Chapter Twenty-Six: The Azure Fang Beast

Li Le and Lie arrived rather late and had to stand on the very edge of the crowd. No sooner had they settled in than they heard someone loudly questioning the burly man at the center. Lie appeared unsurprised, as if accustomed to such scenes, but Li Le was taken aback—she hadn’t expected to stumble upon such an incident amid this boisterous, brawling throng.

The burly man's expression turned cold as he lifted his pant leg, revealing an empty space where his right leg should have been. He spoke, each word distinct and heavy:
“This leg—I lost it hunting phantoms with the hunting party. And you ask me what right I have?”

The man had been standing on one leg among the crowd all this time, his posture steady and unwavering. Surrounded as he was, even those beside him hadn’t noticed his missing limb.

The man who had questioned him now looked both startled and ashamed. He muttered a quick apology and hurried away.

Li Le noticed that the surrounding mist-dwellers now gazed at the one-legged man with growing awe and respect. Even Lie, beside her, had a look of yearning in his eyes. In a low voice, he whispered, “Sister, one day I’ll join the hunting party, too. I’ll protect Cloud City, just like Father did, and wipe out every phantom that dares to invade!”

A little youthful bravado was a good thing. Li Le smiled faintly, turning to look at him with narrowed eyes, and replied, “Very well, count your sister in when the time comes.”

The one-legged man’s ear twitched as though he’d overheard them. He glanced back at them and grinned broadly.

Everyone who joined the hunting party was a hero defending Cloud City—no one doubted that, especially not the lowest-born mist-dwellers. For them, the truth was even more profound: they spent their days wandering and migrating through the deep, eerie death-mist, knew its perils intimately, and understood just how worthy of reverence were those who risked their lives to venture beyond the city walls in search of supplies.

Sensing the shifting attitude and the stirrings among the crowd to approach him, the burly man departed decisively before anyone could draw near.

Li Le watched the solitary, one-legged figure as he left, her thoughts wandering inexplicably to the tale of the tin soldier with a missing leg she’d read in her previous life.

At that moment, a tremendous cheer erupted by the city gate.

“They’re back!”

“They’ve returned!”

“The city gates are wide open!”

“They’ve hunted down a full-grown ‘Blue-Tusk Beast’!”

The shouts carried from the city gate, surging like a wave through the crowd, setting off a storm of noise and excited chatter.

Li Le’s curiosity was thoroughly piqued, but she was too short compared to these primitive folk; hemmed in by the thick crowd, she couldn’t see a thing at the gate.

Glancing around, her eyes lit up. She tugged Lie along and climbed onto a mound of earth about the height of a person.

“Sister, slow down… I nearly fell…” Lie complained, rubbing his wrist where Li Le had pulled him, a little disgruntled.

Li Le paid him no mind, musing aloud, “If I remember right, Brother Bai should still be on patrol at the gate around this time. I wonder if we can spot him from here.”

“Big Brother? Where?” Lie craned his neck, standing on tiptoe as he rubbed his sore wrist, eager to catch a glimpse.

The mound was just big enough for the two of them. Lie’s eagerness made Li Le worry he might topple off.

“Careful, don’t rush. If you fall, I’ll have to fish you up again,” Li Le teased, then pointed to a familiar figure by the gate. “As for Brother Bai—look, there he is, standing at the gate waiting for the hunting party.”

Lie squinted, his face falling. “Sister… it’s too far. I can’t see Brother Bai from here…”

Li Le froze, then realized—her own vision had been enhanced, letting her see details far off, but Lie was still just a normal child. No wonder no one else was standing on this mound.

Looking at the densely packed crowd all around, Li Le said lightly, “Never mind, I’ll describe it for you… Brother Bai is holding a spear, standing guard with Uncle Liu and the others at the gate…”

“…Looks like the people from the Second District are back. I can see their shadows… and they’re carrying a lot of things…”

“…Wait, what is that?” Li Le’s eyes narrowed, her pupils contracting in shock as she watched the group approach, carrying together the enormous, unfamiliar carcass of a beast.

It was almost unimaginable how massive the creature was—fully two stories tall, its compound eyes dull and lifeless, one of them smashed open so that the blood-streaked white within was visible. That, clearly, was the fatal wound.

Below, two great ivory fangs jutted outward, dripping with blood and foul-smelling bile, which sizzled where it fell, leaving pits in the ground.

Its hide was armored with hard, grey scales, now riddled with bloody wounds and scars, bristling with broken spears. At its joints, blue, razor-sharp bone spikes protruded, and a spiked tail trailed behind, stained with some unidentifiable blood.

The more Li Le observed, the more her heart trembled. Had she not seen it with her own eyes, she could never have believed that such a savage, monstrous beast truly existed in this world.

Such size, such destructive power… What manner of creature was this? And how many more unknown horrors lurked in the death-mist?

Li Le’s hand trembled, a chill spreading through her as though she were clutching a block of ice in the depths of winter. Her very soul seemed to shiver.

A warm hand wrapped around her right hand, breath brushing her skin. “Sister, why is your hand so cold?”

His warmth brought her back. She turned to see Lie cupping her trembling hand, his dark eyes full of concern.

She could feel how pale and stricken her face must look, and yet she couldn’t suppress the chill rising from her heart—everything before her was upending the worldview she’d built over more than twenty years in her previous life.

The feeling was difficult, painful, as if one day someone suddenly told you the sun was square and its light was black.

Looking at Lie, clutching her hand with such care, Li Le realized as never before: this was another world, one without moon or sun, only lighthouses and the alien death-mist.

She pressed her parched, cracked lips together, squeezed Lie’s hand, and said earnestly, “I’m fine. I was just startled by that enormous beast.”

For the first time, she’d truly shown her emotions, lowered her guard, and begun to open her heart to this world.

Lie let out a relieved breath, then pulled her into a bear hug. Releasing her, he comforted, “Don’t worry, Sister… That’s a ‘Blue-Tusk Beast.’ It does look fierce, but its cubs are easy to handle. One day, I’ll catch one and give it a good beating to make you feel better…”

Lie bared his sharp canines in a mock snarl, grinning at Li Le. “Don’t be afraid, Sister. With me and Big Brother here, no one will dare bully you.”