Gyatso walked into the basement in the mortuary. Actually, it was too big to be called a basement; it was almost as big as a basketball court and was more like an underground way-place[2].

There were bottles and jars along the walls. The surroundings had grown weird because of the blood moon, and those things sealed in the bottles and jars were restless as well.

A red pottery jar was extremely eye-catching. It wasn’t only flickering with light but also shaking constantly, as if something was eager to get out.

Gyatso gazed at it and smiled:

“Taoists in the Central Plains do everything with mercy, even for these sinful souls that clearly had committed ruthless crimes and was carrying obvious evil. He couldn’t just destroy them. Instead, he put them here, waited until their ferocity was worn off and then put them back for another life.

“Why bother so much?

“If everyone has to do this routine, all exorcists will be exhausted to death.”

Gyatso was from Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism, whose common practice was to achieve their goals no matter what it took. They valued only the results and cared nothing about the details or the process. Therefore, Esoteric Buddhism always seemed to be mysterious and scary.

To deal with these restless things under the blood moon, Gyatso chose the easiest way:

Kill them all.

He walked to that red jar, held it up with one hand, closed his eyes and incanted in his mind. A golden light appeared on him and went into the red jar. The thing in the jar was struggling madly, hitting the jar again and again. But the golden light had moved from Gyatso to the jar and was repressing it.

A blood stain appeared between Gyatso’s eyebrows; then a light of blood shot right into the jar.

A harsh scream filled the the empty basement. At last, when it was quiet again, the red jar broke and let out stinky pus.

But Gyatso didn’t care at all. He was mentally strong because right behind the temple he lived, there was a place even worse than purgatory.

What happened to this demon had scared all the others. All of a sudden, the room became extremely quiet as if everyone was terrified like ordinary people and kept silent like a cicadas in late autumn.

The devil would be deviled by someone of like ilk.

Gyatso stood there like a vicious god and none of those evil things dared to do anything.

Just when Gyatso thought everything would be fine and was about to return to Lam Ching-Ying, a yellow weasel showed up by the stairs leading to the basement. It looked at Gyatso with grievance and fear, like a timid girl who had done something wrong.

There’s a demon that can change?

Gyatso walked to it. The weasel retreated to the stairs.

However, just when Gyatso stepped onto the stairs, it changed into a monster with its mouth wide open.

Gyatso gazed and groaned:

“How dare you to do sorcery on me! A bead as small as a rice grain shall never be the rival of the moon!”

Everything around him was changing, but Gyatso kept walking steadily, onto the stairs, into the monster’s mouth, with the indomitable will of an Esoteric Buddhist master.

Perhaps they were not sophisticated in social life as those monks in the Central Plains, and therefore seemed to be a little unreasonable; but to some extent, they were closer to what they persisted in.

Compared with Seven, Gyatso had less thoughts about social life, but was more loyal to Buddhism.

The monster’s mouth started to break and finally disappeared, and the surroundings were back as it should be. The weasel was still there, but it looked pathetic, with its eyes bleeding.

“You overconfident nasty thing.”

Gyatso reached out and held the weasel up. He was after the weasel’s internal pellet[3]. This weasel had intelligence and was able to use magic, so its internal pellet must be a great tonic, even better than an one-hundred-year-old lingzhi mushroom[4]. Lam Ching-Ying would survive after eating it.

However, Gyatso felt the weight in his hand was gone, and the skin of the weasel fell off. He was holding a purple centipede. Its mouthparts split and stuck into the back of Gyatso’s hand.

“Ouch…”

Gyatso immediately threw the centipede away. Then he tottered. He had to sit on the ground with his legs crossed and try to expel the toxin, but his eyelid were feeling heavier and heavier, and his vision was becoming blurry.

The basement that was once silent had become noisy and restless again after Gyatso sat down.

…

Outside the mortuary, there slowly came an old beggar with a walking stick. He was lame in one leg, and his face was hollow due to undernutrition. He was skinny like a skeleton.

“I’m so hungry.”

The old beggar sighed, then he walked up to the steps and knocked on the red gate. No one came to answer. Of course, no one would come.

