by Tao Wong
Backing off quickly, Wu Ying looked around for the third monster and spotted it on the ground, its neck askew and skull cracked. Tou He was standing beside the downed body, face pale as he drew long breaths. In the distance, Wu Ying heard the thump of a pair of feet landing on the ground.
Wu Ying grabbed his friend’s arm and hustled him along, though not before discarding another rice pouch behind them. He cursed under his breath as the pair stumbled back up the hill, casting fearful glances around them. If they had remembered to use the rice earlier, they could have avoided their injuries.
Live and learn.
Chapter 10
“Foolish,” the old medicine woman of the village muttered as she finished wrapping up the wounds around Wu Ying’s head.
The sharp claws of the jiangshi had managed to cut his scalp, opening wounds that had needed painful cleaning in blessed waters before they were wrapped. The cuts across his shoulders and arms were dramatic in nature, but none had penetrated deeply or torn any muscles. They would not slow down Wu Ying in their upcoming cleansing.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” Wu Ying said.
The older woman stared at Wu Ying, who ducked his head, age winning over status.
Still, Wu Ying added, “We did manage to destroy two of the jiangshi.”
“Oh, well done then, great cultivator,” the medicine woman said as she stood and cleaned her hands. She turned away from Wu Ying, who stared after her, trying to decide if she had meant it or was being sarcastic.
“How are you doing, Tou He?” Wu Ying asked.
Since he was the more injured of the two, Tou He had been treated first. Though his treatment had been relatively quick since the majority of his injuries were chi-related.
“Well enough,” Tou He said. “I shall recover my chi by morning.”
“Are you good to go without sleep?” Wu Ying said.
“I shall have to be, no?” Tou He said, frowning. “They are numerous. If we do not thin them down at least tomorrow—today—the formation might not last.”
“In that case, I’m going to rest.”
Tou He nodded before he closed his eyes again, returning to his cultivation. Tomorrow would be interesting.
***
“You’re looking a little pale,” Wu Ying said. “Suckered almost.”
“No.”
“I’m trying to motivate you. We need to get a hop on the day.”
“Stop it.”
“Sorry. Sorry. I’ve never seen you look so much like a corpse,” Wu Ying replied and ducked as the staff curved toward his head. The blow was easy to dodge since there was no intent behind the attack. “Fine, fine, I’ll stop.”
“Good.” The ex-monk continued to plod along, though as Wu Ying had said, he was less spritely and paler than the day before. Recovered or not, the effects of being drained seemed to be affecting the man.
No longer allowed to tease his friend, Wu Ying unwrapped one of the leaf-wrapped rice buns they had been provided as a snack and followed their guide. The young boy, too young to be considered useful on the fields but old enough to follow directions—like “run away and don’t follow the cultivators into the graveyard”—skipped ahead of the pair of cultivators.
The graveyard was a good three hours away from the village. Such a distance made the vampires’ journey each night outstanding, since they had to return before daybreak. Of course, Wu Ying mused as he eyed the paired footprints, the monsters did not need to rest or breathe. In fact, it was doubtful the jiangshi had any significant reasoning ability beyond their driving hunger.
Oh, the jiangshi could create ambushes, as they had shown all too well last night. But that wasn’t necessarily an indication of high-level intelligence. Wolves did the same thing. As did certain demonic species. Still, as they crested another hill and Wu Ying caught his first sight of the graveyard, he could not help but wince. This was an old-style graveyard, one that had been untended for decades. Trees grew all across the graveyard, located between the stone-wrought graves inset into the sloping hill. Each grave was situated neatly next to and above another, allowing the dead a scenic view of their surroundings as they rested in their stone tombs. Of course, now the stone tombs were cracked and broken, their former occupants freed during the night to wreak havoc on the living before the vampires returned to rest during the day.
“Tou He.”
“Yes?”
“How are we going to get to them?” Wu Ying said, eyeing the cracked graves. He was not looking forward to crawling in to fight a jiangshi.
“I was hoping you had a plan,” Tou He said.
“I’m beginning to sense a pattern in our friendship,” Wu Ying said before he turned to their guide and tapped the child on the shoulder. “Time for you to get going. We have this.”
