The Tale Never Ends Chapter 110

The members of the caravan who were dancing and singing merrily around the fire realized they were being surrounded by a ring of bandits and were horrified, more so, when Edelweiss let loose a shot from her gun which instantly smothered the music and laughter.

We dismounted and marched ferociously into the campgrounds. The people inside were terrified by the sight of my six spirit wolves and the seething glares from the stony-faced female bandits. None of them dared move as Edelweiss raised her gun menacingly at them. There was even a plump tourist, clad in a windbreaker with a roasted lamb's leg in his hand, who was about to enjoy his feast when he was frozen in his tracks by our sudden arrival.

I could see the fearful stares from the flickering illumination of the fire. They were no strangers to news of bandits roaming around the lands, although they did not expect to be a.s.sailed by a group of women led by a young man looking barely out of his early twenties. I heaved a breath. Despite the warmth of the crackling bonfire, a cold and icy voice emitted from my lips, “Show yourself, you who seeks me.”

For five minutes, there was only quietness; a macabre silence substantiated only by the incessant and sharp frizzle from the flames. A middle-aged man stood up. His appearance and features told me that he was a local of this vicinity. He bowed to us, and his mouth opened to speak in heavily-accented Mandarin. “My apologies, dear Chief. We do not know how was it we had angered you. Do let us know frankly. Money or horses; we will be willing to surrender them, as long as you leave us in peace.” I ignored him, simply casting a brief glance towards Edelweiss who came over to me and whispered into my ears, “I've looked at everyone. None of them seemed suspicious.” With a curt “oh”, I smiled, albeit frostily. “I see,” I muttered under my breath, “You wish to test me! Heh heh heh! Good.” Like an arrow let loose, the spectral wolves immediately bolted forward into the midst of the frightened tourists and members of the caravan and chaos ensued. Terrified yelps and cries rang everywhere as my wolves sniffed for the perpetrator quickly and they closed in on one person: the plump tourist with the lamb's leg that I noticed earlier!

The thickset man was still clutching his food, watching us with a dumbfounded look on his face. The roasted meat fell off his hand helplessly to the ground as he shivered with panic. Frightened beyond words, he mumbled incomprehensibly to himself and the middle-aged man earlier, who was evidently the leader of this caravan, quietly slunk aside. Still shaking with angst, the plump man finally summoned enough courage to begin screaming, “M-my Lord! I, I did you no wrong! This must be a mistake! A mistake!” I glared at him, still wearing my frigid smile. Despite being cornered, still, the perpetrator intended to deny by using some foolish playacting!

The plump man adamantly denied having been involved with me repeatedly. Whispers and murmurs began to arise from all quarters of the anxious crowd. Some muttered if we were here for the wrong man while some began speculating if the plump man had indeed done something to offend us. Edelweiss began peering at me doubtfully. Yuan Chongxi walked up suddenly with a lamb's leg he had liberated from one of our frightened hosts. He took a hungry bite and mumbled, “Quit pretending. Your theatrics might work on others but not on me! You are nothing but a dead corpse! I had long noticed this ever since I laid eyes upon you!” Being the anointed heir of his mentor, Yuan Chongxi was extremely skilled in the arcane knowledge of divination. With his magic of divination, he had already found out that the plump man was nothing but a dead body pretending to be alive!

I turned to Yuan Chongxi and gestured to the lamb's leg he was clutching. “Have you paid for that?” “Our hosts gave them to us for free!” Yuan Chongxi scowled indignantly. I said nothing, merely frowning at him and he smiled apologetically. “Errr… Perhaps it's better if I pay for this then.” With that, he spun and trotted off. Lin Feng came forward, brandishing his whip and keeping it cracking in the air.

I raised up my Shiyan Blade that its tip was merely inches away from the plump man's nose. “Enough with the dramatics. Show your true self!” Without waiting for a reply from him, I drew a breath and immediately stabbed forward. But before my sword hit him, the plump man fell back on to the ground with a loud thud. I drew back my sword and approached the man. Lying on the ground, he was already dead. His eyes were overturned in their sockets and his face had reduced into a ghastly-pale white. Indeed, he was a corpse already long dead. Screams and shrieks of terror immediately ensued, followed by pandemonium as the crowd began scrambling frantically like mice off a sinking ship. Dark fumes began trickling out of the corpse's mouth and floated into mid-air, exactly the same as what had happened to Mr. Zhang! Finally, the true culprit had shown himself!

