Chapter 63: Who sent my longing to Du Heng? (XII)

Translator's note: Sorry this one's a little late, it's a behemoth (over 5k in the raws) and I've had a busy weekend. Please excuse any errors on my part.

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Li Shiyi waited until the others were customarily working in the night, and therefore waited until the moon had risen to pack up and leave. Tu Laoyao had been left behind to care for his wife and son and watch over the home; the bundle he’d usually carried in the past, he gave Wu Qian, wrapping layer after layer, attentively urging, following their car, headed towards Mount She, like an old female servant, leaning against the door.

Tonight, there was a sporadic drizzle, absolutely not counting as good weather; the mountain range was actually misty, softly reducing some of the sense of dread. The group followed the small path up the mountain; it hadn’t even been a shichen when they came near the Teng serpent’s cave of that day; originally, Li Shiyi had wanted to avoid looking for the Teng serpent, but A Luo had said that the closer they were to the Teng serpent’s hiding place, the easier it would be to find the Bai Shai’s idol, so the group trod on the crumbling autumn leaves, holding oil lamps aloft as they searched around the cave.

Yet passing by the mouth of the cave, there was a rustling sound, like liquid being ground, and it was accompanied by the uneven sound of a woman’s sorrowful call; Li Shiyi held her breath and, with rapt attention, listened for a while; the sound came from within the cave; she exchanged glances with the three remaining people, and, bowed, entered the cave.

This was the second time entering the Teng serpent’s cave; the path was, unexpectedly, very familiar; not a single one of the bats on the walls remained, only the burnt bones pressed up against the foot of the wall, releasing an unpleasant, sour rotting scent; there were deep traces of blood on the ground, and, adhered in it was wild wolf and tiger fur; Li Shiyi’s heart shivered, and she tightly grasped Song Shijiu’s wrist, protecting her behind her, walking inwards with extreme care. A Luo put away the umbrella, and led A Yin, the tip of the umbrella knocking against the ground, its touch causing minute, clear sounds.

Passing over the small footpath, Li Shiyi found the massive stone that they had hidden behind the last time with the ease of driving a lightweight chariot on a familiar road, and indicated to the others to crouch, listening for a while for sounds of movement, and only then tilted her head and cautiously looked over.

Just a single glance caused her courage to withdraw.

Within the great cave, an altar lamp of corpse fat burnt slowly, the bronze trestle table rising steeply from the ground, as tall as two people, the oil lamp, as large as a water jar, overflowing with oil, along with blood foam that hadn’t been removed, and chunks of fat; the flame smelled heavily of raw flesh, and it wasn’t discernible whether what was burning within was human or animal, but in the end, it caused one’s stomach to turn. At the foot of the lamp, there were indisputably fresh bones piled up, even some uncleaned strands of hair remaining behind.

Li Shiyi’s jaw tightened, yet her back was stroked by a soft hand, and she returned to herself somewhat, meeting Song Shijiu’s calm and gentle eyes. She crouched behind Li Shiyi’s body, and hadn’t seen anything at all, yet in Li Shiyi’s minute motion of grinding her teeth, she’d keenly detected that she was feeling unwell, and aptly offered a gentle pacification. Li Shiyi curved the corners of her mouth, which counted as responding to her, and turned her head to continue to look for the Teng serpent’s silhouette. Only after looking for a while with narrowed eyes did she follow the sound to the cave’s northwest side and find it. That was a python as thick as two people, its length immeasurable, its light grey scales giving off a mottled dark shine, its head larger than a typical snake’s, its mouth wide and startling, yet it had a degree of resemblance to a dragon, its back end having a line of flexible spines, and on its back were retracted a pair of distinct wing joints. At the moment, it was coiled in an oval, twisting slowly like a gear, as if it were wrapping around some sort of object with its body; Li Shiyi closed her eyes, carefully looking, and between its serpentine body found an utterly crushed woman.

It was Yun Niang.

She had been wound tightly around by the Teng serpent, her ghost body already distorted, breath expelling but not coming in, only a pair of gorgeous lips issuing a suffering and ravaged sorrowful moaning, that groaning sound not like a person, nor like a ghost, but like a small animal being flayed and having its muscles removed, the sobbing coming from the throat, bringing along a great anguish that couldn’t bear to be heard. Her clothes had long since been more or less stripped, and her skin didn’t remain in many intact pieces, her scalp, having been rubbed by the icy, sticky, soft serpent’s figure, badly mangledas if having been corroded, and it was mixed, along with hair, with the white bone. A pair of hands, like withered trees, beat against the Teng serpent’s body as if in conditioned reflex, as if claiming the last strands of rebelling strength and consciousness. Li Shiyi heard her own sternum let out a sound as if bellows being pumped, the exhalation and inhalation causing her chest to undulate.

