Chapter 24: CH 23

"Dashi, what's wrong?" asked Jiang Shining. Being a ghost, Jiang Shining had a natural advantage compared to Lu Nianqi. Aside from a slight headache and some dull pain, he was not actually hurt, and was the first between the two to recover. He sat up in confusion and saw Xuanmin with the flame in one hand, gaping at something on the ground, frozen in shock.

In their limited interactions thus far, Xuanmin had maintained the disposition of a deathly calm pond –– it had seemed that nothing could scare him or anger him in any way. Jiang Shining had never seen him so taken aback. 

What the hell had made Xuanmin react in such a way?! 

Something inside Jiang Shining's heart went ba-dunk, and a sense of unease welled up inside him.

When he saw that Xuanmin seemed not to have heard him at all, he became even more distressed. He scrambled up to go to him, but as soon as he took a step, he tripped.

"Ow–– Look where you're going!" Lu Nianqi yelped, his foot darting away.

"My sincere apologies. I was not paying attention," Jiang Shining said. He turned and saw that the poor child was hugging his head and trying to protect his wounded hand at the same time. "I stepped on your foot –– why are you hugging your head?"    

“...” There was a pause. Reluctantly, Lu Nianqi responded in a muffled tone, "Somehow I landed on my face. I hurt my forehead."

That won Jiang Shining over. All of a sudden, his medical instinct kicked in. "Can you stand? Where else are you hurt?" 

"I hurt my hand again. It must be bleeding." Lu Nianqi wiggled his hand. Leaning on Jiang Shining's side, he stood up. "Apart from that, I'm fine. Monk... Uh, what's he discovered? Why isn't he saying anything?" 

The child had lost both his parents at a young age, so he did not know how to speak to his elders properly. If Xuanmin hadn't revealed some of his powers earlier, he wouldn't even have bothered correcting himself –– he would've just addressed him as ‘Monk’. 

The two of them limped and staggered over to Xuanmin's side. Because Xuanmin had such a cold demeanor, they didn't dare get too close, but instead hovered half a step away from him and stretched their necks out like meerkats to peer at the patch of ground he was staring at.

The talisman Xuanmin was holding probably had a special spell [a] to it –– in all this time, it hadn't burned away yet. The small flame that persisted didn't emit a whole lot of light, but it did allow them to see the face that had fallen to the ground.

Jiang Shining: “……”

Lu Nianqi: “……”

If you were in a dark flame lit only by a tottering, almost dead flame, at the bottom of a creepy island, and suddenly came across your companion's severed head, you would be so afraid that you might cry, or even go crazy. Plus, Xue Xian had landed face-up, and his streaked, bloodied face was already a fright in itself –– a ghoulish face in a place like that would send anyone halfway to heaven.

And yet...    

The first emotion that came to Jiang Shining's mind was pure exasperation.

Next, he thought: What's he playing at now...

And finally, a bell in his brain rang, and he began to tremble. "Oh no. His head's fallen off. Is he dead?" 

He finally understood why Xuanmin had been in such a stupor earlier. Although everyone had heard of decapitation, it was still shocking to actually witness it.

Just a second ago, the paper man had been happily tumbling around –– who knew that he'd actually go and get his head snapped off?

"Wh-where's his body?" Jiang Shining stammered.

Lu Nianqi still hadn't shaken the look of utter trauma off his face. Only his eyeballs moved over to look at Xuanmin.

Xuanmin made no noise, nor did he show any emotion –– all he did was reach into his pouch and procure that headless paper body. That body, which had been so energetic earlier, now lay lifeless in his palm without so much as a twitch, as though turned back into an ordinary piece of paper, silent and unmoving.

Jiang Shining opened his mouth again yet found no words. Finally, Lu Nianqi said, "Is... Is he a human or a ghost? The state he's in... Will he survive?"

"He should..." Jiang Shining began, but trailed off, unsure how to finish the sentence. Then, it occurred to him to bend down and pick up the fragile sheet that was Xue Xian's head. Hesitantly, he said, "Xue… Xue-xiong? [b] Are you awake? If you are, say something."

“...”

Jiang Shining held his breath and waited, but there was no response. Quivering, he quickly placed the head into Xuanmin's palm.

"Could we paste him back together?" Lu Nianqi ventured.

What use is that? Have you ever heard of a human gluing his head back on? Why don't you try doing that to yourself? 

The words surged in Jiang Shining's stomach, but, seeing as Lu Nianqi was but a child, he forced them down. He gazed down at Xue Xian’s decapitated body with eyes full of worry and frustration.

