Green Dragon Totem Chapter 11 Part2

Jiangnan, Sword-Forging Manor.

The side villa may be located behind the mountain, a fair distance from the main compound, yet it was also elaborate and gorgeous, the flowers and trees verdant and luxurious. Right now it was dusk, as a party of ten-odd filled the front hall to the brim. After the maids to serve tea one after another, the Old Madam then unwillingly ordered, her face ashen: "Go to the inner hall and invite the Young Mistress out."

Xie Yun opened the tea vessel1 for a look, and abruptly broke into laughter, softly speaking to Shan Chao: "Master, thanks to your good fortune, we can't even drink tea dregs now."

That cup unexpectedly contained plain water, with not the least bit of heat—Shan Chao opened his own vessel to see that it was the same, and could not help but shake his head for lack of better option.

At the front an older disciple looked around to note that n.o.body was paying attention, and turned around to discreetly cup his hands in salute to Shan Chao, whispering: "I am Zhou Yu of Qingcheng, having the fortune of meeting Master this day, I really do esteem you."

Shan Chao did not know how to reply, only giving a nod.

How could Zhou Yu note Shan Chao's rather obviously cold reply, only bl.u.s.tering: "Who could expect that the Sword-Forging Manor would move the Young Mistress here overnight last night, in any case it is a hidden area. Only a pity that Master has incredible foresight and understands the way of yin and yang, and broke the Sword-Forging Manor's fine plan, today they can only revive the Young Mistress from the dead and bring her back—it can be seen that this was all in vain, and had even cost the life of an innocent person!"

Shan Chao said: "I dare not accept the honour."

He paused, and said in a low voice: "This matter cannot be privately concluded no matter what, after they take the Young Mistress Fu back, I shall indeed—"

His voice suddenly stopped.

Indeed do what?

Report to the authorities? Redress an injustice? Or order the Young Master, Old Madam, these aloof and remote aristocrats of the martial-arts circles, to compensate for the life of the coa.r.s.e-work girl that they bought in cash?

—even if they could pay, then those parents who had sold their own daughter for a hundred taels of fine silver, how should they be handled, and how could they be handled?

The trials and hards.h.i.+ps of the Jianghu, the affairs of life floating in the wind. How many unfair and unreasonable things keep happening against reason, how many wronged ghosts could not be shrouded in white and buried in loess, yet exist as everyone knows as proper and a matter of course.

—these are the morals of the time.

The way of the world, where everyone is living, finding a crack, rus.h.i.+ng to curry favour, and from within striving to derive some insignificant happiness and satisfaction, yet accustomed to swallowing more depression and gloom.

Shan Chao let out a long, thorough breath, yet some mental knot kept pressing at his throat, which he was neither able to swallow, nor able to spit up. Only after quite a while did he smile under the Qingcheng disciple's earnest gaze—at least that brief smile was stable, peaceful and magnanimous.

"I shall do my best," he said it in this way.

The maids who went to the inner hall to invite the Young Mistress out had left for ages, and in the front hall everyone had waited to the point of impatience. Jing Ling was especially impatient, using his knuckle to rap the tabletop, and with a boom flung aside the tea vessel down: "—why did they leave for so long, don't tell me there's another trick?"

This time he had asked what was on everyone's thoughts. Fu Wenjie could only endure and reply: "May Young Master Jing please wait a while longer, perhaps my sister needed some time to tidy up, I shall send someone to urge her…"

Jing Ling coldly said: "If your Sword-Forging Manor tries another trick, don't blame me for being rude!"

Fu Wenjie suffered in silence and did not dare to speak, ordering someone to urge Fu Xiangrong out. Who knew that when the servant had just affirmed to go, all of a sudden screams of alarm came from the inner hall, followed by banging, footsteps staggering over, and the maid screeched: "Men! There, there's a ghost!"

"Young Mistress, come quick and save her—!"

In the front hall everyone was stunned, and the Old Madam quickly got up: "What is it?"

A few maids rushed through the door, instantly staggering to the ground, rolling and crawling as they cried: "Bad, bad news, quickly save the Young Mistress!"

"Young, Young Mistress has hung herself—!"

