Be Gentle, Immortal Master

The mystery didn't stay unanswered for long. Another howl followed, then another, each one closer than before. In no time, we found ourselves staring into the eyes of … a giant octopus as tall as two people, walking on its tentacles.

Staring into its eyes indeed. Whatever monster this was, it was covered in eyes. Countless black irises stared back at us from all over its body, their lids opening and closing one after one, and as the tentacles twirled, more eyes folded on top of each other, staring and blinking in a chaotic heap. I fought the roil in my stomach. Behind me, I heard Peng Yao already gagging.

Xie Lun cursed. "I know what this stone is now. It's a power bait … an artifact used by spiritual pet trainers to summon their beasts or capture new ones. I shouldn't have tried invoking it."

"Are you saying this thing is a pet?" I glared at the octopus. I didn't want to meet the owner if that was the case.

"No … The stone lures anything attracted to the user's spiritual power. A helpful thing for spiritual pets because that means the animal would be more likely to bond well with the owner, but unfortunate for us right now, because it means this creature wants to eat me."

As if on cue, the monster squealed again and moved closer. "Don't run," Xie Lun urged. "I've read about this type of demon before … They like to chase their targets and play with them before eating. Whatever you do, don't run."

My stomach roiled again. Just what kind of monstrosity had we brought upon ourselves?

"How do we kill it?" Wen Shiyin asked. But before Xie Lun could answer, a scream came from behind us. We swirled. It was the last Mount Tai disciple—there was still one left in the cave that didn't come out with the rest—and he screamed with such a piercing voice that even the octopus seemed to be startled by it. The next moment, he dashed through the four of us, running faster than I had ever seen anyone run in my life.

Xie Lun cursed again. "Run now!" he shouted. "Once this creature sees a moving target, it'll want to devour everything that comes into its sight! Too late to stay still now, run!"

We had all started running before he finished the explanation. With a furious growl, the octopus followed us, using its tentacles as legs first, but when it realized that we were outrunning it, it leaped and started to use those legs to … swim across the air.

"Use your flying swords!" Xie Lun shouted again, though we didn't need his reminder to start summoning our swords. I darted a brave glance back at the monster as I climbed onto my blade. The thing looked even scarier swimming. Its tentacles whipped and lashed madly all over, its hundreds of eyes bulging from anger, lines of scarlet shooting through the whites of those eyes. I snapped my head away, not daring to look any longer.

"Xie Lun, how do we kill this thing?" Wen Shiyin asked again while we sliced through the air. "We can't just keep running!"

"One of those myriads of eyes is its real eye," Xie Lun replied. "Stabbing through it will do the job, but you have to find the right one. The others are illusions, and attacking them will only make the creature angrier."

"I have talismans that can blind visions," Peng Yao finally spoke. Her face was pale, and she hadn't looked back at the octopus ever since we started running. "But I only have eight of them … And …  Can someone else take the talismans and do it? I can't look at this thing …"

"Eight talismans?" Wen Shiyin gasped. "But with so many possibilities …"

"I'll do it," I steered my flying sword closer to Peng Yao and fetched the talismans out of her hands. I wasn't sure how many hundreds of eyes were on the monster, but I knew how to best use our limited number of tries. Taking a deep breath, I turned towards the creature and summoned the spell, blinding half of its body.

It let out a pained whimper, and its motion became disoriented for a moment. The true eye must be in that half then. I used another talisman on the top half of that area. This time, the octopus only growled in fury and charged faster at us. Not there then … I repeated the process with five more talismans, and when there was one last sheet of paper left in my hands, only three eyes on top of its body were left untested.

I took a guess and used the last chance on the eye closest to the creature's tentacles. It whimpered again, the rest of its eyes turning red from fury and blinking in a painful spasm. "It worked!" I exclaimed. Changing the course of my flying sword, I moved to hover above the creature. "It's the one at the end of this tentacle!"

Xie Lun and Wen Shiyin joined me, whereas Peng Yao stayed in her track and still never looked back. It worked out though—we needed someone as a distraction. I aimed straight for the eye and slashed down, but the octopus was fast. Its tentacles thrashed over as soon as I got close to its skin, and I had to retreat to a safe distance.

"Can we chop its arms off?" Wen Shiyin asked.

Xie Lun shook his head. "Its tentacles are too strong for a sword. But we can keep them occupied." He turned to me. "Since you know best which eye is the target, Wen Shiyin and I can attack the tentacles. Just aim straight through the pupil when you see a chance."

I nodded, keeping close attention on the pupil while the two of them got to work. The sound of blades slicing through flesh soon filled the air. With every slash, the cluster of eyes in front of me bulged and squeezed in frantic motions, and at some point, I thought I saw blood oozing from some of them. I told myself to glance past them. When I finally found the space while the creature's closest tentacle was busy attacking Xie Lun, and another was blocked by Wen Shiyin, I brought my sword down.

From the corner of my vision, I saw another tentacle coming fast at me, but I didn't move to dodge. I held my sword steady, piercing straight through the dark pupil of its true eye. An ear-shattering screech thundered around me, and the strong spiritual power flowing through its wound almost shook my sword out of my grip. I didn't let go, and I plunged the blade deeper.

Then the tentacle hit me from behind, and the impact sent me flying off the octopus's body. I lost my grip on the sword and slammed hard onto the ground. Stars danced in front of me, but thank heavens, I was in one piece.

"Yun Qing-er!" Xie Lun and Wen Shiyin shouted in unison.. I struggled to my feet and turned around, waving to let them know that I was alright, and I saw the monster collapsing onto the ground behind them, stirring a giant cloud of dust.