Legends of Ogre Gate

by Jeremy Bai

  The only sound that could be heard at the moment was the occasional plopping sound as thick drops of blood oozed off of Chief Wang’s head. They would then land in the increasingly large pool of blood at Bao’s feet.

  Time ticked by, and inwardly, Bao began to smile.

  It seemed her idea was working. She and Mao Yun had woven the perfect tale to try to convince the bandits of why they had slain Chief Wang and why Mao Yun was now the perfect person to lead them. They had even made it seem as if Bao had intentionally lured Chief Wang into a trap and then defeated him after a brutal fight.

  However, it was in that moment when the very person Bao had feared would speak up did just that.

  His name was Chun Chuixi, and he had the reputation of being the best fighter among the bandits. He was ruthless, popular, and the exact person Bao had hoped to cow with the bloody spectacle of Chief Wang’s severed head.

  Chun Chuixi was even taller than Mao Yun, although he was sinewy and lithe as opposed to Mao Yun, who was built like a bear.

  “Hold on a moment,” Chun Chuixi said. “Maybe things with Chief Wang happened the way you said, and maybe not. I don’t really care. But are we sure Mao Yun really qualifies to be the new chief?”

  “What makes you think he doesn’t qualify?” Bao growled immediately.

  Chun Chuixi frowned slightly. “I mean no disrespect, Little Sis Bao, but Big Bro Mao doesn’t seem to be fond of… our line of business. He spends more time coming up with excuses why we shouldn’t go on raids than actually raiding. Why would someone like that want to lead people like us?”

  Okay, Mao Yun, thought Bao. You have to say something. Say the right thing and put this guy in his place.

  Mao Yun slammed his palm down onto the arm of the seat. “How dare you!” he shouted. “I lead because… because I want to lead! I don’t need a reason!”

  Inwardly, Bao groaned.

  Chun Chuixi chuckled, sauntering forward a few steps and then turning to face the other bandits. “Brothers, this isn’t a decision that can be made lightly. Perhaps we should consider more than one option. After all, it wasn’t Mao Yun who killed Chief Wang. Look! That stingy old bastard’s blood is caked on Little Sis Bao’s face and arms. Maybe we should make her the chief!”

  One of the other bandits called out, “Don’t you mean chieftainess?”

  Everyone laughed.

  Things were rapidly spinning out of control, and Bao wasn’t sure what to do. Before she could say anything, though, Mao Yun rose to his feet and took a step forward.

  “Big Bro Chun, there’s no need to beat around the bush,” he said. “If you want to challenge me to a fight, then we can do it here and now!”

  Chun Chuixi chuckled. “Oh no, I don’t want to fight you. The person who has the most right to take over for Chief Wang is none other than Little Sis Bao!”

  Bao’s heart began to pound. Things were not playing out how she had imagined. She had been able to kill Chief Wang because he had been blind drunk, and she had surprised him. There was no way she could beat a full-grown man in a fight. It didn’t matter that she and Mao Yun had been spending so much time training. Bao was under no illusion that sparring and practice was anything akin to real fighting.

  Mao Yun snorted coldly. “You’re challenging a girl to a duel? Are you a man or not?”

  “There’s no need for a duel,” Chun Chuixi said. “Clearly Bao doesn’t want to lead us; she just wants to… support the leader. So let her decide. Me, the best fighter among us, the most famous bandit in the region, Chun Chuixi the Spring Thunderbolt! Or the soft, lazy, obscure son of a loser, Mao Yun, who doesn’t even have enough of a reputation to have a martial name!”

  Bao took a deep breath. Chun Chuixi had played his hand well, and in truth, what he said made sense. At this point, if Bao said she chose Mao Yun, both of them would be laughingstocks. Even if Mao Yun somehow defeated him in a duel, he would still be in a very tenuous position at best.

  Her mind raced as she tried to formulate some argument to defeat him with words.

  Chun Chuixi glanced at the people behind him and smirked triumphantly as he saw their nodding expressions. He prepared the final nail to settle the matter. “That is why I—”

  Suddenly, an arrow sprouted out of Chun Chuixi’s right eye. A wickedly sharp, bloody arrow.