The Old Madam's eyes crossed, and immediately fainted, but at this moment n.o.body could care about her. Fu Wenjie howled: "What's going on? How is that possible?!" He had barely finished speaking, when Chen Haiping, Jing Ling, Shan Chao and others had already rushed out of the hall doors like lightning, sweeping towards the inner courtyard!

With a heavy crash, the inner hall door was forcibly knocked open, and as everyone arrived on the scene they drew a cold breath at the same time.

Three feet of white damask hung from the roof beams of the room, Fu Xiangrong hung suspended from it, and sure enough she had truly ceased breathing.

And the frightening thing was not just this, but on the floor beneath her feet, was unexpectedly a bundle covered in dirt, but still recognisable as swaddling clothes which had originally been white-

Within those swaddling clothes, was unexpectedly a tiny, long-rotted infant corpse!

Chen Haiping backed up a step, stuttering: "This, this is impossible, that, that is—"

Shan Chao abruptly understood something, and sharply demanded: "That's the child of your cousin which died at birth a year ago, correct?"

Chen Haiping's entire body trembled violently, and only after quite a while did he violently nod, and said: "Yes… yes!"

One big and one small corpse were covered in white cloth, and laid out on the floor of the front hall.

The Old Madam went into a burst of crying and cursing after waking up, and then fainted after her energy was spent, and had already been carried to the rear rooms to rest. Everyone else remaining were seated around in the front hall, their environment a deathly stillness, as if the air contained a heavy, dense and ice-cold liquid, crawling through everyone's pores and making them s.h.i.+ver.

After an indeterminate period of time, only then did Xie Yun's light voice sound, yet it was instructing a maid: "It's late, go light the lanterns."

The lanterns were lit in succession in the four corners, which seems to break what seemed to be a curse of silence, as everyone evenly trembled.

"This child came to a premature end when my wife died on the birthing bed, and after we cleaned it up it was buried with the mother, how could it appear here?" Fu Wenjie gave a hoa.r.s.e crow as he shuddered, as if he still could not accept it to this day: "How is this possible, could it be the ghost of the child being unable to rest, and thus its spirit manifested to make retaliation, so…"

A cold feeling immediately manifested in everyone's hearts, yet Xie Yun only leant by the table with one hand on his cheek, speaking with a smile: "The dead child retaliating on the paternal aunt, forgive my ignorance and inexperience, but this is the first time that I've heard such a thing."

Jing Ling coldly replied: "Maybe the aunt was only the first, and then those of Sword-Forging Manor would die one after another, perhaps at the end n.o.body would escape…"

"Oh?" Xie Yun carelessly said, "If Sword-Forging Manor truly had not even a chicken or a dog left, then the one who stands to benefit most would be the Mysterious Demon School, perhaps in the end we can only suspect Young Master Jing yourself."

When Xie Yun was in front of everyone he had previously hid behind Shan Chao, his existence seeming extremely light. This was the first time that he had spoken first, and with his words being so sharp, it caught everyone off guard.

Jing Ling also gave a start, and then gave a snort: "If I, this old man wanted to make a killing move, is it necessary to use these sorts of scams of dressing up as G.o.ds and playing at demons2?"

"Of course, according to some the Mysterious Demon School takes its name from 'dressing up as G.o.ds and playing the demons', don't you know that?"

Once these words came out, many people broke out in cold sweat simultaneously — how could this miss be so audacious, based on Jing Ling's callous, cruel and headstrong personality, he would certainly not let such a lone and weak woman off!

Yet unexpectedly Jing Ling only gave Xie Yun a drawn-out look, and his tone carried not the least intention of fury:

"Is that so? Then if the Mysterious Demon School really does benefit the most, then on behalf of 'Miss Long' being such a good-looking beauty, I would certainly give you half as a betrothal gift, don't mention it."

Everyone's expression abruptly changed, and Shan Chao finally raised a hand to his sword as he yelled: "Shut your mouth!"

Jing Ling shot a glance towards the sword whose hilt was wrapped in layers of rags, and narrowed his eyes slightly, and turning his head away without speaking another word.

