Every time Yin Qian has one of her recurring battle dreams, she never could recall the names and places as clearly as she did this time round.
Lord Father.. Jin Feng.. Who are those people? Where is this Nine Heavenly Cities I dreamed of? Why does everything feel so familiar even though I’ve never left Yu Lan Mountain even once in my life?..
Yin Qian tried to recall as much as she can about the dream, writing down every detail she could muster effort to hold on to before it slipped away into a distant memory again.
Out of a sudden, a loud bellow of a beast broke all silence of the peaceful night. The ground even trembled a little in return. Yin Qian’s eyes shot through the darkness and her face lost all colour. How can this be?! There have never been any beast around here before!
Rushing to the nearest sharp object she could find, Yin Qian shivered in the dead silence, afraid the beast could sense her fear. As she clutched her pendant tightly with her right palm while fending a useless kitchen knife in her left, a huge BANG had half the hut exposed to the night sky! It ca..can’t be.. a Zhu Jian leopard .. in the middle of Yu Lan Mountain?! It has never happened before!
The Zhu Jian leopard was considered one of the godly beasts. Known for its remarkable strength, it was said that one smite of its paw could beat its target further into the ground than the eighteen known levels of the underworld. With a single jade green eye in the middle of its head, the Zhu Jian was not a pretty sight to behold. Although it is often called a leopard, it was never more like a leopard besides its long spotted tail. Sensitive to even the slightest movement, the Zhu Jian was said to have ears of the ox and the agile movement of a ferocious tiger about to hunt its prey.
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Before Yin Qian could even moved a hand to brandish her useless make-shift weapon to defend herself, a sudden shower of red and white light descended from the heavens and stood in between her and the Zhu Jian leopard.
The Zhu Jian was confused and blinded by the sudden heavenly Red Rains. It got even more agitated and was pouncing about blindly, causing the earth to shake with such immense might that cracks started forming, threatening to swallow everything whole. The Red Rains shone far and bright, forcing Yin Qian to close her eyes for fear of being blinded by its intensity.
A lone dark figure descended like a bolt of lightning right infront of her. Still reeling from the lights of the Red Rain, Yin Qian could barely make out the figure standing in front of her.
CRASH! A bolt of white lightning tore across the cloudless skies. With one hand raised towards the heavens, the uninvited guest opened his palms and caught a bolt of lightning with his bare hands.
Yin Qian could not believe her eyes. First, a Zhu Jian leopard appearing out of no where in the middle of the autumn night on Yu Lan Mountain. Now, a heavenly warrior descending from his post to protect her from the terrifying beast?! She has never seen a heavenly warrior up close before. Yin Qian thought to herself, Wait a minute, he doesn’t look like those heavenly warriors they often spoke of at the tea house tales. At least no one she’s ever heard about in those tea house tales were capable of holding bare lightning in one’s hands.
Yin Qian might have gotten carried away with her thoughts at the moment and seemed to forgot about the huge three metre tall beast. The heavenly warrior however, stood firm in the face of the Zhu Jian leopard. With a swing of his hands, the lightning bolt strike the very ground just inches away from the leopard’s front paw. The beast was caught by surprised by the warrior’s dirty trick and fell back in shock. Recovering from embarrassment, it jumped into position, readying itself to advance towards its prey.v