  The horrified bandits turned toward the entryway of the main hall to see a man standing there with a crossbow, a man dressed in the armor of the Demon Emperor. He tossed the crossbow aside and stepped into the room, drawing a saber.

  A strangely accented voice behind the man growled, “Attack!”

  More men poured into the room, all of them wearing the same armor.

  The bandit force had grown in recent months, and they now numbered nearly fifty in total, and it soon became apparent that there weren’t nearly as many Demon Emperor soldiers. However, these soldiers were trained fighters, and some of them even used the seemingly magical fighting abilities of the Demon Emperor and his ogre soldiers, making them vastly superior in terms of speed and strength.

  Fierce fighting broke out all over the main hall.

  It was at this point that another figure entered the room. He was tall and powerfully built, with features that didn’t even look human. He looked vaguely feline, with dark skin and sharp teeth almost like tusks that protruded from his lower lip. He wore strange clothing and armor but held no weapon in hand.

  He was definitely an ogre, one of the inhuman creatures who came with the Demon Emperor from the hellish Emo-Cheng, or whatever other place they came from.

  As soon as he entered the room, he looked around with cold eyes, and in that strangely accented voice barked, “Kill them all!”

  Bao and Mao Yun were at the opposite end of the hall, so the fighting didn’t reach them immediately. They simply stood there in shock, unsure at first of what was happening.

  However, as soon as Bao saw the ogre, she knew. The Demon Emperor, she thought. He tracked us down.

  In the blink of an eye, Bao knew what she had to do. Leaning her head over, she said, “Mao Yun, you have to lure that ogre into… that spot! Hurry!”

  Mao Yun blinked a few times, then nodded in understanding. Unhooking the axe from his belt, he took a few steps forward and then pointed straight at the ogre. “Hey, you, dog! Come over and fight me like a man! Or are you scared?”

  The ogre grinned and then flew forward with inhuman speed, coming to a stop just a yard or two in front of Mao Yun, standing atop a stone tile that was slightly darker than the surrounding tiles. “You want to die, human? I can oblige!”

  Bao dropped Chief Wang’s head and lunged toward the seat of honor, where Mao Yun had been sitting moments ago. Her hand shot out toward the left side of the seat, searching for a hidden wooden switch. Fortuitously, her finger landed directly on the switch, and she pushed down hard.

  Rumbling sounds filled the entire main hall, causing the fighting to pause momentarily. Even the ogre looked around cautiously.

  What happened next was something that not even the ogre’s superhuman speed and strength could protect him against.

  A chute in the ceiling opened up, and a massive pile of stones and boulders fell directly onto the ogre. He tried to leap out of the way but was too slow. All he could do was let out a muffled grunt as he was first knocked to the ground and then crushed into a bloody pulp as the rubble piled up.

  Within the space of only a few breaths of time, the spot where the ogre had been standing was now a pile of rocks and stone a full meter and a half tall.

  The eyes of the bandits went wide, and the Demon Emperor soldiers’ jaws dropped.

  In the shortest of moments, the tide of the battle had turned. Now the playing field was even.

  It was a critical moment, a moment in which hesitation could lead to death. But Bao didn’t hesitate.

  “KILL THEM!” she shouted.

  Chapter 11: Cats and Rats

  Sunan would never forget what it was like to a
waken in a haze, his body aching and twinging with pain, to see his friend lying face down in a pool of blood.

  Fortunately, the mustachioed man’s cohort hadn’t actually slit Sun Mai’s throat. He’d run the knife slowly over the surface of the skin, drawing some blood but doing no fatal damage. Laughing, the mustachioed man had then ordered Sunan and Sun Mai to be beaten unconscious.

  Sunan was the first to wake up. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed. It seemed like weeks or days but was most likely hours. It may even have been minutes.

  The first thing he did was crawl over to Sun Mai and pull him up off the ground.

  “Sun Mai!” he cried, choking back a sob. Be alive. Please be alive!

