CH 81

Chapter 81: Cave of a Hundred Insects (III)

"There's no one here. They really are good at getting away..." Xue Xian muttered as he took in the chamber, illuminated by Xuanmin's dragon of fire, then rested his gaze on that white stone tile by the pool again. "Or they're at the bottom of the water."

The chamber was far too rectangular to have been created naturally –– clearly, someone had carved it in. Apart from the pool of black water and some load-bearing columns, there was, at the back of the chamber, also a block of stone that looked to be a canopy fit for both sitting and sleeping.

Although it was rock-hard and freezing cold, so was probably not very comfortable.

"Someone used this place to gently cultivate their spirit," Xuanmin said as he walked into the chamber and looked around.

Xue Xian turned to him. "What kind of magician can tolerate being somewhere like this?" he asked, pointing behind him.

Although this chamber did not itself contain tidal waves of venomous creepy-crawlies, that sea of bodies resided nonetheless right beneath the spiral staircase. Who in their right mind would come here to meditate? And cultivate gently? 

But it was there was no doubt that someone really had lived here. Apart from the canopy, the four stone walls were dotted with occasional nooks large enough to put one's hand in. Xuanmin touched one and immediately took his hand away in disgust. With his other hand, he pinched out a talisman and cast a cleaning spell.

"What is it?" Xue Xian asked, looking back and forth between the nook and Xuanmin's hand.

Frowning, Xuanmin replied, "Lantern oil."

"Oh." Xue Xian's first reaction was to absent-mindedly nod, assuming that Xuanmin's look of disgust was because he hated greasy things. But then he exclaimed, "Oh–––" as he suddenly realised that lantern oil often came from animals.

But no matter how disgusted Xuanmin was, after having cleaned the grease from his fingers, he nonetheless brought that long dragon of fire into all of the nooks one by one. Then, with a hiss, the lanterns embedded into the walls began to cast a warm glow into the chamber.

Now that they had light, Xuanmin could retract the flame talisman. As he ran a finger along the copper coin pendant, he glanced at Xue Xian, whose temples had begun to sweat.

Without the scorching heat of the fire dragon, and without the annoying bugs, Xue Xian finally felt like he could relax again. He crossed his arms and ambled around the chamber. Mystified, he said, "Apart from those finger-sized ventilation holes, there's no exit from here..."

In the end, he stopped in front of the black pool and pointed at the bloody handprint on the white stone tile. He added, "So where did the remaining members of that funeral stop group go? They can't all be in the water, can they?"

The pool was only about one zhang in width and length. Just how many people could fit in there? Besides, based on the traces of blood, it seemed that there had been a struggle here. Whether there was a conflict between the group members or a some other change had occurred, whenever there was a fight, there was always a winning side and a losing side.

It was easy to conclude that the losing side had fallen into the water. But where had the winning side gone?

"Also, where is the Spider of the Same Age?" Xue Xian said, frowning.

According to Old Qu, the legendary pill was right here in the Cave of a Hundred Insects. The Cave really did exist, and was indeed full of insects, but Xue Xian and Xuanmin had traversed the entire place, and had seen nothing even close to being a "spider of the same age".

When he'd walked all around the chamber, Xue Xian had looked as closely as he could, and had searched even the cracks and the ceiling –– but he'd found nothing.

"Perhaps it'll be mentioned in here," Xuanmin said.

He was standing by the canopy and looking at the wall against which the canopy stood. Just like the part of the cave where they'd first encountered the moths, this wall was covered in sprawling carved text. Xue Xian had briefly tried to read the text, but apart from becoming dizzy, he'd not been able to get anything out of it. To him, this was some kind of demonic script that made no sense whatsoever. Not a single character was legible –– so he did not know what it was that Xuanmin was looking at so intently.

Since all that text did was give Xue Xian a headache, he left Xuanmin to it. In the meantime, he crouched down by the side of the pool, wondering whether he should go ahead and just suck all the water out of it.

As he stared at that black water, he realised that he was unable to guess how deep the pool was. From his angle, all he could see was a patch of darkness, and nothing beneath it at all.

Besides, even if he sucked the water out, where would he put it? As Xue Xian scanned the chamber again, he thought, I'm never going to swallow the water again. Last time at Gravestone Island I almost died of disgust. If I have to do that again, I'll puke all across this chamber.

As he contemplated all this, his gaze was drawn to the copper mirror near his feet.

