Black Snake shot through the woodland game trails like a dark shadow, taking a shortcut back to the familiar Giant Rock, where he coiled lazily and gazed at the drifting clouds.
Lone Crag Courtyard.
Hunter carried the child on his back and led the villagers up the slope, all of them panting.
The flagstone clearing outside the gate was spacious. Exhausted, he sat straight down on the ground, carefully lowered the child from his back, handed Book Boy the letters the men had brought into the mountains, then fetched water to quench their thirst.
The three villagers had yet to catch their breath.
Their horrified gazes fixed on the courtyard wall beside the gate. An enormous snakeskin hung from its top all the way to the ground. The stories about a great snake living in this valley were true!
Hunter scooped up water with a dipper and offered it to the oldest villager.
There was a touch of pride in his voice.
"This thing works wonders. Since we hung it here, even the wild rats haven't dared steal our grain. There are some little scraps in the corner, too. Take some home when you head down the mountain."
As though remembering something, he solemnly added another remark.
"It can protect your home and ward off evil, too."
The three grown men hastily waved their hands. They dared not use such a thing carelessly. What if it attracted something into their homes?
Hunter did not mind. With a hearty laugh, he took the child's little hand and stepped over the threshold.
"The lord is refining pills. We can speak to him once he's finished. Stay up here tonight, then head down early tomorrow after your business is done."
The villagers hurriedly agreed, somewhat nervous and ill at ease. The child pressed his lips together and hid behind the adults.
They brought over several stools and sat down to wait.
Seeing the dust covering the child's face from the journey, Book Boy gently wiped it with a damp towel. Noticing that his hair had come loose, he also combed it and tied it neatly again.
The blue smoke rising from the pill room gradually thinned, while the medicinal scent grew stronger.
The smell set the three villagers' imaginations racing.
Hunter gulped down several mouthfuls of water, then could not resist asking.
"Why didn't you bring a dog into the mountains? There could be tigers or other fierce beasts hiding in the grass. What if you stepped on a venomous snake? I remember several poison wasp nests along the trail. Their stings really hurt."
The old man gave a bitter smile.
"Our hunting dog had pups and can't leave her nest. Other people's dogs wouldn't follow us. This was urgent, so we could only steel ourselves and come up."
Hearing this, Hunter could only warn them.
"There are poison wasps in three places along the way: beside Guangban Flat in the gully behind the village, at the big boulder in Pine Tree Gully, and over at Twin Streams Waterfall."
Poison wasps were dangerous. A mild case left a person swollen and in unbearable pain; a serious one could put the whole village to work.
The three men nodded repeatedly, committing the locations of the nests firmly to memory.
A short while later, Chi Ke pushed open the door and emerged carrying a square wooden tray. On it lay a glossy black mass, with faint flecks of gold gleaming within.
He handed the tray to Book Boy.
Book Boy would roll it into pills and dry them in the shade. Pills, after all, needed to be pill-shaped. If it remained a sticky, soft lump, it could only be called an ointment.
Hunter hurried forward, bowed, and cupped his hands, speaking earnestly.
"My lord, a child from the Zhao Household has a little ailment. They took him to the township and Widow Ma, but neither could cure him. Only you can save this child."
Chi Ke's heart sank. He truly did not want to become involved in sinister affairs involving encounters with yin baleful forces.
Fortunately, Hunter continued explaining.
"This child has been able to see unclean things since he was little. He can't eat or sleep properly. Look how thin he's grown. The Zhao Household only hopes you can cure this illness so he can live peacefully like other children."
The three men surnamed Zhao nodded repeatedly.
Chi Ke breathed a sigh of relief. As long as there were no evil spirits involved.
From the description, it sounded like innate yin-yang eyes. The spirit medium outside the mountains surely knew what was happening, but her usual methods of soothing spirits and exorcising evil had probably failed. This child's condition seemed rather troublesome.
"Come here and let me have a look."
The old man quickly pushed the child forward with one hand and respectfully offered a straw basket of eggs with the other.
Chi Ke nodded slightly, signaling for Book Boy to accept the eggs.
He bent down to examine the child's complexion and eyes carefully.
"When was he born?"
After hearing the old man give the birth date, Chi Ke understood. This fate was indeed inclined toward yin.
"Tell me what he usually sees, and how old he was when it started."
The three members of the Zhao Household took turns explaining the child's behavior in broad terms. He was mostly fine during the day, but at night he often said there was something outside and was plagued by nightmares. Over time, he had grown increasingly thin and weak. Worry filled their voices; if this continued, he might fall ill one day and never recover.
The child's dreams were exceptionally clear, their contents bizarre and uncanny. All he saw were dead trees and withered yellow weeds beneath a dark, murky sky. There was no life anywhere, only broken walls and ruined houses. The terrain and villages looked familiar, yet closer inspection revealed differences. Streams and river courses in particular were often displaced, their waters either a muddy yellow or pitch-black.
