The windows of the ruined temple rattled violently in the howling wind. Before long, raindrops as large as beans began pelting down, and the sandalwood box on the windowsill was soon soaked through.
Broken sobs sounded intermittently. Holding a candle, Xiao Chunhe walked to the window, picked up the box, and dried it with his sleeve. The moment he opened it, golden light flashed across his face, and his fox eyes narrowed contentedly.
“Stop crying.” He picked up a gold ingot and bit into it. After examining the two tooth marks for quite some time, he tucked it into the front of his robe. “There are plenty of women in this world. Just find another one. Why torment yourself by refusing to forget her?”
Fu Xi’s blue robes had been scorched black by the thunder talisman, and his face was equally charred. His tears left two clean trails down his cheeks as he whimpered, “Yi-niang is the finest woman in the world. We truly love each other. I don’t want anyone but her. It’s all that damned Daoist’s fault for sticking his nose into our affairs and ruining the happy life my wife and I had. In just a few more days, we could have run away together…”
Xiao Chunhe emptied the gold ingots from the box, divided them into several piles, and packed them away while absentmindedly agreeing, “Tragic indeed. Truly tragic.”
Fu Xi stared at him with reddened eyes. “Daoist Master Yue! You’re so powerful. You can definitely kill that Daoist and help me get Yi-niang back!”
“No, no. Before descending the mountain, I swore never to take a life. How could I break such a vow?” Xiao Chunhe cleared his throat and looked down at him from above. “Why else do you think you’re still alive? If not for that vow, you would have died beneath my sword long ago.”
Fu Xi abruptly stood. His teeth ground together, and fish scales gradually spread across the face he had transformed for himself. Sharp fangs emerged as he glared at Xiao Chunhe with a hideous expression.
Xiao Chunhe cautiously retreated one step, the hand hidden behind his back closing around the last half-packet of stupefying incense as he wailed inwardly.
I’m finished, I’m finished, I’m finished.
It was all that Daoist’s fault for being so damned handsome. If Xiao Chunhe had not wanted that kiss so badly, why would he have wasted three whole packets of stupefying incense on him? Three generously filled packets, enough to knock out even a tiger, yet that terrifying Daoist had somehow remained conscious, forcing Xiao Chunhe to flee. Otherwise, he would definitely have stolen another couple of kisses…
“Ah!”
A sudden wail snapped Xiao Chunhe back to his senses.
The river demon had opened his mouth and begun sobbing miserably. With fingers curved like claws, he tore straight through his own lower abdomen and actually ripped out his demon core.
The blue demon core, dripping with blood and bits of flesh, was held out before him. Xiao Chunhe went pale. “What are you doing?”
Tears streamed down Fu Xi’s face as he pleaded brokenly, “Daoist Master Yue… please… I’m willing to offer you my three-hundred-year demon core. I ask only… only to be with Yi-niang… one life, one lifetime, the two of us alone…”
Before Xiao Chunhe could say anything, the water demon collapsed unconscious after removing his demon core. The bloody core slipped from his hand, rolled several times, and came to rest by Xiao Chunhe’s feet, covered in dust.
Xiao Chunhe rubbed his face hard, feeling quite a headache coming on.
Whenever he cheated, swindled, or deceived people, he had always done it solely for money.
Using Yue Jingming’s name, he had conned treasure out of the water demon and gold out of the Li family. Whether the water demon and Li Yi managed to escape together or not, Xiao Chunhe had considered the matter finished. That was why, after hearing that the Li family had invited another genuine Daoist, he immediately ran away. Who could have imagined that this painfully sincere idiot demon would actually tear out his own demon core and give it to him?
“I can’t even use this thing.” Xiao Chunhe pinched the demon core between his fingers, then looked at the barely breathing Fu Xi. “Idiot demon.”
He sighed deeply. In a sudden fit of benevolence, he tossed the sandalwood box back to Fu Xi and threw the demon core after it. Then, after thinking for a moment, he picked the demon core up again. “Forget it, forget it. Maybe I can sell it for a good price.”
With that, he turned to leave without looking back. He had taken only one step when a bloody hand suddenly seized the hem of his robe. “Daoist… Master Yue…”
Xiao Chunhe grabbed his robe and pulled hard, gritting his teeth. “You stupid demon, let go…”
Halfway through speaking, he suddenly fell silent, his keen ears twitching.
Someone was coming.
The rain abruptly intensified. The ruined temple’s doors shattered apart in an instant, spraying rotten splinters across the floor.
The newcomer’s face was impossible to distinguish in the darkness. He paused beside the pool of blood for a moment and made a questioning sound. “…The scent of a demon core?”
Lightning ripped across the sky outside, briefly illuminating the temple’s peeling Buddha statue. The newcomer raised his head and found himself staring directly into the compassionate face of the Buddha.
Behind the statue, Xiao Chunhe, still holding Fu Xi, suddenly sensed a murderous aura so terrifying that every hair along his back stood on end.
