Beware Of Chicken-Novel

Che Han could only gape as the powerful expert descended from the Elder’s box, dragging the Patriarch, Elder Chongyun, and Elder Lulai with him.

His might did not rage and flare like the Patriarch’s. Instead, it was like the sun in the sky, looking down upon them from higher than they could possibly conceive of, yet still all encompassing.

Han paused and turned to Biren. Biren stood up beside him.

Han felt Yushang stiffen beside him, and Shao Heng frowned slightly.

“… you too?” Han asked.

Biren… Biren looked slightly remorseful.

All three of his closest friends… they had been spies the entire time. Han felt a hammer-blow to his gut. Part of him wanted to rage, to label them both as traitors. He wanted to demand the truth. Was their friendship a mere convenience?

Han instead took a deep breath.

The Emperor rarely ordered such investigations, but if they had legitimately been infiltrated by demons then… wasn’t this a good thing? Would not the agents of the Emperor crush the foul beasts?

Han swallowed again.

“Are we really being…?” he asked.

“Being investigated for demonic activity? Yeah. That said… you want front row seats? And maybe we can swing a little bit of protection, with you guys being our known friends,” Yun Ren asked, offering his hand.

Han glanced towards Yushang and Heng. Yushang pondered for a moment, then smiled and nodded.

“I think we can trust them,” Yushang declared.

Shao Heng glanced back at the arena, where Ri Zu was walking out of the medical access point, trailed by Master Lishu and the rest of the Medical Pavilion disciples.

“I owe Ri Zu my life. If she needs me to stand beside her, then I shall stand beside her,” Shao Heng said, resolute.

Han licked his lips. Then he turned back to Yun Ren and nodded.

The three of them stood. Han felt all the eyes on them, including his own family, staring at him in askance. He locked eyes with the Patriarch of his family, old grandpa Hanbin. The man looked extremely worried.

Han swallowed and looked forward as they entered the arena. The Old Monster was simply standing there with his arms crossed, a small smile on his face. He seemed inordinately pleased about the entire affair.

As one they knelt. Master Lishu and the medics also bowed their heads.

There was a pop and Ri Zu turned into a rat.

Then, as one, everybody turned to look at Yun Ren.

“What animal are you?” Yushang whispered eagerly.

Yun Ren huffed. “I’m just a normal guy!” he shot back, his voice low.

Yushang pouted.

The old man chuckled, and at once all attention was redirected back to him.

“Hmmm. I asked for you three, yet you brought more before me,” the old man said, eyeing all of them with amusement.

“Yes.” Bi De took the lead, his voice the exact same in his chicken form. It was slightly disconcerting to hear that deep, smooth voice coming out of the animal. “They knew nothing of our mission, yet their assistance has been invaluable.”

The old man nodded and stroked his beard.

“Very well! Now then, tell me what you have learned.”

To hear things from Bi De’s point of view was enlightening as he described their infiltration into the Sect.

It was a good question. How did one investigate demonic corruption in the middle of potentially hostile territory? Bi De had started by going to parties, and when those proved to not have all the information he needed he eventually came upon an answer.

They were mentioned as the unwitting help that had been key to his saturation of the entire Sect and all the attending mortals—Han was just in awe of how much Qi the rooster had expended to make things possible.

There was a cough from behind him, and the man turned to where Elder Chongyun was standing and sweating slightly.

Shen Yu raised an eyebrow. “You may speak.”

“Yes, Expert. The passage of these herbs was encouraged by myself after I noticed their properties, and had even had bundles sent north to aid our fellows in their battle against the isolated demonic enclaves,” the Elder said, bowing his head. “I personally ensured that all of our core disciples took some.”

Shen Yu actually paused for a moment, before nodding.

“This one disagrees with just about every part of their philosophy… but he can say that they have not been heavily infiltrated by demons,” the Rooster said, his voice calm and matter of fact.

All of a sudden, the Elders, who had been looking extremely worried, relaxed slightly.

The old monster nodded.

