Mu Geshen had spoken at length about Wu Nie’s origins, but Song Wentong seemed to know absolutely nothing about her. Holding Zhu Yinxiao, he took a step back and asked, “Who are you?”
“That doesn’t matter.” Wu Nie’s face was covered in theatrical makeup, making her expression impossible to discern. She wore the same pale, ghastly smile throughout. “If you little brat want to ask questions, you’ll have to fight our family first.”
As she spoke, she flung off her outer garment and struck forward with her palm.
That was exactly what Song Wentong wanted. The two met palm to palm, and a powerful wave of energy burst outward, sending everyone around them tumbling. Even Mu Geshen and Chai Shuxin, who had not managed to run very far, were caught in the blast and plunged headfirst into the water.
“That blind bastard Second Brother only knows how to drag his own people into trouble.” Mu Geshen surfaced and spat out a mouthful of water. “We need to get out of here quickly. With Mozi fighting Tai Sui, we’re probably in for another grand disturbance in Fengdu.”
Chai Shuxin grabbed a boat and pushed Mu Geshen aboard.
“The Star Lodge Child is still over there. Aren’t you going to help him?”
“Fifth Brother is practically Liu Adou, and Second Brother has the skills of Zhao Zilong. Charging in and out seven times at Changban Slope won’t be a problem for him.”
Mu Geshen pulled Chai Shuxin onto the boat.
“Our most urgent task is to find Third Brother and get him to break up the fight…”
Before he could finish speaking, an unidentified object came flying through the air and landed squarely in Mu Geshen’s arms.
Zhu Yinxiao, the chicken-feathered human, looked at him and let out a long burp.
This little ancestor still couldn’t talk. Usually, he either crowed or burped.
Zhao Zilong had thrown Liu Adou away, and Mu Geshen immediately felt his head grow twice as big.
“Zhu Yinxiao, how the hell do you manage to vomit and burp at the same time?”
Chai Shuxin replied, “Indigestion. It’s perfectly normal.”
“Divine Physician Hua Tuo, this isn’t the time to take someone’s pulse! If you keep being this dedicated to your profession, be careful Cao Cao cuts off your head—holy shit, speak of Cao Cao, and Cao Cao appears!”
Wu Nie leaped into the air, landing directly on their little boat. Song Wentong followed close behind. Without sparing a glance for the people aboard, he brought his saber down in a single strike.
The boat instantly split into four pieces. The force of the blade did not dissipate; instead, it rebounded, sending everyone flying into the sky like scattered petals.
That single strike was earth-shattering.
Mu Geshen held Zhu Yinxiao, Zhu Yinxiao clung to Chai Shuxin, and the three of them were like grasshoppers tied together on the same rope. They were swept away by the blade wind for an unimaginable distance, flying as though they had traveled eighty-one thousand miles before finally crashing into something unknown and landing in a heap, flattened like three pancakes.
Mu Geshen grimaced in pain.
“I shouldn’t have brought up the Three Kingdoms. I should have talked about Journey to the West instead. Damn it, Second Brother really is a reckless, pig-headed Zhu Bajie!”
Chai Shuxin stood up and looked around.
“Where are we?”
Mu Geshen was in too much pain to move. He lay sprawled on the ground, motionless.
“Is there anything nearby we can use as a landmark?”
“Yes. We’re beside a city gate.” Chai Shuxin replied, “There are three characters carved into the gate: Cheng Xi Guan.”
“?!?!”
Mu Geshen immediately scrambled to his feet and picked up Zhu Yinxiao.
“Come on. We need to leave right now!”
Chai Shuxin hurried after him.
“What kind of place is this?”
“This is Fengdu’s western city gate, also called Cheng Xi Guan. If you arrange the entire city of Fengdu according to the eight trigrams, you’ll discover that the Ghost Gate is the Gate of Life, while Cheng Xi Guan is the Gate of Death. It’s an extremely ominous place, a great evil site beyond compare.” Mu Geshen walked quickly. “Beyond the city gate lies the Land of Avici, an ancient battlefield filled with countless wronged souls and vicious ghosts. Once you enter, you’ll face eighty-one trials and tribulations. Unless you have the abilities of the Victorious Fighting Buddha, it’s very difficult to come out alive.”
As the two walked, the mist grew thicker and thicker. Mu Geshen sensed that something was wrong and abruptly stopped.
At that moment, a vicious ghost came lunging toward them, baring its fangs and claws.
Chai Shuxin stopped as well.
“What is that?”
Mu Geshen scattered a handful of Flower Coins, forcibly suppressing the vicious ghost.
