Chapter 87

Chapter 87: Yin Soldiers [5]

Xiao Jiang was eating a cream puff, while swinging his legs and Zhang Qiu praised him: “Xiao Jiang is so awesome.” If no one had believed him, this little guy would’ve cried.

“Dad is awesome too.” Xiao Jiang took a bite of the cream, his eyes forming crescents. He then raised his hands and handed half the milk bun to Zhang Qiu, “Dad, eat.”

“Dad won’t eat.” It would be gone as soon as he took a bite. He wanted to eat it, but Xiao Jiang would show his pitiful face again. It found that it was fun to tease Xiao Jiang, and he was shocked by his own thoughts. When did he have such bad taste?

After eating the other half of the puff, the bell on Xiao Jiang’s wrist jingled stronger than before. Xiao Jiang frowned and looked down at the bell. Zhang Qiu calmly said: “Maybe we’re making a U-turn, it’ll probably get better soon.”

Ten minutes later, Xiao Jiang showed his two sharp tiger teeth, and his eyes were unusually fierce. Zhang Qiu knew something was wrong and followed him out. There was the sound of jingling the whole way and as soon as they exited the room, an evil wind blew against his face. Zhang Qiu couldn’t open his eyes and he couldn’t see Xiao Jiang, even from such a short distance.

Zhang Qiu called out twice, his voice echoing on the ship. He then saw Li Shu standing on the deck beckoning him.

He went to raise his feet to walk, but his feet didn’t listen. He knew in his heart that Li Shu was back in the room and the one on the deck couldn’t be him. He couldn’t help but remember that Hei Qian said that the spirits could create illusions, which meant that they had entered the evil spirits’ district.

Looking across the deck, the other party that had turned into Li Shu was beckoning him with a stiff face. Zhang Qiu took another two steps, then he suddenly heard the sound of the bell. His mind was clear for a moment, and he was pulled back vigorously from behind. He saw Li Shu’s face and breathed a sigh of relief.

“You almost fell overboard, what’s wrong?” Li Shu asked with a frown.

Zhang Qiu hurriedly told him about the illusion and then asked Li Shu, “Where is Xiao Jiang?”

In front of him, Li Shu suddenly approached, exposing his sharp teeth and smiled, “What is Xiao Jiang------”

At that point, Zhang Qiu realised that something was wrong. It was obvious that he was in another illusion. He kicked his feet but the other party’s arm was very strong and he couldn’t shake him off. He knew in his heart that this was not good. He hadn’t taken anything with him when he left the room earlier, moving his head to the side to dodge the other party’s attack.

“Ding ling------”

Zhang Qiu saw that the other party was briefly in a daze and taking advantage of that moment, he threw his arm, kicking the other party in the face. The other party dodged and Zhang Qiu quickly ran towards the room. Behind him, he heard someone shout: “Don’t go there.”

‘I don’t want to stay here and be your dinner.’ As soon as he arrived at the room, he was suddenly grasped viciously. Unconsciously, he turned his head and kicked his legs. The other party grabbed his calf and said: “Song Bao, it’s me.”

“Fucker, let me kick you!” Zhang Qiu switched to his fist but was grabbed by the other party. When he saw crimson pupils and a worried expression, he was taken aback, and tentatively asked: “Li Shu?”

Li Shu held him in his arms, with a worried expression, “Do you see where you are now?”

Hearing that, Zhang Qiu looked around and suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. He had reached the stern of the boat, with half of his body leaning over the railing. If Li Shu hadn’t grabbed him, he would’ve fallen overboard.

Zhang Qiu told him about the illusion just now, but Li Shu just smiled and said: “These things are smart, using your loved ones to seduce you.”

He was shameless to the extreme. Zhang Qiu looked at Li Shu, whose crimson eyes had not yet faded. He then decided that it wasn’t shameless, he really did love Li Shu a lot.

As the two of them walked back, they saw Qi Zhirong standing against the railing with a worried look, shouting: “Hurry up, Xiao Xi, hurry up. I’ve changed, I was not myself. Qi Xi come back, come back!” Shouting himself hoarse, he also didn’t know what he was seeing.

Qi Xi came out in a hurry and was stunned when he heard Qi Zhirong’s words. He quickly rushed over and picked up Qi Zhirong, who was in a daze.

Zhang Qiu: ……

This was too sickening.

Qi Xi looked over at them and said with a smile: “I knew Xiao Rongrong would have no choice but to love me.”

On the deck, everything was balancing between life and death. Zhang Qiu and Li Shu rushed up to help and after a while Qi Xi and Pei Qing came out. Zhang Qiu could not help but look at Qi Xi differently. He thought that Qi Xi had knocked Qi Zhirong out so he could do things. It seemed that he jumped to conclusions in thinking that Qi Xi was so repulsive.

