Chapter 47- The Marionettes

The python was even taller than Zhou Zishu as it leaped toward him with its open maw aimed straight at his throat.

Zhou Zishu threw Zhang Chengling into a corner and dodged by crouching. He unsheathed his sword and brought it down on the beast's neck from behind.

Sparks flew as his blade collided with the giant python's nape, but the reptile's skin wasn't even scratched.

The creature flung its tail, missing Zhou Zishu's shoulder by the breath of a hair — a blow that would have broken his neck for sure had he not been swift to duck. A loud "clang" reverberated in the air as the snake's tail landed onto the ground, blasting rock debris and sand everywhere.

Aghast, Zhou Zishu retreated three successive steps: he could tell that his weapons would have shattered to pieces from making contact had he wielded any ordinary sword instead of Baiyi.

Something wasn't right.

An abrupt thought flashed through Zhou Zishu's mind — when it had pounced at him, the giant python's maw hadn't reeked of blood! Such beasts fed on raw meat all year round, so how could its mouth not smell of rot and gore?

Zhang Chengling was curled up in a corner, but he had observed the entire scene with his neck stretched out in rapt attention.

"Shifu," he exclaimed. "That snake looks like a fake one!"

As soon as the boy spoke up, the great python jolted and turned its head toward him while emitting a hissing

sound.

But Zhang Chengling didn't seem so frightened anymore. The foolish boy bounced up from the ground — not forgetting to dust off his behind — and pointed at the monster that was eyeing him voraciously.

"Shifu, look at it! That snake seems real but..."

The giant python struck again before he could finish his sentence.

Though he had been on the verge of pissing his pants only moments ago, the kid was now acting giddy because he found out that the snake wasn't a real one. Doubtless, because he thought fake animals weren't dangerous as they didn't need to eat people for food.

Zhou Zishu was at a loss for words — was there ever a difference between being crushed into a sack of goo, and being crushed into a sack of goo that'd get devoured afterward?

But then, he couldn't very well stand by and watch while the brat got himself killed.

He leaped into the air like an eagle spreading its wings, and dived at the snake from its flank. Aiming a kick at the monster's head, he knocked it hurtling sideways.

The thing was made of some unknown material that was incredibly sturdy. When he landed back on the ground, a dull ache lanced in his lower leg.

At least it got Zhang Chengling to shut up.

As he regained his footing, Zhou Zishu spotted a darkened passage behind the great snake's body, and an idea came to him.

"Run towards the tunnel over there when I lure the thing away," he said to Zhang Chengling in a low voice. "But don't go into it. Wait for me at the entrance. Do you understand? "

Zhang Chengling gave an obedient nod of the head.

The great python jostled its head, appearing to recover, and Zhou Zishu shoved Zhang Chengling hard.

"Go!"

Senselessly, the boy sprinted toward the tunnel with his eyes shut, as if he were trying to demonstrate the scurrying of a panicked and blind rat.1 He almost smacked into the snake face first.

Fear constricted Zhou Zishu's chest; he hastily thrust his sword at the monster and stabbed it in the eye, gouging out an eyeball made of the material he couldn't identify.

At once, the snake redirected its attention from Zhang Chengling and hurled itself at Zhou Zishu for a battle to the death.

Although, of course, the thing wasn't alive in the first place, so it'd be hard for it to "die" a second time.

Zhou Zishu climbed along the wall, drew in a sharp breath, and surged up over thirty feet high. The giant python sprang right after him, its maw snapping at his heels.

From the corner of his eye, Zhou Zishu saw that Zhang Chengling had arrived at the tunnel entrance and was gazing at him with an anxious face. Reassured, he aimed a sharp kick to the rock face and executed a backflip. His body seemed to fold in two in mid-air before he plunged headfirst toward the ground of the narrow pit.

As finely crafted as it was, the giant python was still a fake one. It bent back to follow Zhou Zishu, but the space they were in was too narrow. Even though the material it was made of was strong enough to break swords, it wasn't so flexible. A loud "crack" echoed in the stone chamber as Zhou Zishu landed and rolled to the side.

His dodging was superfluous — the fake snake had snapped in half, some hinges still connecting its two parts as it got stuck between the pit's walls. The sight of its enormous tail dangling in the air was rather comedic.

Zhang Chengling bolted to Zhou Zishu's side. "Shifu, are you injured?!"

Zhou Zishu glanced back without a word. The boy was a ball of nerves blinking at him, and he was sure that if he hadn't established an intimidating presence beforehand, Zhang Chengling would be patting him up and down to check whether he was missing a limb.

He sighed and landed a smack on the back of the brat's head.

"Only ulcer — from you making me angry. Keep close."

Zhang Chengling reeled on his feet and followed him to the dark entrance the giant snake had guarded.

It was a short and narrow passageway that led to a door. Zhou Zishu halted in front of the latter, reaching out to hold Zhang Chengling back.

"Hug the wall and keep out of the way," he ordered in a low voice.

