Book 5 Chapter 20 – Finding Bai Ze
"It is it…' Li Yiming looked at the golden wok at the entrance to the city. It was the exact same one Mr. Kong used to create his army back in Eden. 'Why is it here…? Are these people behind this domain?' He remembered the group of people that fought alongside Mr. Kong.
What perplexed Li Yiming even more was that he could feel something within that golden wok calling out to him.
"From what I've heard, these three statues are supposed to be guarding the city. As for this wok, it's some kind of divine item that brings good fortune," Sai Go said as he stared at the giant golden object.
"Is this some kind of guardian equipment?" Li Yiming asked.
"It should be. I've tried to have a look at it before, but something blocked me off before I could climb onto that pedestal. I didn't really dare to try again," Sai Gao said.
"Three beasts that guard the city… an object of fortune…" Li Yiming mumbled.
"Hey young man, I'd have to correct you on that. You can't just forget about the guardian of the East just because she's not as mighty as the three others. That's very disrespectful!" A old man who walked by overheard Li Yiming and lectured him.
"What? Are you talking about this wok?" Li Yiming was taken aback by the voice of the old man at first, but tried asking for more information upon seeing that the latter did not seem to suspect him.
"That wok is an artifact, not a guardian of our city. I'm talking about that Bai Ze statue outside of the city. You…" The old man said disappointingly.
"The Bai Ze statue outside of the city? You mean that there's another statue?" Sai Gao was baffled.
"Have you never gone out of the city before? Haven't the elders at home taught you about the four mythical beasts that guard our city? Teng She, Lei Ying, Xuan Gui, Bai Ze… I'd think that even a three-year-old would know about this." Sai Gao's question seemed to have angered the old man, whose chest heaved violently as he talked back.
Li Yiming exchanged a glance with Sai Gao and ran straight for the gate, leaving the old man behind. Sai Gao was aghast at the old man's revelation. 'Impossible! I checked the gates many times, but how… Bai Ze? If she was there, I would've felt it for sure.'
"Where did these two come from… such impertinence…" The old man was quivering in anger at seeing two youngsters showing such "disrespect".
Li Yiming noticed the Bai Ze statue right away as he walked out of the city. Unlike the Teng She statue at the Southern gate, who was about a hundred meter tall, this one was only about three meters tall. Bai Ze stood there with her wings extended, just like when she was about to face Heaven's Punishment.
Li Yiming walked up and put his hand on Bai Ze's front paw. 'There's no mistake. This feeling of family… It's her. Li Yiming called out her name repeatedly but to no avail.
Li Yiming tried his hardest to compose himself once again and went back into the city.
"I swear this statue was not here before…" Sai Gao said firmly.
"Is she… your summon?" Sai Gao asked hesitantly — he had seen Bai Ze in the Shangbei domain.
"Yes. She vanished not long ago." Li Yiming nodded and mulled over what the old man told him in his head.
"She must have been sealed by the powers of the formation." Sai Gao looked at the statue.
"But that old man said that she's been here for a long time…" Li Yiming hesitated.
"This confuses me as well. I've been here for a while, and from what I've seen there were only three beast guardians."
Li Yiming raised his head at the sky. 'I don't know what's happening here, but if they want to use Bai Ze as a pawn in this formation, then I won't play by the rules either.'
* * *
"Mr. You Fang?" Eyeglasses stood at the entrance of the classroom and called out.
"What is it?" You Fang turned around with a frown, seemingly unhappy at his class being interrupted, but he still saluted Eyeglasses and Chen Quan, and approached them.
"You don't know us?" Chen Quan leaned against a wall with a straw between his teeth.
"You are…" You Fang frowned once again. He thought that if this odd, ill-mannered man used to be his student, he would surely have remembered him.
"So you've really forgotten." Chen Quan and Eyeglasses exchanged a glance, astonished at their finding.
"I'm sorry, I really can't remember. Who are…"
"Oh, we're just here to ask if you accepted new students. I have a relative who's looking for a teacher." Eyeglasses dragged Chen Quan back and concocted an excuse that would not arouse any suspicions.
"Where do you live? I thought every district had its own school?"
"Yes, but we've heard good things about your classes, so…" Eyeglasses said.
"As long as the age is right, I'll accept any student." You Fang gave a terse answer, seemingly a little disgusted by Chen Quan's appearance.
"Alright then. Thank you very much." Eyeglasses nodded and left the classroom.
"Hey, I don't think that old scammer's faking it, is he?" Chen Quan looked back, a little perplexed.
"From now on, I want you to try to remember something from your past every once in a while. If you find yourself unable to, tell me right away," Eyeglasses said with a severe countenance.
"Are you telling me that…" Chen Quan's eyes widened.
* * *
"It's time to climb the walls." Liu Meng and Lin Lu, back to wearing their combat outfit, made their way toward the walls of Lianyun with caution. They followed the lanterns until they reached the base of the city's walls.
