THIS time, the blue light was even brighter.  It surrounded Eclipse's tiny body.  Luo Yan had to close his eyes because of the brightness.  Then he felt his arms lightened.  He suddenly had a bad premonition.  He moved his arms and there was nothing there.  Just as he had already guessed.

He readily opened his eyes without a care that he might be blinded.  And amidst the bright light, he saw Eclipse's body floating like a ball of blue light.  He tried to catch that bundle of light.  But that ball of blue light shot towards the entrance of the torii gate like some kind of cannonball.  Even with his speed, he wouldn't be able to catch it.  Not to mention that this torii gate was still rejecting him.

"Shit," he cursed.

Even if his eyes felt uncomfortable because of the bright light, he still didn't close it and watch carefully in which direction the blue ball of light – which was Eclipse's body – was going.  He didn't close his eyes until that blue ball of light disappeared from his sight. 

Seeing the possible location where the ball of light should have landed, Luo Yan finally closed his eyes.  When he could no longer feel the brightness, he readily opened his eyes and walked towards the torii gate.   

This time, he no longer wasted time trying to enter but immediately used his [Shadow Walk] skill.  He looked down and saw that his shadow got passed the torii gate.  He quickly dived into it.  Once he jumped up and left the shadow, he was already at the other side of the torii gate.

He didn't celebrate this feat and just ran towards the direction where Eclipse could be.  He didn't even look at his surroundings.  All he could think of was to save his little fox. 

It didn't take long for him to arrive at the possible location.  Once he did, he immediately stopped on his tracks.  He didn't need to look for Eclipse because he quickly saw him the moment he reached that area. 

There was a statue of a woman.  She was wearing a costume that was usually worn by shrine maidens.  There's a pair of fox ears on top of her head and nine tails behind her.  She was looking gently at her hands that were made to look like she was scooping something. 

And now, on top of those hands was the ball of blue light. 

The ball was no longer shining brightly.  In fact, it now only looked like a transparent bubble with a blue hue.  And inside that blue bubble was Eclipse. 

The little fox looked like he was peacefully asleep.  Luo Yan felt a bit relieved.  At least, Eclipse didn't look like he was in pain anymore.  But even if that was the case, his worry didn't become any less.  Because something was definitely happening here.  He was just not sure if it was something good or bad.  And because of that, he wasn't sure what his next move should be.

He looked at the face of the statue and just now realized how familiar the face was.  And then as if a light bulb turned on in his head, he remembered where he had seen it.  It was on Lhoris' memories – the ones that the other saw from Dusk's memories by using his special eyes.

This was the statue of Kagetsuki – the mother of Eclipse.

Luo Yan suddenly had a guess.  The reason why they were here right now was because of the gem on Eclipse's forehead.  The little fox said earlier that he heard some kind of voice calling him.  And that voice was coming from this place. 

Considering that they were here to get Eclipse's inheritance and the other was now being surrounded by light while floating on top of the palm of his mother's statue, one could say that this phenomenon might have something to do with that so-called 'inheritance'. 

Knowing that Eclipse might not be in danger right now and that what was happening might be advantageous to him, he still couldn't put down his worry.  Because the key word here was 'might'.  There was still a chance that he could be wrong.  That's why Luo Yan couldn't relax.

Before he could decide whether to interrupt what was happening to Eclipse right now, he suddenly senses something dangerous approaching his direction.  On reflex, he jumped back.  Then he saw a kunai buried on the ground where he was formerly standing.  If he didn't jump fast enough, that kunai would have hit him.

He felt another attack from behind.  So, he quickly drew his daggers and flexibly turned around to face the incoming attack.  A katana clashed with his daggers.  He raised his head to look at the owner of the sword and saw a male kitsune. 

He had short orange hair and a pair of bright orange eyes.  There were five tails fluttering behind him.  And he was wearing some kind of ninja costume. 

"You impertinent trash!  What kind of dirty method did you use to enter our sacred grounds?"

Luo Yan raised one of his brows.  So, was the setting of this NPC a hot-blooded young man?  That's the worst type to deal with in this kind of situation.

"Calling me a 'trash' is such an overkill, don't you think?"

"Shut your trap and just answer my question!"

"How can I answer your question if you want me to shut up?"

The orange-haired kitsune gritted his teeth.  He was obviously very annoyed with how Luo Yan was acting.  He no longer said anything and just attacked.  One of his hands let go of the hilt of the katana.  He used this free hand to throw two leaves on both Luo Yan's side. 

These two leaves were suddenly burned by an orange fire and two identical copies of the orange-haired kitsune suddenly appeared.  The three kitsune surrounded him, mixing with one another and probably trying to confuse him as to who was the real one.  And then the three attacked Luo Yan at the same time.   

With an enemy in front and two on both sides, it seemed like a hopeless situation.  But, of course, that didn't apply to Luo Yan.  He utilized his speed as an Assassin to block all the incoming attacks.  He was doing that while looking for an opening.  Because even though there were three enemies, he knew that only one was real. 

And he knew just which one it was. 

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