The Tale Never Ends Chapter 162 Disturbing Discoveries

I stared at Chongxi blankly for seconds. Then I swooped up his book and looked into its pages. The more I read, the more I found traces that could only indicate Father was part of the whole story, including many other fairy tales and myths I had not been privy of.

One of them was the tale about Ba, who was commonly assumed as the matriarchal forebearer of the Chinese vampires, the Jiangshis, was actually the daughter of Huang Di in the legends. But what was more intriguingly interesting, were the nine toenails that certain tribesmen under Chiyou's command had in the tales.

I skipped to the end of the book and leafed through the final pages of the book when I stopped. The final part of the novel was a short account about the Wufang Shangdi, a tale heavily promulgated among entities of the Underworld and mediums alike. The Wufang Shangdi (The Five Emperors of the Highest) comprised of Bai Di (Emperor White) of the East, Qing Di (Emperor Green) of the West, Yan Di (Emperor Flame) of the South, Xuan Di (Emperor Black) of the North, and Huang Di (Emperor Yellow) of the Center. Each of them possessed one from a set of five immensely powerful magical swords, and all of each was adequately named; Shiqing (Servant of Green) for Qing Di of the West, Shibai (Servant of White) for Bai Di of the East, Shixuan (Servant of Black) for Xuan Di of the North, and Shihuang (Servant of Yellow) for Huang Di of the Center. And the final sword in possession of Yan Di of the South was a magical blade called Shiyan! My name!

I stopped at the mention of my name, gaping with bewilderment as my heart drummed loudly. "What in the name of Heavens is this?!"

Chongxi swallowed the last of his soup and stroked his tummy with a satisfied grin on his face. He looked at me and the Shiyan Blade hanging behind my back. "So, what do you think about my suspicions?" I looked at him before my eyes met Lin Feng and Edelweiss who were had been looking at us. They did not know what Chongxi was talking to me about but Chongxi pressed on, looking serious and solemn as ever. "We may not know if the book tells the truth. But I daresay that there're still shreds of truth here," he thumped the cover of the book with his finger and continued, "and the story about the swords of the Wufang Shangdi is enough to convince us so."

Nevertheless, I still found everything hard to believe. "Impossible!" I countered, drawing the Shiyan Blade from its sheath. My eyes fell on the two runic scripts chased upon its long, slender blade. "These are runic scripts. Since when in history were runic scripts used? But if the book says the truth, then it's impossible; runic scripts were not yet invented during the era of the Wufang Shangdi!" Chongxi shook his head. "You are forgetting the enigmatic powers of demigods and immortals, Shiyan." I fell silent, unable to counter that. While looking inconceivable to mere humans like us, traversing through time was hardly a feat for the likes of Father and Master Six and the creation of runic scripts definitely seemed more trivial in comparison to the ability of time travel.

Before entering this lost domain underneath the Yellow Soil Ridge, I had already decided to unravel the mysteries myself, even though I had often found myself staring at the implausible and astonishing revelations to the riddles and secrets even before I was ready. The elucidation of the truths between Father and the Dragon-slaying Blade and my purported association to the mythological Yan Di were few of the many shocking discoveries which came knocking on my doors with uncanny happenstance. How on earth was I rescued by Godmother when I almost plunged to my death before she revealed to me Father's history with the Dragon-slaying Blade? How was it possible that I happened upon a secret so indescribably astounding behind the Shiyan Blade when I was just enjoying a walk in an underground lost domain? And who was behind the hidden hand of Fate, slowly prodding me along like a gullible mule without knowing what was waiting for me in the future?

I had little sleep that night. Edelweiss laid beside me, her hand patting gently on me like a nanny lullabying a baby to sleep as she softly cooed a berceuse in the tongue of Mongolia. I whirled restlessly and rubbed my hair, as if the futile gesture would expel all the thoughts that were haunting me that night, and wrapped my arms around Edelweiss' shoulders before I succumbed to my somnolence.

I woke up to the next morning with a pale gaunt face with dark rings circling around my eyes. But just as soon as I stepped out of the yard of our lodgings, we saw a mob of demons thronging at the entrance leading into the underground settlement as if they were congregating around to watch an interesting spectacle.

A voice behind me made me whirl. "What are these foxes flocking there so early in the morning. It could only be the weasels, I guess." It was from Lin Feng. I nodded grimly and said, "Let's go and have a look. We can ill suffer a mishap by the foxes now. We have to do right by Lao Tao by making sure that the foxes do not get themselves in trouble." He nodded a tacit assent and we walked together to the entrance.

