CH 9

Xue Xian glanced at Xuanmin’s open palm, then assessed the bald donkey again. Xuanmin’s monk's robes were wide and large, which made the monk himself look extremely slender and tall. From the form of his shoulders, Xue Xian could tell that his thinness was not one of starvation, but that he had a certain muscular leanness. Still, he looked far from strong.

Skeptical, Xue Xian jutted out his chin. "You're going to carry me with one arm? Don't lie."

Xuanmin’s expression did not change. He continued to stand there with his hand outstretched.

"Fine. If I fall, it's your fault," Xue Xian said unhappily. With a push from his hands, he jumped down from the wall. 

But as he fell, there was a puff, and he transformed from a human being back into a paper man. Probably so that he could fit in Xuanmin's hand, he especially made himself smaller than before. He was now no larger than the size of a palm, and, as relaxed as an autumn leaf, he slowly laid himself down across Xuanmin’s palm… 

He spread out his arms and legs, like a snow angel. [a]

Xuanmin: “...”

He had gotten used to this niezhang’s human form, and now he had to look at this painted ‘sight for sore eyes’. Although the form was now smaller, it was still unpleasant to see.

Xuanmin looked away, not wanting to sully his vision. Just as before, he tucked the niezhang back into the pouch on his hip. But this time he seemed to have a bit more compassion: instead of shoving the niezhang into the bottom, he allowed his head to peek out. If Xue Xian wanted, he could use his arms to perch on the edge, and take a breath of fresh air every once in a while. 

But the niezhang was not satisfied.

"Could you please put me somewhere else?" Xue Xian had said ‘please’, [b] but his tone was not polite at all. 

Xuanmin would never have expected that a brief conversation would make this niezhang suddenly forget who was the captor and who was the captive. Did he want to turn the tables? [c]

Have you heard of criminals in maximum security prisons requesting a nicer bunk?

Xuanmin looked down. "Where do you wish to go?" 

Since Xue Xian didn’t have a skeleton in this paper body, he was easily able to turn his entire head around without moving the rest of his body. He rolled his eyes and said, “I want to go on the shoulders!”

Xuanmin: “...”

The paper man named Xue had the audacity to complain: "I can't see anything from this stupid [d] place. It’s too low. I want to go on your shoulders!" 

Xuanmin: “...”

Was he going to ask to be lifted to the heavens next?

"You are no longer afraid to fall?" Xuanmin asked.

Xue Xian snapped back, "Do you have uneven shoulders? Do you bounce them as you walk? As long as you walk steady, I won't fall."

Xuanmin knew he could not win an argument with this mouthy niezhang. He shook his head and said in a resigned voice, "Come up."

Then he stopped paying attention to Xue Xian, and began to walk away.

Still leaning out of the pouch, Xue Xian waited a while, yet Xuanmin did not extend a hand to help him climb. Soon, irritated, Xue Xian said, "Give me a hand.” [e]

Xuanmin replied coldly, "Do it yourself."

Xue Xian: “...”

For a daye like Xue Xian to scurry around all over the ground was highly humiliating –– he would rather die than do that. But to climb up someone's arm like a monkey on a tree... That was tolerable. He looked up and assessed the height of the bald donkey's head, then deigned to reach out with his two dragon claws and grab onto the bald donkey’s robes.

The material of Xuanmin's religious robes was quite peculiar. What kind of hemp was it cut from? Its texture was thick, yet also rather soft, and as white as snow with no trace of dirt. All in all, it just didn't look like robes an ordinary monk could afford.

And there was... an indescribable smell.

Like a pine forest deep in the mountains, covered in fresh snow. 

Thanks to the feather-light weight of his paper body, Xue Xian was able to make a beeline from Xuanmin’s hip to his collar.

Once he'd arrived at the collar, it would have been easy work to swing himself up to the monk's shoulders. But Xue Xian refused to do that. He pressed himself against Xuanmin’s collar and looked around for a bit, then lifted his head. 

