Chapter 60 — Storm

Bili pursed her lips and smiled, and her expression seemed greatly pleased. "So even a boy like you knows to worry about my health?"

Zhang Qingyue's face reddened, though fortunately in this stormy night it was hard to tell. He said awkwardly: "I'm just afraid that if you fall ill later, you'll blame me for it."

Bili leaned in and at once crouched right alongside him, pressed close. The difference was that Zhang Qingyue was kneeling on the ground, while Bili was crouching beside him. At the same time, Bili's umbrella shifted over once more, sheltering the two of them from the wind and rain.

Zhang Qingyue felt that amid the wind and rain, there was a faint gentleness, a subtle fragrance, drifting over. He could not help glancing to the side, and unexpectedly Bili was looking at him too. Their eyes met, and both froze. After a moment, Zhang Qingyue was the first to look away, though for some reason his heart had begun to pound violently.

And Bili, who had always been so good with words, fell quiet now too, crouching silently beside Zhang Qingyue, keeping him company, only when he was not looking quietly shifting the umbrella a little more toward him, shielding him from a bit more of the wind and rain.

"Ah!" In the midst of the silence, his thoughts in turmoil, Zhang Qingyue suddenly thought of something and could not help crying out. He turned to look at Bili, anxiety written on his face, and said urgently: "You -- how can you come here?"

Bili did not seem much surprised by his reaction. She only smiled faintly, her voice faint and wistful, carrying a note of sorrow amid the rain and wind that filled the world: "I came to see you!"

Zhang Qingyue lowered his voice, but the anxiety in it was plain to hear: "All around here are people of our righteous path. Never mind the elders of the Brahma Sound Temple and the Fenzia Valley -- if even a single elder of our Canglan Sect came out, you would have no place to be buried. Why aren't you leaving at once?"

Bili seemed unmoved. She only smiled at Zhang Qingyue's anxious expression, then suddenly sighed and said: "You wicked boy, you do have a bit of a conscience after all!"

Zhang Qingyue was struck dumb and could not speak.

He only heard Bili say softly: "Aren't you always claiming to stand on the righteous path? Aren't good and evil supposed to be irreconcilable? Why don't you call someone to arrest me?"

Zhang Qingyue was anxious, but her words struck him like a sudden revelation, and he felt a great shock, cold sweat breaking out all over his body. Though in the eyes of outsiders he did not have the extraordinary talent or supreme cleverness of Lin Jinghong and his senior sister Tian Lingsu, he was no fool. It was only that over the years on Dazhu Peak, no one had ever valued him, which had given him a certain self-doubt.

Now, hearing Bili's words, half reproach and half delight, Zhang Qingyue suddenly realized that his present situation was truly most improper. Never mind that he was already a sinner being punished by his master; even now, if any of his fellow disciples should discover that he was here, seemingly on intimate terms with this young demon sect girl, he feared that even a mouth on every part of his body would not be enough to explain himself.

At the thought of such consequences, a "buzz" rang through Zhang Qingyue's head, and he did not dare think further. His heart in turmoil, he was just about to open his mouth and call for his fellow disciples, when his glance fell on Bili's shoulder leaning close beside him -- and in this great wind and rain, she had turned most of the umbrella over his head, and her own half of her body was already soaked through.

The clothes clung tightly to her skin, reflected in his eyes. Even on her snow-white face there were a few drops of rain, beading into pearls and slowly sliding down.

That shout, Zhang Qingyue found himself utterly unable to utter.

"You -- why must you do this?" Zhang Qingyue lowered his head and said softly: "I guessed your father must be someone important, and that you must be a pampered young lady in daily life. Why risk so much for a mere disciple of Qingyun, and come here to suffer?"

The wind and rain sighed, heaven and earth were solemn and desolate. In the vast night rain, it seemed the whole world had left only this one place, only the two of them.

Bili seemed to feel a slight chill and leaned closer to Zhang Qingyue. The gesture was intimate and familiar, just like that day in the Blooddrop Cave, when the two of them had faced life and death.

Her voice now carried a note of vagueness: "No, I am not suffering. You don't know it, but the truly bitter things in this world are all in people's hearts..."

Her voice gradually lowered, and the words that followed became inaudible. But Zhang Qingyue suddenly felt her quietly lean her head against his shoulder.

The sound of wind and rain swept past, and Zhang Qingyue felt only that his mind had gone completely blank.

Only that faint fragrance beside him, in this cold wind and rain, so truly entwined about him.

At dawn, the clouds parted and the sun rose; the rain stopped and the wind died.

Tian Buhui walked out of the cave alone. In the distance he saw that his little disciple was, incredibly, still kneeling at the edge of the distant forest, motionless.

He frowned and walked over. As he drew near, Zhang Qingyue heard the sound, raised his head, and saw that it was indeed his master, Tian Buhui. His mouth moved twice, and he whispered: "Master."

Tian Buhui saw that his clothes were soaked through, water still dripping from his hair now and then, and his face looked all the paler. Clearly the torrential rain of the night before had caused him considerable suffering.

At the thought, he could not help frowning. Now he also heard voices faintly coming from the row of caves behind him, and guessed that the disciples of the various sects had risen. Tian Buhui gave a snort, then set off walking toward the woods. As he passed Zhang Qingyue, he said lightly: "Come with me."

Zhang Qingyue hurriedly answered and tried to rise, but he had barely gotten halfway up when his legs suddenly gave way and he fell back down. His feet felt numb and sore beyond measure, no doubt from kneeling all night.

Tian Buhui, walking ahead, paused. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, but still did not turn back, and went on straight ahead.

Zhang Qingyue gritted his teeth and repeatedly rubbed and massaged his legs with his hands. Fortunately he was not one who had been raised in comfort; the body he had built up in his early days chopping bamboo on Dazhu Peak now answered him, and after no long while his blood and breath flowed a little better, and he could walk.

Zhang Qingyue stood up and looked ahead, but saw that Tian Buhui's figure was already about to disappear into the forest. He hurried after him at a run. Not long after, by the time the righteous disciples came out of the caves, the two of them were nowhere to be seen.

In the forest on Liubo Mountain, ancient towering trees were everywhere; trees an arm's span around could be found on every side, and even giant trees that two or three men together could barely encircle were seen from time to time. No doubt this was because the place was remote and had always been uninhabited.

Zhang Qingyue followed behind Tian Buhui, walking slowly through the forest. The faint light of early morning filtered down through the treetops and scattered over the shrubs in the wood.

In this forest after the rain, everything seemed to have been washed clean, and green was everywhere. Now and then some nameless little flower bloomed in a lonely, untrodden spot, giving off a faint, fresh fragrance.