Condemning the Heavens

Hei Gou scratched his head in embarrassment for a bit of time and said no more. The beasts kept arriving from within the Northern Taiga. Some were wounded after encountering humans on the way. But as long as they had not died, these beasts would continue onwards towards the task that had been given to them by the Celestial Dog.

"I am likely to be chased even more vigorously after this," Hei Gou said after a bit of time. "Previously, I would have been attacked due to the fact that I ran away from home, and any Primordial Beast that saw me would kill me, but no one would be sent to hunt me down."

"Now I am using my power to rouse beast hordes even when I have not been permitted to do so. They might even send hunters after us."

"Is that different from the company that’s chasing us?" Xue Wei grinned. "We are outcasts; neither beasts nor humans will hesitate to kill us. Being chased might prove problematic, but how are they going to locate us later on?"

"We will just take a quick trip to Lingyun town, and then head to the center of the continent. I am sure that it will be even harder for them to locate us in that place."

Hei Gou nodded his head. The slight insecurity in his heart vanished when he saw that Xue Wei had no fear about the future.

"Right, let them chase us if they want!" Hei Gou grinned as he looked at the many beasts that were moving towards Lingyun town. Once all of them had passed the two of them, Xue Wei and Hei Gou finally continued on to their destination.

The distance was short, and all the beasts had run rampant into the town. Although they were doing their best to not destroy the village itself, it had been left to the elements, and the snow had almost completely buried the area.

Many of the houses had roofs that had collapsed from heavy snow and lack of treatment; there were houses that had turned to ruins, and only a couple of the houses had held up against the strong weather.

Every road in the city was currently filled with Fierce Beasts that patrolled the area, on the constant lookout for humans.

Here and there, the clashing of weapons and claws could be heard. Although the humans had done what they could to hide themselves, they had not all been successful. A few of the humans had been unnerved by the sheer amount of beasts, resulting in them being found.

Xue Wei strolled into town together with Hei Gou. Neither of them hid their presence, nor did they try to sneak in. Instead, they just walked leisurely, as if there was no one hunting them.

Many of the humans who had been laying in wait for Xue Wei to arrive saw them enter the town. Xue Wei had removed the bamboo hat, revealing his features, and everyone could recognize him right away. While they did recognize him, none of them could remember ever seeing anyone as handsome as Hei Gou.

"Primordial Beast," someone muttered to himself, and at that moment everyone reached the exact same conclusion.

There was no longer any doubt about Xue Wei colluding with a beast considering that a whole beast horde had been roused to attack the city at the same time as Xue Wei appeared.

No human from the Kingdom of Heping would ever travel together with him, and the only answer would be that this human that was by his side was a Primordial Beast.

"It makes sense," another human said to himself from his hiding space where he was observing the situation. "The Ice Harpy called him her brother, so for him to travel alone would be too risky. I am sure that this Primordial Beast is a bodyguard issued by the Primordial Beast Society."

"This just leaves the question, is he a human or beast himself? Is he being valued highly because of his mission to be Xiao Lei’s nephew, or is there something we do not understand in this?"

Although most of the humans were in hiding, none of them were in a panic because of the sheer amount of beasts around them. The beast horde had at most a few Fierce Beasts equivalent to Heavenly Warriors. The humans had a dozen or more that had come to lie in wait for Xue Wei.

"Although I admit that this is troublesome," one of these people said, sighing, "we will be able to escape with no problem because of our strength, but touching Xue Wei when he is moving freely inside this massive group of beasts is a dream that cannot come true."

Xue Wei walked down the streets of Lingyun Town casually and without any special expression on his face. On the other hand, when they were on their way over, Xue Wei had been nervous.

He felt that his memories were about to return to him, and he could not help but feel worried. Was he going to hate beasts again after remembering what he had gone through in the past?

Xue Wei was worried on the way, but when he saw the buildings in the distance, he started to feel a bit of familiarity. It was as if he had been here before, as if he had just returned home. The feelings of nervousness and fear were replaced with relaxation and comfort.

Although Xue Wei was getting feelings of familiarity, and although he had no doubt in his mind that this was his home, there were no signs of his repressed memories resurfacing.

Xue Wei frowned as he walked further and further into the town. There were buildings that he could vaguely remember. Faces appeared in his mind, and he suddenly remembered what the village had looked like in its prime.