  He felt Sun Mai’s wrist, and after detecting a pulse, sighed in relief. Holding Sun Mai in his arms, Sunan struggled to his feet. He staggered out into the street, his first inclination to find a physician, but then he realized that this late in the evening, such places would surely be closed for business, front gates barred and shut tight. It was still before the local ward curfew time, though, so Sunan was able to get them back to the inn with no incident.

  A shocked staff member let them in and then helped him carry Sun Mai up the stairs to their room. After settling him in his bed, Sunan collected some water and rags and began to clean up his friend up and examine him.

  Other than the nasty cut on his throat and some other bruises and scrapes, Sun Mai seemed to be in good condition.

  At this point, it occurred to Sunan that he should examine himself, which he did, finding no evidence of any serious injury.

  Finally, he leaned up against the side of Sun Mai’s bed and fell asleep.

  That night he had more dreams. He saw a strange symbol that looked like an intertwined dragon and phoenix, which then began to shine with golden light. Somehow the symbol seemed familiar, although he was sure he had never seen it before.

  The next morning, he woke to find rays of sunlight piercing in through the window to land on his knees. He turned his head and saw Sun Mai sitting cross-legged on the bed, meditating.

  Sunan likewise crossed his legs and began meditating, sending his qi flowing through his body. He was shocked to find that after sleeping for several hours, he felt much better, almost as if nothing had happened the night before.

  When he opened his eyes and reexamined his body in the same way he had last night, he discovered that many of his bruises were completely gone, and even the cuts were mostly healed. He could tell that by the next day, he would be completely recovered.

  Shocked, he rose to his feet and looked at Sun Mai, whose eyes snapped opened.

  Astonishingly, the long cut on Sun Mai’s neck was more than half healed!

  “Are you as surprised as I am?” Sun Mai asked.

  Sunan once again looked himself over. He stretched his neck and shook out his arms and legs. If he wasn’t sure that the events of the previous night had occurred, he might almost take them to be a hallucination.

  “This is incredible!” Sunan said.

  “I know,” Sun Mai replied. “I almost couldn’t believe it myself when I realized the truth.”

  “How could it be? What happened? Magic?”

  “I don’t think magic has anything to do with it. It’s all cats and rats!”

  “It must be the qi. In addition to making us stronger and faster, it probably heals u— Wait. What did you just say? Cats?”

  “Yes, it’s the cats and rats. Or maybe both. Haven’t you ever noticed that there seems to be an alarming abundance of cats in the city, whereas there are few rats? I think we all know the reason now.”

  “Sun Mai, what are you talking about?”

  “Sunan, I just asked you if you were as surprised as me that the Heavenly Meat Palace serves fake meat. You agreed. It’s little wonder that we can get so much meat for such a cheap price. I just realized why. Because it’s not real lamb and pork meat, of course. The city has plenty of cats, and no rats. It’s something I always wondered about throughout the years. Daolu would often fluctuate between the two. Some years, the cat population booms. Then the cats vanish and the rats come. Then vice versa. It all makes sense. The main question now is what that yellow wine actually is…”

  Sunan shook his head. “Sun Mai, we nearly got killed last night! Now, only a few hours later, we’ve almost completely recovered from our injuries. Don’t you find that… astonishing?”

  “Oh, that. Well, it’s because of the qi, obviously. Our bodies heal faster than normal, it’s not really very surprising if you ask me. In fact, based on my calculations, my broken arm should be mended within the week. At most two.”

  Sunan rubbed his temples and sat back down on the floor. “Well, what do we do now?”

  Sun Mai rubbed his chin. “Obviously they were giving us a warning. They’ll probably expect us to take a few weeks to recover, then go back to the fighting arena and follow their rules to make them some money.”

  “Right. So we can’t go out the next day as if nothing happened. What do we do, hole up in here?”

  “Just what I was thinking. We can take the time to do a bit of training away from prying eyes. As luck would have it, I was preparing to suggest just such an arrangement leading up to your next match. I even made some inquiries and purchases. Look in that cabinet over there.”

  Sunan opened the cabinet Sun Mai was pointing to and found a stack of bamboo scrolls and even a few paper books. He pulled one out and read the title.