She turned her head, indifferent eyes meeting A Luo’s, and A Luo was utterly without surprise, as if knowing what she had seen, and only lowered her voice to say, “After the Teng serpent sheds, its spiritual power is weak; it swallows people, devours animals, destroys ghosts, and uses them to fortify its energy..”

Li Shiyi raised her eyes, and heard A Luo add on, understanding thoroughly, “Scattered ashes and dispersed smoke.”^[1]

Li Shiyi lowered her gaze, her eyelashes fluttering a couple times, and then immediately raised her index finger, holding the smoking pipe in her hand. A Luo gazed at her lightly, and saw her suddenly raise her lips in a complex smiling expression, and sigh to A Luo, “The third time.”

As soon as her words fell, she exchanged a glance with A Yin, leaning out, her right hand rapidly writing in the air with the raised smoking pipe the Dragon Restricting Technique, her left hand plucking out a red realgar talisman, her feet moving in a spiritual seal, and on the third step, she moved around behind the Teng serpent, the talisman paper burning into a blue smoke, and using the smoke to cover her mouth, she didn’t wait for the Teng serpent to have any sort of reaction, but rather turned and jumped, and at seven cun, struck with the smoking pipe with exertion, and loudly cried, “Break!”

The series of attacking motions were so quick as to be astonishing, and unexpectedly, caused the Teng serpent, focused on replenishing its spirit, to be tightly sealed; its great serpent’s tail swept rapidly, as if having been singed by fire, and there was the hissing sound of skin and flesh scorching; Li Shiyi, propped up on one hand, knealed on the ground at the side, and raising her head, saw the Teng serpent’s joints making a grinding sound, its massive head arrogantly and angrily turning, its copper mound-sized eyes shining with a light that caused one to be terrified, its pupils shrinking into a pair of lines, reflecting the insignificant, unaware humans.

Yun Niang, who had been released, seemed like a cord that had lost its elasticity; she rolled to a side, spitting mouthful after great mouthful of blood, the muscle and bones of her legs having been broken, loosely dangling.

Just then, while leaping, Li Shiyi had used up more than half of her energy, and now, in the aftershocks of an earthquake, not having rested, she gasped in great breaths; this technique of commanding dragons to break had only been used against a few snake yao in the past, and it was likely that, against a spiritual beast, it wouldn’t have any use, but as matters stood, she could only strive to fight. She didn’t think of looking for any Bai Shai idols any more; she gazed at the Teng serpent as she stood, as if gazing at through the torment of the past few years; right and wrong, how about they be settled now.

She tilted her head, indicating to A Luo to protect Shijiu, and then lowly called out a phrase: “A Yin!”

The two characters fell to the ground, and a fragrance blew in; a slender, red line was tossed over from the other side; Li Shiyi took in in a single hand, and in sweeping steps, climbed up the stone rampart, hand turning in a circle, and wound the red line around the seven cun spot she’d attacked just then, in three, tight circles; at the other end, a bare-footed A Yin also followed the pattern as if in a mirror, the two joining forces to wrap around the serpent’s body.

Li Shiyi dropped to the ground on both feet, the smoking pipe brandished through the air, feeding the trick into the taut red line. A Yin drew out a small, short folding fan from within her hair, and in a moment, shook it open, her wrist flipping and flying as it swept it, using the fan as bone and using the pinching fingers technique.

The red line was very thin, yet unexpectedly, it bound up the great beast, and Li Shiyi and A Yin, who had halted together, exerted themselves to pull on it, taut enough that the leaping dust on it could be seen; A Yin and Li Shiyi’s stances were incredibly steady, backs straight as arrows drawn at full strength, the wrist grasping the red line horizontal by the face, the exerting fingers white.

The Teng serpent’s heart had been bound, the angered cry was restricted by half, but even then, it was a great, world-shaking cry. The fragmented stones within the cave fell in a stream, and the cries of the birds and beasts, fleeing in panic, could be heard in all directions; the ground faintly vibrated, bringing along the sweeping wind-blown dust, causing Li Shiyi and A Yin to have a hard time standing.

