novelHidden Sect, Chi Clan
| ← Ch.142 | Ch.144 → |
Translator: Minotauruz
When he first realized that he had transformed from a human into a plump little furball with short stubby limbs, he had been nothing more than concerned about his predicament. He did not experience any form of dread or despondence whatsoever. This was because he had always trusted that his clan members would never leave him in the lurch. As long as he could find a way to contact his clan members, there was no doubt that they would do all they could to bring him back safely.
Eventually, he grew to accept the reality that he would not be able to return to his clan in the near future. He was even resigned to the fate of being labelled as a pet and sold to different owners. Although this hurt his pride and self-worth, he did not experience any form of dread or despondence whatsoever. This was because his owners had treated him as they would a pet without spiritual awareness; and he was never at risk of life and limb. At the very least, he knew that he would be able to live on until he could finally return to his loved ones one day.
Then, there came a point where he was tormented so severely by Yu Wanrou so much that his life was dangling by a thread. It did not help that Ke Xinwen and his lackeys hunted for him after he had escaped from Yu Wanrou. Admittedly, he did experience a trace of dread and despondence at that point. Had he lost his life there and then, nothing – not even the abilities of his entire clan put together – would be able to bring him back to life. But this despondence was very quickly shattered by the appearance of his lifeline, Jun Xiaomo. Jun Xiaomo protected and sheltered him, and she even made him feel a sense of ease that nobody else had given him before.
Under Jun Xiaomo's meticulous care, he saw the light at the end of the tunnel. He saw hope to return home.
Yet despite all that had happened, the little packrat had never experienced dread and despondence like he was experiencing now. The feeling of such despondence could only be described to be like an unstoppable wave of darkness that bore down on and engulfed a person completely, stifling and choking him for all eternity. There was no light of hope to be seen, anywhere.
Was there anything more dreadful than dangling a thread of hope for a person to clutch to with his life, before snapping it altogether in front of that person's very eyes?
Jun Xiaomo was synonymous with safety in the little packrat's heart. It knew that Jun Xiaomo was undoubtedly the only person who would willingly and unconditionally care for it until it could fully recover and shed its weak body.
Yet at this dreadful moment, the final bastion of his hope had abandoned it. She had even complained that it was noisy in her eyes as she passively watched Ke Xinwen bring it away with a cold, distant gaze.
By now, the little packrat had completely given up struggling. It had shut its eyes in resignation, and the fur by its cheeks were damp with stains of watermarks. Although the repulsive force had injured it earlier, its hurt was purely physical in nature. Yet when it finally realized that Jun Xiaomo had completely abandoned it, it felt as though his heart had wrung itself dry, and an awl had been shoved straight through what was left of its heart.
It reminisced sorrowfully about how Jun Xiaomo had always cared dearly for it when it was hurt, and how she would gently blow its pain away. Although it found behaving obsequiously like a little packrat rather shameful, it nevertheless enjoyed basking in Jun Xiaomo's warmth and concern.
It knew that it could no longer follow Jun Xiaomo like this and lean in her warm and soft bosom once he returned to his human form. Thus, the little packrat had indefinitely put off contacting his clan members. Its only hope was that this period of bliss with Xiaomo could go on for that much longer.
But why is Xiaomo abandoning me now? Why is it that things are so different after returning to the past? Could everything that has happened to date be nothing more than a dream?
The little packrat's heart was in shambles.
"Martial brother Ke, have you finally managed to capture it?" Yu Wanrou asked with a pleasant surprise. Yet her voice sounded immensely jarring to the little packrat, as though it had just scraped across its eardrums.
The little packrat's ears twitched slightly, and its small, fluffy body shuddered involuntarily.
Back when it had been under Jun Xiaomo's protection, it knew that it could brandish its claws at Yu Wanrou and Ke Xinwen with no consequences because they would have no way of hurting it.
But now, it had completely lost Jun Xiaomo's protection.
Faced with two people whose only thoughts were to torment it, the little packrat suddenly found itself in an inextricable predicament.
The little packrat gingerly tucked its injured paw under its fur as it continued to shudder and twitch.
"It looks like it's incredibly afraid of us." Yu Wanrou's voice sounded extremely sweet – like sticky honey – as it reverberated through the air for some time.