A raspy, disembodied voice boomed from the plume of fumes black as soot, “Heh heh heh! Remarkable! The helpless child decades ago has become a powerful person in his own right! I have been right, I have been right all along!” The hoa.r.s.e voice cackled with a burst of shrill laughter as the figure of a man slowly emerged from the fumes and he dropped to the ground with a plop. Edelweiss studied the man's features and gave me a thoughtful nod, indicating to me that this was the man I was seeking!

The edges of my lips curled with malice as I acknowledged Edelweiss' gesture. “You are the one responsible for holding my G.o.dmother's soul, are you not? I'm not interested to know who you are, nor do I even care. I just want my G.o.dmother's soul. Return her to me and you'll be free to go!” Instead, the man fell into a fit of guffawing laughter as if I had just uttered a jest so ludicrous and silly. There was only contempt and derision in his laughter. “You? What makes you think you're fit to command me? Dream on! Hahahahaha!” The man sneered and began laughing again. I shook my head wearily. The fool wished death so much that he wished to witness his himself, I brooded. I extracted my Spirit Gourd.

But before I could recite any incantation, the man had caught sight of my Gourd. With an aghast expression with his mouth hanging, he shrieked, “Impossible! The Spirit Gourd! Well, we'll see about this!” With that last reluctant yelp, he leaped into the darkness and vanished, melting into the shadows.

Lin Feng and I traded sullen looks at our failure. We shook our heads. It appeared that the culprit had recognized the Spirit Gourd. He knew about its abilities. But this time, our leads had been broken! We had no way to find him now! Heaving a rueful sigh, I withdrew my spirit familiars back into my gourd and sheathed my sword. I waved to the bandits, signaling a retreat, then I walked over to the leader of the caravan. I fished some money, a little more than two thousand yuan, and gave it to him. “There are things which are better left untold. I'm sure you understand what I mean. This is some money, consider this a token of grat.i.tude for having us, and a gesture of apology for the trouble you've all been through. We're not interested in your money and horses. Relax.”

The leader was bewildered after hearing what I said, clutching the two thousand yuan while staring at me blankly. I spun on my heels and began to leave as he regained his senses and quickly sank into a deep bow. It might have been his first time, I guess, having a night so surreal and shocking.

I began walking out of the campfire site and Edelweiss followed demurely behind. “What should we do now, Young Master? The last time we encountered the man, he also vanished into thin air like this. What else can we do now?” “We'll do nothing for now. Everyone will need some rest after an afternoon's worth of riding,” I replied, shaking my head, “Moreover, my spirit eagle is too exhausted now after leading us here for so far. I'll need to allow it some rest before we can embark on another chase. We'll go back to the camp for now to regroup, resupply, and plan a new course.” With an obedient note of acknowledgment, Edelweiss trotted before me to relay my orders.

Just as I was reaching the fences outside, I saw Yuan Chongxi sitting aside, still enjoying his roasted meat. There was a woman, dressed in the female garb of Mongolians, holding four hundred-yuan notes and a tray in her hands. There were bones neatly arranged on the tray, held by the woman's trembling arms as she looked fearful and worried.

I strode over to him and patted him on the shoulder, gesturing to him that it was time for us to leave with a shrug of my chin. But before I could move away, he yanked at my arm. He pointed to the tray that the woman was carrying and grunted, “Look.” My gaze wandered to the contents of the tray and saw only three bones; vestiges of his feast while we were dealing with the enemy. I looked back at him and he was still gnawing on his meat. He gave me a deliberate stare, followed by a brusque nod. Realizing that he was trying to hint something, I looked again and studied the bones and realized that the bones were arranged in three rows parallel to each other, but the bone in the middle was broken into two pieces! Heaving in the air of the chilly desert night, I gasped, “The sign of Li (signs of divination from the cla.s.sics of Yi Jing), he's gone southwards?!”