All of a sudden, Xuanmin, still staring down at his palm, said, "There is no hope. Let's burn it."

In unison, Jiang Shining and Lu Nianqi shouted, "What?"    

Xuanmin was still wearing that neutral expression –– he looked utterly serious. Appalled, Jiang Shining's whole body began to tremble. "Dashi, are you for real?" 

"I do not perform funeral rites for paper men." As he said this, Xuanmin moved the burning talisman closer to Xue Xian's corpse.

Just as the flame stretched its tongue out toward the paper, a sad voice boomed into Xuanmin's ear. "Halt! How dare you?" 

The sound had clearly not come from the paper man, but rather from the empty space near Xuanmin's ear.

Jiang Shining had still been in disbelief about Xue Xian's death. Now, his head shot up and he stared at Xuanmin. Circling the monk, he looked around but was afraid to say a word, for he could not see Xue Xian anywhere.

In fact, when the paper body had ripped in half, Xue Xian had known that he would experience yet another maiming. Instead of facing his agonising fate, Xue Xian had torn his soul out of the paper body. Without a physical anchor, his soul was as fickle as wind or air, unable to be seen by anyone. Incidentally, this was exactly what Xue Xian wanted –– all his previous agitation had ended up getting his own head ripped off. It was humiliating. He wanted to be invisible.

So he had quietly gathered himself behind Xuanmin, like one of those goblins that perched on people's shoulders, [c] watching them. 

Xue Xian had wanted to freak out the bald donkey by swimming up toward Xuanmin and muttering ominous things into his ear.

But Xuanmin didn't even turn around. Calmly, as though nothing was wrong, he asked, "Not faking dead anymore?" 

Xue Xian: “...”

It was as they say: no matter how strong you think you are, there is always something that can defeat you. Xue Xian couldn't believe that, out of everyone in the world, he had to run into this bald donkey. 

"How did you know I wasn't dead?" Xue Xian finally said through gritted teeth. 

Xuanmin put the two pieces of the paper body, which he had threatened to burn, back into his pouch, then said, "Good people often die early. It is always the villains who tend to live long, fulfilling lives." [d]

Xue Xian could strangle the bald donkey. [e]

But then...    

At the thought of something, Xue Xian pushed his fury down. With all the will in him, he managed to soften his voice and say, "Fine. Someone of my status has no need to engage with a bald donkey like you. Say whatever you want."

Hearing this, Xuanmin tilted his head and stole a glance at the air around his ear. What was wrong with the niezhang? He had actually managed to suppress his anger and behave properly for once.

Xue Xian cleared his throat –– he knew that, to say what he wanted to say next, he needed to have some humility. Seeing Jiang Shining and Lu Nianqi in the corner of his eye, he lowered his voice. 

Bare souls have no bodies, so of course they are neither big nor small, neither fat nor thin –– they are but gusts of wind. Xue Xian gathered himself into as tight a bundle as he could and crept toward Xuanmin's ear canal, so that no other person could hear what he was about to say. “Bald donkey. Let’s make a deal.”

Though Xuanmin did not speak, he seemed to settle in, waiting for Xue Xian to begin.

"Let me borrow your body," Xue Xian said.

Xuanmin: “...”

Xue Xian played back what he'd just said and realised that the phrasing had been wrong. He added, "I'm not saying I'll kick you out. I mean, let me find a place to stay. Ideally, near your hip."

Xuanmin: “...”

Xue Xian: “...”  Why is it so hard to express yourself?

He didn't know what to do. Bare souls couldn't stay in the air for long without anything to latch onto –– they needed to find something physical, or else they would slowly dissolve. The longer a bare soul wandered, the more it harmed its own integrity. Xue Xian had spent so long building up enough energy to heal the upper half of his body –– he didn't want to start all over again at full paralysis.

The little paper man was broken. He couldn't do that all over again.

And the reason why Xue Xian wanted to be near the hip...

Ever since the golden marble had entered Xuanmin's pouch, Xue Xian had had the feeling that there was something special about Xuanmin's body. Xue Xian had recalled that bell-like noise he'd heard a couple of times previously. Both times, the noise had come from somewhere in Xuanmin's hip and had knocked Xue Xian back, leaving him seeing stars. 

The changes that the marble was experiencing had to have something to do with Xuanmin's hip.

Xue Xian had begun to come up with all sorts of theories –– if both he and the golden marble stuck themselves tightly to Xuanmin's hip, would he soon somehow be able to regain his original body? 

Although his spine had been extracted from his dragon body, there was a possibility that he could slowly grow out new ones –– as long as he took care of himself.

