Scripture of Days Past

Chapter 32: I Didn’t See Anyone

Chen Gang immediately set off in pursuit of the orange cat, but it was far too fast and agile for him to catch.

However, whenever Chen Gang was about to give up the chase, the cat would wag its tail and stick out its tongue at him, provoking him further.

The furious and unsuspecting Chen Gang chased the cat all the way into the bamboo forest on the rear mountain, where it abruptly vanished.

Chen Gang was panting heavily as he glowered at the bamboo forest ahead, feeling both exhausted and enraged. Right as he was about to turn back, a chorus of wolf howls suddenly rang out from deep within the forest, accompanied by the voice of a man.

“There he is! Capture him for our king!”

Chen Gang looked on in bewilderment as three wolves shot out of the forest, and the orange cat that he had chased all the way here was strutting casually behind the wolves as it yelled, “Don’t let him get away!”

The three menacing wolves and the talking cat instantly had Chen Gang trembling in horror.

“Y-You’re a fiend!” he screamed as he turned to flee, only to be chased farther up the mountain by the wolves.

In his panic, he had no idea which direction he was running. The only thing he noticed was that the rocks ahead were becoming more and more strange in appearance, and the bamboo forest seemed endless.

As he drew to a halt, he heard the cat fiend’s voice drifting toward him from afar, carried by the wind.

“His tendons and sinews must be really chewy from all the work he does in the fields. I’m sure he’ll be delicious in a soup!”

Chen Gang hurriedly clasped a hand over his mouth in horror, trying to muffle the sound of his heavy breathing.

Only after he could no longer hear the cat’s voice did he begin to flee in the opposite direction.

However, he didn’t get very far before stumbling upon a clearing. Inside the clearing were all kinds of wild animals, holding wooden cups and bowls that seemed to contain wine and soup, giving off a fragrant aroma.

All of them were either standing upright on their hind legs or sitting on the ground with their legs crossed. They were behaving just as humans would in a banquet, and the unsettling sight had Chen Gang sweating profusely in fear.

At the very center of the clearing was a strange humanoid figure dressed in a gray robe. The figure had their back turned to Chen Gang and was holding a cat while licking its fur, producing a loud slurping sound with their tongue.

Chen Gang had seen cats in the village groom each other before, and it immediately dawned on him that the humanoid figure could be a cat fiend in human form. Otherwise, why would it be licking a cat?

The cats on the rear mountain have turned into humans! Chen Gang thought to himself, his teeth chattering in horror.

His heart pounded violently in his chest, and it took every last bit of his courage to slowly back away from the clearing.

From there, he rushed frantically down the mountain, not even daring to stop when he lost a shoe. Instead of returning home, he ran toward the Azure Sun Daoist Temple to seek help from the Daoist priests there.

Before long, he had already rushed into the wilderness, and he found himself completely alone.

All of a sudden, he spotted Zhou Ergou by the side of the dirt path, slowly approaching him.

“What’s going on? Where are you going in such a hurry?” Zhou Ergou asked.

“I-I saw fiends!” Chen Gang panted. “A cat fiend on the rear mountain tried to eat me! It chased after me with three wolves and said that it was going to turn me into soup!”

“There are fiends on the rear mountain? Really?” Chu Qiguang exclaimed, putting on a look of mock surprise and fear.

“There was also a cat fiend that looked like a human!” Chen Gang confirmed frantically with a nod. “It was drinking with a bunch of other fiends, and licking a cat and...”

All of a sudden, Chen Gang’s voice trailed off at the sight of the gray robe that Zhou Ergou was wearing. It was the same clothes worn by the cat-licking figure.

At the same time, it also dawned on him that the cat fiend that had been chasing him was the same cat that was always with Zhou Ergou.

The realization instantly chilled him to the bone.

He gulped nervously, and before he could say anything, Zhou Ergou asked, “Are you going to the Daoist temple to seek help from the Daoist priests? I’ll come with you.”

Chen Gang reflexively took a step back, forcing a smile onto his face as he said, “I-I think it may have all just been my imagination. I’m just gonna go home and sleep.”

He then turned to leave, but every step he took felt like torture. He had a constant feeling that some fearsome beast was watching him from behind, ready to pounce at any moment.

Finally, he could no longer bear the pressure and swung around to look, only to discover that Zhou Ergou was nowhere to be seen.

A gust of wind swept over the dirt road, raising a cloud of dust. He could hear the faint howling of wolves in the distance again, and he suddenly felt utterly alone.

Is Zhou Ergou really a fiend?

Chen Gang quickly hurried away, this time choosing to take a smaller side path to the Daoist temple in order to avoid Zhou Ergou.

The path was lined with dense shrubs, and their branches and leaves were constantly brushed against his body like the soft caress of human hands.

All of a sudden, the silence was broken by an abrupt meow, and Chen Gang’s entire body instantly tensed in fear. He turned to find an ordinary tabby cat looking up at him, and while that came as quite a relief, he couldn’t help but feel as if there were something strange about the cat.

Just as he was about to continue toward the Daoist temple, he walked straight into something.

He looked up to find Zhou Ergou looking down at him expressionlessly.

“Didn’t you say you were going home?”

“I-I took a wrong turn by accident,” Chen Gang stammered.

“You mentioned seeing a cat fiend on the rear mountain. Did it look like this?” Chu Qiguang asked right as an orange cat emerged from behind him.

Chen Gang’s complexion turned deathly pale as he stared at the mocking look on the orange cat’s face.

He immediately turned to flee, only to crash into Zhou Ergou again, and the latter grabbed him by the shoulder with a vice-like grip, making it impossible for him to get away.

“Do I look like the cat groomer?” Zhou Ergou asked as he looked down at Chen Gang with a peculiar smile, his eyes as sharp and piercing as a cat’s.

The cat that was being groomed in the clearing also appeared and leaped onto Ergou’s shoulder as it observed Chen Gang curiously. It was none other than Fine Silk.

The three wolves also appeared behind Ergou with their fangs bared.

By this point, Chen Gang was trembling so violently from fear that his entire body seemed to be convulsing, but Zhou Ergou’s iron grip held him firmly in place.

He could only lower his head to avoid meeting Chu Qiguang’s gaze as he rambled, “I-I don’t know anything... I didn’t see anything... There are no fiends on the rear mountain. I was just hallucinating...”

Chu Qiguang was naturally unconvinced, and he dragged Chen Gang into the undergrowth, while Qiao Zhi informed him telepathically, “He’s a dog blood guy. Good thing I brought Little Black with me.”

Just then, the sound of footsteps and voices rang out from the path.