Chapter 3: Qian Ji Part 2

It is said that in this world, there is a type of qinggong that glides like a breeze and moves like running water. Shapeless and trail-less, there was nowhere it couldn't reach. Regrettably, the one who possessed that supreme skill was currently acting as a thief; even the most dazzling martial arts skill was "wearing brocade at night", with no one to admire it.

Xie Yun didn't use a long rope and didn't have an iron claw with him. His entire body seemed to turn into a sheet of extremely thin paper, sliding down the mountain wall at a medium pace. He wore dark gray, almost black night travelling clothes, perfectly matching the color of the stone wall. He was like a typical stone on the mountain wall, completely pressed against the pitch-black mountain wall. On the slick mountain wall, even a slight, minuscule bump would make him stop, slow down and change positions before continuing downward.

Xie Yun was extremely modest in his self-evaluation, thinking that his qinggong was "near perfect, but not yet reaching perfection" and still had a bit to go until he could mount the clouds and ride the mist. As a result, it was understandable that he made a mistake by accident when he was near the surface of the river—after being swept by a gust of icy cold river wind, his leg cramped up.

As expected, that half lying copper coin was a sign of starting off on the wrong foot.

Luckily, the area by the river wasn't as slick as above. Xie Yun grabbed a mountain rock just in time, using his hands and feet to hang himself on it, somehow avoiding falling headfirst into the river and turning into a cuttlefish.

The rock on which he hid was around one chi squared (1 chi = 0.333 meter). Xie Yun sluggishly laid down, facing upwards and grimacing as he relaxed his bones and muscles that hurt from tensing them. He suddenly heard a clang from the surface of the river that rang far into the distance. Xie Yun promptly lifted his head, discovering that a moment of gentle breezes had blown away the thin fog on the river surface. On the opposite side of Xi Mo River were two people!

Startled, he thought: Did the river guards come back?

The one who caused the noise was Zhou Fei. She hung on the rope for a moment, then suddenly, as if sensing something, she fished out a tie lian-zi (iron lotus seed) from her arms, lifted her arm and threw it. The energy-filled tie lian-zi entered the water and made a light noise before springing high into the air. Zhou Fei's eyes lit up—just now, she felt that the shape of the ripples in the water were very unusual, as if there was something underwater.

Off to the side, Li Sheng furrowed his brow in hesitation. His personality was cautious and conservative; if he went first, you would likely have to wait until the next year. Zhou Fei's gaze swept over him and hopped down from the rope, her feet landing at where the tie lian-zi had landed earlier. Li Sheng was shocked at first but quickly discovered that she was stably "standing" on the surface of the water.

Soon after, Zhou Fei looked at him like she was provoking him and then suddenly left where she was, rising and falling on the river surface like a dragonfly tapping water. In the blink of an eye, she reached the heart of the river.

On the mountain rock across the river, Xie Yun slightly squinted his eyes, only now seeing clearly that the approaching person was a young girl between adulthood and childhood. He "tsk"-ed in his head, guessing that the two were likely disciples of the Stronghold, making mischief in the middle of the night instead of sleeping.

Xie Yun didn't even want to startle an ant in the Stronghold; at once, he sat straight on the rock, quietly resting his mind and gathering focus, hoping that these two youngsters would go away quickly after they made their mischief.

However, the girl's skills were not very showy and flowery but unexpectedly nimble and decisive. She held a zhai-bei chang dao loosely in her hand; from far away, the person and the dao were perfectly "one horizontal, one vertical", both thin and long. Xie Yun saw her long braid hanging down her back and the tips of her hair were swept into motion by the misty wind. Her features were hidden in the night, and with his amazing eyesight, he could only see shadows of her slender nape and tiny chin, as if some spirit [1] emerging from the water….

Xie Yun thought over it for a bit, coming to a conclusion: Shui Cao Jing (Water Grass Spirit).

At the same time, Zhou Fei, who was at the heart of the river, finally had a clear view of the giant object underwater—it was a stone formation, silently hiding in the pitch black water, like a hibernating water monster, dense and about to emerge out of the water. There was a small pavilion at the heart of the river, almost hidden in the fluctuating mist, perfectly hiding on the head of the "large water monster".