Li Shiyi steadied her figure, her teeth grit such that they created a groaning sound, and with a tug of her hand, once more wound the red string around, the knot sinking into the flesh, carving out a bright red trace of blood, cold sweat falling in droplets, her eyes, narrowed, aching unbearably; she heard A Yin, by her side, let out a muffled groan in the midsts of the Teng serpent’s swaying, her chest trembling faintly, as if resisting, with great difficulty, the heart’s blood that had been shaken.

Now, the Teng serpent had cast off its skin, and been interrupted in replenishing its spirit; its strength was greatly reduced, yet even so, she had the sense that she and A Yin couldn’t maintain it for any longer. She was about to loosen the rope and look for another method, but when she turned her head, she saw A Yin’s obstinate fury, inviting disaster by attempting the impossible. In truth, she and Li Shiyi were the same sort of person; Li Shiyi’s pretence was being cold and detached, and A Yin’s pretence was being superficial and easy; Li Shiyi had grown accustomed to seeing her laughter, jeering, anger, and invectives, and already for a long time hadn’t seen her have this sort of appearance of seven emotional states on her face. Her peach blossom, amorous eyes at this moment had risen to a cold pressure, and there was a determination for jade and common stone to be burnt and perish together, desperation and derangement pressing against the Teng serpent.

“A Yin!” Her condition was too abnormal; Li Shiyi wanted to call her spirit back. Yet A Yin didn’t have any sort of reaction, only tightening her mangled hand a bit more, as if intentionally wanting to infuriate the Teng serpent, crimson eyes as if having been possessed by a ghost, bringing along a reckless, unbridled lack of regard.

Song Shijiu, who had been protected behind A Luo, was so worried her mind was in a mess; the energy in her hand gathered, yet it still had no use in the slightest; she bit her lower lip sharply, not making a sound, the hand which had been pinched into a sphere shaking uncontrollably. A Luo’s heart, which had been pressed down severely, beat wildly and anxiously, her gaze sweeping from Li Shiyi’s figure to A Yin’s.

The great stone split, the oil lamp swellingl in the rumbling flame, the Teng serpent’s body violently swayed to and fro, and the red rope broke with a loud sound; Li Shiyi and A Yin’s shaken veins went numb, and they covered their chests and vomited a mouthful of blood; the Teng serpent’s counterstrike only started then, the spiritual draon swinging its tail in a heavy sweep, causing the two weary, exhausted women to be tossed fiercely, smashing against the rampart, hitting it with a loud sound, and then rolling down with an utter lack of vitality.

Song Shijiu couldn’t hold back any longer; with a trembling sound, she ran forward to cradle Li Shiyi. A Luo threw herself forward to protect A Yin, holding up the umbrella to obstruct the falling pieces of stone. In Song Shijiu’s embrace, Li Shiyi gasped a violent breath, her cheeks having been scratched by the sharp stones, her skin, as if having been carved into fat, was a bit of a shocking sight, moist blood dripping down, following her wrist, rolling over the length of the smoking pipe, falling onto the earth one drop after another. Her eyelids were incredibly heavy, and her eyes had also been dirtied and made to sting by the sweat, and her throat was as if having been dragged on by a bear’s paw, unable to speak in the painful heat. In the presence of a burst of oppressive strength, she felt the Teng serpent’s shadow rapidly approach; the concentrated strength in her hand was about to shove Song Shijiu away, but she saw Song Shijiu’s rolling tears, protecting her head, turning her body to fiercely and furiously let out a howl.

Once more, it was the same scenario; she let out a cry that was like a person and like an animal, the pale mist leaping out from between her brows, dispersing before her. It wasn’t clear if it was that she’d cried too heavily, or some other reason, but her magic didn’t have any use against the Teng serpent; it only paused briefly, its malicious pupils contracting, and then it pressed its head down, heavily dropping to envelop Song Shijiu and Li Shiyi, who were unable to withstand a single blow.

Li Shiyi drew together all of her might to turn over, pushing Song Shijiu away; the Teng serpent’s massive mouth opened, stopping before Li Shiyi like a guillotine, its sharp teeth gastly with saliva and sour decay, able to swallow her entire life with a single mouthful.

Song Shijiu gathered up her vitality and was about to advance, yet her wrist was caught by A Luo. A bright light flashed before her; Li Shiyi instinctively accepted it, and heard, from close by, A Luo’s voice: “Ling Heng, repeat with me!”

