Chapter 28 - Three Enigmatic Books (1/2)

‘Something bad is going to happen to Little Tanuki, isn’t it?’ Compelled by this deep-seated distress, Ye Chen instinctively sprung from his spot and bolted out of his door.

By that point, the white figure had already leaped over the castle wall before diving into the first grove outside of Ye Castle.

“If I get caught for being outside at this unholy hour by any of our watchmen, there’s going to be no end to that storm! Best not let my father, granduncle and others know about this,” Ye Chen murmured. Hence, he activated his astral body and his senses were immediately lucid enough to remotely locate every single watchman — the clansmen in-charged of taking care of the household while everyone else was asleep — lurking vigilantly in every tenebrous corner of the Ye Castle.

Ye Chen deftly evaded their line of sights as well as the traps that were designed to ensnare nightly intruders, hidden in the castle grounds. After he got to the wall safely, he vaulted himself over and dashed into the woods. Very quickly, he astral-located a scurrying tanuki.

What did it sense that was so important that had led it to run off like that?

Ye Chen did not stop to entertain his own question. Instead, Celestial Chi started to revolve within his body for him to sustain his stamina as he chased ahead, with sceneries darting by his sides in a flurry of blurred images.

It was about two hours later after the chase when he realized that he had trespassed into the deepest part of Lianyun Mountains. Scanning his surroundings, Ye Chen knew that he had stepped into one of the restricted zones the House of Ye had repetitively warned against on countless occasions.

There were many of such restricted areas in Lianyun Mountains — places where every responsible senior in the family had always caution their juniors to never tempt fate in. Specifically, they cited the presence of formidable and lethal advanced-Stage mystical beasts as the sole reason. There were a few ignorant juniors who did trespass once, but they never came back again.

Ye Chen could almost hear his father’s voice telling him to not go any step closer, and his feet responded by slowing down into a shuffle. Yet, the young man was just as quick in rationalizing his own violation of the ban. After all, since his astral sense had achieved new acuity in terms of the width of its detection, it could now reliably substitute the nightly limits of his vision. If he remained vigilant enough to avoid crossing paths with any mystical beasts, Ye Chen was sure he would be fine.

His momentary uncertainty had allowed Little Tanuki to add more distance between the two of them. Upon realizing that, Ye Chen quickly restarted his pace and charged to wherever his astral sense guided him.

While on his way, his astral body had already detected at least five or six Eighth Stage mystical beasts, all of which he had dexterously and safely evaded while a little voice in the back of his head remarked about how true his seniors’ warning was. Had it not been the fact that he had awakened his astral body, disregarding their warning would have instantly turned into an indirect act of suicide. Facing off lone mystical beast may be somewhat manageable, but what if they came in packs?

His travel through the woods went on for about an hour until he found himself at the mouth of a narrow mountain pass. Barren cliffs stood at each of his sides forebodingly, leaving the only passage wedged between them to be about two or three feet wide as it led into the deepest unknown of the mountains. Ye Chen knew a hazard the moment when he saw one; if there was any confrontation with a mystical beast while traveling along this mountain pass, he would be trapped.

He was certain that Little Tanuki had passed through here. However, after a very brief hesitation, he raced right into the passage.

It was another ten minutes sprint before suddenly, the scene before his eyes changed into something completely different from what its uncomely entrance had suggested. A lush, grassy clearing about ten miles wide in radius leaped into his sight, painting a stark contrast with the dreary, barren cliffs that surrounded it. Beautiful meadows adorned the grassy plain while a small creek whispered close by. It was quite a sight to behold.

“To find a wonderland secluded by perilous cliffs is really beyond my expectations,” Ye Chen muttered in awe. He turned around as he admired the soaring cliffs reaching into the clouds above. His heart was viscerally praising the marvels of nature.

As he continued to saunter through this strange clearing, he started to become more aware of the abundance of tanuki cadavers lying close by. It seemed like they were all bitten to death. Most of these dead tanukis appeared to be very different from Little Tanuki. Although most of them had a single tail with either sallow, ashen or calico fur, some others appear to possess two tails. However, their second tail was just a bub.

‘Is this where Little Tanuki came from? I wonder what happened to its family,’ Ye Chen thought as he observed. He may not have noticed it, but in his mind, Little Tanuki had ceased to be “just another tanuki”. The amount of sentience and intelligence displayed by his friend had resembled too much of humankind.

However, he did notice that the area was very suitable for cultivation. Perhaps due to the cliffs enclosing the area, the clearing was concentrated with Celestial Chi, but Ye Chen was not sure about the source of it.

Nonetheless, the young man was hardly interested in the Celestial Chi here anymore. With a reservoir as immense and potent as the Flying Dagger in his head, Celestial Chi from natural sources, in their pitifully diluted motes, were like scraps to him.

So, he continued to trudge deeper into this strange wonderland until he finally found Little Tanuki.

It was standing before a large stain of dried blood with watery eyes, grief-stricken.

That pool of blood was probably what was left of Little Tanuki’s beloved relative. Ye Chen sighed quietly and crouched down as his right hand gently stroked Little Tanuki’s back.

“Don’t be sad, Little Tanuki,” Ye Chen said, trying to comfort his friend.

Little Tanuki had probably been standing at the spot for a while now. Upon seeing Ye Chen, it immediately tried to cloak its emotion even though it did not succeed in hiding the morose in its eyes. Then suddenly, Little Tanuki’s ears perked up in high alert.