The Tale Never Ends Chapter 160 A Walk in the Lost Settlemen

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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 coming, but my father has no intentions of taking part in the Crucible. Those of you who might be thinking of manipulating your chances with him, consider yourselves warned. Otherwise, when a great calamity is impending over you, I cannot do anything to help." I got up and began to leave.

My caution was loud and clear: no foxes should try taking part in the Crucible with hopes that Father would weaken the stroke of Heaven because he never wanted to ascend in the first place. Should anyone choose to disregard my warning, they would find themselves suffering the full strength of the Crucible and horrible death. Hence, they'd better be well-behaved.

I had informed the foxes. But there was no way for me to deliver my warning to the weasels from Yizhou City, nor would I intend to be responsible for any of their deaths. Nevertheless, I was confident that word would spread across the Yellow Soil Ridge; the foxes would help me in notifying the rest of the other beasts at the Ridge.

As we left Lao Tao's residence, Edelweiss followed demurely behind, her wrist gripping tightly on the golden dagger hanging at her waist. "I promise you, Husband. If anyone dares to come near you..." I giggled and playfully pinched her big cheeks lightly. "Look at you! Don't worry, have you not seen what I'm capable of?" Chongxi was playing with his slingshot when he heard us and chuckled. "There's no lack of pebbles here though..." I sniggered and said to my companions, "Tell me if this does not seem familiar to you guys: Journey to the West! The Monkey God needed help, and he went to request for aid from some deity, while some Demon Lord in the story laughed..." Lin Feng's sudden guffaws cut me off. "Let them come! Let the monkey come! Let anyone come! I'll defeat them all!" With this, he stood proudly with his hands on his waist like a king of the mountain. His action made the three of us feel overwhelmed with joy. Seeing Lin Feng's vivid imitation, Chongxi burst into laughter and started to sing while swinging his arms. "The king of the mountain asked me to patrol the mountain."

We decided to spend a little more time on the streets of the underground village. If we were trying to assimilate ourselves into the thronging mob of demons in the busy streets, we were surely doing a lousy job; everyone was staring at us strangely for they began to notice that we were humans. But they also knew that we were not some ordinary humans because we had powers and skills of our own; otherwise, we would have already been in danger.

Unlike the real world outside, the demons in the underground settlement were more active at night. The streets became lively and frenetic with peddlers and hawkers, passersby and prospective patrons when dusk came and they filled every street and alleyways. The night markets here looked more like the night festivals of the antiquity, with blazing lanterns of assorted colors and designs lighting up the night, hanging from the eaves of the buildings on both sides of the streets. There were many things sold by the peddlers, especially those for beasts such as strange animal parts. We were slightly repulsed by the gory spectacle, but that was hardly any reason for us to be surprised, since most, if not all of the villagers here were demons.

As we weaved through the crowd, Edelweiss' attention was suddenly captivated by the items sold at one of the stalls. Even as we walked by, she arched her head to get a better look. What could that be? She has seen so many articles of luxury with Mother every day, is there anything in a village here that could interest her much? I took her hand in mine and led her back to the stall to have a look.

"Ah! A patron! Please, have a look!" A hoarse voice blared like a trumpet. But when we got near after wading through the current of people, we were astonished when we saw the peddler as I felt Edelweiss' grip on my arm tightened with shock. Even Chongxi could hardly suppress a yelp of apprehension when he saw who it was.

The stall owner couldn't be considered as a human at all. But instead, he was a gigantic rat the size of a full-grown man! A pair of long whiskers hung from its snout, a relic of its age as its large bulbous eyes trained at us! It grinned vilely as we remained frozen, licking its lips hungrily.

"Ah, we're just looking around," I remarked nervously. We averted our gaze from the appearance of the proprietor, and focused our gazes on the wares it was peddling. Fortunately, unlike the repugnant appearance of the stall owner, the sight of the wares was very much welcoming. We found ourselves enthralled by the skillfully-crafted paper umbrellas, feasting our eyes on the colorful and beautiful patterns that adorned the hand-crafted umbrellas that came in both reds and greens. Edelweiss reached for one of them and lifted it above her head, opening it and studied it with interest. "You like it?" I asked, smiling at the behavior of my fiancee who looked like a little girl upon seeing a toy she liked. She looked shyly at me, a stark difference from the Edelweis who roamed the Mongolian steppes on horseback like a conquerer. She nodded timidly at me, which made me chuckle. "Very well, let's have one then."