Some male cultivators loved the tang in Yu Wanrou's voice. Her lingering voice even made the skins of these male cultivators feel numb and prickly all over.
However, the little packrat only knew fear right now. She was the source of a nightmare buried deep within its memories, and it knew her voice to be a precursor to her brutal torment. After all, Yu Wanrou loved to douse it with such sweet, honeyed words as she abused it in all forms and means.
Who can save me? Am I really going to perish here today?
Yu Wanrou had never ceased tormenting the little packrat just because it was afraid. In fact, the Mistlands had even increased the sensitivity of the little packrat's five senses and pain receptors so as to increase its pain and despondence.
If only this little packrat could compose himself and analyze the present situation right now! He would have been able to immediately discover the anomalies with the illusion – the real Yu Wanrou had always been extremely conscious about her image in front of others. Therefore, the real Yu Wanrou would never display her own cruel side in front of Ke Xinwen. Not over her dead body.
But the counterfeit Yu Wanrou created by the Mistlands could hardly care less. After all, the counterfeit Yu Wanrou had been created by those little red flowers in the image of the little packrat's worst fears. There was hardly any logic behind it, and the illusion would naturally be fraught with loopholes from time to time.
Thus, the counterfeit Yu Wanrou and Ke Xinwen tormented the little packrat together as their shrill, wicked laughter filled the room. In no time, the little packrat had been quickly reduced to its last breaths.
The little packrat's fate was certain if things went on like this – it would become nothing more than nutrients for the little red flowers.
Then, as the pain and suffering mounted on the little packrat's body, the demonic energy within its body gradually began to stir.
As the young master of a hidden sect, his cultivation talent had been more than decent to begin with. At this moment, the crisis that he was in had triggered his body's self-defense mechanism, unlocking the demonic energy that had somehow been sealed in its body, allowing it to once again course through his Dantian and meridians.
The demonic energy flowed quicker and quicker. Quicker, and quicker! As a result of the excruciating pain caused by the sudden flow of demonic energy through its meridians, the little packrat painfully curled itself into a tight little ball and remained completely motionless.
The counterfeit Yu Wanrou and Ke Xinwen had not noticed this anomaly. They had only thought that the little packrat had curled itself into a ball because it was at the end of its road.
Right now, they knew full well that their prey's life would be theirs with one final prick. Thus, the counterfeit Yu Wanrou brandished a long, silver needle in her hands and aimed it directly at the little packrat's brain.
Her face revealed a peculiar, macabre smile.
Just as she motioned to plunge that silver needle into the little packrat's head, the little packrat's body suddenly erupted with an incredible outburst of demonic energy. And this was no normal outburst of demonic energy – it was imbued with a terrifying, oppressive aura! As the energy and aura manifested together, an incredibly visceral and corporeal wave surged out of the little packrat's body, towards Yu Wanrou and Ke Xinwen. In the blink of an eye, both of them had completely perished before they could even cry for help.
Then, an authoritative, ancient voice boomed into the little packrat's ears –
"Little Chi, stand up right now! You're the young master carrying the bloodline of the Chi Clan. How can you be so weak?!"
The little packrat's ears perked up and twitched, and it opened its eyes again – Squeak... squeak squeak...
It had just called out "Great grandfather." It recognized this voice. It was the father of his grandfather. It was also the voice of the present Clan Head.
The position of the Chi Clan's Clan Head had always been assumed by the person with the strongest abilities at any one point in time. Even though the little packrat was only three generations apart from his great grandfather, his great grandfather had nevertheless already exceeded five-thousand years of age. His strength was simply immeasurable.
This voice rang out only once, before it disappeared completely. But the booming voice had spoken energy into its body, and the little packrat managed to clamber back up to its feet.
As it got to its feet, it discovered that surrounding illusion had also dispersed completely. This was slightly different from what Jun Xiaomo and the rest had experienced, because this time, the illusory world around the little packrat had been forcibly shattered and torn down.
The little packrat's great grandfather had left on its body a drop of his true blood for its protection. The purpose of this drop of blood was so that it would erupt with immense energy as soon as it detects that the little packrat was on the brink of death. The accompanying oppressive power that came from a cultivator at the Coalescence stage of cultivation [1] was not something that the little flowers were able to resist at all. As such, they had immediately disintegrated when met with that oppressive force.
