Acting as Host, Hunting the Deer in the South (Part One)

Yuchen swore he would gather experts and bring the full force of a lion hunting a rabbit to bear on killing Su Che.

Elsewhere, Su Che and the Yin-Yang Dharma King put on their masks. After a familiar wave of dizziness, they returned beneath that familiar bronze tree.

Returning today, Su Che looked at the statues of immortals and gods filling the sky and felt a deeper understanding stir within him.

He wondered whether these statues depicted figures from the Ancient Heavenly Court, placed here by Zhongyuan in remembrance. Had the giant dragon that carried a candle flame through the aurora once numbered among the Ancient Demon Gods?

The past stretched back beyond memory. Time reduced everything to dust, yet some things even time could not erase.

At the long table, there was no sign of Zhongyuan in his bronze mask. Only two lonely figures stood there: Su Che and the Yin-Yang Dharma King.

"And him?"

"He had business elsewhere. I'm hosting today."

The Yin-Yang Dharma King produced a mask from somewhere and put it on. Nine savage snake heads adorned it, their tongues flicking out.

"What? If you think something's wrong, would you rather take over?"

Su Che touched Lord Dongwang's Mask on his face.

You could get someone to cover for you at a gathering like this?

Perhaps I'd still underestimated Zhongyuan's powers.

"What were the words again?" The Yin-Yang Dharma King tapped his mask lightly. "Come home, come home..."

The calls sounded like the mutterings of a divine shaman from the benighted days of the Ancient Era, or a curse from a distant past.

For some unknown reason, Zhongyuan had left the gathering in the Yin-Yang Dharma King's hands today. This remnant of a soul, whose original self should already have reincarnated, handled the task as lightly