Book 4: Chapter 27: Human

Book 4: Chapter 27: Human

Seeing Jin Wantang's face pale, Xia Wen immediately waved his hand and explained, "Don't be afraid, dont be afraid. Although I say Im not a real person, Im not some monster either."

The atmosphere had been relaxed as they talked about metaphysics the whole time, so when it got to this point, Jin Wantang should have found such words funny and ridiculous. But now, they actually sounded very real. And this Xia Wen didnt seem like the joking type at all.

"Were different from you people, he said to Jin Wantang, so the way we walk looks somewhat peculiar."

"Then, if I may ask are you an immortal?" Jin Wantang couldn't understand what was going on. Maybe it was all just in his head, but when he looked into Xia Wen's eyes, it almost seemed as if the other mans pupils were getting smaller and smaller and the scleras were getting bigger and bigger. He immediately wanted to run away.

These were clearly the eyes of some kind of animal.

Xia Wen approached him at this time and said, "We are a kind of thing called shigou diao, but theres really nothing special to it. People are normally born with seven souls, but sometimes there are those who are born without all seven. The second of these seven souls is called the shigou soul. I was born without this soul, so I can't be classified as a human being."(1)

Jin Wantang froze for a moment and then breathed a sigh of relief. "If the seven souls are incomplete," Xia Wen continued, "it inconveniences our movements and we can't walk like normal people. We have to concentrate when we walk, because the shigou soul is located in the ear, which contains organs that help us maintain our balance. The organs themselves are fine, its just that theyre useless. As a result, we can only rely on our eyes to maintain our balance."

If youre disabled, just come out and say that youre disabled, Jin Wantang thought to himself. Why are you making up names? Why cant you be counted as a human being just because youre missing a piece of your soul? You look like an ordinary man, dont you?

With that said, Xia Wen turned and walked away. But the way his body moved was very strange. His body turned first while his head seemed to be half a beat behind. As a result, his head didn't fully turn until his body was already facing the other way.

But there was no way Jin Wantang would let him go. At this time, another God of Wealth popped into his head. He thought that since he couldnt take advantage of this God of Wealth right in front of him, he definitely couldnt lose out on Xie Yuhuas financial offer. So, he quickly moved forward to stop him. "In fact, I don't completely disbelieve you," he said. "Can you wait and tell me your information on the gold board? I don't want to lie to you. I also have something in my hand thats related to your experience!"

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TN Notes:

(1) Shigou diao can mean something like "dead dog hanging", "hanged dead dog", or "hanged dog corpse". Take your pick. Shigou specifically means "dead dog" or "dog corpse". According to Daoism, a persons soul is comprised of seven mortal souls (known as po ) and three immortal souls (known as hun ). The seven mortal souls represent carnal life and desires while the three immortal souls represent spirit and intellect. According to this website here, the seven mortal souls are: stinking lung, remover of filth, flying poison, thief swallower, yin sparrow, hidden arrow, and dead dog.

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Shew, almost didn't get this out. Question for you guys: do you want the pinyin for "dead dog hanging" instead or are you fine with what I've got? (I always have trouble deciding) The pinyin for "dead dog hanging" is "shigou diao". It's going to be mentioned quite a few more times so figured I'd better ask now. If you do want the pinyin, I'll also be changing the "dead dog soul" stuff to "shigou soul". Just let me know what you guys want and I'll fix it after work tomorrow(merebear needs to go to bed lol)(*^^*)

Update: I changed it. Hope it flows better.