The mirror had blood stains by it, so it seemed to have been left behind by the group preceding them. Or... they hadn't even had the time to take it with them. Xue Xian reached out for it, but as his fingers neared the mirror, he noticed the mirror begin to tremble.

As the metal mirror rubbed gently against the stone tile, it made a clinking noise, and suddenly, without warning, the black water in the pool began to ripple too. It made a gudu noise, as though someone had thrown a pebble into it, breaking the peace of the surface.

Hearing the sound, Xuanmin turned around and saw Xue Xian by the pool. He came over and crouched down too.

"What a strange mirror. Look," Xue Xian said, pushing the mirror closer to Xuanmin.

Frowning, Xuanmin picked up the mirror to inspect it, but as soon as his fingers touched the copper, a more distinct trembling noise rose. But this time, the reaction from the mirror was far stronger than when Xue Xian had tried to touch it. The ripples in the pool began to roll quicker, too, and the entire pool seemed to come to life, sending small waves splashing against the tiled border.

Automatically, Xuanmin made to drop the mirror, but found that the mirror seemed to be stuck to his fingers, and could not pry it away.

Next, the blood stains around the mirror suddenly shifted into the form of a yin and yang symbol. Xue Xian watched as Xuanmin's hand holding the mirror spasmed, and then he seemed to freeze, looking emptily into the black waters of the pool.

In the same instant, Xue Xian heard a weng noise inside his mind, as though someone had cracked a whip onto the back of his head. He jolted, and his mind went blank for a while.

When he came back to his senses and was able to move his neck again, he noticed that the water in the pool was no longer black. It seemed to have become itself a mirror: slowly, a scene emerged from beneath the dark surface of the water.

Although the scene was as vague as a dream, but Xue Xian's heart began to palpitate as he felt it bewitch him...

The scene seemed to be set in a mountainous area. There came the ear-splitting noise of howling wind, and, in the background, the mountainscape shook violently. In the sky, a great red wave came rumbling forth like a thousand mighty horses, as though wanting to tear the sky down altogether. The wind brought a chorus of terrified screams and sounds of weeping from some faraway place, turning the cries into fragments of mourning.

Beneath that hellish wave and the tremors of the mountains, and amid the tumbling loose of boulders and rocks, there were two people kneeling.

Although the scene was dreamlike and ambiguous, Xue Xian was immediately able to recognise the two figures: they were him and Xuanmin.    

He saw that his hands were dangling by his side and that he was not moving at all, as though turned to stone. His black robe seemed to have been drenched by the wave and was stuck to his body, and, for some reason, emitted a strong yin aura.

His long hair, soaking wet, was plastered to his neck and face, and his skin was completely white, as though dead.

And above his neck... a hand covered his eyes.

That hand was slender and elegant, and normally looked very handsome, but now, it too was drained of blood and seemed even to be grey, like the hand of a corpse.

It was Xuanmin's hand, and Xuanmin was lifting his head away from the side of Xue Xian's face, the monk's half-closed eyes submerged in shadow and obscured by a layer of thin fog so that it was impossible to see how he was feeling.

The position the two were in was highly intimate, as though they had just pulled apart from a kiss.

But as Xue Xian watched the scene from across the fog, he did not even notice this, because, as Xuanmin raised his head, he began to cough relentlessly. Though one hand still rested on Xue Xian's face, covering his eyes, Xuanmin's other hand fell limply as he bent over coughing –– and his normally snow-white robe was entirely stained with blood...

Enormous streams of blood were pouring out of Xuanmin's chest and abdomen and soaking through his robe, and seemed to flow endlessly.

Xue Xian watched as Xuanmin's hand blocking his eyes began to weaken as well, and as it was about to slip away, Xuanmin's entire body began to shiver and a layer of sweat seeped out of his pores. Outside the mirror, Xue Xian's eyelids twitched and, with a great effort, he dragged himself out of that foggy scene.

Xue Xian opened his eyes and reeled in shock for some time before the furious buzzing noise in his ears began finally to fade, replaced by a heavy, panicked sound of breathing.

After some more time, Xue Xian suddenly realised that the breathing, which sounded as though it came from someone who had just woken up in the middle of a nightmare, was the sound of his own breathing. As his vision finally cleared, he saw that the water in the pool remained pitch-black and placid, with no vision lying within it –– the scene had vanished.

And Xuanmin was still crouching beside him, seeming unhurt, with no grey color to his hands, and no blood on his white robe. But his head continued to be turned, and he continued to stare blankly into the pool.