From this unique position, he could see Xuanmin's slender, pointed chin. If he went further up, he’d lose sight of it.

Xue Xian coiled his body, then pounced. He grabbed onto Xuanmin's chin, then, faster than someone escaping a fire, he clambered up to the bridge of Xuanmin’s nose. Next he went across Xuanmin's brows, and used that as leverage to jump down sideways onto Xuanmin’s shoulder. In that moment, Xue Xian was able to perfectly demonstrate the idiom, ‘Kicking one’s nose and stepping on their face’. [f]

Xuanmin: “...”

Xue Xian did not seem afraid of anything at all: there was no way this was an ordinary little yao. Yet his body’s spiritual power [g] was weak, so Xuanmin found it impossible to ascertain what this niezhang’s origins were. 

And speaking of his body... 

Xuanmin glanced at the paper man on his shoulder and said, "Back there, you told the ghost scholar that you had not yet passed."

Xue Xian adjusted his position until he found a comfortable position. Leaning back leisurely and forcing himself to sound casual, he said, "Yep. So you can't capture me. It's malpractice."

Instead of following his line of thought, Xuanmin asked another question: "Where is your real body?" 

Some bastards [h] really know how to speak. They always manage to pick the most vulnerable, inappropriate questions to ask. 

That little reed Jiang Shining was one such type. This bald donkey, too.

Where was his real body? 

Unfortunately, even Xue Xian wasn't sure.

His memories of that day in Huameng County, by the sea, when they'd taken out his spine, were overwhelmed by the tempest sending violent waves crashing onto the beach. The waves had swallowed him whole and brought him into the sea. Consumed by agony, he had lost consciousness after that, and by the time he’d been in possession of his faculties again, he had found that his soul had already left his body.

Without a soul to provide support, that maimed, dishevelled body had been unable to maintain its original appearance. In an act of self-defense, it had shrunk itself into a small golden marble. [i]    

He had hoped to pocket the marble and wait until his soul had healed enough to be able to recover his original form. But the heavens played a cruel prank. Before he had had the opportunity to regain his senses, a great wave had washed that golden marble onto shore. Xue Xian had been forced to remain in the water and watch through the waves as men in fishermen’s garb had taken the marble away. 

By the time he’d become fully awake and had wanted to go after them, the men had disappeared without a trace. 

Whenever Xue Xian remembered this, it made him furious. He snapped, "I'm still looking for it!" 

Xuanmin glanced at him again. How could he have managed to lose his own body? This niezhang seemed capable of anything.

It wasn't that Xue Xian didn't take it seriously. But compared to his need to obtain revenge for the maiming, finding his body was a lot easier. It was just that now, his spiritual energy [j] had been so diminished that he could no longer feel a bond with his real body anymore. Once he healed some more, he would become sensitive to his own body again, and be able to track it down with no effort at all.

At the same time, there was a difference between not actively looking for something, and that thing showing up at his front door. 

Xue Xian recalled that weng sound he'd heard earlier and couldn’t help muttering to himself, "This compound's configuration is str––"

As Xue Xian had been speaking, Xuanmin had been taking him on a stroll around the compound, snooping into halls and rooms. They had gone through two narrow doors and a corridor, and Xuanmin had been about to open another narrow door.

Thus, Xue Xian was in the middle of saying ‘strange’ when he cut himself off and hurriedly said, "Hold on! This place looks familiar."

More than familiar...    

Those stone floor tiles, that building with the wooden carvings over the doors, even that wizened tree whose branches stretched out beyond the compound and the ivy that clung to the wall... Wasn't this the exact place where Xue Xian had woken up?!

He had let the bald donkey lead the way, and they'd ended up in exactly the same place?! 

Xuanmin shook his head. "Before, it was false. This is real." 

Xue Xian glared at the monk. Alright. Since this bald donkey knows his way around the cosmological practices of the Eight Doors, his calculations shouldn't be wrong. If he says this place is real, then it’s real…

"So now that we've found the real version, what do we do?" Xue Xian watched as the bald donkey crossed the threshold of the narrow door and made his way toward that deserted building.

