The Tale Never Ends Chapter 126

The dawning of G.o.dmother's statement surprised me. I squashed the stubble of my cigarette. “That's it,” I said, looking at G.o.dmother, “What I felt, was like being gripped at the throat by an invisible hand. The dense aura of malice and evil was so strong and powerful that we could barely move an inch. This could be why we were still unhurt despite being in such dangers.”

G.o.dmother nodded. “Despite my magic and being able to turn into human form, I am a still beast. My senses are more acute than you. That is why I felt the stupefying presence even when the gust of thrashing wind began. I too was petrified by the terrifying presence that I could not move.” Indeed, I mused, even G.o.dmother, with all her magical powers notwithstanding, was still a demon nonetheless. This made her susceptible to any magic affecting foul and evil ent.i.ties.

“Mother,” I said brusquely, “You know who took Aunt Ulan's soul, do you not? Please just tell us now! I'm afraid that whoever he was, he might not want to meet us, hence this might be one of his ways of driving us away!” “But I am hardly certain myself,” G.o.dmother said suddenly with a sigh, “The person I was referring to has very great powers. For centuries, I have not come here. But you can rest a.s.sured that if it is really that same person whom I'm referring to who had taken your Aunt Ulan's soul, she'll be safe. That person is not an enemy.” Much to my annoyance, the cryptic manner in which she spoke reminded me of Father. “How about you just tell us who he is?!” I replied sharply. “Relax. You'll meet him tomorrow and you'll know then. I'm guessing that he is now aware of your presence,” G.o.dmother abruptly broke into a smile. I fell silent with dismay. G.o.dmother seemed adamant to not reveal the ident.i.ty of whoever he was, like how Father usually would when he told me anything. Knowing better than to pry and further, I could only wait.

With the magic of the Shiyan Blade repelling away all foul and evil aura, we could finally retire to a peaceful night. The night hung over us with the macabre silence of a wake with the absence of the noises and cries from the evil aura. Too quiet, in fact, that the company began to realize that no living animals inhabited the forest. It was ghastly and uncanny, a tacit crescendo of building dread. Some of the girls began to feel restless. Even Edelweiss burrowed closer to me, whimpering with fear. The night was simply too quiet.

Just when the girls were cowering nervously, a peal of deepthroated snores broke the ghastly silence of the night air! All of our heads turned. There was Yuan Chongxi, fallen asleep in a corner just when everyone was worried sick! As he slept, he muttered to himself, “Tenderloins… I want some lamb tenderloins…”

“Pffft!” Stifled giggles and chuckles dispelled the grim atmosphere before another snore followed then came another burst of laughter.

With the night finally peaceful, we had a good night's sleep.

At the break of the next dawn, everyone got up and got themselves readied. Through the entire night, I had not really slept. Like a few of the other girls, Edelweiss was still frightened by the creepy silence and she snuggled up close to me all night that I could also feel her uneasiness. Lin Feng too had hardly had his eyes closed for he was up, alert the entire night, in case something went wrong again. His former enlistment in the army had made him extremely acute. The incident of the foul aura had unsettled him that he chose to keep himself up all night. G.o.dmother had been resting the night in a meditating poise; there was no way of telling if she had a good night's rest. The only one of the whole company to have had a good rest was Chongxi, whom I had to deliver a kick into his hind parts to wake him up.

We demolished our makeshift tents and canopies and put out the fire and mounted our horses, riding deeper into the woods. The morning air was extremely refreshing and reinvigorating, as if the evil aura last night had not existed at all. Even the Shiyan Blade was still and calm now.

For a little more than an hour, we rode until we saw something obstructing our way from far away. With our eyes set upon the obstruction on the road ahead of us, we willed the horses to go faster. But as we grew closer, we found that they were nothing but some fallen logs and branches. Beside the heap of wooden debris, there was a distinctly recognizable hearth, a long and squared fireplace still smoldering with fumes and steam! “W-what's this?” Yuan Chongxi was the first the voice our shock, “T- this… This is our campsite last night?! How did we come back!?” “Nay,” I disapproved, “The campsite has come back to us.” Puzzled, he asked, “What do you mean by ‘the camp has come back to us'?” “We were riding towards the east when we left this campsite,” I muttered in a breath, “See for yourself the direction we are coming from now.” He took out his luopan and found that I was right! We were on the west side of the campfire! This could only mean that we had virtually been traveling in a huge circle!

“Could this be the magic of Ghost Barriers?” Lin Feng's voice came un.o.btrusively from behind my shoulders. I shook my head. “I have detected nothing out of the ordinary all the way until now. Moreover, no Ghost Barriers would be able to affect me, seriously speaking.”

Chongxi, Lin Feng, and I moved to a corner. We might be in one of those haunted forests, Chongxi suggested. Many unwary travelers were known to unwittingly wander into haunted forests, only to find themselves trapped forever until the day they die. But Lin Feng was still holding on to his suspicions that we were under the influence of Ghost Barriers. Without any unanimous decision, we finally decided to try traveling along the same route as before!

Only this time, we rode at a slower pace to leave marks on the trees that we rode past. We galloped towards East again and it took us an additional hour for us to find ourselves back at the campsite once more. Nevertheless, I had found nothing peculiar during the ride, no matter how closely I looked. Hoof marks littered around the ground from whence we came, the signs that we left when we first came back!

“d.a.m.n it!” Yuan Chongxi snarled to n.o.body in particular, “What a G.o.d-forsaken place is this!? How did we ever find ourselves in such a torment!” As he was still grumbling, an insidious voice, sonorous and disembodied, boomed from overhead. “Heh heh heh! You can curse for all you want! You'll never escape this place!” Heads began jerking around as we sought to find the origin of the voice, but to no avail. Like the battle cries, screams, and noises of iron and steel of a battlefield last night, the hollow voice boomed as if the voice was speaking directly into our heads! We were indeed under a spell from G.o.d knows since when!

“Who is there!” I yelled at the top of my voice, “Show yourself!” But before the vile voice could reply, another voice rang suddenly like a blaring trumpet, “He?! He does not meet anyone!”

Just as the new voice ended, everything around us began to change! The view of the campsite and the forest around us immediately shimmered out of sight replaced with the view of a snowfield! It was like waking up from a long nightmare! As we recovered from our surprise and astonishment at the enchantment being lifted, we began puffing steam from our mouths and realized that we were no longer alone! Another man had appeared near us, standing just beside the icy path we were standing on. The squat old man, looking at least fifty, was even shorter than Yuan Chongxi. Rough and stiff stubbles strewn around the chin of his wide face as he grinned at us with a smile behind a set of coffee yellowed teeth. With a fur Ushanka commonly wore in the colder parts of Northern China, his appearance reminded me of a less handsome Arnold Schwarzenegger from the film Red Heat!

It was the first time I had met a man so odious and revolting! It was lucky that I was not alone, or else, I might have even died of shock! The stocky man stretched his sinewy neck and narrowed his slitted eyes. As if speaking to the disembodied voice, “Here I am with the kids and I have undone your magic! This should show the difference between our powers!” The voice retorted with suppressed wrath, “What kids? These runts? Are they yours?” The words thundered across the open tundra as if it was echoing off the walls of a deep ravine.

The stout man, seething with indignance, remarked sharply, “This is the son of Brother Hai! This makes him my nephew!”