Their guide did not need another offer as he walked away. The kid paused after a few steps, looking at the esteemed cultivators with what appeared to be sudden fear over abandoning their honored guests without hesitation. When he looked back though, Wu Ying and Tou He were already walking down the hill, offering up different options to break into the graves.
“Stick on fire will be best,” Tou He said.
“Unless you can’t reach the jiangshi. Never mind finding enough oil and rags to set the stick on fire,” Wu Ying pointed out. “We brought a few mirrors. If we can get the light right, we can see within and drive them out.”
“There’s not enough sunlight to do that.”
“How do you know?”
“Well… a stick with fire is better.”
Wu Ying snorted, but eventually the pair came to an agreement. An hour of work later, the pair were ready. Wu Ying had unloaded their bag of supplies and laid out a circle of rice, enough that any wandering jiangshi would be caught and held outside for some time. In the circle, Wu Ying had placed their supplies, including the mirrors he had angled toward one of the nearby cracked graves. None of the tombs was entirely broken open, so Wu Ying knew one of them would need to move the obstructing stones to make their plan work.
In the meantime, Tou He had walked around the clearing, raking dry leaves and collecting mostly dry wooden sticks. He had managed to form a big pile of such items near the circle of rice and was currently building a fire.
Wu Ying ascertained that the fire was able to sustain itself before he prodded his friend. “I’m ready.”
“The fire needs more care,” Tou He said.
“Throw a few bigger logs on it, let it heat up by itself. I’m going to pull apart that grave and want you on watch,” Wu Ying said.
Tou He grimaced but complied with Wu Ying’s request, standing guard as Wu Ying directed the mirror at the entrance and blocked stones. Wu Ying got down low, eyeing the grave, and had to smile at his own idiocy. Of course it was easy to tell which graves the monsters stayed in. It was not as if the jiangshi were able to complete complicated maneuvers. Due to the rotting nature of their bodies and their lack of dexterity, the monsters weren’t even able to walk properly.
The rock that was propped up to stop the light at this grave looked to have been maneuvered with great effort by a couple of jiangshi. The footprints and scuff marks all around each grave was more than sufficient evidence. Though, Wu Ying had to wonder how smart they were to work together to block off the sunlight. Perhaps he was giving their intelligence too little credit.
“Problem?” Tou He called.
“Just looking at the tracks,” Wu Ying replied.
He shifted his positioning, squatting deep and gripping the rock. Drawing a deep breath, Wu Ying placed his fingers against the broken stone and pulled, revealing the empty space within the grave. The grave had been dug directly into the hill and down at an angle, allowing the coffin to be slid in to rest on the stone flooring. Sunlight streamed in from both the mirror and the sky, showing the shattered remains of the coffin and the torn, slippered feet of the hopping vampire.
The jiangshi pulled its feet close, attempting to squir
m away from the sunlight. Wu Ying waved his friend back as he dumped the rock and scrambled back to the mirror, adjusting the angle. As the sunlight hit the sentient corpse, it squirmed and shifted, still silent. As it found no escape within the tiny confines of its grave, the jiangshi finally gave up on attempting to hide and made its way out of the grave. In the sunlight, the monster lost its flexibility even further, the yang chi it had gathered boiling off its body as its skin grew ever more pallid.
The actual fight was anticlimactic, since the monster’s stiff movement and forced exit from the grave left it vulnerable to Tou He’s staff. A quick case of bludgeoning later, the truly deceased corpse lay on the ground as the freed ghost dissipated under the harsh glare of the sun.
“That was easy,” Wu Ying said.
“A little,” Tou He said, looking unhappily at his fire. It seemed, as usual, they were overthinking things. “Fire next?”
“Let’s try opening it up first. Your turn,” Wu Ying said.
Tou He sniffed but agreed.
Over the next hour, the pair moved through the graveyard, pulling apart graves to attack the monsters within. Yet as they walked toward the twelfth grave, Wu Ying felt an apprehensive shiver run through him.