“Xiao Rongrong woke up and kicked me out.” Qi Xi said aggrievedly. He only wanted to kiss him.

Zhang Qiu: ……

It seemed as though it wasn’t that Qi Xi didn’t want to do it, it was that he didn’t have a chance to. Zhang Qiu had just said that Qi Xi was a changed person?!

Hei Qian counted the number of people and discovered that three people were missing from the ship. Two of them were ghosts brought by Hei Qian. The other was a man who had jumped down by himself. The sea was rolling and pitch-black and when Zhang Qiu looked down, he couldn’t see where the man had fallen.

“Pei Qing!” Li Shu said.

Pei Qing knew what Li Shu meant, but Hei Qian shook his head and said, “It’s useless, that person is dead, his soul is gone.” Specifically his two assistants. Generally, when a ghost had a signet of official business from the Underworld, no ghost would dare make a move. Even the wicked ghosts would avoid them. However, at that moment, all signs of contact disappeared.

“Don’t go looking for death.” Hei Qian said calmly as he looked into the misty ocean.

By that time, the captain had already come out. He had heard that someone fell down and mobilised the sailors to go down in the emergency boat to try and save them, but he was stopped by Hei Qian. At that point, going down was no different to dying, and he asked with a smile: “Did you change the direction?”

“Mr. Hei, I am doing this for the good of everyone. There is clearly nothing wrong with the route.” The captain saw Hei Qian smiling and thought that he was not angry. He once again mentioned his many years of experience, and confidently affirmed: “We are absolutely right.”

The corner of Hei Qian’s mouth curved into a straight line and he sneered, “I really want to take you as a subordinate for such a stubborn temper.” Zhang Qiu understood that he wanted to kill the captain. The captain laughed and said humbly, “I wouldn’t dare, I was born with this temperament and people say that I’m more direct. I’m just thinking about the sake of the people on the boat.”

“You should be glad that the Underworld has rules that prevent me from doing it. Seeing you be so foolish makes me angry.” Hei Qian dismissed the captain.

The captain was so confused at being scolded, just before he had said he was fine!

“Is it too late to change course now?” Zhang Qiu asked, it was a little past six o’clock, realising that it would be possible to change back in time.

Hei Qian shook his head and said: “We have entered the evil spirits’ district. The night is their domain, we cannot get out.” They would have to turn back later.

Xiao Jiang burped then quietly and stealthily covered his mouth with his chubby hand. Zhang Qiu had a headache and after a while, Xiao Jiang ran away again. Seeing that his two sons were healthy, he didn’t want to say much. No one noticed Xiao Jiang poke Xiao Fei, who was sitting on his head, and say happily: “Didi, let it out.”

“What are you hiding?”

Xiao Fei yawned when he was poked, his eyes misty. The crimson fog swung, and on the deck, there were two dark, wet balls.

“What is that?”

Hei Qian’s expression changed, and he said: “Those are my two assistants that disappeared. However, they have been mostly crippled.” They were not powerful enough to maintain their human form and it was as if they had been sucked away.

“Didi and I discovered them when something strange was eating them, and we were able to save them.” Xiao Jiang said, looking for praise.

Zhang Qiu touched his son’s head and asked: “Where did the two of you find them?”

“I saw a lot of delicious looing food in the sea and Didi carried me down with the crimson fog. When I was full, I found the strange thing eating these two.” Xiao Jiang pointed to the sea in the front, “Dad, over there, you see those shiny white dots.” Xiao Jiang didn’t mention that the strange thing that was eating those assistants, was trapped in his Didi’s crimson fog to teach it a lesson.

Xiao Fei’s crimson fog spat out broken, white dregs and Xiao Jiang said: “Didi, you brought back the strange thing too?!”

Zhang Qiu looked at the white thing that was about the size of his little finger. It was scattered with a faint, white light, and looked like a small piece of jade.

“It’s a piece of the tally.” As soon as Hei Qian finished speaking, he felt that something wasn’t quite right. “It should be the material left over from the original Military Tally. It was taken to the ghost world and refined day after day, making it what it is now.”

A part of the Heshibi[1]?

Zhang Qiu felt as though the thing seemed to be alive. As soon as Hei Qian had finished speaking, the thing emitted a glow, as if it was echoing Hei Qian’s words. It felt very evil.

Hei Qian had an indifferent attitude and said: “Remember, do not look at my eyes.”

Zhang Qiu didn’t know why Hei Qian kept reminding them, but he was more determined not to look at his eyes. That kind of curiosity was still unacceptable. The other party repeatedly emphasised that he didn’t want something to go wrong because of that curiosity.

As he was thinking, Hei Qian had already taken his sunglasses off. Zhang Qiu quickly twisted his head and covered his eyes. In the blink of an eye, Hei Qian’s figure had disappeared beneath the surface of the sea. The black sickle exuded a scarlet light and the back of Hei Qian quickly blended into the misty, black sea. The scarlet sickle could still be seen, allowing them determine Hei Qian’s location.