Xuanmin said, "This is the life door. Crossing it will break the array.”

Just as Xue Xian opened his mouth to speak, he heard low voices from inside the building that was, by all measures, supposed to be empty. 

Xuanmin immediately halted his steps, turned on his heels, and silently hid himself and the paper man on his shoulder behind a pillar farther down the corridor. 

How could there be people around? 

Still clinging to Xuanmin's shoulder, Xue Xian gingerly stuck his head around the pillar to see –– luckily, his paper body was subtle, and nobody would be able to notice him.

The voices from inside the shack became clearer. That intonation sounded quite familiar. It was only when the building’s doors opened with a creak and someone awkwardly stuck a leg over the threshold, stepping out, that Xue Xian abruptly realised –– this was the voice of the fool, Liu Chong. [k]

Could it really be this easy to find the others trapped in the array? Who was Liu Chong speaking to –– Jiang Shining? 

But Xue Xian wasn't one to act on impulse. [l] It took only one look for him to notice something odd. 

The thick overcoat that Liu Chong was wearing looked different from before. Previously, it had been bluish-gray. Now, it was a dusty red, with a crimson design lining the sleeves –– the robes had a celebratory look to them, as though made to be worn for a special event.

As they watched, Liu Chong stopped right by the doorway, then turned around to help another person out of the building. 

He was so clumsy that even helping someone else walk looked like it took great effort. Yet he seemed extremely focused.

The person leaning against his arm and limping out the door was an old lady. Her thinning white hair was in a small, drab bun that hung limply from the back of her head. Her look was haggard, her eyelids drooped, and deep wrinkles criss-crossed her face. Her lips were tinged with a purple shade. It was obvious that she was gravely ill.

Her hand gripped Liu Chong's forearm like an age-old tree entangled in muddy soil. Her other hand held a worn wooden cane. Even with all the help, she struggled to cross the threshold. 

The old woman’s legs were weak, and, to her, that threshold was simply too high. 

The old lady finally made her way across and leaned against her cane to rest. She smiled back at Liu Chong, and opened her shrunken lips to croon, "Good [m] Chong-er, go inside and get me a stool."

Liu Chong nodded. As he went in, the old lady added, "Oh, and the lanterns and ingots."

Liu Chong [k] probably struggled to keep track of more than one thing at a time. The old lady had given him three requests in a row, which was likely too complicated for him. [k] With one foot in the door and one foot out, Liu Chong stared cluelessly at the old woman and forcefully repeated, "Stool... ingots?" 

The old lady breathed an inaudible sigh, then smiled again. "Yes, Chong-er is so smart."

Liu Chong flashed back a dumb-looking [k] smile, then hurried into the shack. After a moment, he returned with the stool in one hand and a large cloth bundle in another. With his hands full, Liu Chong [k] seemed to forget how to walk. He paused in front of the threshold, hesitating, then finally managed to take a step back out. He stumbled toward the old woman and handed her the stool and the bundle.

He had probably wanted to put the stool down and then open the bundle, but with his clumsiness, the stool almost fell sideways and the bundle ended up tied into an impossible knot. Although he had come to help, he was in fact making things more difficult.

But the old lady did not display any hint of impatience, nor did her warm smile waver. She said to Liu Chong, "Now go in and get me two lanterns."

Liu Chong felt praised by her words. "Ai!" he said energetically, going back into the room and soon re-emerging with two red lanterns.

"It's Xiao Nian. [n] Time to swap out these white lanterns." The old woman directed Liu Chong to replace the lanterns by the doorway with the joyful red ones, then sat down onto her stool, squinting as she studied the knot on the bundle.

After some time, she managed to untie it.

As the bundle fell open, the pile of paper ingots inside spilled out onto the floor.

Carefully, the old woman felt inside the bundle and procured a single match. Using the flames of the white lanterns that she had just taken down, she lit the match, then threw it onto the pile of ingots.

