Chapter 4 Dark Currents 4-2 Yuesong, who was asleep, opened his eyes when a shriek came from the room. He jumped up to check as the roof was broken by a purple six-legged spider. The spider howled at Yuesong and ran outside.
Yuesong was shocked, he rushed into the room but Ye was gone. His heart sank, running outside, he moved his fingers to make a silver spell in his hand, which turned into a cloud, carrying him on a chase of the spider.
The six-legged spider had already gone quite far, when the night-watchers saw it, they warned each other and chased with their swords. Other clan members, woken up by the commotion, also started chasing.
Yuesong chased as fast as he could, before he could catch up to the spider, though, it disappeared into a cave. Yuesong was surprised to see it was the Nine-Realm Cave used by Junjing. Sounds of collision and yelling came from the cave, and soon, the spider flew out of the cave. He tried to hit the spider, only realizing Ye was riding on the spider’s back.
Ye, perched on the spider’s back, had his limbs embedded inside the spider as if he was one with the monster. Yuesong was too horrified to attack for fear of harming Ye.
The spider looked up at Yuesong and shrieked, shooting a strand of purple spider web at him. Yuesong ducked, when the spider tried to attack again, it saw a dozen clan members headed toward them, and charged at them instead.
The clan members had different skills, so some used swords, while some actually tossed their swords into the air, and used a mantra to make the sword hit the spider. Yuesong, worried about them hurting Ye, shouted, “no!”
The clan members were startled, a moment which was used by the spider to shoot out a dozen or so spider webs, sticking the swords together. The swords were then tossed back at the clan members, making many fall to the ground. The spider howled and flew up, hitting several roofs with its giant claws, destroying a few houses.
More clan members woke up and came out with their swords, seeing the collapsed houses, they tried to hit back at the spider.
Yuesong yelled and flew at them. He opened both hands, projecting many silver spells which changed into fiery flames, trapping the spider in a wall of fire. The spider moved left and right to no avail. Unable to escape, it kept shrieking.
Seeing more clan members arrive, Yuesong shouted, “go save them, I’ll deal with the spider.” Everyone tried to move the collapsed bricks to rescue anyone buried.
Suddenly, a light glared, the leader of the clan arrived in a ball of golden powder, followed by the various mystics and fairies. Everyone was stunned by the trapped spider. Huolan gasped, “what is going on? How could we have monsters like this here?” while glancing at Junjing.
Junjing hurried to say, “why are you looking at me? You think I can call monsters like this?”
Zhaoshan added, “what about Suxin, she --” Junjing retorted, “the kid doesn’t have this kind of skill.”
Yuesong’s face became stern, he moved to Junjing and said, “Junjing, is there anyone else here who can conjure monsters like this? Ye is now trapped with this monster, and you did it!”
Junjing was angry, “am I this evil?” She was ready to fight Yuesong when the spider howled behind them, but it’s Ye’s voice. Everyone looked toward them.
Ye had slowly stood up on top of the spider, with his legs still stuck inside the spider. He looked at everyone before accusing Junjing, “You’re so evil, I’ll kill you!” The spider used the chance to leap outside the wall of fire. As soon as it was free, its two legs split into six claws again as it charged toward all the mystics.
Huolan howled, the golden rays around his body merged into a golden staff, stabbing at the spider, while the other mystics and fairies also used their own skills to attack the monster.
No monster, nor spider, could take on this many attacks by the mystics and fairies of the Blue Cloud Clan. In just a few rounds, the spider hurled into the air, changing into streams of purple energy, and retreated inside Ye’s body. Everyone was surprised while Yuesong leaped into the air, picking up the falling Ye.
When the two landed, Wuheng rushed over to check on them. Seeing Ye’s closed eyes, Yuesong was worried, “quick, use the musk!” Wuheng took out a small jade bottle and put it to Ye’s nose. In moments, Ye came to and looked around, seeing Yuesong, he asked, “what happened?”
“What do you think?” Junjing said harshly. “You did all this!”
Ye became more alert at the accusation; he jumped out of Yuesong’s arms and looked around, only to see collapsed houses, flowers and gra.s.s crushed into dirt, and the looks of resentment from dozens of clan members.
Junjing stared at Yuesong, “Xin Yuesong, what did you teach him to make a monster like that?” Yuesong replied, “I was going to ask what spell you did to him!” The two were locked in an impa.s.se.
Huolan looked pained, before he spoke, Liu He arrived. “What is all this? I heard a monster snuck into our clan, is it true?”
