Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Phoenix’s Blood [10]

Translator: Xah

The whole corridor was blocked up and down by the Jiangshi, which were stilled at the moment, but full of breath.

The atmosphere was frozen at the moment.

Zhang Qiu, holding a dagger in his hand, looked at the Jiangshi before his eyes. He was sure it did not move. As soon as he touched Zhang YuShui, his hand was pulled away by Li Shu. Even so, the burning sensation from his fingertips made him palpitate.

The temperature was too high to boil eggs.

Pixian HuiWang huddled on the ground in pain, and blood could be seen flowing beneath his pale skin, as if he would be disintegrate at any moment.

“What should we do?”

Li Shu glanced between those zongzis, Pixian Hui Wang and Zhang YuShui. He didn’t know what was going on, but he saw the clue.

“There’s a connection between the three. Look at Zhang YuShui. As long as Zhang YuShui’s face is relaxed, Pixian HuiWang’s face shows pain. The faster the blood flows, the more relaxed these zongzis are.”

According to Li Shu’s words, Zhang Qiu saw that as it was, but there was no solution now, so he had to say: “Otherwise we can go ahead carefully avoid them and talk again.”

Just as Li Shu was about to open his mouth, Jin LaoDa’s voice came from the tomb passage. “HA-HA-HA-HA. It’s useless; you guys broke the Array’s Eye.” Suddenly the conversation turned, “Zhang YuShui, do you choose to die or do you want to kill Pixian Hui Wang just like you did before?”

Zhang YuShui, who was on the ground, was deeply struck; his memory was so numerous that he couldn’t tell whether he was Zhang YuShui or Emperor Zhang of Han. He sobered and calmed in a split second, his eyes focused on the painful face of Pixian Hui Wang on the ground, which coincided with the memories of the person in his bosom.

“You die, or Pixian Hui Wang dies. Zhang YuShui, it’s your choice.”

The voice of Jin LaoDa in the tomb came from all sides, with the chewing sound of Ka Cha ka Cha.

“You shut the fuck up!” Zhang Qiu shouted furiously all around the tomb.

The atmosphere was quiet again, but their dilemma was still there. Zhang Qiu saw Zhang YuShui’s yellow pupils getting stronger and stronger, gradually becoming golden. He was as hot as a burning man. With Zhang YuShui’s actions, the Jiangshis’ whole body became more and more angry and the expression was grim, but they could not make any noise. The whole atmosphere was silent like purgatory.

“Second brother!” Zhang Qiu didn’t know what Zhang YuShui was going to do, but guessed he was about to sacrifice himself. At the side, Pixian Hui Wang, had a little bit of blood on his body, and his expression relaxed, without the pain he had just felt moment ago. Zhang Qiu affirmed his guess and said, “Don’t listen to Jin LaoDa, that old bullshit nonsense. He himself gnawed on the zongzi monster. He most probably deceives us to go die ourselves.”

Zhang YuShui didn’t listen to Zhang Qiu. His face was distorted, but his eyes were staring down at Pixian Hui Wang, as if trying to draw the person into his eyes, such scorching hot gaze.

“Ah Yan…” Zhang Yushi had a hard time pronouncing these two words. His skin was already shining golden and it getting stronger, the whole tomb passage was shining like daylight, his clothes were burning, and the seven apertures of the Jangshis in the corridor were filled with thick fog,  wailing ‘wu-wu’ like ghosts and howling like wolves, sort of like cutting a person.

Zhang YuShui’s lips moved down, and his whole body was caught in a golden flame, but the flame could not reach Pixian Hui Wang.

Such resolute of self-immolation, but inside his eyes were deep attachment.

“You, you –” Pixian Hui Wang gritted his teeth and stared at the aflame Zhang YuShui, but could not say a word.

Zhang Qiu knew that this moment was beyond salvation and wondered why such a difficult choice had to be made.

“Bang—”

Golden light rushed to the top, a huge strong wave of light. Li Shu blocked Zhang Qiu in his arms, one hand pressed Zhang Qiu’s head, not letting him faced the light source.

In the dark, and being in Li Shu’s cold embrace, Zhang Qiu’s eyes stung, it was obviously the proper place, how could this be possible!

As all the burned-out light sources extinguished in an instant, the whole passage was plunged back into darkness, but filled with a strong odor, which was the Jiangshi’s.

Zhang Qiu’s head was numbed and Li Shu had let go of him. He was about to make a sound, but suddenly heard “bang, clang -” sound, came from the top of the head. Zhang Qiu followed the sound only to see Jin LaoDa with shiny eyes, with his hand holding something that emitting a golden light. Li Shu climbed up at the top to the hole and Jin LaoDa was removed. It was like throwing down a loach; quick and ruthless, Li Shu thrown the person on the ground.

Pixian Hui Wang smashed Jin LaoDa’s head with a slap. A red and white juice spread all over the ground. He broke Jin LaoDa’s hand, took the golden bead, and very cautiously put it in his bosom; acting with due care and respect seemingly very affectionate.

The quick action done in a split second, Li Shu picked up Jin LaoDa and quickly reached to Zhang Qiu. He saw his (ZQ) eyes and his eyebrows frowned slightly, “you can see?”

“What can I see?” Zhang Qiu did not react. Only Li Shu pointed to his (ZQ) eyes. What happened to his eyes? Suddenly Zhang Qiu was shocked. The tomb was dark, but his eyes could see everything. “Real—really can see.”

The thousands of Jiangshis in the tomb passage had become white bones, layers upon layers on the whole corridor’s pavement. The layer of dried skin and meat like molasses disappeared in the corridor, Zhang Qiu at the thought of the stinking smell of rotten fishes in the air became even were more nauseated, hated to have to breathe.