“Trouble,” Wu Ying said, moments before he spotted the steaming, baking hopping vampires. As Wu Ying turned, he realized that the jiangshi had surrounded the cultivators while they had been busy clearing out the last grave.
“Six, seven, eight,” Tou He finished counting their adversaries, his eyes tight with worry as the eight hopping vampires converged. One hand spun the staff as the ex-monk eyed their opponents.
“But they’re slower. And cooking,” Wu Ying pointed out. “We can do this.” Tou He hesitated and Wu Ying grinned, inspiration striking him. “Whoever takes the most buys the other dinner. As much meat as they want.”
“Demon beast?”
“Sure.” Wu Ying said.
The moment Wu Ying agreed, Tou He took off running, his staff already spinning.
“Cheater!”
Not to be outdone, Wu Ying ran, the initial joviality fading away as the cultivator got serious. Slow as the monsters were, the vampires were dangerous, with their supernatural strength and ability to drain chi. As he closed in on them, Wu Ying felt a touch on his aura, as if something was attempting to invade it, pulling at the membrane he had painstakingly built. Reflexively, Wu Ying pulled the aura tighter, surprised that the jiangshi’s chi draining effects were so strong. A matter of numbers or a greater pull due to the vampires’ lack of chi?
In the end, Wu Ying could not tell, nor did it matter. Since the closest pair of monsters were within lunging distance, Wu Ying launched himself at them. This time around, he did not commit to a full lunge, instead using Dragon turns while Slumbering to lop off a reaching hand. In short order, Wu Ying had positioned the jiangshi in front of its friend and stepped forward, throwing a precise strike that entered the vampire’s right eye. As the creature slumped, Wu Ying grunted as his wooden jian stuck in its hardened, dead skull.
As Wu Ying struggled to free the jian, his second opponent hopped around the corpse of its brethren, hands reaching for Wu Ying’s throat. Wu Ying leaned backward as the jian popped free, and he executed Wind Steps. The quick, circular steps gave Wu Ying a chance to move away before he executed Falling rocks in a Rainstorm, the drop step and roundhouse kick to the vampire’s body doing nothing other than hurting Wu Ying’s shin. Hopping around, the vampire lurched forward, forcing Wu Ying to execute a quick flip backward out of the way.
Even as Wu Ying landed, another vampire reached for his side, forcing Wu Ying into a defensive stance. The next few moments were tense and hectic as Wu Ying desperately fended off his attackers with his wooden sword, the sharpened blade leaving smoking lines and ripping apart rotten flesh. Yet the jian that Wu Ying favored was not meant to deal with undead attackers, being meant to slip between the gaps in armor or to finish off an opponent with a flourish. A broader dao would have suited Wu Ying’s situation better, but that was a regret for another time as he backpedaled and cut.
Wu Ying ducked another hopping lunge. This time, Wu Ying had nowhere to back up too, forcing Wu Ying to crouch low. All around, Wu Ying felt the jiangshi crowding him.
“Huài dàn!” Wu Ying cursed.
Out of options, Wu Ying dropped his sword and pulled his hands close to his body. He channeled his chi into both hands even as clawed fingers tore at his scalp and shoulders. Exploding from his crouch, Wu Ying threw both hands outward, directing his punches into the torsos of his attackers. The explosive motion, combined with his chi, threw the hopping vampires backward but also left Wu Ying reeling from the sudden expansion of his chi.
From the corner of Wu Ying’s eye, he saw Tou He was doing better as his long, blunt quarterstaff beat the monsters aside and shattered bones. Supernatural monsters or not, the vampires suffered from the punishing blows that left them limping on cracked bones. Rather than attempting to finish off the jiangshi with his attacks, Tou He focused on disabling the creatures in a safe manner. Even so, as Wu Ying watched, the staff shot forward from Tou He’s hip, twisting in mid-air as it drilled into the skull of a hopping jiangshi. Caught in mid-air, it took the full strike in its face without defense, shattering the nose and skull before it collapsed bonelessly.