If some booby trap sprang out when he opened the door, they'd have nowhere to duck. Zhou Zishu hesitated for a second.

"Hold your breath," he added just in case before he pushed the small door with extreme caution.

A long creaking noise shrilled through the air as the door swung open, dirt falling from its hinges. Zhou Zishu's whole body tensed up, but nothing happened.

He raised the fluorescent pearl in his hand and made out a smaller, dusty stone chamber to the other side, a thick layer of dirt covering everything.

In a corner stood two people who weren't moving at all. Zhou Zishu grabbed Zhang Chengling by the arm.

As he cautiously penetrated the new room and advanced toward the immobile figures, he saw that the silhouettes weren't living people, but two mannequins. Life-sized, one resembled a man and the other a woman, and they were so well-made they appeared alive. Both had their eyes directed at the chamber's entrance as if they were staring straight at the two intruders.

Zhou Zishu frowned. He reflected that it explained the name "Marionettes Manor". The place seemed to be devoid of any living creature but was full of all kinds of strange and creepy automatons.

After his experience with the fake snake, Zhou Zishu didn't dare relax. He scrutinized the two mannequins' joints and found that they seemed more flexible by far than those of the python — using the same trick on them would be doubtless impracticable.

"Walk ahead of me," he whispered to Zhang Chengling. "Slowly."

Zhang Chengling obeyed, tiptoeing past him. Zhou Zishu turned to stand back to back with the boy and traipsed backward, his eyes not leaving the two marionettes for a second.

When they made it across the room, Zhang Chengling said in a small voice, "Shifu, there is another door." Upon hearing the boy's words, Zhou Zishu raised his sword in a horizontal guard and told Zhang Chengling to

stand aside. He twisted to stand with his profile to the ancient-looking gate to push it open. A long and darkened corridor the end of which he couldn't see was on the other side. "Follow," Zhou Zishu whispered.

Both of them entered the corridor, one after the other.

Zhou Zishu hesitated for a moment just beyond the threshold. The two mannequins seemed to be like any other dummies and hadn't moved, but for some unknown reason, the fine hair on his back was standing on end. Out of instinct, he closed the door behind him and bolted it.

Thus, he didn't see that the instant the door closed shut, the eyes of the mannequins rolled in their sockets. As if trying to track the two intruders' silhouettes.

The echoes of their footsteps reverberated in the cramped corridor, making the atmosphere particularly bleak and eerie. Zhang Chengling felt goosebumps rise all over him.

"Shifu, I... I'm a little scared."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he regretted saying them, thinking that his Shifu would scold him. Zhou Zishu, however, lifted his hand to cradle his shoulder instead. The man's hand was thin but warm, and when Zhang Chengling tilted his head, he glimpsed Zhou Zishu's profile by the faint glimmer of the fluorescent pearl. It heartened him.

None of them could have said how long the stone corridor was, but Zhou Zishu was losing patience when they reached its end at last.

Idly, he wondered where Ye Baiyi and Wen Kexing had ended up. Although he wasn't that worried. If anyone could survive the sky collapsing and the earth splitting, it would be those two pieces of trash. His situation, on the other hand, with him having to look after a brat who stirred up trouble at critical moments, was more concerning.

They reached the third door, a large one this time, and the line of his vision broadened as they came upon the space with a higher ceiling. Zhou Zishu pulled Zhang Chengling to stand behind him and opened the new gate.

A great hallway that was utterly empty lay beyond it. Zhou Zishu looked down and noticed that the ground was of a darker ash-grey color.

Zhang Chengling poked out his head from the side to glance up at him, no doubt wondering why he had stopped.

Cautious, Zhou Zishu fished out a crumb of silver from his breast and flung it out. The small ingot fell on the ground and rolled out a few inches. Nothing happened.

Zhou Zishu was just letting go of the breath he'd been holding when a drop of liquid trickled down from the ceiling. Under both the adult's and child's wary gazes, it landed right on top of the silver crumb — and melted it on the spot!

Immediately afterward, something even more terrifying occurred: drips upon drips of the corrosive liquid fell, the downpour becoming denser and denser until it looked like rain.

Zhou Zishu understood then why the ground was of ash grey color: washed by such showers, even bones would turn to dust.

His heart sank. Although he knew qing-gong that'd allow him to travel over snow without leaving a trace, no technique on earth would permit someone to weave through the rain without getting wet.

"It's a dead-end. Let's go back," he said while retreating.

The both of them had just turned around when the sound of footfall resonated in the air. They echoed from the stone corridor's opposite end:

Clomp — clomp — clomp —

Zhang Chengling almost climbed into Zhou Zishu's lap.

"Shishishishi... Shifu, it's... it's that a ghost?" he stammered.

Zhou Zishu raised a finger to shush him.

"Go close the door behind us, so we don't go through it again by mistake," he said while tilting his head toward the boy. "Hurry. Then, stay there and hide. Don't make a sound."

Zhang Chengling went to do as told at once.