The lanterns crackled with flame, the swaying shadows cast on the two shrouded corpses, and in the dimness the corpses seemed to undulate.

Fu Wenjie sat by his sister's side, gasping for a while, before he made up his mind and raised his head and said: "The ancestral graves are not far from the back of the mountain, I wish to go take a look…"

"You must not!" The few Qingcheng disciples near to him immediately gave voice to oppositions, and Zhou Yu said in anger: "Young Master! It is almost dark, and you have difficulty walking, how would you go to the ancestral graves?"

"Yet my only child is laid out here, I must find out how it… how it came here! If someone is playing tricks with the Fu family ancestral tombs…"

Jing Ling coolly said: "How it came here? Perhaps it crawled here by itself."

This time not a few people turned to Jing Ling with angry eyes, and the cowardly huddled into groups together, unable to make a sound. The courageous angrily rebuked while shaking: "Don't say anymore!" "The, the Master does not discuss strange events, violence, riots and supernatural things!"3 "Don't mention it anymore!"

"None of us can leave here," Shan Chao abruptly opened his mouth, his voice heavily restraining everyone.

"All along I do not believe in ghosts and G.o.ds, and I do not believe especially in ghosts and G.o.ds killing people. If Young Mistress Fu truly hung herself there is still room for discussion, yet with regards to the infant she could not have personally gone to dig it out of the ancestral tombs and carry it back. If someone amongst us is causing mischief, so much that they have made a killing move, the culprit should not be far from us."

He said: "Right now we should stay together, and by all means avoid dispersing and give any opportunity whatsoever."

Everyone exchanged looks of dismay, with a majority feeling that he made sense, yet with a few timidly regarding that tiny infant corpse, not daring to speak a word.

Yet Fu Wenjie fiercely shook his head, and his hoa.r.s.e voice suddenly spoke with a stern tone: "No, please don't say anymore, I must go!"

Zhou Yu spoke in disapproval: "Young Master!"

"Is there no danger just by staying here? If there truly is a wrongful ghost demanding our lives, and if it truly appears before your eyes, don't tell me that all of you want to spend the night here?!"

Everyone choked together, and Jing Ling said his piece in due course: "Naturally. The mother is still at the ancestral tombs, and with her child here, perhaps the mother would find her way here, and at that time…"

He gave a smile under the swaying fire-light, with the light of his eyes cold and cutting to the bone, and the vague outline of his sharp snow-white teeth showing, and everyone who saw it could not help but s.h.i.+ver, their hearts beginning to soften in succession.

"It is still not too late an hour, we will carry the child back to the ancestral tombs, and make it a speedy trip, not even half a s.h.i.+chen, in the time we were talking we would have already returned!" Fu Wenjie persisted: "Even if there really is a culprit making mischief, with so many people here, and if we all stayed together, what is there to be afraid of? I actually did not know that all fellow men of the martial-arts circle here, have become cowards who stay at home and never leave the house!"

Fu Wenjie had truly been provoked into madness, with his last sentence already seeming rather insane, and everyone around him agreed as if by chance to s.h.i.+ft backwards, giving mutual glances of embarra.s.sment.

"This… Leaving the child here is not quite an option…" a Kongtong disciple slowly said.

"Is the Sword-Forging Manor's ancestral tombs truly not far from here?" Zhou Yu could not help but beckon to a senior maid to ask.

The senior maid was also terrified, trembling as she squeezed into the front hall, and even her words sounded like a sob: "Not, not far, it's certainly a journey of about half a s.h.i.+chen, the, the child can be sent back?"

Fu Wenjie slapped the table with strength, and roared: "Men! Get the sedan chairs! We'll set off now!"

Shan Chao finally had no alternative, taking a look at the colour of the sky outside. Perhaps due to some figment of his imagination, the dome of the heavens merged into twilight seemed dark, and the winds carried a trace of water, as if rain was imminent.

Fortunately Fu Wenjie's words were true, and the ancestral tombs were indeed not far from here—the villa of the back mountain was originally meant to facilitate the people of the Sword-Forging Manor to stay when giving sacrifices to the ancestors. It was only that the mountain path was not too even, with some places being rugged, and under the steep incline was a dense undergrowth and shrubs, where reportedly going deeper was the Sword-Forging Manor's long-abandoned smelting yard.

