The Tale Never Ends Chapter 139 Night's Errand

As our car crunched along the way out of Wu Zhong, Yuanyuan began a delivery about her hometown Linnancangzhen Town like a tour guide.

It was in the 1970s when the towns.h.i.+p of Linnancangzhen Town started a mining company to quarry coal, an operation that would continue for decades until 2016. Everything was fine when the mining operations began. But years pa.s.sed and residents in the vicinity began to observe cracks slowly appearing around their houses. No one realized that the tremors from the mining operations were the cause of the damages to the residents' houses, until the buildings around the quarry were toppling down with devastating alacrity. The cracks began to spread and grow like ivy and webs on a wall and the residents began to fear the worst.

My mind slowly drifted away as Yuanyuan rambled on about the residents' ardent pursuit for their interests and compensation. Instead, my thoughts closed in on the area which the ground had sunk.

According to Yuanyuan, the site of the pond was the site where substantial coal deposits were found. The mining site was abandoned when the ground began collapsing. But I remember coming here when I was young. I had pa.s.sed by this place once when I followed Father on one of his errands. I could remember feeling puzzled by the lowly-built houses and structures in this town when we pa.s.sed.

According to Yuanyuan's story, the buildings and structures in this locale were falling like dominoes, especially when the mining site was still active, where the ground would be sinking at a rate so dangerously apparent that many would shudder to comprehend. With no sewage system beneath the ground, the rainwater began acc.u.mulating in the sunken part of the town, thus creating the large pond. The ground never stopped sinking, that even today, we could see walls that were almost waist-deep into the ground and the roof of a sunken guard post sticking out of the ground like a mushroom.

The mining site was completely gone, with what remained of it joining the rest of the lake when it sank, now fully submerged like an underwater necropolis. Somehow, fish began growing in the lake, either by the act of man or Heavens, and slowly, this pond became a popular fis.h.i.+ng spot for anglers around here; among them, were the husband and wife who visited us.

Seeing is believing; the time on my phone showed "8 PM" as the tires of our car ground to a stop. We got out and immediately felt the cold winds whistling by our ears. I clicked on my flashlight ahead and saw a few smaller pools of water, all with fishes swimming happily as if to welcome the beams of light from us. I peered at the largest pool of water, the lake which we came for. Nothing. There was nothing wrong yet so far with my Spirit Sight. I turned to face Yuanyuan, who nodded, tacitly indicating that we have reached the spot.

"Let us begin then," I mused. I took out my Spirit Gourd and shook it gently, hearing a soft gurgle emitting from within. The whiff of foul aura I took was still too faint. I would have doubted any success, if I had not my spirit eagle, spirit wolves and, last but not least, my spirit cat, Smoky.

I conjured my spirit eagle. With a screeching hoot, it soared into the sky and circled for a second overhead before flying towards North. Lin Feng looked into the distance where it flew to and smiled proudly. "It's time for me to show you my driving skills that rivals Tak.u.mi of Initial D!" Over his shoulders, Chongxi and I scowled behind his back. "You're just trying to show off to your girlfriend," we almost grumbled.

We got back into the car and Lin Feng spun the steering wheel, veering the car off the main road into a gravel path. The b.u.mpy and choppy ride down the narrow path had us bellowing and yelping all the way; little pools of water lined along the sides of the path which had no fences or barricades to prevent vehicles from straying off. The two girls were grimacing with fright, even though Lin Feng was doing his best to drive as safely as possible. We could not have found a better driver; I myself would have long plunged into the pools of water if I was at the wheel.

Finally, we saw the gray silhouette of my spirit eagle flying in loops in the sky as if it has locked on to a prey. A thought flashed through my mind, "We're near!"

Lin Feng eased the car to a halt somewhere near the other side of the lake. "There's no more way ahead. I guess we have to get closer on foot." With a dramatic swish of his hand, three of his throwing knives appeared between his fingers like magic; the steely tips glinting precariously in the moonlight. "You just can't stop showing off, could you?"

