The Tale Never Ends Chapter 192

With more and more secrets heaped upon my lap, I was forced to seek out the one person who held the answers to all the mysteries: Father. I wanted to speak to him about his past and his connection to the Dragon-slaying Blade but to no avail.

Following some deductions, I concluded that Master Six was the only one aside from Father and Mother who knew everything. Hence it was he I sought. Although we were many a time beaten back by difficulties, we finally found the immortal but he looked reluctant enough to impart the truth he knew.

But at last, he relented. He wanted me to see the truth for myself and I was sent back through time to the eventide of the Ming Dynasty.

Here, I saw the keeper of the Dragon-slaying Blade, Bian Dashou and also my parents in this era. By following Bian Dashou, I came to Mount San Feng Zi where Li Zicheng's late father and grandfather were interred. Without any doubt, Mount San Feng Zi was hallowed grounds which would have been boon to one's dragon leys – the sign of one's kingship in China. Just by standing at the foot of the mountain, I could almost feel the ground reverberating with power and majesty that only a dragon ley could give off, but also a trace of hatred and malice in the air.

A blizzard came suddenly just when Bian Dashou arrived at the foot of Mount San Feng Zi and before long, the treacherous inclines of Mount San Feng Zi became shrouded with a 2-meter deep cloak of snow. With no other option left, Bian Dashou and his hundred-man strong party had to dismount and continue on foot. But no one knew about the true danger lurking in hiding!

I followed the rearguard of Bian Dashou's party as they clambered uphill. After barely an hour, the air around us screamed with the hideous and terrifying roars of beasts! It sounded like a human shrieking but it sounded like the angry howl of a beast the next second! A sharp premonition of dread began to seep through me in ways that the cold of the snow had failed to and the men around me were looking around, their heads jerking around frantically with panic. Only thirty of the hundred men were adequate bowmen and they immediately surveyed their surroundings warily with their arrows nocked at the ready. But the rest of the sixty-plus people were merely ordinary laborers; common folk with no combat abilities nor experiences. The sudden snowstorm had unsettled them when they first arrive and what was left of their courage were immediately withered when the beastly howls tore through the air! Hesitant voices and fearful whimpers began arising from their midst, “Lord Magistrate! We should wait till the snow stops tomorrow morning before we climb! The sky is going dark and with the snowstorm so strong, I don't think we should press on. Not when things are lurking in the dark…”

But Bian Dashou was hardly perturbed; with a determined flung of his arm, he barked, “Press on!” A grim-faced me followed quietly behind. Whatever it was, I had never heard it before and nor did I like it. It sent shivers running down my spine and I dreaded to see what would happen to everyone here, for all the good that Bian Dashou and his magic could do.

But Bian Dashou could fly. That alone was proof that he wielded enough magic to be a mage. But what threats could endanger him then? That remained to be seen; Bian Dashou might be a mage or even a demigod, but this endeavor of his was an act against the wishes of Heaven. He could never weather any challenge Heaven might have had in store for him, just like what happened to Sun Wukong, the Monkey King who was trapped underneath a huge mountain for centuries for his transgressions.

This was Bian Dashou's conundrum; he could have easily just destroyed Chongzhen Emperor's dragon leys and end the Ming Empire with his own hands. Not only it would be in accordance with the will of Heaven, he might also be blessed for that. But his current actions were certainly not, not even the slightest, to say the least.

So here was I, watching from the back like a spectator with a ringside seat, watching as the events unfold!

No one in the party dared to defy Bian Dashou's orders. Despite the curdled, reluctant look on their faces, they dragged themselves on. A thick woods lied ahead and the journey slowed to a glacial pace as the party dug through the elevated path through the thick of the wood of skeletal trees and branches glistening with frost and icicles. But slowly as they climbed, the slow ascent allowed the party time to study everything around them.

As the crunches of boots on snow filled the otherwise silence, a voice rang suddenly, “Look! What's that!?” Everyone's head turned at the man, a middle-aged peasant clutching a poled shovel. His other hand was outstretched, pointing somewhere deep into the woods and everyone could clearly see the whites of his trembling eyes.