There were almost twenty people composed of a dozen or more disciples of the Qingcheng, Kongtong and Mt Hua Sects, added with the Fu family, the Mysterious Demon School, Chen Haiping, Shan Chao, Xie Yun and others, following the mountain road as they pa.s.sed the ancestral hall, finally reaching the ancestral graveyard before the sky truly turned dark. Fu Wenjie was also strong-willed, not allowing anyone to stand in for him, personally holding the infant corpse wrapped in cloth in his arms. As he was carried before the graveyard, the tears immediately welled up.

"My child…"

There were two tomb pits lined up together, one big and one small, with a tombstone carved with 'Wife of Fu Wenjie', evidently showing that the child which had had a premature end had been buried with its mother. This locale did not have such a custom originally, and all cases of deaths in childbirth usually had mother and child buried in the same coffin. n.o.body knew what Fu Wenjie had been thinking at that time, to bury his wife and child separately.

Perhaps in his subconscious, there existed the idea that it was this unlucky child which had killed his wife, which caused her to die on the birthing bed.

The baby's tiny coffin had already come out of the ground, and the coffin cover astonis.h.i.+ngly had a hole, just right to allow the infant to crawl out. Everyone used lanterns to illuminate it, and instantly felt a coldness well up from their hearts, and someone could not hold it and whispered: "Ma, it really crawled out itself…"

Zhou Yu was at least a senior Qingcheng disciple, and slightly older, so he was still able to keep calm: "Don't talk nonsense!"

Only Shan Chao advanced forward, bowing his head to look at that tiny coffin, carefully gazing at the edges of the breach, his brow slightly furrowed.

Right at this time a light shone before his eyes, and he leant his head to see Xie Yun in loose-fitting robes and wide sleeves, standing beside him, carrying a lantern to illuminate for him.

Under this gloomy dark sky, in this treacherous and lonely graveyard, only Xie Yun's silhouette was shrouded in a warm orange halo, the gentle eyes like s.h.i.+ning pearls, with a thread of a smile emerging towards him.

Shan Chao's heart suddenly moved.

A feeling that he did not know how to describe, which weakened his limbs and stuck like pins and needles, welled up from his heart, flowing through his blood vessels to reach his limbs and bones.

"Master?" Xie Yun smiled and murmured.

Shan Chao took back his gaze with some hurry, giving a cough, and got up and backed away half a step before saying: "Nothing, just taking a look.

"Did you see anything?"

"Looks like someone smashed it in from outside."

Xie Yun nodded, and Shan Chao was about to say something, when behind him someone suddenly muttered: "Not good, it's about to rain!"

Everyone raised their heads one after another, only to see that dark clouds packed densely against the backdrop of early night, with vague flickers of lightning apparent in the distant clouds. In this early autumn, there unexpectedly appeared the signs of an approaching thunderstorm.

"We cannot sleep outdoors in the mountains in this rainy night, we must go back forthwith after burying it!" Shan Chao promptly decided: "Someone lend a hand, hurry!"

Fu Wenjie seemed unwilling to let go, but a few people went over at the same time, and with all their limbs working together they dug open the earth, using a spare robe to stuff into the hole, and put the small coffin back in, once more hastily burying it into the earth. Fu Wenjie's legs were not good, so the servants of his family hastily helped him into the sedan chair and followed the path of approach back, yet they had only taken a few steps, before they stepped only a section of the mountain path which was especially rugged and slippery, when abruptly the sight before them whited out—

Lightning lit up the surrounding scenery in dazzling light, and as the world sank back into darkness once more, from the cemetery behind them a cold wind sprung up from all around:

"No… don't…"

"Do… not… go…"

Everyone instantly shuddered like chaff in the wind4, and the timid instantly screamed, with a few Fu family servants that were carrying the sedan chair nearly falling to the ground.

Shan Chao shouted: "Hold on!"

Boom—cras.h.!.+

Right at this time, thunder sounded without warning, practically coming down on everyone's heads!