"Er... Shiyan. Something like this seems a tad inauspicious, don't you think so?" Chongxi whispered. But Lin Feng immediately cleared his throat and motioned him for silence. "What's wrong with this umbrella?" Edelweiss asked, wearing a confused look on her face and Chongxi immediately stammered, "No, no, no! There's nothing wrong with it!" Edelweiss stared at him blankly, unaware of the fierce look I was giving Chongxi.

Knowing that he had muttered something wrong, Chongxi slipped away, citing his need for some supper. He took off hastily and trotted to a stall selling dumplings. "That young man didn't fully understand the meaning of this gift, I'm afraid." The giant rat interjected suddenly and sniggered vulgarly. "The man who wishes to buy you an umbrella, which signifies his wish to be your umbrella and shield you from life's swelter and torrent!" I narrowed my eyes at the giant rat. You may lack the magic to assume human form, but your mouth is already magic on its own, I scowled at the rat before saying out loud, "Before we talk about what fortunes these umbrellas of yours herald, how about we talk about the provenance of these umbrellas? Didn't you steal it from a home of death, I hope?"

The rat peddler heard my words and explained with an expression of bitterness!"You must be joking, dear customer! We make these umbrellas ourselves! Honest!" "Of course, I'm merely joking," I giggled lightly. The hawkers and peddlers selling their wares required Lao Tao's permission before they could begin their business here; as Mountain Deity of the Ridge, Lao Tao would never allow anything shady and illicit to take place under his nose. Lin Feng snickered and teased the giant rat, "Of all the wonders magic could do you, yet you are here selling stuff like a common peddler!" The old giant rat sighed. "You've driven the spike right to the spot, young one!" He lamented mournfully, "My magic is nothing. I am so bad with magic that I am easily the worst among my kin, let alone the four of you who have clearly possessed stronger magic than me! For centuries I have labored hard but to no avail! Even the younglings who barely have decades of study time could do better than me. Finally, I got tired of studying magic. I decided that perhaps I'd better try my luck in commerce!"

While smiling, I picked a red umbrella and opened it. The snowy white petals of an illustration of a plum blossom flushed radiantly across the deep scarlet background. The flamboyant combination of colors seemed a tad too striking for my liking, although it has a charm of its own; the picture of the plum blossom was indeed a work of art, although the giant rat's taste for colors might need some refinement. "Well, at least you displayed quite a propensity in commerce and art, Proprietor!" I remarked playfully, "Look at this drawing! It's quite good!" I pointed at the flower and said to Edelweiss, "Look at the white flower here, it's as beautiful as you, innit?" A flush of crimson blazed on Edelweiss' cheeks and she nodded timidly like a bashful maiden.

I smiled and closed the umbrella. "Very well, I'll have this then. How much should I pay for it?" The giant rat flustered and replied hesitantly, "Just take it, please! It will be my honor to present this as a gift to you!" Lao Tao must have announced to the whole market about our arrival; hence, the courtesy was shown to us outsiders. Still, I fished out my wallet. The giant rat said immediately, "I'll have no use of the money even if you wish to pay me, young lord. If you must, you can just walk around with my umbrella. I'd be immensely honored to have you bearing this keepsake of mine, which is already good publicity for me!"

Indeed, demons have no use for human currency, I reflected. I put away my wallet and said, "Very well then. I see no reason to decline your courtesy other than to cause you displeasure instead. Come to me if you need any help. I shall be at the De Chang Center for Paranormal Studies at Wu Zhong County." We looked around and found Chongxi reading as he was filling his mouth with one dumpling after another at a streetside hawker. Where did he get the thread-sewn book he's reading? I wondered. When we walked near, we saw the title on its cover: The Tale of the Demigod of the Soaring Sword!

Chapter end