We followed his finger to where he was pointing and horrified cries began to erupt from all quarters of the crowd! A shaking voice, clear but evidently fearful, asked Bian Dashou, “What in Heavens is that thing, Lord Magistrate?!”

I looked and saw a blur of white silhouettes darting about between the bare and bony trees in the snow. No one would have noticed them in the thick blizzard if not for their quick and abrupt movements. Even I was amazed and appalled. What are they?! The snow giants?! No, wait! Snow giants exist, if they really do, only in Kunlun! They'd never be in Shaanxi!

I looked at Bian Dashou. He was looking courageous, but even so, the look on his face betrayed a hint of fear. He flailed an arm, commanding loudly, “Archers!” The bowmen made ready, lining up in three rows with the first kneeling down and the two other rows behind opening up like a fan. With arrows from the quivers that hung from their waists, they drew their bowstrings tightly, prepared to fire at command!

The silhouettes never stopped moving. As they drew closer, we could finally see what they looked like. Tall, ape-like creatures, fully cloaked in furs of white. They looked no better than baboons with fangs and their claws, although they had no tails. In herds, they charged toward us furiously, scrambling quadrupedally as they howled and shrieked!

Another horrified cry came from the peasants, “Y-yetis!? They're yetis! Run! Run for your lives!” The cry curdled the blood of every living man around. I had not heard of the name “yetis” but they must be trouble if the very mention of the name was enough to strike fear into the hearts of the men! Everyone scrambled and began to run for their lives and the thirty archers were also showing signs of wavering. Some were clearly thinking of retreating, but no one dared to move an inch without the Lord Magistrate's orders.

Just then, one of the bowmen accidentally released his arrow! The shaft whistled dangerously through the air but everyone turned to look at Bian Dashou. Despite his evidently-distressed expression, he merely looked at the charging horde of yetis, saying nothing. Yet he looked grim and as steadfast as a rock.

The loose arrow came down hard, sinking deep into the snow and just mere inches short of hitting a yeti. The yeti screeched to a halt and looked up incredulously as if with disbelief. Suddenly, the ground it was standing on shook and churned as if the ground was boiling! The yeti's gaze traveled to the arrow still lodged into the ground and its huge claws drew it up. It twirled the arrow shaft like a toothpick in its gigantic hands before it sniggered smugly. Next thing we knew, it emitted a thunderous roar and renewed its charge at Bian Dashou again!

Only this time, the leading yeti was trampling over everything in its path, storming closer toward us on bipedal walking! He kicked up the snow as he led his ferocious brood at us as the rest of the yetis began walking on their hind legs too like their leader, hammering their chests with their fists like gorillas!

Any fool would have realized by now that it was time to attack; otherwise, we would be overrunned! Without waiting for their lord's commands, the archers let loose every arrow they could! The shafts streaked through the cold air, singing viciously as their vanes spun. But they clattered harmlessly off the thick hides of the yetis! None of the raging beasts were in the least injured!

If the sight of the charging beasts was not enough to send the archers into frenzies of panic, the revelation that their arrows were powerless against the beasts certainly made their knees buckled! They threw down their weapons and stripped off their armor and ran! Bian Dashou's face could not have turned uglier but he could not run; he was still the Lord Magistrate and he did his best to maintain his dignity. Idiot! I hissed under my breath. Everyone but me had fled out of the woods, leaving both of us alone. I ran to Bian Dashou's side but by now, the enemies were already upon him! The leading yeti raised a claw the size of a tiger's and swiped at him. In the delirium of the moment, I could see the shiny talons glinting perilously as it swooped down on Bian Dashou; at any moment now, it could easily sever his neck and send his head flying off!

But what was more unexpected was, Bian Dashou chose to remain motionless! As if resigning to his fate, he closed his eyes to await the fateful blow!

I was flabbergasted! “What in Heavens does he think he's doing?!”

Before I knew it, I acted. I raised a foot and delivered a kick into Bian Dashou's hind parts, sending the man crashing into the snow with a painful grunt just when the yeti's fierce swipe of his claws whizzed above him precariously, missing him by a moment of a second! But the blow was so powerful that it churned up scuds of snow into the billowy winds!

Chapter end