by Tao Wong
“Can you see anything?” Wu Ying asked, his voice barely above a whisper. Not whispering though, because that would make his voice carry.
“A little,” Tou He said, eyes resolutely fixed on the outside of the village.
Before Wu Ying could speak, a low buzzing sound permeated the air. The pair took off immediately, knowing that the noise originated from the spiritual formation activating. In seconds, the pair dashed backward, treading through the streets back toward the main road and the harsh illumination of the bonfire, before crossing over to the path that led to where the noise originated.
By the time the pair arrived, the only sign of the hopping vampire’s previous presence was a pair of footprints in the soft earth. A short distance from the first pair, the cultivators eyed another set of footprints that marked the vampire leaving. Any further footprints were lost in the abyssal darkness of the night.
Wu Ying hissed in frustration, looking at the mostly-gone waning moon. This was the third attempted breach of the formation the pair had failed to reach in time. Having to traverse between buildings and being forced to stare at the bonfire within the village meant that by the time they reached the breach attempt, the vampires had left. If they continued with what they were doing, the pair might as well go back to the residence and sleep.
Standing where the formation had been recently tested, Wu Ying could tell that the formation itself was wearing down. It would likely last tonight and perhaps a few more days, but it would not last forever.
“Shall we try to follow?” Tou He said, gesturing toward the footprints.
If they stood there long enough, their night vision would return. And there was enough moon and starlight that they could follow the tracks if they had their full night vision.
“Dangerous,” Wu Ying pointed out. He hesitated, looking at his friend who returned his gaze placidly, and shrugged. “We run for the formation if we meet more than two.”
They could probably handle more, but there was no way to know how fast reinforcements would arrive. One each they could probably handle.
“Lead on.”
Cold. Wu Ying shivered the moment they crossed the formation, his peach-wood sword in hand. As he extended his senses, Wu Ying felt how the yang energy from the surroundings had been leached away, replaced by the yin of the vampire. As a monster that existed by feeding on the yang chi of others, it also exuded the yin chi of its makeup. A hopping vampire that did not feed often enough would rot and eventually have its corpse form destroyed. At that time, a strong enough ghost would inhabit another corpse, though others would dissipate, losing their hold on this plane.
All of which meant that a particularly sensitive cultivator could track one of the monsters via the way they drew yang chi from their surroundings. Unfortunately, Wu Ying had yet to gain that level of expertise, something he regretted.
“Can you track them?” Wu Ying said.
In answer, Tou He pointed at the footprints in the soft earth, making Wu Ying snort. At least he had an answer. Keeping one eye on the footprints and another on the surroundings, the pair moved into the darkness and down the hill.
Wu Ying tried to keep his breathing even and slow, drawing the cold night air into his lungs rhythmically while listening for the jiangshi. All the cultivator could hear was the crackle of the distant fire and the occasionally raised voices of playing children, ignorant of their parents’ concerns. After weeks of living with the fear of the vampires, the children had adapted and bounced back. Well, all but those who had been drained.
A pair of footprints became two. Wu Ying felt a shiver go through him when he spotted the new footprints. The hairs on his body stood on edge as a feeling of dread ran through him before Wu Ying shook his head, gesturing for Tou He to continue. It did not matter how he felt, they still had a job to do.
The footprints headed down to where a short wall demarcated one field from the other. As the pair approached it, a noise ahead made the pair hesitate. As they peered into the darkness, the pair of jiangshi the cultivators had been following hopped out from below the hill, approaching a spot in the wall which had been broken through.
For the first time, the cultivators saw the monsters they were hunting. Long, claw-like fingernails, black with rot, sat on arms extended stiffly before them. Feet together, the rotting corpses stared at the pair of cultivators. One monster’s face was so decayed that its jaw hung askew, showcasing a long tongue and greenish-white skin. Clad in the ornate, ragged robes that they had been dressed in upon burial, the monsters hopped forward with nary a sound.