“Ri Zu,” he commanded.

The little black rat squeaked and stepped up.

For Lishu of the Medical Pavilion, it was rather surreal to hear a talking rat speak on her time spent infiltrating his domain.

He supposed he should have been mad; but the simple fact was Ri Zu was too helpful to have wished any of the patients harm… unless they had been demonic. In which case they would have had no protection anyway.

How ironic.

“Ri Zu believes Master Lishu and his Medical Pavilion beyond reproach. It was Master Lishu who taught Ri Zu the finer points of treating demonic wounds, and he was obviously concerned about the state of the disciples in the north. He was also the one to perform the autopsy on the corpse of Zang Li,” Ri Zu said, her voice steady.

Lishu kept his head bowed as he felt the gaze of the monster in front of him land on his back. He could normally feel people; the blood in their veins, the spit in their mouth, the sweat on their skin… even the Patriarch was available to Lishu’s senses.

Shen Yu was not. It was like he was looking at a naked sword rather than a man. Lishu could feel no blood or moisture. Shen Yu was more a being carved out of solidified Qi than a human.

“Oh? High praise for the Medical Pavilion, Ri Zu. Indeed, I have witnessed the changes you were allowed to make to his domain. Tell me, boy, why did you implement this one’s ideas?” Shen Yu asked.

“Good ideas are not limited by age. Their benefits were self-evident, and were therefore implemented after a trial period,” Lishu stated, his voice as calm as he could make it.

“Look at me,” the man commanded after a moment, and Lishu raised his head to stare at Shen Yu.

“Hmm,” Shen Yu said. “Why are you in this sect, Lishu of the Medical Pavilion?”

Lishu blinked at the question.

“Because despite their faults… they save the most lives,” Lishu answered honestly. It was the naked truth. It was why he had joined. It was why, in the beginning, he had tried so hard to change things.

Until the decades had sapped that drive from him.

Shen Yu looked at him for a moment longer, before nodding. The man tossed a scroll at Lishu, and he nearly fumbled the catch.

“Should you desire to leave this sect, read it,” Shen Yu stated simply.

Lishu’s jaw dropped.

Shen Yu ignored him after that. “So, Ri Zu, your verdict?”

The rat bowed her head.

“Outside the Medical Pavilion, this sect is abhorrent… but they are not demons,” Ri Zu said.

Then, Shen Yu turned to the last one in line.

Chongyun felt his heartbeat slowing as the last one, Yun Ren, gave his testimony.

This was simultaneously disastrous and better than he could have hoped.

At first he had been horrified that Zang Li getting eaten by demons had somehow doomed them all. Shen Yu called Master Rou his grandson, and the man’s pet chicken was here too.

Though it didn’t change the fact that this one had somehow gotten access to their secret archives so easily.

And what only added to his ire was the fact that none of them were here. Just where were they?

“So, yeah. No demons to report, save for the guy who already bit the dust,” Yun Ren finished.

There was silence as the Sect held its breath.

Shen Yu’s face was neutral.

The two animals and one man looked at each other.

“Though them being demonic in nature would satisfy certain urges… this one prefers the truth to an inconvenient lie. They are guilty of many things, but being demons is not one of them,” Bi De stated.

All of them bowed their heads… and then the air shuddered. Chongyun frowned as the mist started gathering in the arena.

The mist started to take shape. To Chongyun’s surprise, it was crackling with lightning, in addition to odd dark tint—

Members like the Patriarch, whose eyes had just about bugged out of his skull on seeing the woman. He instantly started to thrash, a snarl erupting out of his throat.

Chongyun blinked. Just what exactly was causing this reaction?

Chongyun watched curiously as the woman rushed to where a meteor had fallen—and that meteor resolved itself into a man who looked like their own Patriarch. Not exactly like him, but the familial resemblance was clear.

He expected her to attack him. Instead, the beautiful fox woman picked him up and started tending to his wounds.

Chongyun felt a pit of worry start to form in his gut.