The Tale Never Ends Chapter 157 The Yellow Soil Ridge

Hearing this, Lao Tao bowed and said his thanks. He must have already expected my answer. With the can of c.o.ke still unopened, he took his leave and left.

The primary purpose of this ancient Mountain Deity's visit was mainly to enlist our help to drive the weasels away; everyone knew full well that no peace would come if the marauding weasels were allowed to continue their reign of terror.

When Lao Tao had left, Chongxi asked, "How can you accept the challenge just so haphazardly, Shiyan! After all, we know nothing about this benefactor of theirs..." I yawned and glanced at my watch. "So who do you think that might be?" Chongxi shook his head with a blank face, indicating his lack of knowledge. Lin Feng went to the table and picked up the can of c.o.ke that Lao Tao had left unopened. He popped it open and took a swig. "Who else? I bet it's the one we've asked Zheng Shuang to find out!"

"Oh, my! I've almost forgotten about him!" Chongxi exclaimed. "All right, all right! We'll just have to plan along the way! What we need now is sleep!" I barked, "I'm awfully sleepy!" I wrapped an arm around Edelweiss and we moved out the door.

On my bed at home, Edelweiss grew worried. "What do you think about the weasel demons? Will it be dangerous to fight against them?" "I guess so," I muttered. Edelweiss fell into contemplative silence, which I quickly noticed and said, "I'll have to visit the area around the Yellow Soil Ridge tomorrow. There's nothing much that I know about that area, and I need to reconnoiter the area to plan for the battle." Edelweiss sat up at once, and said, "No. I'll go with you. There could be dangers..." I pulled her back down. "All right, all right. As you say, my dear wife!"

But I could not hear what Edelweiss said after that. She was still telling me about something, when I had drifted off into my dreams.

In truth, I would have no qualms against bringing Edelweiss with me to the Yellow Soil Ridge. Many people loved going there to enjoy the beautiful sceneries there. It was part of the administrative region of Zunhua City, one of the county-level cities of Hebei. The city was quite famous for the Eastern Qing Tombs and war-time stories during the World War.

One of the reasons that many demons and spiritual ent.i.ties concentrated on the Yellow Soil Ridge was because of the Eastern Qing Tombs. The Manchurians came from the North prior to the inception of the Qing Dynasty, reigning over the northern frontiers before they ruled the Central Plains of China Proper. Hence, they were revered by many among the minions of the Wudaxians as their lords and kings. With many deceased emperors interred at the Eastern Qing Tombs, many of the minions wished to be closer to their resting remains. The minions, being primarily animals and beasts, showed greater loyalty to their former lieges than humans. But there was also another reason: the fengshui and the southern arm of the range of Mount Yan had made this vicinity a hallowed ground, especially with the divine aura of the dragon leys.

With the crisis of the Crucible of Heaven in the horizon, it was no wonder that ent.i.ties from abroad wished to profit from the rich divine aura of the hallowed grounds for their own study of magic. But now that we knew that the weasels from Yizhou City have a powerful benefactor hiding in the shadows, it was up to me to thwart them. More so, if their insidious designs included manipulating Father and his plans for ascension.

I called my companions the first thing when I woke up the next day and told them about my plans to survey the Ridge. With their agreement, Edelweiss and I drove our car to pick them from the Center and we went straight towards Zunhua City.

The journey there was merely a one-hour ride. We were amazed to find that Zunhua was a beautiful city. The sky was a clear blue with a few strands of clouds overhead. There was no haze at all and the air was fresh, unlike Wu Zhong. Then again, Zunhua City's environment, if compared to the tranquil steppes of Inner Mongolia, would merely be the proverbial pot and kettle to Wu Zhong. Hence, only Lin Feng, Chongxi and I were impressed, while Edelweiss merely wore an indifferent look as we looked out of the windows.

Our first stop was the Eastern Qing Tombs. It was the first time Edelweiss was here and we thought of bringing her to have a look. But we were flabbergasted when we paid for the entry tickets. "A whopping 162 yuan per person?!" Chongxi was so immensely vexed that he gave the ticket collector a seething glare when we went in, as if meaning to say, "What a daylight robbery is this!?"