The spirit medium had said he was journeying into the realm of the dead. Yet the version of that realm newly popular outside the mountains differed from what the child saw in his dreams.
Thus, the Zhao Household thought they were nightmares, but Chi Ke was not so sure.
Chi Ke had read widely. Born into a great aristocratic clan, his knowledge and perspective ranked among the finest of the age, and he understood many secrets unknown to common spirit mediums. He knew very well what lay behind the newly fashionable accounts of death.
Stroking his long beard, Chi Ke pondered for a moment, then turned and entered the pill room. Before long, he emerged carrying a palm-sized gourd.
The gourd was quite ordinary, but one brought out by a legendary immortal cultivator was another matter entirely. There were also many words written on it.
The three men surnamed Zhao grew a little nervous.
Hunter, meanwhile, quietly took half a step back...
Chi Ke pulled out the stopper.
He tipped out a tiny, jet-black pill and handed it to Hunter, instructing him to fetch a dipper of clean water and have the child swallow it.
The little boy shrank back, unwilling to eat it, but a slap from the old man made him hastily open his mouth.
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They all watched the child with wide eyes as he held the pill in his mouth, drank from the dipper Hunter offered, and slowly swallowed, his throat moving slightly. The three men from the Zhao Household greatly envied his chance to consume an immortal pill.
Chi Ke instructed Hunter to bring over a wooden chair and place it in the courtyard, then had the child sit in the sun.
He then chatted with them about the village harvest, how many new calves had been born, and whether the river had washed away any field embankments.
As they spoke, the child's tightly knitted brows gradually relaxed after taking the pill, and color returned to his face. Perhaps exhausted by the mountain journey, and soothed by the medicine's gentle warmth, he soon fell fast asleep in the sunshine.
Chi Ke approached and bent down to study the changes in the child's complexion, then gently felt his pulse.
He handed the little gourd to the old man.
"There are forty-eight pills left inside. Give him one each day. By the time he finishes them, he should be fully recovered."
Remembering that poor families often tried to make things last, he solemnly cautioned them.
"Remember, he must take one every day and finish all the pills. Don't hide any away for emergencies. Whatever you do, don't save them for later!"
The three men repeatedly nodded their agreement and bowed in thanks, pouring out flattering praise for the immortal's magnificent arts.
Chi Ke found their praise quite gratifying, though he merely nodded with a composed expression. Turning, he entered the inner room and fetched paper and brush to record what he had observed that day and the medicine's effects for future reference.
Hunter had not expected it to actually work. He privately resolved to work harder from now on and find a way to earn a few pills from his lord. Who knew when they might prove useful?
The three members of the Zhao Household were delighted. Embarrassed to stand idly watching, they volunteered to carry water, split firewood, and do whatever work they could.
Inside, Chi Ke wrote with his brush.
Comparing the accounts in old texts against what the child had seen in his dreams, he suspected that the underworld might truly exist.
Yet it was certainly not as current stories described it. The true underworld might be as vast and disorderly as the living world-not some distant foreign realm, but something coexisting with reality, perhaps visible from a different perspective...
As a member of the privileged elite, what he saw and considered naturally differed from the thoughts of ordinary townsfolk. When dealing with the world's great organizations, he also knew how to play along, and would certainly not proclaim his opposition aloud.
Ah, if only I could cultivate a yin spirit, transcend the shackles of this mortal body, and glimpse the true face of the world.
He took out the letters, carefully unfolded them, and read.
One informed him that the Eastern County Grand Temple had collapsed. Chi Ke gave it a brief glance and moved on.
After all his work was done.
The setting sun outside the window had sunk behind the distant mountains, leaving only a streak of lingering red across the sky.
With so many people, Lone Crag Courtyard enjoyed a rare bustle. Chi Ke dined alone inside, while Hunter, Book Boy, and the members of the Zhao Household sat together in the courtyard.
After waking, the child was refreshed and much livelier. He ate an extra bowl of porridge, and even the timidity in his eyes had vanished.
After this incident, Chi Ke's identity as an immortal cultivator was beyond doubt in everyone's minds.
Chi Ke's expression remained as usual, but inwardly he was delighted.
As they enjoyed the cool air after supper.
The child happened to spot a fox atop a high rock. Curious, he pointed toward it and spoke in a clear voice.
"Look, a fox."
Everyone looked up at his words, but the rock was empty.
Only the child could see the fox, still sitting quietly where it was, watching him with a calm gaze. It looked far kinder than the strange shadows he had seen before.
Hunter assumed a passing fox had taken one look and left. Afraid the others might be frightened, he hurried to reassure them.
"It's all right, it's all right. There's a fox nearby that often comes around at night. It's dark; it probably already left."
The three members of the Zhao Household once again showered him with praise, saying it must be a spirit fox that understood human ways and had come to follow the immortal.
Inside, Chi Ke was once again immensely gratified as he ate...