Chapter Four: The Old Fiend's Pursuit

“Little brats, don’t run! Come back and be my meal!” The decrepit old man, blown far away, shouted loudly as he watched Han Tianyue and the others fleeing.

“Only a fool would wait around for you to eat them!” Feng Shang, the fastest of them all, darted off to another mountaintop in a flash.

“Is he still chasing us?” With the original mountain already out of sight, Feng Shang finally stopped to ask.

“Such mountain spirits never leave their own mountain. I doubt he’ll pursue us here,” Mao Xuanzi replied as everyone came to a halt.

“That’s great—safe at last!” Feng Shang plopped down on the ground.

“Not so fast,” Han Tianyue cautioned. “Though he’s a mountain spirit, he’s no ordinary one. Let’s go a bit farther, just to be sure.”

“What? Even here isn’t safe?” Feng Shang sprang up the moment he sat down.

“Oh, you wretched little brats! You’ll be the death of this old man!” Before they could set out again, the decrepit old man had already caught up.

“Run!” Feng Shang was ready to bolt.

But Mao Xuanzi said, “We’ve run so far and he still caught up so quickly. I don’t think we’ll outrun him no matter what.”

“Then let me try blowing him away again!” Feng Shang rushed forward and unleashed a storm at the old man.

“You naughty little brat, trying to blow me away again?” The old man dodged in a flash, avoiding Feng Shang’s storm entirely.

Seeing this, Feng Shang hurriedly retreated behind Han Tianyue, Mao Xuanzi, and Fang Zhe, shouting, “It’s up to you guys now!”

The sky was clear, with no dark clouds for the old man to hide in. Han Tianyue stepped forward, summoned his ice blade, and charged.

The old man extended a hand, retreating before the chill of the ice blade, cackling, “It’s been ages since these old bones got a stretch—today is the perfect time!”

Mao Xuanzi leapt in as well, unleashing his Scorching Palm, his whole body following its force. The old man was forced to meet it with his other hand.

“Cold on one side, hot on the other—you two little brats are a real nuisance!” The old man’s face began to change.

Seeing this, Fang Zhe rushed forward and let loose a sonic blast. The old man sprouted another hand from his body to catch the blast, shouting in anger, “You little brat, daring to sneak up on me!”

“Feng Shang, now!” Fang Zhe called. Feng Shang scrambled up and hurled a vortex at the old man, who sprouted yet another hand from deep within to intercept it.

An ice blade, a scorching palm, a sonic wave, and a vortex—four attacks from four directions struck at the old man, pinning him suspended in midair, unable to move.

“All together!” They threw all their strength into the assault.

Within the encirclement of these four forces, the old man’s body began to curl in on itself, shrinking smaller and smaller, until finally it compressed into a crystal-clear bead.

After the old man was sealed within the bead, Han Tianyue, Mao Xuanzi, Fang Zhe, and Feng Shang collapsed to the ground.

A long while later, they struggled to their feet. Han Tianyue approached the bead, and from inside it came the old man’s angry shouts: “You rotten little brats, let me out at once!”

Han Tianyue bent down to pick up the bead. “To keep you from harming anyone else, we’ll bury this for good.”

Feng Shang nodded and quickly dug a big hole in the ground. “How’s this?”

“It’s a bit too big,” Han Tianyue said, comparing the bead to the hole—it was at least ten thousand times the size of the bead.

“Let’s bury him,” Mao Xuanzi said, taking the bead and tossing it into the hole.

“Goodbye!” Feng Shang waved, then frantically shoveled dirt over it. At last, he dug up a tiny sapling from nearby and planted it over the spot, dusted off his hands, and said cheerfully, “Little sapling, this old monster is very nourishing—grow up strong, now!”

With a sudden pop, the little sapling burst into bloom. Feng Shang stared in amazement at the flower. “It really was nourishing!”

“We’d better leave this place at once!” he urged. If a sapling could bloom at a moment’s notice, this mountain range surely held other wonders—and perhaps even more powerful mountain spirits.

Gold medals, bookmarks, recommendations, clicks, comments, red envelopes, gifts—whatever you have, throw it my way!