"There was too much evil in this land. It wasn't easy for the Miao people to survive."
Yunqi nodded at this. If venomous insects and ghosts became part of everyday life, surviving truly would not be easy. He had grown up in a prosperous land and could not imagine such a life at all.
"Our ancestors tried all sorts of things to stay alive. Look-to escape the damp and the insects and snakes, we raised all our houses off the ground."
The old stockade chief spoke with a smile.
Yunqi did not smile.
"Our ancestors did plenty of foolish things back then, too. Some regarded ghosts, insects, and snakes as gods and worshipped them. They even bound young boys and girls and offered them up in hopes of securing peace. Of course, blood and tears proved that it was useless.
"Others searched the mountains for insect eggs and beast cubs, raised them, then used them against the insects and beasts. Some went even further, keeping ghosts and driving corpses. Those methods did work, but they themselves became monsters."
The old stockade chief spoke in a somber voice.
"Then there were people like us, who couldn't do any of those things, so we sought yang energy to restrain these yin evils. We moved to higher ground and settled on the mountains, drank running water, made torches to drive away yin beasts, and used sulfur powder to repel venomous insects.
"We tried many things. Along the way, we discovered that the white dogs in the mountains had extremely keen senses. They could detect living creatures or yin evils from far away, weren't afraid of venomous insect bites, and weren't afraid of losing their souls. So we began raising white dogs to guard our homes.
"But our greatest discovery was the rooster."
The old stockade chief smiled with utter delight.
"The first thing we discovered was that the big roosters in the mountains, with their red combs and golden claws, were the most extraordinary of all. They could swallow venomous insects alive and fight yin beasts to the death. Every day, they crowed before the sun rose, and their crowing could actually disperse Mist Fiends and suppress Wailing Ghosts. They truly were heaven-sent yang birds.
"So we began raising chickens. Once we did, everything changed."
Yunqi could feel the old stockade chief's joy. As Munaigong watched the roosters searching every corner of the stockade for venomous insects to eat, his face bloomed like a flower.
Yunqi was delighted, too. Previously, he had consulted many records and legends to visualize the Hairy Head Sun Star Lord, but those legends had all been too lofty and distant, their gaze fixed on the starry heavens. His visualization had thus remained a castle in the air, unable to find solid footing or take root in the mortal world.
Now, hearing the Miao people describe the roosters' powers, he was overjoyed. With these deeds, his visualization had gained a core. In that very instant, he even thought of a way to use them: he would write these deeds into a scripture of praise and carve it onto the pillars and beams of the Bright Palace in his mind.
"After we started raising chickens, we found that roosters were even more capable than we'd imagined!"
The old stockade chief spoke fervently.
"One day, someone lost his soul outside. When he came back, he was dazed and muddled, unable to recognize anyone, and soon fell unconscious. In the old days, that would have been the end of his life.
"But then the village's rooster king suddenly crowed. After three cries, that man's soul was actually called back!
"And another thing! Between stockades that raise chickens, a covenant sealed by drinking chicken blood is the most unbreakable oath of all! Anyone who drinks chicken blood and breaks that oath will bleed from all seven orifices and die, without exception! That is precisely why the stockades of the Fourteen Streams of Hong River swore an oath over chicken blood: if one stockade suffers, the others must come to its aid. That is how we've survived to this day!"
"Roosters can tell the time. Even when black fog rises, blotting out the difference between day and night and leaving everything dark for months, they still announce the time accurately every day, never failing us. That lets us keep regular hours. In the old days, whenever the black fog rose, who knew how many people would go mad in that endless darkness!"
"Rooster blood can subdue dead corpses!"
"Chicken-feather headdresses can stop your soul from being called away!"
"And! And! As long as a stockade raises chickens, more boys are born, too!"
"..."
The stockade chief recounted each deed in turn, and Yunqi committed them all to memory. He even asked the old chief for more details-when they had happened, and to whom.
Seeing how interested Yunqi was, the old stockade chief was delighted and described everything in detail. Some events were too far in the past, so as he spoke, he added a little of his own imagination and exaggerated some of the deeds. But that did not matter.
No, perhaps it was even better.
One old, one young; one spoke, one remembered. The speaker was pleased, and the listener was happy.
After quite a while, the two aunties came out and indicated that the room was ready.
Munaigong stopped talking and said to Yunqi with a cheerful smile, "Daoist Yun, you've come a long way. Get some rest first. Tonight, we'll hold a bonfire gathering to welcome you."
Yunqi thanked them, took two small copper coins from inside his robes and handed them to the two aunties, then gave the old stockade chief a small piece of silver.
All three refused, but Yunqi pressed the money into their hands.
He glanced into the room. It had been swept clean, and all the windows were open. The sun was sinking toward the western mountains, and its evening light shone inside, gilding the wooden house with a coat of gold.
After watching the three leave, Yunqi looked out at the Miao Stockade, the stream, the terraced fields, and the strutting roosters. He was so happy that he did not even go inside, but sat down on the railing-backed bench and entered meditation.
The Golden Crow sank in the west, and night descended.
It was September. The days were short and the nights long, and the weather was turning cool. The mountain night was pitch-black. A thin, cold mist rose, hiding even the starry sky.
Every household in the stockade lit its lamps. Deep in the mountains, those lights were both exceedingly faint and exceedingly conspicuous.
Standing on high ground, Yunqi watched people emerge from every home with firewood in their hands and gather at the center of the stockade. They stacked the wood neatly until the pile stood half a person tall.
The old stockade chief brought out a pitch-black jar, dipped a brush into it, and flicked something onto the woodpile. Yunqi saw the droplets glisten as they flew, like some kind of oil.
Then the old stockade chief took something resembling a fire striker from inside his robes. With a single puff from his mouth, a wave of flame burst from its tip, shooting ten feet and landing on the woodpile in the direction of his breath. It was nothing like an ordinary fire striker; it looked more like a weapon.
"Whoom!"
The half-person-high pile of over a hundred pieces of firewood ignited instantly. The tremendous blaze lit up the entire stockade, and its leaping tongues of flame immediately drove away the cold mist lingering within it.
The people of this stockade used fire in ways that far exceeded Yunqi's imagination.
The villagers sat around the bonfire. Its light shone on every face and in every pair of eyes, illuminating their joy with perfect clarity.
As Yunqi looked at the pinpricks of lamplight in every household and that blaze which brought them light, he gained a deeper, clearer understanding of the essence of fire.
Fire had never been limited to Fire in the Sky.
The great sun's radiance was boundless, but the fires of the mortal world could also drive away darkness. Most importantly, the great sun hung high above, while mortal fires lay in human hands.
"Daoist Yun! Come over!"
The old stockade chief stood beside the bonfire and called loudly. The villagers waved to Yunqi as well, speaking words he could not understand.
The White Dragons were even happier, chasing one another and romping around the bonfire. Only the roosters were too stately to join the gathering. Scattered throughout the stockade, they stood on high ground and gazed into the distance, like guardian gods.
Two chapters released together; this is the second.
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