Chapter Ninety-Eight: Flying Shadow

Qi Xiao had already accumulated considerable confidence and experience in crafting spatial storage artifacts, but spatial materials were precious, so he had never actually put his knowledge into practice. This time, he intended to begin after the trial was over and he had returned.

The timing was about right. Sensing the mark he had left behind, Qi Xiao took a different route toward Hope’s location, gathering a few more alchemical materials along the way.

Hope had spent the past three days in constant terror, lying motionless at the bottom of the lake and not daring even to sleep. Every so often, he would raise his head above the water to glance around, and he had frightened the nearby herd of six-step shadow-seeking beasts badly enough.

“Could it really have been my imagination...?” he muttered miserably. “How could I have had such a vivid dream, and even told him our clan’s secrets? How could I have been so foolish... But his expression was so much like Grandpa Scape’s... And who was the one who attacked me? Why did they only knock me out? I wasn’t injured in any other way, and nothing was missing...”

For three days, Hope had wrestled with these thoughts, yet he still had not told the clan directly. After all, if they learned of it, they would surely wake and come over to investigate, and who knew how many of them would rouse themselves in a grand uproar. If, in the end, it truly had only been his own dream, then his guilt would be enormous. Hope did not want to drag those weary elders out of their slumber and make them suffer for something like this.

Just as Hope was being tormented by his own chaotic thoughts, a clear and gentle voice suddenly reached him.

“Young man, you seem even more troubled now than you were in the dream. Is something weighing on your mind?”

Hope jerked his head up. His eyes widened as he stared at the boy who had appeared before him without warning: dressed in a long black robe, holding a jade-green staff, his expression gentle.

“You-you-you... How did you get in here? Why didn’t I feel a thing?”

Qi Xiao looked faintly puzzled.

“Young man, I did greet you by the lakeshore. You seemed to be deep in thought and did not notice me, so I took the liberty of coming directly before you. I apologize.”

“The... the Traveler?! N-no, it’s fine. I just didn’t expect... you would really come back.”

Hope still looked astonished, but he seemed to make no connection at all between Qi Xiao and the person who had attacked him. He did not even question Qi Xiao’s identity. There was an innocence in him utterly out of keeping with his appearance. Qi Xiao had even gone so far as to prepare a rather presentable new staff so he would not be recognized, and had not dared bring the Dragonflame Staff with him.

“Yes,” Qi Xiao said. “I am a traveler of dreams, come precisely to resolve the hardships of those who dream. I can sense your pain, and your concern for your clan. I am deeply moved, and so I have come to help you.”

Qi Xiao’s features already inspired goodwill, and with that deliberately benevolent expression, not a trace of suspicion could rise in Hope’s heart.

“But our clan’s affliction... We once invited two official wizards to help, and even that did not solve it. Are you really able to do anything... Of course, I am not doubting you! It’s just that your strength does not seem to have reached the level of an official wizard yet... I wouldn’t want to burden you for nothing.”

Qi Xiao smiled.

“Our order was established precisely to resolve all kinds of difficult problems. Even if I cannot solve this one in the end, my teacher will come. Please rest assured. Where do your elders live? May I go and speak with them?”

Since the matter concerned his clan’s elders, Hope finally became a little more guarded.

“That... Mr. Traveler, because of the modifications they underwent, and because their original bodies had already been damaged once by the curse, most of them are asleep most of the time. I’m afraid it will be very hard for you to contact them... And I don’t even know whether they dream.”

Qi Xiao had never intended to contact the clan’s upper ranks directly. He had merely been using retreat as a way to advance. So he complied easily.

“Then let us first go and see the younger sister you mentioned. She is comparatively normal, is she not?”

Seeing that Hope still looked somewhat hesitant, Qi Xiao added, “Rest assured, I won’t disturb her. I’ll only look from a distance to see what condition she is in. If you’re worried, you may come with me. I promise I won’t interfere with her. You have already experienced my ability to hide myself once.”

Hope sighed.

“All right, sir. It’s difficult for me to leave this lake. Once I go out, I’ll be plagued by the curse... I’ll have one of the six-step shadow-seeking beasts take you there. Please try not to disturb her... I’m begging you.”

Six-step shadow-seeking beast... so that was what those beasts were called.

Qi Xiao understood, and assured him, “Rest assured, I will not disturb her. Our order has always done exactly as it says.”

That much, at least, was the truth. Qi Xiao did not want to directly meet the future great boss at this time; he only intended to observe first.

“You may come up. I have already informed Flying Shadow. It will take you there,” Hope said softly.

Qi Xiao detected no sign of any communication with the outside world, not even the faintest ripple of a signal. He had no idea how that message had been conveyed.

Though curious, he knew it was not important for now, so he nodded and rose to the surface.

A six-step shadow-seeking beast was already kneeling before him, inviting him to mount its back. Qi Xiao recognized at once that it was the same leader of the beast pack that had once come to seek him out.

“Flying Shadow, is it?” he asked.

The beast gave a snorting whinny in confirmation, and Qi Xiao swung himself up onto its back.

The moment he settled astride Flying Shadow, he felt an unusual steadiness. Though the beast was not especially large, its muscles flowed cleanly beneath the skin, and its broad, flat back provided a comfortable seat for a rider.

Qi Xiao lightly grasped the mane at its neck, feeling the power coiled beneath its hide. Flying Shadow rose to its feet with smooth, swift movements, so steady that Qi Xiao scarcely felt a bump.

Flying Shadow let out a long neigh, and the other six-step shadow-seeking beasts answered in kind, as if bidding farewell to their leader. Then Flying Shadow broke into a run, and Qi Xiao could feel the strong force of its acceleration.

Its six hooves struck the ground with a crisp rhythm, yet even at full speed Qi Xiao remained perfectly steady. Even though he had long grown used to riding the Azure Veil, he had to admit that mounting a beast of this kind was a wholly different and novel experience.

Flying Shadow raced through the forest, the scenery streaming past in a blur: trees, flowers, grasses, and the occasional raptor wheeling overhead. It was strangely like watching the world pass by from a train in his previous life.

The wind howled at Qi Xiao’s ears. He could feel its force, yet the gale raised by Flying Shadow’s speed did not discomfort him. On the contrary, it brought with it a fierce and exhilarating sense of release. For the first time, he truly understood Feng’s love for the wind. There really was a kind of freedom in it, a heady joy that set the heart alight.