The Tale Never Ends Chapter 105 Zhang Zhigui

In the midst of our bewilderment and confusion, the third stranger rushed forward to the restrained Mr. Zhang and extracted something from his pocket, which he used it to wave around Mr. Zhang who was struggling to break free from the strong grip of his captors.

With the situation almost under control, I realized that the object the man was using was a large wooden ruler! Lines of graduation, which I was almost certain were not measurements of length, were etched along the side of the ruler.

He continued waving the ruler for some time like a magic wand until he finally stopped and motioned to his leader a spot near Mr. Zhang's chest. The leader nodded, and took out a needle and pierce through Mr. Zhang at the spot designated by his companion. Immediately, the thrashing Mr. Zhang began to simmer down like a balloon being deflated and fainted! The leader quickly stabbed more needles around Mr. Zhang's body with astonishing speed; a testament to his impeccable skills. Before long, there were so many needles on Mr. Zhang that he looked like a porcupine to me!

He flicked his wrist in a dramatic flourish and pulled off the first needle that he used to pierce Mr. Zhang in the chest. As soon as the needle was pulled off, the blacked-out Mr. Zhang instantly shuddered and he vomited!

With my Spirit Sight, I saw wisps of foul energies escaping from Mr. Zhang like ink from a squid as he continued vomiting. The two conjured sentinels released Mr. Zhang and both began to retrieve the foul energies with their bare hands, drawing the foul energies upon themselves like a vacuum cleaner. "It's lucky that we were in time!" The leader of the three exclaimed! But he had barely finished when the second of the three, the one who summoned the two spectral sentinels, snapped with indignance, "Stop babbling! Come help! The energies are fleeing!" But the leader, much to my dismay, said, "Ah! But what am I to do?"

By now, the form of the dark stallion was beginning to dissolve, so was the two spectral sentinels who were still trying frantically to seize the foul energies radiating strongly of hatred. The spectral guards glanced at their conjurer. The magical effects maintaining their existence was beginning to fail! "Let me try!" The stranger with the ruler exclaimed! With the ruler, he hacked at the tufts of foul energies swirling around. But instead of trying to help, the foolish stranger instead inadvertently struck at the two spectral guards, causing them to fully dissipate and vanished...

Chaos broke out immediately: the conjurer began blaming the stranger with the ruler, and the latter began blaming their leader, while the leader was trying to divert the responsibility of their failure to the conjurer...

But as they bickered like children, the wisp of foul energy took its much-awaited opportunity and flew straight at Mr. Zhang! Still being stuck with needles like a pincushion, there was an invisible magical barrier hindering its advances. The wisp of dark energy realized suddenly that there was an exhausted and utterly-spent Lin Feng lying just beside! As if with a sentience of its own, the foul energy switched its target and charged straight at Lin Feng, its new target to possess!

This jolted me from my momentary bewilderment. I yanked off the cork of my Spirit Gourd and recited incantations while drawing the foul energy into my Gourd.

I breathed heavily, relieved at last, as I returned the stopper to the mouth of my Gourd. The three bickering strangers immediately fell silent as they stared awkwardly at the three of us.

Finally, for the first time, I could look properly at them. The leader of the three who used needles was a young man slightly younger than I am, looking in his early twenties. With average-sized eyes and a high nose bridge, he looked smart and sporty with an ordinary physique. But his companion who wielded a ruler was a stark contrast to his dapper looks. Despite looking about the same age, his hair was completely white. The conjurer who used talismanic strips to summon familiar spirit looked like a frail young man, but there was an unmistakable air of deathliness about him that he looked more like the dead than the living, a quirk that I find terribly unsettling.

Before I could barely utter a syllable, the leader of the three suddenly asked Yuan Chongxi, "Ah? Could this be Brother Yuan?" Yuan Chongxi was surprised, his eyes going wide as eggs as he finally recognized the stranger. "Zhigui?!" He stammered and the stranger nodded his acknowledgment before he greeted me and the now-revived Lin Feng. Casting strange and suspicious looks at Yuan Chongxi, Lin Feng and I asked, "You know each other?" Opposite us, the companions of Yuan Chongxi's associate too posed the exact same question.

Aunt Fen, hearing the ruckus we caused, rushed up the stairs to find Mr. Zhang, still being stuck with needles all over, being helped to a sitting position by Xiao Qi and the Sisters. She hurried over to her husband and asked me, "How is my husband?" The leader of the three spoke before I did, saying to her, "All is well with Mr. Zhang. He is just exhausted from the exertion and now has fainted. That's all. Don't worry." Aunt Fen breathed, so relieved that her husband's danger has gone that she even forgot about saying a "thank you".

Being closest to Lin Feng, Xiao Er and Xiao Liu too helped him to a sit while asking him if he was well. "It's okay," he said to them, "Although this is the first time I'm on the receiving end of such a beating. I have not been so miserable even during our final fight against the Creed." I squat down and placed a hand on Lin Feng's shoulder, consoling my friend whose pride was undoubtedly hurt, while extracting a pill from my Gourd and handed it to him. But my actions did not go unnoticed; the leader of the three was observing me so keenly that I could almost swear that I thought I saw a scathing look, fleeting and quick, passing through his eyes. But he swiftly spoke to me, "Thanks for your help, Brother. If not for you, we would have been in trouble indeed. My name is Zhang Ying, and my courtesy name is Zhigui. I met Brother Yuan in a chance encounter years ago. May I know your name?" I almost felt a shiver; Zhang Ying was speaking with a manner so strange and odd like a character from historical fiction. Nevertheless, he was Mr. Zhang's benefactor. I returned the gesture, bowing also to him, "I should be the one to thank you instead. We were at our wit's end until you appeared. My name is Shiyan, Murong Shiyan," while still feeling odd about the three newcomers. It was strange for people to still have courtesy names these days that I wondered for a split second if they were time travelers from the past.

With Mr. Zhang tucked safely in bed, we left Aunt Fen's residence. We talked as we left and I found out that Zhang Zhigui had met Yuan Chongxi and Zheng Shuang about a year ago. It was during a trip to investigate a case in Yishui County that they met. I was then cooped up in the Center, still deep in study on my father's swordsmanship. Hardly unlike him, all three of them have strange names too. Zhang Zhigui's white-haired companion with the ruler was called Lu Bugong, while the foul-mouthed conjurer was called Yan Jishi.

I was thinking of treating them to a meal, especially since Zhang Zhigui and his companions had been a great help to us. "It's a long way from Yishui, Zhigui," I said to him, "How about a meal together?" To my surprise, Zhang Zhigui had the very same intention, "No, no. Brother Shiyan. It is I who should invite you to a drink. Would you be game?" "But you are guests from afar, Zhigui," I said again, feeling embarrassed this time, "It is I who should be buying this drink as host." "Nay, Brother," Zhang Zhigui said again, "If it was not for you, we would not have been able to subdue the foul substance. I should be the one buying."

"Come on, Zhigui," Lin Feng quipped, "We should be the ones buying. If it was not for your timely intervention, I might already be dead." But Yan Jishi spoke on Zhang Zhigui's behalf, "But if it was not for you, we would still be neck-deep in trouble!"

Just as we were quibbling over our drink, a voice boomed from behind. "Enough prattle! I should be the one buying!"

Chapter end