  “Nine Chapters of Hand Fighting.” He picked up another. “Wrestling Techniques from the Kushen Basin.” Another, this time one of the paper books. “Suk Assassins.”

  “As you probably can guess, that last one is quite rare,” Sun Mai said, “considering it’s made from paper.”

  “Fighting manuals,” Sunan murmured. He sat down cross-legged and unrolled the scroll labeled Nine Chapters of Hand Fighting and began to study the contents.

  Sun Mai hopped off the bed, walked over, and sat down next to him, picking up Wrestling Techniques from the Kushen Basin. “Exactly. As was made painfully obvious last night, we know nothing about fighting. We have an advantage because of our qi, but sometimes power and speed mean nothing when compared to skill and experience. Or lots of weapons.” Sun Mai’s eyes went wide. “Wait, that’s great material for my classic scripture!”

  He immediately dropped the bamboo scroll and scrambled to another cupboard to look for writing materials.

  Time passed.

  Sunan and Sun Mai spent most of the following two weeks locked in their room, studying, meditating, and practicing.

  Sunan had reached a point in his meditation where he was on the verge of another breakthrough. Things were now much clearer to him than before. From the time he started building up qi in his body back in the Huang Mountains all the way until his first fight in the arena, it was as if there was an empty pool inside of him that had been slowly filling with water.

  Something happened after his first fight, some sort of breakthrough in which he reached a higher level. To him, there was a clear distinction in his speed, power, and other capabilities. After that, the qi had continued to build up.

  After discussing the matter with Sun Mai, he realized that Sun Mai was reaching the point of making his second breakthrough.

  “Breakthroughs,” Sun Mai said one day.

  Sunan opened his eyes from meditation. “Excuse me?”

  “We’ll just refer to it as having breakthroughs. After your fights and all the sparring we’ve done during practice, it seems fairly obvious. I’ve had one breakthrough, you’ve had two. By building up qi in the body and then using it, it’s possible to reach higher levels, which make you faster, stronger, more resilient. Right now, you need to figure out how to achieve a third breakthrough.”

  Sunan nodded. “I wonder if a fourth breakthrough is possible?”

  After two weeks had passed, both Sunan and Sun Mai were firmly in the position to make breakthroughs. Both of them had absorbed various
aspects of the different martial arts manuals, taking things that made sense to them and adapting them in various ways.

  Sunan, being mostly concerned with remaining safe in arena matches, and yet also being able to win, focused more on molding his body into a weapon. He put much thought into the movements of his hands and legs, how to use his weight to his advantage, and how to inflict damage as quickly and efficiently as possible.

  Sun Mai was more interested in exploring the mysteries of qi and how it interacted with the human body. In fact, he was quickly becoming more adept at manipulating qi than Sunan. He was at a lower level than Sunan and had less experience than him, but given his scholarly leanings, such a use of qi was more suited to his personality and interests.

  One afternoon after a long session of meditation, Sunan found Sun Mai shaking him by the shoulders excitedly.

  “Sunan, look, look! Watch that lamp!”

  On the table in the corner of the room was a simple oil lamp, lit.

  Sun Mai took a deep breath, then placed his hand out in front of him with his index finger and middle finger extended. Then he waved his hand in a complicated gesture, during which time Sunan could sense the qi flowing within him. Sun Mai ended with a chopping motion, whereupon a blurry light shot out from his fingers toward the lamp, extinguishing it.

  Sunan’s jaw dropped.

  Sun Mai looked over at him with a triumphant grin.

  “That was amazing!” Sunan exclaimed. “How did you do it?”

  For the rest of the evening, Sun Mai went on to instruct and guide Sunan regarding the technique he had begun to develop.

  A few more days passed. It had been well over two weeks since the incident at the Heavenly Meat Palace, and Sunan was started to get frustrated and antsy. Being cooped up in one room with Sun Mai was a test unto itself. Thankfully they had plenty to occupy their time, but even still, it was getting to the point where Sunan needed to be outside, to walk the streets.

  “Sun Mai, I’ve had it. No more hiding.”

  “Hiding?” Sun Mai replied indignantly. “We’re not hiding!”