The footsteps got faster and faster as they closed in as if the person making them had broken into a run, before, suddenly, they stopped.

The light provided by his fluorescent pearl was limited. Zhou Zishu bent his ear to listen to his surroundings, but he couldn't make out the breathing of a second person in the narrow corridor besides that of Zhang Chengling.

Then, a gleam of light flashed in the darkness.

Zhou Zishu reflexively raised his sword to parry, blocking a blade that slammed down, aimed right at his head. The shock was so forceful it numbed the juncture between his thumb and palm.

Zhou Zishu glimpsed his opponent and cold sweat drenched his back. The person who had hacked at him with a heavy sword turned out to be the male mannequin from the small stone chamber.

With a grim flash of insight, Zhou Zishu realized how vicious the designer of this place was. If the man-like automaton had activated back when they were still in the small chamber, he'd have doubtless retreated with Zhang Chengling at once. A marionette wouldn't know qing-gong, and the space was larger back there. So, even though it may have been difficult, the situation wouldn't have been hopeless — especially to someone who had already defeated the great python.

The designer had anticipated this, so they had lured them into a dead end on purpose. In that narrow corridor, even if someone had amazing kung-fu, using it would be a challenge. The trap was calculated to cut off all escape routes for intruders.

Grumbling inwardly, Zhou Zishu disengaged his blade by sliding it up and executing a reverse slash. The edge of his sword hit the marionette's arm but couldn't cut through — whether or not it was made of the same material as the fake snake, it certainly was as sturdy. Without pause, the automaton mechanically swung at him again.

Zhou Zishu timed his move; he let out a small groan as he parried with a nimble twirl of his sword, and the edges of their blades collided again. Immediately after contact, he issued an abrupt surge of energy: his exceptional weapon combined with the influx of neigong cleanly snapped the marionette's sword in two.

Zhang Chengling had never seen such moves before. He held his breath as he watched, transfixed.

But losing its weapon didn't seem to bother the automaton in the slightest. Its fingers expanded with a faint clicking sound, discarding the broken heavy sword before it swung its arm toward Zhou Zishu again.

Indeed, the thing wasn't afraid of pain or death and could use its whole body as a weapon.

Irritated beyond words, Zhou Zishu grappled at the arm swinging at him. If it had been any normal person, his move would have dislocated their entire shoulder. But the automaton was sturdy to the extreme. It only pushed ahead, dragging Zhou Zishu along, until Zhou Zishu's back was pressed against the door to the hallway with the deadly rain.

Zhou Zishu released his grip and crouched down. With a resounding "bang", the automaton's fist punched a hole into the door and went right through.

Zhou Zishu couldn't have been more thankful that he had the foresight to tell Zhang Chengling to close that door. But then, in the next second, all gratitude eluded him: the "female" marionette was standing behind the male one.

Doubtless, because the thing couldn't turn, she marched straight ahead; toward Zhang Chengling who had dodged to the side to get out of his way.

Zhou Zishu's blood ran cold. He evaded a horizontal arm swipe from the male automaton by hunching down and darted toward the boy.

The female automaton's moves seemed to be even swifter than that of her alter ego. Zhou Zishu only had time to shield Zhang Chengling before she struck with a xiao flute she held in one hand like a long truncheon.

The space was tiny; with nowhere to duck, Zhou Zishu could only block the full brunt of the blow with his back, the impact instantly making him cough up a mouthful of blood.

With both his arms braced against the wall, the gore from his lips dripped onto Zhang Chengling's shoulder as he pitched forward uncontrollably, almost crushing the teenager.

Seemingly forgetting everything about his terror, Zhang Chengling hurried to hold him up. With an inhuman effort, Zhou Zishu used the boy's support to push himself to the side, dodging the female marionette's second hit that grazed his head.

He almost lost his grip on his Baiyi sword as the Nails jolted in his chest. His vision went dark.

"You hurt my Shifu !" he heard Zhang Chengling bellow in rage. "I'm gonna kill you!"

With that, the boy launched himself at the marionettes.

That brat always acted like a scaredy-cat when it was time to be bold, and got brave whenever it was time to shirk it.

Zhou Zishu tried to hold him back but was a beat too late. He could only watch as Zhang Chengling pounced at the stony female marionette with his teeth bared and no weapon in his hands — as if he intended to bite the automaton to death.

"Brat..." Zhou Zishu tried to say. But as soon as he parted his lips, he choked on a mouthful of his blood that sent him into a fit of unstoppable coughs.

Just at that moment, a thundering explosion shook the air and the wall next to the female marionette collapsed. The automaton couldn't dodge and got crushed beneath the falling rocks, the metal flute still brandished in her hand.

A wretched-looking figure burst into the corridor, coughing and patting itself down to get rid of the dust covering them.

"What the hell is this place... A-Xu!"

Zhou Zishu sighed in relief and almost failed to draw in his next breath. For the first time in his life, he was glad to see Wen Kexing.

Notes

1. The expression is "to cover one's head and scurry away like a rat".