So the old beggar pushed the door tentatively. It opened.

The door wasn’t locked, because the people who should lock the door before nightfall were all knocked out.

The old beggar popped his head in and looked about. He walked in since the door was open.

He knew it was a mortuary, but he was starving and exhausted. All he wanted was a place to sleep in, and it would be perfect if he could find some food. He was just living one day at a time.

He went to the kitchen first. The dinner Kuan had made was still there, but the Taoist and his students wouldn’t be able to enjoy it. The beggar threw himself at the food and stuffed his mouth immediately. He kept gulping until he was finally full. Then he let out a long breath and sat on the ground.

It had been a long, long time since he was full.

He burped and took a break before making up his mind to walk around. Since there was food, he might as well find something else, such as some nice clothes.

People’s desires would always change with their circumstances. The old beggar was no longer starving and the food didn’t cost him anything, of course he would want more.

Now he was much stronger; although he had to walk with his walking stick, he was moving faster.

He came to the bedroom and gently pushed the door ajar. He had assumed that the owner must be asleep, so he wanted to be sure.

Then, he was surprised to see the four people tied to the pillar. Instantly, he knew he should go and report it to country government, or at least get away, because these people were apparently robbed. But when he saw Miss Chen with her eyes closed and mouth stuffed with a piece of cloth, his breath became short.

It was said that luxury in food and warmth leads to hedonism. He swallowed and looked around. It seemed that the robbers were all gone so he could just take the advantage.

He pushed the door open and walked in.

Councillor Chen and his daughter were conscious, but they were gagged and tied up and couldn’t yell or move. Besides, they were not facing the door; it was Kuan and Liang that were, but they were knocked out.

The old beggar stole into the room. He saw another man lying on the bed, but that one seemed to be dying.

Since he entered, his eyes had been fixed on Miss Chen and his tongue licking his lips. He approached the pillar and tore off two pieces of cloth from his tatters.

Councillor Chen and his daughter had heard the door open, but they thought it was Su Bai or Gyatso coming back. They sat still and didn’t struggle, because they were really exhausted and starving.

Councillor Chen didn’t realize anything wrong until his eyes were suddenly covered. Immediately he tried to get free, but Gyatso had tied him so tightly that his struggle seemed to be useless.

Miss Chen was also in shock; but before she could see anything, a piece of black dirty cloth fell onto her face. Then she felt someone kissing her heavily with the cloth in-between and fumbling violently all over her body.

The old beggar was excited. It was beyond his wildest dream that he could enjoy such a pretty girl. That was the blessing of heaven.

She smelled so good…

…and felt so soft…

It was so wonderful…

Hum hummmm…

Hummmmm…

Just when the old beggar was delirious with joy, a man appeared outside the door breathing heavily. When he saw what was going on in the room, he immediately burst into curses:

“Damn you! How dare you rape Little Dragon Maiden like Yin Zhiping!”

———————————————

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Yin Zhiping and Little Dragon Maiden: it’s a plot from the wuxia novel Legend of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong, the famous Chinese writer.

Little Dragon Maiden is a fictional female protagonist; in the novel, she got this nickname because she was born in the year of dragon according to the Chinese Zodiac, but her real name was unknown and never mentioned.

Yin Zhiping, as a character in the novel, is one of Qiu Chuji’s apprentices, he raped Little Dragon Maiden while she was unconscious. But in the history, Yin Zhiping was a great Taoist. The fictional plot of raping was unfair, so Jin Yong has changed this character’s name into Zhen Zhibing in his later versions.

[2] Way-place: Also known as Bodhimanda, a place for Taoist rites.

[3] internal pellet: or Neidan. After cultivation, some beasts will possess a core within their bodies which contains their essence and/or cultivation base. Cultivators highly prize them.

[4] Lingzhi mushroom: Literally “soul/spirit mushroom”.A species complex that encompasses several fungal species of the genus Ganoderma. Lingzhi[1] enjoys special veneration in East Asia, where it has been used as a medicinal mushroom in traditional Chinese medicine for more than 2,000 years.