I scoured through my memory. The name of Xiao Yu sounded familiar to me. Finally I remembered. It was when we had split up to deal with the spirits of the slaughtered infants during one of our bouts against the Apostles of the Creed of the Eight Trigrams. Yuan Chongxi had rushed to the rescue of a wealthy widow and her two daughters.
Xiao Yu was the eldest of the two daughters. She would be graduating this year. What a blissful pair of lovebirds! Due to his help, the widow and her family had more-or-less recognized him as the future husband of the eldest daughter who had, by a stroke of luck, immediately fallen for him! It was just like how his teacher had prophesied that he might be enthralled by the sweetness of romance!
In a stroke of mischief, I immediately keyed in a message, "Chongxi's still sleeping. I'm Shiyan. Do you want me to kick him up?" I promptly recorded a short footage of Yuan Chongxi salivating in his sleep with the drumbeats of his snor
My cigarette nearly fell out of my mouth. "What the hell? So how are we going to pursue the enemy without any information?" I hissed. I could feel the annoyance slowly showing on my face. "But I can really do nothing," Chongxi muttered with a discomfited smile. "Even so, we'll scour through every fen and hollow of the whole Mongolian prairie to look for our Chief!" Edelweiss growled fiercely which elicited by a couple of whoops of assent by the rest of the girls. I turned back to look at Mother, who was still watching us from her perch on the rooftop. As if she had heard what we were saying, her arm rose suddenly, pointing into the distance. She was pointing towards Northwest, I realized. She was telling me that we should go to the northwest! I nodded to her and scrambled up the saddle of my horse, and we rumbled out of the encampment with our hunt renewed. Despite rarely being at my side to mollycoddle me, my parents had always been there for me whenever I needed them
Quickly, I instructed Lin Feng to bleed the boar out thoroughly by using his darts otherwise the meat would taste bad. He rode over and took out one of his darts and began to work on the carcass. Edelweiss' mouth fell open. "Your Gourd is a hidden gun!? Where's the trigger?" I handed her my Gourd and she looked at it. "But there's no trigger here! How did you use it?" "It's magic," I replied, "You'll never understand!" She continued harassing me for the fun of it. "It's a silenced weapon! Where's the silencer?!" This time, I said nothing, merely pointed to the horses, gesturing her to bring them to us. She strode to the horses and had it knelt down so that they could lift the carcass and set it on its back. "Well, Mr. Boar, due to your actions in your former life, you have been reincarnated as a boar. I'm now ending your suffering. This is the end of your penance! Let's send you back to the Underworld for your rebirth!" I muttered into the mouth of my Gou
The demoness tossed me my scabbard quietly. There was a distinct change to her expression. She appeared to feel more relaxed to know that I was not born by Mother. I caught the sheath and slid my sword slowly back into it and hung it over my back. The demoness, her eyes still fixed upon the sight of me and Edelweiss, lamented with envy. "Look at you! Kind and adoring towards each other! Look at your father! A block-headed fool!" "Where is the son of the block-headed fool? Let us all have a look!" A yell came from outside just then. A group of people entered the cave, all wielding arms. The old crone leaped before us, blocking their way. "They are my playthings! Mine! Why should I allow you a glimpse of them?" She barked furiously. Behind her, I scowled, so I am now a plaything! I threw my gaze over the band of newcomers; a group of men and women that looked ordinary, until I recognized one of them! A woman whom I encountered when I was very young! The wom
We began talking. The cave was where Godmother resided. She was roused from her sleep yesterday morning by the sound of gunfire. As a fox spirit who had drudged for centuries to achieve her current powers, she had only the deepest loathing for firearms. She left her cavernous lair and was just in time to witness me pushing Chongxi to safety when the avalanche fell. On the path through the mountains, there was a chasm which hung precipitously beside. The torrent of snow and ice had swept me off into the ravine as everyone could only watch in horror, except for Edelweiss, who threw herself off the cliff after me... I immediately glowered at Edelweiss, "What are you thinking of?! What help is there in jumping off the ledge to death yourself?" But my temper subsided as quickly as it came; I knew Edelweiss was being silly, only because she tried to save me, although it was an ill-advised move. It was Godmother who then climbed down the ravine and dug us out of
Feeling emotions surging into me, I was touched by my companions' concern for me. My hand snuck into my pocket and gripped on my phone. I peered at its screen. But it was cracked. One more item to add to my loss this trip, I brooded. Time for another new phone. I smiled weakly to myself and lighted a cigarette. "I recognized a woman from the group of people who attacked us earlier," I said to everyone, "they had tried to abduct me when I was very young, and they failed. Seems like this time, they came prepared. This would mean that Aunt Ulan's soul is with them! But still, we know little of them and I am at a loss of what to do now." Lin Feng and Yuan Chongxi too nodded morosely. Not only we did not know why were they targeting me like sharks on a trail of blood, they seemed to know every bit of our movement. Godmother was puzzled to hear about Aunt Ulan and asked me about her. Sheepishly, I began telling her what happened between Father and her. At the e
Once her elder sister left, Godmother immediately went to Murong Hai and told her about her sister's departure. To her shock, Murong Hai too informed her that he would be leaving soon. When would he return, the young Godmother asked him. Sadly, he would not be returning, said Murong Hai to her. Despite now being able to turn into humans, Godmother still retained much of her animalistic disposition. The notion of Murong Hai leaving frightened her that she blurted suddenly that she wished to be his wife. Murong Hai said nothing. He merely smiled at her and shook his head. But the snowy-white fox that had been draping over his shoulder opened its eyes at that very moment, sending a fierce and piercing glare at her. Fools do often rush in where angels fear to tread; ignoring the snowy-white fox, who undoubtedly wielded greater power and magic, the young Godmother pestered Murong Hai, begging him to bring her with him. Murong Hai declined at first, but in the
The truth struck me to the core like the deafening toll of a bell. "The one snowy-white fox who has, for centuries, never left Father's side? And the person who has been with Father for so long? That could only be Mother!" "How is this even possible! It was a fox who has been Father's companions through centuries and it has now been replaced by Mother! Could it be, that the white fox was Mother! Impossible!?" Everyone was gaping with disbelief at the revelation about the truth about Mother. Lin Feng's and Chongxi's jaws were hanging in a bewildered stupor. They saw the change in my expression as the very same thought that I had flashed through their minds. Then I remembered about Father's tale about his decimation of the Creed of the Eight Trigrams in his time, when he spared the weasel demon only because of its distant kinship to Mother. I was puzzled then because I was left wondering, what kinship could Mother be sharing with such an animal? Another mem
Seeing the girls rushing into action, we too leaped forward and followed their lead into the cave. We were welcomed by the crackling of the flames on the torches that hung on the walls of the bowels of the cave at intervals, illuminating the path deeper inside like beacons in the darkness. I released my spirit wolves, and much to their surprise, the girls yelped and screamed with shock. It was the first time they had actually seen my wolves as their enormous opaque girths shimmered into visibility. This was only because the wolves were unleashed under the brightness of sunlight where they could not see them. I held up a hand to signal for silence and assured everyone that my wolves only act on my bidding. With a nod to my orders, my familiar spirits dipped their heads and sped off into the darkness. I looked at Lin Feng, who returned a knowing glance to me. With a swing of his arm and a steely swish, he brandished his whip, giving off with a glistening sleekness in the