Chapter 42 The Yellow Immortal of Shaba

Passing across the small stone bridge, Old Black listened intently to the surroundings, his steps instinctively steering away from the water's edge.

"Kid, you're trying to get me killed!" Old Black's voice sounded quite exasperated.

"How am I trying to get you killed?"

"The water is teeming with rancorous resentment; there must be millions of vengeful spirits in there. Even a cultivator at the Mahayana stage would perish if he went in."

"Millions of vengeful spirits? Old Black, you're not pulling my leg, are you?" Ye Feifan was slightly stunned.

"Pulling your leg my foot! I %&@#%..." Old Black cursed as he ran, though he did not retrace his steps. The coffin shop from earlier was still fresh in his mind, and the more he thought about it, the more furious he became: "I've really been thoroughly screwed by you..."

"Stop talking nonsense, dammit. At worst, I'll give you another drop of vitality fluid."

"I won't be satisfied with a single catty less."

"Cut the crap, half a catty at most, and not a single drop more."

"Deal!"

"..."

Having profited from the exchange, Old Black felt a secret sense of delight, yet he remained in a difficult dilemma, unsure of how to escape.

Sensing Old Black's hesitation, Ye Feifan picked up the walkie-talkie and instructed, "Walk according to my directions. Once we make it through until dawn, you'll be safe."

"I... I... I'll trust you one last time!" Old Black gritted his teeth, leaving him with no choice but to follow instructions for the time being.

"Keep walking forward. There is a sandbar ahead where Big Yellow lives. No vengeful spirits dare approach that place at night!" Silently, Ye Feifan added in his mind, *Except for Grandpa Chen.*

Old Black did not reply. With his ears pricked up high, he listened closely to the surroundings while hurrying toward the sandbar Ye Feifan had mentioned.

Jumping from the small stone bridge onto the sandbar and stepping onto the thick, sticky soil, Old Black felt his tension ease considerably.

"Smash that unusual Buddha statue and throw it into the water."

Now that he was safe, Old Black took out the Buddha statue with the strange face. With two swipes of his paws, he shattered it, enveloped the pieces in spiritual energy, and tossed them into the Drowning River.

The water suddenly began to churn violently in the dark of night. After a long while, a woman in green slowly rose from the depths.

"Kid, you set me up!" Old Black was furious, though he felt a brief wave of relief upon sensing the woman's cultivation level: "Kid, I'm not finished with you over this."

When he clearly saw the woman, Ye Feifan was utterly astonished.

It was the woman from the car!

The woman in green remained silent. Her face was obscured by her disheveled long hair, hiding even her gaze.

She bowed slightly toward Old Black, pointed a finger at the guard post, shook her head, and slipped back beneath the water.

Though the woman in green had not spoken, Ye Feifan analyzed the conversations between the man and woman in the old district and the dialogue in the cellar, leading him to a startling conclusion.

The man belonged to the Liu family. The woman in green had most likely died a violent death, and her murderers were that very pair, with the man being her husband.

Without anything to suppress her, the strength of the woman in green would rise several notches... and the Liu family was about to have a few more troubles.

The conversation between the Liu family's man and woman corroborated his hypothesis, and it also explained why she could leave the Drowning River on rainy days.

The woman in green frequently left the Drowning River, mostly during thunderstorms. Could both of these phenomena be related to the Zhang family?

One detail still deeply puzzled him: what did the woman mean when she signaled Old Black not to approach the guard post?

"Old Black, do not go near the guard post." Ye Feifan knew very well that the guard post was quite ordinary; Big Yellow had lived there for a very long time, and nothing unusual had ever happened.

The woman in green's gesture likely meant she either didn't know Big Yellow had been taken away, or Big Yellow's relatives had arrived.

The guard post should... possibly... not be entirely safe...

Ye Feifan swore that he definitely had not set up the Black King on purpose.

Moving away from the Drowning River, Old Black approached the guard post as if facing a formidable enemy.

"Kid... You son of a b... I'll #%..."

"Black Dog?" An astonished voice echoed from the guard post.

The wooden door opened, and a person dressed in black wearing a waiter's cap walked out, holding a blood-dripping long sword in hand.

