CH 33

Xue Xian never got to find out whether he could turn Xuanmin into a pancake, for he was quickly picked up by his tail and dangled from Xuanmin’s hand as they walked into the Zhang compound.

"If it weren’t for the fact that I'm unwell right now, I would strike you down with lightning," Xue Xian growled.

Xue Xian really did want to brandish his claws and teeth and show Xuanmin some of his full power, but he was too exhausted by the heat. Even his threatening words came out passive and whiny, and his claws only convulsed weakly. The desired aggressive impact was not achieved.

Back at the river, Xuanmin had been unconscious and had not seen the majestic way that Xue Xian had flown up into the clouds. With only the tiny dragon as a reference, Xuanmin could not detect anything intimidating about it.

Xuanmin had planned to step into the courtyard and find a random room to put the dragon down in, but, as he strode in, he changed his mind.

Xue Xian was so hot that he could not even say what day of the week it was anymore. His brain felt like hot glue. He was dimly aware that Xuanmin had entered the courtyard and had stopped –– who knew what he had seen, but he did not seem to want to move again, as though calmly waiting for something to happen. He felt Xuanmin's pinch on his tail loosen as he was positioned back on Xuanmin’s wrist as before.

But Xue Xian's claws were all slippery and feeble –– he couldn't even lift his head, let alone curl tightly against Xuanmin's wrist. As soon as Xuanmin placed him around his wrist, he began to slide down Xuanmin’s hand, without even the energy to find a foothold.

At least the temperature of Xuanmin's skin was cool. To Xue Xian, who felt as though he were about to start breathing fire, this was a small measure of comfort.

Xue Xian slipped twice in a row before he felt himself be maneuvered into a different position –– now Xuanmin seemed to be holding him in his palm, so that he wouldn't fall.

Humans' palms were connected to heart fire, [a] and were thus warmer than the rest of their bodies. As Xue Xian tossed and turned, he felt that this new location was not as cooling as Xuanmin's wrist had been. Dazed, he began to miss Xuanmin’s wrist. Summoning all of his energy, he went off in search of another cool place, and finally managed to scramble up Xuanmin's knuckle and wrap himself around Xuanmin’s finger.

Xue Xian’s tail swung back and forth from the little finger and his head rested against the thumb –– five fingers, four gaps, Xue Xian had woven himself across them all, refusing to let any patch of colder skin escape unscathed.

As the dragon's supple, scaled back slithered across Xuanmin's fingers, Xuanmin frowned and looked down. Seeing that the zuzong was acting like he was about to die –– again –– he simply looked away and let it be.

Stone Zhang really was a stonemason: there were even more piles of stone inside the courtyard than outside. The irregular piles made a small circle around the inside of the courtyard, with only a small gap by the set of doors to allow one person to pass through at a time. And the reason why Xuanmin had stopped as soon as he'd walked into the compound was because this stone was not ordinary stone.

Apart from a minority of incomplete carvings or scrap material, all of the blocks of stone that surrounded them were statues of beasts. And the beasts were not ordinary animals: as Xuanmin quickly scanned the carvings, he saw a deer-like or horse-like tianlu with a single horn on its head; a stout, lion-like bixie, and a taoba with a thick mane and no antlers... all of the carvings were of beasts who traditionally warded evil and repelled ghosts.

This Stone Zhang really was talented. His carving was exquisite and unnervingly lifelike. Some of the beasts were taller than humans, and others only reached one's waist; some looked across and others looked down; some had wide open eyes and others' eyes were half-shut –– but they all faced the front doors. Through gaps in the beasts' paws or beyond their backs, Xuanmin could see more sculptures in the form of other beasts such as tortoises and tiangou. Overall, the statues were piled densely and in abundance, creating a suffocating feeling.

An ordinary person, coming across such a scene, would piss their pants.

Whether or not the structure really could ward off evil, it could definitely ward off humans.

How strange...

A stonemason relied on his craft to earn a living, so for him to pile his courtyard full of products that showed off his skill was peculiar, but forgivable. But why had he chosen such terrifying statues? Xuanmin studied the stone flooring beneath his feet, then reached out to touch the carved beast closest to him ––

From the looks of the moss on the ground, these statues did not seem to have been in the courtyard for long –– they had probably only been placed here in the last month or so. And some of them were relatively new creations: although they had been skillfully carved, a sense of hurry could be detected in the details.

If Stone Zhang wanted to attract customers, he would definitely not put such things in such full view.

"Why are you just standing there?" Xue Xian grumbled. "I'm going to die..."

Xuanmin did not look at him. Instead, he prodded Xue Xian's head and said, "The courtyard contains an array. If I just walk right in, I fear that I will not be able to find you a room at all."

