Chapter 48- A Dangerous Place

Fallen, the female marionette kicked its legs on the floor. Wen Kexing didn't pay attention and almost stepped on "her". He jumped up only when she swept her flute at his feet.

The male marionette behind them dislodged its arm from the door where it had gotten stuck and turned around.

Wen Kexing picked up Zhang Chengling and threw him into the hole in the wall from which he came. Then, he stooped to gather Zhou Zishu into his arms before he leaped after the boy.

The male marionette gave chase at once.

Wen Kexing turned around to eye it warily, but the automaton seemed only able to move forwards and back, and not sideways. It couldn't find its targets and kept pacing up and down the corridor, until the female marionette

tripped it up with her flute in an excellent illustration of the saying "piercing one's shield with one's spear".1

The male marionette collapsed to the floor with a resounding clang. Doubtless, because it thought itself under attack, it swung its arm at the female marionette's head, and the two automatons went at each other in internecine strife.

Wen Kexing let go of the breath he'd been holding.

"Don't speak," he whispered to Zhou Zishu before reaching out to seal his acupoints.

As he put the other man down, he saw the bloodstains on Zhou Zishu's chest and frowned. He turned to Zhang Chengling.

"Kiddo, go to the entrance over there and keep watch. If there are..." He paused, not knowing how to call the things. "If there are round thingies," he went on while gesturing with his hands, "that is about a foot high rolling this way, come back to warn me at once."

Zhang Chengling nodded.

"Sir, my Shifu, is he..."

Wen Kexing cut him off impatiently.

"He's fine. He won't die."

"Sir, what are the 'thingies' you're talking about?"

Wen Kexing sighed.

"I don't know either." He pointed at the gaping hole in the stone wall. "That'd be the result of them blowing up."

Zhang Chengling followed his finger with his gaze and shuddered — it turned out even such a redoubtable man had been chased all the way here. He took off toward the opposite end of the chamber at once and anxiously stood guard.

Wen Kexing reached out to undo the front of Zhou Zishu's robe, but the other man caught his wrist.

"What are you doing? Trying to take advantage of me?" Zhou Zishu gibbed in a hoarse voice.

Wen Kexing batted Zhou Zishu's hand away and gave him a light poke in the chest.

"How about you save it for once," he replied in an airy tone. "A breath away from kicking the bucket and still being a bigmouth."

Zhou Zishu consequently felt that his life was complete indeed. First, he'd been called a "fat-headed rice tub" by a first-rate glutton, and now a chatterbox extraordinaire had stated that he was a bigmouth.

The guys unfastened the lapels of his robes with caution. When his gaze came upon the Nails on his chest, he couldn't help but flinch. Zhou Zishu didn't give a damn, though. At the moment, he felt as if his entire torso and back were on fire and knew that his injury wasn't a light one. He suspected fractured bones, and his lungs must have been affected as well. Thus, to prevent worsening his condition, he forced himself not to cough and made his

respiration the lightest he could.2

Wen Kexing made him turn over and let out an outright gasp when he saw the wound on his back.

"Would you believe me that, an inch to the side, and it'd have broken your spine?" he said in an icy tone.

"Cut out the rubbish," Zhou Zishu retorted in a murmur. "If a puppet could break my spine, I'd be too ashamed to carry on living."

Wen Kexing snorted. He reached out to carefully examine the lesion. After a good while, he sighed. "Are you an idiot? Or don't you feel it when it hurts?"

The guy's fingertip pressed some sore spot, and Zhou Zishu had to muffle a groan. The pain was so overwhelming, it robbed him of speech

"How... about you let me bludgeon you," he grumbled through gritted teeth, "so you can have a taste?" Uncharacteristically, the guy didn't reply. He propped Zhou Zishu upright and affixed his palm to the middle of his

back to channel his qi into Zhou Zishu's body.

Fearful of waking the Nails in Zhou Zishu's chest as Ye Baiyi had done last time, Wen Kexing didn't dare use too much force. In his whole life, he had only ever trained to harm and kill, and attempting to save someone's life with his kung-fu was a first. He felt like a butcher who had picked up a sewing needle and trembled with trepidation every second of it. Sweat drenched his forehead in no time.

The best part of an hour went by before he withdrew his hand and released Zhou Zishu at last. He helped the man lean against the wall.

Zhou Zishu shut his eyes to rest, doubtless because he knew that he was in terrible shape and was trying to preserve his strength.

A gory stain that he had failed to wipe off smeared the side of his mouth. It contrasted starkly with the ashen complexion of his skin, making his face look even more ghastly pale.

Wen Kexing peered at him for a long while, until, unable to control himself, he bent down to catch the corner of the other man's lips between his own. He licked away the speck of blood and sighed as he carded his fingers through the hair at Zhou Zishu's temple. They were so close, their breaths mingled.

Zhou Zishu had reopened his eyes but didn't waste any energy.

"Profiting from another's predicaments — the action of a true scumbag," he uttered in a low voice. Wen Kexing didn't even lookup.