“…Born in the dead of winter, are you absolutely certain that what you saw on the city gate just now was ‘Cheng Xi Guan’?”
“I’m certain. There’s no mistake.”
“Listen to me.” Mu Geshen took a deep breath. “We might not have been in front of the city gate just now. We might have been behind it. Second Brother’s saber can cleave through all things. It wouldn’t be surprising if he broke through the seal above the gate and sent us inside.”
Chai Shuxin: “……”
“So we may have already ventured deep into the Land of Avici in our haste,” Mu Geshen said. “Right now, what we urgently need is a Great Sage. Can you perform the seventy-two transformations?”
“There are no monkeys.” Chai Shuxin’s face remained expressionless. “Only a chicken.”
Zhu Yinxiao helpfully let out a crow.
The mist paused for a moment. Then, wailing rose from the ground, one cry answered by another, successfully attracting all manner of demons and monsters from every direction.
“…You really are a lucky chicken, aren’t you?” Mu Geshen’s face turned green at the sight. He tore a long strip of cloth from the hem of his robe, using half to gag Zhu Yinxiao and the other half to bind him securely to his back. Then he looked around, picked up two ancient swords covered in rust, and tossed one to Chai Shuxin.
“This thing isn’t as handy as a spear for me, but spears don’t work on these things. Have you practiced swordsmanship?”
“I know a little.” Chai Shuxin caught the sword and looked at the approaching crowd of skeletons. “Are you confident we can handle them?”
“In the Land of Avici, the ghosts kill one another. These are just empty shells left behind after their flesh has been devoured. The two of us should be able to deal with them, but we need to be extra careful…”
Before he could finish speaking, Chai Shuxin charged straight into the fray. Wherever his sword energy passed, white bones shattered like snow.
Mu Geshen watched the situation for a moment, then patted the person on his back.
“Fifth Brother, don’t fool around. Behave yourself, and I’ll tell you a bedtime story.”
“The eighty-one trials and tribulations. The twentieth trial.”
The youth raised his sword, and a chill spread through the air with its swing.
“Three Beatings of the White Bone Demon.”
The sinister wind howled, and blades and swords clashed with metallic clangs.
The ground trembled faintly. The skeletons surged like a rising tide, while Chai Shuxin stood surrounded at the center, his sword energy sharp and imposing.
These walking skeletons had originally been nothing more than empty shells, which made them even more troublesome to deal with. Only by severing their heads and then chopping off their limbs could their movements be stopped. Chai Shuxin wielded his sword as skillfully as a master butcher dismantling an ox. Wherever his sword energy passed, white bones were dismembered and shattered.
He turned sideways to evade an attack from behind, then thrust his sword forward. The blade pierced straight through the center of a walking corpse’s chest, and the skeleton exploded in midair like a flower made of bones.
The Little Heavenly Lantern floated above Chai Shuxin’s head, but its light had dimmed considerably. It was no longer enough to completely conceal the yang energy of the living emanating from his body. At that moment, Chai Shuxin was a target. Waves of walking corpses fell, only to surge toward him again and again, seemingly without end.
Chai Shuxin knew he wouldn’t be able to hold out for long. The Yao family had never been a martial clan, and his swordsmanship was far from exceptional. If he were dealing with ordinary mortals, he would have hundreds or even thousands of ways to make his opponent collapse in an instant. But here in the Land of Avici, neither silver needles nor poison would be of any use. Relying on his own strength alone, he had no chance of winning.
Chai Shuxin bent his knees and crouched, kicking sideways with his right leg. His entire body spun in place, and the edge of his sword traced a massive arc.
He was now the center of the entire horde of corpses.
At the outermost edge of the horde, Mu Geshen dragged a heavy sword behind him, running as he muttered incessantly, “To tell you the truth, Master, five hundred years ago, when I, Old Sun, was displaying my heroic prowess in the Water-Curtain Cave on Flower-Fruit Mountain, I subdued the demons of seventy-two caves. I commanded forty-seven thousand monsters. Upon my head I wore a purple-gold crown, upon my body a yellow-brown robe, around my waist a Lantian jade belt, upon my feet Cloud-Stepping Boots, and in my hand I held the Compliant Golden-Hooped Rod. I truly was once a person…”
The sword edge dug an inch into the ground, carving as Mu Geshen moved. His pace did not slow in the slightest as he ran a complete circle around the horde of corpses, drawing a great ring. Then he stepped onto a skeleton and leaped into the air, sprinting across the white bones.
“Born in the dead of winter!”