A warm yellow fire leapt into the air, and the ingots immediately shrivelled up, as though the soul had been sucked out of them. One ingot by the side of the pile did not catch fire, but was blown by the wind toward the pillar. Discreetly, Xuanmin shot out a hand, and the ingot floated into his palm.

Xuanmin turned the ingot upside-down, and just as he'd thought, there was text written at the bottom in the same nonsense handwriting –– more of Liu Chong's [k] work.

Xue Xian tilted his head to read the text, and realised that this was a name –– Liu Xian.

He thought back to that pile of indecipherable ingots by Liu Chong's bed and wondered, Did those say Liu Xian too? 

But it couldn't have been. Liu Chong clearly knew how to write the characters for Liu Xian properly –– how could it have become a scribble later on? Based on the ink strokes, there were more than two characters on those ingots.

Xuanmin took a look at the text on the ingot, then let go. The paper ingot was picked up by the wind again and flew back into the now dying fire, where the fire licked up and swallowed it without a trace.

As the old woman fanned the remaining flames, she rambled, "This year my health isn't great. I can't bend my waist anymore. There are fewer ingots this year than previously, but I hope it's enough for you."

Liu Chong sat on the threshold, listening with quiet focus. Suddenly, he ran back into the room and came out with a stack of yellow sheets of paper in his arms. He knelt down and began to make folds in the papers, saying, "I know... I know how. Let me."

The old woman turned to watch him. Beneath the warm glow of the fire, her expression of love was mixed with concern.

Liu Chong was usually very clumsy, but as he set his mind to folding the ingots, he seemed much more adept –– he was clearly used to helping out with them. He finished folding one and held it in his palm, then flashed the old woman a dopey smile, [o] eagerly waiting for her to praise him.

The old woman chuckled. "My Chong-er’s ingots are better than mine."

"Here––" Liu Chong handed the ingot to the old woman, gesturing for her to throw it into the fire.

The old lady waved her hand. "No rush. We'll burn these next time. These don't have names, so we can't burn them, or else the ghosts won't know who they're for, and your grandfather won't know to receive them."

Liu Chong nodded thoughtfully, then bowed his head to fold more ingots.

The old lady used her cane to tap on the ground, extinguishing some of the sparks there. Then, she spread the ashes and made sure that more of the paper money was being picked up by the flame. As she did this, she muttered to herself, "Get the ingots, eat well, play well. May you peacefully climb mountains of gold and mountains of silver." [p]

Liu Chong continued to fold his ingots, and mumbled along with the old lady: "Eat well, play well. May you peacefully climb… mountains of gold and mountains of silver." 

Soon, the bundle of paper ingots was burned to ash. The old lady knocked her cane on the ground and took Liu Chong back into the building. Immediately after they entered, there was a crash: probably Liu Chong had bumped into something. This sound was followed by the sound of something shattering, as though some ceramic item had been smashed.

"Do not worry, it's fine, ah, it's fine," the old lady’s gentle voice said. It seemed that Liu Chong had been frightened by the noise, and she was now consoling him.

Soon, the old lady and Liu Chong came out of the building again.

Wrapped inside the front part of the old woman's robe were some broken pieces of ceramic, and Liu Chong was holding...

Xue Xian peered at it from beyond the pillar. It looked like a tiny copper mirror.

What was the copper mirror for?

Xue Xian was confused.

He watched as the old lady directed Liu Chong into digging a hole in the soil by the old tree’s roots. She put the ceramic flakes into the earth, then the copper mirror. As they buried the mirror, the old woman muttered, "Bury a mirror, turn evil omens into good omens. May the broken pieces rest in peace." [q]

Xue Xian: “...”

After burying the ceramic flakes and the copper mirror, the two figures went back into the building.

Liu Chong may be dim-witted, [k] but he knew to respect his elders. [r] He made sure to help the old lady into the room before crossing the threshold himself.