Wu Ying hissed and raised his sword. He was so focused on the vampires to the front, he was startled when Tou He spoke.
“To the right.”
Wu Ying glanced that way and felt his eyes widen as another pair appeared. “Shit. Run on three?”
“Let’s just run,” Tou He said, crouching lower as he held the staff before him.
Acting on instinct, the pair turned in unison and dashed back the way they came. At first, they were neck and neck, but Wu Ying found himself outpacing his friend. As he debated slowing down, another figure hopped into view.
Snarling, Wu Ying raised the tip of his sword and shot forward, pushing his entire body into a single lunging strike. The Sword’s Truth caught the jiangshi as it finished landing, the blade sliding between the monster’s upraised arms and entering its heart. The monster thrashed around, motions jerky as rigid limbs refused to bend, fingers tearing at Wu Ying’s arm and the top of his head. Recovering forward, Wu Ying twisted and kicked, sending the vampire off his jian. The vampire thrashed on the ground before stilling, its gathered chi dissipating as its heart was destroyed.
The meaty thunk of a staff behind him made Wu Ying turn, his sword coming up to guard his body. It was fortunate that he did, as a lurching jiangshi was warded away, its grasping arms pushed aside by the rising blade. Reacting on instinct, Wu Ying released a series of quick cuts even as he backed off, his gaze slipping away from the monster to eye his friend as he fell back.
For some reason, Tou He was a distance from Wu Ying and caught in a desperate battle with three of the vampires. His staff blurred, forming defensive patterns that beat aside grasping arms. Each blunt blow left hissing, burning wounds on the green-white flesh of the vampires. Tou He’s style, the Mountain Resides, was a staff style that excelled in defense. But even then, three jiangshi was more than his limit.
“Wu Ying!” Tou He called as he backed off, his staff blurring as he struck out and retreated to keep himself from being surrounded.
“Hún dàn!” Wu Ying growled as the vampire he was fighting hopped forward again. He blinked away the blood that had begun to collect above his eye, deciding to gamble.
Dragon Stretches got Wu Ying below the arms, while he used Clearing the vermin from the Doorstep to cut at the vampire’s feet. As he stood, Wu Ying focused on his off-hand, borrowing his chi and the guard of his sword to give him the time he needed to form the attack.
A sudden bellow erupted from Wu Ying’s chest as he focused his attack. The attacks from the Mountain Breaking Fist style were numbered instead of named. The first fist started above his lowest floating rib, fully chambered before it was launched with stone-shattering power through the synchronized, matching motion of foot, hip, and fist. The blow caught the jiangshi right above its solar plexus, shattering the sternum and sending the monster flying away from Wu Ying. The attack was not without cost though, as Wu Ying swayed for a second at the sudden release of chi.
A choked off cry and a meaty thump brought Wu Ying’s attention back to the world as he turned to his beleaguered friend. On the ground, Tou He was struggling to keep one hopping vampire from his face while the other two had their hands extended, a cloud of energy drawing from him into the vampires’ waiting hands.
Lips drawn into a snarl, Wu Ying took off running, his chi churning in his dantian and coursing through his meridians as he ran. Judging the entangled group, Wu Ying angled his approa
ch. A quick motion sheathed his sword before Wu Ying launched himself into a tackle. The attack took the jiangshi that was on Tou He’s left side, sending the pair rolling and bowling over another of the vampires. Even before he came to a stop, Wu Ying was scrambling to get on top of the pair, the small pouch of rice in his hand.
A gesture and the rice rained onto the ground beneath and between the monsters and himself. Wu Ying jumped backward, moving away from the creatures, whose eyes were forcibly drawn to the scattered rice grains. As the supernatural curse to count the disparate pieces kicked in, the pair’s eyes flicked from grain to grain. So long as they were not threatened, this would trap the jiangshi.
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. Nevermind 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 intellige
nce 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 squirm 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 anticlimatic, 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 twelth grave, Wu Ying felt an apprehensive shiver run through him.