Lord Tai Sui

Second Master was one tough customer...

Not only did his tale leave the young boys staring at him with adoration, it stunned Hu Ma, too.

Hu Ma didn't know whether this unassuming Second Master had really lived through such fierce trials and feats in his youth. But from his manner and the boys' reactions, Hu Ma could see that people in this world had another way of looking at ghosts, gods, and evil spirits.

Not everyone was as terrified as he'd assumed. Some people actually treated them with utter contempt...

Of course, it was possible they were just talking big!

But he had to admit, after hearing them, even he felt like evil spirits weren't all that scary.

If he could learn to be as capable as Second Master, then even if he ran into something like an Upright Sheep or a Beauty Snake...

...he still wouldn't hold a candle to Second Master.

But was this why Old Woman had sent him here now—to learn Second Master's skills?

"Enough talk. While the sun's still up, run twenty li around the area."

Just then, Second Master used Hu Ma as an excuse to lecture the boys. Then, without another word, he gave the order:

"If you're not back in half an hour, you'll each lift fifty stone blocks."

"..."

"A mountain trail? Twenty li?"

The moment Hu Ma heard how grueling the task was, his heart gave a jolt.

He wondered if Second Master was exaggerating, but the boys really did roll up their trouser legs. Some even kicked off their straw sandals and ran barefoot from the level courtyard, shouting and grunting as they went.

They followed the firm mountain paths, worn smooth by countless feet, winding up and down around the village.

They seemed to have done this sort of thing plenty of times before.

They were really running, and they were laughing and fooling around as they went, chasing one another as if it were nothing.

After following them for a few li, Hu Ma was completely stunned.

"What kind of monstrous stamina is this?"

"..."

From the moment they started running, the boys his age had been moving as if they were sprinting.

They never slowed down once, and even sped up several times.

Hu Ma had been well-fed and cared for lately, so he'd managed to keep up at first. But after one loop around the village, he was already panting hard, drenched in sweat, his legs growing weak. The boys, meanwhile, seemed not to feel a thing. Some even whooped as they ran.

Within minutes, there was no one left in front of him.

Five or six minutes later, laughter and shouts came from behind him, drawing closer fast.

One of them turned and stuck out his tongue at Hu Ma, neighing like a horse as he made faces.

"We're not even in the same league!"

A sense of despair began to creep over Hu Ma as he felt the gap between them.

His body had been extremely weak to begin with. Not long ago, he'd been hung up by iron hooks and had lost who knew how much blood.

Though meat and rest had helped him recover quickly, he was still so thin he looked ready to topple over in a breeze.

Compared with these energetic boys, he was still a convalescent who'd only just recovered from a serious illness. How could he keep up?

But then he remembered that this was his first day here, and Old Woman had told him to learn from Second Master.

Maybe this was Second Master's test. He gritted his teeth and kept going.

After all, in a world this strange, it couldn't hurt to get stronger, could it?

At the very least, if he met something eerie, he could run faster than the next person.

With that in mind, he ignored the boys lapping him again and again and just gritted his teeth and held on.

To his surprise, he actually made it through the twenty li of mountain trails—something he'd never even dared imagine doing.

When his body was pushed to its limit and he was about to pass out, a warm current seemed to rise slowly from within, propping up his exhausted frame and keeping him moving at the same speed.

Heat poured off his head, and his clothes were soaked through, layer after layer.

Only when Second Master called from the hill, "That's enough! Come back!" did Hu Ma return to the village.

He leaned against the wooden fence, panting hard.

He was astonished. "I actually ran twenty li of mountain trails?"

"Not bad. They only lapped you three times."

The boys had all returned to the village long ago, and the sweat had already dried on them.

They looked at Hu Ma with surprise, too.

The energetic boys had clearly looked down on his stick-thin frame from the start.

And because Hu Ma's previous self had been spoiled and pampered, they hadn't thought much of him.

They'd used the run as an excuse to make him suffer and embarrass him.

They had, in fact, run faster than Hu Ma and lapped him plenty of times.

But Hu Ma had surprised them by managing to finish. He'd done better than they themselves had when they first came up the mountain.

That had made them think a little less poorly of him.

"Wouldn't have guessed you had a decent foundation..."

