Du Yu stepped outside and began considering what was suspicious about the old woman. Just as he had during Yi Shoots Down Nine Suns, he listed every inconsistency so he could find a lead more quickly.
First, the old woman clearly knew her son was dead, yet she had not reported it to the authorities.
Second, the old woman showed no grief whatsoever.
Third, that pheasant. No matter how hale and hearty the old woman was, there was no way she could catch a pheasant that moved so swiftly.
Xiao Qi listened to Du Yu and wrote everything down so she would not forget.
"So, Du Yu, what should we do now? Go tell Cui Jue?" Xiao Qi asked tentatively.
"No, we can't go to Cui Jue yet. There's one key figure we haven't met."
"A key figure?" Xiao Qi was puzzled. "You've met the old woman, Cui Jue, and even Constable Li. Who else haven't you met?"
"The Fierce Tiger."
"The Fierce Tiger?" Xiao Qi froze for a moment. "What are you planning?"
"Only Cui Jue Slays the Tiger, but Du Yu doesn't?" Du Yu sneered. "I want to see just what sort of beast this man-eating tiger is."
With that, Du Yu headed toward nearby Cloud Dream Mountain.
A thousand years had changed the mountain's appearance, but its overall shape remained the same. Du Yu slowly followed the narrow trail uphill.
Who knew how many times flowers had bloomed and fallen on Cloud Dream Mountain over those thousand years? Did the great mountain have feelings too?
"Little Zhongli." Du Yu closed his eyes and found Zhongli Chun sitting before him, waiting.
"Du Yu!" Zhongli Chun smiled. "I heard everything. Don't worry, I'll protect you."
"Ha!" Du Yu grinned foolishly along with her. "That's not what I meant. I wanted to ask how you feel now that you're back here."
"How I feel?" Zhongli Chun looked outside through Du Yu's eyes, and a touch of melancholy did stir in her heart. After a moment's silence, she said, "I never imagined I would come back here one day... I'd almost forgotten this place... But now that I see it again, my heart feels so warm..."
"That's right," Du Yu said. "These are the beautiful memories in your heart. Every one of us has beautiful memories in our hearts."
"Beautiful memories..." Zhongli Chun repeated. "Speaking of which, I really miss those four-the old man, Sun Bin, Su Qin, and Zhang Yi."
"Hm?" Du Yu sensed something was off. Wasn't someone missing? "What about Pang Juan?"
"Pang Juan? Who's Pang Juan?"
"Hahahaha!" Du Yu burst out laughing deep in the mountains. "That's just like you, Little Zhongli. Never mind. Forgetting him is fine. Just remember those four."
Du Yu wandered through the mountains for four hours. It was already well past midnight, yet he had found no trace of the Fierce Tiger.
"Xiao Qi, is this Fierce Tiger... actually on this mountain?" Du Yu asked.
"Yes." Xiao Qi scratched her head. "There might be places you haven't checked yet... Let me draw you a map..."
"Draw me a map?" Du Yu laughed in exasperation. "Sure, you can draw one, but how are you going to show it to me?"
The moment Du Yu finished speaking, a map appeared right before his eyes. Startled, he reached out to touch it, only to discover that he could not touch it at all.
"What's going on?"
Xiao Qi said timidly, "The reason I became a Voice Transmitter... is that I can transmit images..."
"Transmit... images?" Du Yu examined the map blocking his view. It really did show the entire mountain. "That's incredible. Could you send me some comic books?"
"Du Yu!" Xiao Qi said angrily. "Have you finished looking? If you have, I'm taking it away. Otherwise, it'll block your view..."
"I'm done, I'm done." Du Yu gave a mischievous grin. "I never knew you were so capable! Even Sister Qianqiu can't do that."
"How is that the same?" Xiao Qi said quietly. "Sister Qianqiu really can't transmit images, but her ability is special too. She lets you bring small objects with you when you enter a legend."
"Huh?" Now Du Yu understood. He could not bring objects along every time he entered a legend—only when Dong Qianqiu was his Voice Transmitter. "So the Legend Management Bureau really is an interesting place... Does every Voice Transmitter have a different ability?"
"Yes..." Xiao Qi said. "But most of the time, you'll only be working with Sister Qianqiu, so the others' abilities don't really matter..."
Du Yu fell silent and searched several more hidden mountain trails, following the map Xiao Qi had drawn in his mind. Yet no matter how much he shouted on the mountain, there was still no sign of the Fierce Tiger. Was the Fierce Tiger really such a sound sleeper? There was a living, breathing person right here-did the tiger not want to eat him?
Zhongli Chun remained seated within Du Yu's mind, looking outside through his eyes. Anyone who did not know the circumstances might have thought she was sitting in a movie theater. After all, there was a brightly lit screen in that entirely dark space, and Zhongli Chun sat before it, watching every rustle of grass on the screen.
"Du Yu!" Zhongli Chun suddenly called.
"Yeah! What is it, Little Zhongli?" Du Yu stopped and replied.
"Turn left here," Zhongli Chun said.
"Left?" Du Yu turned his head to look. That side was overgrown with weeds. "There's no path on the left. Are you sure?"
"I'm sure." Zhongli Chun nodded. "That way leads to a grotto. The old man used to love staying there. If we can't find the Fierce Tiger anywhere on the mountain, we might as well look there."