Mu Geshen pulled something out of his sleeve and hurled it with all his strength. Chai Shuxin leaped into the air and thrust his sword downward. The blade first pierced a skeleton’s skull, and its momentum remained undiminished, but then it struck an object on the ground with a clear ding.
It was a very small sound, yet it continued without end, surging like a tide and mingling with a distant, lingering resonance. The sound swelled into a tremendous wave, but it did not travel very far. It stopped at the sword marks Mu Geshen had carved into the ground, then flowed along them like water, forming an unbroken circle that enclosed the entire horde of corpses.
The walking corpses all stopped moving. Then their bones and limbs disassembled, returning to the earth.
Mu Geshen tossed the heavy sword aside and plopped down on the ground, letting out a long breath. He picked up a white bone to use as a storyteller’s clapper, slapped it against the ground, and declared, “It was a zombie lurking in the shadows, causing trouble and leading people astray. After I killed it, its true form was revealed. There was a line of writing on its spine, which read: Lady White Bone.”
Zhu Yinxiao, lying across his back, stared at him and blinked. It was impossible to tell whether he had understood anything.
“Not a word more or less. I’ve just finished one complete episode. Good cooperation.” Mu Geshen tossed the white bone away. “Good work. You’re not hurt, are you?”
Chai Shuxin walked over with his sword and handed Mu Geshen the object he had been holding.
“Your coin.”
Mu Geshen took it and tossed it back into his hand.
“Thanks.”
Neither of them had received orthodox martial training. Fighting head-on would have left them with no chance of winning. Chai Shuxin had concentrated the attacks on himself, while Mu Geshen drew a massive formation around the perimeter. Then, using the Mountain Ghost Flower Coin as the formation’s focal point, he borrowed its power to subdue this entire horde of walking corpses.
“The Mountain Ghost Flower Coin is said to have been created by Fuxi. It carries the principles governing the fate of heaven and earth, and neither blades nor spears can pierce it, nor can gods or demons invade it. Your sword strike just now merely sent out some residual shockwaves, but that was more than enough to deal with this rabble.” Mu Geshen brushed the dust off his clothes. “I’ll calculate the way out. First, we’ll return to the city gate, then figure out how to leave.”
The Land of Avici was filled with sinister energy and concentrated evil. Foul winds blew through the area, and blue ghost fires dotted the ground.
“This place can also be considered a land of exile. Unsolved cases that even the Ten Kings of Hell cannot judge, resentful souls so consumed by obsession that they refuse reincarnation, or vicious fiends so powerful that even the Office of Punishment cannot discipline them—most of them are suppressed here, where they kill one another endlessly, without end.”
Mu Geshen picked Zhu Yinxiao up in his arms again. As he spoke, he plucked at the feathers on Zhu Yinxiao’s tail. Zhu Yinxiao had never really dared to act up around him, so all he could do was twist and wriggle nonstop, like a brightly colored maggot.
Chai Shuxin couldn’t bear to watch any longer.
“Let me carry him.”
“No need. Your hands are precious. If he bites you, I couldn’t afford to compensate you.” Mu Geshen waved him off. “Besides, my father always said that children shouldn’t be spoiled.”
…Children shouldn’t be spoiled, sure, but that didn’t mean they should be toyed with, either.
Watching Zhu Yinxiao suffer at Mu Geshen’s hands, Chai Shuxin ultimately chose not to say anything.
“How far are we from the city gate?”
Chai Shuxin: “……”
“It’s not very far, but the journey is extremely dangerous.” Mu Geshen rubbed a Mountain Ghost Flower Coin between his fingers. “If we encounter more walking corpses like the ones just now, that’s fine. We can still deal with them by force. But if we run into something we can’t afford to provoke, then the two of us have neither the Yin-Yang School’s abilities nor the Mohist School’s divine weapons. The things here won’t care about fortune-telling or medicine. If we really encounter something like that, there’s only one word for it—run.”
“You’ve expended a great deal of energy.”
“Likewise.” Mu Geshen smiled. “There are forty-nine Mountain Ghost Flower Coins in total. So far, I’ve inherited seventeen from Master. They’re fine for ordinary divination, but if I actually use them to fight for my life, I’m afraid I’m not qualified to control the vast power contained within them. So, along the way, we should avoid trouble whenever possible. If I have to use the Mountain Ghost Flower Coins one more time, Born in the Dead of Winter, you’ll probably have to drag me out of here.”
Before he could finish speaking, Chai Shuxin suddenly drew his sword with a shing.
“So ruthless?” Mu Geshen was startled. “You’ve already decided I’m dead weight and want to finish me off right here? If I’m going to die, I might as well die with a full stomach. How about we cook Fifth Brother before our final battle?”
