Chapter 24. Ghost Face
Zhou Zishu had absolutely no interest in all of this; it wouldn"t bother him in the slightest even if they beat each other to death. The only thing he wanted to do at the moment was to find a tavern to resupply his empty wine pot, then look for a place to sleep away the "Red Boy broke the mountain to save White Snake" tale he just heard.
He gracefully slipped out of Cao Weining"s hold and explained. "How about we bring the kid back to Sir Zhao first."
Cao Weining smacked his head. "Right, I almost forgot."
The young man turned to Zhang Chengling, his perpetually transparent expression showing a strange sort of pity. He sighed and patted Zhang Chengling"s shoulder, "You have suffered too much for someone so young. Be careful next time, alright?"
Since he and the boy were not that acquainted, the younger just stood there ignorantly. Wen Kexing were quick to react as he cut in, "What is it, are these people still quarrelling over the Lapis Armor? Are they being suspicious of the Zhang family…"
He glanced at Zhang Chengling and stopped there.
Cao Weining explained everything, since the trio wasn"t considered outsiders in his eyes. "This is the worst time for you all to be messing around out there; there was a big commotion yesterday. Everything exploded the moment Feng Xiaofeng mentioned the Armor, so much that Sir Gao and Abbot Ci Mu could barely contain the uproar. There were many who started to harbor other intentions towards it; like Yu Jiufeng the Patriarch of Hua Shan Sect, who was the first to question Sir Zhao Jing about whether the latter had taken the Zhang"s piece of lapis for himself and caused his son"s death."
After some thoughts, Cao Weining continued in a dull tone, like he was repeating the words from someone else. "Yu Jiufeng was crying and sniveling as if this was a funeral or something. E Mei, Kong Tong and Cang Shan Sects were all on good terms with Hua Shan, so they sided with Yu Jiufeng. Not only did they question about the murders that happened outside the Zhao"s Holdings, the lot of Feng Xiaofeng also further fueled the fire; so a brawl started as a result. Some wanted Sir Gao to give an explanation for the Ghosts" sudden appearance in jianghu, as well as what the Lapis Armor actually was."
Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu looked at Cao Weining with amus.e.m.e.nt. How did this slow-witted kid suddenly get so eloquent after just a day?
Cao Weining coughed. "Those were the words of my Uncle Master. As for the details of the quarrels, I don"t really understand either."
No wonder he said it that way…
Zhou Zishu suddenly said to Zhang Chengling, "Do you happen to know anything, kid? Otherwise your room wouldn"t have been set aflame and the Scorpions wouldn"t be out for your life."
Zhang Chengling stared at him dumbly and shook his head.
Zhou Zishu looked disdainful, having enough of this foolishness. He ignored the boy and turned to Cao Weining. "It would do us a great service if Brother Cao brings him back to Sir Zhao."
Then he immediately turned and walked away, showing no interest in the current chaos.
Zhang Chengling"s eyes followed his figure, mouth pursed.
All of a sudden he felt a hand rubbing his hair. He looked up, and once he saw Wen Kexing smiling, he said awkwardly, "Sir."
Wen Kexing said, "Do you know why he fakes all of his composure and elegance with other people and only shows his impatient side to you?"
Zhang Chengling"s head lowered as he mumbled, "Because I"m too dumb…"
Wen Kexing laughed. "Nah, you"re only moderately stupid, not that stupid. He doesn"t wear a façade around you because he wants to befriend you; he just won"t say it out loud because he"s shy."
Zhang Chengling was taken aback. "Really?"
With his eyes narrowed in mirth, Wen Kexing stared at Zhou Zishu"s back. He said unconcernedly, "His parents might be the ones who gave birth to him, but the one who knows him best is himself. Other than that, his only soulmate is me, so of course I"m not lying."
—the man"s severe internal injuries, his disguise, his habit of disappearing out of the blue, his kungfu, his vast knowledge of jianghu"s matters inside out; except for Tian Chuang, he had no other explanations.
