The Palaces of the Twelve Sacred Beasts

Translated by Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Under the night's sky, a pair of eyes full of murderous intent locked onto the mountain cave; Ye Yin Ju was like a ghostly shadow, closing in towards his targets, soundless and swift.

Gust of black wind swirled among the trees.

Ye Yin Ju hid between the rocks outside the cave; there was no-one but only Qing Que, who was holding the cold human in his arms. Zhuo Yin and Nian Xing were nowhere to be seen.

—Is this a trap, or a chance?

Qing Que's spirits were low as he held the human tightly, he had his guard down… As for the poisoned human, he was already very near death, his body temperature was almost fatally low—no matter if it was a trap or not, this would be the best window to kill the human.

Ye Yin Ju decided to act upon the opportunity.

Kill!!

Powerful and ferocious spirit power burst out in a split second, and Ye Yin Ju rushed into the cave at high speed like a gust of wind. He squeezed the human's throat, but all he felt was a freezing chill piercing his bones.

The human giggled.

Damn!

The human's hands grabbed a hold of Ye Yin Ju's hand, and immense pain instantly drilled into him. Pieces of clear ice formed on Ye Yin Ju's right arm…

Fwoosh…

Moments later, Ye Yin Ju's right arm was completely encased in ice.

The human lifted his head, but the face which appeared was Nian Xing's amused one instead.

"Hand over the antidote, and I will be generous and spare your life!"

Ye Yin Ju scoffed, preparing to attack when a sharp whirlwind came towards him. Zhuo Yin who was standing at the side of the cave smiled, but his eyes were piercing cold; there was immense murderous intent in those phoenix eyes.

Zhuo Yin, Nian Xing, and Qing Que surrounded Ye Yin Ju, but even under the enemies' attacks, Ye Yin Ju wasn't terrified. Even though he couldn't feel his right arm, he forced himself to calm down and analyze the situation.

Dark mist gathered under his feet. Ye Yin Ju mustered up all his strength and rushed towards Zhuo Yin, scores of silver needles soared through the air against Zhuo Yin's blades of wind. The two powers clashed inside the cave, forming cracks on the walls.

Crash!!

The whole cave was shaking. Nian Xing and Qing Que evaded the blades that came their way while assessing the battle—Ye Yin Ju was smart, he was using the cave's dark and cramped environment against them. As Ye Yin Ju and Zhuo Yin's movements were too fast, Nian Xing and Qing Que found it difficult to distinguish between them, so they couldn't help.

Suddenly a streak of gold light flashed across the cave; layers of gold sand diffused out of Qing Que's fingertips. The fine sand met with Ye Yin Ju's silver needles, and they instantly disappeared. The gold sand then climbed up Ye Yin Ju's body, surrounding him like a spider's web; Ye Yin Ju didn't have time to evade, more and more gold sand fell onto him like droplets of rain—

Ye Yin Ju's skin burned, giving off sizzling sounds, it was as though hot lava was poured onto it—White steam rose from Ye Yin Ju's black clothes, and the skin under them was horrifically burnt.

Qing Que didn't often attack, but when he did, his attacks were deadly.

If the opponent were a normal person, they would have melted into a puddle of blood among the gold sand by now, but Ye Yin Ju didn't die, he was still standing in the same place, not making a sound.

Terrifyingly tenacious.

"Qing Que… you…" Nian Xing's head felt numb, he never thought the gentle Qing Que would fatally attack someone… He must be extremely desperate… "Please don't be so agitated; if he dies, then we won't be able to get the antidote."

Though Ye Yin Ju was still standing there, his body received too much damage; he had obviously lost the ability to continue fighting. Nian Xing walked towards Ye Yin Ju, "I'll give you one more chance, give us the antidote or face… Aaagh! I'll seaweed your whole family(i)!"

Suddenly, Nian Xing screeched loudly; Ye Yin Ju reverted to his true form. A severely wounded black leopard was biting Nian Xing's shoulder. Fangs sank deeply into Nian Xing's flesh; if Nian Xing hadn't dodged in time, his neck would already have been in the black leopard's mouth.

Fresh blood splattered on the cold rock walls. A mix of gold and black lights flashed through the cave. The black leopard flew high up in the air, its soft but powerful body then smashed into the wall. Along with a few pieces of broken rocks, it slid down onto the ground, not moving an inch.

Qing Que pulled the panting Nian Xing to his feet, while Zhuo Yin stepped hard on the half dead leopard—

"Where's the antidote?!!!"

The black leopard gasped for air; opening his mouth widely, he tried to bite Zhuo Yin.

Zhuo Yin suddenly remembered the Night Tribe's nature—

A thousand-year-old secretive and politically neutral tribe, they were warriors of the night, loyalty and pride flowed in their blood, extremely responsible, they didn't accept any failures.

Blood and scars were sparkling glory to them.

Even if one threatened to kill them, they would never submit to their opponents.

"Fine!" Zhuo Yin started laughing abruptly, "… Night Tribe, haha…" As they say, one may kill a man but shan't humiliate him. Zhuo Yin separated the black leopard's hind legs, "Qing Que, help me cut off this toy here!"

Just as Zhuo Yin thought, the black leopard froze up at that statement.

Qing Que's face had no expression; he lifted his right hand, gathered spirit power, and moments later a sharp gold sawtooth blade appeared in front of the black leopard.

The black leopard started struggling fiercely, seeing Qing Que's blade-wielding hand closing in; for the first time, Ye Yin Ju's voice echoed in the dark cave.

"I don't have the antidote on me."

Qing Que held the blade up to the leopard's member. Some time passed by; Qing Que squinted his eyes slightly, readying to cut that thing clean off. The black leopard finally cooperated, he spoke with difficulty, "… The ingredients needed to make the antidote are in this forest… I… can bring you guys there."

Zhuo Yin took out a small but unbreakable chain. He tied it on the black leopard's neck firmly, and he pulled the leopard out of the cave roughly while Qing Que found the unconscious Gu Ting Yu who was hidden among the rocks, and he carrying Gu Ting Yu on his back.

"Let's go," Qing Que said.

Nian Xing's wounds were the most severe among them; he had irritation written all over his face as he walked at the back of the group. Nian Xing had a wooden stick in his hand, occasionally hitting the leopard to blow off steam.

The black leopard led everyone deep into the forest; following his directions, they found a few types of herbs. They extracted the herbs, made them into a juice and fed it to Gu Ting Yu. Gu Ting Yu's complexion recovered slightly, his body temperature also became less cold.

Night came and the black leopard stared at the unconscious Gu Ting Yu; dim and gloomy lights flashed in the leopard's eyes.

T/N:

(i): The author didn't explain what "I'll seaweed your whole family." stands for, but I'm guessing it's a pun because "seaweed" in Chinese is "Hai Cao", and the word "Cao" has very similar pronunciation with another Chinese word that means "fuck".