Black boots stepped through sticky blood and scattered straw, gradually drawing closer to the Buddha statue. Xiao Chunhe looked at the unconscious Fu Xi, then at the bloodstained demon core in his own hand and the sandalwood box by his feet. Three times in rapid succession, he silently recited, Better a fellow Daoist die than this poor Daoist, and prepared to throw Fu Xi out.
Elio’s Notes: 死道友不死贫道 is a darkly comic expression meaning, essentially, “better you than me.” Xiao Chunhe phrases his instinct for self-preservation in mock-Daoist language, which makes the thought especially fitting for a professional fraud currently pretending to be Yue Jingming.
The footsteps only a short distance away suddenly stopped. The stranger turned toward the entrance and murmured, “That Daoist again…”
Now’s my chance! In that split second, a tiny shred of humanity ultimately won out. Xiao Chunhe shoved Fu Xi and the box into the hollow space behind the Buddha statue, silently wished him luck, then scattered his remaining half-packet of stupefying incense. Taking advantage of the instant in which the stranger’s mind became clouded, Xiao Chunhe shot out of the ruined temple.
To his surprise, the stranger completely ignored Fu Xi and chased straight after him.
Xiao Chunhe howled inwardly. It had to be that Daoist from earlier coming to settle the score!
His family teachings said that handsome, inexperienced Daoists like that were the most vindictive of all and absolutely must not be casually provoked, yet Xiao Chunhe had just had to covet a moment of beauty!
Rain poured down in sheets, soaking Xiao Chunhe to the bone. He turned his head to look and saw fingernails a full three cun long slash past his eyes, nearly gouging them out.
“Ah!” Xiao Chunhe screamed. A bolt of pain immediately stabbed through his temple. He had not even gotten a clear look at what his pursuer was before he whipped his head around and ran for his life.
“Hand over the demon core!” a hoarse voice pierced through the rain.
Xiao Chunhe shouted furiously, “Did I say I wouldn’t?!”
Still running, he reached for the damned demon core. He failed to watch where he was going, heard a sharp crack, and felt violent pain tear through his ankle as his entire body pitched forward.
Xiao Chunhe fell to the ground and turned around in panic. Just as those razor-sharp claws were about to tear through his chest, a brilliant flash of sword light suddenly appeared before him.
Amid thunder and lightning, Xiao Chunhe hastily looked up and saw the Daoist from earlier standing in front of him. He could even make out the man’s rain-darkened eyelashes. The Daoist held his long sword in a reverse grip while forming a hand seal with the other hand, and a tremendous surge of true qi erupted outward, blasting their pursuer thirty feet away.
His blue-green robes billowed in the torrential rain despite the absence of wind. The Daoist looked down at him with a cold expression and extended one hand.
Xiao Chunhe stared blankly for a moment, then grabbed it.
The hand was long-fingered and strong, easily pulling him off the ground. Xiao Chunhe had not even had time to savor the sensation before the other man released him and turned toward their opponent.
Even through the curtain of rain, Yue Jingming could clearly see the dense demonic qi surrounding the creature. The qi was filthy and turbid, proof that it had taken many human lives.
“Stinking Daoist, I suggest you mind your own business.” The creature sneered. “Otherwise, you may lose your own life.”
Yue Jingming said nothing and attacked with his sword.
The demon possessed considerable cultivation and was also remarkably familiar with Daoist techniques. Yue Jingming exchanged dozens of moves with it and narrowly avoided having his throat sliced open by its long claws. His sword struck the creature’s shoulder, making it visibly furious. “You’re courting death!”
Its sharp nails scraped across the gleaming sword blade with a teeth-grating screech. Yue Jingming formed a hand seal and pinched a talisman between his fingers. The yellow paper ignited without flame and shot toward the back of the creature’s neck, but as though it had eyes behind its head, the demon barely managed to evade it.
In the brief flare of firelight, Yue Jingming saw scales peeling from its cheek and rotting flesh beneath.
The creature feinted an attack. Yue Jingming raised his sword to block, only for the demon to curve its five fingers like claws and lunge directly at Xiao Chunhe on the ground.
Xiao Chunhe instinctively raised an arm to defend himself, but someone moved faster. A horsetail whisk wrapped around his arm and yanked him backward while Yue Jingming raised his sword to stop the claw.
Only then did they finally see the creature clearly. It looked half ghost and half fish. Its loose hair concealed most of its face, and its hunched body stood barely half the height of an ordinary man, yet its limbs were far longer than a human’s. Its hands in particular were enormous, with thick, crude knuckles and fingers nearly longer than its forearms. Its three-cun-long nails were a murky blue-black and looked capable of effortlessly tearing out a person’s heart and liver.
The creature was immensely strong. Veins stood out across the back of Yue Jingming’s hand as it forced him half a step backward. Seeing another claw reach toward the man behind him, Yue Jingming had no time to think. His left hand began forming a demon-subduing seal as he shifted sideways to block the attack.
Before the seal was completed, terror suddenly appeared in the monster’s eyes. It turned and vanished into the rain.
Yue Jingming swayed, braced himself on his sword, and dropped to one knee. Rain soaked the wound on his neck.
