Whether because I was carrying myself, or my magic was finally beginning to work, I did not know. But one way or another, the Shiyan Blade screamed as it freed itself from its sheath and flew to my grasp! Without any shred of hesitation, my fingers closed in tightly on its hilt and the first thing I did was to swing it fiercely at the throat of the female demon!
The edge of the Shiyan Blade turned searing white with an insipid smolder. The demoness could not move. She could not understand how did the baby left her arms, nor how did the Shiyan Blade fly from behind her and was now attacking her. Petrified and astonished, even the notion to evade my blow was all but lost from her.
The tip of the Blade barely grazed the demoness' throat when she finally regained my senses in the nick of time. With a loud swoosh, a smog of dark and foul miasma burst out in front of me and I saw a small yellow-brownish silhouette brushed past my ankles! The demoness had releas
Dusk darkened to full night but here I was, utterly lost in the middle of nowhere. I do not usually wear watches, hence I could not tell the time. I was disconnected from society and the rest of the world. For one of the rarest moments in my life, I began to comprehend how we humans depended so greatly on our cell phones to remain part of civilization. Chilly winds blew and their icy fingers licked at my skin, sending shivers creeping up my spine. It was extraordinarily cold here. Red pines are trees that stay evergreen all seasons but the melting patches of ice and snow on the ground told me that this place recently snowed. That, and the never-ending winds of the night continued testing the dignity of my thick fur velvets. With my options numbered few, I looked for flat ground and found some branches as kindling to start a fire. But I have no flint to produce any spark and the feeble flame of my lighter could do little to set alight the kindling in such
Are you not the foolish female geek! I wondered as I stared at Qin Le. Not that it mattered now, I thought again. I sighed. "Do you have your cell phone with you?" It was just a hope too sanguine to be true; I knew her answer beforehand: she would not have been lost in the first place if she has her phone with her. She shook her head flatly, confirming my thoughts. She fished out a cell phone which was also dead too, shaking it in front of me. "It's dead. I have made sure the battery was full when I got out. But it has been dead since I got here. It just wouldn't start." I nodded and told her the same about mine and we began to talk more casually. As it happened, Qin Le was here with a tour group to visit Changbai Mountain. But the curious and inquisitive girl wandered off on her own and was separated from her group and it was too late when she realized how lost she was. Hence she could only wait for the group to notice her absence and come looking for he
When I got to Qin Le, I saw a fox, with a coat of fur as white as snow, baring its fangs at her. She was on the ground near the fire, lying on her back as if someone had kicked her down, seething at the fox herself. What happened here, I almost asked. But Qin Le was grimacing with pain. I helped her up and was relieved to know that she was fine after asking her. Then I turned my attention to the proud and uppity white fox, "What is this? What do you want with us?" But instead of replying to me, the fox lunged at me with its claws showing! I felt my blood churned. The sight of the fox attacking me removed whatever scruples left in me and I thrust my hand, still in the form of the Seal of the Sword, at the fox, signaling that I would attack without hesitation if she were to take just one more step. But she was hardly perturbed by my wordless threat and pressed on towards me! With no other way, I thrust my sword at the fox while uttering the Wo
The figure of the half-woman, half-fox shimmered and when I just blinked my eyes, she was gone and the Shiyan Blade missed its mark! Her voice intoned from behind me suddenly, "You're fast!" I swiveled to my back immediately and stabbed in the direction of her voice! A fierce clang resounded as the Shiyan Blade gnashed against the ice sword the demoness had conjured in the nick of time to defend herself, albeit rather hurriedly as if she did not expect me to be able to attack her with such swiftness. But I too felt it myself. My speed and my strength were growing beyond the usual limits of humans since my miraculous recovery moments ago. The belligerent demoness swung her weapon, whipping my sword away. Similar to how I used my telekinesis magic, she thrust her blade at me with her other hand forming the Seal of the Sword as she muttered the incantations. The ice sword left her hand and circled around her like a dragon of ice enveloping its master in a pr
On the fifteenth day of the lunar month just after the new year, I was sent back through Time. Unexpected and unfathomably, I came to the red pine coppice that Father found me when I was still a baby. Everything I saw seemed like a hypnagogic midsummer's night dream to me. Was it just a vision or had I really taken a step down the old lane of Time to witness everything myself? I could not say. But if I had really returned, why was everyone unable to see nor hear me? Why was I able to fly? Why was I not hampered by fatigue nor hunger? But if it was only a dream or a vision, why were my cigarettes and the contents of my wallet wet when I returned after the torrential deluge in 1976? When I was trying to leave the forest, I began to realize thinking of walking out was an ignorant naivety on my part; the forest was just too wide an expanse for me to find my way out in a day or two. I had to start a fire that night but that allowed me to know a new friend in a geeky girl wh
I realized the confused and aghast expression on Qin Le's face and placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's fine. I am a human. Not a demon." After a heartbeat, I said to her again, "Ah, right. So with my sister here, I suppose we'll have no problem getting out of this forest. This is her domain, after all." I cast a glance at Sister and she nodded with a smile at me, attesting to what I just said. Then, it was time for explanations. Apparently, Sister was informed of my presence after I allowed the young little fox cub caught by my spirit wolf to go. It had scampered off to Sister and told her about me. The news of a young man with considerable magical skills and armed with a magical gourd appearing in the forest reminded Sister about Father, hence she led her retinue of foxes with her. To her dismay, she found only me instead. Only, when she first saw me, the little baby brother who was still wetting his bed when she last saw me was the last t
Sister delivered a powerful smack to the back of my head with pure indignance. "And what do you think I have been doing for centuries?! I've come a long way to reach where I am now!" Unlike most other demons, Sister has been studying in the same magic as Mother's, which made them similar to how humans achieved immortality and godhood. The greatest difference between Sister's methods and the rest of the Wudaxian beasts chasing the same, Sister practiced her magic by retaining her human form. The more her powers grew, the more she would be able to change more like a human. Considering Madame White Snake who took more than thousands of years for her to morph into a full-fledged human, Sister's ability to turn into a partially-imperfect lass with just barely a century-old of magic was a feat upon itself. I should be proud of her. Moreover, I must not forget that Sister once had her demonic powers stripped by Father 20 years ago before she had to start anew. That alone was
I woke up at daybreak the following morning to Sister's incessant shaking of my shoulders. Rubbing my eyes, I slowly clambered up from my bed and put on the old 90's fur-trimmed trench coat that Sister made herself. It was already nine in the morning, or so I gathered from the Sun perching cheerily up above. There was hardly any more reason for us to dawdle here, so I hurried Qin Le to get a move on. "Wait," Sister's voice came suddenly. I turned to see Sister, standing sheepishly behind me. She looked too embarrassed to speak, but I knew why. She must have been too lonely here and she must really want to come with me to see Father and Mother. "Do you like to come home with me, Sister?" I invited with a grin. But Big Sister seemed awfully apprehensive despite her earnest wish to say yes. But it was only understandable; Father and Mother had only met Big Sister once and it has been so long. She was worried if Father and Mother might not recognize her.