The Cat Clan of East Mountain

Night fell, and the mountain forest lay silent.

Chu Liang walked alone along a country path outside the city.

East Mountain was not large, but its terrain was steep and treacherous, with few people ever setting foot there. The night wind howled bleakly, heavy with dampness. A mountain storm might have been on its way.

He held a jade talisman in his hand. A cinnabar Red Light upon it pointed the way, showing him the general direction and distance. Unless someone of great magical power erased the tracking spell on Madam Ming, she would not be able to escape the jade talisman's lock.

Proceeding cautiously all the way, Chu Liang arrived before a hidden cave dwelling when the moon hung high in the sky.

It was concealed behind a steep cliff amid the woods. Had the tracking jade talisman not guided him, he likely would never have spotted it. No wonder Estate Master Ming had searched in vain.

Now that he had found Madam Ming's whereabouts, he could finally set his mind at ease. With two swift leaps, he arrived at the cave entrance.

Out of courtesy, he did not break in directly, but knocked on the door.

Bang bang bang.

Bang bang bang.

After he knocked for quite some time, a sound somewhere between a beast's roar and a yawn came from within. Then the stone door was pulled open, and an enormous cat head poked out.

"Who is it?"

The fellow had a black-spotted cat head and a face full of sleepy languor. Fur and a long tail still covered his body, while only his torso had taken human form. Dressed in coarse cloth, he was clearly some minor demon lackey who could not yet transform his head and tail along with the rest of himself.

Chu Liang smiled. "I am a disciple of Shushan. I have come seeking Madam Ming of the Ming Estate in Xingzhou City. Please announce me."

"Shushan?" The little demon turned around lazily, then suddenly froze before jerking his head back up. "Shushan?"

"That's right, Shushan." Chu Liang nodded.

"Mother of—!" The little demon let out a shrill, cracking cry. His entire body suddenly sprang ten feet into the air, and he fled back inside as though running for his life, shouting as he went, "King! King! Disaster! A cultivator from the Shushan Sect has come to our door! Meow-aow!"

"Meow-aow—" "Hey-hey-hey!" "Meow—"

Cat cries immediately rose and fell throughout the cave dwelling. Who knew how many demons had been startled awake from their sleep.

For these wild mountain demons, fear of the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands was truly carved into their bones.

Chu Liang stood at the entrance with perfect courtesy. After quite a while, a lanky man with fluffy hair and his head held high emerged with a group of little demons. His features really did bear some resemblance to Madam Ming's, so he was presumably her elder brother.

Behind him were more than ten little demons, most of them cat-headed and human-bodied, their transformations incomplete. Some had not transformed at all and merely lay there as large cats—orange, white, tabby, every kind imaginable.

"I am the demon king of this place, Cat King." The demon king stared at Chu Liang. "Why have you come to my cave dwelling in the dead of night?"

"My apologies for the disturbance." Chu Liang said, "There is a Madam Ming from Xingzhou City who has received an investiture from my Shushan Sect, yet she recently vanished. I came at someone's request to find her."

"What Madam Ming, what Madam Dark—we know nothing!" Cat King said in a hostile tone.

"Mm..." Chu Liang maintained his friendly tone. "To be frank, my sect has a tracking spell, and it indicates that she is here."

"Then perhaps your spell is wrong..." Cat King frowned. "Let me tell you, every demon in our cave is a good demon who does no evil. But if you insist on coming here in the middle of the night to pick a fight, I'm not afraid of you!"

"I absolutely did not come to pick a fight. But if it is convenient... could you allow me to enter and search the place?" Chu Liang asked.

"Not convenient!" Cat King refused without the slightest mercy.

Chu Liang smiled. "Is that so..."

"Save, save, save... save me... No, Young Master, spare my life!"

A moment later.

Cat King, bound to the ground by the Demon-Binding Rope in a classic Turtle Shell Bind, cried out for help in despair.

As a heroic and virtuous demon who had grown up in the wild mountains, he did not think being captured was frightening, nor did he think being killed was frightening. Wanting him to beg for mercy, even once? Dream on!

But being tied up in such a posture before his dozen or so underlings? He was terrified to death!

If even a scrap of today's scene got out, Cat King would never be able to show his face within a hundred miles!

"Then I shall ask the same question: may I look for Madam Ming?" Chu Liang asked with unwavering politeness.

"Quick, take the young master to see my little sister!" Cat King roared.

The group of little demons around them, who had been shrinking back in fear and dared not approach, immediately led Chu Liang into the cave dwelling and around to an inner stone chamber.

Chu Liang did not forget to drag Cat King along as he entered.

Pushing open the door, he saw Madam Ming tied up with ropes as well. Naturally, the method was nowhere near as professional as the Demon-Binding Rope; it merely crudely restricted her movements.

"Young Master Chu?" The moment Madam Ming saw Chu Liang, her eyes lit up.

"Alas!" Cat King let out a heavy sigh.

"I heard from Estate Master Ming that you returned home to visit your parents and elder brother. What exactly happened?" Chu Liang asked as he had the little demons untie Madam Ming.

"It is a long story..." Madam Ming glanced at Cat King, her gaze dimming.

"Our family were originally just small mountain cats living on East Mountain. We never fought with others or harmed anyone, and we lived without a care." Madam Ming spoke slowly. "But when I returned here the other day, I discovered that both our parents had already passed away, while my elder brother... had opened a cave dwelling and become a mountain king."

"When I came back, I happened to encounter a demon king from another mountain visiting here. The Tiger King took one look at me and insisted on making me his wife..."

"I swore I would rather die than submit, so my elder brother tied me up here."

"Hah." Chu Liang looked at Cat King. "So this is the kind of brother you are."

"I'm not!" Cat King shouted angrily. "You don't understand anything at all!"

He turned to Madam Ming and said, "Didn't I already tell you how our parents died? In recent years, more and more foreign demons have come here. East Mountain is only so large. We have to fight over territory and food, yet we do not dare go toward the human cities, so all we can do is fight and snatch from one another! They both died fighting other demons."

"Do you think I wanted to become a mountain king? I took in every wandering cat of East Mountain and established this cave dwelling so that the cat clan of East Mountain could have a place to stand!"

At the height of his grief and indignation, Cat King broke into tears. "Back when my cave dwelling had just opened, there were only a dozen or so demons and seven or eight weapons..."

"Over the years, I have painstakingly managed it just to barely survive here. Then, a few days ago, I befriended the Tiger King of Hidden Forest Mountain. His cultivation and power far surpassed mine, and he was willing to make ties with fellow clans. I thought that if I could befriend him, we would never again have to fear other demons stealing our territory on East Mountain. That was why I went to such lengths to befriend him and invited him to a feast in my cave dwelling."

"Who would have thought... who would have thought my little sister would return at precisely this time."

"That Tiger King is lecherous beyond measure. The moment he saw my little sister's beauty, he said that as long as I married her to him, he would protect the cat clan of East Mountain forever. If I refused, then... then he would very likely attack us!" Cat King said helplessly.

"But did you not tell him that your little sister already had a husband?" Chu Liang asked.

"Of course I told him!" Cat King nodded heavily.

"And then?" Chu Liang asked again.

Cat King said, "He got even more excited."