As the river water murmured in motion, looking down through the surface of the water, it seemed like the water monster below would also move.

Zhou Fei stared at the stone formation for a bit, feeling a chill go through her. She didn't have the time to dwell on it, immediately turning her head, shouting at Li Sheng, who had already caught up to her: "Something's not right, go back!"

After climbing down the cliff and finding some unusual thing under the water instead of seeing the legendary Yu Lao, Li Sheng also felt scared. He had originally been ready to turn back anytime, but then Zhou Fei suddenly "kindly" threw this sentence at him…normally, Li Sheng would treat her words as ill intent.

Zhou Fei told him to go back and Li Sheng instinctively continued forward instead of going back. Yet at this time, he heard a bee-like sound from behind him and all the hairs on his body stood up. His dagger was originally a pair but since one fell when he was climbing down into the river, he only had one left. He just barely had the time to bend back, placing his dagger behind his back.

The thing passed, nearly touching his lower back. With a clank, it collided with his dagger, the residual force nearly toppling him into the water. Li Sheng was forced to release his hand and his last remaining dagger flew out horizontally. A ripping sound came from behind him and the travelling bag on his back was oddly split into two, the items inside falling into the water one after the other. Even his outer robe had a small cut, thankfully not cutting his skin.

Xie Yun, who had been lazily observing on the rock, suddenly sat up straight, realizing that he may have chosen the wrong time. When the river guard was not there, it was when the Xi Mo River was the most dangerous—with the person gone, the wild beast in the water was released!

Terrified, Li Sheng asked: "What is that?"

Zhou Fei no longer feared being discovered by Yu Lao and fished out a huo zhe zi. [2] As soon as it lit up, her expression suddenly changed and she immediately placed her chang dao horizontally in front of her—under the slowly emerging firelight, she saw an extremely thin "wire" half a chi in front of her, blocked by her zhai-bei dao. The two ends of the "thin wire" were hidden in the mist and she couldn't tell how long it was or where it was connected. However, if she were swept through by that thing, her lower leg would probably separate from her body.

The power coming from the "thin wire" was so great it was difficult to imagine. The veins on the back of the hand Zhou Fei used to press on the dao began to pop up; after sustaining it for merely a moment, she felt that she would be pushed over. At once, using the chang dao as a base point, she leapt into the air and flipped in place, suddenly releasing her hand. The dangerous and evil thin wire brushed past her and disappeared into the mist like a ghost.

Observing on the side, Xie Yun's expression turned serious, mumbling with surprise: "It's Qian Ji."

The monster in the river did not give Xie Yun any opportunity to show off his broad knowledge. Soon after, bee-like sounds could be heard one after another, forcing the children in the center of the river to hop up and down like they were juggling. By this time, it was too late to turn back, because the stones under their feet began to move!

The water monster in the river was like a huge puppet, awakened by two unwanted visitors who did not know their limitations. Blade-like thin wires rose out onto the river surface and flew through the water, causing the stone steps under their feet to move up and down. Before it extinguished, the huo zhe zi in Zhou Fei's hand brushed by the road they had come from. Dumbstruck, she discovered that there was a dense patch of reflections—the entry road was sealed, and the two of them were like bugs who were caught in a spider web.

Li Sheng shouted loudly: "Enter the water!"

There were many tortuous mountain streams and creeks in the 48 Strongholds; the local children had all played in the water and would not drown if they fell into a river. Having lost his weapons, Li Sheng cut a sorry figure as he avoided the wires. No longer worrying about dignity and cleanliness, his first response was to take the water route. However, before he took action, an unfamiliar male voice came from the cliff wall, saying: "You can't enter the water."

The two on the river startled at the same time. Zhou Fei hurriedly bent down, avoiding a thin wire that was going to cut her in half; a segment of her hair was even sliced off. She shouted: "Who's there!"

As a thief, Xie Yun really wanted to pretend he was a rock, safely infiltrating the Stronghold. However, he couldn't just watch as these two youths died here. He made a resolution, thinking: The fortune was right after all, I really am missing morals in all five elements. Nevermind, if they capture me then captured it is.

