Requiem

The night was black as ink, its chill biting...

The rain kept falling, showing no sign of stopping.

The night wind of early spring still chilled those it swept over.

The courtyard enclosed by red walls stood all alone in the remote western quarter of the city. White tiles capped its walls like a layer of snow, as though it were not rain falling that night.

Pat... pat...

Su Mo stepped through the pooled rain in the courtyard, dancing alone...

His steps were a little wild, a little forlorn...

At that moment, Su Mo was both himself and the Great Calamity.

While sending off the wandering souls in the underground palace, Su Mo had communed with the netherworld in his mortal body under that uncanny being's control... those who communed with the netherworld could communicate with ghosts!

And the owner of that uncanny voice was, naturally, just as she had said... not human.

As for what exactly she was, Su Mo did not know.

As Su Mo sent those wandering souls away, he also experienced their joys, anger, sorrows, and pleasures.

The wandering souls' tangled thoughts pressed upon Su Mo without cease, finally crushing his reason when the last soul, that little girl's, appeared.

While Su Mo communed with the netherworld, that uncanny being used his power to possess him... but possession was not taking over his body.

Taking over his body meant seizing Su Mo's consciousness and controlling him with one's own.

Possession meant briefly coexisting with Su Mo, each influencing the other.

In that brief moment of coexistence... you were me, and I was you.

Su Mo danced. He could feel everything, yet none of it was under his control.

He felt sorrow, anger, helplessness, heartbreak...

Su Mo retained his own consciousness, yet his reason could no longer govern him...

"The Three Powers are heaven, earth, and man.

The Three Lights are sun, moon, and stars.

There is south and north, west and east.

These four directions correspond to the center..."

Tongtong nestled in Su Mo's arms, singing one of the few songs she could remember as he danced.

Her mother had taught it to her, and she remembered it well.

Su Mo told her to sing, so she sang...

Because Su Mo had said, "Older Brother will take you home..."

What an obedient little child... if only...

Cradling the wandering soul, Su Mo danced around the three Black-Robed Men. The "tap... tap..." of his feet splashing through the rainwater rang throughout the courtyard.

Ignoring Monk Zhixuan and Daoist Mude, who remained inside the Golden Alms Bowl with their tense, tangled emotions, he danced this requiem around the three Black-Robed Men...

As the mood took him, Su Mo lightly tapped the other two Black-Robed Men on their foreheads. An exceedingly uncanny power of rules sank into their minds.

The light instantly vanished from the other two Black-Robed Men's eyes as well...

A young, innocent child's voice drifted into their ears.

Beautiful, yet eerie...

Thud!

A body hit the ground. As Su Mo danced his uncanny dance, the Black-Robed Man who had attacked him first grew old, exhausted his vitality, and collapsed, never to rise again...

Su Mo tilted his head to glance at him, then gave a wicked smile. "See? I told you Tongtong's song could move them."

Tongtong's wandering soul also raised her head, straightening in Su Mo's arms as she asked innocently, "What happened to him?"

"He was moved by Tongtong's singing. He's tired and needs a little rest!" Su Mo smiled and stroked her little head.

"Then Tongtong will keep singing, and then we can go home."

Tongtong spoke with innocent earnestness.

"All right..." Su Mo answered, then asked, "Was Older Brother's dancing good?"

"Yes!" Tongtong replied.

"Tongtong's telling lies..." Su Mo lightly tapped her head.

"Hee hee hee..." Tongtong laughed happily.

The man and the ghost acted as though no one else was there, teasing... laughing...

To the monk and the Daoist watching from the side, Su Mo was merely holding his arms as though cradling something, with nothing in them. He danced while talking to himself.

What terrified them was watching that fallen Black-Robed Man rapidly age from his prime, then die.

His death was inexplicable, uncanny beyond measure.

Su Mo's black Cloud-Covering Boots pressed ripple after ripple into the standing water, sending splashes flying.

Rainwater dripped from his black cloak, then flew off as his body danced.

At that moment, his dancing in the rain seemed almost hauntingly beautiful.

The dim candlelight inside the house flickered, on the verge of going out...

"They are Dai and Hua, Song, Heng, and Heng.

These Five Sacred Mountains are the names of peaks...

Scholars and farmers... artisans and merchants...

These four callings... are the nation's worthy people..."

He danced for a long time... a very long time...

Soul-reeling steps, ceaseless singing...

As though pouring out an accusation against this world's heavenly law!

Tongtong's voice weakened in his arms, her singing growing broken and halting...

Until, at last, it slowly stopped...

Su Mo stopped dancing and lowered his head to look tenderly at Tongtong in his arms, asking,

"What's wrong? Why did you stop?"

Tongtong nestled her head deep into Su Mo's embrace, her voice fading. "Tongtong... is a little tired..."

Su Mo lifted his head and looked into the pitch-black night...

"If you're tired, rest a while."

"But... Tongtong still wants... to keep singing... and then go home!" Tongtong clasped Su Mo's neck and pressed herself closer against him.

As the chilly night wind blew, she felt a little cold.