Junjing pointed at Ye, “He did it! He rode that six-legged spider around, hurting everyone, and said he’d kill me! If everyone didn’t band together to kill the spider, I’d have died!”
Ye yelled, “nonsense, when did I ride that? I was never going to kill you!”
Clan members all pointed at Ye, “it is him! He rode the spider and hurt us, and he was going to kill the Nine-Realm Fairy too, we saw everything!”
Someone ran to the group, “Leader, the houses had crushed a few of our brothers and sisters to death!”
People looked stunned, then Junjing bit out, “see what he did? Leader, if you don’t punish him and the person who instigated him today, none of us will be happy!”
Ye kept saying, “nonsense, you’re talking nonsense. I didn’t do this!”
Yuesong looked calm, “Junjing, what are you saying?” Junjing chuckled, “what do you think? Didn’t you say we had a traitor in the clan? Only a traitor would do this kind of thing!”
Yuesong replied grimly, “I dare you to say that again!” Junjing didn’t waver, “you think I’m afraid of you? You want to kill me in front of everyone? Are you throwing a coup?”
Huolan yelled, “stop fighting! Or you could get out of our clan! This is very complicated, we need to investigate first. Our priority is to save anyone we could right now!”
Liu also said, “this is bizarre indeed. Where did the spider go?” Junjing signaled Ye, “the monster turned into purple energy and went back in the boy.” Liu made a sound of surprise and walked next to Ye, “kid, do you remember anything?”
Ye shook his head, “grandpa, I’m not lying, I was sleeping and didn’t do anything!”
Junjing retorted, “didn’t you want to kill me just now? Are you a coward now?” Ye yelled back, “I’m not a coward! I could kill you if I could.“ Junjing replied, “see, you all heard him!”
Liu frowned, “Junjing, don’t make a scene,” then to Ye, “kid, do you trust me?”
Ye nodded, to which Liu smiled, “I’ll see what powers are hidden in you, don’t be afraid.” He then spread out his hands, his fingers turned into water, then merged into a giant ball of water, holding Ye inside.
Ye was terrified by this development, and he kept struggling in the ball of water, while Liu shook his head, indicating he shouldn’t try to move. When Ye saw Liu’s kind gaze, he quieted and held his breath.
Ye could feel water entering his body; even though he wasn’t breathing, he didn’t suffocate and was amazed. Quickly, the ball shook violently and turned into a small six-legged spider, shocking everyone who watched.
Liu took a deep breath, retracting the ball of water into his hands. “I understand now. This isn’t his fault!”
Everyone was surprised at the announcement and clamored to ask, to which Liu answered, “there is a weapon inside this kid’s body...”
Before he could say more, everyone yelled in fright. Jingqing also demanded, “which Cloud Glamour weapon is it?”
Liu shook his head, “it’s not a Cloud Glamour weapon.” Junjing pressed, “but what other weapons could hide inside a body?”
Liu said, “I don’t know either, I just know this isn’t a Cloud Glamour weapon. This weapon has no evil in it, but if it could live inside a human body, it must be some unknown ancient weapon, and helped make the six-legged spider. I think perhaps because this kid was traumatized tonight, his energy formed into this spider, and it wasn’t his fault.”
Ye listened to the a.n.a.lysis, only half-understanding it. Yuesong and Hengwu looked at each other, feeling less panicked and better with Liu’s explanation. Junjing didn’t give up though, “not his fault? Then what about the clan members who are hurt or dead because of him, it doesn’t matter?”
Yuesong asked, “what do you want?”
Junjing said without any warmth, “we have to drive him out of our clan. Who knows when he’ll go crazy again. We don’t have enough people for him to kill!”
Some clan members shouted in agreement, “yes, drive him out! He’s a killer!” Huolan stared at them, making a few people shut up, but their eyes still showed hate and discontent.
Liu sighed, “this is all my fault. When I treated Ye earlier at Yuesong’s place, I didn’t realize his oddity. Maybe if I didn’t inject the heavenly water into him before, his weapon wouldn’t be activated!”
Now everyone fell silent, for if anyone insisted, Liu would be made responsible, and no one wanted to drive out this most senior mystic from the clan.
Junjing huffed and turned to leave, shouting to the clan members, “why are you all still standing here? Go see what other messes the kid has made!”
The clan members all scattered to do clean-up. Junjing glanced at the opening of the Nine-Realm cave, finding broken rocks allover the ground, her face stiffened and she ran inside. In moments, screams came from the cave and she ran back outside. Junjing charged toward Ye and shouted, “you piece of garbage, I’ll kill you!”