"Can you climb this?" Liu Meng looked up. Although the wall was about twenty meters talls, the many edges of the stone bricks used for building it meant that the ascent should not be too difficult of a task for Lin Lu.
"Yes." Lin Lu nodded, looked around to make sure that no one was around, and started her climb. She moved up the wall like a lizard, and it did not take very long before she reached the top of the wall with her hands. With one last effort, she pulled herself up. Rock-climbing was part of basic training for a top agent like Lin Lu, and she had the confidence to a world-class climber. Lin Lu reached out for the rope on her back as she made ready to pull Liu Meng up.
"Alright, we should head down." Liu Meng's voice came from behind.
"You!" Lin Lu froze. She jumped back and saw Liu Meng crouching down, looking for a spot to land. It seemed like she had been on top of the wall for a while already.
Lin Lu looked at the spot where she had expected to find Liu Meng and took a deep breath as she remembered her deal with Li Yiming. 'These people… where did National Security even find them?'
"I'll go first. You should hurry too." Liu Meng did not even pay attention to Lin Lu's reaction; the storage rings had already been completely exposed, so it no longer mattered that Lin Lu saw more than she should have. After a quick order, she leaped down the wall directly.
'Really?' Lin Lu was baffled when she saw Liu Meng jump down without hesitation from twenty meters high.
* * *
Shen Jianming was busy finishing off the rice in his bowl, but between mouthfuls he would glance at Xu Yurong, who sat facing him.
"Hurry up and eat! What are you doing, staring at my sister like that?" Li Rong knocked at Shen Jianming's bowl with her chopsticks, but she seemed more amused than angry.
"Li Rong!" Xu Yurong turned away in shyness at her little sister's teasing, her face as red as an apple.
"Yes, yes." Shen Jianming smiled. 'They treated me like family even though I was a complete stranger. I'll try my best to protect them from now on. Ah… it's a good thing to have transmigrated, I wouldn't have dared to hope for such a tranquil life in the past… The past…?'
Shen Jianming looked at his combat outfit, which had been neatly folded into a pile, and started to become confused.
* * *
Li Huaibei stood at the top of a giant tree in the forest. His right hand trembled as he gazed at the imposing city walls and the turtle statue in front of the gate. He had been through hundreds of domains since he had become a guardian, but this was only the second time he had this kind of feeling as he entered one.
Li Huaibei clenched his fist as he took out a shred of a yellow scarf. 'I've found it.'
This makes me think whether it would be a good thing or not to forget all of one’s troublets and unpleasant things and live a simple life in a place like Lianyun City…
Book 5 Chapter 21 – The Teams that Went Missing
"Over here! I see some clothes in the backyard. We should be able to find some that fit us." Liu Meng led Lin Lu to a house near the wall. "It's dark inside, so there shouldn't be anyone home." Liu Meng said and immediately hopped over the wall.
Lin Lu followed suit and hopped over the rather low wall with ease. However, she found Liu Meng frozen in place on the other side. Having misjudged the situation, Liu Meng found herself face to face with a man who was in the middle of his bath. The well-defined muscles and the tanned skin of the man gave off an almost metallic feeling as he cleaned himself with a towel.
The man's first reaction to the two intruders was to cover his lower body with his towel, as he seemed just as shocked as Liu Meng was.
"Han Tianyi?" Lin Lu asked in surprise.
"You know him?" Liu Meng said with a frown. Unlike Lin Lu, she was quite uncomfortable with such a situation.
"Han Tianyi. He's part of the second squad. I've seen his file before. The dagger tattoo he has on his chest proves it." Lin Lu answered tersely while staring at the naked man in front of her. Embarrassment seemed to be a concept foreign to her.
"What?" Liu Meng finally peeked at the man's chest and quickly looked away.
"He was a member of the second team that was sent here." Lin Lu took two steps forward with fiery eyes.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Han Tianyi seemed quite nervous at being accosted by Lin Lu, but was able to muster the courage to question her intentions, although his shaking hands and his bath towel made it seem more ridiculous than anything else.
"My name is Lin Lu. I am the captain of the spec ops division. I'm here to rescue you. Where's the rest of your squad?" Lin Lu took another step forward.
"Rescue? Team?" Lin Lu's coming closer made Han Tianyi even more nervous, and he tightened his grip on his towel.
"You…" Lin Lu frowned; she realized that something was wrong.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Coming into here like that… That's not good manners. You should leave. Your reputation would suffer if people found out about this." Han Tianyi seemed to have pinched himself with his grip on the towel, but he finally mustered enough courage to stand up to Lin Lu.
"He doesn't seem to know you. Did you mistake him for someone else? Maybe we can have a talk after letting him dress up." Liu Meng tried her best to look away, but it proved to be quite the challenge with the towel standing out so much.
Lin Lu frowned. After glancing at Liu Meng, she suddenly jumped forward and launched a brutal kick at Han Tianyi’s sides.