Xue Xian turned to Xuanmin and asked quietly, "This life door is behaving strangely. Do we have to watch these scenes from the past before it’ll let us out?”

Xuanmin frowned and put his fingers to his lips, warning Xue Xian to be quiet.

Too late. They watched as Liu Chong froze in the middle of stepping into the building –– he seemed to have heard something. Puzzled, he stuck his head out and looked around. By some stroke of luck, he looked in the direction of the pillar and made direct eye contact with Xue Xian. 

Normally, it would be hard to distinguish the specific facial features of such a small paper man even from three cun [s] away. With their current distance of seven or eight steps, Xue Xian should have been practically invisible.

Yet Liu Chong was able to see Xue Xian.

Xue Xian wasn't sure if he was hallucinating, but he felt that Liu Chong's usually dim-witted gaze [t] gained a sense of sharpness in that moment. Those pitch-black pupils stared, unmoving, at him from across the hall –– it was uncanny somehow.

In that instant, the wind that had been blowing across the courtyard began to howl again, and seemed to completely change direction. The sudden shift was terrifying. As Liu Chong took a step out of the door, there also came the sound of uneven steps from within the building: shuffling close together, yet heavy and lumbering. It didn't sound at all like the old lady. 

Xuanmin stepped away from the pillar. Just as Liu Chong began walking toward the, Xuanmin slipped through the narrow door and hid behind the doorway.

The ominous shuffling noise did not stop –– in fact, it seemed to get ever closer.

Xuanmin paused to look around, then chose the corridor to his right. He crossed the courtyard diagonally, ignoring all the main doors but making a beeline to the narrow door in the other corner.

"What just happened? Why did things suddenly change?" Xue Xian was gripping onto the monk's collar as tightly as he could. He couldn’t help but steal a quick glance behind him, and saw that the old woman and the youth had followed them through the narrow door. Their jerking movements and strange expressions took on a hollow, deadly tinge.

"I do not know how, but the life door has changed to the death door," Xuanmin replied as he pushed open the new narrow door.

Xue Xian said, "…So the eight doors are different from your calculations?"

"Mn."

"What happens if we accidentally go into the death door?" Xue Xian asked.

Xuanmin calmly said, "It sends a ripple across the whole array. [u] All the doors will begin to behave strangely. We must not let ourselves be seen by those people. Once they notice us, they will chase us."

“...” Xue Xian thought of the change in the old woman and young boy's behavior. He asked, "Chase us? Until when?"

"Only death will stop them."

“...”

In the time it took for them to speak, Xuanmin had crossed the threshold and walked through the narrow door. This time, it led them to a large hall, where for some reason a few servants were gathered around a table. One of the girls [v] said, "The lao-taitai [w] isn't getting any better. Her complexion has actually gotten worse. Could the Jiangs’ medicine be faulty? The quack is going to get her killed!"

Another, round-faced girl said, "We don't know anything about medicine. All we can do is make sure lao-taitai is comfortable. Last night was so frightening, lao-taitai couldn't breathe at all. Thankfully I gathered the courage to pound her back. Is it the two of you watching over her tonight? You must be careful!"

She was interrupted by another servant girl running into the room, breathlessly saying, "Quick! Come quickly! I fear lao-taitai is––"

Before she could finish speaking, Xuanmin left their hiding place and hurried back out of the narrow door. Xue Xian couldn't help but look back. He slapped Xuanmin hard in the face and said, "They've seen us! They saw us again! Let's go!"

With that, the footsteps inside the room changed rhythm, and the servants began a heavy shuffle toward the door.

They'd only opened two doors, and had already pissed off seven or eight strange spirits [x] who were now chasing them everywhere they went. Things were getting out of hand!

The bald donkey returned to the courtyard and didn’t hesitate to pick a third narrow door, rushing toward it.

Xue Xian “...” Oh, zuzong, think carefully before you open that door!

