CHAPTER 378: A TILE TO DECIDE VICTORY (1/2)
By the time I returned to Meisian’s castle, I found its owner decidedly still mad at me -I probably had Anmi’s bedside talk to blame for that. Some time had passed since we started drawing blood from Gaiuz. Roughly a third of what was needed had been drawn, but because we wanted to avoid causing any permanent harm to him, we couldn’t draw any faster than we already had.
The Hellhounds still needed some time to gather their troops. This was a battle that would decide the future prosperity of their races, so a bit of caution was only to be expected. Thankfully, war between creatures of Purgatory was a lot simpler than human wars. There was no need for an orderly mobilisation, nor was there a need for supply lines.
The army itself could supply itself as it travelled, so food wasn’t our biggest constraint right now. What had me worried the most, on the other hand, was the relationship between the Hellhounds and the Purgatory Shadowcats. While it would entertain immensely to see a bunch of cats and dogs duke it out, they were now my allies in the upcoming war, allies who weren’t on the best terms with each other.
What was the old saying again? Cats climb the wall, Dogs crawl through the hole -that saying didn’t just come out of nowhere. The bad blood between these two races was only to be expected, but that didn’t mean that reconciliation wasn’t necessary or possible. Upon reconvening with the cats of the Elders’ Consortium, I took out my number one trump card: Mahjong!
Mahjong was without a doubt the perennial pastime of the Chinese on Earth. How many sleepless nights were endured just for that one extra round of Mahjong? Truly an obsession.
The moment I casually mentioned this game and casually demonstrated a round before these cats, their eyes lit up. No longer was I Passerby A, instead I had become an idol to them! That’s right, I was now a Devil to be worshipped, because I had brought them a game to play!
It was worth noting that whether it was cards or Mahjong, the cats of the Elders’ Consortium always played with their signature black tiles. I had to say, the sound of those weighty black Mahjong tiles slamming down on the ground brought back fond memories…
Because Mahjong was a four-person game while the Elders’ Consortium was made up of nine cats, that meant only two groups could be formed at one time. The last remaining cat had to watch from the side till a loser was decided from one of the groups… Watching a bunch of cats play Mahjong was surprisingly fun…
“Mama, why do those cats always play with the tiles floating in the air?”
Mo Na had recently become addicted to Mahjong as well. She would often drag along Jeerah, Sinmosa and me to form a Mahjong table. Because we didn’t have the ability to float our tiles, we could only play on said table.
Surprisingly, the Mahjong-playing cats were more than happy to oblige. Masrow looked at her kindly, then patiently explained, “This is one of the unique abilities of our clan. By using our mana as a medium, we can employ our psychic energies to control objects remotely, like how a paw would. We call this ability Formless Paw.”
“Formless Paw…” I couldn’t help but perk my ears up at that revelation. “But why haven’t I seen other Purgatory Shadowcats use this Formless Paw ability?”
“That’s because you can only learn this ability after reaching Six-star.” Having said that, Masrow puffed out his chest and began explaining how exceptional their abilities truly were. That ultimately led to even his fellow cats getting a little impatient with him. “Masrow, can you just throw out your tile already?”
“What’s the big rush? I still haven’t seen which was the previous tile thrown out…”
“It was a Nine Numbers.”