We got down and walked upwind towards the spot where my spirit eagle was waiting, the frigid breeze of the night slamming crisply into our faces as we traveled. The rapid industrialization of the area caused a perpetual mist to linger no matter day or night. Through the diaphanous veil, the moon reflected off the stagnant waters of the pools, painting the view before us in an eerie green. With the coldness of the winds that reached deep into our bones, this was hardly a place I would enjoy staying a minute longer.

We waded through the thickets of undergrowth and finally reached our destination, where we were already s.h.i.+vering from the stabbing cold. With a wave of my hand, the spirit eagle vanished into a thin wisp of smoke that returned into my Spirit Gourd. I left it uncorked, pointing its mouth at the lake. With my lips reciting a spell, the still waters of the lake began churning uncontrollably, until a black figure emerged from the bubbling waves and into the air and was drawn into my gourd.

A confused "huh" escaped my lips. "Why?" Lin Feng asked, "Something wrong?" He saw the doubtful frown on my face and Chongxi was the first to answer, "Haven't you noticed, Brother? Did you not notice something is different today in how the spirit was seized?" "Ah! I see! You and I were able to see what was being seized!" He slapped on his forehead. "We have never been able to see anything and could only hear a little sound at most before! But this time, somehow we're able to see what was being sucked into s.h.i.+yan's gourd!"

Yuanyuan and her friend, however, did not understand a word we said. "What's going on, Lin Feng?" she asked, "Is there anything wrong?" "Not really," I interjected, "Just that, in most cases, the physical body of an ent.i.ty would remain as a lifeless corpse whenever I use my magic to draw its soul into my gourd. This is in fact the first time that an ent.i.ty, with its physical body included, was swallowed a whole into my gourd." Still suspicious that my magic worked, I shook my gourd and listened. Hearing some groans emitting from inside, I was finally satisfied. My magic had not failed. Only then, I put away my gourd.

Despite the inconsistency that occurred when I used my spell, I was convinced that everything worked fine. It was time for us to leave. More so, with Chongxi's incessant gripes and whines about the cold. He urged us to return to the car, and we did, allowing me no more time to reflect on what happened.

On the journey back, Lin Feng and Chongxi were chatting. They had expected a gritty struggle from the malevolent spirit, not a simple and facile undertaking that had been settled in mere minutes. Only an ent.i.ty with more than a century of age and magic could inflict a noticeable wound on a human with just a simple grip like the one on the injured man who came with his wife. Ent.i.ties of such maturity would surely defy against any attempts to pacify or subdue them. But why was this demon allowing itself to be so easily seized by us?

Back at the Center, I had Lin Feng sent off his girlfriend and her companion. It was time we had a true look at the demon and it was dangerous for them to remain in case things turned hairy. In any case, the experience of what might happen could be traumatic to them.

We waited for Yuanyuan and her friend to leave first, then we shut the doors and drew the curtains. The curtains have been enchanted by Father before we hung them. Only demons or ent.i.ties with more than thousands of years of age and power could escape from the Center as long as the curtains held.

I uncorked my Gourd and recited a spell quietly, conjuring the ent.i.ty from within it. Following a loud whistle, a black fume sprouted out and formed a blob that gesticulated before us and turned into a naked humanoid figure. Our eyes set upon the grotesquery that materialized before us: a thin and dark furless ape of a demon with long slender limbs. Its four sharp, protruding claws glistened in the eerily dim light as we held our breaths, not only to be wary of it, but also because of the fetid stench of rot that it gave off.

The dark, vaporous form slowly stiffened as it fully materialized and the demon peered at us. Our eyes locked for a moment. But instead of baring its fangs or its eyes flaring with malice, the demon dropped to its knees! Its shoulders began to tremble with fear and the demon began prostrating itself humbly before us, groveling at our ankles while begging for mercy!