Chapter 104 — The Inquiry

The wind sighed, and the ancient road stretched on in desolate solitude, lonely and endless before them.

Zhou Yixuan and his granddaughter Xiaowan had left the Death Marsh and traveled east for three days.

This day, at high noon, they were still walking the old road, save that the once-flat wilderness to either side had been replaced by ever more numerous hills and thickets.

Zhou Yixuan glanced ahead and saw, not far away by the roadside, a crumbling stone pavilion. Feeling the weariness of the road, he turned to Xiaowan and said, "Let's go over and rest a while."

Xiaowan answered, then glanced back, her eyes brimming with smiles, and said, "Daoist, come sit with us!"

The Wild Wolf Daoist, who had been following behind them all along, smiled and nodded. After leaving the Death Marsh, for some reason he had begun trailing Zhou Yixuan and Xiaowan from a distance, which had at first made Zhou Yixuan rather uneasy. But a few days ago they had suddenly met that middle-aged man who called himself Wan Rengui, and after Xiaowan had exchanged a few words with him, the two had grown somewhat closer; in recent days the Daoist had drawn much nearer, following directly behind them.

Zhou Yixuan walked into the pavilion and watched the Wild Wolf Daoist follow Xiaowan inside. He was hardly as courteous to the wild dog as Xiaowan was; rolling his eyes, he suddenly said in a strange, sour tone, "I say, Daoist Wild Dog, why do you keep following the two of us around? We're poor as dirt, there's nothing here worth robbing."

The Wild Wolf Daoist glared at Zhou Yixuan and shot back, "You smelly old man, playing poor again. Don't think I don't know there's something odd about that bamboo pole of yours!"

Zhou Yixuan and Xiaowan both started. Zhou Yixuan leapt up as though his backside had been set on fire, his face crimson, and shouted, "Well now! I always knew you were no good, you've had your eye on my money all along!"

The Wild Wolf Daoist rolled his eyes at him, but before he could speak, Xiaowan beside them said with some surprise, "Daoist, how did you know?"

The moment Xiaowan spoke, the Wild Wolf Daoist's voice somehow dropped, and after a moment's hesitation he said sheepishly to her, "He never lets that pole out of his hand, and even sleeps with it clutched to his chest. That in itself would be nothing, but every little while, without meaning to, he strokes it and gives it a look. Any idiot could tell there's something wrong with that pole."

Xiaowan burst out laughing. Zhou Yixuan's old face flushed; he snorted and turned his head away, then suddenly felt this was too great a humiliation and turned back, snapping at the Wild Wolf Daoist, "Even if there were something odd about my pole, it's none of your concern. You tell me—why have you been following us all this time?"

The Wild Wolf Daoist was taken aback and for a moment could find no words.

Zhou Yixuan at once grew smug, a grin spreading over his face, and pointing at the wild dog he said, "Ha! Don't think I don't know. You scoundrel, you've been drooling over my wealth and my Xiaowan's beauty, scheming day and night..."

"Grandfather!" Xiaowan cried loudly at Zhou Yixuan, her face flaming red.

Only then did Zhou Yixuan realize he had said the wrong thing, but he could not bring himself to back down, and stammered, "Tell me, is it or isn't it..."

The Wild Wolf Daoist stole a glance at Xiaowan. The girl's fair skin was now flushed pink, faintly shy, yet her bright eyes were like stars, shining and sparkling, and a rush of youthful beauty seemed to strike him in the face. A strange, unaccountable sense of inferiority suddenly came over the wild dog, and he lowered his head.

Xiaowan glared at her grandfather. Having roamed the world at his side since childhood, she had seen and learned much, and was naturally less reserved than ordinary girls her age. Turning now to the Wild Wolf Daoist, she said, "Daoist, don't mind my grandfather's nonsense. He can't say a decent word to save his life..."

Zhou Yixuan flew into a rage. "You dare call your grandfather a dog! That fellow there is the real wild dog!"

Xiaowan stuck out her tongue and made a face at the wild dog. A great hum sounded in the wild dog's head, and he felt his whole vision filled with that beautiful face, unable to hold any other color, and he paid no mind at all to Zhou Yixuan's mockery.

Zhou Yixuan turned back in exasperation and said to the wild dog, "Hey, you still haven't said why you're following us! Give me a decent reason and I'll let you tag along. If not—heh—I'll show you a thing or two!"

The wild dog slowly withdrew his gaze and was silent a long while, then said, "I don't know either."

"Ha!" Zhou Yixuan laughed aloud, his face full of scorn.

But Xiaowan looked at the Wild Wolf Daoist with considerable interest and said, "What is it, Daoist? Surely you can't have no home to return to?"

The wild dog gave a bitter laugh. "You've guessed right." Somehow, at this moment, he seemed especially willing to speak before this young girl, and once the thread was picked up, he went on, to his own surprise, "I was a strange-looking child. As soon as I was born my parents took me for a monster and dumped me out in the wilds, to live or die as I pleased..."

"Ah!" Xiaowan covered her mouth with her hand in shock. Zhou Yixuan, however, rolled his eyes, looking entirely unconvinced.

The Wild Wolf Daoist went on, "Later a pack of wild dogs found me. Instead of eating me, they carried food to me and fed me. So once I was old enough to understand, I always called myself the Wild Dog."

Zhou Yixuan gave another cold laugh at the side, but Xiaowan was all attention, nodding slightly.

The Wild Wolf Daoist paid Zhou Yixuan no heed, and smiling at Xiaowan he said, "So I've had no home since childhood. If you insist, then a dog's kennel was my home. Later a senior of the previous generation of the Blood Refining Hall happened upon me and, out of pity, took me in as a disciple and taught me the Daoist arts. From that time on, I have regarded the Blood Refining Hall as my home."

Zhou Yixuan sneered, "Then you ought to go back to the Blood Refining Hall. Why do you keep wandering about outside?"

The Wild Wolf Daoist lowered his head, his face darkening, and after a long while said, "The Blood Refining Hall was destroyed by the Underworld King Sect. The one who led it was that Ming Li you've seen."

"What?" Zhou Yixuan and Xiaowan were both startled. The infighting among the demonic cults was fierce and cruel, but they seldom proclaimed it abroad, and so Zhou Yixuan and the others had not known that the Underworld King Sect had swallowed up the Blood Refining Hall. Yet though both were startled, their reactions differed.

Zhou Yixuan frowned, as though something had occurred to him, and after a long while shook his head with a sigh. "What a pity! Back when the Black-Hearted Elder was alive, the Blood Refining Hall was a power to reckon with. Ah..."

Xiaowan did not think so far. Once her shock had passed, something came to her, and she said, "Was it that Ming Li who led the men who destroyed you? Then why are you still following him?"

The corner of the Wild Wolf Daoist's mouth twitched. Slowly he gave a brief account of what had happened.

After hearing it, Xiaowan gave a huff and said to Zhou Yixuan, "Those people like Chief Nian—they have no backbone at all."

Zhou Yixuan glared at her. "What do you know of backbone at your age? When it comes to life and death, backbone is not something everyone has."

Xiaowan curled her lip. "But isn't this Daoist Wild Dog preferring death to surrender?"

Zhou Yixuan glanced at the wild dog and nodded. "I never saw before that you had that kind of backbone. Not simple at all. But all these years, that Ming Li has been known as the Blood Young Master, and has killed countless men—why would he spare you, of all people?"

The Wild Wolf Daoist shook his head. "I don't know either."