...In that late autumn when grass and trees withered, on a night that should have been utterly ordinary, a mysterious, inexplicable tremor surged through the woodland and sky beyond Raozhou City.
The boy who had set this rhythm in motion, Zhang Xingyan, now stood facing the wind atop the ridge of Horseshoe Mountain, his eyes closed, silent.
Yet beneath his seemingly composed expression, the boy was suffering an indescribable torment: the foreign "Great Splendor Dao Power" that had helped him finish playing "Water Dragon's Chant" still seemed to have strength to spare. It flowed everywhere through his meridians, branching into countless tangled threads without any discernible order.
Although his condition was far better than before, no longer as dreadful as ten thousand blades gouging his heart, that peculiar sensation of power flowing everywhere, which should have been familiar, now seemed to carry tiny new barbs. As it washed through his entire body, it left Xing Yan with an oppressive, unbearable itch.
After this strange sensation had circulated through his body several times, its currents seemed to converge of their own accord at the Renying acupoint beside his throat. In an instant, Xing Yan felt his whole body churn. The stifling pressure that had endured so long seemed finally to have found an outlet through which to surge-
A long, clear cry burst from the lips of the boy standing with his face raised to the heavens, echoing across the vast, desolate wilderness.
The boy's unrestrained cry rose and fell, seeming to reach the vault of heaven above and penetrate the Underworld below, surging and thundering, its lingering notes winding through the air. For a time, mountains rang and valleys answered, the echoes refusing to fade...
Once he had let out that cry, Xing Yan felt that the power within his body had vanished without a trace, leaving only an extraordinary clarity and emptiness in his mind.
Why is it like this again? Bitter first, sweet afterward-please don't let this sort of thing come looking for me too often!
Though Xing Yan grumbled inwardly, he did not really take it to heart. Perhaps even he did not realize that beneath his cheerful, optimistic, easygoing nature ran a streak of endurance and fearlessness. That was why he had dared return to lean against the white boulder on Horseshoe Mountain where those bizarre phenomena had once occurred-and precisely why, after taking a stroll before the gates of death tonight, he had managed to snatch his life back!
Yet the boy, who seemed to have escaped danger after this strange ordeal, had no chance to recover before another misfortune struck. Just as Xing Yan, who had believed himself alone all along, finished his skyward cry, a strange, tremendous roar suddenly erupted all around him!
Startled, Xing Yan hurriedly opened his eyes wide and scrutinized his surroundings-and what he saw made his hair stand on end. He recoiled sharply, stumbled over something, and fell to the ground!
-Only now did Xing Yan discover that the once empty, desolate summit of Horseshoe Mountain had somehow filled with wild beasts, all roaring at him together. The cries of tigers, howls of wolves, and roars of leopards rolled and surged through the mountain wilderness, crashing on without end-
In an instant, the entire valley seemed to boil!
No wonder the young Xing Yan was frightened. Anyone who suddenly found a great pack of wild animals roaring at him would have been scared shitless! Especially when there were plenty of fierce predators among them-merely retreating a few steps and taking a tumble already counted as remarkable composure!
As Xing Yan sat sprawled on the ground, he hastily groped for the object beside him that had tripped him. In his confusion, it felt like a stick, so he gripped its handle tightly in his right hand and held it across his chest. Although this instinctive gesture would probably do him no good, having something to bolster his courage at such a desperate moment was better than nothing.
The frantic boy was now consumed with regret:
I must've had nothing better to do on a full belly! Why did I ever think of coming out to this godforsaken wilderness to practice my flute?! If I'd practiced near home, the worst I'd have faced was a scolding from neighbors bothered by the racket. How could it have turned out like this? My flute must've been too noisy and disturbed these beasts' sweet dreams, so they've all come to surround me-and grab a midnight snack while they're at it!
Xing Yan was filled with remorse, certain that this time he would end up in the bellies of tigers and wolves. But after a short while, as he sat there lamenting his fate, he noticed something surprising: seeing him seated on the ground, the beasts surrounding him stopped their cries one after another. None came forward to bite him; they merely kept their burning eyes fixed on him.
How strange! Why do I have this ridiculous feeling-that these wild beasts don't seem to bear me any ill will?!
Strange things happened every year, but these past two months had brought an especially plentiful crop!
Still, though the thought seemed plausible, Xing Yan did not dare entertain the idea of fleeing. As a mountain boy well acquainted with the habits of wild beasts, he knew that when a person was within arm's reach of such creatures, turning and running was the worst thing to do. Facing them instead would at least allow him to fight with everything he had, and perhaps leave him a thread of hope.
Just as Xing Yan found himself unable to advance or retreat, he suddenly heard faint calls coming one after another from afar:
"Xing Yan!...Xing Yan!..."