With Yue Jingming’s back still turned to him, Xiao Chunhe cautiously poked his shoulder. “Hey, are you all right?”
Yue Jingming turned his head, his gaze cold enough to kill.
Seeing his bloodless face and the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, Xiao Chunhe quietly moved a little farther away. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Yue Jingming ground his teeth and lowered his eyes.
If this man had not poisoned him, his meridians would not still be obstructed, and he would not have been reduced to struggling against a demon with only a modest amount of cultivation.
Xiao Chunhe could not resist stealing another look at him.
The man’s expression was icy. Without true qi protecting him, both his hair and robes had been soaked through, leaving him looking unusually bedraggled. Xiao Chunhe found it extremely difficult not to tease him a few more times.
But whatever else might be said, the other man had just saved his life. Xiao Chunhe struggled upright and cupped his hands respectfully. “Many thanks for saving me, Daoist Master. I am deeply grateful.”
“There’s no need. I would have saved anyone,” Yue Jingming replied coldly.
Xiao Chunhe: “…”
Yue Jingming used his sword to support himself as he stood and coughed out a mouthful of foul blood. The rain made his face look even paler.
Xiao Chunhe said, “…Perhaps we should get out of the rain first.”
They were already some distance from the ruined temple, and the demon might return there at any moment. Fortunately, there was an abandoned residence nearby, so the two went inside to shelter from the storm.
A river ran along one side of the estate. The house had stood empty for years, its gate dilapidated, its courtyard overgrown with reeds, and many of the roof tiles broken. Heavy rain fell outside, while a lighter rain fell inside.
Xiao Chunhe limped around gathering dry wood, lit it with a fire striker, then removed his soaked outer robe and hung it beside the fire to dry.
Yue Jingming sat beneath the eaves in the corner farthest from him, meditating and regulating his breathing.
Xiao Chunhe poked at the fire with a branch. After a while, he cleared his throat. “Daoist Master, don’t you want to come warm yourself by the fire?”
Yue Jingming kept his eyes half closed. “Thank you. No.”
Xiao Chunhe had originally been sitting sprawled against the wall with his legs apart. Hearing this, he drew one leg up to make himself look slightly more respectable. “My good fellow Daoist, come warm yourself. I promise I won’t poison you again.”
The man who had been ignoring him opened his eyes coldly. A faint trace of anger still lingered in those clear, handsome eyes, which pleased Xiao Chunhe immensely.
He smiled and raised his arms in surrender. “Everything before was a misunderstanding. It’s true that I behaved badly after drinking too much, but you can’t just tie me up and throw me onto a bed without a word either. I’m such a pure and beautiful person. Of course I was afraid you might take advantage of me.”
“We are both men. How could I possibly…” Yue Jingming stopped, his expression turning even colder. “Utterly absurd!”
“My good fellow Daoist, you only just came down from the mountain, didn’t you?” Xiao Chunhe lowered his arms and narrowed his eyes as he studied him. “You still have no idea how filthy and absurd this world can be.”
Yue Jingming looked directly at him. “If you address me that way again, do not blame me for being discourteous.”
Xiao Chunhe wore only a thin, translucent inner robe and lounged bonelessly beside the fire, laughing cheerfully. “Yes, yes. My outer robe is already off, my leg is injured, and no matter how discourteous you become, I’ll simply have to endure it. Even if I screamed myself hoarse, no one would come save me.”
Never in his life had Yue Jingming encountered someone so shameless and impossible. He simply closed his eyes and refused to say another word.
Unfortunately, the other man was incapable of staying quiet.
“My good fellow Daoist, with such fierce wind and rain in the middle of the night, what brought you here?” Light shimmered through Xiao Chunhe’s fox eyes, and in the firelight his face appeared especially bewitching.
Yue Jingming abruptly opened his eyes, rose, and walked toward him.
Xiao Chunhe raised an eyebrow, then theatrically covered his chest. “What are you doing? I really will scream.”
A gleaming sword left its sheath and came to rest against his neck. Yue Jingming said, “Say one more word and I will cut out your tongue.”
Xiao Chunhe raised his head and smiled at him with arched brows.
Yue Jingming froze.
“If you can bear to do it, then cut it out. I’d be perfectly willing to die by your hand.” Xiao Chunhe deliberately leaned his neck toward the blade, but before his skin could touch it, the sword recoiled as though scorched by fire.
Xiao Chunhe burst out laughing.
Before he could finish, however, the sword changed direction and sliced open his sleeve. A talisman and the bloodstained demon core fell out. With a flick of the sword tip, both landed in Yue Jingming’s hand.
Xiao Chunhe looked at the talisman, and his expression instantly changed. When he raised his head again, every trace of his previous teasing frivolity had vanished, replaced by an exceptionally cold look. “My good fellow Daoist. So that’s how you suddenly appeared.”
So that damned Daoist had secretly planted a talisman on him. If the poison from the stupefying incense had not delayed the man, Yue Jingming would probably have reached the ruined temple before that monster did.
The sword that had recoiled from him now pointed directly at the vital point in his throat.
Yue Jingming looked down at him. “What exactly is your relationship with that water demon?”
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