After Falling Fast Asleep
The rain outside the ruined temple grew heavier.
Raindrops as big as beans pattered without restraint on the stone steps, then ran down the gray-white stairs into the mud.
The little beggar was a bit groggy. Leaning against the stone statue enshrined in the ruined temple, he drifted into a deep, drowsy sleep.
Gu Baishui sat by the fire, watching the burly Taoist lead his "clients" into the temple's woodshed one by one.
There were six corpses in all. They were dressed in the official robes of some dynasty, carried book baskets on their backs, and had yellow talismans, soaked through, stuck to their brows.
The curtain of rain obscured the view, and Gu Baishui couldn't make out the faces of the corpses. But corpses were corpses, after all; there was nothing worth seeing in their ashen faces.
"With rain like this, it must have been pouring for two or three days."
The burly Taoist shook the water from his sleeves and came in through the temple's side door, his face full of helplessness and bad luck. "My clients have suffered plenty, too, being blown on and rained on all day."
The young man by the fire made room for him and nodded kindly.
"Daoist, the Yin Qi is strongest on rainy nights. You're traveling through the rain with those clients behind you. Aren't you afraid something might happen?"
"Ah, how could it?"
The burly man sat down by the fire without a care in the world and laughed heartily. "My clients are very reasonable. As long as their daily offerings don't stop, they've promised not to cause trouble."
"Is that so?"
Gu Baishui glanced toward the woodshed and asked thoughtfully, "Daoist, what should I call you?"
"My birth name is Wu Tian, and my Daoist name is Wu Tian. If you don't mind the bad luck, little brother, just call me Brother Wu."
The burly man was exceptionally friendly, with the free-and-easy manner of a man of the jianghu.
"Brother Wu."
Gu Baishui held both hands out to warm them over the fire before him. "You're in such a hurry. Where are you taking your clients?"
"Not far now. There's one in Luoyang City, and another in the Scarlet Earth Poison Domain. Once I deliver those two, I'll have plenty of free time."
"I see."
The burly man took a sodden lump of steamed bun dough from his pack and chewed it with gusto, washing it down with the wine gourd at his waist.
"I know this road pretty well. I make the trip every three to five years, and I've stopped to rest in this ruined temple in the mountains a few times. But I've never seen outsiders staying here."
"Still, this is the middle of nowhere. Little brother, you really are bold."
Gu Baishui merely smiled and said nothing.
But after hearing the burly man's words, he turned to look at the stone platform behind him. The stone statue in the ruined temple had long since half-collapsed into disrepair. Its face was impossible to make out, and there was no way to tell who it had been enshrined for.
The burly man seemed to notice the young man's curiosity. He swallowed his dry food, paused, then spoke. "Actually, a few years ago, there was a wealthy family in these mountains. They'd moved here from Luoyang and settled down."
Gu Baishui turned his head, seeming quite interested in what the burly man was saying. "They moved here from Luoyang? From that prosperous old city to the remote mountains?"
"Yes. They were merchants, and they did some very strange business."
The burly man's expression turned a little odd. Gu Baishui pressed him. "What kind of business?"
"Highway robbery."
"Robbery?" Gu Baishui froze for a moment.
"Mm, robbery." The burly man wore a helpless expression. "They robbed scholars passing through on their way to the capital to take the imperial examinations."
Gu Baishui was puzzled. "What's there to rob from a penniless scholar?"
"There's not much to rob from a penniless scholar. But think about it: those scholars all wanted to go to the capital and earn an official title. If one of them came first in the imperial exams, he'd become a great man who had leaped over the Dragon Gate."
"What kind of reasoning is that?" Gu Baishui furrowed his brow. "Did that family rob scholars in the mountains to stop them from earning official titles?"
"Of course not. That family had its own plans."
The burly man took a swig of strong liquor from his gourd and continued with great interest. "A poor scholar falls into hardship, then is rescued by a beauty. They fall in love, and the beauty waits for the scholar to earn top honors in the exams. That's what makes a complete story."
"Only, there were many scholars in this story, but only one family of beauties."
Gu Baishui thought it over and understood what the burly man meant.
"That family hired bandits to rob scholars traveling to take the exams, then came forward to rescue them and gave them travel money to reach the capital. Once a scholar placed first, the family would rise to glory along with him?"
"Clever." The burly man laughed heartily.
"But there's one more question." Gu Baishui asked, "How did that family know which scholar would come first?"
"They didn't."
The burly man shook his head. "But the family's Miss said, 'Cast a wide net to catch more fish. With enough large-scale investments, you're bound to get one right.'"
Gu Baishui froze. He couldn't help feeling that the family's Miss's tone sounded a little familiar. How did it sound... like something his own Second Senior Brother would say?
"What happened after that?"
"After that?"
The burly man fell silent and let out a wistful sigh. "Not a single penniless scholar earned an official title, and that family's Miss never married."
"Were they that unlucky?"
The burly man nodded. "Such is fate."
Outside the ruined temple, the rain fell in fits and starts, and the wind howled. A battered door panel was blown away by the storm. The trees' shadows twisted like monsters, crawling and dancing across the muddy ground.
The fire in the ruined temple flickered. The young man stood up, greeted the burly man, then moved farther inside the temple.
"I'm used to traveling at night. As soon as evening comes, I'm wide awake. I haven't been able to break the habit in all these years."
The burly man tightened his Daoist robe and smiled in a simple, honest way. "If you trust me, little brother, go to sleep. I'll keep watch."
Gu Baishui thought it over for a moment, then nodded lightly.
After all, he was the third disciple of the Great Emperor Changsheng, the Little Mister spoken of in the legends of the various Holy Lands. Even if something had gone wrong with him now, he was still a mighty cultivator at the Peak Immortal Platform. There was no need to be so wary of a corpse-driving man traveling on a rainy night.
Night grew deeper, and the fire gave off a gentle warmth.
Gu Baishui and the little beggar beside him drifted into a drowsy sleep, while the corpse-driving burly man sat silently by the fire, watching the night rain outside the temple. Every so often, he would turn around, as if thinking about something.
Gu Baishui slept heavily, deeply.
Ever since that gray bolt of lightning struck his Crown of the Head, he had often felt hazy and dizzy, yet he could never sleep soundly.
Whenever he closed his eyes, he would often see two strange figures from behind. One held a small purple cauldron in his hands; the other was covered from head to toe in strange red hair.
But tonight, Gu Baishui didn't dream of anything.
He drifted off in a daze. Half asleep and half awake, he faintly heard the sound of copper bells ringing beside his ear.
"Thump~ thump~"
The ground trembled lightly. Heavy footsteps came and went, sometimes seeming to be out in the rain beyond the temple, and sometimes so close they were right beside him.
"Drip~"
The ruined temple's roof leaked. A string of cool raindrops dripped onto Gu Baishui's face, then stopped.
Half asleep and groggy, Gu Baishui wiped his face with his right hand. The water seemed a little viscous, and it felt especially unpleasant stuck to his skin.
Annoyed, he rolled over. But a long while later, the body of a certain young man suddenly stiffened.
This... wasn't rainwater, was it?