“Shut up.”
Chai Shuxin hurled his sword forward, then grabbed Mu Geshen and swiftly pulled him backward.
Only then did Mu Geshen belatedly turn his head and see a monster chasing them from not far away. No one could tell how many arms or heads it had. Countless eyes stared fixedly at the two of them, their appearance utterly horrifying.
But the strangest thing was that although its upper body was enormous, its lower body consisted of only one pair of legs, and it walked upright like a human. Moreover, they were a pair of women’s legs, with slender calves wrapped in three-inch golden lotus shoes.
Chai Shuxin’s sword had struck one of the faces in the center. All the monster’s mouths began screaming at once, the shrill noise painfully piercing their eardrums.
“I’m going to have psychological trauma from the Thousand-Handed, Thousand-Eyed Buddha at White Water Temple. They both have a thousand hands and a thousand eyes, so why does this thing look so damn hideous?” Mu Geshen covered Zhu Yinxiao’s ears and took off running. “Fifth Brother, learn your lesson! Stop disturbing everyone’s peace every morning! Your crowing sounds even worse than that thing!”
The strip of cloth in Zhu Yinxiao’s mouth had fallen out from all the jostling, and drool was running everywhere.
Although the monster had a pair of tiny feet, it was astonishingly fast. The distance between them was growing shorter and shorter.
“We’ll be caught before we reach the city gate, and we’ll attract even more things along the way.” Mu Geshen tossed a Flower Coin to Chai Shuxin. “We split up.”
Chai Shuxin caught his arm. “What do you mean?”
“Put the Flower Coin inside your Little Heavenly Lantern. It’ll show you the way. Make sure you hold on to it. Give it back to me later.”
Mu Geshen pried his hand away.
“If we run together, we’ll eventually be caught. At least one of us needs to make it out and bring back reinforcements.”
“Then give me the Star Lodge Child,” Chai Shuxin said decisively.
“This is my Fifth Brother. Don’t think you can take advantage of the situation to kidnap a child.” Mu Geshen replied, “Besides, you can’t handle him. This child bites.”
“You can’t run fast while carrying him!”
“Then can you run fast?”
The two continued arguing as they ran. Mu Geshen couldn’t be bothered to persuade Chai Shuxin any further. He turned sharply and was about to run in the opposite direction.
Chai Shuxin reacted quickly and chased after him. Unexpectedly, he stepped sideways at just the wrong moment and tripped Mu Geshen.
Mu Geshen was already off balance because both his hands were covering Zhu Yinxiao’s ears. He stumbled and fell, sending the person in his arms flying straight out.
The figure landed squarely in front of the monster.
Both men’s expressions changed instantly. They immediately tried to get up and fight for their lives, only to trip over each other’s legs and collapse into another tangled heap.
Chai Shuxin almost wanted to chop off his own leg. He could only watch helplessly as the monster stopped in front of Zhu Yinxiao, its limbs flailing wildly, as though it were about to swallow him whole the very next second—
But then Zhu Yinxiao opened his mouth and let out a long, piercing crow.
Every time Mu Geshen heard that sound, he suffered a nervous stomachache. Perhaps the Vermilion Bird had an unusually large lung capacity. Every morning, when Zhu Yinxiao crowed at the study, he could keep going for a full quarter of an hour without taking a breath. It was said that the roosters raised at White Water Temple had been so provoked by him that they would desperately hold their breath and compete with him in volume, only to suffocate themselves to death in the end.
Zhu Yinxiao continued crowing without pause.
Then something unbelievable happened.
The monster gradually began to shrink and disappear amid the crowing, like an inflatable raft losing air. In the end, only a woman’s body remained, floating in midair like a wisp of smoke.
Zhu Yinxiao opened his mouth and swallowed it in just a few bites.
Chai Shuxin: “……”
Mu Geshen: “……”
It took the two of them quite a while to recover. Mu Geshen wore an indescribably complicated expression.
“I knew the Vermilion Bird had divine blood and could suppress evil spirits, but I never imagined it could do something like this… No wonder Fifth Brother has been so picky about food lately. He’s probably nearing his complete transformation and needs spiritual energy to nourish himself. What he wants to eat isn’t grains, oil, salt, and ordinary food at all.”
Zhu Yinxiao sat on the ground and burped. Then he turned around, looked at Mu Geshen, and stretched out both arms toward him.
Mu Geshen: “Are you asking me to fight you?”
Chai Shuxin: “…It seems the Spirit Pivot Child wants you to hold him.”