He needed to get back into his original body and grow it all back. The only other option was his current situation: movements severely restricted, and needing to make all sorts of bargains and compromises just to get anywhere at all.

"Never mind. All I meant was that I need somewhere to live. It doesn’t matter where. Forget the hip. Why don't I go inside your pouch?" Xue Xian said. Xuanmin had still not responded, but Xue Xian had already updated his request several times –– he knew to make an active retreat when things weren't going well.

Xuanmin glanced at that empty pocket of air near his ear. "Before, you were more upset about being in the pouch than someone might be about the death of his parents. Now, you want to go back in?"

Xue Xian forced himself to be nice. "Yes, yes. Just tell me if you agree."

"Why?" Xuanmin replied.

Xue Xian deadpanned, "You have a beautiful skeleton."

Xuanmin shook his head. He had nothing to say to that. But he mulled it over, then took the golden marble out of the pouch.

Xuanmin’s index finger twitched and soon a gash appeared on it, from which welled a single drop of crimson blood. With that drop of blood as ink, he used his finger to write talismanic text across the marble. Xue Xian recognised that talisman: it was the same one he himself had previously used on the paper silhouettes.

As Xuanmin finished his last stroke, the golden marble shone brighter, then died down again.

Xuanmin moved his hand toward the space where Xue Xian seemed to be hovering, and suddenly closed his fist. Then, he slammed his hand toward the marble –– Xue Xian was thus sent into the marble. 

This did not mean that Xue Xian had managed to wholly return to his original body. Instead, the golden marble that contained his body’s essence was currently acting as any other ordinary object: a simple receptacle; a temporary anchor for his soul.

Despite the caveat, Xue Xian was overjoyed.

He had to admit, when the bald donkey wasn't actively provoking him, he wasn't actually all that bad. This action had thoroughly touched Xue Xian's heart. 

As Xuanmin moved to place Xue Xian back into his pouch, he glanced down at the golden marble and asked, "Will you still climb around?" 

I'm as smooth as a baby's ass and as round as the moon. [f] I don't have arms or legs, how the fuck am I supposed to climb anywhere? Xue Xian thought. But he had just benefited from a great kindness on Xuanmin's part and knew he should not be so insolent, so he swallowed his pride and obediently replied, "No more climbing."

"Are you still planning to jump all over the place?" [g]

“...” Xue Xian pouted and finally said, "I'll behave."

Only when Xuanmin saw that Xue Xian had truly gone tame did he tuck the golden marble into the pouch.

Once inside, the niezhang settled in and caused no trouble.

Firstly, Xue Xian had promised Xuanmin he'd be good –– he couldn't immediately go back on his word. He had to at least pretend to care. Secondly, the marble had been an ingenious idea on Xuanmin's part. Confined to this marble as round as the moon, he couldn't tumble about even if he wanted to. All he could do was roll about softly inside the pouch to the back-and-forth rhythm of Xuanmin's footsteps, and not much else.

Although Jiang Shining hadn't overheard Xue Xian's bargaining process, he had observed Xuanmin's hand movements and gotten a good idea of what had happened. He pointed at Xuanmin's pouch and asked, "Is he hurt?" 

Xuanmin shook his head.

The bookworm breathed a sigh of relief.

Having finally dealt with the troublesome marble Xue Xian, Xuanmin at last took a look around the cave.

Lifting the flame talisman higher, Xuanmin studied their surroundings –– someone had constructed this basement chamber, for which the floor tilted quite strongly in one specific direction.

Xuanmin brought the flame to that direction.

At the sight of two massive shadows in the corner of the chamber, Jiang Shining and Lu Nianqi both jumped.

"What is that?" Jiang Shining shrieked, backing away.

"Tomb guardians," Xuanmin said. [h]

The slope only went on for three or four zhang, and ended at a half-open set of stone doors. At each side of the door stood an enormous stone carving of a mighty beast. Each beast was around one zhang tall, and though they were immobile, they cast a powerful, violent aura. Their eyes tilted down, so that they seemed to be quietly surveilling the chamber from a great height.

Beasts of such appearance were only usually seen in the most extravagant princes' mausoleums.

"Tomb?!" Jiang Shining did not doubt Xuanmin. A chill ran down his neck and he rubbed his hands anxiously, saying, "So this Gravestone Island really is a big gravestone?"

Lu Nianqi had turned green. "But... I've never heard of that! We call it Gravestone Island only because it looks like a gravestone. If it really was a tomb, how would pharmacists dare to visit?"

