Chapter 16: Blue Traces

No one expected the matter of the cat demon to be handled so poorly by a few young people; upon receiving the report, Daoist Shangzun of Yuxu was furious.

Inside the main hall of the Sanqing Palace, the five elders had not yet returned to their respective territories when they received the grim news.

"The youth of today are truly a declining generation," Elder Shangzun remarked. His words made everyone uncomfortable, yet they couldn't help but feel a sense of shared sentiment.

"Exactly, exactly," Elder Niepan nodded in continuous agreement. "Thinking back to when we were young—sigh, we were much better than this."

Hearing both elders speak this way, Fan Jin could not help but sigh as well. "Back when the Sect Leader Senior Brother was fighting the cat demon, it was a life-or-death struggle. Sigh." Fan Jin had nearly let his dissatisfaction with Ke Dasheng slip.

The most distressed among them was Elder Taiqing. This was because his eldest disciple, Ke Dasheng, and his eldest female disciple, Luo Ling, were both his students—one in charge of the male disciples and the other of the female disciples. Furthermore, he managed the daily affairs of the Sanqing Palace, making him effectively the Executive Deputy Sect Leader.

While the elders were busy discussing the matter, a disciple arrived to report: "Reporting to the elders, the Sect Leader is in secluded meditation on the twelfth level tonight and will not be attending. Please discuss this matter among yourselves. You must capture the cat demon swiftly to prevent it from escaping down the mountain."

With that, the messenger disciple withdrew from the hall.

These words acted like a bombshell. First, Elder Niepan shot a glance at Elder Shangzun, then stood up and said, "I will return immediately to arrange for people to search the entire mountain. This matter is quite tricky."

Having said that, he left on his own accord.

Seeing this, Elder Shangzun also stood up and said, "Elder Taiqing, my twelve disciples will arrive at the main hall immediately to await orders. Command us as you see fit. The cat demon's level is low, but it still has four lives left. Just say the word, and we will face death without hesitation."

Faced with such bravado, Elder Taiqing could only offer an awkward response: "I thank Elder Shangzun for his support."

Watching the retreating figures of Shangzun and Niepan, Elder Taiqing felt an urge to unleash a torrent of curses.

Once they had left, Elder Taiqing looked toward Elder Fan Jin, who was dozing off to one side, even snoring. He cursed inwardly; he wished the man would at least offer some hypocritical pleasantries.

With a heavy heart, Elder Taiqing ignored Fan Jin and walked straight out of the main hall.

By this time, Ke Dasheng and Luo Ling had also arrived outside the hall.

"You two useless things! I even gave you the Buddha Dust, yet you still can't take down a mere cat demon!" Elder Taiqing scolded furiously. However, just as he finished speaking, he realized Elder Fan Jin was still sitting inside the hall, so he suppressed his rage.

"Reporting to the Elder, I have already arranged for people to go down and search," Ke Dasheng said, casting a sidelong glance at Luo Ling.

"Search, search, always searching! You searched the back mountain training grounds for seven days and didn't find so much as a chicken feather. Now that such a major incident has occurred, you still say 'search'?" Elder Taiqing could not help but snap, "Do you want to make a laughingstock of me in front of the others? Do you want to show them just how useless you are?"

Ke Dasheng and Luo Ling understood Elder Taiqing's feelings. After all, both the male and female leaders were his disciples; others would mock him, especially since the entire mountain placed great expectations on Ke Dasheng.

Sensing that his voice had grown too loud, Elder Taiqing looked back into the hall and lowered his voice. "Immediately! Even if you don't sleep, you must find that cat demon tonight. Setting aside whether you can capture it, you must at least find it first."

After saying this, Elder Taiqing glanced into the hall once more.

"Whether you can capture it is a matter of skill. But if you can't even find it, tomorrow, Fan Jin and the others will point their fingers and mock your master. How am I supposed to face them?" Elder Taiqing whispered with intense indignation.