At the sound, the bewildered boy's spirits lifted at once, and he hurriedly looked toward its source. With his now exceptional eyesight, Xing Yan could make out a bean-sized flame in the distant darkness of the mountain wilderness, bobbing and swaying as it drew steadily closer!
"Ah!!!" At the sight of that glimmer, Xing Yan suddenly leaped up as though stung by a venomous scorpion-he had recognized those alternating calls as the voices of his father, Old Zhang, and his mother!
At that moment, Xing Yan's heart boiled like a pot over the fire. He could no longer spare a thought for anything else. Without answering a word, he sprang up and charged in the opposite direction!
Only one thought remained in Xing Yan's mind: If I die, I die!...Your son has failed you. I can only repay your kindness in raising me in my next life!...
As he bounded and leaped along, Xing Yan wildly swung the stick he had grabbed, utterly unaware of the faint gleam flashing through its movements.
Xing Yan, who kept expecting to hear the rush of a beast pouncing at any moment, gradually discovered something astonishing. Wherever he went, those ordinarily ferocious tigers, leopards, and bears all moved aside of their own accord, as though...as though they were afraid of him, desperate to get out of his way!
Huh? Why would I have such an absurd thought?! Xing Yan questioned himself. Could this be a hallucination brought on by approaching death?
But Xing Yan was, after all, a clever, quick-witted boy, and he soon concluded that the assorted beasts surrounding him truly bore him no ill will!
How strange!
This was already the boy's countless involuntary imitation tonight of Old Scholar Ji's bookish manner of speaking.
Still, despite that conclusion, he remained in danger. The alert Xing Yan had no leisure to ponder or assess it, and did not dare pause his feet for even a moment. His figure darted and bounded, shooting out of the beasts' "encirclement" like a wisp of smoke before fleeing down the mountain in panic!
Only after running a long way did the boy stop briefly to catch his breath. Once he was certain no beasts were pursuing him, Xing Yan hurried along a winding footpath, stumbling over the uneven ground toward his parents so he could intercept them and turn them back as quickly as possible. Along the way, he lost count of how many times he fell or how many thorns pierced him!
His heart burning with urgency, Xing Yan stretched his legs and ran for all he was worth, finally managing to intercept his parents halfway up as they came looking for him.
Old Zhang and his wife had seen the sudden change in the wind and clouds overhead and grown worried about their son, who had gone to Horseshoe Mountain to practice his flute, afraid some accident might befall him. So the elderly couple had bundled together a pine-resin torch, which Old Zhang held aloft, and set out together to search Horseshoe Mountain, heedless of the steep slopes and tall grass in the darkness.
-Ah, thank heaven! At last they saw their lively boy return safe and sound!
Seeing that he had successfully stopped his parents before they reached the summit, Xing Yan, whose nerves had been stretched taut all this time, immediately relaxed. Only then did he realize that his entire body ached after that desperate run. The exhausted boy could only lean on the staff he had picked up earlier and brace himself against Old Zhang's shoulder as he stumbled back to their thatched cottage at the foot of Horseshoe Mountain.
Someone later composed a poem in praise:
There stands a wondrous stone,
On which I lay myself down.
My towering ambition rises in ten thousand folds;
Only the green mountains are like me-
One long cry rings out,
A dragon's chant, a tiger's soul!
Once they returned home, Xing Yan's mother discovered by the light of the pine-oil lamp that the mountain thorns had torn his coarse cloth clothes in many places. Another flurry of activity followed as she told her son to change so she could mend them that very night.
As she sewed, Xing Yan's mother scolded him for rushing so recklessly when he knew his parents were coming to find him. Though her words were reproachful, a loving mother's concern for her child overflowed from every sentence. This ordinarily clever, eloquent, quick-tongued boy suddenly became tongue-tied before his mother. His lips moved, but he faltered and could find nothing to say, leaving him only to stand there with a foolish grin.
As for the bloody scratches on Xing Yan's calves, such things were commonplace for a mountain boy, who was not as delicately pampered as a city child. Old Zhang simply crushed and chewed a few medicinal leaves, then slapped them over the wounds to stop the bleeding.
In this thatched cottage beneath Horseshoe Mountain, a wick twisted from rushes lay soaked in pine oil the family had pressed themselves, giving off a soft yellow light. The bean-sized flame flickered ceaselessly, illuminating the cottage's four walls and casting its gentle glow over the needle and thread in his loving mother's hands.
After sorting through the family's farming and hunting tools, Old Zhang casually asked his son whether anything up on Horseshoe Mountain had frightened him. That sudden lightning and thunder a little while ago had been downright terrifying!