"It's all right, it's all right..." Su Mo said. "They won't stop us anymore!"

"Really?" Tongtong asked innocently.

"Yes. Look!" Su Mo pointed at the other two Black-Robed Men.

As Su Mo pointed...

The power of rules that had pierced the other two Black-Robed Men's bodies burst apart. Both fell to the ground at once, their last breaths gone.

"See? They're tired too. They're resting," Su Mo told Tongtong in a low, gentle voice.

"No one's stopping us anymore."

As Tongtong watched the two fall, a faint light kindled in her weary eyes. "Then can we... go home?"

"That's enough, that's enough!" Su Mo stroked Tongtong's little head. "Older Brother can take Tongtong... home!"

"But..." Tongtong rested her head against Su Mo's chest again and spoke weakly.

"Tongtong feels so weak... Tongtong feels like... she can't go home..."

"How could that be? Older Brother promised Tongtong... he'd take her home." Su Mo held his head high, glittering moisture reflected in his eyes.

"Older Brother is lying... to Tongtong..."

Tongtong spoke haltingly, as though remembering something...

"Tongtong... died long ago. How could Older Brother... take Tongtong... home?"

Su Mo shuddered all over and slowly lowered his head to look at the wandering soul in his arms, whose form had begun to dim.

He could no longer hold back the glittering tears in his eyes...

They passed through the little child in his arms and fell to the ground, splashing into sorrow...

Su Mo gently stroked Tongtong's cheek. His lips parted, but no words came.

Tongtong nuzzled affectionately against Su Mo's chest and spoke slowly.

"Tongtong... remembers now. Tongtong sneaked out... and was caught... brought to this courtyard... those people... killed Tongtong..."

"Tongtong... was already... dead long ago..."

"Tongtong... can never go home again..."

Tongtong's wandering soul grew ever dimmer. A single nursery song had exhausted the soul power she had left.

Su Mo bent his legs and sat down, heedless of the standing water, cradling the wandering soul as he sat on the rain-soaked ground. His black cloak trailed in the puddles.

Su Mo pressed his cheek to Tongtong's forehead and asked softly,

"Are you afraid, Tongtong?"

Tongtong nodded. Weakness and fear filled her whole body, and she could not help tightening her embrace around the arm with which Su Mo was gently stroking her.

"Tongtong... is very afraid..."

"Tongtong is afraid Mother and Father won't find her... and will be sad and worried..."

"Tongtong is afraid the other world will be pitch-black... Tongtong is most afraid of the dark..."

"Tongtong is afraid there'll be nothing in the other world. Tongtong is most afraid of being alone, too..."

"Older Brother, tell me... what is the other world like?"

"When Grandma died, Mother said... the other world was very beautiful..."

"But Tongtong has never been there..."

Su Mo pressed his cheek against Tongtong's forehead and held her tightly.

Su Mo spoke softly. "Your mother was right. In the other world, there's more food than you could ever eat, and beautiful little flowers cover the ground."

"Everyone in the other world is kind. They'll treat Tongtong well, just like her mother and father..."

After hearing Su Mo's words, Tongtong's fear gradually faded, and a little hope appeared in her eyes.

"Then Tongtong... will go and have a look first..."

Su Mo gently stroked Tongtong's cheek and whispered, "All right. Tongtong can go and look first... if it isn't fun, come back..."

"Older Brother... is lying to Tongtong again... Tongtong knows she can't come back..."

Su Mo lowered his head, speechless.

"Older Brother... I want... to hear... a song..." Tongtong's voice grew weaker still.

"All right. What would Tongtong like to hear?" Su Mo agreed.

"Anything... as long... as Older Brother... sings it... will do..."

"Then Older Brother will sing you a passage from an opera from his homeland..." Su Mo said softly.

"All right..."

Su Mo began to sing, his operatic voice rising to linger among the rafters...

"Love knows not where it begins,

Yet deepens beyond measure.

The living may die,

The dead may live.

If the living cannot die for it,

And the dead cannot return to life through it,

Then theirs is not love at its utmost.

So all the brilliant reds and purples have bloomed,

Only to be surrendered to broken wells and crumbling walls.

What use are fine hours and lovely scenes beneath this sky,

In whose courtyard dwell heart's delight and joyful things..."

Listening to Su Mo's opera, Tongtong used her remaining strength to hold him tightly. Nestled against his chest, she closed her eyes... and quietly fell asleep...

The song continued, the candlelight dimmed...

"A faint breeze carries reed-pipe music through terraces and halls,

The empty emerald chill settles on rainbow robes.

Deep among lotus blossoms beside the pool,

Their fragrance reaches me through the clear night.

People age so easily, troubles hinder so much, dreams last so briefly.

A little deep affection, a few feet of shallow earth, half a wall of slanting sun.

Broken dreams and lingering dreams are all dreams; years come and go, but what year is this..."

As the song ended, the candlelight inside the house went out...

The little child in his arms had also faded away...

In the vast, cold night,

Only the chilly wind remained,

In the end, the song was over, and its listener gone...