But if he really was from Tian Chuang, how did he escape the punishment of those monstrous Nails of Seven Apertures for Three Autumns?
After a few days stuck with this puzzling question, Wen Kexing came to a revelation. The important thing here was not how he escaped them, but that he knew how to escape—
Oh dear, I"m afraid I"m tagging along with a big shot, he thought.
Before Zhang Chengling could fully take in what he meant, they heard a clueless Cao Weining lamented beside them. "I always feel like you two being together is a little strange, considering that you are both men; but after today I have finally understood: Being men or women has nothing to do with someone who is able to understand you with a mere few words, someone who can complete you like a pair of immortal soulmates."
He continued smugly. "There is a poem that goes as such: "What is love, O world? That makes those birds swear a bond "till their death?1 The cherry blossom pond was thousands of miles deep, but can"t be compared2…" He couldn"t remember what it was that it couldn"t compare to, and turned incredibly embarra.s.sed. Since he tried his hardest but couldn"t recall anything else, he said the rest under his breath and commented, "This poem by Sir Du Fu, though somewhat hard to understand, is still a very moving piece."
Zhang Chengling and Wen Kexing looked at him with odd expressions.
Wen kexing only replied after a good while. "Qing Feng Sect educates such well-rounded disciples, how admirable."
Cao Weining, modest as he was, smiled sheepishly at the praise. "It"s nothing. My Master says that reading to people in jianghu is pointless anyway, and there"s no hope that anyone will ever pa.s.s the court official examination with flying colors; it"s enough to know a few words here and there and one should focus on honing their kungfu instead. I only read a book or two, that"s just my shallow understanding."
Wen Kexing felt like this "shallow understanding" was actually quite fascinating.
The two brought Zhang Chengling back to a Zhao Jing who had almost gone mad out of worry. The elder asked him anything and everything while Wen Kexing turned a blind eye; this old man might be a sly fox but he did have concern for his late friend"s son. He silently left, but the moment his back was facing them, he saw someone staring right at him.
Wen Kexing stopped walking, and in that man"s eyes there was an insidious light glinting, like that of a mad dog that was about to pounce. Wen Kexing saw Cao Weining greeting him respectfully, and knew that was his Uncle Master - the infamous ill-tempered Mo Huaikong of Qing Feng Sect.
Mo Huaikong was listening to Cao Weining rambling and looked to the direction the young man was pointing at to face Wen Kexing. At first glance he felt a sense of familiarity; then those deep, dark eyes caused him a pinch of alarm, but he couldn"t pinpoint why.
In his astonishment, he saw Wen Kexing smile back at him. He grunted when Cao Weining started to describe how well-acquainted he was with another man, sensing that this Wen Kexing was no good at all.
He turned to shout at Cao Weining, "Will you stop it already?"
Cao Weining swallowed the rest of his words, wishing he could sew his mouth shut.
Only at night fall did Zhou Zishu finish with his meals. He was leaning on the tavern"s balcony rails, taking small sips of wine when someone walked in and said something to the person sitting in the table next to him; both then paid for their food and left. Zhou Zishu opened his eyes wider as he realized half of the tavern was gone already. He pulled a random young man to his side and asked, "What happened?"
"We just got news that the Gao"s Manor has successfully captured a Ghost, and they are going to do a public execution!"
Zhou Zishu"s brows creased. Gao Chong had captured a Ghost? At this moment he no longer had doubts about the Ghosts" appearance, but what was the Ghost Valley"s intention for doing all of this?
Those were the ones who had caused despicable crimes when they were still living among others and had to enter the Valley to seek refuge; wouldn"t they be afraid of acting in broad daylight again?
Was the Lapis Armor really hiding some kind of big secret, so terrible that it could lure even the Ghosts out of the Valley and make the well-spoken Sir Gao clam up and use such a stupid trick to divert people"s attention?
Still deep in thoughts, Zhou Zishu knocked into someone on his way downstairs. He muttered an apology, but once looking up, he was stunned: It was the disciple of Monk Gu with his otherworldly aura.