Hundreds of ghosts wailed endlessly.

The sound was shrill, and for a moment, Zhang Qiu felt as though he was surrounded by those ghosts. It was like being in purgatory. Hei Qian’s scarlet sickle seemed as if it was stained with blood and the ghosts howled, their voices gradually calming down as if they were powerless to struggle. After a while, everything became tranquil again.

Hei Qian collected the remnants and asked everyone to stay on deck. They were all wrapped in blankets and were lazily leaned against each other, their eyes always on guard. The sound of Xiao Jiang’s bell never stopped. He held the vanity mirror and compass in his hands. Looking into the mirror, he showed his little tiger teeth, and licked his lips.

Zhang Qiu had a headache. What kind of ghost was he watching? It was like he was watching a gourmet meal!

He had to give his son a cookbook. He didn’t know if eating those kinds of things would hurt his stomach.

“Dad, the boat keeps going this way, look.” Xiao Jiang showed his father the vanity mirror.

Zhang Qiu was still thinking about his son’s cookbook when he suddenly swept his eyes over and broke into a cold sweat. The front of the boat was covered in a black fog and their true forms were shown in the mirror. All kinds of ghosts, spirits, and beasts formed a huge vortex, and their ship was approaching it, bit by bit. They were piteously crying for food and although they couldn’t hear any sound, they could see many hideous faces vying to be the first. Once they entered that vortex, Zhang Qiu didn’t hesitate in the slightest, those things would nibble them clean.

It was delicious food delivered right to them.

“Hei Qian, look.” Zhang Qiu handed the mirror to Hei Qian.

The mist of the sea had not yet dissipated, and the smell of blood rushed into their noses. Qi Xi pinched his nose and loudly expressed his disgust, insisting on covering Qi Zhirong’s nose for him. Qi Zhirong just frowned and swatted his hand away, but he obviously didn’t even want to open his mouth. Everyone was holding their noses, and watched Hei Qian walk back over.  

He had put his sunglasses back on, and his black, heavy woollen coat was covered in red blood. It seemed as if he had just come out of Hell. He was very serious. Seeing that they were all in shock, he suddenly said with a smile: “You should all go back and have a rest.”

That kind of smile… it was as if a devil from Hell was suddenly trying to be an angel.

Zhang Qiu felt like that person was really weird on both sides. However, it wasn’t disturbing because Hei Qian didn’t mean any harm to them, on the contrary, he only smiled sincerely.

Everyone agreed and Qi Xi yawned, saying: “You know, I wanted to show you my strength. Brother, next time, give me a chance to show you my strength. Don’t fight too hard alone!”

“Hahaha okay.” Hei Qian nodded and said with a smile: “Working in groups isn’t my specialty! But I’ll leave you an opportunity next time.”

Hearing that, Zhang Qiu suddenly thought of the way Hei Qian teased Bai Shengsheng, and immediately shivered. Li Shu thought he was cold and gestured for Xiao Jiang to follow. Holding onto Zhang Qiu’s waist, Li Shu excused them and turned to walk back.

Back in the room, Zhang Qiu noticed that it was already 4:40am and the sun was beginning to rise. After being occupied for most of the night and then directing Li Shu to give Xiao Jiang a bath, Zhang Qiu’s head touched the pillow and he instantly fell asleep.

Everyone must have been quite tired because it was not until ten o’clock in the morning that they gathered in the dining hall for breakfast.

The captain apologised to them shamefully, saying that the route was clearly opposite yesterday, but after six o’clock, he didn’t know what was going on, and the route was changed. They had sailed too far in the opposite direction. Now they had to backtrack and may not reach the Sea of Japan until the afternoon.

Xiao Jiang snorted angrily, making the captain even more ashamed and he immediately apologised to Xiao Jiang. Zhang Qiu touched his son’s round face. The captain had a good temperament to be able to admit his mistake. Although he was stubborn, he was quite old and they couldn’t cause him to lose face in public.

“It’s fine, but next time you must believe me.” Xiao Jiang pouted, patting his chest and saying happily: “Er-Bobo said I could be a Medium in the future.”

“Pfft.” Qi Xi couldn’t help but laugh.

Yue Qincang also had a smile on his face, but he held his laugh back, not looking at the little guy who was huffing and staring at Qi Xi with wide eyes, mumbling: “Bad Shushu.”