Breathing deeply, Wu Ying refilled his meridians from his dantian. Refreshed somewhat, the cultivator kicked at the ground and snatched his jian from the air just in time to block one of the hopping vampires that had been pushed back. The impact pushed Wu Ying’s feet deep into the earth, forming a small, muddy furrow as his bones creaked under the strain. With the vampire’s initial impetus stopped, Wu Ying lashed out, slicing off fingers then using the return false edge strike to tear open a throat. As more chi leaked out of the wounded hopping vampire, Wu Ying turned to meet his next assailant.
Difficult perhaps. But they could do this.
***
Wu Ying prodded at the wounds on his side, frowning at the displaced slip of flesh that hung from his torn sect robes. For the life of him, he could not recall being hit that low by the jiangshi. Wounds across his scalp, his arms, and even his neck, he could understand. Heck, his legs had been torn up when he threw a kick that was caught by a jiangshi’s long claws. Those all made sense. This. This he had no recollection of.
“All accounted for?” Tou He asked.
“Yes,” Wu Ying said, the last dregs of adrenaline finally leaving his body. He staggered to a nearby gravestone and sat down hard, wincing at the impact and making note to provide a proper offering to the grave owner before he left.
“Tired?”
“No. Full of energy,” Wu Ying said without any heat.
“Well, the dinner you’re buying will give you back some strength.”
Wu Ying snorted, reaching into his robes to pull out a square of cloth. He laboriously cleaned his wooden sword, eyeing the still-smoldering corpses around him. After a time, he spoke up. “We should finish the sweep. And then wait until after nightfall to make sure they’re all gone.”
Once the pair had rested and bandaged their wounds, they piled the bodies on Tou He’s useful bonfire. Afterward, they continued their sweep of the graveyard, tapping against gravestones and leaving incense sticks and bundles of tied off and burning paper money[47] in front of each grave.
At one of those graves, Wu Ying stopped, staring at a particular purple flower.
Tou He paused beside him, eyeing the flower before he shrugged and looked at Wu Ying. “What is it?”
“A flower.”
“Yes, I can see that.”
“It’s winter.”
“Oh. Oh!” Tou He said, realization dawning. “Is it special?”
“I think so?” Wu Ying said. Then he looked around the graveyard before he shrugged. “We might as well take it with us. It’s not really meant to be here.”
Tou He nodded and reached for the flower; hand splayed wide to grab the stem. Wu Y
ing darted forward and smacked Tou He’s hand, making his friend jerk his hand away and glare at Wu Ying. “What was that for?”
“I should ask you. What were you doing?”
“Taking the flower.”
“Like that?”
“Yes?” Tou He paused. “Isn’t that how you pluck flowers?”
“No! Also, we want the plant. Otherwise, by the time we arrive, it’ll be all dried out.”
“Does it matter?”
“I don’t know. But better to have the plant alive than dead, no?” Wu Ying said.
Tou He scratched his head in amusement. “I guess you know how to do this?”
“Not exactly, but I can guess.” Plants required soil, sunlight, and water. Exactly how much care, the amount of soil, and the extent the roots could be disturbed varied. Wu Ying could at least give it a shot, using his prior experience. “Watch the area?”
“Of course.”
Bending next to the plant, Wu Ying gently prodded it with a nearby and convenient stick. Seeing that the flower did not react adversely to the stick, Wu Ying slid on a pair of gloves and took out his utility knife to dig around the plant. Unsure of how deep or extensive the root system of this plant was, Wu Ying took care to dig carefully.
Once Wu Ying had located the root system and determined that the plant mainly used a single major root with a few smaller offshoots, he dug around the plant and uprooted the entire thing into a waiting piece of waterproof cloth. He wrapped the newly freed roots and soil in the cloth before adding some water to the plant. Having determined he had done as much as he could, Wu Ying took the plant back to their temporary camp.
“Are we done?” Tou He asked once Wu Ying had set the plant in the shade of their luggage.
“Yes,” Wu Ying said. “It should keep. Let’s keep looking.”
Together, the pair went to finish their check of the graveyard. Every time they located another plant, Wu Ying repeated his actions in transplanting the unusual flowering plant, curious to see if they would survive the journey. Perhaps they could get something more for this trip than the base contribution points.