Xie Yun took out a lei huo dan [3] from his sleeve, throwing it into the sky with a swing of his sleeve. That little thing blasted like fireworks in the air; the light wasn't very bright but it could be seen countless li (500 meters) out, probably enough to startle the people in the Stronghold. At the same time, the light from the explosion allowed Zhou Fei and Li Sheng to clearly see the situation under the water—between those huge rocks, countless thin wires were connected, forming a deadly yet silent net underneath the water. If someone entered the water, it was possible that they would be instantly turned into minced meat by that huge net.

Li Sheng's hands and feet turned cold, his passion freezing into a block of ice. Momentarily, he was dumbfounded. He then heard the voice of could-only-hear-their-voice-but-not-see-the-person speak again: "Xiao xiongdi (lit. little; brothers), you're at one of the eyes of the formation [4], hurry up and leave."

Even before the sound of his voice faded, Li Sheng felt the stone beneath his feet shake, about to sink into the water. Frightened, he moved toward where Zhou Fei was without even thinking. However, he heard the stranger say: "Be careful!"

A thin wire shot out of the water, rushing directly toward his face. There was no place to use as a base in the air and he didn't have any weapons on him, watching as he was about to be split into two. Li Sheng's pupils contracted to the extreme; at this moment, the thin wire suddenly stagnated mid-air and Li Sheng brushed past it, landing safely on another huge rock.

His heart, which went still for a brief moment, finally began to wildly beat in his chest. He turned his head and saw that the thin wire had been blocked through sheer force by Zhou Fei with her zhai-bei dao.

Xie Yun swept his gaze across the huge Qian Ji in the river and jumped down the edge of the cliff. Like a light breeze, he barged into the Qian Ji formation: "Shui (Water)…em, uh xiao guniang (little girl), quickly release your hand, this stuff isn't something human strength can withstand!"

Even without his warning, Zhou Fei couldn't stand it any longer. After holding out for only a short moment, the place between her thumb and index finger on both hands felt like they were going to rip open. Zhou Fei took a step back and bent backwards the moment she withdrew her power, her waist almost folding in half. The tightly strung wire bounced on the water like the string of an instrument, causing layers and layers of ripples. From bottom to top, it brushed past her. A person wearing all-black suddenly landed a few zhang (3.333 meters) away from her, his technique so fast that one couldn't tell where he came from. That person lifted up one hand, holding a luminous pearl, shining on and revealing all the surrounding Qian Ji wires.

"Don't touch the Qian Ji wires," the one who came said, "Follow me."

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水草精 shui cao jing – Xie Yun's nickname for Zhou Fei

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[1] 精怪 jing guai (the term used in the raw) is a creature in Chinese lore, with no direct translation in English. It is a demon/spirit/monster/fairy of sorts, referring to birds/beasts/flowers/trees who, after many years of cultivating, become a 妖怪 yao guai (aka a demon/spirit/monster/fairy). If you know what a yōkai is in Japanese folklore, they're the same. Fun fact: the kanji for yōkai is 妖怪, which is the same as 妖怪 yao guai. After all, kanji is just Chinese characters.

[2] 火折子 huo zhe zi is a dense roll of paper that when blown on, lights on fire. (There's more to it, leave a comment if you're interested and I can explain more.) It was used in the ancient times as a light source. Oddly, I could not find an English term or page for it anywhere online and even Baidu listed its English name as just "Huo Zhe Zi".

[3] 雷火弹 lei huo dan is a grenade of sorts, I assume. The story says it causes an explosion, but it may be like a signal instead of something that causes damage. If anyone has another take on it, please let me know!

[4] 阵眼 zhen yan or eye of the formation is like a key point/weak spot in a formation. This is harder to explain as it really ties Chinese fantasy, but based on what I've read in wuxia and xuanhuan novels, it's the spot you want to find in order to solve or break through the formation. To be honest, 阵 zhen in this case isn't even really "formation" but it's the closest translation. Again, if anyone has another take on this, let me know!