Even back then, some of the houses in the village had been worn down due to the villagers being poor. He remembered people looking poor, wearing tattered and patched up clothes, but even when that was the case, the faces that floated in Xue Wei’s mind were all happy.

The further into town they got, the more faces surfaced in Xue Wei’s mind. However, there were still a lot of questions in Xue Wei’s mind that remained unanswered. What he remembered was the everyday life in the village, but he had no memories of his own life.

He could not remember his relationship with those people he remembered. He could not remember what exactly his father looked like, nor could he remember what he was doing.

While Xue Wei was deep in thought, Hei Gou was constantly on alert by his side.

Hei Gou had long since realized that there were plenty of human experts in the village. He was also aware that they were only there for the sake of capturing Xue Wei, and since he had decided to become Xue Wei’s brother, he would truly give his life to keep him safe.

Sometimes, Xue Wei would awaken from a stupor and move towards certain houses. He would place his hand on the house and mutter a few words in a voice so low that Hei Gou could not hear it, and then he would move to another house.

Hei Gou had ordered the Fierce Beasts with a strength equivalent to a Heavenly Warrior to stay by their side all the time, alongside a group of beasts with strength similar to Sky Warriors.

Although Xue Wei and the beast horde had a lot fewer beasts at the Heavenly Warrior rank, their beasts were all willing to sacrifice their lives if need be. They would fight desperately, while the humans, although eager to get their hands on Xue Wei, were not willing to sacrifice their lives.

At the same time, one has to remember that beasts were stronger than humans. Beasts that fought with reckless abandon were a force to be reckoned with.

The group of beasts and Xue Wei went further and further into the village. The more houses they came across, the more solemn Xue Wei became. He stopped listening to anything that was going on around him and was completely caught up in the thoughts of the faces and names that appeared in his mind.

They had entered the village through what used to be the main street, and soon they arrived at what used to be the center of the village.

It was a small square, and it was here the shops were located. Xue Wei looked on at all these shops and was reminded of the faces and names of whoever lived in the houses.

He saw the blacksmith and the inn. There was the tailor and the bakery. Finally, Xue Wei’s eyes landed on a house that made him frown. No matter how much he thought about this house, he could not remember it.

There were no faces that came to mind, no names. It was as if it was a big hole in his memories as if someone had completely blacked out everything that had to do with this house and those who lived within it.

Sensing this, Xue Wei decided to go towards this house. He and Hei Gou entered it together, side by side.

Hei Gou’s senses were high on alert, Xue Wei was still deep in thought.

Xue Wei looked around the room. It seemed to be the shop of an old apothecary. One could see old withered plants randomly spread in the shop; nothing had been taken by others as they feared to gain a curse from the Primordial Beast who had attacked the village in the first place.

As Xue Wei looked around, he saw stains on the floor and the wall. These were bloodstains, but there was no corpse or a skeleton left behind anywhere on the ground.

Someone had to have buried all the dead people, but from looking around this shop, Xue Wei could feel something very familiar but also completely foreign.

At the same time, Xue Wei felt danger lurking in every corner. His head started throbbing in pain the more he looked into the room. Even so, nothing came to mind.

This was a headache that Xue Wei was very familiar with. He had experienced it when he was younger every time he tried to remember his past, but in the past few years, he had not tried to recall those memories that often as he had been satisfied with his life.

Xue Wei walked further into the store. He felt as if he knew the layout of the house by heart, but no memories came to mind despite that.

Hei Gou and Xue Wei made their way to the residential area. Here, they managed to find two bedrooms. The interior of one of the rooms seemed like it had belonged to a child, while the other had a more solemn, mature air to it, a child and a parent’s room respectively.

Everything felt so familiar. However, although it felt familiar, Xue Wei had no memories of this place.

The frown on Xue Wei’s face turned deeper, and sweat started beading on his brow. He was uncomfortable. The headache was raving, and his lack of memories was starting to puzzle him.

For the first time, Xue Wei suddenly felt something strange. It was as if something within his mind was trying its best to burst out, but another power was holding it back. The sudden emotion caused Xue Wei to feel his head throb in excruciating pain.

Hei Gou was looking on with worry in his eyes. It was clear that Xue Wei was in pain, but he could do nothing about it. At the same time, both of them were the target of dozens of Primordial Beast Hunters. If the slightest mishap happened, then they were likely to die.