The little packrat blinked his eyes blankly. He discovered that the surroundings had been reduced into a patch of bare and barren ground. The earlier tall grass and plants that had obscured its vision could no longer be seen anywhere.
Squeak squeak...
It was only at this moment that the little packrat finally realized he had been trapped in an illusion earlier. The pain on his body had also vanished together with the illusion earlier.
It suddenly dawned on the little packrat that it had been extremely useless. It had earlier been trapped in that illusion for such a long time without realizing it. It had almost even misunderstood Jun Xiaomo as a result of the illusory world.
But it knew that now was not the time to indulge in its self-pity. It thought about Jun Xiaomo. It worried that Jun Xiaomo would also be trapped by the illusory world.
Thus, it wiped its face with its paws and stretched its limbs. Once it had fully ascertained that its body had reverted to its healthy, uninjured form, the little packrat began to scamper ahead.
This time, it was determined to find Jun Xiaomo.
At the same time, on a misty, foggy mountain top elsewhere, a pillar of dazzling light shot through the sky.
"Is our Great Ancestor out of his closed-door cultivation?!"
"Our Great Ancestor is out of his closed-door cultivation!"
The clan members saw this pillar of dazzling bright light as they ran towards the restricted grounds of their clan residence.
A teary-eyed woman wiped off her tears with her handkerchief as she turned to her husband and murmured, "Let's go. Grandfather is out of his closed-door cultivation. Hopefully we will be able to bring Little Chi back safely this time..."
The slightly taller man standing beside her nodded his head sullenly.
Moments later, when they finally arrived at the restricted grounds of their clan residence, they noticed that an old man with a full head of white hair was already standing there, waiting for them.
The old man opened both of his eyes. His eyes were filled with a profound sense of tranquility that spoke volumes about the vicissitudes of life he had been through.
He looked directly at the lady with puffy, red eyes, and the somber and solemn-looking man, before he slowly spoke, "I've detected Little Chi's movement..."
The lady's face was instantly filled with delight.
"But..." The old man sighed as he qualified this good news, "The drop of true blood that I had left in Little Chi's body to protect him had just been used. This was the only reason why I could detect his whereabouts."
"Then, grandfather..." The lady's rims reddened once more from anxiety.
The drop of true blood was something that would only be activated in the most life-threatening situations. In fact, it would generally only activate in the very last moment before a fatal blow was dealt. Furthermore, this true blood's protection could only be used once. After that single use, the last line of defense would also have expired.
If Little Chi's true blood protection had been activated, does this not mean the Little Chi is in grave danger?!
"Don't be afraid. I'll need just one moment to determine his location. Hongyi..." The old man called out to the man standing beside the lady.
"Yes, grandfather." Chi Hongyi, the little packrat's biological father, bowed respectfully to the old man.
"Make the preparations to bring Little Chi back. We might need to bring some of our clansmen with us, just in case."
"Yes!"
Having heard the old man's orders, the lady's tear-strewn face finally revealed a smile of relief.
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The little packrat had initially thought that it was going to need a long time to locate Jun Xiaomo. But right now, it discovered that its senses had suddenly become incredibly sensitive. The Mistlands' illusions had somehow affected its body.
It ran through the tall grasslands nimbly – its physical body had become far lighter than it had ever been before.
Very soon, its sharp ears had picked up the sound of combat in the distance. Then, it detected wafts of the stench of blood in the air.
The scent of Jun Xiaomo's blood was in the air as well!
The little packrat grew worried. It picked up its speed as it made haste towards Jun Xiaomo. It was uncertain how it could now tell Jun Xiaomo's blood apart from the rest, but it trusted its intuition.
As he ran along, he began to notice traces of combat – the knee-height grass in the area had been cleanly sliced off. Within moments, the sight of combat unfolded before his eyes.
Squeak squeak! The little packrat immediately noticed the silhouette of a figure dressed in striking red.
That's right. It was striking red because Jun Xiaomo's originally green clothing had been thoroughly soaked through with her blood by now!
1. The Coalescence stage is the seventh out of nine stages of cultivation. The nine stages are – Qi Mastery, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Immortal Ascension, Void Formation, Coalescence, Dharmic Enlightenment, Transcendence.
| ← Ch. 142 | Ch. 144 → |