Hearing his father ask, the considerate Xing Yan feared worrying his parents and merely said lightly that nothing much had frightened him. It had not rained anyway, and as long as he had not gotten soaked, everything was fine.
Still mending his clothes, Xing Yan's mother began reminding her son at length that he must accumulate virtue and do good deeds, or the immortals in heaven would strike him with heavenly thunder. That frightening lightning tonight might well have been some immortal in heaven losing their temper...
Watching blankly as his mother mended his clothes stitch by stitch, and answering her now and then, Xing Yan soon began to feel drowsy after the night's ordeal. He excused himself and went to bed first.
Once he was on his bed and had lain quietly for a while with his eyes closed, Xing Yan recalled the night's events, and his sleepiness grew less pronounced.
Everything that had happened on Horseshoe Mountain that night passed before his eyes once more, flowing like the scenes of a revolving lantern.
Although barely an hour had passed and every detail remained vivid, recalling those events still left Xing Yan feeling as though he were adrift in clouds high above the earth, dazed and bewildered. Everything seemed within reach, yet whenever he stretched out his hand, he could grasp nothing.
Unable to sleep and feeling somewhat dazed, the boy simply opened his eyes and stared at the mottled moonlight cast through the window lattice onto the earthen wall, doing his utmost to calm himself.
Once he had settled down, Xing Yan tried again to recall everything that had happened that night, carefully putting it all in order.
After weighing it over and over, though he scarcely dared believe his own conclusion, Xing Yan finally decided that everything that had happened tonight was almost certainly closely connected to the "Water Dragon's Chant" he had played using Great Splendor Dao Power. He did not dare connect the lightning and thunder overhead with himself, treating them merely as a coincidence. But so many wild beasts had inexplicably gathered around him, not only refraining from attacking him but even seeming rather afraid of him. Such an unheard-of oddity-if it had not been caused by "Water Dragon's Chant," which he had already felt was anything but ordinary, he could rack his brains until his head split and still never think of anything else with such a connection!
It seems that old gentleman, Lord of the Clouds, whom I met by chance, certainly wasn't an ordinary person. And the score and jade flute he gave me can't be ordinary things either!
Perhaps my life will change from this moment on!... At this thought, the mountain boy lying on his bed could not help growing excited:
I, Zhang Xingyan, will be able to find work training beasts in a traveling circus! I bet the pay will be pretty good! Ha!
"..."
"..."
The boy, worn out by the night's ordeals, sank into a deep sleep just like that, a faint smile still lingering at the corners of his mouth...
Perhaps he truly had exhausted himself the night before, for Xing Yan did not climb out of bed the next day until the sun was well up.
After washing, the boy found that a night's sleep had erased every trace of yesterday's fatigue. Breathing the fresh, pure mountain air, he felt as though he had shed his old body and been reborn, wonderfully refreshed and clearheaded.
Just as Xing Yan was basking blissfully in the cool mountain morning breeze, he suddenly heard his mother give a surprised cry inside the cottage:
"Huh? Where did this iron knife come from?!"
Hearing her, Xing Yan hurried back inside to see what had happened. At a glance, he too was rather surprised. It was no "iron knife," but a longsword lying flat on the ground in the corner.
Xing Yan hurried over, bent down to lift the sword, and examined it closely:
The sword had a slender blade, roughly three feet nine inches long. There was no guard where the hilt met the blade, only a slight protrusion to either side that curved inward toward the cutting edges. The blade was flat, its edges dull, clearly unsharpened. Its tip was rounded and blunt, with quite a few smears of mud clinging to it. The entire sword was grayish black, its design decidedly ancient and plain.
Xing Yan turned the longsword over and over in his hands, puzzled as to how a sword had appeared in their home out of thin air. The bewildered boy asked his mother:
"Did Father have someone forge this recently?"
Xing Yan's mother shook her head and said she had never seen such a thing in their home.
Xing Yan carried it outside and examined it again and again in the sunlight. Only when he noticed the patches of mud clinging to its tip did understanding finally dawn:
Ha! So this sword was the walking stick I leaned on all the way back from Horseshoe Mountain last night! Thinking of how he had treated it as a stick throughout his panic the night before, the boy could not help laughing.
Heh, when lightning shattered that white boulder, it must have unearthed this iron sword buried in the ground!
Having figured that out, the boy was overjoyed:
"Ha-ha! I've found myself a treasure this time!"
With that, Xing Yan quickly fetched a basin of clean water and began vigorously grinding his unexpectedly acquired treasured sword against the stone in the courtyard that his father often used to sharpen knives:
If I pawn this treasure at a shop in the city, it ought to fetch quite a bit of silver, right?! Ha!
Before you continue