Anyone at first glance could instantly appreciate the auspicious terrain of the Tombs. I could feel the rich divine aura swirling around with abundance. This was exactly where the dragon leys of the ranges of Mount Yan concentrated upon. With such bountiful divine aura in these grounds, one could have wondered how did the Qing Empire ever decay and decline. But I knew full well that it was Master Six who had checkmated the Empire and doomed them. At first, the Imperial Household was fully aware that their dragon leys were all well beyond China Proper. Many of their remains were initially interred near their home domain of Manchuria. But most people might not realize that dragon leys had perishable lifespans; there would come one day when their powers would dwindle and die. This prompted the Qing Empire to locate a secondary site for the burial of deceased members of the Imperial Family: the Eastern Qing Tombs. Little did they know that the dragon leys there would later be severed by Master Six, effectively smothering the life out of the suffocating Qing Dynasty?

We sauntered around the Tombs for three to four hours and left during noon. We stopped at a restaurant for a brief recess before heading towards the Yellow Soil Ridge.

We reached our destination at two in the afternoon. Despite the translucent mists of winter, it was the brightest hour of the day. The entire Yellow Soil Ridge was a vista of pure white. In another season, this area would have been filled with the lush deep green of the dense boughs of the fruit trees blanketing the terrain. But it was the cold season and there was not even anything green in our sights. With my Spirit Sight, however, I could see the strands of demonic aura drifting lazily around the snowy dunes, indicating the presence of the many demons and ent.i.ties lurking in silence.

Fortunately for us, the landscape was hardly too treacherous for amateur hikers like us. "Let's go up!" I beckoned to my companions and Edelweiss, only for Chongxi to yell, "WAIT! NO! I've been afraid of mountain hiking ever since the avalanche at Inner Mongolia!" I shook my head, exasperated. "What a killjoy! What else are we doing here if not climbing up the hills?!" At last, the rest of us worked together and dragged Chongxi upwards.

Halfway uphill, our initial fervor and zeal slowly exhausted. Edelweiss and Lin Feng were leading ahead, while I and Chongxi were panting for our breaths, several meters behind. As we heaved and puffed, I looked at the backs of my fiancée and Lin Feng. "Perhaps it is high time I begin working out. All this climbing and hiking seems to tell me how old I am!"

We stopped at intervals to rest, with Chongxi and I quietly rejoicing that the grounds there were relatively flat. But Chongxi required so many stops, that it was almost sundown by the time we reached the peak. I collapsed to a seat under a tree, panting hard. Over my shoulders, Chongxi was already lying on the ground, too tired to walk anymore. Then Lin Feng asked suddenly, "Errr... Shiyan, what are we here for actually?"

I waved off his question, gesturing for him to wait while I catch my breath. Beside me, Edelweiss casually pulled a drag on her cigarette. Looking neither tired nor fl.u.s.tered, she answered loudly in my place, "We're here to not only survey the terrain here for the upcoming battle, and also to make contact with the foxes here to find out more information. So there's that." A loud, and mildly surprised "Oh!" came from Lin Feng as he sn.i.g.g.e.red impishly. "You've come a long way, Edelweiss! Shiyan must have been teaching you a lot!"

I threw a glare at Lin Feng, still heaving for breath while Edelweiss giggled. "I've learned almost nothing from him! It's his mother who's been teaching me all these. It was good she did too, else I would have long been frightened to death when a fox appeared before us yesterday, kneeling and talking in human language!" It must be the old fox spirit whom I had sent to apologize and seek penance from Mother yesterday. It must have found her when she was shopping with Edelweiss.

We rested at the crest of the hill for some time until the sky was almost dark. With a quick look at my watch, I said, "All right! It's time we prepare. Lao Tao and the others should be coming any time now." I spun and was about to look around, when I almost crashed into someone!

I staggered backward. Recovering from my shock, I looked and breathed. "Lao Tao?! Since when did you come?!"