Xuanmin moved the talisman closer to the beasts. "They are new."

"How new?" asked Jiang Shining.

"Three to five years."

Sculpted three to five years ago... which meant this tomb was only erected three to five years ago, too? But... for whom?

Xuanmin brought the flame back to where they stood, and then looked up at the endless ceiling. He shook his head.

There was no way out where they'd come in. All they could do was follow the path and see where it led.

With a sweep of the flame, Xuanmin began to walk.

Though Jiang Shining and Lu Nianqi trembled all over in fear, they dared not let Xuanmin go too far without them. After a brief moment of hesitation, they scurried after him. 

"I'm not scared, I'm not scared," Jiang Shining muttered dully to himself. "I'm a ghost too." He seemed to really feel a bit better once he’d spoken.

Xuanmin strode past the tomb guardians and pushed the half-open stone doors. 

No matter how old a wooden door is, when opened, it will always faithfully make a creaking noise. But stone doors are different: when opened, the stone of the door grinds against the stone of the floor with a huohuo sound. It was an eerily hushed noise; as it echoed across the walls of the chamber, it raised the hairs on Jiang Shining's neck.

Lu Nianqi crossed his legs. He thought he might piss. But he would rather die than admit weakness, so no matter how much he wanted to retreat, he had no choice but to take two confident steps ahead. 

In these kinds of places, you never know whether it’s safest at the front of the group or at the back. 

When the door was open almost all the way, it suddenly struck something and made a loud protesting noise, then refused to budge. It seemed to be stuck.

“There's something behind the door!" Lu Nianqi shrieked. He sounded terrified, though he was trying to suppress the tremor in his voice.

Xuanmin was in no hurry to check behind the door. First, he used the talisman to light up the surroundings––

"Oh mama..." Lu Nianqi blurted out.

Actually, the area looked to be a simple hallway into the tomb: its design was the same as the chamber they'd just left, only narrower. What had scared Lu Nianqi out of his skin were the walls of the hallway, which were covered in paintings of grotesque beasts even more awe-inspiring than the tomb guardians. The murals were outlined not in ink nor full color, but in crimson.

"A-a-are these drawings made of blood?" Lu Nianqi said. Ultimately, he really was still a child: he was the one most affected by what they were seeing.

These murals were huge. How much blood would you need to paint them? 

The cowardly Jiang Shining began to quiver too, then stopped and said, "It shouldn't be. Smell it: if it was painted with blood, this whole place would stink of metal and flesh." 

"True." Lu Nianqi quickly calmed down, sniffed, and said, "No blood."

Once calm, they began to notice more of the details.

For instance, the color of the drawings were far too bright. If it really was blood, it would have long dried into a dark brown.

"Cinnabar." Xuanmin said as he scanned the murals.

It wasn't out of the norm to see blood nor beasts in a tomb, but the cinnabar was strange. Cinnabar had the side effect of warding evil and suppressing ghosts, so if it was being used for these murals, it meant that those who had buried this person did not want them to rest in peace nor to be reborn into a good life... but instead to never, ever come back.

This was an extremely evil practice.

Although Jiang Shining had never seen a mausoleum, let alone gone for a walk inside one, and so was not intimately familiar with the rules of such places, he did know about cinnabar. Having grown up in a clinic and absorbed the expertise of his parents, his knowledge was not one of rote memorisation: rather, most herbs and their uses came instinctively to him. Still, when he'd had some spare time, he'd liked to idly flip through the pages of the medical textbooks, and had learned a great deal about cinnabar.

"Painting beasts with cinnabar..." Jiang Shining mumbled. "How much do you have to hate the person in the tomb to do this to them?"

Xuanmin waved his hand dismissively. "Perhaps there are evil spirits in the tomb."

If the person buried in the tomb could not rest peacefully, then those building the tombs had no choice but to paint cinnabar murals and try to secure peace.

It was too risky to make careless remarks in such a place, so Jiang Shining and Lu Nianqi stopped speculating.

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They saw that Xuanmin had abandoned the murals and was now making his way to the back of the door, so they hurried along.

At this sight, Lu Nianqi's face really drained.

There was something stuck beneath the door, which had stopped it from moving further. But the doorstop was not some object: it was people.

Two people: one old, one young.

The old one lay curled up on the ground with one hand pressed to his shoulder. His robes were ragged and covered in mud, and there was a nasty patch of blue across the back of his hand –– he was injured.

The young one leant against the wall with his eyes shut tight and his lips drawn in a firm, pale line. He looked frail, perhaps even weaker than Jiang Shining –– extremely thin with cheekbones jutting out abnormally. In his hand, he clutched a bundle of three twigs tied together with a piece of red string. 