"Aaaaaaah—" In the screams of fear, someone slipped and fell down first, instantly creating a cascading effect amongst the crowd, and those family servants were pushed down, throwing down the sedan chair on the spot!

"Careful!"

"Young Master!"

Fu Wenjie was caught off guard, and was thrown forward, rolling down the steep incline, before falling headlong into the dense jungle below the mountain!

The rock was precipitous and sharp, and the jungle underneath was damp and dark, if Fu Wenjie truly fell down, how could he remain alive?

With such a startling change, everyone uttered shouts. Right at this instant of incomparable chaos, a dark silhouette leapt forward like lightning, and in the instant when everyone had yet to react, leapt down the slope after Fu Wenjie without any hesitation!

Chen Haiping was the closest, and exclaimed in alarm: "Master?"

—the one who leapt down to save someone, was Shan Chao!

Chen Haiping grit his teeth and was about to follow, yet suddenly someone grabbed his shoulder, and then a cold edge pressed against his nape.

He looked back in shock, only to see a subordinate of the Mysterious Demon School staring at him: "Do not move."

At the same time, Xie Yun strode through the crowd, walking to the precipice, when his footsteps abruptly stopped.

The extremely sharp inner edge of the Soul-Stealing Hook currently stretched out from his side, wordlessly blocking before his throat. With only one more step, it would easily cut open his windpipe.

Jing Ling's voice drifted lazily from behind him: "Miss Long, stand there."

"The one surnamed Jing what are you doing?" "Stop!"

Everyone suddenly recovered in the chaos with this, indignantly rebuking one after another, and Zhou Yu bellowed in rage: "Put down your weapon! What ability is there in hitting a weak woman?! Fellows, quickly go down to save them while there's still no rain!"

Yet within these curses of rage, Jing Ling's hand which held the hook did not move even a bit.

"Today everyone can leave from here, only you cannot leave." The red-haired a.s.sa.s.sin ignored everyone in the surroundings as if they did not exist, only looking straight at Xie Yun's back, as he coldly said:

"A monk's life or death is not important, but if you persist in going down, I guarantee, that he has no other choice but to die."

"……"

Xie Yun did not look back, and did not even move. After a while he slowly raised two fingers, resting them against the curved blade before his own throat, and pushed it away inch by inch.

Under everyone's eyes the edge cut into his fingers, and blood flowed down along his knuckles, yet his movements were extremely steady, so much so that it could be considered graceful.

"Every you dare to block my path."

He smiled, his voice relaxed as if chatting about domestic trivia:

"—what do you think you are?"

Translator's Notes Chapter 11: Historical Personages Part 1

This chapter introduces more historical personages: we know the current Emperor Li Zhi, and Empress Wu, discussing the crown prince Li Hong.

This chapter is not very notable by itself; to the plot it's also a bridge to the main action and the next chapter. However, I would like to point out that here Empress Wu claims that she conceived Li Hong while still in Ganye Temple.

Emperor Taizong died summer 649, after which Wu Zetian was sent to Ganye Temple, then she re-entered the palace while pregnant (modern historians claim the date around 650 to 651), and gave birth to Li Hong on 652. So, the poisoned Crown Prince we saw earlier is only about 13 to 14 as of this time in the story; really not a good time to be facing your mother or Commander Xie as a political opponent in Court.

- LLS

1 Prior to the Ming dynasty, tea was normally consumed from the vessel in which it was prepared. Tang dynasty tea is actually similar to j.a.panese matcha in that the leaves were ground up into powder and then prepared in the bowl before the tebowl was served. The teapot would come during the Yuan dynasty, and the Ming dynasty would introduced the lidded bowl called the gaiwan.

2 ZH: 装神弄鬼 - idiom meaning to use mystifying tricks that seem supernatural or mysterious, in order to scam people. The words for G.o.ds and demons in Chinese are polysemous, hence the Mysterious Demon School 神鬼门 can also be translated as 'G.o.ds and demons school' technically, but I chose to translate it as I did in order to convey the meaning of trickery and mystery with mirrors and sleight of hand.

3 ZH: 子不语乱力怪神之事 - saying from the a.n.a.lects of Confucius.

4 ZH: 颠筛

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