolly, "You have always dwelt in the Central Plains, so naturally you know nothing of such barbarous tribes. In the hundred thousand wild mountains of the Southern Frontier, there is nothing but foul waters and barren peaks. The people there eat raw flesh and drink blood, utterly unlike the civilized folk of the Central Plains. Yet those tribes have always kept to the haunts where their ancestors gathered, and moreover, the road that must be taken to reach the Central Plains from the Southern Frontier passes precisely through the Flaming Cloud Valley, one of the three great orthodox sects under heaven. The occasional barbarian who strays through is usually cut down by the Flaming Cloud Valley disciples with their immortal arts, and so the Central Plains has never known the particulars of the Southern Frontier tribes. It was only in my younger days, when I wandered the world and came to the vicinity of those hundred thousand wild mountains, that I learned a thing or two of them."

Ming Li nodded slowly, but the keen light in his eyes was gradually kindling. He said, "Then by your account, it is understandable that a stray tribesman might slip in now and again, but for so great a horde to enter the Central Plains without a whisper, and to reach the Death Marsh—no less than ten thousand li from the Southern Frontier—that is simply impossible. Unless something has gone wrong at the Flaming Cloud Valley, which guards the Southern Frontier..."

Zhou Yixuan suddenly stretched and said lazily, "That is your affair. I cannot be bothered."

Ming Li mused a moment, then nodded and said, "Thank you, Senior."

With that, he turned around, and saw that Xiaowan was holding Little Gray and teasing it in play.

Xiaowan caught Ming Li's gaze from the corner of her eye and could not help laughing. "Your little monkey is so adorable! By the way, why has it suddenly grown so much heavier? And look—a deep gray mark has opened on its forehead, as if it has grown another eye. Heh, isn't that so, monkey?"

As she spoke, Xiaowan pulled a face at Little Gray, and Little Gray grinned back with chattering cries of "zhi zhi, zhi zhi," its tail swinging to and fro behind it.

Something stirred in Ming Li's heart. Ever since that day in the Heaven Emperor's Treasure House, when Little Gray had drunk that cup of mysterious liquid and swallowed that strange stone, it had been as if drunk, sleeping a full two days and two nights. When it woke it showed no interest in eating, yet its weight had suddenly increased greatly, and its appearance had slowly begun to change: its fur grew ever more lustrous and bright, and the gray mark on its forehead in particular became more and more distinct.

Beyond these things, however, Little Gray showed no other changes, and remained as fond of play and food as ever. At first Ming Li had worried somewhat, but seeing that Little Gray exhibited nothing unusual, he gradually set his mind at ease.

At this moment Ming Li paused, and shifted his gaze to the Wild Wolf Daoist. The Wild Wolf Daoist glanced at him, and could not keep a certain fear from showing in his eyes.

Ming Li said flatly, "Do you mean to follow them from now on?"

The Wild Wolf Daoist was silent for a moment, then said, "Yes."

Ming Li said, "Do you still remember what I once told you—that Elder Nian and his lot may come for you at any time?"

The Wild Wolf Daoist's face darkened, but he looked at Xiaowan and still said, "I know. I do not care. They were the ones who betrayed the sect—do they still have the face to come before me?"

Ming Li glanced at Xiaowan, whether by design or not, then withdrew his gaze and said, "Since that is what you want, so be it."

The Wild Wolf Daoist started, and raised his head, as though he had not expected Ming Li to be so agreeable. But Ming Li paid him no further mind; he walked off to one side and called out to Little Gray. In a flash Little Gray darted from Xiaowan's arms and, with two or three bounds, leaped onto Ming Li's shoulder.

Xiaowan was taken aback, and somewhat reluctant to part with it. "You are leaving already?"

Ming Li nodded, cupped his hands in salute to Zhou Yixuan, and at once a blue radiance surged beneath him, transforming in an instant into brilliant azure light that shot straight up into the heavens, vanishing beyond the horizon in a short while.

Watching Ming Li's figure disappear, the Wild Wolf Daoist suddenly let out a long breath, as though Ming Li's mere presence there had carried an invisible authority that pressed upon him and left him unable to breathe.

Xiaowan saw it and was about to tease him a little when she heard a sudden stir of wind behind her, and a soft, alluring voice spoke gently at her back: "Sister, so we meet again."

Xiaowan started, and before she even turned around she was already smiling. "Sister Ping'er."

She looked back, and there indeed stood Jin Pingyue, all grace and charm, of matchless beauty, smiling behind her—when she had appeared, there was no telling.

The Wild Wolf Daoist, being after all a man of the demonic sect, felt considerable fear of Jin Pingyue, and his expression turned rather uncomfortable. But Xiaowan and Jin Pingyue were truly close, and seeing her, Xiaowan was overjoyed, seizing her hand and laughing without cease.

Jin Pingyue, like an elder sister, stroked Xiaowan's head with great affection, then glanced at the sky, whether by design or not, and said, "Sister Xiaowan, the reason I sought you out today is that I actually wish to ask your grandfather a few questions."

Xiaowan, Zhou Yixuan, and even the Wild Dog were all startled.

Jin Pingyue said mildly to Zhou Yixuan, "Regarding the fish-folk of the Southern Frontier tribes, I have a few questions I would like to consult you about."

Zhou Yixuan was struck dumb, and knitted his brows, while Jin Pingyue, before putting her question, let her gaze drift once more toward the horizon.