The Dead Goats

Doje had also come from poverty. He shot Zuo Qian a sideways glare.

"Those ghosts fear light and heat. It was my torch that kept the evil ghosts away," Zuo Qian said, his head held high.

"That makes a lot of sense," Qu Zan said.

Seeing the monk acknowledge his contribution, Zuo Qian felt some of his hostility toward him fade.

Qu Zan changed the subject. "You said you haven't encountered any ghosts so far?"

Doje nodded. "That's right. Not long after I came in here, I met Lord Dzongben and the three people with him. Then we met this Rebudian Chieftain."

"What are your plans now?" Qu Zan asked.

Dzongben Caiwang said, "When I first came in, I was brought somewhere nearby. We only need to wait around here. Once the monks of Corpse Camel Temple discover we're missing, they'll naturally find a way to rescue us."

Then Qu Zan looked toward Doje and asked, "Senior brother, what about you?"

Doje said decisively, "Junior brother, what are your plans?"

"I want to keep walking and see if I can find more people. We have too little information right now," Qu Zan said.

"That's too dangerous," Dzongben Caiwang said. "Since it's safe here, we should stay here. Young Lama, you'd best stay too."

"Yes, you shouldn't wander around," Tuya said. She thought the young monk was a decent person and did not want to see him fall into danger.

Qu Zan shook his head. "Who knows how big this place is? If we just wait around foolishly, there's no telling how long we'll have to wait. Even if the Vengeful Ghosts don't kill us in the end, we might still die of thirst or hunger here."

"You needn't worry about that. We have our own methods..." Zuo Qian said.

Qu Zan pressed his palms together. "Then this is where we part."

With that, he turned and walked away. Doje hurriedly said, "Junior brother, I'll go with you."

Qu Zan said in surprise, "Junior brother, since it's safe here, you'd best stay."

"We're brothers for this lifetime. Wherever you go, I'll follow!" Doje said.

Zuo Qian stopped him. "You're free to leave, of course, but leave the torch. I made that torch!"

Doje handed the torch to Zuo Qian.

As she watched the two walk into the darkness, Tuya looked worried. Dzongben Caiwang also felt it was a pity.

Only after the two had gone far away did Zuo Qian say, "My lord, my lady, when you encounter something uncanny like this, stumbling around blindly is courting death. You needn't worry about food and the like."

Caiwang nodded. "Zuo Qian, once we get out of here safely, you'll serve at my official residence!"

Zuo Qian bowed and assented, suppressing his wild joy.

"Senior brother, you're pressing into me," Qu Zan said.

The two walked slowly through the darkness. Doje stuck close to Qu Zan, wishing he could hide beneath his junior brother's armpit.

"Ah, oh," Doje said.

"Senior brother, why didn't you stay with them? If the two of us really encounter a Vengeful Ghost, I might have my hands full protecting myself," Qu Zan said.

Doje asked, "Junior brother, do you know what was in that oxhide sack the Rebudian Chieftain was carrying on his back? That thing was even seeping blood."

"What?" Qu Zan asked, though he already knew.

"Two sets of human intestines, and a heart and liver," Doje said, fighting back nausea. "Those were probably offerings he intended to give the monastery. That's what he meant when he said not to worry about food."

"Then if you stayed with them, wouldn't you have something to eat?" Qu Zan said.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Doje said. "One is the Dzongben, one is the Dzongben's daughter, and there's the Dzongben's servant too. Zuo Qian will keep them fed. How could they possibly leave any food for me!

"The way that Zuo Qian looked at me-he might have kept me around as emergency rations."

Qu Zan teased him. "You're following me, but aren't you afraid I'll treat you as emergency rations?"

"You wouldn't," Doje said seriously. "Besides, if it really comes to a critical moment, I'll share an arm with you. I'm the senior brother. Of course I should look after my junior brother..."

Qu Zan froze.

Doje said as though it were only natural, "...Between the two of us, I'm not much use. If we have to eat someone, of course we should eat me first. When you cut off my arm, make it quick. I'm afraid of pain..."