Before we even got close, we heard a snippet of whispers and murmurs from the massing crowd. "There's been a fight. Some weasels from Yizhou City are fighting for lands against the foxes here." "We'd best keep a safe distance then. There's no need for us to get ourselves embroiled into this ruckus." A third voice quipped, "Can't say I'd blame the foxes, though. The land that the foxes now own is the best of all the lands around the Yellow Soil Ridge. Even I too, have been jealous of them for having such a good place to train, nevermind some weasels from abroad!" A voice behind me added, "There are rumors that the weasels from Yizhou City had enlisted outside help in their fight against the foxes here. We still don't know how the foxes would respond!"

Feeling exasperated, I opened my mouth to speak. But Lin Feng beat me to the chase by squeezing himself into the midst of the crowd and swam through the masses of bodies to reach the center with me following close behind. The chieftain of the foxes we met the day before was there, barking commands to scores of foxes standing in neat lines like soldiers ready for war. I scampered straight to the chieftain who saw me and bowed so low to me that the rest of its kin realized who I was and were about to prostrate themselves when I quickly waved at them to stop. I helped the chieftain up. "What's happening? Has the benefactor of the weasels appeared?" The chieftain nodded solemnly, "I'm afraid he has, young lordling. The benefactor is now within the vicinity and is marching here as we speak... I only fear..."

I nodded at him and asked, "Is Lao Tao informed of this?" "The Lord Mountain Deity has been notified of this," said the wizened fox, "It's time for us to meet our adversary. The Lord Mountain is already there, he told us. He will be trying his best to request for a parlay. But if the parley fails..." I waved him off. "Tell everyone to go home. I'll deal with this myself. I'll first go to meet this benefactor of theirs and see for myself who he is."

But I was surprised to find Chongxi and Edelweiss among the crowd when everyone dispersed. Edelweiss rushed to me and tugged at my arm, looking deeply into my eyes with brimming concern. She was worried when she heard me telling the chieftain that I would be treading into danger and her eyes told me that she would be coming too. Chongxi merely grinned, twirling his slingshot between his fingers. Lin Feng coiled his whip around his shoulder, signaling that he was ready. With a chuckle, we began moving outside together, jesting leisurely as we moved.

Strangely, it took us barely seconds to reach back to the outside world; a stark contrast to the absurdly long and winding route we had been subjected to us when we first went in. As soon as we plunged into the darkness of the cavernous entrance we immediately saw the glimmer of light beckoning from just barely meters away like a beacon. But something told me that this was beyond Lao Tao's magic. This could only mean that the entrance was created by magic far greater and older than even him. The blinding light from the sun welcomed us when we came out and it took us seconds before we finally got used to the swelter and brilliance of the sun again before we slowly meandered uphill.

Fortunately for us, we emerged back into reality somewhere mid-hill and it was hardly long before we finally reached the peak. With his keen sight, Lin Feng was the first to exclaim, pointing a finger downhill, "Look! There!" It was at the far side of the hill, the same slope where we first climbed yesterday when we came. The rise of the bevel was not too steep, hence the view of everything at the foot of the hill opened up like a vast panorama to us.

Would that anyone was looking down from the top of the crest right now, they would surely be amazed. One could scarcely fail to make out the multitudes of weasels in immaculate ranks and files on the barrens plains at the base of the hill. They were looking up at the hill as if they had sensed our presence. Three men stood at the front of the legion of weasels, although we could not see their appearances clearly from our distance. There was a fourth person, standing opposite them and speaking to them. That could only be Lao Tao, I surmised. But our sudden appearance which caused the host of weasels to notice us did little to prevent the three from looking at us themselves.

A huge, lumbering weasel emerged from the ranks of its kind and stood just behind the three. It said something to the three, and one of them began gesticulating peculiarly. But being too far from them, I could not see for certain what he was doing. But the man stopped after a while and magically conjured a huge, black hound half as tall as a man from within his voluminous sleeve. The gigantic dog padded furiously at us, bolting towards us at breakneck speed!

I was surprised; not by the sudden appearance of the ferocious hound, but by the stranger's deftness and ingenuity in his magic! That must be no ordinary dog! For all my experiences, I had never known another person who was famous for having a huge hound as a companion, save for Yang Jian, the Erlang Shen of Chinese mythology. While there was naturally no way that this person was Yang Jian, I could never be too careful with such a person who undoubtedly wielded strong and powerful magic!

Chapter end