If Xue Xian had stuck his head out in that moment, he would find that he recognised that string, and that he also recognised that youth––

It was none other than Lu Shijiu.

"Shijiu?!" Lu Nianqi stood in shock for a while, then rushed over. At first, he was afraid to touch Lu Shijiu, but once he saw that his brother did not seem wounded, he began to shake Shijiu's shoulders.

“Shijiu? Lu Shijiu?! Wake up!" Lu Nianqi shrieked. Seeing that there was no reaction, he began to push the old man. "Liu-laotou! Liu-laotou, wake up!"

Jiang Shining took a step toward them. "Let me see."

But just as he bent down for a closer look, the pale-faced Lu Shijiu, who had been thoroughly shaken by his brother, weakly opened his eyes. 

At the same time, Liu-laotou stirred. He began to spasm, as though dreaming of falling, and then his eyelids fluttered open too. His gaze looked on emptily for a moment, and then he began to sit up.

Hurriedly, Jiang Shining held out a hand and helped him up.

Liu-laotou and Lu Shijiu stared at each other for a long time, then turned their confused gazes at the others. They seemed still to be in shock.

As Jiang Shining and Xuanmin observed Lu Shijiu, they found that it was just as Lu Nianqi had said: although there was some strangeness to him, it was impossible to tell that he was blind from the way that he moved.

Lu Nianqi slapped Shijiu's shoulder and screamed, "Are you stupid? Can't you see qi? It's me, don’t you recognise me?"

That slap seemed to restore Shijiu's senses. Hoarsely, he whispered, "Nianqi?" Then, he slowly turned to gaze at his brother. His eyes really did not seem to be handicapped at all. As he stared at Lu Nianqi, there seemed even to be some light behind his gaze –– they were only slightly darker than ordinary eyes.  

But soon, Jiang Shining noticed that Lu Shijiu did show habits unique to blind people––

It was taking far too long for Lu Shijiu to recognise his brother. His eyeballs darted up and down Nianqi uncertainly, then his hand shot out to feel the boy's face. 

Lu Nianqi hissed. "Don't touch me there. I just fell on my forehead. You can't feel my freckles anymore."

Hearing this, Xuanmin glanced over.

Indeed, that smatter of freckles on Lu Nianqi's forehead had been scratched away, leaving a patchy scab that changed the look of his face.

Now Shijiu was tugging at Nianqi's hand, which he pulled close to his face, as though getting ready to read his palm.

Scowling, Nianqi yanked his hand back. "And don't look at my hand. I slashed it earlier and it had finally begun to heal when I fell down here and hurt it again. If you keep touching it, you'll get it infected."

Silently, Lu Shijiu tucked his own hands away and nodded. He seemed to have confirmed that the person sitting across from him was indeed his brother. Slowly, he said, "Lu Nianqi."

This time, there was no skepticism.

Back at the Lu courtyard, Lu Nianqi had been so upset that he'd cried. But now that he'd come face to face with his brother again, Jiang Shining saw that the child took up that stubborn attitude once more, as though he'd never even wanted to come looking for Lu Shijiu. Seeing this made Jiang Shining feel exasperated.

But then Jiang Shining saw that Lu Shijiu wasn't much better, either. After Lu Nianqi helped him up, he immediately pushed the boy's hands away from his arm –– he seemed to hate needing assistance. Not only was there no warmth in Lu Shijiu's gesture, but there was even a hint of... ice. 

What was wrong with these two? 

As Jiang Shining observed the brothers, he finally understood what Xue Xian had meant by the boys' relationship not being ‘very family-like’.

Jiang Shining wasn't blind. He considered himself good at judging the intentions of others. The panic that Lu Nianqi had exhibited back at the compound and the deep, grateful sigh of relief that Lu Shijiu had just emitted demonstrated the brothers' care for each other. How could they suddenly act so dismissively toward each other? 

Lu Shijiu was muttering to Liu-laotou. Once he'd made sure the man was okay, he gripped his bundle of sticks and turned away, now silent.

Xuanmin looked at Lu Shijiu, then back at Liu-laotou. He frowned.

Jiang Shining saw the expression on Xuanmin's face. Though he didn't know what Xuanmin was thinking, he thought to remind them all of why they were here: "Dashi, weren't you and Xue-xiong looking for this boy Shijiu?" [i]

Xuanmin nodded and reached into his pouch for the golden marble.

