Boys and girls of tender age, sick as severely as she was, lay scattered across the straw pallets, left to survive or perish on their own while awaiting the descent of death.
"Little Dingxiang, will Aunt Wei doctor us?" asked a boy of about ten by the girl's side, coughing as he spoke.
"She will, I expect."
The girl's complexion was paper-white, and her body bore red, swollen whip marks crisscrossing her skin. "Aunt Wei told us to come rest here by the back mountain while she went to find a physician for us," she said.
They had crossed into the Underworld far too often, allowing the Yin Energy to corrode their souls and flesh. Crippled by sickness and injury, and starved of proper food, they found their breath failing them whenever they spoke a little too much.
The young boy muttered in a low voice, "I heard her say behind our backs that the coin spent to doctor us is enough to buy several children outright. I don't think she'll hire a physician."
Little Dingxiang stroked his head.
The boy grumbled, "Will Aunt Wei come? I saw Little Dun'er die yesterday, and she threw his corpse down the cliff. Will I be thrown down the cliff too?"
Little Dingxiang did not answer. At that moment, hearing the sound of birdcalls, she saw by the moonlight a lark land upon the straw pallet. It hopped about, tilting its head to scrutinize her as if appraising her condition.
"Little bird..."
She reached out her hand, but with a flutter the lark beat its wings and flew away, vanishing into the moonlight.
Controlling the lark to fly at top speed, Chen Shi soon arrived before the front gates of Taiping Gate. Passing through a circular aperture, he entered the Underworld.
The dozen-odd