---

The author has something to say:

Thank you so much to those below~ I only started writing this recently, but I’ve already received so much money, I feel rather apologetic. I am already really happy that everyone is enjoying their reading and leaving comments~ You can hold back on the money, kiss kiss!~

[Acknowledgments]

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[a] In Chinese, Xue Xian is described as “taking on the shape of the 大 character”. 

[b] In Chinese, he uses 劳驾 (lao2 jia4), a polite way of saying “please”. 

[c] Musuli uses the phrase “flip/disturb the heavens” here.

[d] Musuli uses the phrase 劳什子 (lao2 shi2 zi), a colloquial noun meaning “nuisance”.

[e] Xue Xian literally says, “Hand?” or “Where’s the hand?” here in a demanding manner, but I like the pun in “Give me a hand” better. 

[f] This idiom refers to when person A kindly and politely overlooks person B’s shortcomings in order to save face for person B; but instead of being meek and grateful, person B then behaves arrogantly and shows no contrition. The idiom could be compared to “biting the hand that feeds you” in English, but is also slightly different.

[g] Musuli uses 原身气息 (yuan2 shen1 qi4 xi1), literally “original body smell/flavor”, where the word for smell/flavor contains the character for “qi”: 气. This phrase is webnovel shorthand for some kind of magical or spiritual power on someone’s body or within an object, where the power is not strictly tied to qi or to a specific magical system. Such a phrase is useful, for instance, when a character doesn’t actually know how the person/object in question sources and uses magic. Basically, it means “magic vibes”.

[h] Musuli uses 棒槌 (bang4 chui2). It means a wooden bat used to beat clothes in washing, but is used to mean “ignorant person” or “fool”. 

[i] The Chinese character here is 珠 (zhu1), which means “pearl” but is also a word generally used for any kind of bead or small-ish, ball-shaped thing. Because of the fact that it’s golden and the way it’s depicted in the story, I chose “marble” in English.

[j] Musuli uses 元气 (yuan2 qi4) here, where 气 is qi, and 元 is a complicated character whose meanings include “first”, “original”, “fundamental”, or “part/constituent”. Put together, 元气 means “vitality”, “vigor”, or “vital energy”. I’ve translated it as “spiritual energy”, because in this context Xue Xian is not only injured flesh-wise, but also power/strength-wise.

[k] Musuli uses 傻子 (sha3 zi), which means “idiot”. Sometimes when I use this footnote, she is using 傻 by itself, which is an adjective rather than a noun, meaning “idiotic”.

[l] Musuli says here that Xue Xian was “not a 莽夫”, where 莽夫 (mang3 fu1), literally “large/brash man”, means “boor”. 

[m] The specific praise used toward Liu Chong here is “capable”, but it sounds stilted in English. 

[n] 小年 (xiao3 nian2) Xiao Nian, also known as Little New Year, takes place on the 23rd or 24th day of the twelfth month in the lunar calendar, right before the Lunar New Year. It is also known as the Kitchen God’s festival, as a paper effigy for the Kitchen God is burned, so that he may report on the family to the Jade Emperor for reward or punishment. 

[o] Musuli uses 憨傻 (han1 sha3) to describe Liu Chong’s expression here. It comes the word for “silly/foolish/naïve” with 傻 (see footnote k).

[p] This saying (which Musuli made up for the old lady character) has an original rhythm of 4-4-4-4: four 4-character phrases.

[q] This saying (which Musuli made up for the old lady character) has an original rhythm of 4-5-4: 4 characters, 5 characters, 4 characters.

[r] In Chinese, the word here is 孝顺 (xiao4 shun4), which means filial duty.

[s] 3 cun: about 10 cm.

[t] Musuli uses 痴愚 (chi1 yu2), which combines “foolish”/”crazy” with another, slightly more formal word for “fool/ish”.

[u] Musuli uses 凶境 (xiong1 jing4) here. 凶 means “evil” and 境 means “place”. 

[v] Musuli uses 丫头 (ya1 tou), which means “servant girl”.

[w] Lao-taitai: see glossary.

[x] Musuli uses the phrase “things, and it was unknown whether they were human or ghosts”.