There was a sudden thought popping up in his head: Even he has to consume rice after all?
Monk Gu"s disciple said, "It"s nothing," and smoothed down his clothes. He took the initiative, "I heard the young man from Qing Feng said that you were the one who escorted the Zhang"s descendant to Tai Hu? A pleasure to meet you, my name is Ye Baiyi3."
He was not at all similar to Gao Chong, who was a much more sociable individual. Around him was an air of detachment from every mortal matter - almost made him feel like he didn"t exist. Not to mention, there was also a strange feeling of dissonant about him.
Zhou Zishu was surprised and puzzled that such a person would speak to him first, so he habitually resorted to empty pleasantries as replies.
Ye Baiyi paid no mind to those, looking at him with indifference. His next sentence was, "I see that your breathing is stagnant and your movements are heavy; whatever you"re burdened with is now beyond cure. But how strange is it that someone like you can possess such a vital spirit?"
Zhou Zishu fell silent. He felt like this man must have cultivated his immortal aura in Mount Chang Ming for so long that he no longer spoke the human way, just like his master.
After some thoughts, Ye Baiyi inquired further, "How much time do you have left, three years? Two years?"
At this topic, Zhou Zishu felt like neither refusal nor acquiescence was the right answer. He smiled stiffly, "How keen-eyed you are, Brother Ye, no wonder…"
It was as if Ye Baiyi was wearing filtering nets on his ears as he shot down all of that nonsense. He didn"t wait for Zhou Zishu to finish before replying, "Everyone who are near death will at least show some signs4 and have to endure suffering beyond words, but you"re still here indulging in luxuries. This shows that you definitely have some serious experience under your belt - since when did such individuals emerge in our pugilist scene…" Then he turned and walked away, completely ignoring Zhou Zishu.
After having left a great distance between them, he seemed to remember something and turned his head back towards the man behind him, "If you don"t mind, treat me to wine some day."
As if doing that would be my one of my greatest life achievements or something, Zhou Zishu thought silently.
He followed the majority of people to the Gao"s Manor to see what this legendary "Ghost" was all about, and saw nothing but an middle-age fierce-looking man being tied up in front of them—so this was what it felt like to watch a public execution. The Ghost"s upper body was naked intentionally to show the feral ghost face on his back, indicating that this one must be the real deal.
While Zhou Zishu was s.p.a.cing out, a hand quietly landed on his shoulder. Wen Kexing appeared out of nowhere, smiling at him sweetly, "I"ve looked for you all day, where did you go?"
Ignoring the question, Zhou Zishu pointed to the man, "Do you think he"s a real Ghost or not?"
"Hm?" Wen Kexing looked at that direction he was pointing to, disagreeing, "The ghost face indicates that one is no longer able to show his face in broad daylight, who would casually tattoo it on their back without reasons? Though, this unfortunate pal could also have caused offence to someone and that person could have framed him and thrown him out here to execute publicly."
His words were casual, but many things were revealed to Zhou Zishu: Tattooing the ghost face required a special pigment from a plant called the "Nether plant", which only existed in the Ghost Valley.
Furthermore, not everyone who entered the Ghost Valley survived - just like not all spirits of the dead could reincarnate or turn into ghosts, they might very well suffer being eradicated completely from the world. That place was an exclusively dog-eat-dog world, and you had to be vigilant of your surroundings to remain alive and earn yourself such a tattoo.
Zhou Zishu stared at the tattooed man pensively. At that moment, the tension was palpable among the crowd, and someone of Hua Shan Sect had suggested burning this person alive.
He suddenly turned away, making his way through the crowd and left briskly.
Footnotes.
1 From the poem 摸魚兒－雁丘/Birds" Grave, by Yuan Haowen.
2 From the poem 贈汪倫/For w.a.n.g Lun, by Li Bai.
3 白衣 (báiyī) means "white clothes".
4 天人将死 refers to the dying symptoms called 五衰.