"Talk if you want, but don't touch my head," Xue Xian complained in his daze. "I'm already feeling so dizzy, stop making it worse..."

Only now did Xuanmin look down. The zuzong had not been exaggerating –– in fact, Xue Xian's skin was so hot that it was starting to scorch Xuanmin's hand. It was good that this was Xuanmin –– if it had been Jiang Shining or Lu Nianqi, Xue Xian would long have been dropped onto the ground with a startled shout. 

It was so hot that Xuanmin felt as though someone had poured boiling tea onto his hand, directly onto the thinnest, most vulnerable skin in his interdigital folds.

Xuanmin thought the niezhang was handling the heat rather well, considering the intensity. He saw that Xue Xian kept crawling to cooler parts of his skin, and was probably not feeling well at all, so he moved his other hand over and pressed it against Xue Xian's scales too.

In his daze, Xue Xian let out a comfortable sigh. He nudged himself closer to Xuanmin's hand and placed his head against it.

Now Xue Xian wasn't complaining about his head being touched.

Xuanmin decided to circle the courtyard and take a look at the statues. 

Before he'd gone in, he hadn't noticed, but now that he'd edged closer, Xuanmin could see that, between all of these intimidating beast statues, someone had placed small pieces of stone the size of thumbs.

From afar, they could be mistaken for random pebbles, but they were actually minuscule stone tiles. Indeed, the stonemasons in this region were famous not only for their exceedingly beautiful carvings, but also because of what was known as a ‘will carve anything’ attitude. They could even make detailed sculptures out of stone pieces as small as a fly's head.

These thumb-sized stone tiles had exquisite carvings of energetic-looking beasts' faces, with no attention lost to the details of the beasts' earlobes and nostrils. Their eyeballs even had dots in them representing light. And in the space beneath these beasts' faces were carved a phrase as small as a fly's head –– Shi Gan Dang. [b]

Shi Gan Dang were a type of mystical [c] stone items that could be used to ward evil. They could frequently be found in bad-luck corners in homes, or at the crossroads of city streets, so as to repel misfortune. In some places, they were also called Stone Generals. [d]

Any ordinary household had these tiles placed in areas such as death doors, or rooms that had overwhelming amounts of yin energy. But Stone Zhang's formation, with tiles littered in every nook and cranny possible, was definitely uncommon.

All in all, there were more than twenty Shi Gan Dang squeezed into Stone Zhang's courtyard. Of the eight cardinal directions, seven had been sealed by the Shi Gan Dang, with only one opening: the entrance via the front doors. The reason for this went without saying. It meant:

Wherever it is you came from, please go back there.

So although the courtyard was piled full of terrifying beasts, these statues were only to superficially scare ordinary people. Only the almost imperceptible Shi Gan Dang had any real effect.

"Your breathing is so loud..." Xue Xian whined. Despite his state of confusion, he continued to be unable to mind his own business. 

“...” Xuanmin paused, then said, "As far as I can tell, that breathing sound is yours."

This zuzong had a real talent for shifting blame. Xuanmin did not plan to bicker with him further –– after all, based on that horribly laborious breathing noise, this zuzong seemed to have enough to deal with already.

Xue Xian hung his head and tried to stay quiet for a bit. Finally, he realised that that annoying, heavy breathing sound really did come from him. The reason why he was feeling so perturbed by a simple breathing noise was because the atmosphere in the courtyard was extremely uncanny. It felt as though they were trapped inside the compound...

Or, someone had amplified all the courtyard’s sounds on purpose, so that they would not be able to hear what went on inside the rooms.

As Xuanmin absent-mindedly brought his cool fingers to rub Xue Xian's head again, Xuanmin decided not to pay attention to the distracting beast statues anymore. Instead, he studied those tiny Shi Gan Dang.

"Indeed..." Xuanmin said.

"Indeed what..." Xue Xian truly was a strong will in a disabled body: even in his confusion, he insisted on listening to everything around him.

"Do not worry about it. Focus on being dizzy." Xuanmin went ahead and used his finger to block the dragon's ear, if that was, in fact, his ear.

The more the zuzong fidgeted, the hotter his body burned. Xuanmin felt as though he, too, would burst into flames any second.

It felt as though he might really explode soon… 

Dimly, Xue Xian tried to claw at Xuanmin, but couldn't reach his hand. He no longer had the energy to make trouble.

When Xuanmin had said indeed, it was because he’d found a logic to the Shi Gan Dang. The beasts carved onto the tiles all had different eyes: some had their eyes wide open; others' were half-closed; and still others' were shut tightly.

They were arranged in a sequence –– from shut eyes to open eyes.

Xuanmin's hand shot to his copper coin pendant. The small gash that he'd cut into his thumb previously began to bleed as soon as it came into contact with the coins.