"Who are you?" Old Black retreated without a trace back to the entrance of the small stone bridge, gazing solemnly at the waiter.

The atmosphere was heavy and oppressive, and Ye Feifan was somewhat bewildered as well. This waiter was not the one who had schemed against him; it was a completely different face.

His complexion was drained of all blood, presenting a faded, ghastly pallor. If not for the eerie green light flickering in his pupils, he might easily have been mistaken for a corpse.

"I am the master of the sandbar. Little dog, do you wish to join us?" Waving the long sword in his hand, the waiter curved his stiff lips into a smile.

"The master of the sandbar?"

Seeing Old Black dazed, Ye Feifan hurriedly said, "Old Black, ask him how long he's been at the sandbar!"

Hearing the peculiar tone in Ye Feifan's voice, Old Black steadied his mind for a moment and asked, "How long have you been staying at the sandbar?"

The waiter froze for a fraction of a second, then chuckled, "Ten years. What? Are you here to challenge me?"

"He's lying! I've been to the sandbar before, and I've never seen him. He's an outsider, and Big Yellow is the true king of the sandbar!"

Hearing Ye Feifan's affirmative words, Old Black's gaze deepened. The origin of Big Yellow was now clear.

Since the waiter was lying, it meant he had previously been too intimidated by Big Yellow to come over, and only dared to come and claim the mountain as king after Big Yellow had left... He was a formidable and deeply patient cultivator, though it was also quite possible that ten years really was the time he had spent at the sandbar.

"Ask him if he's seen Big Yellow."

Observing the waiter, Old Black suddenly asked, "Have you seen a cat?"

"A cat?" The waiter's expression turned ugly, and he instinctively took a step back.

"He's afraid of Big Yellow. His strength probably isn't as high as Big Yellow's. Old Black, you should be able to beat him."

"Putting on a bold front? Borrowing someone else's prestige?" Old Black stared at the waiter, deep in thought, and muttered, "Just who are you?"

"I am someone you can't afford to provoke!" Seeing Old Black advance, the waiter's body trembled slightly. Instead of retreating, he glared into Old Black's eyes and scolded, "I'll give you one chance: leave the sandbar immediately!"

"Bring it on. I don't need a chance. Are you afraid Big Yellow will come back?" Old Black pressed forward step by step, the hesitation that had just scared him off gradually fading away.

"You know Big Yellow? Didn't he leave with that man?"

The waiter's words caused Old Black to halt his steps. He asked in confusion, "That man?"

"I saw everything that night."

"What did you see?"

"That man brought over a group of men in black, and used the cat's paws to kill them."

"What on earth do you know clearly?"

"What do you want to know?"

The waiter darted his eyes around the surroundings, looking for a place to escape.

"Old Black, buy me one minute. I'll have my master freeze him in time for a minute."

"What are you trying to do?"

"I'm not doing anything?" Unaware that Old Black was conversing with Ye Feifan, the waiter chimed in.

"My master can freeze him for a minute. Can you take him down within a minute?"

"No problem."

"Then I'll start counting down..."

Whether it was his imagination or not, Old Black faintly heard a crisp "snap" sound echoing across the world.

"60... 1..."

Old Black stared fixedly at the waiter. Neither of them moved, both observing the other's next move.

*Tick-tock, tick-tock...*

The world came to a complete standstill. Old Black was momentarily stunned as he noticed the waiter had completely stopped moving.

"Old Black, hurry up and grab him! Time is almost up!"

"Oh—" Fear flickered in Old Black's eyes. Such an ability was simply too heaven-defying; he naturally realized that time itself had been stopped.

The fish leaping out of the water were frozen right above the surface. How could such a bizarre phenomenon possibly be a mere ordinary immobilization spell? Only a divine power over time could achieve such an effect!

Ye Feifan's master was a supreme expert who commanded time itself!

During the ten seconds that time was frozen, Old Black raced through all his questions in his mind. All previous grievances vanished instantly, and he didn't dare harbor the slightest unhappiness, terrified that Ye Feifan would use the same method against him.

