New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Chapter 928  The Zhong Kui's Truth

"What are you saying, Elder Bai? You were sent there with three of our most powerful warriors, two of whom are promising upstarts, and you still were beaten back after confirming the presence of a demonic entity?"

"Master Gu Chen… It's not that simple. The boy wasn't alone. He had two of these 'awakened' with him, one whom we had already put on a watchlist. To make things worse, he had the help of Gu Fang…" the elder said, bowing to the man looking away from him.

The old master's eyebrow tilted up, hearing the name Gu Fang.

"Gu Fang, you say… What interference did he run? Did he defend the demonic entity?" the old man asked.

His anger had slightly subsided. Hearing his youngest son's name and hearing that he had beaten back four of their most powerful fighters brought pride to his heart.

'Maybe he'll see reason soon enough, when the world starts rotting, and he'll return to his rightful place here, amongst his people of the Zhong Kui. Not with that Laowai who uses him as a glorified secretary…' he thought.

"He didn't defend him, per se, Master… Gu Fang vouched for the boy, claiming he was in control of the demon within him. We tried reasoning with him, but he insisted the boy was sane of mind…"

The master spun around, his eyes back to being enraged.

"Then who defeated you?! Is it the demon, or the two awakened children?! How far have we fallen as an organization, if some game-playing kids can beat our strongest warriors into the dirt?!" he spat.

Elder Bai lowered his gaze, not daring to look the master in the eye.

"It was the demon, mostly, master. But the dead-raiser thwarted our plans as well. He knows things... things he shouldn't know…" Elder Bai said, his heart starting to beat faster.

The master could hear his heart thumping inside his chest, and his mouth started salivating.

As he lowered his head, something changed in him that Elder Bai couldn't see. His eyes.

Going from their plain brown, the master's eyes changed colour to bright gold, as the pupil of his eye turned to a feline-like slit.

"How could a filthy demon overpower you? Have I not taught you Qi arts that made even the most powerful demons quake in fear more than a millennium ago? How weak has the Zhong Kui become if a single demon can overpower four of its members?!" the master spat, his teeth sharpening.

Elder Bai could feel the power welling inside the master, and he knew it was only a matter of time before he was killed if he didn't give a satisfactory explanation.

"Master… We stopped fighting when the dead-raiser got there. He started spilling secrets about us that no one should know. He used the name of the Zhong Kui with such certainty that we—" he started saying, before being abruptly interrupted by a weight on his body, crushing him into the ground.

"Enough! Of course, he knew about the Zhong Kui! He works with a filthy demon! Our name has scared them since the dawn of man!" the master shouted, his voice producing shock waves in the air as it travelled across the mountaintop.

"Master! It's far greater than this! He spoke of our location! He mentioned the Huashan mountain!" Elder Bai pleaded, feeling his energy getting sapped out of his body.

Such was the truth of their master.

The organization had existed for a long time, always with a master who descended from the great Zhong Kui himself. But that had changed over two thousand years ago, around the same time the Christian messiah had appeared.

A person named Gu had reached out to them, offering them power beyond their wildest dreams. Power to rival the demons.

At first, the master turned the man down. But this Gu person refused the outcome of the conversation, and after what was all but an anticlimactic fight, the master was killed, and the man revealed his true nature.

A beast whom their culture had long since considered a celestial beast, a nine-tailed fox with white fur and golden eyes.

It promised power to the ones of the Zhong Kui who swore allegiance to it, saying it could make them stronger, all for the good of humanity. Few were those who refused, especially after the first few were outright killed for refusing.

The beast claimed it was only protecting its identity, and that it was on the side of good.

Elder Bai didn't know if his ancestors had accepted out of fear or lust for power, but the outcome hadn't been too bad.

The beast had kept its word, teaching them Qi arts that even the great Zhong Kui himself had never dreamt of wielding. It had made them stronger than ever before, and their slaying of demons had eased up to the point where they almost eradicated their kind on Earth.

Centuries had passed since then, with the fox's only condition being that the next leader submit their body to it so it could keep living and teaching them. No one ever questioned this practice, as it assured them continued power.

But the elders knew something that most of their organization didn't. This fox was fickle.

It was easy to displease it, and the result was always a gruesome death.

As the thought of dying here today passed in Bai Feng's mind, he felt the pressure ease up on him. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"What did you say?" he heard the fox's voice seethe.

"Master… The dead-raiser knows where the Zhong Kui is… He told me the exact location…" Bai Feng panted, trying to catch his breath.

The master's eyes and teeth returned to normal, as the pressure vanished from the elder's body.

"That is impossible. For so long, I have kept this place hidden from human and demon eyes. I doubt anyone even remembers what is up here after so long," the master said, regaining his calm.

"I would never dare say you are wrong, Master Gu. But that young man. He knew exactly where it was. He even threatened to come here and eradicate us, if we were to go after the demon boy again…"

Master Gu scoffed, finding this claim to be egregious.

"As if a human, awakened or not, could come here and kill me. That is beyond arrogant a claim to make."

"I do not doubt you would win, master. But I was more worried about the clan itself. What would happen if he managed to wipe out everyone before you ended him? The Zhong Kui protects humanity from the demons. Who will do it if we are gone?"

The master looked at the top of Elder Bai's head, sneering.

"Are you claiming that you are irreplaceable? Humans with a talent for Qi are uncommon, but not rare. Even if you all died, I could replenish this place with fresh blood in less than a year.

"The amount of humans who lust for power is far beyond what your tiny mind can fathom. Tell me. Why shouldn't I purge this place myself? Inject fresh blood within the organization?" the fox in human skin asked.

"Master…" Elder Bai said, looking up at him.

Making eye contact with the master was considered a sin in their organization, but Bai Feng was willing to risk it. The words of the dead-raiser were resounding in his head.

"I don't think we have a year…" he said.

Gu Chen glared at him, feeling his anger rising again.

"How dare you look me in the eye, you puny mortal!" he seethed.

"Master, I implore you. Listen to what I have to say. If what the dead-raiser claimed is true, it would explain all the changes we've been noticing worldwide. And if that is true, then his claim about the future is too dangerous to be ignored…"

"How dare you insinuate that a mortal knows more about the flow of time than a celestial who has lived hundreds of your lifetimes!" the master shouted, his traits changing again.

It was the first time Bai Feng saw the master's eyes change to golden, and he was terrified. But his duty as protector of mankind was more important than his life.

"If what he said is true, then you could live a million lifetimes; it wouldn't matter. There would be no humanity left to protect. Nothing more than a charred planet, filled with the very demon-kind you loathe so much!

"I beg of you, Master Gu! Please listen to what I have to say!" Bai Feng implored, slamming his head into the ground, his forehead immediately beginning to bleed.

The fox could smell the blood leaking on his forehead, and his mouth drooled again. He had to push the impulse to eat this human, out only of fear that his words might contain an ounce of truth.

"Speak. And leave no detail out," he growled, sitting back down in his chair.

"If you lie to me once, I will eat the flesh of your bones, and slay your entire lineage as punishment," he added, his tone ice cold.