Second Master was clearly surprised, too. He called Hu Ma over and squeezed his shoulder and leg.

He happened to press on the wound in Hu Ma's shoulder, and Hu Ma instinctively flinched away.

Only then did Second Master notice the two scabbed-over, egg-sized holes in Hu Ma's shoulders. His expression grew even more startled.

Those were serious wounds. Hu Ma had clearly been badly injured, and hadn't fully recovered yet.

After thinking it over, Second Master asked quietly, "Do you usually eat Mountain Meat?"

"Mountain Meat?"

Hu Ma didn't understand. "Old Woman gives me meat every day, but I think it's Lord Tai Sui's flesh."

"That's what I thought."

Second Master let out a deep sigh. "Old Woman really does treat you well."

"None of the villages for miles around can afford to eat Tai Sui every single day!"

"..."

Not only do I eat Tai Sui every day, it's Blood Ganoderma...

Hu Ma thought to himself. Then, plucking up his courage, he tentatively asked the old man, "Second Master..."

"When you talk about Tai Sui or Mountain Meat, what exactly do you mean?"

"..."

"Huh?"

Second Master froze, then looked at Hu Ma strangely.

"Old Woman just said you'd lost your memory, but it must be pretty bad if you've forgotten Mountain Meat, too."

"..."

"I..."

With Old Woman around, Hu Ma hadn't dared ask many questions. It always felt as if asking would give him away.

Though he'd only just met Second Master, he felt more at ease with him than he had with Old Woman, whom he'd been living with for ten days. As for why...

...maybe old lechers just made people feel safe?

So he went ahead and asked. "When I woke up, my mind was blank. I don't remember much from before."

"I keep hearing you talk about Mountain Meat and Lord Tai Sui. What are they?"

"..."

"I've taught fist techniques all my life, but this is the first time I've had to teach someone this..."

Second Master seemed at a loss for words, and the boys nearby exchanged bewildered looks when they heard him.

After mulling it over, Second Master suddenly chuckled. He tossed the last bit of his cigarette aside, stood up, and said with a smile, "Well, all right. You boys sit tight. I'll take little Hu Ma to see Lord Tai Sui..."

"Now?"

Hu Ma watched Second Master turn toward the door, and his heart gave a sudden lurch.

It was already late. Dusk had settled in, and night was spreading through the surrounding mountains and forests.

Earlier that day, Old Woman had been careful as she led him through the Woods, wary of anything that might come hurtling at them.

Now it was night, when evil spirits were even more active, and Second Master wanted to take him outside?

But Second Master didn't explain. He gave Hu Ma no time to let his imagination run wild. He strode out the door, grabbed Hu Ma with one hand as if he weighed nothing, slung him over his shoulder, and marched out of the village.

He was tall and broad, with long arms and legs. Even though he was walking, he seemed to be flying, charging straight into the Woods with long, powerful strides.

Whoosh...

Countless shadowy, sinister things scattered through the Woods like startled birds.

Hu Ma clung to Second Master's neck. His body felt a little warm, and the gloomy chill around them vanished the instant it touched him.

Hu Ma had run into plenty of evil spirits on the way here. But following Second Master, he didn't encounter a single one.

They passed through the Woods, and the view suddenly opened up. Second Master stopped without panting or even reddening his face.

"Do you see that?" he asked, his voice low and strong.

"That's the Mountain of Flesh, what the people in the village call Lord Tai Sui..."

"..."

Hu Ma looked up and saw something he would never forget for the rest of his life.

In the dim light of the setting sun, he saw a scar across the flat ground ahead, like a wound in the earth.

It was as if the world had been split open. The fissure lay stark and sudden across the ground.

From within it, a mass of bloodied, bloated flesh bulged out, huge and misshapen.

He could almost feel it breathing.

"Our village calls it Tai Sui. People in the city call it blood food."

Standing before the colossal thing, Second Master's voice seemed to grow distant. He let out a deep sigh.

"The old folks say Lord Tai Sui has been growing here for hundreds of years."

"You cut it, it grows back. Then you cut it again..."

"The Mountain Meat you've been eating is what Old Woman cut off for you, piece by piece, while fending off all those evil spirits!"

I thought I'd scheduled this, but it turns out I hadn't.