He seemed also to have been pulled into some scene, but Xue Xian couldn't know if Xuanmin was seeing the same thing, or something different. As he looked into Xuanmin's empty eyes, he saw a sliver of emotion held within that gaze.

Others would have a hard time identifying the emotion, but Xue Xian felt a strange twinge of sadness...

Xue Xian silently watched Xuanmin's eyes for a while, then suddenly brought his hand to his own chest and pressed it against his heart. Then he let out a deep breath, and went to pat Xuanmin, whispering, "Bald donkey?"

Xuanmin seemed unable to hear him at all.

"Bald donkey, wake up." Xue Xian's voice was still low and slightly hoarse.

Still no response.

Frowning, Xue Xian took his hand from Xuanmin's shoulder and placed it on the back of the monk's hand instead, which still held the mirror. His fingers curled around Xuanmin's fingers.

With that touch, Xuanmin's hand finally let go of the copper mirror.

But all Xue Xian noticed was Xuanmin's fingers curling around his too. Xue Xian didn't know whether it was because Xuanmin was enduring great physical pain, or because Xuanmin was feeling some strong emotion, but the monk's grip was extremely tight, so tight that the bones in Xue Xian's hand began to hurt.

But he didn't take his hand away. He looked up and saw Xuanmin slowly turn his face with shock and confusion in his eyes, and a scowl in his brow.

Xuanmin's gaze still seemed unfocused –– he stared, dazed, at Xue Xian's face, then pursed his lips and shut his eyes tightly. After some time, he slowly opened his eyes again.

"Are you awake now?" Xue Xian asked in a low voice.

Xuanmin stared at him. His eyes were endlessly deep, and filled with such complicated emotions that Xue Xian could not identify them. After some time, Xuanmin finally looked down and released his grip on Xue Xian's fingers. "Yes," he said quickly, then, with a sweep of his sleeve, knocked the mirror into the corner of the chamber.

"Just now, that pool of black water..." Xue Xian began.

"The copper mirror and the pool came together to form a spell. Because of all the blood, I was reckless and did not check." Xuanmin said mildly. He seemed to have fully recovered.

"What spell? Heart Demons again?" Xue Xian frowned.

Xuanmin shook his head and, with a voice full of calm, replied, "It's to see how you die."

Xue Xian gasped. "How you die?"

Xuanmin frowned as though having just remembered something. "Such a spell shouldn't normally have any effect on a divine creature like a dragon... What did you see?"

Xue Xian's mind had been reeling, and, hearing Xuanmin ask this, he figured that he'd made a mistake: since the spell couldn't possibly work on him, then what he'd seen must have been something else triggered by the spell –– not a vision, but an actual dream.

He went back and forth persuading himself of this, and then finally felt more reassured. Seeing that Xuanmin was still frowning and waiting for him to speak, Xue Xian waved his hand dismissively and said, "I didn't really see anything. Just that the pool started to ripple violently, and you were unresponsive. That's why I asked."

"Really?"

Xue Xian scoffed. "Not even lightning can strike me down. How the hell would I even die?"

It was only when Xuanmin studied him and found nothing amiss in his gaze that the monk finally believed him. "Yes," he said. He thought for a while, then added, "Even so, you must be careful."

Xue Xian ignored the remark and instead asked, "You? What did you see?"

Xue Xian looked down and stood up. "Nothing. I die of old age."

As he spoke, he dusted off his sleeves, and seemed not to be lying –– but Xue Xian, unable to forget what he'd seen in the pool, couldn't help but feel an undercurrent of unease. Everything in that scene had been slightly blurred by the thin fog, except for the image of Xuanmin covered in blood, which was carved into Xue Xian's mind. Each time he thought about it, it sent waves of anxiety through his body.

But then he thought that, in any case, his own life was extremely long. If Xuanmin ever got into trouble, he'd be able to help out. Thus that thought that had appeared in his mind back when he'd woken up that morning on Mt. Lianjiang came surging back into him, but this time it wasn't a sudden impulse as it had been before. And because it wasn't an impulse anymore, he needed to wait until things had calmed down –– after all, they were in the middle of a blood-covered chamber and they still had unresolved issues to tend to, so it was not the appropriate time to bring it up.

He decided to wait until after they'd found the "Spider of the Same Age" and gotten out of this bloodstained, bug-infected cave. Then, he'd ask Xuanmin.

Just as he thought this, he suddenly felt something beneath his feet move slightly, producing a hushed noise.