Ling Heng—

Li Shiyi thought, yet didn’t think; she pinched the Shentu command tightly in her hand, and rapidly rose to sit cross-legged, closing her eyes and opening her lips, her left hand instinctively throwing the Shentu command, five fingers forming a Buddhist seal, and the Shentu command hung at her fingertips, gently turning. At the other side, A Luo’s voice was calm and clear, and gradually matched with Li Shiyi’s.

“Weighing and measuring yin and yang.”

Weighing and measuring yin and yang.

“The hook is hard to swallow.”

The hook is hard to swallow.

“The hun ends at Taishan.”

The hun ends at Taishan.

“The Yellow Springs break the heart.”

The Yellow Springs break the heart.

“—the cluster is reborn, born and then dying once more, a hundred ghosts set off on a journey, hear my order!”

The world was immediately silent, as if a charcoal fire had, in a flash, been submerged into freezing spring water, and the sense of distorted, yet divine, silence seeped through. The wind stilled and the clouds cleared; even the altar lamp, burning day and night, was unable to stand this constriction, as if retreating, and then being reborn; it was the lotus flower in the clean pond, unable to wait to jump when releasing stamens, and it was the sigh of when gods and buddhas descended to take pity on the common people.

Before the bloodied maw of the Teng serpent, Li Shiyi lowered her head and sat tranquily and calmly; her spiritual recognition no longer followed the tired flesh and blood for support, but had a brand new, unextinguishable lantern base; her body had been wrapped in a layer of faint gold, fireflies surrounding the moon and chasing the stars; scars retreating rapidly as if having been driven away, split skin and flesh sewn up cun by cun, the gold light as if nurturing an embryo, fully busy with reconstructing her, bright and clean.

Her body gradually left the dirty ground, her crossed legs opening into a soft, hollow lotus flower, rising as if supporting her, as if gently caressing her delicate calves, and also as if bowing before her ankles. She faintly lifted her head, her floating hair softly sweeping behind her head, as if her anger was being awakened, fangs bared and claws brandished, yet flying gracefully. She still had that appearance, yet it was as if she’d been traced over by a divine physician’s ink; there was a sinuous, beautiful, clear pride and nobility. Her fingers moved faintly, her slender, green scallion-like neck tilting to exhibit a small, red birthmark, falling beneath her lower jaw, on her beauty tendon.

The peaceful immortal was suspended between the filthy, ugly teeth, the intense contrast of the scene strange yet calm and beautiful.

A Luo’s heart finally steadied, and she called out to her as if meeting after a long period of separation: “A Heng.”

The shining light fluttered, calling back to the era of halted troops. Li Shiyi raised her eyes; before her was an enormous spiritual beast, and behind her was an emptiness. The ground chilled as if tide after tide, the sinister ghostly energy attacking from all directions, vigorously restraining the Teng serpent’s attack posture. The hilt of a flying sword rose from behind her head, following her ear and brushing against it, relentlessly stabbing in the direction of the Teng serpent, and the Teng serpent rapidly retreated, its wings shaking, facing off against the sword suspended in the air.

A strong wind blew, and the sword drew back; by Li Shiyi’s side, a woman wearing a helmet and armour leapt down; she knelt on one knee, one hand propped up on the sword, one hand laying on the ground, and she displayed a military courtesy, and then raised her head, the tips of her hair, in a high ponytail, sweeping across her cheek with a great heroism.

“Hun military commander Hua Mulan, at your command.”

Mulan. Li Shiyi’s heart shifted, and she met her victorious gaze, and suppressed her thoughts. This was the true Mulan.

The Teng serpent let out a mute wail, its body pinched into a square, its serpent’s tail laying behind its body, and it raised its head. Mulan laughed softly, and said, “A serpent coil attack?”

Her words had just been uttered when she drew a talisman to muster troops, and ten more hun military ghosts appeared soundlessly, and at the gesture of her fingers, they began an attack arrangement. A few were at the front, and a few were strewn randomly behind, and formed a rapid move known as the Soaring Bird Attack.

The serpent swallowed the elephant, the eagle pecked the snake, the bird soared and subdued the coiled snake.

Sharp swords unsheathed, pressing against the Teng serpent’s face. The Teng serpent wailed in anguish, under the pressing attack of the sharp blades striving to hold its own; Mulan, seeing the potential to succeed, bit the tips of her hair, and raised a responding voice, and rose in the air, climbing up the serpent’s back, her feet stepping on its wing bones, falling onto the top of its head, and she turned her hand over to draw blossoms with her sword,^[2] her hands grasping it firmly, and raised the sharp blade to hang a cun away from the Teng serpent’s right eye.