"Senior brother, I honestly don't know what to say. Should I call you brave or cowardly?" Qu Zan said.

Doje suddenly said, "...Compared with letting you eat me, I'd rather rot to death than let that Rebudian Chieftain eat a single bite of my flesh."

"You hate that Rebudian Chieftain?" Qu Zan asked.

Doje sighed. "An uncle I knew when I was little escaped from the estate, but a Rebudian Chieftain caught him and brought him back. That man was collecting a tongue on the orders of some holy lord.

"After that Rebudian Chieftain cut out Uncle's tongue, he didn't kill him. Instead, he hung him up and tortured him, tormenting him as much as he could.

"Until he beat him to death.

"That Rebudian Chieftain said, 'Only cruel torture can cow the other serfs. If serfs have a mind to escape, it means they haven't been given enough work and aren't tired enough...'

"All Rebudian Chieftains are the same. They're mad dogs fawning on their superiors, even more vicious than their masters!"

For once, Qu Zan heard a trace of coldness in Doje's voice. His chubby senior brother was usually carefree, scampering about... as though he cared about nothing.

"Junior brother, do you think that Rebudian Chieftain is powerful?"

"That fellow called Zuo Qian is very strong," Qu Zan said. "I can feel it. He's very confident. He probably has trump cards he hasn't shown."

In a place like Mìdì, where ghosts and monsters ran rampant, he traveled from place to place, harvesting the flesh, blood, and organs of living people.

Ruthlessness alone was not enough for a Rebudian Chieftain. He had to possess extraordinary abilities.

Doje probably could not see the path and could only rest his hand on Qu Zan's shoulder.

He noticed that their surroundings were pitch-black, yet Qu Zan walked as though on level ground.

"Junior brother, those eyes of yours are really amazing. There isn't a speck of light, but you can still see everything clearly," Doje said enviously. "When will I be able to receive an Empowerment to transmit the teachings... Still, it must hurt when you use them, right?"

"Yes, it hurts a little," Qu Zan said.

In truth, it was far more than a little pain. Hair pierced through his flesh, and the pain bored into his heart and bones. Fortunately, his Pain Reduction talent made it much more bearable.

Qu Zan's nose twitched slightly. He smelled a heavy stench of blood.

After walking some distance farther, he saw corpses strewn across the ground. The dead wore all sorts of clothing. Like Qu Zan and the others, they had probably been swept into this ghastly place, then killed by Vengeful Ghosts.

So many people had been killed here that even Doje could smell the foul, bloody stench.

"Why are there so many dead people here?!" Doje asked, his voice trembling. "Did they encounter Vengeful Ghosts?!"

Among the dead, Qu Zan also discovered four black sheep.

Those black sheep were exceedingly strange. Though clad in sheepskins, their organs and limbs were clearly human.

"This..." Qu Zan recalled the old man with hollow black eyes he had seen at the market earlier.

Suddenly, Qu Zan noticed a figure appear behind a rock ahead.

The figure looked strange, with curved horns on its head and a misshapen skull. It did not look human.

It looked like a black goat standing upright on its hind hooves.

In such a dark, eerie place, he had come upon an extremely sinister-looking black goat that actually stood upright like a human.

"Junior brother, why did you stop?" Doje asked.

"I saw a black goat walking like a person," Qu Zan said.

"Don't be afraid. I'm human. We've met before," an old man's voice said, accompanied by coughing.

Doje was so frightened that his hair stood on end. "Was that the black goat talking?!"

Beside the black goat, an old man emerged from behind the rock.

"You're the one from the market that day?!" Qu Zan suddenly remembered.

That time, when he and his younger sister had gone to the market together, they had seen a black goat with human eyes and a human face. Its lips had moved slightly, as though it were speaking. They had been so frightened that day that they had not even dared eat mutton.

"This is an enormous ghost domain. I was swept into it too," the old man said.

He slowly walked over.

Qu Zan watched the old man, half believing and half doubting. At the first sign that something was wrong, he would immediately transform into a lion, turn, and leave.