"A grotto?" Du Yu slapped his forehead. "Right! Little Zhongli, you know some of this mountain's hidden spots. You might really be a huge help this time."
Du Yu pushed aside the weeds and headed deeper into the mountain.
After another hour or so, a concealed cave suddenly came into view. Who knew how long it had been since anyone tended the place? Weeds completely covered the entrance. Without Zhongli Chun's guidance, anyone would have mistaken it for an ordinary rock face.
Du Yu cautiously approached the entrance and peered inside, but it was pitch-black. He could not see a thing.
"Du Yu, it's too dangerous here. I'll lend you my strength," Zhongli Chun said coldly. "I heard breathing inside."
"So it really is in there?" Du Yu paused and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his gaze instantly turned cold and sharp.
"Let's go, Little Zhongli."
Du Yu softened his footsteps and slowly entered the cave. To his surprise, it was not only extraordinarily deep but also a tangled maze of passages.
"We're going to get lost at this rate..." Du Yu looked at the three-way fork ahead. "Which way now, Little Zhongli?"
"That, I don't know. I only knew where this cave was. I've never been inside."
Du Yu could only inch forward through the darkness, following the breathing Zhongli Chun heard. To his surprise, before long, he spotted a light.
"Someone's here?!" Du Yu had never imagined there would be candlelight in this pitch-black cave.
Listening to the rustling beyond the bend, Du Yu grew particularly tense. Was someone really living here?
The only way to learn the answer now was to keep going. Du Yu mustered his courage and walked toward the light beyond the distant bend.
After all, with Zhongli Chun's strength at his disposal, he had nothing to fear, whether it was a person or a tiger.
But when Du Yu actually rounded the bend and saw the candlelight, he still felt a little frightened.
A person or a tiger would have been fine. At least either would have made sense.
But the tiger before him was holding a candle, sitting cross-legged on a stone bed, and carefully studying the writing on the wall. What kind of bizarre situation was this?
It was neither tiger nor human.
The Fierce Tiger suddenly caught a scent and hurriedly turned around, meeting Du Yu's eyes.
"Who's there?" Human words suddenly came from the Fierce Tiger's deep, powerful throat.
"Huh?!" Du Yu jumped. "What the hell is going on?! How come you spoke first?"
Seeing this, Xiao Qi seemed to understand something. She told Du Yu, "This tiger seems to have awakened its intelligence. It's cultivating to become a demon."
"A tiger... demon?" Du Yu began to understand too. "So demons, devils, ghosts, and monsters really do exist..."
"Monsters and spirit creatures are most likely to emerge in eras abundant with spiritual energy. Besides, Cloud Dream Mountain was once the home of the Master of Ghost Valley, so its spiritual energy is even richer. It's not strange for a monster to emerge here," Xiao Qi said.
"Then what should I do? Slay demons and vanquish devils?" Du Yu asked tentatively.
"Let's see what's going on first..." Xiao Qi said quietly. "Although demons are unusual beings born from the gathered essence of heaven and earth, animals are good by nature. Most don't hurt people."
Don't hurt people?
Du Yu found that a little absurd. This tiger demon had eaten the old woman's son!
But then another thought struck Du Yu. Could this tiger demon be the very reason the old woman had not reported it?
"Who, exactly, are you?" The Fierce Tiger stared warily at Du Yu with emerald-green eyes.
"I..." Du Yu had never considered how to handle something like this and was at a loss. "Brother Tiger, hold on. Let me think about how to put this."
"Leave, now. This is, my, territory," the Fierce Tiger told Du Yu. "If you don't leave, I won't, be polite."
Du Yu scratched his head. He had not expected the Fierce Tiger to be so polite. In that case, there was no need for him to stand on ceremony.
Du Yu walked straight over to the Fierce Tiger and sat on the stone bed. "Brother Tiger, it's not every day someone comes to visit you. Don't be so quick to chase me off. What are you reading?"
The Fierce Tiger immediately bared sharp fangs and glared viciously at Du Yu.
"Huh? This is..."
Du Yu casually glanced at the writing covering the stone walls and could not help gaping in astonishment.
The seven large characters for "Thirteen Chapters of the Diplomats’ Book" were clearly carved into the wall before him, followed by densely packed smaller writing. Looking around the cave, he saw not only the life story of the Master of Ghost Valley carved there, but also his various theoretical works, including "Book of the School of Diplomacy," "Seven Arts of the Yin Talisman Canon," and "The Inner Biography of Yin Xi, Guardian of the Pass." This cave contained the entirety of Guiguzi's lifelong learning.
Du Yu could not help streaming tears after seeing it. "Brother Tiger, reading Guiguzi by candlelight in the dead of night-you truly are a role model for us all... If I had your perseverance, I'd be at a Project 985 or Project 211 university by now..."
Seeing Du Yu's strange behavior, the Fierce Tiger was a little bewildered too.
"What you say, I don't understand. Can you understand, what is written, on these walls? The words on these walls, I also, often don't understand..." the Fierce Tiger said, sounding rather ashamed.
"Brother Tiger, forgive your little brother for speaking frankly, but your intelligence has only just awakened. Isn't this reading material a bit too profound? When our human children first learn to speak, they read things like the Three Character Classic or the Hundred Family Surnames. Who starts straight off with Guiguzi?"
Before you continue