“Where is second brother!?”

His heart sank when he finished asking Li Shu and Pixian Hui Wang. Originally, he was thinking that Jin LaoDa had lied to them, the golden light would have disappeared, and the person would still be there.

“Since you say that second brother is a Phoenix, isn’t there a saying that Phoenix is Nirvana (1)?” Zhang Qiu looked up and asked Li Shu. “There must be some way,” he said.

Pixian Hui Wang touched the bead in his pocket through his clothes, the touch were warm on his fingers. He could not help thinking of the three words he said to the other person. His eyes were red, but his eyes were full of evil tendencies.

“He once drenched my whole coffin with his blood every three years. Ten years later, in order to bring me back to life, his blood was running out. I heard a voice telling him that great events have come into being.” Pixian Hui Wang, thinking about what he had vaguely heard lying in his coffin, said with a hint of murder in his eyes, “This speaker was put to death.”

Zhang Qiu thought of Pixian Hui Wang’s coffin was a red lacquer carved with five-clawed dragon. At that time he thought it was red lacquer. Now listening to Pixian Hui Wang saying that it was the blood of Emperor Zhang of Han Dynasty, he didn’t know what to say at the moment. Could it be that second elder brother was really gone?

“Zhang YuShui’s Phoenix bloodline are not to kill, unless consume its spiritual soul. Wait for the weakest time to self-immolate, then it transform to noumenon (2) bead. Looking at this color, it should be a firebird chick.” Li Shu looked around at the tomb passage, “It must have been a good idea to wait a thousand years and lay down such a mechanism.”

Firebird chick, it was a kind of Phoenix bloodline with golden yellow wings.

Pixian Hui Wang knew, looking at the Jin LaoDa’s corpse on the ground, he shouldn’t have killed him so early.

“What about Nirvana?” Zhang Qiu didn’t understand what Pixian Hui Wang was saying. He only knew that as long as it was a Phoenix, it would die and resurrect.

Li Shu saw Zhang Qiu looking worried, but did not want to deceive the other person, he honestly said: “It is self-immolation, not Nirvana.”

Pixian Hui Wang’s eyes darkened as he hung down his eyelids and touched the bead in his pocket. He looked pale, did not know what he was thinking. The atmosphere was heavy for a moment, and nobody spoke along the way.

Behind them, in a long dark road, the corpse of Jin LaoDa, which had just been shattered, suddenly moved around.

–

When Zhang Qiu and the rest went out of the tomb, it was already the next morning. They had unconsciously had spent the night in the tomb passage tossing about. They arrived the foot of the mountain.

“It’s Na Wu.” Far away was the clothing that Na Wu wore. Zhang Qiu was surprised to say, “Wasn’t he ran out already?”

As he got closer, Zhang Qiu found something wrong. Na Wu knelt down in the direction of robber’s hole. There were two green bones behind him, kneeling on the ground like Na Wu. It was amazing that such bones could kneel on the ground.

“Dead.”

Na Wu seemed to have been drained of water, but the two behind him were complete bones; they were the two of Lao Fei’s men.

Pixian Hui Wang had no interest in these things; he had not left his one hand from the pocket since he came out of the tomb, and his face looked cold and indifferent.

“Otherwise, look for a place and cover them with leaves first, then wait until the villagers are called to buried them.” Zhang Qiu said. Somehow, Na Wu was to show them the way, and now he was dead, Zhang Qiu did not know how to go back to explain.

Zhang Qiu was dying with headache; more than a dozen of them and finally came out alive were only three of them.

Li Shu didn’t let Zhang Qiu did anything about it. He dragged Na Wu’s bones under the tree and walked back through the stone-walled coffin seemingly not thrilling and without any danger. It was more than two o’clock in the afternoon. Among the three, Li Shu and Pixian Hui Wang were fine and clean. Only Zhang Qiu was dirty and took a hot bath. He was hungry. When he saw Pixian Hui Wang, he would think of Zhang YuShui, and his appetite gone.

Putting down the bowl and chopsticks, Zhang Qiu asked Little Grandson, who served the meal, “Do you know there’s a man named Na Wu in this village?”

“Bang!”

Little grandson’s bowl fell on the table; his big eyes full of tears, choked and asked, “Why do you ask for my A-ba?”

Boom—

Zhang Qiu’s head was muddled.

When he first arrived, he heard that the old grandpa’s son had not come out of the mountain since three years ago, the village pronounced him dead. He did not unexpectedly inquire into the heartbreak of the family, but at the moment he never thought that Na Wu, who had led them along, was the son who had been dead for three years in their conversation.

Right, it was Jin LaoDa who had come to meet Na Wu directly at the foot of the mountain. Na Wu had never been to the yard.

Everything seemed to be right, but there’s no way to tell whether Na Wu died three years ago or just now. If he died three years ago, then the one who’s leading them the way was a dead person.

Zhang Qiu shivered at the thought. Li Shu saw Zhang Qiu’s ugly face and coaxed him to go up for a rest.

“I don’t dare to sleep now. I’m afraid when I close my eyes, the people in this village are not alive. I can’t tell from who’s dead, who’s alive anymore –” he said, half way remembering that Pixian Hui Wang was also a big zongzi. His mood was complicated.

Contrariwise, he was not particularly scared, it’s just that there was a species except for himself and Li Shu that were ordinary people, and nowadays he saw some people were not human, in literally meaning.

---

Footnote:

(1) Nirvana (in Buddhism) a transcendent state in which there is neither suffering, desire, nor sense of self, and the subject is released from the effects of karma and the cycle of death and rebirth

(2) Noumenon = object of purely intellectual perception (according to Kant)

(3) A-ba = dad

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