The sudden attack made Han Tianyi go pale. He could tell right away that if he was to receive the blow directly, he would be gravely injured. Completely disregarding his embarrassment, he dropped his towel right away, using his left arm to protect his face, and his right hand to strike at Lin Lu's knee.
Lin Lu had anticipated the move and abandoned her kick right away. Instead, she swapped her posture immediately and opted for a blow at Han Tianyi's chest with her left knee. The latter responded by using both of his hands to block the blow. Once again Lin Lu switched her attack by launching a punch at his throat with her fist. It was a technique that was taught to everyone in the army, and it would have been, without a doubt, a fatal blow to Han Tianyi were it allowed to land.
It was at this moment that the muscle memory from years of training from Han Tianyi finally showed. He had not expected the pretty intruder to suddenly attack him in such a violent way, but he still managed to dodge the fatal blow by bending his neck backward.
Han Tianyi finally decided for a counter-attack by trying to wrap his arms around Lin Lu and lock her in place. However, Lin Lu blocked the attempt, wrapped her hand around one of his arms and dove to the left side: this was a special immobilization technique.
Han Tianyi was pulled toward Lin Lu, but he broke the motion by jumping as high as he could, performing a backflip. He pulled Lin Lu's left hand back and reached out for the back of her neck with his right hand.
'The standard counter procedure…' Lin Lu recognized Han Tianyi's maneuver. She jumped back and gave an elbow strike to Han Tianyi's right cheek.
This time, Lin Lu's attack found its target. The strength of the blow made Han Tianyi take a few steps back and release Lin Lu's arm. Lin Lu, instead of pursuing her attack, also used the opportunity to retreat and put some distance between herself and Han Tianyi.
"Who are you?" Han Tianyi shook away the numbness in his head and stared at Lin Lu angrily. He clenched his fists, and veins popped out of his neck. The muscles on his chest tightened and the hair which grew from his navel down to his crotch seemed more imposing than ever.
"He's the guy I'm looking for…" Lin Lu said with a cold voice.
"We should leave." Liu Meng frowned. The scene of a beautiful girl in a tight combat outfit fighting in close-quarters with a naked man was a little too much for her to handle.
* * *
"I think you were right." Chen Quan suddenly stopped walking and reached out for Eyeglasses' hand, but the latter dodged his grip and waited quietly for what he had to say.
"I remember going to prison now, but not why I went there…" Chen Quan said with a deep frown as he tried his best to remember.
"Already?" Eyeglasses squinted.
"No, wait… this is even worse. I remember this mission of ours, but…" Chen Quan closed his eyes.
"What is this?" Eyeglasses suddenly took out the half of Chen Quan's candle that remained.
"This is… the candle that attracts ghosts to prevent them from blowing out the light… But why do I know this?" Chen Quan answered right away when he saw the object, but then he became confused.
"So the memories are gone, but the knowledge is retained?" Eyeglasses mumbled to himself and put the candle back; this was what remained from the candle Chen Quan took out at the campsite, and he had kept it out of curiosity.
"Listen to me. You need to remain calm no matter what happens. Even if you forget everything, just remember to follow me, okay? I don't think that just forgetting about things will harm you that much, as we saw with You Fang." Eyeglasses pondered for a little and spoke calmly as he stared at Chen Quan.
"I understand," Chen Quan complied. His reverence for Eyeglasses grew upon realizing that the latter had not been affected at all.
"Don't worry, I'll do my best to ensure your safety as well. My captain wouldn't allow me to abandon you." Eyeglasses saw through Chen Quan's fears.
"Thanks." Chen Quan nodded and followed Eyeglasses even closer.
* * *
"Do you know a way to break this formation?" Li Yiming looked at the Bai Ze statue and said in a low voice.
"I've been created from the will of a domain, but it's a completely different one. Besides, I'm not a formation specialist, I'm a beast trainer." Sai Gao could empathize with Li Yiming's worry for Bai Ze, but could do little to help him.
"Do you at least know what kind of formation this is?" Li Yiming already had his guesses, judging from the fact that Sai Gao could not even leave the city.
"I don't know. I can sense something that binds the souls of the beasts within me, and through them, I feel the existence of this formation, but nothing more than that." Sai Gao said with a frown. "Maybe we can ask someone who lives here."
"Let's go." Li Yiming agreed. 'It does seem that the people in here all know about what's going on. Otherwise that old man…'
"The formation that protects the city? I've heard about it, but a peasant like me wouldn't know much. Maybe you can ask a teacher?" The first man Sai Gao and Li Yiming stopped, surprisingly, knew a thing or two, but he could not be of any more use.
"A teacher?"
"Yeah, those that teach in schools. They know a lot." The man answered with a broad smile.
"Where… can we find a teacher?" Li Yiming asked carefully, afraid to give himself away.
"In a school, of course. There's one on every street. But I've heard that Mr. You Fang from the Northern side is the best at what he does. Maybe you can try asking him?" The man explained patiently, with nothing more than a few glances at Sai Gao for his odd appearance.
"You Fang?" Li Yiming's eyes widened.