Old Black tackled the waiter to the ground, causing the man's cap to fall off, revealing a long, cute creature nestled on his head... Its two pinkish paws were gripping a couple of tufts of the waiter's hair.

A weasel!

The Great Immortal Yellow!

Old Black was startled, and within the final five seconds, he snatched the long sword and pressed it against the creature's neck.

*Snap—*

The frozen time resumed its normal flow, and the weasel snapped back to awareness only to find a sharp sword resting against its neck.

No wonder it was afraid of Big Yellow. Wasn't it entirely natural for something with the word "rat" in its nature to fear a cat?

"I was wondering who it was, and it turns out to be you, a common weasel. Is playing the threatener fun?" Old Black smiled gratingly, the fangs at the corners of his mouth glinting with a cold light, his expression closely resembling the cruelty of a lone wolf hunting.

Although he was mocking the weasel, Old Black's expression remained extremely tense; he was well aware that weasels could release stinky gas, and he had to be somewhat on guard against it.

"Spare my life, Black Brother! Little brother is just out here trying to make a living. It's through fighting that we get to know each other, right..."

"I thought it was the president of the Paranormal Society recruiting members, but it turns out to be just a weasel." Ye Feifan sighed.

"What kind of person is the president of the Paranormal Society?" Old Black asked.

"?" The weasel was filled with question marks.

"Never mind if you don't know. Ask him what he's been doing at the sandbar."

"What have you been doing at the sandbar?" Surveying the weasel, Old Black cast a glance at the bloodstains on the sword.

"I was just killing chickens to eat, nothing else," the weasel replied hastily.

"What is your name?"

With a roll of its eyes, the weasel quickly answered, "You can just call me Little Yellow."

The weasel's performance did not escape Ye Feifan's notice. He deduced that Little Yellow's name had been chosen in reference to Big Yellow's, and that it had adopted the name out of fear for Big Yellow as a sign of reverence.

The creature had some intelligence!

Very few members of the demon race possessed intelligence, and a weasel should theoretically be able to bring good fortune. In his past life, the ancestral legends of the Great Immortal Yellow showed they always repaid kindness, and adopting them shouldn't bring any karmic retribution.

"Old Black, tell him that I see he's all alone and rather pitiful, and I'm willing to take him in. Is he willing to come with me?"

Old Black paused in surprise, stared at Little Yellow for a long while, and then asked, "The owner of that cat is willing to take you in. Are you willing to follow me?"

"Take me in?" Little Yellow's mind was in turmoil. He had always been entirely on his own, occupying his living space only after Big Yellow had left. What kind of situation was this?

"Why take me in?"

Ye Feifan turned the thought over in his mind and said, "The corpse of the waiter he controlled was likely meant to be thrown into the Drowning River. A member of the demon race willing to bury the body of a complete stranger can't be purely malicious... The fact that he could linger around Big Yellow for ten years is also a form of destiny, and I value destiny above all else."

Old Black relayed Ye Feifan's words, a look of envy, jealousy, and hatred crossing his eyes. Following that kid came with generous amounts of vitality fluid; why had he foolishly refused at the time?

Fortunately, Ye Feifan's attention was focused on Little Yellow and he failed to notice Old Black's expression, otherwise, he might have suspected something.

"I was always a lone sprout, struggling from meal to meal. Since he's willing to take me in, I'll go with you." Little Yellow was someone who knew how to adapt to the circumstances. Weighing the situation against Big Yellow's prowess, he figured it was worth a shot.

"Let him go."

Old Black released his paw, pointed at the corpse, and instructed, "Throw the corpse into the Drowning River. Wait until dawn... and come with me tomorrow night."

"Understood." Clutching the waiter's two tufts of hair, Little Yellow controlled the corpse to leap into the Drowning River, while he himself sprang onto a tree trunk by the riverbank, sliding down with a series of rustling sounds.

"Not bad agility." Sheathing his long sword, Old Black headed back toward the guard post.

Little Yellow hesitated for two seconds before scurrying along to follow him.

[PS: Prosperity, democracy, civility, harmony; freedom, equality, justice, rule of law; patriotism, dedication, integrity, friendliness.]