The Record of Unusual Creatures

Compared to Vivian being the Fourteenth Sage, the reincarnation of the First Sage in Lily’s body was mind-boggling. It was not just out of human reasoning, it could also be deemed a bad joke.

But the joke had turned out to be true.

The revelation of Lily’s identity had caused an uproar. The demon hunters in the room were the top figures in their world. Each of them was extremely wise, calm and steady, but the news came like a bolt out of the blue and stunned even them.

They were dumbstruck, but no one stood up and objected.

Hao Ren nodded slightly. He knew that underreaction was the proper demeanor of the ancients. The impulsive young demon hunters would have been too willing to express themselves had they heard the news, but not the ancients. The ancients would question, object, or deny, but they would carefully study it before making any conclusion. The ancients were too wise to think that Hao Ren was making a joke.

They would question but never dismiss it quickly.

“Evidence.” Elder Gregowen knocked on the table; his response was concise.

“There is no clear physical evidence because she is a soul reincarnation in a dog’s body, unfortunately,” Hao Ren said, shrugging. Lily began to growl in protest as Hao Ren continued. “The only evidence is her soul and memory. But I guess you have not the ability to verify the soul of the First Sage,” he said.

“She still remembers something,” Vivian said, glancing at Lily. “She has just recovered some memories, which could be used as evidence.”

Lily growled and bared her fangs, but it seemed that her tactics did not work. She turned around and looked at the demon hunters with saliva stains still at the corner of her mouth. Lily felt that she should do something. Her eyes swept across the room and landed on Gregowen. “There is a scar on your shoulder. Unless you grow new flesh and blood to erase it, it will stay with you forever,” she said.

Gregowen looked back on his shoulder; the scar was still there. But he shook his head and said, “This means nothing at all. Some of my friends know this too. It is not a secret.”

“I gave you the scar; I whacked you because you peed in the barn last time,” Lily said.

Everyone was as quiet as a church mouse. Embarrassed, Gregowen almost passed out on the spot.

“Well, I guess this should be a highly classified thing, no?” Hao Ren glanced at Gregowen cautiously, making sure that the old man had not really passed out. He then turned his head and pinched Lily’s pointed ear. “How could you talk about this when this is a serious meeting?” he chided.

“Ouch! Ouch!”

The rebuke aside, Hao Ren felt a sense of relief; he did not know that the memory Lily recovered had included these little memories of this old demon hunter, which had actually lent more credibility to the whole story.

Elder Gregowen’s face was deadpan; he did not know what to say more. The gentle but harsh First Sage remained the shadow of his childhood. Now it had turned into a husky, and the shadow seemed to have only grown bigger.

The First Sage had become a husky; the old demon hunter had more or less believed in the story now.

The atmosphere was awkward because of the embarrassing revelation of Gregowen’s childhood. Lily broke free from Hao Ren. She tidied her silver hair, got to her feet and looked at everyone in the room.

Hao Ren stared at her spontaneously; he felt a change in the maiden’s temperament. But this was not the temperament of the First Sage. It was calm and restrained, mild but slightly sharp. Probably this was the other side of Lily facing with strangers; the temperament of a literary and artistic young woman who had experienced the most turbulent century in the world.

“Well, as you can see, I have no evidence to prove my identity,” Lily said composedly. She would look even smarter if not for her furry tail behind her. “I only have fragmented memories, which are related to the parents and grandparents of those who are present here today. It is the memory of our vagabond life on the ice sheet in the north some 6,000 to 10,000 years ago, and also the memory of building Coldpath as our home. But all the people who know these things are already dead. I had twelve old friends, but they died a few days ago, in a goddamn ritual. We didn’t even have a chance to see each other and said hi. Yes, everyone is dead. The only one who could testify this is Gregowen, who was still a mischievous kid back then. Gregowen, look at your beard, you are so old now,” Lily said.

Gregowen stroke his beard spontaneously. He suddenly realized that he became timid and evading Lily’s eyes. He was startled by his own reactions. Then he realized that these were his instinctive reactions as a kid before an elder.

“It’s such a terrible thing. The demon hunters who lived back then have mostly gone today,” Lily said, pressing her hands on the table. “How long can a demon hunter live? Ten thousand years if free from disease or disaster; almost forever if properly learning the power of your blood. So what caused the premature death of a generation—or even several generations—of demon hunters?” she asked.

Lily paused and let out a sigh before she continued. “Because of the War of Demon Hunting, all of them died an unnatural death during those 6,000 years. So today you are not here to discuss any historical issues, nor to testify my or Battie’s identity. What you really should consider is your future after knowing the truth. To be honest, I don’t feel a thing about being the First Sage. It belongs to my previous life, and I have never thought of who I was in previous life 99 % of the time. I don’t like you demon hunters, because you have wanted to kill me the first time you saw me. I don’t like your Coldfrost Citadel either because the internet connection there is just hopelessly slow. I don’t like the ‘Sage’ title because I died once with this title and ended up rotting in the secret chamber!”

Lily rarely talked so much in such so seriously. Hao Ren and Vivian were rooted to the spot listening to her speech. But Lily herself did not realize that she was unconsciously speaking from the perspective of a sage first, then only in her own capacity as Lily.

The reverberation of the soul of the First Sage seemed to have appeared in her for a moment, then dissipated.

“So, I’m not interested in living with the First Sage title. I’m standing here because Mr. Landlord asked me so. He said that you had the right to know, and I listened to him. So here I am. As for what I said is true or not, I don’t have any evidence to back myself up, and I can’t find any evidence,” Lily said, pouting before flinging herself into her chair. “But I’m your ancestors anyway, believe it or not.”

The room became quiet again. Lily took out a pack of snacks from Hao Ren’s pocket, ripped it open and stuffed the content into her mouth. The only sound in the room came from the crunching sound of snacks.

“Ahem.” Vivian got to her feet. “So let’s discuss the news embargo,” she said.

Hao Ren leaned over to Lily and nervously grasped the hand of the husky maiden. “Lily, Lily?”

Rolling her eyes and gorging the snacks, Lily replied, “What’s up, Mr. Landlord?”

“Are you Lily or the First Sage now?” Hao Ren asked, staring into Lily’s eyes as if he wanted to find something out of her golden eyes.

“I am Lily,” the canine maiden replied and pushed Hao Ren away. “I was in my reflective mode just now. I have had a greater impassioned moment on the street of Shanghai back then. This scene here is child’s play.”

After she babbled passionately and made herself look better, she passed the buck to the rest of them. She refused to participate in any speeches and decisions anymore. For the next two hours, the demon hunters had all the time for themselves.

Two hours later, Hao Ren came out of the temple, feeling refreshed: things were finally over.