"This disciple understands," Ke Dasheng could only respond forcefully. "If I can't find it, I... I will step down as the Eldest Senior Brother."

Facing these two incompetent disciples, Elder Taiqing looked into the hall and said to Luo Ling, "Arrange for someone to send this pig back to the Blessed Land. Looking at him annoys me; he does nothing but sleep and spout sarcasm."

Luo Ling glanced sideways into the hall, seeing Fan Jin snoring away in his chair, and replied, "Yes, Elder."

And so, Ke Dasheng quickly led a group equipped with all manner of demon-hunting artifacts to search the entire mountain for the cat demon through the night.

Looking at Fan Jin in the hall, Luo Ling was also filled with irritation. Shen Anzhi had been here this afternoon but was nowhere to be seen now. She turned to a disciple and commanded, "Go to the Blessed Land and call Shen Anzhi here immediately. Right now! Move!"

"Yes!" the disciple replied, startled.

After the disciple left, Luo Ling looked back at the snoring Fan Jin and muttered, "Shen Anzhi, Shen Anzhi, just you wait. You were lucky this afternoon. I am so angry, so incredibly angry!"

***

Meanwhile, in a forest on the other side,

The Spirit Snake had been weaving through the woods with Anzhi for a long time. She didn't even know where they were going; they simply forged a path where there was none, unbothered by stumbles or scrapes, simply getting up and continuing on.

The Spirit Snake was very agile, sometimes floating through the air and sometimes slithering on the ground, but its speed was always faster than Anzhi's.

"Snakey, where... where are we going?" Anzhi asked, carrying the heavy Yuhua Sword and holding the Demon-Binding Rope.

Spirit Snake: "Almost there. We're going to the Spotted Bamboo Forest. That's where the cat demon is."

Anzhi was surprised. "Ah? How do you know?"

"Me?" The two antennae on top of the Spirit Snake's head swiveled like radar. "I've been on Mount Sanqing for hundreds of years. There isn't a small demon I don't know about. Don't worry, it's definitely there."

"But... it's almost the Hour of the Tiger." Anzhi looked up through the gaps in the canopy at the sky. The round moon was directly overhead. She asked worriedly, "Can we make it back before dawn?"

"We can!" The Spirit Snake continued forward.

Half an hour later,

Anzhi and the Spirit Snake finally arrived at the Spotted Bamboo Forest.

The so-called Spotted Bamboo Forest was a place overgrown with bamboo marked by spots.

Under the moonlight, the bamboo grove appeared exceptionally tranquil.

Suddenly, an invisible force surged from beneath the earth, and the bamboo roots began to stretch and break through the soil.

In the faint moonlight, one could see the bamboo leaves gradually unfurling and dancing, as if celebrating a new life.

Suddenly,

A flash of blue light flickered deep within the bamboo forest.

Seeing this, the Spirit Snake finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Heh, told you so."

"Blue light... a blue cat." Anzhi's nerves began to tighten, and a small spark of excitement stirred in her heart.

The Spirit Snake jumped onto Anzhi's shoulder—its habitual resting place—and continued toward the depths of the forest.

As they drew closer, Anzhi could strongly sense the demonic aura.

"Master, look! The Demon-Binding Rope is reacting." The Spirit Snake noticed that the rope in Anzhi's hand was also emitting a blue light.

With the Yuhua Sword on her back and the Demon-Binding Rope in her hand, Anzhi felt a sudden surge of security.

"This afternoon, because everyone was careless and thought it was already dead, the sword formation was disbanded, which led to this disaster." The scenes from this afternoon replayed in Anzhi's mind over and over; she could not allow the same mistake to happen tonight.

"Snakey, does the Demon-Binding Rope need time to be activated?" Anzhi asked anxiously.

Spirit Snake: "Don't worry. Once this thing has you bound, you aren't going anywhere."

"That's good, that's good." Anzhi quickened her pace with excitement, drawing closer to the flickering blue light.

(End of Chapter)