Volume 9 Chapter 55 The World’s Evil Beasts (Part 2)

“In ancient times, six dangerous beasts existed, with one in heaven, six on earth, three in the south, four in the north, two in the west and five in the east. They are the ancestors of beast kin, mythical beasts of mythical beasts, evil among evil.” - First paragraph in Six Evil Beasts Chronicles.

Even though there are many stories, poems and what have you pertaining to the mayhem involving them, “… mythical beasts of mythical beasts, evil among evil” remained the line that left the deepest impression on me.

Six Evil Beasts Chronicles is an ancient book that speaks on the six evil, ferocious ancient beasts that have wandered the Nine Provinces since ancient times as the incarnations of evil, embodiments of immortality that assert catastrophe unto the human realm at certain points in time. The book had been around for so long that there was no means of tracing back when it was first authored, but many claimed it was a millennium ago - if not longer back. Though it wasn’t a hot commodity, there was guaranteed to be buyers every once in a while, which was why every book shop would keep copies of it even though it’d be collecting dust for some time before it was picked up.

Up until now, no soul has provided a convincing argument to attach a genre to it. Unlike mythical stories, it failed to deliver a story that enthralled. Its language and contents didn’t fit an encyclopedia or monster story, and it was misplaced in time.

“Isn’t that Six Evil Beasts Chronicles?” Boss queried.

“You also into this sort of stuff?”

“No. I used to scare my brother with monster stories when he was younger because he was naughty. It worked a treat every time.” Boss treated the book the same way pretty much everyone else in this era did - as reading material for children. Besides its writing style being more complex and over ten times longer than a children’s book, yeah, there was nothing else to say about it in this era. “This one is a tad different, though. It’s a lot thicker than the version I used to read to him, and the writing style is more archaic. Judging from these pages… this must be an antique.”

“That’s because this is the edition from before the current dynasty.”

“You mean… this is a taboo book?”

“Ten out of ten. This is as illegal as it gets. You won’t find this edition anywhere on the market. There’s never been an era where the book has been as obscured as the current era. No bookshops have sold the original edition for the last thirty years. Every copy on the market right now is a simplified version for children.”

Boss tugged up an eyebrow at my stern visage, while I laughed to myself.

“This is a valuable commodity. You can find hand-copied, fragment versions of it being traded on the black market. I recognised it because Mount Daluo has an identical copy.”

“Even though you’re an orthodox sect?”

“Mount Daluo is made up of individuals. My grandmaster is a legit, ancient man of the previous dynasty through and through. Don’t you think it’s perfectly normal for him to have the book, then?”

Boss chuckled and lifted a hand to hit me: “Is that any way to talk about your grandmaster? I’d love to punish you on his behalf.”

“Hehe.” I shut the book. “It’s not