Inside the pouch, Xue Xian had been rocked dizzy by the movement of Xuanmin's hips. Back when he'd been a paper man, he had already been suspicious about the marble's slightly odd behavior when inside Xuanmin’s pouch, but now that he was the marble, he'd found that there was nothing slight about it! 

At first, he'd felt as though he'd entered a pool of hot water, at the bottom of which was a hot spring pumping relaxing thermal water into his bath.  

But as the temperature of the water grew increasingly hot, to the point where it was hot enough to peel off someone's skin, Xue Xian had thought: This isn't a bath. This is a fucking dragon meat soup!

But it was too late –– there had been no way out. Because he’d discovered that the heat had a kind of stickiness that had melted all the defenses in his body. After that, he stopped being able to move at all.

As such, Xue Xian had stopped paying attention to what was going on outside the pouch, which is why he had not spoken in a long time. He had no idea what the others had done, nor who they had met –– he floated about in a daze.

Just as he thought he might melt into the soup, Xuanmin rescued him.

What a strange bald donkey. His hand was of a completely normal temperature –– it was even a bit cold compared to ordinary people –– so how come his hip area, where the pouch was located, was such an unbearable furnace? 

As Xuanmin held Xue Xian, the latter breathed a sigh of relief –– he was finally cooling down.

As Xue Xian’s soul’s temperature fell, he gradually began to come back to his senses.

He rolled about in Xuanmin's palm to speed up the cooling down process, then sat still and began to look around him, his gaze filtered through the golden surface of the marble.

"Lu Shijiu?" Xue Xian asked. "We found him?" 

"Mn," Xuanmin said.

Still with a brain full of hot soup, Xue Xian's reaction was slow. After some time, he idly said, "Oh, perfect. And you're got your sticks with you, too. I need you to find some people for me."

He did another tumble, then said, "Bald donkey. Give him money."

Xuanmin: “...”

Xue Xian watched as Xuanmin reached into the pouch for his silver pieces. Squinting, the marble idly said, "I'll pay you back in gold."

Lu Shijiu took a ‘look’ at the two, then said to Lu Nianqi, "Take the money. Don't overcharge."

Lu Shijiu was young –– only seventeen or eighteen –– but he had a strange habit. Since he had a family to feed, naturally he charged for his soothsayer services, but, instead of having a set price, he had a set number. Customers could pay in gold, silver, or copper –– it didn't matter to him –– but if they wanted to pay in copper, it had to be three copper pieces, and if they wanted to pay in silver, it had to be three silver pieces; or, if they were insane and wanted to pay in gold, three gold pieces. 

Xue Xian was of the insane category. Each of the last two times he'd visited, he'd paid three golden pearls.

Obediently, Lu Nianqi accepted three silver pieces from Xuanmin. As he moved to put the money into Shijiu's pocket, his brother stopped him, saying, "My shirt's been ripped. You keep it for now. Don't steal it."

"Why would I steal it?" Nianqi shot back, scowling.

Lu Shijiu ignored him and said to Xuanmin, "What do you need me to divine?"

Xuanmin stretched out his palm with the golden marble.

Xue Xian said from the marble, "Please help me inspect this marble. What other hands has it passed through? Where are these people now?"

Lu Shijiu did not take the marble. Instead, he squatted down and brought his face close to Xuanmin's palm as he passed the bundle of sticks thoughtfully over the ground.

If Jiang Shining, who stood to the side, had decided to take a look at that moment, he would have noticed that it wasn't Lu Shijiu making the traces on the ground: it was the sticks themselves, and Lu Shijiu was only lightly touching them. As Lu Shijiu studied the marble, the sticks traced an intersecting matrix of straight lines on the ground, as well as the occasional circle.

Suddenly, the sticks made a pata sound and fell to the ground. Frowning, Lu Shijiu picked them back up.

Half-closing his eyes, he touched the markings on the ground as his lips moved soundlessly, muttering to himself.

At last, he looked back up at the marble in Xuanmin's hands and told Xue Xian, "Strange. I could only find four people. There's a fifth that I can't find anywhere. It's as though they don't exist."

Xue Xian mulled this over. "Five? Okay. Tell me the four you found."

"Mn." Shijiu nodded and said, "First is a fisherman. Second is the one I can't see. Third is a geomancer. Fourth, I think you've met... it's a man who works in the yamen, named Liu. The fifth is this dashi here."

Xue Xian: “...”  Well, I knew about those four already.

"Where are they all now?" Xue Xian asked.

