How to Repay So Many Favors

Nanhua County, atop a tavern roof.

The cat sat primly upright, staring up at the swallow flying in from afar. As the swallow descended, she slowly lowered her head until they were eye to eye. "Did you see it?"

"Reporting to Three Flower Lady, the battle over there was far too fierce. Heaven and earth were darkened, and clouds, mist, dust, and smoke blocked my view. I did not see much. Besides, both sides' techniques and divine powers were too formidable—I did not dare watch for long. I only saw two Buddhas from the Western Heaven nearly burned to death by fire clouds flying in from the west. Sir defeated the Northern Dipper Sage, one of the Four Cardinal Sages, with an unknown divine thunder technique, and then returned."

"..."

The cat stared straight at him, her face grave.

After a brief silence, the swallow spoke again. "Though the ancient gods of the Heavenly Palace have many people, Sir has no shortage of helpers either. By my estimation, the situation now should be far better than Sir initially expected. Judging from the last scene I saw, victory should already be tilting toward Sir's side."

"!"

The cat's expression became even graver. Only then did she ask, "What helpers are there?"

"For instance, the Snake Immortal of North Qin Mountain, the mountain god from the south, my own ancestor, the two White Rhinoceros Great Yaos from overseas, and some other yao and ghosts. They are likely old friends of Fulong Temple's forebears." The swallow paused. "That Great Yao of the Yuezhou Fox Clan came too. She used the Fox Ancestor's Severed Tail to transform into a Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox. It was precisely because she arrived that Sir's burden was eased considerably."

"We're going to win, meow?"

"I'll go take another look."