The Palaces of the Twelve Sacred Beasts

Translated by Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Tong Ying stood atop a mountain and looked around; scores of blood-red clouds neared from afar, beautiful and mysterious.

"Haa~~" He sighed lazily, "The sky is really changing."

He dived down swiftly after finishing that sentence. His surroundings rushed past him in high speed as he fell; when he almost reached the ground, he did a backflip and landed on his feet, light and steady.

Tong Ying didn't see Ye Yin Ju in his proximity nor ten miles away. It seemed that his search by following the human's scent stopped here, because oddly enough, the human's scent just stopped here abruptly. It would seem that if Ye Yin Ju was good at anything, it was hiding.

Tong Ying stared at the huge boulder in his face, he poked his head around it, wanting to know what lay behind the boulder, but no matter how hard he tried moving the rock, it wouldn't budge.

Tong Ying took a few steps back, locked his eyes onto the boulder, flickers of flame sparked in his eyes.

A chilling sense came towards him just when the flames were about to burn, evading was no longer an option.

Splash. A huge wave plummeted down, sharp like a sword. "You think I can't freeze you to death?!" Nian Xing yelled along with his attack, and his other curses were followed by rays of black and gold intersecting and striking at Tong Ying. Qing Que and Zhuo Yin trapped the soaked red-haired male, with Qing Que in front and Zhuo Yin behind.

There could only be one chance.

Rounds of explosions made ear-wrecking noises, rubble fell off the mountains… when the attacks finally ended, the three of them were panting, staring intensely at the human figure in the smoke.

"Hey… That hurts." Tong Ying's voice was laced with a hint of anger, "I originally thought ending a human's life would be a simple task, who knew it'd be this much of a pain."

The ground where Tong Ying was standing caved in; broken rocks and rubble were everywhere, but Tong Ying himself was nothing more than soaking wet and a little messy.

Zhuo Yin squinted his eyes as he realized how bad their situation was.

"Die." Tong Ying stared at the three, finally showing the intention to kill.

His speed made it hard for bare eyes to perceive; a sphere of fire formed in his palm along with sizzling steam, and he attacked Zhuo Yin in an instant.

When Zhuo Yin mustered up all his power to take the attack head on, Tong Ying changed the direction of his flames without any notice, making the fire head towards the completely unguarded Nian Xing.

"Ah—"

Shock flashed in his blood-red eyes, as his flames were shielded by Qing Que instead.

Gold sand tangled with the strong flames; the flames seemed to be alive, struggling against the sand, trying to break the golden chains.

"Ha." The flames almost reached Qing Que's chest; Tong Ying laughed coldly, retracting his hand, and Qing Que stumbled, almost falling down but still hanging on.

Tong Ying glanced at the huge boulder behind them; everything around was broken by spirit energy—everything except that boulder.

Something was off. Tong Ying looked at the three in front of him who intended to pick a fight, then frowned.

"I don't have the time to play with you guys."

Tong Ying's figure stood quietly afar, a burnt scent seemed to be in the air; though he didn't move, his presence was suffocating.

Cracks formed in the tattered ground, and Zhuo Yin's eyes widened in shock—nine dark red shadows stretched out from below Tong Ying's feet.

Under the dim sky, nine shadows rushed towards them at high speed; some crawled on the ground, while some crawled on the mountains beside them. They surrounded Zhuo Yin and the others closely.

They had nowhere to retreat, just when both sides had decided on fighting to the death, an accident happened.

"Click… Creak…" Tong Ying stopped his attack after hearing the sounds; upon turning his head, he saw the boulder moving away slowly.

There was a cave behind the huge rock, one that they couldn't see the end of. A person stood at the mouth of the cave—it was Ye Yin Ju, carrying Gu Ting Yu on his back!

Gu Ting Yu quietly lay on Ye Yin Ju's back; he had his head down so no one could see his expression.

"Xiao Yu!?" Nian Xing's mind went blank, he just jumped over to them without even thinking, but his hazy vision caused him pounce air instead, falling into the cave due to gravity.

Nian Xing wanted to leave the cave immediately, but before that could happen, he felt his body being squashed. Qing Que and Zhuo Yin were pushed into the cave too.

Their surroundings suddenly darkened, and when they finally realized what happened, the door of the cave had already closed.

It all happened in an instant, so even Tong Ying stood there in shock.

Outside the cave, Ye Yin Ju who was carrying Gu Ting Yu took a brief peek at Tong Ying, then turned around and sprinted away.

"You—stop!" A flash of uncertainty crossed Tong Ying's mind, but seeing Ye Yin Ju almost disappearing from his sights, he finally set his mind and raised his spirit power to follow Ye Yin Ju.

Tong Ying knew that Ye Yin Ju was hurt, but he was running away from his pursuer at high speed by tapping into the energy in his own soul—he was literally running away with his life, so even Tong Ying had a hard time getting near Ye Yin Ju.

Has he gone crazy?

Tong Ying couldn't comprehend how a man who used to be so stubborn and disciplined could just suddenly lose all control.

"Ye Yin Ju, what exactly are you thinking!" Such life-risking struggles couldn't be for the sake of getting glory.

Ye Yin Ju abruptly stopped running when Tong Ying almost caught up.

"There are many roads leading to this point in my life, but no matter if the barriers break or how strong one's spirit powers are, there can only be a single road out of this place."

Tong Ying stood behind Ye Yin Ju; hearing Ye Yin Ju's unclear muttering, he contemplated for a while, then his eyes suddenly widened.

"You really have become crazy…"

Staring at the back of the person in front of him, Tong Ying raised his hand. A wave of flames slashed towards Ye Yin Ju. Said man didn't even try to evade, and when the smoke was gone, all that was left were a few pieces of broken cloth.

The "Gu Ting Yu" on his back was just an illusion crafted with spirit power, something the Night Tribe often did to save themselves.

"Ha… That's a nice trick. No wonder I smelled his scent, but felt like something was off."

Having fallen for Ye Yin Ju's little trick (i), he turned around to go back to the cave, when suddenly a shadow came in front of him and Tong Ying was stopped by Ye Yin Ju.

Tong Ying grabbed a hold of Ye Yin Ju's collar and started yelling, as he could no longer hold his anger, "Why are you adding more chaos at a time like this! Get out of the way, I can still make it if I go find them now!!"

Instead of doing as Tong Ying said, Ye Yin Ju just looked at Tong Ying calmly, not saying a word.

Seeing Ye Yin Ju's silence and his dark eyes, Tong Ying became a little more serious too.

Ever since back when Tong Ying and Ye Yin Ju stood in front of the Evil Source, they had been polar opposites.

Though Tong Ying was extremely strong, he didn't like butting his head into things, as he was a lazy and somewhat lax person in nature.

Meanwhile, Ye Yin Ju was the opposite; though only a member of the Night Tribe, he had become extremely powerful, and his status and glory were all earned with bruises and cuts.

Tong Ying used to despise Ye Yin Ju's obedience and how he allowed himself to be used as a pawn, he never would have thought that the man who valued honor above everything else would betray the Evil Source.

"What are your reasons?" Tong Ying asked lightly, seeing that Ye Yin Ju had no intention of backing down.

T/N

(i) The Chinese here actually means "The trick of luring the tiger out of his own den", which means by getting the tiger away, one can get to his pups (the thing that's truly important).