"Spoken as if you were a gentleman."

The guy's reply was a murmur accompanied by a light chuckle. It puffed against Zhou Zishu's mouth. Zhou Zishu's stoic countenance cracked. Feeling uneasy, he made to turn his face away, but Wen Kexing grabbed his chin.

"Don't you have a heart?" the guy went on "Shouldn't I get a bit of a reward for helping you heal your wound?"

Zhou Zishu remained silent for quite a while before he replied, "Sorry, but selling my body isn't in my plans at the moment."

Wen Kexing laughed.

"Do you know what happens to people who aren't as strong as somebody else, then?"

Zhou Zishu arched his brow and stared at him with a gaze of wonder that meant "how can a human being be so shameless". But Wen Kexing only leaned in closer.

"They. Get. Bought. By. Force," he whispered into his ear. Zhou Zishu gave a bitter chuckle.

"Your appetite is out of this world."

Wen Kexing ogled him with a dirty glint in his eyes for yet longer before he released his grip. He crossed both arms behind his head and stretched out his legs to rest his feet on the wall opposite. Leaning back, he said in a lazy voice:

"But tell you what, I'll let you owe it to me for now."

Zhou Zishu was exhausted; he stopped talking nonsense with the guy. With his head groggy, he closed his eyes again and soon half passed out, half dozed off.

Wen Kexing was well aware of his limitations. Amongst the three of them, Ye Baiyi was the only person who was any good at the obscure discipline of cosmic calculation. Who knew what they'd run into next if they carried on stumbling around like headless chickens? With a kid who had yet to grow facial hair tagging along and Zhou

Zishu was injured, the better plan was to make lemonade out of lemons3 by regrouping for a while first. They could think of a solution when they had rested.

The sound of Zhou Zishu's breathing was low but even. He seemed to have fallen asleep. Wen Kexing turned his head to gaze over at him.

Out of the blue, he recalled what the Great Shaman had said — "Lord Zhou, if you are willing to do away with your kung-fu, although a coin-flip chance, I may have a way to preserve your life."

As if in a trance, he sat upright, gathered his energy into his palm, and raised his arm.

Maybe if...

He hesitated for a moment with his hand hovering above the other man. He had yet to bring it down when icy fingers reached out to grip his wrist.

Zhou Zishu had opened his eyes unbeknownst to him. Both men stared at each other in the cramped stone chamber. "What were you trying to do?" Zhou Zishu asked in a calm voice. His face likewise betrayed no emotion.

Wen Kexing failed to reply.

Zhou Zishu sighed. He looked away and threw an abrupt line at him.

"Others wouldn't understand, but don't tell me that you can't either." At that, Wen Kexing lowered his eyes and let his hand fall to the side.

"I understand," he finally said after a long hush. He pounded his arm downward in an abrupt movement, leaving a palm-print an inch deep into the hard ground.

"Yes, I do understand..." he repeated as if trying to persuade himself.

Zhang Chengling didn't know when he had fallen into slumber, nor did he know for how long he had slept when a loud boom jolted him awake. He bounced up from the floor and whipped his head left and right to scan all around.

A hand landed on his shoulder, making him shudder. He turned and saw that it was only his Shifu who, just yesterday, couldn't even stand upright.

Zhou Zishu coughed a few times as he held Zhang Chengling in place.

"Stop fretting. Follow," he instructed.

Zhang Chengling looked over his shoulder and saw that Wen Kexing had also come out.

"Shifu," he asked. "Is your injury healed now?"

"Because I'm not human," Zhou Zishu replied, not even glancing back.

Zhang Chengling mulled it over and reflected that his Shifu was right. With so severe a wound...

Paying no mind to the man's crabby tone, he went closer again.

"Shifu. So... can you... can you walk?"

Zhou Zishu inhaled a deep breath. Not only was he sore all over, he felt a headache looming as well.

"What do you think I'm doing right now?" he inquired back.

Wen Kexing twisted to look at them, chuckling. Zhang Chengling scratched his head.

"Shifu, what I meant is... with you being so gravely injured..."

Zhou Zishu threw him a look.

"So you think I should act delicately in a place like this, perhaps? Or maybe you would like to carry me on your back?"

Zhang Chengling was just about to demonstrate his filial piety when Wen Kexing hastily cut in: "I'll carry you on my back. I can even carry you in my arms if you'd prefer."

Zhou Zishu turned aside to let out another fit of coughing while he clutched at his chest with his shoulders hunched.

"Cut it out, both of you," he snapped.

The three of them cautiously made their way along the tunnel, towards the origin of the loud noise. Out of circumspection, Zhou Zishu closed his palm around the fluorescent pearl he held. Darkness fell.

Wen Kexing took a step forward to haul Zhou Zishu to his side and extracted Zhou Zishu's sword from his waist. He ran an appreciative finger along Baiyi's edge before he gave a jerk of his wrist. The point of the blade vibrated as it darted out.

The person around the corner was caught off guard and let out a light grunt. They flicked their fingers in response and knocked the sword askew. Wen Kexing changed his stance at once.