It was only a tiny sliver of blood... but it caused the pendant to emit a light weng–– sound.

Xuanmin had not used this pendant for a long time. Each time he touched the coins now, an inexplicable feeling of loathing would well up within him –– not loathing toward the pendant, that was for sure, but he also did not know who or what the loathing was directed to. He just had the feeling that he absolutely did not want to use the pendant unless he really had no other choice...

It had only been in the tomb beneath Gravestone Island, when he'd used his blood to awaken the pendant, that the strange feeling had finally gone away.

As the saying goes, ‘Strangers upon first meeting, friends by the second’: then as now, Xuanmin found that he knew exactly how to use the pendant, as though the knowledge had been etched into his body and made impossible to forget.

Who knew how many times he had used it, for this to become so instinctive.

One by one, Xuanmin confirmed the locations of each Shi Gan Dang.

Northeast––

West––

North––

Southwest––

...

Each time Xuanmin strode in a new direction, his finger would lightly tap the copper coin pendant.

Dang––

The sound emitted by the pendant was not a drum-like sound –– it was closer to the sound of a bell, simple and heavy.

With each ring of the pendant, the Shi Gan Dang corresponding to that cardinal direction would shatter.

One of the shattered pieces of stone accidentally rolled into the wrong spot: it clattered into the paw of a stone bixie the size of a man.

The bixie's half-shut eyes slowly opened. It tilted its head, and its robust chest suddenly seemed to inflate, as though it had come to life.

And just as it raised a paw, curved its spine, and got ready to pounce––

Xuanmin walked to the next position and tapped the coins with his finger. His face remained expressionless.

Dang––

The slow, brusque bixie suddenly stopped moving. Frozen in that position, it seemed to turn back into stone. 

After eight rings of the copper coin pendant, the Shi Gan Dang had all been destroyed.

Suddenly, wispy sounds rumbled forth –– the whole compound seemed to come alive.

The stone beasts moved automatically to create short, narrow tunnels, which led to the side room and the main hall.

As the path cleared, a wailing sound began to emerge from the main hall.

Frowning, Xuanmin strode into the main hall.

Inside was a large stone screen covered in detailed carvings, and behind it cowered a short man with a fat belly, who trembled as he stared back at Xuanmin.

Though his face was contorted in fear, the man seemed to be prepared –– he clutched a stout, unusual-looking sword that looked to be made neither from bronze nor from iron, but instead glowed ivory-white, like...

Like it was carved from a bone.

Suddenly, Xuanmin felt a blistering heat on his hand, followed by a sudden release in pressure as the thing coiled around his fingers fell away.

A magnificent, whistle-like cry emerged from somewhere close to Xuanmin’s ear. Terrified, the short man fell to the floor, the sword in his hand rattling and shaking.

Hong––

A massive black shadow appeared by Xuanmin's side in a burst of golden light, accompanied by a rumble of thunder. 

Next, four flashes of lightning struck down from the skies above.

Guang, guang, guang, guang, four strikes, all aimed directly at the short man –– they zipped past him from all four sides of his body and landed by his feet, causing the man to burst into tears and for a wet patch to appear on his crotch..

Amidst the roar of the thunder, the majestic head of a dragon sailed past Xuanmin, bringing with it a mighty gust of wind. The dragon tilted its head at the short man. A booming voice asked, "How dare you make a sword out of a dragon's bone?! Mn?"

Petrified, the man's eyes bulged out like a chicken’s, and he swiftly fainted.

Seeing that he had finally successfully scared someone unconscious, Xue Xian turned his head to Xuanmin and said, "It's so cramped in here..."

Xuanmin: “…………”

---

The author has something to say: 

I posted this using the app while on the train, I hope the formatting has no issues [emoji]

---

[a] 心火 (xin1 huo3), literally “heart fire”, is a concept in Chinese folk medicine or traditional Chinese medicine that relates to the inner heat of a person’s body. 

[b] 石敢当 (shi2 gan3 dang1) are stone tablets carved with writings, used to ward off evil; the carvings usually include the phrase 石敢当 or 泰山石敢当 (tai4 shan1 …) on them. They are usually placed outside the home or on street corners. The practice can be traced back to the Tang dynasty, and is also associated with a folk legend taking place on Taishan featuring a woodcutter named Shi Gandang. The double meaning of the word plays on the fact that Shi Gandang’s surname, 石, means “stone”. Baidu / Wikipedia / Wikipedia. Here, I have chosen to write 石敢当 out as three separate words, rather than 1 word or 2 words, in order to allow for both the name and the object term to compete for significance.

[c] Musuli uses the word 灵 (ling2) here, which literally means “soul” but can be used to describe anything magical, spiritual, or mysterious.

[d] 石将军 (shi2 jiang1 jun), literally “stone general”.