Lu Shijiu returned to the markings on the floor and said, "The fisherman is in Anqing Prefecture, across the river. The geomancer is in the Shu region, [j] cultivating [k] in a small dragon cave on Mount Panlong. And that shiye named Liu..." 

As his fingers moved across the diagram, the frown on his face disappeared and he relaxed back into a neutral expression. "Last night, Liu-shiye was in a fire. He won't live past today. And as for dashi, I don't need to tell you."

He had finished. He put his hands back in his lap and looked calmly at Xue Xian.

"Liu-shiye won't live past today?" Jiang Shining repeated, stunned.

Back at the Liu compound, he had heard Liu-lao-taitai talk about the repaying of debts. But he hadn't realised something would really happen to the man, nor that it would happen so soon. 

Lu Shijiu reached back into the diagram and nodded. "Yes. He definitely won't see tomorrow. Right now, he's laying on a bed in a shack."

The Jiang family had all perished in a fire, and Jiang Shining's parents had then become trapped inside the millstone –– they had experienced injustice after injustice. The fool [l] Liu Chong had had to live for years in that shack filled with yin energy, absorbing so much of the Liu family's bad luck that he'd almost died from it.

Now, Liu-shiye had been in a fire, and was bed-bound in a shack... Indeed, he was getting what he deserved.

Lu Shijiu looked at Xue Xian and asked, "Is there anything else you need?" 

As Xue Xian shook his head, the whole marble rocked lightly. "I've asked all the questions I have."

Lu Shijiu then looked at the others. "Anyone else?"

Xuanmin tucked Xue Xian back into his pouch. As the marble tumbled out of Xuanmin's cool hands, Xue Xian thought, If only I had arms. Then I could hold on for a little longer.

But he did not have arms. The marble rolled back into the pouch, and Xue Xian resumed his slow transformation into dragon meat soup.

Now, Xuanmin was extracting a folded-up sheet of paper from his chest pocket.

It was the paper that he had been inspecting back at Guiyun Hall. It was covered in scrawling, messy text as well as some rough diagrams, as though the notes had been taken in great haste, though other parts of the text were arranged in neat and tidy rows.

As Xuanmin handed the paper to Lu Shijiu, it was still folded up, and a single phrase could be read in the corner of the page: Find this person.    

In a low voice, Xuanmin said, "I want to know who gave me this paper. Thank you."

Lu Nianqi solemnly accepted three more silver pieces from the monk. Again, Shijiu studied the paper closely as the bundle of sticks in his hand darted back and forth across the ground.

Inside the pouch, Xue Xian was terribly curious, too. Knowing he didn't have long before his brain became too hot to think again, he perked up his ears and listened carefully to the goings-on outside. 

After some time, just before Xue Xian thought he might lose consciousness again, he heard Shijiu's muffled voice: "It's you."

Xue Xian: “...”

What the hell? Did Xuanmin just give a soothsayer his own notes and ask whose they were? Xue Xian suddenly recalled what Jiang Shining had been saying before –– that the medicine Xuanmin was taking smelled just like medicine used to treat loss of soul.

Was this bald donkey really an amnesiac?! He was way too fucking good at pretending to be normal! 

Xue Xian wasn't the only one stunned. Jiang Shining and Lu Nianqi both gaped at Xuanmin.

But Jiang Shining quickly felt that he was being impolite and averted his gaze, retreating into himself. [m]

In any case, Xuanmin did not notice that he was being gawked at. It was as though he didn't even care about the others' reactions. His face still blank, he calmly asked Lu Shijiu, "Are you sure no one else has touched it?"

Lu Shijiu ran his hands across the ground again, then nodded and said, "No."

Xuanmin nodded too. "Thank you very much."    

Now that Lu Shijiu had finished, Lu Nianqi piped up. "So the reason you didn't come home for half a month was because you were stuck in this creepy place?"

Ignoring him, Lu Shijiu gestured at the doors behind him. "We can't go back the way we came. We need to go that way."

Nianqi glowered at him, then huffed away to sulk.

Lu Shijiu paid no attention to the boy. He began to walk down the hallway, toward another set of doors in the distance. Silently, Liu-laotou followed. The two took a few steps, then stopped and looked back at Xuanmin and the others. "We've already explored the place, and were close to finding the exit. I think this time, we can make it out."

Lu Shijiu tilted his head, gesturing for them to follow.

Xuanmin only looked at them for a bit, saying nothing. Then, he began to walk too. As he strode, he said to Jiang Shining and Lu Nianqi, "Walk behind me."

The two obeyed, scurrying closely behind him like a tail. Although they were terrified, they also feared getting too close to Xuanmin and stepping on his pristine, cloud-like robes.