From ‘Pretty Gege’ to ‘Bad Shushu’, everyone couldn’t help but laugh and tease Xiao Jiang. For the sake of the ‘Pretty Gege’ title, Qi Xi could be regarded as a pushover. He always spoke well to Xiao Jiang, praising him as handsome and especially with his aspirations to become a Medium. In Xiao Jiang’s heart, being a Medium was the most noble career. He was so happy that he almost had a bubble in his nose. After being praised a lot, he was happy enough to call him ‘Pretty Gege’ again. His attitude changed very quickly, and the atmosphere suddenly became active. Hei Qian patted the captain on the shoulder, indicating that the matter passed. He didn’t want to pursue it any longer. After all, the captain was just a stupid human.

After lunch, everyone went back to their rooms to rest. By three o’clock in the afternoon, they had already entered the Sea of Japan. Hua Ting calculated the time and announced, “We should be able to arrive in the evening.”

The surface of the sea was peaceful, and it had begun to snow sporadically in the evening. Soon, the snow became heavier and heavier and their breaths began to freeze.

“We’ve arrived.” Hua Ting couldn’t hide the excitement in his eyes.

The ship was only a few thousand metres into the sea and from a distance, they saw a lonely island. The snow was very heavy and Zhang Qiu couldn’t see the specific landscape of the island. It seemed as if it was covered by a layer of yarn.

“Sir, our ship has been spinning, and for some reason we can’t get in.” The captain said anxiously. It was the first time he had experienced such a strange situation.

Hei Qian had not yet spoken when Xiao Jiang’s hand jumped up and said: “I know, Er-Bobo told me about this kind of situation.”

“Then tell me about it.” Hei Qian said with a smile.

Everyone trusted Xiao Jiang. He said: “For the sake of our friendship, I’ll give you a 20% discount.”

“Hey, Xiao Jiang------” Zhang Qiu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He really had learnt from his Er-Ge.

Hei Qian was very happy when he heard that, and touched Xiao Jiang’s head, “You’re really similar to Xiao Bai. Thank you for the 20% discount. Now, will you tell me about this situation?”

Xiao Jiang had only given a 20% discount because it was the easiest number to remember from what his Er-Bobo had siad. He hadn’t even told him the offer. When he heard Hei Qian agree, he held the compass up, pointed to the west, and said: “It’s a bit strange, but I think we should go in this direction.”

“Sir, I’ve just scanned all around the island, the reef in the west is very dangerous, we can’t go there!” The captain urged.

Hei Qian turned his face and just looked at the captain. He was wearing sunglasses so his expression couldn’t be seen clearly. However, the captain was so nervous that his forehead broke out in a cold sweat and he quickly added: “I understand, we will sail towards the west.”

“There is only one chance. I’ve already given it to you.” Hei Qian looked back.

The captain knew that the other party knew that he had changed the direction without their permission. The captain wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and promised, “Yes, don’t worry Sir.”

The ship slowly sailed to the west but the closer it got, the bumpier the journey became. The captain said: “We can’t get any closer or we will hit the rocks.”

“Let’s go over in the lifeboats.” Li Shu said.

No one had any objections. If the ship hit the rocks, their group wouldn’t be able to leave. They could just forget about Robinson Crusoe[2]. After gathering their luggage, Hei Qian ordered the captain to anchor the ship far west after they left.

Pei Qing originally wanted to transform into his original form and carry a few people over while the lifeboat would be used to carry the luggage. Zhang Qiu tried to persuade him that something was not right here and just in case there was something strange in the sea, the losses outweighed the gains. As soon as Ling Dang heard that, he urged Pei Qing to go by boat.

The journey went without issue but Pei Qing still insisted that they were too careful. Not too long after, just as the boat was about to arrive, it began to spin around on the water. In an instant, the small whirlpool gradually got bigger, as if it was about to swallow up the boat of people.

Xiao Jiang was holding the compass in his hand and wrinkled his face. The needle in the compass was spinning wildly, indicating that the situation was bad. He didn’t know what to do. Er-Bobo had not said anything about this.

Hei Qian smiled, “These Japanese ghosts may not recognise me.”

Zhang Qiu was confused, and he then saw the pitch-black sickle suddenly appear in Hei Qian’s hand. As soon as the weapon appeared, the whirlpool quickly disappeared. The boat recovered and even felt a thrust. Were the ghosts helping them by pushing the boat?

“You guys are wise.” Hei Qian took the weapon and said with a smile: “Flattering some small spirits, it’s nothing to be worried about.”

Zhang Qiu felt in his heart that they were fortunate to be working with King Yama on this trip as they had saved a lot of resources. Otherwise, since Er-Ge didn’t come, they wouldn’t have gotten along with the ghosts on the journey.

______________________________________________________

Translator’s notes:

[1] Just a reminder that the Heshibi is an important Ancient Chinese relic, it is mentioned in previous chapters as well

[2] "Robinson Crusoe" is a 1719 American novel by Daniel Defoe. It is about a young, impulsive wanderer who defied his parents and went to sea. ZQ means that if the ship got grounded, they couldn't go to sea and be like Crusoe anymore. 

 

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