chapter 4

I froze, unable to answer.

A gust swept over me. Cold sweat prickled across my body, and I shuddered.

“N-no. I was only passing by.” Even now, I cannot explain why I said that instead of running.

“Keh, keh.” It stared at me and laughed without another word.

The sound was like fingernails dragging across a blackboard. The shock loosened my rigid limbs.

“Young master,” it said after swallowing what was in its mouth, “do I look more like a human, or more like a Weasel Immortal?”

So this really was a weasel spirit seeking a human’s blessing.

Bitterness flooded my mouth. The one thing I had feared most had found me.

When I failed to answer, a paw slowly emerged from its sleeve.

The paw was small, but its long claws gleamed coldly. Two swipes would probably tear holes straight through me.

I remembered Grandpa Eighteen’s warning: if I wanted to live, I had to tell it what it wanted to hear.

“You look…”

“You look like a disgusting animal!” I had meant to indulge it. Then I remembered the horror of my brother’s corpse, and different words forced their way out.

“Screech!”

My answer seemed to shatter its cultivated form. Its body twisted and rapidly began to shrink.

The face that had looked mostly human sprouted fur before my eyes.

I stood there in a daze. The branch slipped from my fingers and struck the ground.

The sound was faint, but it jolted me awake.

Run!

I turned at once. I no longer cared whether the sight before me was a rare miracle, an animal, or a monster.

My leg buckled on the first step, and I nearly fell.

Fear had turned my knees to water.

Clinging to a tree, I forced myself forward until feeling gradually returned to my legs.

Then I ran for the village with everything I had.

The path usually took ten minutes, but that night it seemed endless.

After sprinting dozens of yards with my head down, I glanced back. Terror nearly tore my soul from my body.

The weasel spirit, which had stood nearly three feet tall, had shrunk to less than half that size. It was still much larger than any ordinary weasel.

Its body was smaller, but the savagery in its eyes left no doubt: if it caught me, I would not survive the night.

I ignored the leaden pain in my legs and forced myself faster.

Before long, my chest tightened. My heart seemed ready to leap into my throat, but I could finally make out Grandpa Eighteen’s house ahead.

I looked back once more. The creature was less than ten feet behind me.