In Zhou Zishu's hand, that sword was nimble and forthright. When Wen Kexing wielded it, however, it resembled maggots festering on bones as it lashed out in fiendish strokes. Amidst the darkness, the two opponents exchanged countless moves in the time it took to blink.

After listening to the clash for a while, Zhou Zishu frowned. "Mister Ye?" he called out.

A snort echoed through the dark. Zhou Zishu raised his hand and let the fluorescent pearl shine again. It illuminated the scowl on Ye Baiyi's face that was even fouler than usual.

Only then did Wen Kexing withdraw the sword. All smiles, he cupped his fist. "Oh dear, how maladroit of me. But I swear it was a mistake, a pure mistake."

The lie couldn't have been plainer. If Zhou Zishu could identify Ye Baiyi by the sound of their exchange alone, so could have Wen Kexing who'd moreover been trading blows with him. It was evident the guy had used the pretext of darkness to have a try at whopping Ye Baiyi's ass. Wen Kexing still held some deep resentment toward the mysterious old freak.

Ye Baiyi swept his gaze over Zhou Zishu and frowned. "How did you end up such an ungodly sight..."

Determined to preserve as much energy as possible, Zhou Zishu leaned sideways against the wall and cut off the man in white before he could continue nagging.

"It only proves that I'm useless. A downright rice tub."

Somewhat startled, Ye Baiyi cast him a second look before nodding. "Well, at least you're self-aware enough."

Then he glanced at the three of them and gestured with his hand. "This way."

Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing knew that the old dude wasn't exactly a softie4. They happily let him lead the way while they brought the rearguard, sandwiching Zhang Chengling in the middle. As they traipsed along, Wen Kexing leaned in close and snuck an arm around Zhou Zishu's waist before silently pulling Zhou Zishu's hand to prop it over his shoulder.

Zhou Zishu frowned at him.

"Do I look like a cripple to you?"

Wen Kexing gave an exasperated sigh

"Now that the old freak is here, what are you still acting tough for? Come on."

Since they'd fallen into those tunnels, the two men had run into one dangerous situation after another. As if the goddamn place was a living hellhole with traps in each one of its labyrinthine tunnels. It was therefore rather odd that, as they followed Ye Baiyi around, they made smooth progress than on.

The four of them took many bends and turns before they came upon what looked like a large reception hall. Everything seemed quiet, but as soon as they stepped in, countless ball-like things that were about a foot tall rolled out from all sides.

Out of reflex, Wen Kexing kicked Zhang Chengling backward before gathering Zhou Zishu into his arms and surging up forty feet high.

The rounded thingies had given him enough trouble already: made with some unknown craftsmanship, they exploded whenever they came into contact with something. The day prior, he'd been chased around in the tunnels by them for so long, he had felt like a large rat.

Ye Baiyi, however, remained collected while he eyed the wave of bouncing balls hurtling at him. Then, he let out a sharp grunt and struck at the air with some mysterious technique.

Zhang Chengling's eyes were keen. He saw the stone floor under Ye Baiyi's feet splinter as the foremost sphere exploded, setting off a chain reaction: each ball that came afterward blew up, one after another.

Ye Baiyi merely stood with both hands outstretched in front of him. Whatever he was doing, it was as if he had erected an invisible wall that blocked the earth-splitting fracas to the other side.

It made Wen Kexing grow solemn for once; he peered pensively at Ye Baiyi's back.

The man in white's thundering voice resonated through the air.

"Show yourself already!"

With that, he reached out to claw at thin air with his hand, and an enormous slab of stone fell from the wall.

Zhou Zishu and company followed Ye Baiyi's gaze to the silhouette that had appeared in the newly revealed entrance. They froze on the spot, dumbfounded.

Notes

1. expression from Nan Yi by Han Feizi. Translated literally.

2. People cough up/spit out blood a lot in Chinese wuxia/drama and. It's the universal sign that "something is seriously wrong" independently of medical realism.

3. lit. "cope with shifting events by not moving".

4. Ye Baiyi is said to "not be a vegetarian". Refers to Buddhist monks who are vegetarian because all living creatures are sacred. By extension, "not being a vegetarian" means that someone isn't a believer in being kind to all living things.

A misc note on "gentlemen" and "scumbags".

Through the story, ZZS and WKX are often referred to as not exactly "gentlemen". The latter term is a translation of the expression (lit. "noble's son", variably rendered as "nobleman" or "superior person") from Confucian teachings.

is a man (and specifically a man because for Confucius women don't exist) who acts accordingly to Confucian ideals and is, therefore, a superior human being. It is contrasted with the expression (lit "small person") who does not follow Confucian principles and is therefore despicable.

ZZS and WKX both often use the term "gentleman" to jeer at each other on how far they are from being one. They also use terms that are peripheral to the concept of "small person", either to refers to people they don't like or in their bickering.

Although "small person" isn't vulgar, it's a pretty strong insult. And if used non sardonically referring to someone as a "gentleman" is high praise.