Seeing that Nianqi still looked upset, Jiang Shining said in a low voice, "Your brother must be tired to death. He's probably been searching for a way out all this time. Look at his overcoat –– it's damp, like he fell into the water. Although it's partly dry, it must still be very heavy. It's taking him so much effort just to walk that of course he'll only speak when necessary." 

Lu Nianqi glanced at the wet patches on his brother's coat and seemed to grunt in agreement. His face relaxed a little.

At the second set of doors, Lu Shijiu stopped and felt the stone with his hands. Staring at the doors, he blinked slowly and said, "There's danger ahead. Stick close to me."

As his brother blinked, Lu Nianqi couldn’t help but blink in quick succession too. Then he slapped the side of his head. 

"What is it?" Xuanmin asked, glancing at him.

"My vision feels blurry." Nianqi blinked again, then mumbled, "I think it's fine again. Forget it. Let's get out of here."

Xuanmin scanned the boy's face, then looked at Lu Shijiu.

Following Xuanmin's gaze, Jiang Shining studied the brothers too. He couldn't help but feel that something was wrong. But just as the answer surged toward him, Lu Shijiu suddenly pushed the doors open.

The grinding noise of the door echoed across the hallway. The talismanic flame in Xuanmin's hand jumped up, and then died.

---

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[Acknowledgments]

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[a] Musuli uses the word 玄机 (xuan2 ji1) here. Literally “dark/profound/mysterious machine/mechanism”, the word means “arcane truth” in a religious context. Here, however, it’s used to vaguely describe the fact that there is some kind of magic added to the fire talisman, so I have translated it as “spell”. 

[b] Xiong: see glossary.

[c] Musuli uses 背后灵 (bei4 hou4 ling2) here, literally “灵 behind the back”. 灵 means soul/spirit or fairy/elf, i.e. in this case, any kind of conscious creature. It’s vague and doesn’t come with a good/evil evaluation, so I chose the English word “goblin”. 

[d] This comes from an idiom in Chinese: “Good people have short lives; people who do harm are gifted a thousand years.” Xuanmin only used the second half of this idiom, but its comprehension depends on the reader’s knowledge of the full idiom.

[e] Musuli phrased this as, “Xue Xian wanted to send him to the skies (to heaven).”

[f] Musuli’s phrasing here is 光溜溜圆滚滚 (guang1 liu1 liu1 yuan2 gun3 gun3). 光 means “smooth” and 圆 means “round”. The repeated syllables behind each adjective are for emphasis, a common stylistic technique in Chinese. In the way that Xue Xian uses it here, he is not only emphasising the fact that he is smooth and round, but doing so in a sarcastically whimsical and lyrical manner. I’ve chosen to use similes in order to convey his tone.

[g] Musuli uses the phrase 翻天入海 (fan1 tian1 ru4 hai3), literally “flip the skies and enter the sea”, to describe Xue Xian’s troublemaking behavior.

[h] The Chinese phrase here is 镇墓兽 (zhen4 mu4 shou4), literally “beasts who hold down a tomb”.

[i] Jiang Shining uses 小兄弟 (xiao3 xiong1 di4) here, meaning “small brother”, a polite way of referring to a teenager or a youth.

[j] The Shu area is roughly correspondent to modern Sichuan. Between the Tang and Song dynasties, there was a major kingdom called Great Shu or, now, Former Shu. (Wikipedia).

[k] Musuli uses 清修 (qing1 xiu1) here, where 修 means “to hone a skill”, and in this case, means cultivation. 清 describes the cultivation as peaceful and calm.

[l] Musuli uses 傻子 (sha3 zi), which means “idiot”. 

[m] The phrase Musuli uses here is 眼观鼻鼻观口口观心 (yan3 guan1 bi2, bi2 guan1 kou3, kou3 guan1 xin1), literally “eye observes nose, nose observes mouth, mouth observes heart”. There are two layers of meaning to this. The first, literal one, comes from the Chinese idiom 眼观鼻，鼻观心 (which excludes the middle part about the mouth), in which the act of having one’s eyes turned down to one’s nose and one’s nose turned down to one’s heart demonstrates physically retreating into oneself in a meek, deferential manner. This is what Jiang Shining is actually doing, out of politeness. The second layer of meaning is that the full phrase Musuli uses is also current in Buddhist practice as a technique for meditation, and sometimes includes a final line about having one’s heart observing one’s dantian. While Jiang Shining is not religious, this is a pertinent phrasing that refers to Xuanmin’s status as a Buddhist monk.

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