In one of the large farmlands of the Herb Garden, dark clouds had just rained down the Energy-Infused water.

“Manger Chu, thank you for your cooperation.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Commander Lu. I just followed my Master’s instructions.”

“Of course. I will thank him in person. Also, please remind him that our team for the tournament will arrive tomorrow.”

“I will do so, Commander.”

Lu Shao nodded once at Chu Kuang and left with his men. The bald man relaxed as he watched them leave the premises of the Herb Garden.

Turning to the rooms, a sigh escaped his lips.

“I still need to check each and every room’s renovation.”

Then his attention was drawn to the sun high up in the sky.

‘Well, I can do that after my lunch. I wonder what delicacies Bu Fan has prepared today…’

Chu Kuang thought as he unpacked the box of lunch.

Unbeknownst to him, the little fox had decided to play with him. His shadow elongated a little and then shrank to normal.

“Hehehe!”

Sounds of a child’s laughter rang in the room. Chu Kuang paused mid-action.

“Did a child sneak in when I wasn’t paying attention?”

He got up and picked his staff to shoo away any kid that might’ve snuck in here.

After searching for a quarter of an hour, he didn’t find traces of kids. Caressing his smooth shaven head, Chu Kuang returned to the room he was having his lunch in.

“Hehehe!”

He heard the laughter once again.

Chu Kuang banged his staff and asked loudly, “Who’s there?”

He received no response. Not even the sound of footsteps running away.

“Weird,” Chu Kuang thought as he picked up the Roujiamo Bu Fan had prepared for him.

Before he could take a bite, the other end of the Roujiamo was bitten by something or someone.

Chu Kuang panicked and jumped up with his Staff in his hand. He could hear the sounds of chewing but he couldn’t see anyone.

Fear crept into his heart and his hands trembled.

“Who… Who’s there?”

Chu Kuang yelled in his quivering voice. He discarded the roujiamo on the floor hoping to catch the thief with his stick.

The piece of meat sandwich disappeared right before his eyes but neither did he see a culprit nor how it disappeared.

He brandished the staff in his hands haphazardly, expecting to land a lucky hit. He thought the culprit would appear at least when evading the random strikes but he was wrong.

Why would the culprit come out when it was safely hidden in his shadows?

The little Black Fox enjoyed the panic. It took pleasure in Chu Kuang’s fear. To up the ante, it began to manipulate the shadows.

The room started to darken even under the Midday Sun! Chu Kuang felt a chill go down his back.

“Kukuku”

A laughter sounded behind him. Chu Kuang shuddered and tried to take a peek.

Nothing. He found nothing.

“Kekkeke”

Then the sound of sniggering reverberated in the entire room.

Chu Kuang was at his wits end. This had gone from spooky to scary very fast. He took measured steps towards the door. As he took a step closer to the door, the shadows darkened.

He stood still on his spot for a few seconds and watched the surroundings for any changes. Soon he felt cooler as a gentle breeze passed by his body.

Accompanying the shadows, the wind began to pick up. His body cooled and his palms became clammy. His throat parched from fear.

For the last time, he banged his staff on the floor and shouted with all his might, “Who is it? Who is playing tricks here?”

Wind whistled in reply to his question.

The bald man shivered and abandoned any thoughts of maintaining composure. He swung his Staff all around him and then threw it in a corner.

The staff narrowly missed the little fox head. It huffed and bared its teeth. With a glint in its eyes, it decided to create an even more terrifying construct.

In the corner the staff had fallen, shadows began to gather. They started to come together to form a huge maned Lion. A terrifying purplish glow surrounded its body.

Since it was behind him, Chu Kuang did not notice the lion immediately. And then the Lion roared!

Chu Kuang instinctively punched in the direction of the Lion, shattering its form. But it soon began to reform by gathering nearby shadows.

Seeing the terrible form of what he had punched, blood drained fro his body

When he saw a lion reform from the shadows, he turned tail. This was his limit.

