Chasing Corpses in the Night Rain

"I know. Cultivators aren't anything special."

Gu Baishui swallowed the plain steamed bun he'd already chewed until it had lost all flavor, then grinned and asked, "But I've never seen a cultivator nearly starve to death. If I hadn't accidentally tripped over you when you fainted from hunger at my doorstep as I was heading out, then dragged you into this rundown temple, you'd probably already be a starving ghost on the road to the Yellow Springs."

The Linen-Clad Girl's pretty face looked a little awkward. She mumbled stubbornly through her mouthful, "My cultivation just isn't good enough yet. If my granny hadn't forgotten the second half of the cultivation mnemonic, I'd have finished the Wheel and Sea Realm and achieved Grain Avoidance ages ago. Why would I need to eat?"

"Oh? And your granny?"

"She passed away."

"Oh, I see." Gu Baishui pursed his lips. "Seems like people have been dying pretty easily lately. My master died too."

"Was your master a cultivator?"

"He was a Daoist priest. He used to tend other people's graves, then when he got old, he prepared a grave for himself."

The Linen-Clad Girl nodded, still a little bewildered, then asked, "So where are you going now?"

"To Luoyang, to find my Second Senior Brother."

"Is your Second Senior Brother in Luoyang?"

"I don't know."

The Linen-Clad Girl wrinkled her pretty nose, then suddenly smiled as if she hadn't a care in the world. "So you're going to Luoyang to visit family too?"

Gu Baishui thought for a moment, then nodded. "You could say that."

A fire burned in the rundown mountain temple. Two filthy beggars sat facing each other beside it, listening to the rain outside and looking at each other strangely.

"You're going to Luoyang to find your biological father?"

"Mm."

"To acknowledge him?"

The Linen-Clad Girl hesitated. "Not necessarily. I'll see how it goes first."

"Oh."

"Then why are you looking for your Second Senior Brother?"

"Uh, how should I put it... I suspect my Eldest Senior Brother wants to kill me, so I'm looking for my Second Senior Brother to help me out."

Gu Baishui waved a hand, as if it weren't anything serious.

The Linen-Clad Girl froze, but for a moment she couldn't process all that information. After a long silence, she finally managed to say, "Sounds like you and your senior brothers don't get along that well, huh?"

"We're all right. Things were pretty good before Master died."

Gu Baishui paused, then looked thoughtfully at the little beggar across from him, who was still focused on chewing her bun. "I forgot to ask. What was your name again?"

"Luo Ziwei."

"That doesn't sound like a beggar's name."

At that, the Linen-Clad Girl rolled her eyes, her pretty face full of exasperation. "I'm not a beggar in the first place. What's your name?"

"Gousheng'er."

"Huh?" The girl stared at him blankly.

Gu Baishui pointed at himself with a perfectly serious expression. "Li Gousheng'er. That's the stage name I came up with when I used to beg for food."

The girl fell silent for a moment. Looking at his sincere expression, she couldn't tell whether he was joking.

"You're pretty amazing."

"Of course. If you're going to do a job, you have to love it. If you went begging under a name like Luo Ziwei, people would think some princess had come out to inspect the common folk. Naturally, business wouldn't be good."

The boy spoke with complete seriousness, but the girl felt her head getting bigger and bigger.

"What princess would go begging to inspect the common folk?"

"It makes you seem down-to-earth."

"Down-to-earth? More like buried in the dirt, wouldn't you say?"

Gu Baishui was completely unfazed by the girl's sharp retort. He even earnestly suggested, "I could come up with a beggar's stage name for you too. It'd be convenient and useful."

"No need." Luo Ziwei shook her head, politely refusing his kindness.

"How about 'Vegetable Leaf'? It even sounds a little exotic."

The Linen-Clad Girl firmly refused. "I told you, I'm not a beggar. I'm a cultivator."

"Fine, then give me back my buns, and that portion of soy-sauce beef too."

A brief silence fell over the rundown temple. The rain grew heavier, and in the end, under Gu Baishui's threats and inducements, the sheltered young girl chose to give in.

They each gave a little. They dropped the "Vegetable" from "Vegetable Leaf," and "Yezi" became the stage name this girl cultivator would use in the begging trade.

The night rain drifted through the dark. Amid the downpour, the pile of firewood in the rundown temple radiated wisps of warmth, lighting the last flicker of fire in the deep mountain forest.

"Jing-a-ling~ Jing-a-ling~"

A strange ringing came from the curtain of rain outside the temple.

Gu Baishui lowered the Bronze Mirror in his hand and looked up toward the temple entrance.

The little beggar beside him also raised her head in a daze, curious about who would be ringing a copper bell on such a stormy night.

The half-broken wooden door creaked. A pair of rough hands reached out from behind it and dragged the battered door to one side.

"Whew! This rain's really coming down hard!"

The burly man outside wiped his face with his soaked sleeve, then looked miserably toward the rundown temple.

Gu Baishui happened to be looking out too. Their eyes met, and both tilted their heads a little, puzzled.

Gu Baishui thought the man was strange because the burly fellow outside wore a plain black Daoist robe, with white designs on the cuffs and yellow talismans tucked close against his sleeves. A pale yellow peachwood sword hung at his waist, and in his right hand he held a rusty copper bell that looked somewhat familiar.

He was unmistakably dressed as a Daoist priest-and a wandering Daoist at that. One of the strangest kinds.

The burly man, whose robe hung open at the chest, felt awkward because he hadn't expected anyone else to be in this remote, rundown temple.

He hesitated at the entrance for a moment, then gave Gu Baishui a dry smile. "Little brother, taking shelter from the rain?"

"Mm." Gu Baishui nodded. "And you, Daoist?"

"Work, you know. Gotta earn a living."

"You're working this late at night too? You've really got it tough, Daoist."

"Ah, it's the same for everyone. There's no such thing as getting something for nothing in this world."

The Daoist waved a hand, his gaze inadvertently flicking behind him. Then he asked tentatively, "Is there room in the temple?"

Gu Baishui narrowed his eyes and lifted his gaze. Looking out at the pitch-black night beyond the temple, he seemed to realize something too.

"There's room, but I can only let you in to get out of the rain, Daoist. Those... guests behind you will have to be taken to the woodshed for the night."

The burly Daoist froze, apparently not expecting the young man to know what he did for a living.

After a moment's hesitation, he nodded and smiled at Gu Baishui. "Then sorry for the trouble."

"Guests?" The little beggar beside him raised her head in confusion.

"Travel by night in the rain, rest by day, yellow talismans for protection, peachwood to drive away evil." Gu Baishui shook his head with a strange expression. "This Daoist handles dirty work."

"Dirty work?"

The Linen-Clad Girl grew more and more confused, but just then, clear bell chimes rang outside the wall.

"Thump~ Thump~"

Heavy footsteps sounded in a steady rhythm, one after another. Stiff figures appeared and vanished beyond the wall and at the entrance.

Gu Baishui edged farther into the temple and sighed helplessly.

"Commonly known as a Corpse-Driving Man."