Ten ghosts’ swords pressed against its body, aimed at the vulnerable spots at the base of its wings. The Teng serpent helplessly swayed its tail, and, finally, unable to resist, went limp.

Mulan only held the sword suspended, and didn’t strike with it, only casting her eyes to ask Li Shiyi for instruction; Li Shiyi rose, putting the Shentu command away, and shook her head to indicate to Mulan to retreat.

Mulan nodded and retreated to a side; the Teng serpent swayed its body to and fro, letting out a muffled groan, about to swiftly exit the cave, but it saw Li Shiyi raise her hand, and the red string, severed on the ground, returned to her hand, coiling in a circle, and then wrapped around the Teng serpent’s wings; in a flash, it was as if the Teng serpent had had its throat forcefully grasped, and within the red line, giving off golden life, had its movements stopped.

Li Shiyi was very weary, and she used all her vitality to hoarsely say, “The spirit within her, draw it back out.”

Song Shijiu tugged A Yin to the front; the Teng serpent’s eyelids swept a glance, and the serpent’s tail shifted, and tapped lightly against the space between her brows. A Yin instinctively narrowed her eyes, her shoulders going taut because of past experiences, and a thread of moist, heavy desiring spirit was drawn out of the centre of her head, yet it seemed as if her bone marrow was also drawn out entirely in a flash. She couldn’t utter even half a phrase, and could only, with a giddy mind, say an “I”, and then became dizzied. A Luo hurried forward to hold her, and Li Shiyi furrowed her brows in question, and saw A Luo nod, and drew the red rope back. The Teng serpent took advantage of everyone’s lack of preparation, and struck with its serpent’s tail, and in the rapidly flying dust, there were a multitude of shadows, and it leapt out of the cave.

Putting away the Shentu command, Li Shiyi couldn’t grasp it firmly anymore, and she supported her forehead, her spirit only returning after a long while. With her arms, she pushed herself up, and looked around in a circle; Mulan and the hun military had all not left, standing with heads bowed at one side; A Luo embraced A Yin with her head lowered, and taciturnly hadn’t uttered a word; Song Shijiu wiped away some sweat, and glanced at her hand, which just then had had its fingernails scratched to breaking, and hesitantly glanced at Li Shiyi.

Li Shiyi leaned against the stone rampart and sat up, gazing intently at A Luo, her hands unconsciously grasping at the scattered sand on the ground. After a long time, she panted out a breath and quietly asked A Luo, “Who am I?”

As these words came out, she heard the sound of small, familiar steps from her right ear, kou-kou-kou, rising and falling in a succession of strikes. That sound got louder and louder, as if an impassioned battle drum, filling her eardrums, shaking her mind, holding her empty heart up high, having an altitude that looked down on all living things. In the midsts of the deafening sound, she saw A Luo gently let go of A Yin, lifting her skirts to arrange them and kneel before her; behind her, Mulan and the hun soldiers knocked against their armour, deferentially kneeling on the ground.

Li Shiyi finally understood why that day, Xia Ji had become terrified because of her one phrase of reincarnation, and why when the Teng serpent was attached to Yun Niang’s ghost body, it could be controlled by her. She heard A Luo bend down to kowtow, and call out, “Fujun.”

I’m called Ling Heng.

At the start of the primal chaos, there were a few bodies which couldn’t die nor be exterminated, born with the sun and the moon, sharing a mother with the heavens and the earth. People usually called them gods.

I am the god of Mount Tai’s ghost domain, in charge of the souls of the three realms.

My endless, colourless life had never before had any incidents, up until a few hundred years ago. But after that, I inadvertently reincarnated, becoming a…young girl.

She didn’t like to speak, somewhat like me. But her jianghu vitality was strong, quite unlike me.

I never told her, but the sound she heard from the time she was young was never ghosts’ footsteps, but that of cowardly spirits, who, on sensing the Fujun’s aura, unconsciously kowtowed.

Those were ghosts kowtowing.

I am Ling Heng, and I have no story to be told.

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Translator's notes:

[1]: 灰飞烟灭 (hui fei yan mie), to be utterly annihilated.

[2]: 挽剑花 (wan jian hua), a type of sword technique, characterised by its intricate yet ordered motions.