Zheng Shuang had barely settled in but he immediately dove right into business. "The online ID you asked for my help has been found, Brother!"
I nodded. I poured him a glass of beer as I asked, "Relax. Take your time." He took the glass of beer from me and took a sip. "The owner of the online ID is a smart one. He has not done any verification with his true name, and every login IP we've traced came from Internet cafes. Safe to say, it's merely a burner account, so there's not much value I can give you, I'm afraid." Chongxi slapped the table. "Heavens! All the trouble for nothing!" But I chuckled through the smoke of my cigarette and hushed him down. "Relax. Let Zheng Shuang finish."
Zheng Shuang gave me a quick nod and smiled. "Well, it's not completely nothing, though. We were not able to find the identity of the ID's user, but we know where is he from! The IP addresses every time he logs into the ID shows that he is from Yizhou City!"
"I
Hearing this, Lao Tao bowed and said his thanks. He must have already expected my answer. With the can of Coke still unopened, he took his leave and left. The primary purpose of this ancient Mountain Deity's visit was mainly to enlist our help to drive the weasels away; everyone knew full well that no peace would come if the marauding weasels were allowed to continue their reign of terror. When Lao Tao had left, Chongxi asked, "How can you accept the challenge just so haphazardly, Shiyan! After all, we know nothing about this benefactor of theirs..." I yawned and glanced at my watch. "So who do you think that might be?" Chongxi shook his head with a blank face, indicating his lack of knowledge. Lin Feng went to the table and picked up the can of Coke that Lao Tao had left unopened. He popped it open and took a swig. "Who else? I bet it's the one we've asked Zheng Shuang to find out!" "Oh, my! I've almost forgotten about him!" Chongxi exclaim
I was so astonished by Lao Tao's appearance that I had almost thrown all manners and decorum out of mind. But he was hardly perturbed, giggling jovially as he answered, "I've been here all along." As it turned out, Lao Tao had long sensed our presence since we had entered into his domain, the Yellow Soil Ridge. He had not appeared to us, watching our banter with interest and silence while we were climbing. It was only when we reached the top he appeared. But he remained quiet to not disturb us, while observing us behind our backs. It was hardly unexpected though; he was, after all, the Mountain Deity here, although the prospects of being quietly watch did send a chill down my spine. Lao Tao led us to an inconspicuous part mid-hill, before he turned to us suddenly and gestured with a flourishing wave of his arm. "Please, all of you." Behind him, a door appeared out of thin air on the rock-hard face of the solid rock with a loud "Click". "Wow,
The farmer could hardly believe what he had heard. As a native of Baishan Village, he had lived at the foot of Tizishan Mountain for all his life. A mantra, long dormant in his mind, came back to him like an apparition returning to haunt him, "The day grows grey and the mountains old; In darkness lay the silver and gold; Deep behind Mount Tizishan, a trove is stashed beneath the trees; There lies the gold in forest deep; Ere it wakes again from sleep." And yet here was a Southerner who was speaking about a legend where treasures were hidden at the rear of Tizishan! The farmer felt an exhilarating rush of joy swelling in his chest, but he did his best to maintain his facade; trying to look grieved and rattled by the loss of the gourd. "Well, the missing gourd can do you no good now. I'm sorry that it has to be stolen. Back to where you come from then, Outsider." With a few simple words, the farmer tried to send the Southerner away. Before the break of the
Oh my, I gasped quietly. I would never have expected the weasels from Yizhou City to notice me entering Zunhua City. They must be thinking that I was here to launch a preemptive attack against them, which made them anxious enough to call for their benefactor. I might have told Lao Tao about my decision to answer the weasels' challenge, but I certainly had misinterpreted the status quo. Not only it was more delicate than I presumed, but my mere presence had caused a chain reaction that escalated the situation; I became the person who had struck a match to the tinderbox of the conflict. So, the fight has become inevitable, eh? I grimaced, shaking my head helplessly. Still, there was no escaping from this; the wellbeing of Father and the plans for his ascension hinged on this upcoming battle. Then, I told the fox demon. "I will fight beside you, no matter who their benefactor is. But there is something you have to know: the day to ascend into the Heavens is
I could not believe it! Chongxi was holding up a book, one that looked freshly-printed and its pages held tightly by string bindings, with its cover facing us; and there were the words, printed clearly even from our distance: the Demigod of the Soaring Sword! My eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets. Of all the names for books and stories, I would never have expected to see this title. The style of "the Demigod of the Soaring Sword" belonged to no one else but my father, Murong Hai! Although I had heard him being addressed in this name for one too many times, I never thought I would see a book bearing his name! It must be the reason that prompted Chongxi to begin reading it. We walked to Chongxi's table and sat beside him. The nice proprietor of the stall and his wife immediately welcomed us with three steaming bowls full of wontons even before we had made our order. The warm friendliness was further garnished with a plate of garlic freshly-chopped.
I stared at Chongxi blankly for seconds. Then I swooped up his book and looked into its pages. The more I read, the more I found traces that could only indicate Father was part of the whole story, including many other fairy tales and myths I had not been privy of. One of them was the tale about Ba, who was commonly assumed as the matriarchal forebearer of the Chinese vampires, the Jiangshis, was actually the daughter of Huang Di in the legends. But what was more intriguingly interesting, were the nine toenails that certain tribesmen under Chiyou's command had in the tales. I skipped to the end of the book and leafed through the final pages of the book when I stopped. The final part of the novel was a short account about the Wufang Shangdi, a tale heavily promulgated among entities of the Underworld and mediums alike. The Wufang Shangdi (The Five Emperors of the Highest) comprised of Bai Di (Emperor White) of the East, Qing Di (Emperor Green) of the West,
Standing at the top, looking downwards, we could hardly move when the dark dog zipped through the underbrush and streaked beyond mid-hill in the blink of an eye! Knowing there was no time to lose, I uncorked my Spirit Gourd. Six tendrils of mist swirled out and materialized into snowy-white wolves snarling at my feet at the incoming hound. The wolves charged at the hound, white meshing into black, and their melee, savage and horrifying, began. Yet despite being outnumbered, the huge black hound held its ground. It attacked with a dogged decisiveness, all while defending itself from my wolfish minions with frightening composure. The sight of its valor, even though it was an enemy, made cold beads of sweat roll down my forehead as my mana began to drain; instead of wounding the black dog, my wolves were bitten, clawed, and mauled by it. The wounds that my minions suffered would cause a toll on my mana and I had lost almost half of it in just mere moments! S
A myriad of padding thuds followed almost immediately as soon as its howl broke the silence. I jerked my head back in time to see a gigantic hound in mid-air towards me, the saliva dripping from its fangs with a savage glint in its bloodshot eyes. Would that Father had not so meticulously trained me himself, I would have been on the ground with blood spouting uncontrollably from my neck as life slowly ebbed away. But I was expertly trained with an adroit flair with my sword that few of my peers could ever hope to reach. I bent down quickly and leaned back, evading the hound's pounce while stabbing my weapon ruthlessly into the neck of the dog and it crumbled to the ground, fading into dust. With a quick, long breath, I got up and continue my jog down the slopes. I had barely gone far when I suddenly heard long whistling noises like something being hurled at high speeds into the air. But before my mind registered anything, a pebble smashed into the bark of