He ran all the way out yelling, “Ghost! There is a ghost in the herb garden.”

The little fox came out into the open after playing the prank. Its tail swished from side to side happily as if satisfied with Chu Kuang’s reaction.

It licked its lips and cleaned the last crumbs of roujiamo and then jumped into its tree hollow.

Chu Kuang didn’t stop till he reached Ikasa’s Villa. He barged straight into the dining room where Ikasa sat, tiredly rubbing his eyes.

“Master, ghost… my gamble may have failed…”

The Bald man reported, panting from fear and exhaustion.

“Calm down, Uncle Chu. Sit here. Now take a deep breath and tell me what happened.”

Ikasa comforted the frightened man and poured him a glass of water. Chu Kuang felt life return to his limbs after having a sip of water.

“Master, when I showed you that property, I gambled on the fact that someone was pretending and there might not be any ghost there. Now…”

Chu Kuang shuddered thinking of his recent experience.

“I have just confirmed the existence of a ghost!”

Ikasa noticed the very real fear in his eyes as he mentioned a ghost.

“Uncle Chu, don’t be afraid. You are far from that place. Recount to me slowly what you experienced.”

Chu Kuang hesitated. Only when he felt the warm hand on his shoulder, did he find the courage to speak.

“Master, it started when I stopped to have lunch…”

For the next few minutes, the bald man explained what he went through. He may have exaggerated a few things but Ikasa had a rough idea of what happened.

The wind, the shadows and the lion made from shadows… It sounded too out of the place. The weather outside was bright and sunny. The location was inside the central part of the City.

If there was a Shadow Lion, many people might’ve seen it and fallen prey to it. So, Ikasa discarded the idea that the ghost or spirit might be a Shadow Lion.

‘Maybe that?’ Ikasa wondered, remembering the trip with children a few days ago.

“Uncle Chu, you did not see what or who ate the Sandwich at any point did you?”

“No.”

Ikasa fell into a deep thought.

‘Could it be the Fox that Pei Yuan saw? Is it a higher level spirit animal?’

Pacing in his dining room, he tried to find plausible explanations to his questions. He was sure that it was not a ghost but some spirit beast. But he couldn’t answer one question.

“Why did the animal not kill anyone?”

Everything Chu Kuang described sounded scary, but it was no more threatening than a prank some teens would play on halloween.

‘If it really was a vengeful spirit beast or ghost, it wouldn’t have eaten the roujiamo and spared Chu Kuang.’

Ikasa critically looked at the plump body of the bald man, assessing his meat’s worth. Chu Kuang became uncomfortable under the stare of his master and he tried to hide himself behind the table.

After thinking for a long time, he came to a conclusion.

“The Spirit Beast must be a lost cub of some powerful beast. It is still juvenile and likes to play pranks.”

After having a reasonable explanation, musch of the tension drained from his body.

‘Now, I just need to worry about how to capture it.’ He thought, rubbing his chin.

In the bright sunlight, Chu Kuang felt warmth return to his body. As his fear reduced, he remembered what Commander Lu had said.

“Master, Commander Lu asked me to pass a message to you. He said that the team for the tournament will come to Herb Garden for practice starting tomorrow.”

“Oh?” Ikasa turned to look at Chu Kuang in surprise. His brows furrowed as this was earlier than they planned.

‘The tournament is still two and half weeks away. But since Feng Yan’s issue with the recruitment had been solved, I don’t think he will have any problem participating in the training.’

Suddenly, a thought came to his mind as he replayed Chu Kuang’s words.

“Wait! Did you say they are coming to the Herb Garden for training?”

Ikasa asked with eyes glinting with excitement. Chu Kuang was puzzled by his behavior but like a good servant, he answered while ignoring his master’s antics.

“Yes. Commander Lu is personally leading the team.”

“Really? Good!”

Ikasa’s smile widened as he formulated a plan that would help the trainees as well as help him lure the Fox out of its hole.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep