Chapter Index
Chapter Eight
Guo Shi approaches the evil flying creature and with authority asks, “Dark being, why have you come to our palace?”
The creature stares down the old wizard and speaks, “Haha. You already know why I have come.”
“Please tell us, for we do not understand what you are saying,” pleaded the Emperor, “I can assure you that we mean no harm.”
The beak of the bird opens up once more, “Let me introduce myself. I am Yaoguai Guo Wang; the new ruler of Feng Du. In my possession I believe is something that you truly value dear Emperor…your daughter.”
The Emperor rises abruptly from his chair and approaches the strange being, “What is it that you want Yaoguai? Why have you taken my daughter?”
A sinister laugh exits the creature’s beak, “She is very beautiful…soft and delicate, and you know that every king needs a queen…why not have the most beautiful one on the earth to sit beside me while I rule my kingdom. Perhaps she could provide me some…entertainment as well,” it laughs loudly.
Rage fills the Emperor, he draws out a knife and plans to rush the evil bird but before he got anywhere near it, the dark creature spoke once more, “Oh put that knife away Emperor before you hurt yourself. The bird you see before you is not I, only a mere channel for me to get to you,” the creature scans the room and sees that all eyes were fixed on it, “All of you must be dying to know how you are going to get your darling little princess back.”
“Tell us what you have done with her or else…” Chun Jie interjects.
“Or else what little boy? Are you going to hurt me hmm?” the creature mocks him.
“No, but I will,” declares Prince Wen.
“Silence you fools, it is the Emperor who I want to talk to. Do not waste my time with your insignificant bantering,” the bird screeched angrily at them.
“What is it going to take for you to give back my daughter you fiend!?” The Emperor is clearly agitated.
“Careful with your tone Emperor, if I do not like what I am hearing, your daughter will not have a pleasant experience. You know what I want? Hmm? I want all your riches and your death in exchange for her!” declared the winged-beast.
“Then it will be done…”
“Haha!!! You gullible human! Just because you are the Emperor of your world does not mean you have all the knowledge. It is not worldly riches that I want, nor your insignificant Empire, or even your pathetic little life. What I want is a challenge. You see, I have taken over the dark world from Yan Luo Wang and he was no real opponent, a mere inconvenience in my rise to the throne. Now dear Emperor, this is my condition for you to have a chance to get her back. Send me only one warrior to fight me, or entertain me at the very least with his futile attempt. You will only have one chance, should your warrior fail, you lose and forever your daughter will remain with me. Do we have an agreement?” the demon proposes.
The Emperor nods in accord with what has been presented before him, knowing that it is the only possible way for him to ever get a glimpse of his baby girl once again.
“Good. I believe we have come to an understanding. I will give you a week to choose your hero,” saying that word mockingly, “And you have my word that your daughter will come to no harm…for now if I manage to resist my urges. I am a demon after all,” the bird turns around unfurls its wings and takes flight to its origin up in the black clouds above, which rolled back past the horizon. The skies turned back to its vibrant azure hue just as quickly as it did when the darkness rolled in. The return to tranquility is misleading considering what had just happened. The Emperor walks back to his chair and collapses in the seat, looking lost as he stares at the ceiling. Everyone in the room is at all loss for words, even Guo Shi, who is well versed in many things that are otherworldly.
Prince Wen decides to break the silence, “Your Excellency, allow me to be the one to take on the challenge set forth by Yaoguai.”
“Your bravery is impressive young Prince, but I must reflect on this matter very carefully. That demon gave me some time, so I plan to use it wisely,” said the Emperor.
“But we must move swiftly, there is no guarantee that he will keep his word,” Prince Wen spoke in a badgering tone.
Guo Shi decides to step in, “Yes Yaoguai is as evil as it comes, and should not be trusted, but I can sense that he will keep up his end of the bargain. Remember, to him this is all for his own amusement, and we must play within his rules. I very much doubt that he will spoil his own game.”
The Emperor removes his gaze from the ceiling and moves it downwards towards the Wizard and asks, “Guo Shi, who do you believe is a good candidate for taking up Yaoguai’s challenge?”
The Old Man takes his hand and rubs his snowy goatee and replies, “We are dealing with the most evil spirit there is, and to combat it, our hero must exhibit all the virtues that are the opposite of those that are dark.”
“As I had offered earlier my Emperor, I would like to take on the task of retrieving the Princess,” repeats the Prince.
Chun Jie steps forwards, “Your majesty, I too would like to offer my services as well to the cause. For I have sworn to protect her, and now I must make good on my word.”
The Prince takes a glaring glance at Chun Jie, “Ha! You want to be the one to save the Princess? What are you going to do commoner…cook for the demon until he is too fat to fight? Your kitchen skills are worthless compared to my skills in kung fu. I should be the one.”
Guo Shi comes to the defense of his nephew from the verbal onslaught from the visitor, “Prince Wen, do not underestimate Chun Jie. Master Chen has been training him and thinks highly of him,” a brilliant idea enters the mind of the ageing but still sharp wizard, “Your highness, I believe the two men who are most qualified for returning Princess Li Wei are standing before you. Both are brave and certainly skilled.”
“I cannot send two men, Yaoguai only said to have one fighter,” reminded the Emperor.
“Prince Wen and Chun Jie could spar with one another to see which one of them is truly worthy of the task at hand,” suggested Guo Shi.
“You have made a very good suggestion Guo Shi. Very well,” looks at the two young men in front of him, “In an hour I want the two of you to have your match in the back courtyard. In the mean time, I will make an offering to the ancestors in hopes that our plight will turn out for the best. You may now leave,” spoke the Emperor.
Chun Jie and the Prince leave the Emperor’s chamber side-by-side, but as soon as they have exited, the Prince does a quick-side step and causes Chun Jie to trip and fall onto the dirt. Chun Jie is quite all right, but certainly annoyed as he see the Prince ahead of him snickering as he makes his way to the dining hall for some refreshments. Guo Shi assists his nephew, “Do not mind him. He is just a pompous aristocrat thinking he is above all others.”
“But Uncle, I think he is right. I do not have the skills I need to battle the demon,” sighs, “I do not know what I am getting myself into by offering to rescue the Princess.”
“Chun Jie, trust in yourself, because if you lack this…your opponent has already won. Now tell me this, why did you volunteer to offer your help and make good on your promise?”
“I really do not know, something stirred within me and it just came out.”
The Old Man closes his eyes and touches Chun Jie’s heart, “Ahhh…my boy, your love for Princess Li Wei gave you the strength to challenge Prince Wen. Now you must learn to focus this good energy and drive away the fear and anxiety that lies within your mind.”
“Do you really believe that I can do this?” Chun Jie asks his uncle.
“I do…but the question is, do you?” the Wizard looks at his nephew, “Come on, and let us get you ready for your sparring match.”
The hour has elapsed and the courtyard is now surrounded by a flurry of activity as onlookers gather to watch the battle between the Prince and the Cook. Prince Wen emerges from the dinning hall where he spent the time getting refreshments and teasing the female servants who were tending to him. As for Chun Jie, he spent the hour doing some exercises under the close supervision of his uncle and Master Chen. The Emperor emerged and called the attention of all who were present.
“Prince Wen and Chun Jie, if you would take your positions in the center of the courtyard to begin your match. This contest will feature three distinct battles: the first is to be done empty-hand, the second using bamboo rods, and the final will feature swordsmanship. The object of this contest is to determine a champion who will return my daughter home. This match will be judged by me and I wish both combatants the best of luck,” announced the Emperor.
Master Chen gives a word of advice to his young student, “Chun Jie, just focus on what you have to do and have faith in yourself and your abilities. Do not mind anything else but your opponent, nothing else matters. Go on, I know you can do it.”
Chun Jie bows towards his master and takes his place in the center with the waiting Prince Wen. The two combatants face one another and bows to each other before taking their fighting stance. Upon hearing the word, “begin!” Prince Wen launches his attack with such ferocity that all Chun Jie can do is take a few steps back. The Prince fires an offensive consisting of swift hand movements towards Chun Jie’s head and torso (which he manages to counter), before leaping into the air, spins his body building up momentum before releasing its force coursing through his iron legs on his opponent’s chest. The kick deflated Chun Jie’s lungs causing him to stagger backwards. Upon landing from his aerial assault, Prince Wen drops down low and spin kicks, sweeping the legs of his foe, which causes Chun Jie to crash onto the hard clay surface. This round goes to the Prince.
A couple of servants hand each of the two fighters a bamboo staff for the next segment of the battle. Chun Jie tries to regain his composure, then dusts off his clothes before taking a firm hold on the long bamboo rod. He can see that Prince Wen has a wry smirk across his face, and this serves as a motivator for him. Again, the two of them take up their positions, waiting for the signal. The command to commence is given, but this time Chun Jie takes the initiative and with newfound strength attacks the Prince. He takes the staff and rotates it with great velocity as he runs up to his rival. The two rods made of bamboo slam with intense force several times, each successive strike accompanied by a thunderous crack. Prince Wen counters this attack, draws his staff down low and attempts to accomplish a leg sweep on Chun Jie, but he saw it coming and jumped up, raising his legs above the swooshing rod foiling Wen. In the air, Chun Jie drops down his staff with authority, effectively catapulting himself over his assailant’s head, tucks into a summersault and lands behinds him on his feet. Prince Wen swings around like a typhoon wind and brings the staff with him during this rotation aiming for Chun Jie’s body. Despite facing away from Wen, Chun Jie launches the staff over his shoulders to block the attacking staff. Wen takes his bamboo rod and swings in the opposite direction, but then Chun Jie rotates his body swiftly to the left, supporting himself on his right leg, bending downwards tucking his upper body in the process with the staff horizontally across his lap. Chun Jie’s action directed his rod to cleanly attack Prince Wen’s legs and topples him over like a bridge losing its foundations…Chun Jie takes satisfaction at his handiwork. Angered by tasting the bitter clay, a fire now burns angrily in the eyes of the Prince.
The score is now even; the two exchange their bamboo staffs for large metal blades connected to a hilt featuring a bright red tassel at the end of it. Chun Jie and the Prince take up their starting positions, but this time neither showing each other any courtesy. Prince Wen has the sword held high above his head, meanwhile Chun Jie positions his weapon lower than his opponent. The signal to commence is given, this time both of them attack one another with equal fierceness. The hardened metal blades clash and bang with one another as each of the fighters take a swing and slice at their rival. Now the intensity is really gaining more and more momentum, the surface of the battlefield is getting torn up and an ever-increasing cloud of dust emerges from the center of the courtyard as the two spin, jump, claw, kick, and flip to counter or attack one another. The clanging of the blades further increased and visible sparks fly from the cutting surfaces as the warriors swing their weapons into each other. The dust now is blinding for both men, but yet their fight continues until all the spectators see nothing at all, just the audible clashes of swords and loud grunting being the only signs that the fight is still ongoing. In the cloud of dust, all that is visible to Chun Jie’s eyes is the silvery blade emerging like lightning from within; he successfully wards off this assault, by deflecting his opponent’s blade and contorting his body in various directions. The crowd is holding their breaths at this spectacle, until a loud bang resonates from the cloud of dust…then silence. As the clay dust settled, the two combatants were facing each other, the both of them holding broken swords to each other’s throats. Everyone was in complete and utter awe. The Emperor was equally awestruck that he nearly forgot to end the fight before they inflict anymore harm on one another.
The Emperor addresses the two warriors, “Excellent display of skill from the both of you. Unfortunately this contest has ended with a draw. And we all know that only one will be chosen to challenge Yaoguai at his game. Anyone care to suggest a way to break this tie?” Chun Jie and the Prince slowly drew the damaged cutlery away from the throat of their rival, then tossing the swords aside. No one in the audience said a word, just then Guo Shi whispered an idea he has for the final challenge to ultimately decide who will go on to rescue Li Wei.
“Prince Wen and Chun Jie, please come forward and approach me,” instructed the monarch, “For your last challenge, go off into the nearby forest and retrieve me a bird. Any bird that takes flight will do, and use any method that you see fit. You have an hour each to accomplish this task. You may now go.”
The two challengers exit the confines of the palace walls, neither one looking at the other. They head off in different directions to accomplish the assignment dictated by the Emperor. The Emperor then consults with his mystical advisor when he no longer can see the two in his sights.
“Guo Shi, are you sure that this mission you set the two of them to do will gives us the definite answer that I am looking for?”
“Why yes your highness. As we have seen, the two of them are just about equals in terms of their skills in the art of fighting. But their approach to their craft is entirely different, and I am sure that one will prevail over the other. Particularly when having to face an evil that is hard for a mere mortal to imagine,” Guo Shi enlightens his master.
“I have never doubted you before my friend, and I hope you are still consistent with your wisdom,” quips the Emperor to the Old Man.
Despite the two of them taking different paths to the forest to get their birds, Chun Jie and the Prince arrive at nearly the same exact time at the gates of the palace. Working their way past the gawking crowd, they present their catches to the Emperor. Prince Wen proudly reveals his first. It was a sparrow with a small arrow cleanly running through it, in on one side, and out the other. The Prince believes that the Emperor would be impressed with his hunting abilities, for it is no mere skill to hunt small game with an equally small weapon. The Emperor looks at what Prince Wen brought before him, then asks Chun Jie to show him what he had captured while in the forest. Chun Jie opens his tightly clutched hands, slowly at first, until a small head pops out and makes itself known by letting out a little chirp. The sight of the little swallow singing from Chun Jie’s hands amused and most certainly impressed the Emperor. Chun Jie walked up to the Emperor, then further opened up his hands and gently coaxed the little bird perch on the Emperor’s largest finger. Prince Wen did not know what to think of what he is witnessing.
The Emperor begins to address all those present, “These two brave young warriors that have exhibited their great skills have shown they are pretty much equal, that cannot be denied. But I will make my decision based on something other than just brute force or mastery of martial arts. When I told these them to each bring me a bird, I never said what condition they had to be in when they are presented to me,” looks at Prince Wen with a very serious expression, “Young Prince, by showing me the corpse of this poor bird, you have shown your prowess in hunting, but inadvertently also displayed your lack of compassion that I feel you need in order to accomplish defeating the demon. Pure brawn is not always the key. I believe that you exhibit your skills to gain fame, attention, and recognition…according to what I know about evil, it will capitalize on these traits and use them against you, thus increasing your chance for failure. And I just cannot afford such a thing,” turns his speech towards Chun Jie and begins to smile, “From the moment that I first met you, I have seen the purity that is in your heart. You have shown this by bringing this lovely swallow back to me in its present state, unharmed without even a single ruffled feather. Your very name means ‘purity and honesty’ and you undoubtedly live up to the meaning. Pure benevolence is a virtue that I have rarely seen, and you are a very special individual. Not only do you posses the supreme skills of a great martial artist, but also you use your kind heart as the source of your strength and power. You have proven yourself worthy of protecting my daughter, and are making good on the promise that you made to me by volunteering your services for this cause. For this reason, I have selected you, Chun Jie, as the champion that will vanquish Yaoguai and bring back my daughter,” then the Emperor urges the little swallow to go free, which it eagerly does and flutters its wings as it goes on its way.
The crowd of people cheers in approval, Prince Wen on the other hand is dejected, for it is the first instance where he was defeated. The Prince bows respectfully to the Emperor before making his exit from the palace presumably to return home, all the while the excitement of Chun Jie’s proclamation of champion is happening all around him; certainly pouring salt on his wounds. Chun Jie is at a loss forwards, but he is certainly thankful and honored by the speech that the Emperor had made. Guo Shi and Master Chen congratulate Chun Jie on his achievement and the two of them say, “See, if you believe…you can…” Then his Uncle pulls him closer so the boy can hear him past the roar of the crowd, “I told you could do it. Now your real training begins. Rest up and we will start in the morning…”
Chapter Nine
Meanwhile, in the dark world of Feng Du, the place of punishment for wayward souls, Ox-Head and Horse-Face, the hideous subordinates of Yaoguai and the guardians of hell, escort the captured Princess Li Wei to her containment cell. Gagged and blindfolded, Li Wei has no visual reference to her surroundings, but from what she gathers from her other senses, predominantly from what is registering from her ears, she knows that she is no longer in her world. Bellowing screams of agony and pain bombard her precious ears like a drummer gone mad. The stench of filth burned in her nose, making the task of breathing an unbearable experience. Li Wei senses that the creatures guiding her had stopped, she could hear a rusty lock being unlatched and the sound of a heavy door opening. A massive force shunts her forward into the room, causing her to fall over on the slimy floor. A scaly hand removes her bindings; another removes her blindfold. The sight the Princess saw terrified her at first, but then rapidly replaced by a fire that started to burn in her eyes.
“Who are you and why have you taken me captive! My father is the Emperor and he has the power to punish whoever is responsible for this!” angrily growls the Princess.
The two creatures look at one another and laugh.
“Ooo…I tremble in fear,” mocks Ox-Head.
“Your father might be the Emperor in your world Princess, but in this world he is of no match for our Lord Yaoguai,” says Horse-Face.
“Yaoguai,” Li Wei thinking aloud, “That would mean that I am in…”
“Feng Du,” Horse-Face completed her sentence, “Lord Yaoguai is the one responsible for your abduction.”
“Why has he taken me?” she demanded.
Ox-Head wipes the saliva dripping from his mouth, “Well, you could ask him yourself when you meet him tonight,” takes a malicious look at Li Wei, “We had a princess as a ‘guest’ here before, but none as good-looking as you,” touches her inappropriately with his hoof-like hands.
Li Wei slaps him with such violence that his eyes rattle in their sockets, “How dare you touch me like that!”
“She’s got a fire in her, the Master will certainly like that,” The creature with the face of a horse tells his colleague.
Ox-Head exacts revenge by pushing Li Wei down on to the filthy floor, “I am not sure, but I do not believe a princess should act that way. Come on let us go, the Master would want us to report to him by now.”
Horse-Face tells the Princess, “I hope these quarters are up to your standards your highness,” they close the iron door and firmly attaches the lock. She could hear the two animals laughing hysterically. Now she wonders if she will ever be able to leave this wretched place.
The two guardians of Feng Du approach their dark lord, who stood up with his hooded-cloak, with the bottom portion of it grazing the floor, looking out a window down on the tormented souls below. Ox-Head beings to speak to his master.
“My Lord, we have done as you wished. The Princess is in her cell.”
“Good,” he turns to face his minions, though his countenance is hidden in the shadow of his hood, “I am assured that she is not at all damaged?”
“No Master, she is in pristine condition. If I may say, she has a lot of spirit in her. She was not at all scared at our appearance and even slapped Ox-Head,” spoke the creature with the head of a horse.
An evil smile emerges from the dark king, “Bring her to me, I would like to see the future empress of the underworld…in the flesh.”
“As you wish your worship,” bowed the two evil beings.
Horse-Face and Ox-Head orders a couple of guards to bring the Princess before Yaoguai, as they had to tend to their other duties. The guards accepted their command and proceeded to the containment cell that held the Princess prisoner. While in her cell, she removed a pin from hair and attempted to pick the rusted lock. But the lock would not budge, resulting in the pin breaking in two. Disappointed, she tosses the broken pin into the darkness of the cell. Li Wei again heard the creaking of the wrought-iron door; she ran back and sat pensively in the center of the cell waiting for someone to enter. This time, she sees a couple of human figures come into the chamber, instead of some alien creature.
“His Highness Lord Yaoguai wishes you to grace his presence at once,” the guard told the Princess.
“Tell your Lord that I do not wish to see him at this instance,” asserts Li Wei with arms crossed and chin turned up.
“I am afraid you have no choice here Princess,” the other guard said and grabs her arm firmly.
Li Wei then rotates her arm in such a manner that she frees herself from the hold of the guard, in turn she grabs a hold of his arm, spins it at the shoulder throwing him down, and causing the guard to crash onto his back. The other guard begins to attack her, as she forced the first guard down, she raised her leg high with much vigor that when it made contact with his head, he too fell down. Subduing the guards she starts to exit the cell; with care she looks both ways to see if any others heard the commotion, but then stops. An idea comes to her mind, and then she drags one of the guards inwards into the darkness. Emerging from the shadows, she had donned the guard’s uniform. Now in disguise, she makes her way outside the cell. The sight she encounters outside is formidable and evil indeed, nothing that her sheltered eyes had ever witnessed before. Trying to ignore the atmosphere of her surroundings, she guided herself past the souls being tortured and mutilated as well as the creatures that she bumps into every so often. A head guard notices her and says.
“Hey! Why are you looking down on the floor? You could run into something and cause a big mess! You must be new here, let me take a look at you,” the superior officer removed the hat off her head, and was surprised at what he saw, “You’re that Princess!!! Men, get her!!!”
The men that were with their commanding officer rushed in on the Princess, but before they can get a hold of her, she fires a fearsome punch at the head guard’s face, presumably breaking his nose, then leaps into a backwards flip to escape the ring formed by her would be captors. The mob of men pursued her as she ran down the exposed hallway. They trap her into a corner and they started to attack her, but amazingly she fended off their advances, not even letting them get a solid hold on her, though one of her sleeves was grabbed by one guard and started to tear it off. Luckily the silk threads holding the sleeve gave way, tore cleanly and allowed her to escape his grasp. One guard lunges at her from behind, forming a chokehold with his arms. To counter this assault, Li Wei runs forward towards the wall dragging the man with her, upon reaching the wall she runs up its face and does a complete flip, escaping the hold and managing to place a kick to the attacker’s cranium. She then lands on his back, cracking it on upon landing. Seeing that all her pursuers are lying face down, she runs out of the hall, looking over her shoulder periodically. Li Wei stops after she feels that she is a safe distance from the guards to catch her breath. Suddenly, she starts to hear loud clacking footsteps making its way towards her, looking up she spots a dark silhouette approaching her. Startled by this sight, Li Wei runs off in the opposite direction of the figure coming towards her, looking over her shoulder to see if it is still in pursuit. Bang! The Princess runs into a firm object that she did not notice because of her constant monitoring of her pursuer, but to her horror it was the black shadow of the underworld casting his gaze down upon her. With his black hood draped over his head, she cannot see his face, just a void.
“I am very impressed Princess. You have managed to escape the guards of Feng Du, not many mortals can attest to such a feat,” feigns applause. The Princess did not know how to respond and began to run away from this being, but mysteriously again he appears in front of her.
“Princess Li Wei, are you in a hurry to get somewhere? There was a sense of urgency in you that I can feel,” he snaps his fingers to put a spell on her feet, to bind them in place, “You know if you keep running away, we will not get anywhere,” Yaoguai then observes the Princess wearing the tattered uniform of a guard, “Hmm…your attire is unbefitting a princess,” from his hands emerges a white dress and presents it to her, “I am sure you will like this.” Grabbing his cloak he draws it over Li Wei’s head, and when he removes it they appear in Lord Yaoguai’s chamber.
“You may dress yourself now Princess, do not worry I will not look. A demon I may be, but I know my manners, especially when it comes to treating a lady. After you get dressed properly, there is an abundance of food on the table out here, eat what your stomach will allow,” spoke Yaoguai in a rather refined manner, turning his body away from her. Li Wei took the dress in her hands and walks on over to the partition that the dark lord had pointed out. She emerges wearing the garment that fit her perfectly, and the demon was awestruck by what he saw.
“My my, you are most certainly a lovely princess. Lovely but extremely gullible…tsk tsk…falling for the false love letter. Mortals are so easily fooled when it comes to this stupid notion called love,” he looks at her mockingly.
Not at all moved his flattery, but certainly annoyed with the last comment, Li Wei demands, “What do you want from me? Why am I here?”
“Is there anything wrong about me inviting a guest?”
“A guest! You abducted me and took me against my will! I would not consider that being invited!” Li Wei replies with anger and overturns the table, the bounty falling on the floor.
“Mind your temper Princess, I am not fond of that tone of voice. I see that you inherited that from your father.”
“You have spoken with my father?” Li Wei’s voice softens.
“Yes I have,” looking out the window of his chamber.
“So is he coming for me?” she asks the demon.
“No.”
Tears begin to fill the delicate eyes of the Princess, “Why has father acted in such a manner?”
“Because I told him that if he sends his army to retrieve you, it will be your end,” Yaoguai explains, unveiling himself for the first time to her by removing the hood and turning himself slowly towards her. The Princess can see the strong dark nature of his countenance, in particular his eyes, two black voids filled with nothing but hatred and wickedness.
Li Wei has a puzzled look on her teary face, “I have made a deal with your father that he can only send one man to fight for you. He has seven days to choose the man and send him here. If the warrior defeats me, you go home. If not, forever my queen you become,” an evil laugh comes from the keeper of Feng Du, “I am sure that you will make a lovely queen,” he starts to stroke her shoulders.
Swiftly, she bats away his hands and declares, “I will never become your queen! I’d rather die than have such a thing happen! I will not give you the satisfaction that you have gotten away with this deed! I want no part in whatever you are scheming” the tears are gone replaced by burning fury.
Yaoguai looks down at the wasted meal, then up at Li Wei.
“I have tried my best to be a hospitable host,” walks towards the Princess, extremely agitated, “But if that is your wish, then so be it.” Yaoguai then calls Ox-Head and Horse-Face to his quarters, instantly the two servants of the Lord of Feng Du appear before him.
“Escort the Princess back to her cell. It seems that she does not appreciate the alternative accommodations that I have shown her,” gives her a snide look, “This time, assign more guards to her cell and make sure what happened earlier does not repeat itself. Or I will be personally carryout your punishments. Go on and get out of my presence!”
“Yes your worshipfulness,” The two creatures bowing to their master. They then each latch on to one of the Princess’s arms and ‘escort’ her to quarters, this time the Princess does not put up much of a fight. They throw her into the containment cell and toss her some unappetizing food as well; the heavy door slams loudly echoing within the chamber. In the dark desolate chamber, Princess Li Wei curls up into a ball and ponders what lies ahead for her.
Fully revitalized from a restful slumber, Chun Jie greets the new day. He is looking forward to the ‘real training’ that his uncle had talked about the previous day. Though excited, he also worries about the current state of Princess Li Wei. To ease his worries, Chun Jie decides to get an early start of the day and meet up with Master Chen, who is usually active during the morning. Chun Jie sees his master conducting some exercises and observes the fluidity of the man’s complex motions. Master Chen takes a break from his exercises when he sees Chun Jie; the two greet each other warmly.
“Good morning Chun Jie.”
“Good morning Master. I am ready to take part in the next step of my training,” Chun Jie says to Master Chen.
The master smiles to his disciple, “Chun Jie, I will not be the one who will be guiding you on the next step of your training. My own master has decided that he will take on the task of teaching you.”
Chun Jie has no idea what to think about what his master has just revealed to him. He knows Master Chen is extremely skilled, but this next level must be difficult because a grand master has to be the one to teach it.
“Your master? Who might he be? I would be profoundly honored to be taught by the master who taught you Master Chen,” Chun Jie says.
A voice from behind speaks, “Well you should be honored,” the voice sounded very familiar to the ears of Chun Jie. When he turns around, the source of the voice is certainly familiar to him; it was his Uncle Guo Shi.
“Uncle?”
The old man pounds Chun Jie on the head, “From now on boy, you will refer to me as ‘Master.’ Is that understood?”
“Yes Master Guo Shi,” rubbing the top of his head.
Master Chen found the scene between the two amusing, but steps in, “You know Chun Jie, everything I have learned and passed on to you was all from the teachings of your uncle. He is by far the greatest master of martial arts I have met.”
“Well thank you for your flattery Master Chen. If you would excuse us now,” Guo Shi asks his former disciple to leave him with his new pupil. Master Chen bows respectfully to his teacher before going on his way.
“Uncle…Master Guo Shi, why have you decided to take up the job of teaching me?” queried the pupil.
Taking Chun Jie under his arm, “My boy, we are dealing with the dark mystical world here and I want to be sure you are as prepared for battle as you can be. Master Chen is a good teacher yes, but he too still has a lot to learn, so this is why I have taken up this responsibility. Plus, your mother would never forgive me if anything were to happen to you,” he says jokingly.
“What is there new to learn?” asked Chun Jie.
“My young disciple, there is much to learn. You have already been taught how to use ‘chi’ effectively, but you have yet to learn how to use it to its full potential. You know that if you concentrate your chi you can do amazing things and find strength within you never knew you had inside, like this…” Guo Shi demonstrates to Chun Jie a new way to use his chi by leaping and somersaulting to the roof of one of the taller buildings in the immediate area.
“That is amazing Master, but I do not know that I can do that,” said the disciple.
“Chun Jie!” throws something at his student, “What I have told you to do!”
Chun Jie thinks about it and replies, “Believe in myself?”
“Yes, you must do that. It is essential that you learn to trust in yourself, because we cannot go anywhere without that foundation. Like any structure, you must have a solid foundation to hold up everything on top, without it, it will crumble. Just like you if you do not stop with your nonsense,” explained the aged master who was standing on the roof looking down below on his student, “Now Chun Jie, I want you to focus your chi just as you have been taught and try to do what I showed you.”
Taking the instruction given to him by his Master, Chun Jie concentrates and tries to focus the energy his chi and tries to direct it in such a way that he can emulate the feat exhibited by his teacher. Feeling that his chi has reached its potential, Chun Jie releases it and vaults himself and does a tuck before landing onto the roof, just barely making the edge. Guo Shi was impressed.
“Nicely done my pupil. Not many have been able to do it on their first try. Now try to do this,” the old wizard pushes off the edge of the roof and flies effortlessly across to the top of an opposing building. Chun Jie is at a loss for words.
“Now my boy, do the same thing as earlier. Focus, clear your mind and release your chi. Believe in yourself, you can accomplish this,” encourages the Master.
Chun Jie does as he is told, and he too takes the leap but miscalculates and misses the roof for landing, but manages to latch onto a couple of shingles with his hands. Guo Shi helps the boy up, “Almost, just try harder next time. I want you to do it again, back to the other side.”
The disciple follows his master’s words and retries the exercise, this time he is much more successful, his flight and landing were flawless.
Yelling across to his nephew, “Very good Chun Jie! Now, get back down on the ground and on to the next lesson.”
The master and his student regroup, then Guo Shi leads Chun Jie to a large stone nearly half the height of Chun Jie and is twice as wide as it is tall. “I want you to crack that stone in half,” instructed the teacher.
“That stone!” Chun Jie pointing at it with concern, “Master I cannot, I am not strong enough.”
The teacher again pounds the boy’s head, “Again you speak of not believing in yourself. I know you can do it, or else I would not have you do this task. Remember, Confucius said that ‘Those whose strength is insufficient give up along the way; they are drawing the line’ and my boy you are drawing that line. Do not give up, remember who you are doing this for…”
Thoughts of Li Wei enter his mind, as well as thoughts of her in peril. “Yes master…”
“I know how much you love her. Love is a very powerful force, it is not just an emotion; it has a lot of energy that can be used. Use that love that lies within your heart for your Princess to give you confidence, with that you can concentrate your chi further and boost your abilities. Now try it.”
Chun Jie takes a couple of deep breaths and takes his position in front of the stone. Taking to heart the advice his master has given him, Chun Jie tries this technique. He jumps up, articulates his body, swings up his arm and brings it down with the ferocity of a tidal wave onto the surface of the rock. When he landed, he and his master stood back and watches, as the stone started to exhibit a crack, that slowly grew larger until the boulder broke cleanly into two distinct halves. A smile of satisfaction comes from the mouth of Guo Shi.
[The mother takes a long pause, and seems to be thinking deeply about something.
“What is it mom?” asked Rosie.
“Oh nothing dear, I just feel a little hungry. I think we should go ahead and eat right now. The food has cooled enough I bet,” she gets up from her seat and walks on over to the kitchen and dining area followed by her daughter.
“All that story telling has made my stomach completely empty,” she tells Rosie.
“Your story is very good mom, please tell more as we eat if you do not mind?” inquires Rosie as she takes a heaping scoop of still steaming rice and places it on her plate.
The mother chooses her meal and sits down at the table, “Well if you are so enthusiastic about my little tale, then I will for my little girl,” she said in a playful manner, as if she were talking to a five year old.
Rosie peels off the fried skin of the Peking duck portion that was on her plate, placing the crispy skin into her mouth, then utters, “So what happened next?” licking her greasy fingers afterwards.
“Guo Shi continues to train Chun Jie for a further two days,” wipes her chin, “Teaching all sorts of new techniques and methods that are normally reserved for the top masters of kung fu. Also, the wizard thought Chun Jie how to use some magic that might aid him in his journey, though the young pupil is not all that adept in that field quite yet. Finally, they get to the last lesson of Chun Jie’s training, swordsmanship,” picks up her glass of water and takes a sip.
]
The master martial artist and his disciple enter the weapons training room of the palace; here is where the final stage of Chun Jie’s training will take place.
“Chun Jie, you are quite skilled in using a spear and staff, or else you would not have taken down Prince Wen. But I feel we need to work on your swordsmanship,” said Guo Shi, who then walks over to a rack of swords, chooses two fine examples and hands one to his student, “Now let us begin.”
Chun Jie and his master face one another in the center of the room, each taking up their respective positions. The young disciple takes the first lunge with his blade towards his master, but he swiftly deflects the steel blade. Chun Jie then spin counters this move and attempts a horizontal slashing move on his master. Guo Shi takes his sword, swings it upwards to block, at the same instance, bends his body backwards and supports it by putting down his free hand. Now that Chun Jie is in a vulnerable position, Guo Shi springs upwards and rotates the sword to its flat side and the blade flexes and slaps Chun Jie’s ribs, releasing its force. The boy staggers back from the blow.
“My boy, I think you are thinking way too much about your opponent. Yes I told you to focus, but there comes a time when you have to let yourself go. This is the ultimate height of using your chi as a weapon; let it guide your actions. Once you accomplish this, and you are one with your soul, no enemy no matter how evil or powerful will be able to defeat you,” enlightens the teacher to his student.
The disciple takes a seat on the floor and thinks about what his master has just told him and then he asks, “But how would I accomplish this my master?”
“It is hard to say my talented pupil, to attain that ultimate power you must discover it on your own. I cannot tell you how to get it, because it is different for all of us. One person’s motivation or strength might be another’s weakness and so on,” explains the old sage, “Now let us have another go at it and see if you can free yourself from you binding conscious thought.”
They take their positions once more, and they commence their sparring match. Guo Shi this time takes the initiative, making the first attack on his student. Chun Jie wards off the advancing blade, and takes a shot at his master’s legs. The old wizard performs a high back flip tuck to move his legs from harm, springing away from the attacking Chun Jie. The master and his disciple swords clash many times over, but no one has a clear advantage. Chun Jie, then taking the master’s advice to heart, attempts to free himself and allow his chi to guide him. Upon doing this, Chun Jie feels much lighter, almost weightless as he continues his battle with his uncle. The master senses what his student is doing and can feel that the boy is getting stronger and deflecting more of the strong moves that he succumbed to earlier, but Chun Jie is still a learner and the master finds a hole and capitalizes on it, again he takes his sword, twists it to expose the broadside and strikes on the opposite set of ribs, sending Chun Jie to the floor. Guo Shi was mightily impressed by what he saw and praises Chun Jie.
“My disciple, you have done well. I knew that you had potential, and you have certainly exceeded my expectations. I only wished that I had trained you sooner for you to fully exploit your abilities. But I still believe in my heart that you will fare well in your mission. I am very proud of you my nephew,” assists Chun Jie in standing before giving him a firm hug.
“Thank you Master Guo Shi for bestowing your wisdom and faith on me. For without it, I might be nothing,” he replies emotionally.
“Chun Jie, your training is now complete. I am your Uncle Guo Shi once more,” his face wrinkles up as he smiles, “Before you leave for your journey I have to tell you about Feng Du. But first, I want to give you something,” the old man walks over and retrieves a simple box from behind one of the spear racks. He sets it down and then opens up the box and reveals its contents to Chun Jie. Guo Shi picks up what looks like a sword’s hilt to Chun Jie and places it into his hands.
“This will be your weapon for your upcoming battle with the evil Lord Yaoguai. It is a special sword as you can see. You might be wondering why it has no blade,” Chun Jie nods in agreement to his Uncle’s statement, “Remember how I keep reminding you and testing you on your skills in effective use of your chi. This sword has magical properties, for its blade will only reveal itself when the wielder transmits his chi onto the sword. Only a true master will be able to make full use of this weapon, and you have that ability, just believe in yourself. The sword will also protect you when it feels that its master, who is now you, is in danger. Trust the sword and it will never fail you,” details Guo Shi.
Chun Jie carefully takes the hilt into his hands and takes in the beauty of it, he then looks at his uncle, “Who was this sword’s previous master?”
“I was the former keeper of the sword, and I have fought many battles with it, but I feel it is time to pass it on,” he tells Chun Jie.
Chun Jie is at a loss; he is just overcome by a sense of euphoria, he is deeply honored to be the new keeper of this most special of swords. He notices that his uncle is taking another object out of the box that produced the sword.
“Chun Jie, this is an amulet that will ward off evil. It will protect you from the lesser, more meek evil beings, but I cannot guarantee that it will offer you protection against Yaoguai,” Guo Shi places the mystical amulet around his nephew’s neck.
The young warrior takes a look at this amulet and admires its intricate design. After looking at the charm, he then asks Guo Shi, “What do I have to know about Yaoguai and Feng Du?”
“You have to proceed to Feng Du Mountain, there you will have to find a way to enter the gates. But before you get to the mountain, you must go through the Forest of Shadows,” he describes, “Be weary my nephew, for that forest is filled with evils that man can only imagine, things that nightmares are made of.”
Chun Jie takes in this new information, “I will uncle,” he replies.
“Go on, get some rest. Your journey will require much energy, I will see you tomorrow,” he bids Chun Jie good evening. They bow to one another and leave the training room, with Chun Jie taking his new sword in hand and hanging it on his belt.
When the day turned to night, with everyone fast asleep in the servants’ quarters, Chun Jie writes his final journal entry,
“Today marked the end of my training. I am quite amazed of how far I have come since I started. But in the back of my mind, I still think of Princess Li Wei. I hope that no harm has come to her. She is the source of my strength and with it I will be able to vanquish this demon. I sorely miss her mere presence around me, and I just wish to experience this one at least once more…that is why I must not fail.”
Along with that final entry, Chun Jie delved into his essence, used his chi along with his love for her and began to write down a poem. Unlike the others he wrote before, he just wrote what his soul told him, letting it be his guide while he acted as its scribe. Upon completion, after spending about a good hour writing, he read what he had written down, and for the first time he was satisfied. The poem said exactly what was in his heart, it was perfect. Chun Jie said to himself, it would be his mission to give this poem to Princess Li Wei, no matter what happens, this poem must get to her. With that thought in mind, he closed his journal, set it next to his sword, and put out the light.
Chapter Ten
In the morning, Chun Jie gets dressed and gathers up all his belongings that he feels that is necessary for his perilous journey into the unknown. Among the articles that he makes doubly sure that he does not leave behind is his journal, within it carrying the precious poem written for his beloved Princess Li Wei, carefully tucking it away into a hidden pocket near his heart. Soon after stowing the small book, Chun Jie takes his sword and secures it firmly onto his belt, having the sword bladeless makes it rather convenient to carry around when not in use. From beneath his bed, he takes out his special kitchen knife from a small wooden box and decides to carry the ornate cutting utensil with him. To conclude his morning ceremony, Chun Jie places the mystical amulet Guo Shi had given him the previous day around his neck. Taking one last look around his quarters, before stepping outside and walking to the courtyard where the Emperor and others were awaiting him.
To his surprise, Chun Jie sees all the servants of the palace lined up too bid him farewell and wish him the best on his quest, all of them cheering and smiling as he approached. Graciously, the young warrior reciprocated their enthusiasm and returned a few smiles as well. Chun Jie finally makes his way to the courtyard proper and approaches the Emperor, who interestingly is standing next to a very fine looking horse, decked out with fine a saddle and stirrups.
“Good morning your Excellency. The day has arrived for me to fulfill my promise to you. I will see to it that Princess Li Wei will once again grace the palace with her presence,” Chun Jie says bowing before the Emperor.
“Your dedication and spirit is simply awe inspiring Chun Jie. You have always said that it has been a great honor for you to serve my daughter and me. But in all honesty my boy, it has been a great honor for me to have met a unique individual such as yourself, a person like you only comes around every millennia or so. As a token of my goodwill, I would like to present you this horse to accompany you on your way,” before handing the reigns to Chun Jie, he gives him an almost crushing embrace, never before has the Emperor hugged a commoner in such a way.
“Thank you so much your highness,” Chun Jie then walks over to Guo Shi, “Uncle, I would like to thank you for all the tutelage and wisdom you have given me.”
The old wizard pats his nephew gently on his head, “It has been my pleasure being able to teach you. Now just remember these words from Confucius, ‘People who do not think far enough ahead inevitably have worries near at hand.’ Just remember to always think ahead no matter what you are doing, whether in combat or in a situation that you need to get out of. And lastly my boy, just believe in yourself,” giving Chun Jie some parting words of wisdom. Next to the old master is Wang, who to Chun Jie’s eyes was blubbering something and looked teary-eyed.
Chun Jie talks to his kitchen mentor and asks, “Wang, are you alright?”
Sniffling he responds, “I am just going to miss you Chun Jie. It has just been a lot of fun after all these years, now I do not have anyone to joke around with.”
“Do not worry Wang. I will be back sooner than you think,” consoling his crying friend. Wang then gives a small bag clutched in his hands to his apprentice, “I thought you might like these. It will give you something to fill your stomach on your journey. You know you cannot fight demons hungry,” trying to smile at his own joke while wiping some tears away. Chun Jie takes the gift from his friend and puts it into one of the saddlebags, “Thank you Wang, you are certainly right, I cannot fight evil without a thing in my stomach…though if I am hungry, my growling stomach might scare them off,” both have a laugh at the thought.
Having said his goodbyes, Chun Jie mounts the fine stallion. It fidgets a little as he got on, but the horse calmed down pretty quickly after Chun Jie stroked its mane gently. Chun Jie then takes the reigns and rides out of the palace through the very gates that he first entered five years earlier, the spectators cheered as he galloped along until he and his horse were no longer in sight.
Chun Jie and his horse galloped along at a breakneck pace, the dust flying off the hooves of the magnificent animal created a massive cloud that trailed them as if they were a comet streaking across the night sky. To his amazement, the horse that he rode did not seem to tire despite the speed at which they were progressing across the countryside, it seemed like the energy within the animal would never cease. They continued on this way for an hour, before Chun Jie decided to let his mount get some rest and refreshment from a stream that was along their path. He also took the time to sample one of the treats Wang had furnished for him, Chun Jie savored the creation under the shade of a lone tree. The dim sum was simply divine according to Chun Jie’s taste buds and greedily stuffed it into his gullet. Afterwards, Chun Jie took the time to meditate under the cooling shadow created by the branches of the tree as his steed drank from the stream as if the horse wanted to run it dry.
Circling overhead Chun Jie is one of Yaoguai’s dark birds, observing the man in midst of meditation. Looking into a black globe, the Lord of the Demons saw for the first time the warrior who the Emperor had sent to challenge him, and from what he sees, he is not all impressed.
“So this is the pathetic mortal the Emperor had sent to retrieve his daughter,” Yaoguai cackles, “A boy? To challenge the King of all Demons, heh…I think I am insulted.”
Ox-Head and Horse-Face were also present in the room and one of them said, “Victory will be certain your supremeness. You have proven that you are the greatest of them all.”
Yaoguai turns around and looks at the two with an eyebrow raised, “Enough of your nonsense, your words mean nothing to me. I wanted to be challenged! The Emperor might as well have given me his daughter. My consolation will be that I will be entertained while I watch this mere boy suffer,” laughs evilly, “You two, bring the Princess before me…so she can see for herself the ‘champion’ her father has sent for her.” Moments later, the two creatures present Princess Li Wei once more to Yaoguai, but this time she is more subdued in her demeanor compared to their first encounter.
“Come Princess, look into this globe,” apprehensively she does as told by Yaoguai, “This is the person that will ‘save’ you my dear Princess,” he tells her in a rather sarcastic tone.
She gazes into the dark sphere, at first she did not recognize the man sitting underneath a tree, but then she realized it was her old friend and confidant, Chun Jie. Immediately her spirits were lifted and the dark lord sensed this.
“Oh, do not get your hopes too far up Princess Li Wei. I doubt he will even make it to the gates of Feng Du. I might suggest that you start to acclimate yourself with your surroundings, because from what I can see right now, you are going to be for a very long time,” again he speaks in a demeaning tone.
The fire returns once more to Li Wei and defiantly says, “Ha! I would not speak so certainly as you have. Even if I am not a warrior, I know that you should never underestimate your enemy, for that will bring about the end of you…dark lord.”
Yaoguai is more amused than anything by the Princess’s response, “Oh I quiver at the thought that your friend will cause my fall. Let me enlighten you Princess, I possess all the dark powers imaginable,” his voice becomes increasingly more livid, “…and no ‘boy’ will be able to stop me. Ox-Head! Horse-Face! Send the Princess back to her cell. I will deal with you again later Princess Li Wei.” The Princess gives Yaoguai a mischievous smile, signifying that the demon might not have an upper hand and she is not worried at all. Satisfied that his order was fulfilled, though a little annoyed, the King of the Demons goes to have another look into his sphere.
“Okay little boy. The Princess seems to believe in you. Let us see if you can make it past the Forest of Shadows. Then will I decide if you are a worthy opponent,” he says while scratching his chin.
As the metal door encapsulates Princess Li Wei once more in her filthy cell, she reflects on something positive for a change. Warm feelings surge throughout her body, buoyed by her positive thoughts, making her impervious to the damp and cold chamber. She thinks to herself why Chun Jie was chosen to go and save her, and wonders why it was not a warrior like Prince Wen. Li Wei had this romanticized idea in her mind that a valiant prince will always save the princess, never in her imagination that one day a cook will be her savior. But nonetheless, her heart is filled with gladness knowing that she is no longer truly alone. Then her thoughts shift suddenly, and concern now enters her head. Now she wishes that no harm would come to Chun Jie on his quest. But something deep down inside, she knows that her friend will succeed…she cannot explain it even to herself, she can just feel it.
Feeling his steed’s face nuzzling up against his body, Chun Jie is roused from his meditation. He pets the horse and says, “Well, from the looks of things, you are quite ready to go aren’t you my friend?” The horse brays softly in agreement. Chun Jie springs up onto the horse’s back with precision, with a firm snap of the reigns they set off to continue on their way. They rode through various types of terrain under the blistering sun; their swiftness is awe-inspiring and unrelenting. The scenery around them changed from the pleasant inviting farmlands, to more barren dry areas, and finally after hours of traveling, Chun Jie and his horse reach the entrance to the Forest of Shadows. The sight that Chun Jie sees is ominous at best, this forest looked like none other than what he had seen before. One would think that a forest is full of beautiful trees scattered with all sorts of flora and fauna, but this one is quite the contrary. In place of trees with lush greens, the trees in this forest were dull, dead, and gray…no life whatsoever. To Chun Jie’s senses, he cannot detect the sounds of life at all coming from the Forest of Shadows, only an eerie silence punctuated at times with some wailing coming from a distance. Chun Jie dismounts his stallion looking away from the forest and tries to assess his situation and his next course of action. The arid wind whistles coarsely around his ears, when suddenly he hears a twig snap as if someone (or something) was approaching his way from behind. He moves his hand closer to the hilt of his sword just to be ready for anything. Swinging around completely, moving past his mount, Chun Jie draws his sword but the blade does not extend. But that would not be necessary as Chun Jie gets a close look at what had made the noise, and could see that it was a hunchback hiding its face from him, looking very frightened.
“Please put your weapon away, I mean you no harm sir,” quivered the hunchback.
Chun Jie puts the sword hilt back onto his belt seeing that this creature was not a threat, “So why then were you sneaking up on me?” he asked.
The hunchback revealed its face to Chun Jie, and surprisingly it was not as hideous as he had expected, it had a fairly pleasant countenance. “I was just rummaging for something to eat when I saw you. I was approaching you so that I can warn you not to enter the forest. It is not a safe place to be,” said the hunchback, “If I may inquire, what is your name?”
“My name is Chun Jie. Thank you for your concern, but it is my mission to enter the forest. You see, Lord Yaoguai captured my Princess and I have to fight him to get her back. I have no choice but to enter this place,” he explained to the hunchback who listened attentively.
“Your intention is noble Master Chun Jie, but I would still warn you, this is a very dangerous place. And Lord Yaoguai a very dangerous being, he cannot be trusted,” the hunchback told Chun Jie. Intrigued, Chun Jie asked him to elaborate further, “You see, I was an advisor to the dark lord, but one day I had displeased him and he disfigured me and banished me to this forest. As for this forest, it is filled with so much evil that it oozes all over from every crevice. I have made it my mission to try to turn anyone away who tries to enter. But since I see that your intentions are good, I will help you on your way.”
“Thank you,” said Chun Jie, “What is the best way to get through this forest and get to the gates of Feng Du?”
The hunchback ponders for a little bit, “There is no real definite route to reach the gates of Feng Du, only those who are pure of heart can get there, a person with a pure heart can overcome the ambiguity and evil of this place. A pure heart will be your guide that is the only advice I can give. I have tried to find the gates myself, but my heart is not pure so I wandered around aimlessly for years until I found sanctuary on the outskirts of the forest. But beware the perils that line in wait as you journey deeper into the shadows.”
“What such perils must I be mindful of?” queried the curious Chun Jie.
The hunchback looks Chun Jie in the eyes and says, “There are three main things you must be weary of. First of these three are the Jiangshi, ‘the hopping corpses.”
Chun Jie thinks for a few moments and asks, “What are the Jiangshi? What are they capable of doing?”
“These Jiangshi are the result of a person’s soul failing to remove itself from the physical body. They tend to group together in ‘communities’ of about twenty. Now you must be careful that these creatures do not make contact with your bare skin, because their touch will be fatal for any mortal who is unfortunate enough to be touched by them. Also, they are hideous beings with long tongues and claw-like fingernails. They also hold out their arms stiffly like this,” the hunchback acts like a Jiangshi.
“I see. How then must I act inorder to be able to stand a chance against them?”
“The Jiangshi sense out living beings by detecting their breath. So inorder to avoid being detected, you must be able to hold your breath, if possible. I also see that you have a special sword, I believe that would be sufficient for you to be able to defend yourself,” says the hunchback.
“What about the second peril that I must know about?” he asks the hunchback.
“After going through the Jiangshi you will encounter a black-hornless dragon who lives in a cave near a lake that is the color of blood, this is the center of the Forest of Shadows. This dragon will try to trick you in some way, so be very careful of what he says to you. Or else if you do something that he does not like, he will eat you,” the hunchback says matter-of-factly, “Now for the final danger you must face in your quest, by far the most evil and dangerous being that you will encounter short of Yaoguai himself…the Dark Tempress,” he shivers at the thought.
“The Dark Tempress? Who is she and what makes her so threatening,” wonders Chun Jie.
“She is the former lover of Yaoguai. He banished her from Feng Du for double crossing him, you see, even the evil Lord Yaoguai had succumbed to her dark feminine powers. Not even he can control her. The Tempress uses her evil powers to seduce weak-willed men. When she draws them in, then this tempress absorbs their life-essence, leaving a worthless empty shell. Sometimes she takes these shells and makes them her slaves. I can tell you she is extremely beautiful, but do not let her outward appearance fool you, inside there is nothing at all beautiful about her. I must warn you, she takes on the appearance of the woman who owns your heart, but do not let that get to you. Whatever you do, do not let her seduce you…fight it as best you can…if not, all your toiling away will be lost,” the hunchback explains the situation to Chun Jie, “As soon as you manage to survive the encounter with the Temptress, reaching the gates of Feng Du should no longer be a real problem. I believe I do not have to tell you about the dangers of hell, if you make it that far, you already have the skills in order to vanquish Yaoguai. That is all I know, I wish you the best on your trek,” the hunchback bows respectfully.
“I am deeply grateful for all your wisdom. Now I have one more favor to ask of you,” Chun Jie grabs the reins of his stallion and gives it to the hunchback, “This horse and I have become good friends. I do not want to risk his life in the forest, so I turn his care to you if you would not mind.”
The hunchback takes the leather reins of the fine animal and smiles at Chun Jie, “You can count on me kind sir. I will tend to your animal as best I could until you return.” The two exchange goodbyes, then Chun Jie looks at the dark forest, takes a deep breath and walks into the shadows. The hunchback and the horse look on as Chun Jie disappears into the darkness.
Chun Jie is faced with the choice of taking a multitude of paths, he decides to take that path to his immediate right, by the looks of things, it is the clearest of the of all without much impeding his way. Slowly, he walks down his chosen path the ambient light growing dimmer and dimmer with every stride he takes, until he was immersed in near darkness. This forest certainly lives up to its name. Now Chun Jie begins to hear a myriad of foreign noises that were absent when he stood outside the forest. Strange shrieking, crackling, and banging sounds coming from all sorts of directions. The loud clamoring of activity is a distraction for Chun Jie, making it difficult to focus on his journey into the depths of the forest. As best he could, Chun Jie tries to block out the din of the forest and focus on where he is to go. But alas, the sounds prove too much for the young man and finds himself right back where he had begun, he spent all that time only to walk around in a complete circle. Dejected, Chun Jie collapses on the ground, uncertain on what to do next.
“What am I to do? What good am I to Princess Li Wei if I cannot even make it past the outer perimeter of this forest? Maybe I should have not done this,” Chun Jie shakes the notion, “No! I made a vow to the Emperor and Li Wei, I cannot let either of them down,” he tries to set his mind at ease, “All I have to do is focus and set myself free. Let my heart be my guide,” Chun Jie coaches himself. He closes his eyes and attempts to clear his mind, letting all conscious thought go, slowly the sounds of the forest became nonexistent and it seems that a vision of a path was unfolding before his eyes. Chun Jie had done it, he had mastered the technique, and found himself the best way to reach the gates of Feng Du. Rising up from his position situated on the ground, Chun Jie dusts himself off and takes this new path. Interestingly, the forest seems to have become more inviting than at first glance. It took on a new persona, much less fearsome and evil. All of a sudden, the forest returns to its dark demeanor and a swift chilling breeze blew by Chun Jie. He senses footsteps; something ominous is coming his way.
[“Gosh darn it!” Rosie yelps when a fork went down the sink. Her mother comes to her aide.
“Let me get that dear,” with the skill of a surgeon, the mother expertly fishes out the metal eating utensil from the drain, “Here you go Rosie. Make sure you scrub that one well,” she jokes.
“Sorry ‘bout that mom. I can be a little clumsy,” she giggles embarrassingly. Rosie continues to wash the other dishes while her mother is putting the extra food in their respective containers and placing them in the refrigerator. Rosie then says, “So what happens next mom? What does Chun Jie encounter in the forest?”
The narrator starts to yawn loudly as she put the food away, “Honey, I am starting to get real tired. As much as I would like to continue on with the story, I am afraid that I would not do it justice when I am exhausted,” she seems to feel the disappointment in her daughter’s body language. She then comes up to her daughter puts her hand on top of Rosie’s head and rubs it gently, “But I promise, I will continue on first thing in the morning. Sound like a deal?”
“Deal! Okay mom, you should start getting ready for bed. I will go ahead and take care of the rest of the things here. Goodnight mommy,” plants a kiss on her mother’s cheek. She would have given her mother a hug as well if not for her hands covered in soapsuds.
“Goodnight dear,” the mother leaves the kitchen and heads off to her bedroom.
With amazing rapidness, Rosie scrubs down the plates as well as the cooking pans they had used earlier, when she was done with them, they sparkled like the brightest stars in the night sky. Taking a white terry towel, she wiped any residual moisture on the plates before neatly tucking them away in their cupboards. Finally, she takes another towel and wipes down the countertops and straightens out all the little odds and ends that were there as well. Afterwards, Rosie gives smirks in satisfaction for a job well done before she extinguishes out the florescent lights that illuminated the kitchen.
Rosie goes into her bathroom, switches on the light and goes up to the sink. Turning on the faucet, cups her hands and lightly splashes her face. She then grabs some facial cleanser, gives it two pumps, swirling the substance in her two hands getting it to foam up before applying it to her fair skin. Afterwards she rises off the foam, and takes a towel to dry off her now clean and silky face, it is now devoid of any impurities. Taking the toothbrush and toothpaste out, she turns her attention to her teeth. She brushes with vigor in order to remove any thing that might cause decay to her teeth. Now that her pearly whites are even pearlier, she stows the oral care products away. Rosie goes to the closest in her bathroom and takes out a set of her sleepwear, which she exchanges with her day clothes. She looks over herself in the mirror in her pajamas, before placing her used clothing into the nearby hamper. Content with her ritual, she extinguishes the light and heads on off to her bedroom. Rosie draws the covers, and slides herself in between the sheets. She then adjusts her pillow just to the right height, patting it ever so slightly to get it to the right shape. Lying back in her bed, Rosie looks up at her ceiling, though not necessarily focusing on it. She is reflecting on her day’s activities, there is still a stinging within her heart, though that incident is towards the back of her mind. Now the action in her mother’s story is occupying her thoughts. Rosie wonders, what will happen next? Will Chun Jie make it through the Forest of Shadows and save Princess Li Wei? Are the two of them going to fall in love with each other? These and other thoughts race through her mind, but as the minutes wore on, her eyelids grew heavier and heavier, until they shut…Rosie slips silently into the world of dreams.
The following morning, Rosie gets up in a Jiangshi-esque manner, stiff and rigid. She looks into the mirror, and sees that her hair is in complete disarray, strands flying in all sorts of directions. Rosie decided to take a gander out her window and thought, “Hmph, it’s still raining. It hasn’t let up at all.” Before leaving the confines of her bedroom, Rosie decides to brush her hair to tame the wildness that resulted from her usual nighttime acrobatics, a gentle sleeper she is not. Satisfied with her look, she goes on out into the living room and kitchen area to find her mother at the table sipping a cup of coffee while reading the paper. Rosie runs up to her mother and embraces her warmly and plants a kiss, “Good morning mom!”
Pats her daughter lightly on her head, “Good morning Rosie. Did you get a nice night’s sleep?”
“Yes I did. I couldn’t wait to get up today so I can listen to the rest of you story,” she tells her mother giddily while in the process of preparing breakfast for herself.
“Okay dear, but let me finish what I am reading,” said the mother from behind the broadsheet.
Rosie looks at her mother, “Mom, you’re really reading into that article. What’s it about?”
“It’s about Snoopy,” puts down the paper below her eyes, then winks at Rosie, and raises the paper up again, “Oh, this gets me every time. You know Peanuts is my favorite comic strip,” she chuckles.
Rosie shakes her head a little. She picks up her bowl of cereal and walks on over to the table and takes the seat that is directly opposite from her mother’s position. The mother puts down the paper and takes a sip of her coffee, “So honey, were did we leave off?”
]
Chun Jie dives behind a dry bush to conceal himself as best he could. The footsteps were growing louder and louder, accompanied by some awful moaning, this could only mean one thing. The Jiangshi are coming closer, and are seeking out the breath of a living man. Immediately Chun Jie holds his breath, taking the hunchback’s advice, he covered his mouth and held in the air for as long as he could. Upon holding his breath, the hopping corpses began to act confused and uncertain, it seemed like they did not know what they were doing. Concentrating on his breathing technique, Chun Jie begins to feel something strange in his nose. He can feel it squirming, an irritant had made its way through his nostrils and a horrid thought enters Chun Jie’s mind…he can feel the beginnings of a sneeze. The undead continue to move about in disarray around the vicinity of Chun Jie’s bush. Chun Jie finally cannot contain the energy of the sneeze and releases all of its fury; its force nearly caused his eyes to pop out of their sockets. The roving Jiangshi hone in on the source of the offending sneeze. They moan to one another, but this time they hold their hands in such a way that their long nails resemble eagle claws, and unfurl their serpentine tongues at the prospect of a fresh meal this evening.
Ducked down, still behind the parched shrub, Chun Jie takes hold of his sword and primes himself for his offensive. He knows that his cover is blown and there is no other alternative but to face these creatures. Chun Jie takes a moment to focus his chi, and channels it down onto his sword, instantly the sword sprouts a magnificent steel blade. It is the first time Chun Jie had ever seen the cutting edge of his weapon since receiving it, the sword shimmered even in the dim light of the forest. Seeing his impressive weapon it built up his confidence and with authority emerges from behind the bush and faces his unworldly adversaries. When he lays his eyes upon the Jiangshi, the sight was grotesque. These mobile corpses are heavily disfigured monstrosities accented by their appendages, their unnaturally long tongues and dagger like fingernails. A stone went down Chun Jie’s gullet, sinking into his stomach, anxiety flowed through him as they got closer and closer. Chun Jie clutched his hands tighter to the sword’s hilt, not knowing what to do. He had never fought this many enemies before, let alone the undead. Just then he thought of his Uncle’s words of wisdom, and that soothed his jittery nerves.
The closest Jiangshi fired his long tongue at Chun Jie, which he deflected using his sword, in turn Chun Jie twists the sword’s handle to expose the cutting surface and swings it in the opposite direction. The action cut off the pale gray tongue, which fell to the ground squirming. Chun Jie then charged into the mass of Jiangshi, letting his spirit go and allowing it to take command of him; spinning, kicking, twirling, flipping, jumping, slashing, and cutting in all sorts of directions and at a high rate of speed, he became an unstoppable typhoon of pure power. The young warrior managed to sever the heads of many of the undead, causing them to collapse onto the dry earth. The ground was now littered with putrid immobile corpses. He single handily stopped a tribe of Jiangshi, and was relieved that it was over. Or so he thought…
A loud growling came from directly behind, and Chun Jie with urgency spins around and sees his assailant, it was the warrior leader of the group, his sword gave away his rank, probably a relic from his past. The Jiangshi warrior unsheathed his sword and took a swing at Chun Jie’s head, a move that was effectively countered by the young living swordsman. Their swords clashed, breaking the silence of the forest. Chun Jie can tell that this corpse is a skilled in the art of swordplay, he found it difficult to find a weakness in him, and they were at a draw, not one of them gaining an advantage over the other. They moved back and forth, ducking and jumping, swinging and slicing as they went. Chun Jie notices a branch above him, after deflecting a blow from the Jiangshi he leaped above towards the branch, grabbed hold of it with his free hand, swung his legs upwards and gripped the tree limb with them. This move freed his arms, allowing him drop his upper body down, and swings down like a pendulum with much momentum with his sword drawn, slicing the Jiangshi swordsman in half. Chun Jie released his leg hold and he somersaulted back onto terra firma. He falls to one knee, exhausted from the encounter. The young warrior took a look around him, to see if there are any remaining Jiangshi that he had not eliminated, much to his relief, there were no more. His sword’s blade retracted out of sight, leaving the hilt once more, which he tucks away. Looking over the slain corpses, he notices that they began to glow. Slowly, each Jiangshi had a soul rising from it, eventually separating from the body and floating upwards into the heavens. Chun Jie turned his head towards the warrior he just fought with and saw that it too began to glow. As the warrior’s soul began to rise from the corpse, it spoke to Chun Jie.
“Thank you kind mortal. We have been waiting for over five hundred years for our souls to move on. Your sword has magical properties that unbound us from our bodies, you are a most special warrior indeed. I thank you once more for setting us free and I wish you well on your way,” said the brightly glowing spirit before ascending into the sky. The sight was awe-inspiring; the radiant glow created by these spirits brightened the bleak world of the forest. Chun Jie takes a moment to watch them, and his heart is warmed knowing that he helped troubled spirits find their way home. Gathering his bearings after watching the spectacle, he moves on away from this site of battle. Chun Jie walked only brief only to feel the onset of fatigue, and decides to take a moment to gather up his strength by sitting on a nearby rotten log. He carefully inspects the log to makes sure he does not place himself on something that would be unpleasant.
Chun Jie while on the log takes a look at his sword and admires it, “You are certainly one special sword,” he talks to it, “I do not think I would have made it through that battle without you helping me. Uncle was right, your magic can help the wielder.” He stashes it away again and thoughts of uncertainty enter his mind. As much as he tries to fight it, they keep haunting him. To ward this off he tells himself, “Remember who you are doing this for…because without her you would be nothing. She is your soul, the mere thought of her gives you strength…you do want to see her again, don’t you?” He takes out his journal from his breast pocket and rereads his last poem entry just to make sure the first time he read it was not misleading, and just like the first time, Chun Jie decides it is perfect before tucking it away into the pocket. The battle with the Jiangshi made Chun Jie lose his bearings, now he must refocus to find his way. Closing his eyes, Chun Jie clears his mind and tries to find the path that he managed to discover earlier. Success, his meditation clarified the route and it revealed itself in front of him. Chun Jie believes he has now gotten enough strength back to continue on his quest, now he descends deeper into the Forest of Shadows. A black bird was perched on a limb above the rotten log, it was a spectator to the encounter between the mortal and the Jiangshi.
Yaoguai stood by his globe and keenly watched the events unfold between Chun Jie’s fight with the hopping corpses. Much to his chagrin, the “mere boy” had defeated the undead without one of them coming close to making contact with the boy’s skin. The Lord of the Demons was rather impressed by the showing of this mortal; he might be living up to his expectations of a proper challenger, this particular human might actually entertain him. Yaoguai looked into his sandglass and can see that four days has elapsed from the day he made the agreement with the Emperor. The human has three days left to make it to Feng Du and challenge him, in the eyes of the demon…the boy will not make it. He may posses the skill, but Yaoguai believes that time is going against the human. Yaoguai is now thinking about how he would enjoy the company of the Princess when the time expires.
Chapter Eleven
Well on his way into the depths of the forest, Chun Jie grows even more mindful of his surroundings, as they become more and more alien with each passing step. The light slowly dimmed further and further as the sun set below the horizon, making the already dim path even more difficult to navigate. Chun Jie stops for a moment and picks a nearby stick that he thinks that could be utilized as a torch. He then rounds up some dry brush and places them in a small pile. Taking his sword and extending its blade, he finds a rock and strikes it with the metal cutting edge. At first, no success, but with his persistence and added vigor, Chun Jie manages to cause enough friction between the sword and the rock to cause sparks to form. These sparks would fly off the blade and land in the brush pile, slowly, but steadily smoke began to rise. Chun Jie did his best to build up the flame, using techniques learned from his father during his youth. After careful tending, Chun Jie’s eyes catch a faint glimmer of red-orange light, until it grew stronger and more vibrant, crackling as it went. He had done it, now Chun Jie has a source of light. Grabbing the stick he found, Chun Jie places into the flames until the fire emerged from the top of the torch. Before moving on, the young man snuffed out the small fire that he created.
The newly made torch sliced through the darkness, much like a sharp scimitar would through flesh, allowing Chun Jie to have a better perspective of his environment. He kept walking for what seemed like hours, drudging through the rough path, occasionally tripping over a stray tree root or stone. Despite some falls and setbacks along this route, his inner drive kept Chun Jie on the move. In the distance, Chun Jie notices a clearing, a break among the sea of decaying trees. Moving towards the clearing, he sees that the light emanating from his flame torch was reflecting off the ground, but thinks to himself, “Light cannot be reflected by dirt. That means it is not solid ground, it had to be a body of water.” He goes forth to investigate and feels some wetness seeping into his shoes, until he was eventually sloshing through the fluid. Chun Jie bends down slightly, dips his hand into the liquid and samples it with his mouth. Upon contact with his tongue, the liquid left a repulsive taste. It was certainly not water; the fluid had a higher viscosity than he first imagined, it was blood, a whole lake filled to the brim. Remembering the words of hunchback friend, Chun Jie then holds the light up and swings around like a pendulum to survey the surroundings, but specifically finding the lair of the hornless black dragon. The scope of the light generated from the torch is limited, so if the cave in which this dragon rested does exist, it is well hidden from his eyes by the dark cloak of the night. Thinking that it is of no use to continue further tonight, Chun Jie plans to camp out in a tree and wait until there is more visible light before making any more progress. He finds a suitable tree near him, with nice high and solid looking branches stable enough to support his mass, Chun Jie leaps up to it, landing with the grace of a crane on one of the tree’s many limbs. He jams his torch into a hole in the trunk, in essence becoming an effective holder for his source of light. Feeling somewhat at ease by being up so high, Chun Jie believes no creature would be able to make of meal of him from this height, and with that thought he began to sleep.
Much to Chun Jie’s surprise, he had slept rather well considering how inhospitable the Forest of Shadows is. He turns his head to check on his flame, it had burned itself out overnight, leaving just a charred piece of wood. Something began to bellow loudly, breaking the silence of the still forest, it was his stomach. To calm the monstrous growl from his belly, Chun Jie opens up his bag and starts to munch on the final dumpling that Wang had given him. He enjoyed every morsel that dropped down into his angry stomach, which eventually ceased its angry song as it got its fill. At the conclusion of his morning meal, Chun Jie jumps off the limb and was once again back on solid ground. Down on the forest floor, the light provided just enough illumination for his eyes. Looking towards the lake, he concludes that this body is far from ordinary, even with the limited amount of ambient light, the crimson hue of the lake certainly stood out from the otherwise colorless world of the shadow forest. Taking a brief moment to meditate, shutting his eyes, trying to focus on the location of the home of the black dragon. When the eyes of Chun Jie opened, his chi found it for him; the cave was not all that far in the direction to his right. Though Chun Jie sensed the location of the lair, his use of the chi is still fairly limited, thus he does not know what the place looks like exactly. Walking toward the general direction dictated by his vision, Chun Jie with hawk eyes pans for what could be dragon’s cave. Now he feels that he has reached the exact location of the lair, but it seems as if his chi has misled him. Looking around, there was nothing there. Nothing remotely resembling a cave let a lone one housing a black dragon. His doubts were abolished immediately when the earth beneath his feet shook violently. The ground cracked and groaned as a large rock face began to move lethargically aside, revealing an entrance to a cave…a booming voice emanates from within its depths.
“Who dares stand before my cave!” it snarled.
Chun Jie faces the entrance and with surprising confidence utters, “It is only a mortal trying to find my way to the gates of Feng Du. I am not a threat, for I only wish to pass,” Chun Jie catches the faint glimmer of two large amber colored eyes, with black slits cutting down the centers, staring right at him from the cave.
“I will not allow you safe passage past my cave,” it hissed.
“Kind dragon, why not allow me to continue on my way?” asked Chun Jie.
“No man shall pass without answering my riddle. You only have one chance and you must answer immediately, no hesitation. Or else I will not hesitate to kill you,” threatened the creature from the cave.
“Agreed. What is the riddle?”
“A small maiden, sits in the middle of the water. Wearing a pink jacket, she rows her boat without oars. What is it?” the dragon snapped.
“A lotus,” replied Chun Jie without a hint of wavering.
“A clever man you are,” the dragon cackled, “But being clever does not mean you will survive…”
Puzzled, Chun Jie asks, “But we had an agreement, if I answer you riddle, I will be allowed to pass.”
“Ah, but you forgot one part of the deal…the part where I will not hesitate to kill you,” the dragon spoke with a loud growl.
Chun Jie senses that his dealings with the dragon are not going as planned, confirmed by the sound of the dragon’s thundering gait echoing in the cave, it was rushing towards him. The young warrior stood his ground, awaiting the emergence of the black dragon. Once he gets a glimpse of its silhouette and as the dragon’s massive head pokes into the light, Chun Jie leaps up clearing the jaws of the beast and lands atop its scaly crown, he firmly latches on. The black creature snarled in protest, Chun Jie continued to hold steadfast as the creature began to run in between the trees in an effort to dislodge him. His body smashes into the unyielding and unforgiving trees, wincing in pain with each strike, until the dragon swings its neck into a tree, Chun Jie had no choice but to release his grip or else be flattened. Dropping down on to the forest floor, he takes off, running as fast as his body would allow. The dragon sees that the man had jumped off him, and with his sharp predatory eyes the dragon locks its gaze onto the running human and starts to pursue him. Chun Jie can feel the booming footsteps of the monster behind him, including the snapping tree trunks each time the dragon places one of its feet down. In an attempt to foil the attacking beast, Chun Jie makes rapid directional changes in hopes that the dragon’s mass would cause him to stumble and eventually give up its chase. But to no avail, the snout of the dragon was only a few strides behind him, close enough to feel the hot breath of the monster. Chun Jie takes another leap upwards to grab a vine that was hanging down from a high limb, when he grabs it he swings around in the opposite direction allowing him to escape the teeth-lined jaws of the dragon at least for now. The black hornless dragon slides to a stop and immediately changes direction, very much annoyed and angrier than before, its eyes now glowed blood red. Having bought himself a few more seconds, Chun Jie takes another huge leap and flies onto another high tree. This time taking his sword in hand and releasing its blade awaits the dragon to draw closer. Kicking off the limb, Chun Jie twists his body into a vortex spinning rapidly with his arms stretched holding the blade out towards the advancing creature. Instead of being frightened, the dragon simply opened its enormous mouth and allowed Chun Jie to slip down into his throat, and with a gulp, seals his jaws shut.
Standing once again over his globe, Yaoguai laughs madly, “Haha! Ah I knew that boy would not amount to anything, now he is just a snack for the dragon,” he calls two slaves over, “Prepare the Princess, it is official now, she is now my wife and queen of Feng Du. Bring her before me.” As instructed, the slaves produce the Princess before the demonic lord.
“What is it my lord, do you wish to see me?” Li Wei utters in a sarcastic tone.
“Why yes my Princess. Or should I say, Queen?” the demon walks towards her.
“Queen? That would mean…” she doesn’t finish her sentence.
“Yes Princess, your friend is nothing more than nourishment for that beast you see there,” points towards the globe providing an image of the dragon.
Her heart just sank to the floor, but then when she took another look at the globe there was something peculiar going on. The dragon began to move erratically, until it crashed down. Suddenly, the head explodes, spilling all sorts of vile content in every direction. Li Wei looked attentively at the black orb and could see something small moving, emerging from the remnants of the beast’s neck, it runs off into the cover of the forest. The color returns to her face and turns her head to take a look at the dark lord. For the first time, Lord Yaoguai had a blank stare all across his face, which was soon replaced by a look of supreme hatred.
“Lord Yaoguai, I believe we have to postpone our wedding, don’t you agree?” Li Wei mocks the king of demons.
In his anger, he slaps her with such force that Li Wei fell to the ground and slid back twice her body length. Without saying a word, Yaoguai retreats into a room hidden by the shadows. The slaves pick up the Princess and send her back into her cell. Once there, she tries to ease the sting of the demon’s wrath, but that did not matter. Li Wei’s pain was eased knowing that her friend was still alive and had not given up on her. Strangely, she notices that lately when she reflects on her friend, her heart seems to beat that much more stronger. She wonders, “Could it be, that I love Chun Jie more than I know…Is what my heart telling me be true?” she shakes the notion, “No it cannot be, my heart has been wrong before…so how can I trust it this time? It lied about Prince Wen, I am just afraid it will lie about Chun Jie,” she sighs deeply and tries to think of something else to occupy her thoughts.
As he came out of the creature’s corpse, Chun Jie breathes a massive sigh of relief. The mystical amulet that his uncle gave him saved his life, which sensed that Chun Jie was in danger and sacrificed itself in order to spare the life of its master. Though relieved, Chun Jie now worries that he lost some protection from the other dangers of the Forest of Shadows now that his amulet is gone, at least his sword was still intact. The stench of the now rotting corpse is starting to become overbearing for Chun Jie and he continues on his way. The trouble is now that he is soaked in the creature’s blood and there is nowhere to wash himself, he figures that he will deal with it later. Chun Jie wiped away some of the red substance from his face as he went along. There was a rustling from the side, suddenly WOOSH, a small dart strikes his neck. It seemed to have some sort of poison, it made Chun Jie very weak until he fell unconscious onto the ground.
Chapter Twelve
When Chun Jie opened his eyes, he has no idea where he is. But by the looks of his surroundings, he is no longer in the depths of the forest, rather in a quaint rustic home. His neck ached with the slightest movement; his body is stiff as a bamboo rod. Still very disoriented, Chun Jie attempts to rise from the bed he was placed in, and wondered how on earth did he end up in this house. He also thought, “Why is there a house in the middle of the Forest of Shadows?” An imaged flashed in his mind, the last thing he that he can recall was being struck by some sort of projectile, but that was all. Chun Jie notices that his sword is missing from his side, a look of worry comes across his haggard face. That was then he notices that his clothes were missing, but more importantly, so was the journal. He wonders who could have taken his belongings, that second he catches a glimpse of something red moving in the other room. Picking himself up from the bed, Chun Jie goes to the other room to investigate his sighting. He peers around the corner, the red thing that he saw was actually a cloak…a crimson cloak draped over a person, who was tending to chores within the house. Before parting his lips, the figure began to speak.
“Awaken from your slumber have you now?” it spoke in a pleasant feminine voice, “I washed your clothes, they were completely soaked in blood. You will find them in the cabinet to your right.”
“Why yes. I would like to thank you for taking me in for the night. If it is not much to ask, how did I end up here?” Chun Jie asked the vermilion figure, which had its back to him. He then gets his clothes from where the figure had placed them, upon examining them Chun Jie does not find his journal or his sword amongst the linen.
“I was walking in around my home, tending to my duties, when I came across you lying on the ground. I just could not leave someone helpless, it is just not in my character to leave a man for dead in a place like this forest,” replied the red-hooded person.
“Oh,” he sighed, “If you would excuse me, I would like to get going on my way. But before I go, did you happen to see my sword? Or my journal? I must have misplaced them somewhere, they were on my person when I remember last.”
The figure rose up and straightened its body, “I did in fact see your sword, I saw that it was missing its blade. I figured it was broken and threw it out,” it replied to him, “As for your journal I have it on my desk. But before you leave, would you care to have something to eat. It is not good to travel without food in one’s stomach.”
Chun Jie immediately forgot about losing his effects upon hearing the word “food” uttered, his stomach grumbled as if it were rejoicing. “That is very kind of you, I will take you up on that offer,” he smiles, even though he knows the cloaked figure cannot see his face.
“Go ahead and take a seat at the table, and I will bring out your meal,” it pointed out the table to Chun Jie, which he eagerly walks toward and sets himself down.
When he looked over at where he thought the red person had been standing to find that it was not there, but in a flash it reappeared before him carrying a tray of food. Startled at the figures sudden reappearance, Chun Jie has a feeling that this person is one he must be wary of. He cannot make out its face since it was hidden by the cloak, but senses this person is a woman, given away by the scent of flowers in the air, in a place where no flowers bloomed and the only visible part of her face that showed—her full red lips.
“Here you go. Eat up so you can regain your strength. I made you some special tea to help give some relief from your stiffness and aches that you seem to have,” she said in a sweet, but eerie way.
An epiphany came to Chun Jie, it occurred to him that this lady could well in fact be the Dark Mistress of the Forest that the hunchback warned him about. Suddenly the food that was presented before him no longer looked appetizing. Now Chun Jie tries to think of a way to get out of this potentially volatile situation.
“What is wrong? I thought you were hungry,” inquired the lady.
“Madam, I just realized that I must continue on my way immediately, I cannot afford to lose time,” he gives his reason, and gets up from the table, “Thank you once more for your hospitality.”
Chun Jie goes for the opened door adjacent to the dining area as fast as he could without being conspicuous, but it was no use. The door shut with a great deal of force, pushing the air into Chun Jie causing him to fall back onto the floor, apparently without anything acting upon it. Soon afterwards, all the shutters and the rest of the openings fastened themselves down, in a similar fashion as the first door. The wind howled violently swirling into many vortices in the confines of the house. His suspicions were confirmed, his hostess for the night was in fact the Evil Temptress. Chun Jie turned his eyes towards the temptress, the eyes were glowing red as the cloak that covered her body from within the shadow of her hood.
“You are not going anywhere…until I have had my way with you,” she cackled.
“I ask kindly, let me go on my way. I do not intend to cause you any harm,” Chun Jie tells the temptress.
The temptress holds one of her arms akimbo, “Is that a threat? How dare you threaten me!” her voice radiates anger, “You plan on striking a lady? Very unbecoming of a gentleman!”
“I only respect those who deserve being respected,” Chun Jie says defiantly.
“Suit yourself, continue in that manner and you will not only become a slave of mine, but I will make sure you have a miserable existence for all eternity!” her eyes glow even more intense.
From his laying position on the floor, Chun Jie springs to his feet with cobra-like quickness and goes into his fighting stance. The temptress crosses her arms, not looking the least bit impressed. Seeing that Chun Jie looks serious on his intentions, she too takes up her crane-fighting stance. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, neither one making a move. Chun Jie methodically plans out his attack against the evil temptress in his mind, satisfied with his plan, he is the first to pounce. He first strikes her using his right arm aimed for her head, she effectively counters this and then gets a hold of Chun Jie throwing him onto the ground. The temptress jumps up and attempts to land a crushing blow on Chun Jie’s ribs, but he manages to roll quickly out of harms way. Seeing a chair near him, Chun Jie grabs one of the legs and fires it at the dark lady. When the flying projectile approaches, she shatters it with the use of her fist of iron, sending splintered wood back in Chun Jie’s direction. Chun Jie executes a couple of back flips to avoid the shower of splinters. He tries to gather his breath, this woman is pure evil all right, and he has nothing of magic to help counter her attacks. Suddenly, something shoots out of her arms directly at Chun Jie knocking the wind out of him and causing him to fly backwards into a wall, but that did not stop his flight, he broke cleanly through the wall. Chun Jie plops down hard onto the ground, grimacing in extreme pain all over his body. The red-cloaked temptress emerges from the hole in the wall created by Chun Jie’s body and approaches him. Looking over his beaten body, she firmly sets her foot down onto his neck, seemingly taking pleasure in strangling Chun Jie. But he would have none of it, feeling the fire within, a surge of energy flows through him. Chun Jie then takes his hands and latches onto the foot of the temptress, twists it in such a way that it takes her by surprise and spins her into a cyclone and throws her end over end. The body of the temptress crashes onto the dusty earth and ceased all movement. Straining to get up, Chun Jie looks over to the red cloak and starts to stagger towards it. Bending down on one knee, he pulls back the hood that hid the face of his opponent, what he saw removed all the color from his face like; he sat there mortified. When he peeled back the crimson hood of the temptress. Looking at the closed-eyed face, Chun Jie saw the visage that was engraved into his heart…a face that would put a thousand orchids to shame…it was the face of Princess Li Wei, though with a darker aura. Seizing the moment, the temptress senses that Chun Jie has let his guard down, spins around and plants a kick to his head. She then gets back on to her feet and throws a barrage of lighting quick kicks, punches, and gouges with the swiftness of a crane. Chun Jie slowly succumbed to the onslaught, but she was not satisfied. Forming her hand into the shape of crane’s beak, she strikes at certain points on Chun Jie’s body…putting him into several joint locks, now Chun Jie is beaten and immobile. Pulling something from her pocket, she then blows a powder in Chun Jie’s face, which puts him to sleep. He does not fall over due to the joint locks, only his head tilts back. The dark sorceress closes her eyes and says an incantation over the body of Chun Jie, upon completion, his body begins to rise and she directs her powers to float him back into her house.
The dark lady of the forest places Chun Jie in one of the chairs. With her black magic, she casts a spell on his wrists and ankles to bind him to the chair. To awaken her prisoner, she blows gently at his face, immediately the eyes of Chun Jie blink rapidly, a response to the stimulation by the temptress. Slightly blinded, Chun Jie could hardly make out her face, he knew she was there and tried to move, but it was of no use the binds she placed on him held him tightly.
Moves her face very close to Chun Jie’s, “Like I said, you are not going anywhere until I am through with you,” she smirks evilly.
“What is it that you want?” he replies agitatedly.
“I want what you want,” she starts to stroke his face with the back side of her hand, “You are a handsome man, and I know that you want to have your way with me. All men cannot resist the advances of a beautiful woman.”
Chun Jie looks away from her, “That is not what I want. I do not want you at all,” he declares to her.
The temptress chuckles, “Hah! I know all you men are lustful swine, why not given in to your desires?” she starts to slowly disrobe her bright red cloak to reveal her hidden assets, mysteriously her hair gently floats as if the wind was were carrying it…but the air was still, and dead as a corpse.
“You are not the one I desire,” Chun Jie says to her, looking away.
She reaches for his head and forces him to look at her sensuous shape, “I am yours, take me and do what you will to me. All you have to do is say it,” she offers in a seductive tone, lightly flips her hair aside.
“No.”
The temptress puts her curvaceous figure onto his lap and caresses his him all over, “Well why not?”
Chun Jie is doing what he could to avoid her gaze, “I will not give into your seductions. Lust is for the weak willed.”
“So, you are saying that you are of strong will?” the temptress inquires moving in dangerously close before whispering into his ear.
“Yes.”
The temptress stands up and slaps him firmly across the face, “Haha! You fool! I do not believe you! No man has ever survived me, what makes you so different?”
“My love for my Princess keeps me strong. Strong enough to resist all your wickedness,” he tells her.
“Love?! Oh that makes me laugh,” she fakes a laugh, then makes Chun Jie’s journal materialize in her hands and reads through a couple of pages, “So is this what you call ‘love?’ This wretched nonsense? Tell me, why do you love this girl who does not even give you a second look?”
Chun Jie tries to contemplate the answer, “I do not know why. But I know that my heart knows the answer. Though I seriously doubt you would ever understand the concept of love,” he fires cynically at her.
With the flick of her wrist, she catapults the journal at an extreme velocity straight to Chun Jie’s chest, knocking the air out of his lungs. Chun Jie feels the onset of a bruise coming from the point of impact.
“I guess I understand it now…love hurts,” she mocks him with an insincere giggle. Again she approaches him, this time from behind, rubbing his shoulders sensuously then says, “I have a proposition. I know how deeply you have fallen for this Princess of yours, why not fulfill your earthly desires with me? I look like her don’t I? More beautiful in fact, don’t you agree? You do know you do not have even a remote chance with her, so why continue your pursuit? Why continue to live in pain of not having what you want? When you can spend all eternity doing nothing but making love to me,” the temptress turns his head towards her face and tries one more attempt in seducing Chun Jie, using her hypnotic eyes beaming into his.
He looks her in the eyes with fire burning within, “I would rather die loving my Princess than spending all eternity satisfying a whore!”
The temptress moves in front of Chun Jie, “You know, we could have done this the easy way. But you have decided to be belligerent, now my ‘friend’ you will now suffer until all the life is expelled from your body…I will make sure it is excruciating,” she hisses.
“If that is the case. Will you grant a condemned man one more wish?” Chun Jie bows his head down.
“What is it that you wish? Have you reconsidered?”
After a short pause, “Yes, my mistress I have.”
“Good,” the temptress seems satisfied that once again she had triumphed over another feeble-minded man.
“My lady, if I may, I would like to present you a gift. My uncle taught me a little magic, so allow me to do some for you,” he says sweetly.
“Your wish is granted,” the temptress waits eagerly for Chun Jie’s magic.
Chun Jie shuts his eyes and he begins to focus. His hands starts to move in concert, suddenly a rose materializes in the air at the temptress’s eye level. She is amazed at what she sees, this man might be worth keeping the temptress thinks to herself.
“This is my gift to you my mistress, I hope you accept,” Chun Jie smiles to her.
The temptress gently picks up the rose from the air and takes a whiff of the flower. The scent is the most beautiful to have ever gone through her nose, she smiles while enjoying the perfume of the rose. She notices that something is not right; the scent suddenly became vile and repulsive, like rotting flesh or a putrid swamp. Two sharp projectiles shoot up from the rose’s center and enter the nostrils of the temptress, eventually piercing its way into her brain. She begins to wail due to the extreme pain with the intensity that could certainly shatter a wall of concrete. The flower begins to inject a poison into the dark lady, which weakens her and causes her to fall on her knees. Slowly the venom of the rose flowed into her veins, her Princess Li Wei façade melts off and exposes her true persona…a hideous old hag. The temptress continues to scream in agony, the poison flows stronger now and is starting to break her insides down, liquefying her organs. The wart infested pale white skin dislodges itself from the body, the rest of her is a festering mass. The disgusting mass stopped convulsing and she is no more.
Chapter Thirteen
Looking at the putrid puddle, which is all that is left of the evil temptress, Chun Jie feels that his body is no longer held in place by the her black magic. He then picks up his journal and tucks it away safely once more in his breast pocket. Now it is time for him to retrieve his sword. According to the words of the temptress, she had thrown it out, but Chun Jie thought otherwise. She knew magic herself, meaning that the witch knew about the powers that the sword possess, so she could not have just simply tossed it with the garbage he thought to himself. At that very moment, Chun Jie could sense something stirring, nothing sinister but something familiar. He could feel it drawing him in, eventually it led him to the temptress’s sleeping quarters. The sensation Chun Jie feels has become stronger until it took over him and causes Chun Jie to drop down onto the floor. On his hands and knees, his chi leads him to look underneath her bed, there he finds a wooden box. Chun Jie extracts the wooden case from underneath the dusty bed, lifting the lid. He found the source of the energy that pulled him in…it was his sword. Chun Jie and the sword had forged a bond, it was no longer just a mere weapon, but an extension of his spirit and body. Now reunited with his sword, Chun Jie gets up off the floor and leaves the house of the dark lady of the forest. All that is left of his quest is to reach the gates of Feng Du and confront Lord Yaoguai. The hunchback had said that the entrance of Feng Du was not too far from the house of the temptress, and right he was. Chun Jie had walked only a short distance until he reached the foot of Feng Du Mountain, right where the Forest of Shadows stops. Searching around, he notices past the clearing to the side, a small opening in the rock face. Cautiously, Chun Jie walks over to the crevice; taking a peek from the side he finds the gates that lead to the home of Yaoguai. To his surprise, the gates themselves were hardly impressive and was not the least bit menacing. Standing at the gates were two fearsome creatures that he had never seen before in his life, both had the heads of animals…one featured the head of an ox, the other a horse. The two guardians saw the approaching Chun Jie, stood steadfast at the gate, crossing their arms in order to show their bulging muscle structure.
“What is it that you want?” said the Ox-headed creature.
“You do not belong here. This place is for the dead. Unless you want to be one of them,” said the other guard with a snarl.
With his head held high Chun Jie says, “I wish to see Lord Yaoguai. I am the one sent to challenge him and return Princess Li Wei back to her home.”
The two guardians look at one another and nods, the gates of Feng Du begun to open. They inspect Chun Jie, the sword was the only object that the guards found questionable and took it into their custody.
“Come this way,” one of them said.
Walking down the tunnel, it seemed rather normal for Chun Jie, but it was not until they had gotten further down the bowels that the place became more dark and evil. The air around him became stale slowly turning rancid and foul, he can feel it burning the lining of his nostrils. The guards took Chun Jie past one of the many torture chambers of Feng Du, the foul stench came from the pit that wrong doers were being thrown, massive groups of them had to take the plunge into the filth that lined the pit. To his left, Chun Jie witnesses a man being sawn in half, wailing in agony as the rusted steel blade cut into his body. In an adjacent location, another man is being stretched in all sorts of direction until he was literally torn apart. The tension was so high, that when his body gave way, many of his organs flew all over the place, including his heart, which landed before Chun Jie’s feet…still beating while disgorging its contents into a red puddle. Chun Jie cringed in revulsion at the sight, for this is truly a hellish place. Looking to his right, Chun Jie finds a large tree, but it was not all ordinary. This tree is a vile one, instead of branches stemming from its trunk and being covered with bark, swords sprouted from the trunk becoming the limbs while it was covered with thousands upon thousands of razor sharp blades. The wrong doers that stood at the bottom of the tree where whipped brutally with a leather whip adorned with large spikes that ate into their skin as they climb this tree of blades. Chun Jie observed in horror as the tortured souls screamed in pain as they were forced up the tree, the louder they screamed the harder they were whipped. Some fell off the side, upon landing they were kicked and whipped with unceasing intensity before being forced up the tree once more. Chun Jie could no longer tolerate what he was seeing, so much suffering around him, he resorts to fix his eyes onto the floor, with the hopes that by doing so he can shield himself from his surroundings. The walk to reach the ruler of this wretched place seemed to take an eternity for Chun Jie until one of the guards taps him on the shoulder and points to a set of stairs. Turning his head upwards, the steps led to a room high above the chambers of torture, but walking up was not an easy task. The steps themselves were craggy, with sharp rocks protruding from various angles impeding the path. Chun Jie carefully navigates his way past the obstacles without incident, placing his feet with care as not to plunge to his demise. As the soles of his shoes brushed the last step, the large door to the room opened, he then stepped inside into the dim room where the demon sat awaiting his arrival.
“So you are the challenger that the Emperor has deemed worthy enough to challenge me? I have been expecting you. I was rather worried that you would not arrive, you came just before the deadline,” the demon says in a surprisingly friendly tone.
“Where is Princess Li Wei? I want to know that she is safe,” Chun Jie declares.
Yaoguai takes his hand and rubs his chin with it, “Direct to the point aren’t we now? Yes, your Princess is safe, you have my word.”
“That is why I am concerned, I know I cannot trust the word of a demon,” he replies.
Yaoguai is impressed by the strength that this challenger is exhibiting, “Look over to that orb and you will see your Princess,” he points over to the black globe, which Chun Jie then approaches and looks into. He can see that the Princess is sitting in her cell looking pretty much intact, although she looks unhappy.
“Now that you can see that your dear Princess Li Wei is in pristine condition, let us go about the terms of the agreement shall we?” the black draped lord tells Chun Jie.
“What is it going to take for me to get her back Lord Yaoguai?” asked Chun Jie.
“You will have to kill me in order to set her free,” the dark ruler says nonchalantly.
“If that is the case my lord, how would you like to die?” Chun Jie boldly says.
Yaoguai chuckles loudly, amused by the audacity of this mortal, “Haha! Do you really think that you have the skills to defeat me? I have a proposition for you. I am offering you a chance to leave this place with your life. If you decide to act on this, I will give you endless wealth and safety from all who question you…all you have to do is leave. Interested?”
Insulted by the bribe, Chun Jie approaches within twenty paces of the dark lord, “It is going to take more than worldly things to get me to abandon my duties to my Princess.”
“So tell me, what is it going to take for you to turn around and go the other way?” inquires the evil lord.
“You would have to rip out my heart from my chest to convince me otherwise. It is the reason why I am here,” he asserts.
“Oh that is precious,” mocks Yaoguai, “The peasant boy in love with a princess. Who would do anything for the one he loves,” sits in back in his chair laughing, “Wake up boy! You know you do not have a chance at all! With her falling in love with you or you defeating me!”
“It seems to me you are intimidated by me, Lord Yaoguai, or else you would not be offering me such options,” Chun Jie replies with a smirk.
The eyebrows of Yaoguai intersect sharply upon hearing this, “Suit yourself. Do not beg for me to spare your life once we commence in our battle.”
“What are your conditions? How are we to fight?” asked Chun Jie.
“There will be no rules, who ever stands last wins. This will be a contest in swordsmanship,” Yaoguai then with his magic makes Chun Jie’s sword appear in his hands, “An interesting weapon you have here. A sword with no blade. I have heard of such a weapon, it is a sword of great power. How did you get a hold of it?”
“It was a gift from my master,” Chun Jie tells him.
“He certainly wasted a perfectly good sword by giving it to you,” the black lord sneers, suddenly he flicks the sword towards Chun Jie who catches it, “Shall we commence?”
From his seated position, Yaoguai bounds from his chair, rolls in the air and as he landed unsheathes his sword pointing it towards Chun Jie. Seeing the demon taking the initiative, Chun Jie summons the blade to emerge from the hilt; he too points it towards his opponent. Letting out a bellowing yell, the king of the underworld makes the first attack, going for Chun Jie’s head. Chun Jie blocks the whizzing blade with his sword, each contact accompanied by loud echoing twangs. Yaoguai attacks with a thrust to the torso, Chun Jie moves out of harms way by throwing his upper body backwards, allowing him to miss the blade by the width of a hair. In this laying position, Chun Jie launches a powerful kick to Yaoguai’s sword holding hand, which he lands, deflecting the sword and giving him time to return to an upright stance.
“You are an accomplished swordsman, but not yet a master,” Yaoguai tells Chun Jie as they stood facing one another.
The evil lord again makes another attack, he vaults into the air, this time with a lot more rage and fury with an intensity that would rival an exploding volcano. This attack is very effective, all Chun Jie can do is block, there is no opportunity for him to make an offensive move. In this defensive position, Chun Jie has to continually step backwards, until they reach the window. Having cornered his foe, Lord Yaoguai directs Chun Jie’s sword upwards, leaving his chest vulnerable, which he then takes advantage and fires a kick sending Chun Jie through the window shattering the glass. The dark ruler is most certain that he had won, as he looked out the gaping hole in his chamber, but what he saw did not please him. Instead of seeing a lifeless corpse sprawled face down on the ground, he finds Chun Jie on his feet with a wry smile looking up at him. The fall did not do a great deal of damage to him, but the shattered glass cut his face slightly.
“I am not going to make this easy for you Lord Yaoguai. After all, you wanted a challenge, so come down here,” Chun Jie says in a playful manner.
Yaoguai’s goons see Chun Jie and begin to close in, “Shall we kill him master?” said one of them.
“No, leave him to me. Go about your tasks, none of this concerns you,” he orders them, to ensure that no one will intervene, Yaoguai casts a black spell on his subjects. They all scatter mindlessly.
Like a bat, Yaoguai hurtles towards Chun Jie with his sword drawn. Chun Jie leaps upwards to meet him and takes a swing at the dark lord. The swords clash with such force that both combatants fly in opposing directions. Both fighters push off a wall and again they head towards one another. They have a clash in the air before coming back down onto the ground.
“You know I should tell you something,” Lord Yaoguai starts to speak, “I lied to you. The Princess is not exactly in pristine condition. I had my way with your princess. Might I say that it a delicious experience, tasting her many riches,” he taunts Chun Jie, “What can I say, I am a demon,” Yaoguai laughs in his face.
“How dare you!” the enraged Chun Jie yells, then with blind fury attacks the demon who said these profane things about Li Wei. With this wrath, Chun Jie not only loses all control of his body, but also his mind and spirit. Yaoguai successfully fends off this offensive, his provocation of Chun Jie’s feelings have worked in his favor…he had weakened his opponent by clouding his focus by toying with his emotions. Seizing Chun Jie’s vulnerability, Yaoguai jumps over him, grabs his long ponytail slices it off before slashing at his abdomen, this attack was not countered effectively, the blade had made contact with flesh, and blood began to flow from the wound. Chun Jie falls to his knees, dropping his sword in the process.
“Looks like you are no match for me. Admit defeat you useless human,” Yaoguai snaps his fingers and the pit of filth situated behind Chun Jie erupts into a huge wall of angry flames, “How would you like to spend eternity? Burning while in covered in filth? Climbing the tree of blades? It is your choice,” he laughs sadistically, “But before that happens, I must separate your soul from your body,” with both hands Yaoguai raises his sword high above his head, aiming to force it down the centerline of Chun Jie’s body.
Chun Jie still on his knees remained motionless, but he was not doing it just to be idle, he was meditating. He realized that his rage had made him lose all foresight, making him blind and vulnerable. While in his state, Chun Jie senses his approaching attacker, he then plays out his next course of action. Yaoguai releases the force in his arms and brings down the sword onto Chun Jie’s head, but before the blade could split him in two, Manchu swiftly takes both of his bare hands and catches the speeding blade, stopping its progress. The evil lord strains to break Chun Jie’s grip, but it was of no use…Chun Jie’s chi is unyielding. Suddenly, takes his hands and twists them and the blade in the process, with explosive force Chun Jie springs back and hurtles the sword and its wielder into the burning pit of filth. Lord Yaoguai was caught unaware of this counter move, and now he burns in the depths of his place of torment.
Exhaustion is clearly expressed all across Chun Jie’s face, his release of energy drained him. He staggers to his feet, picks up his sword and tucks it in his belt. Chun Jie is glad that the ordeal with Lord Yaoguai is now over. His next duty is now to retrieve Princess Li Wei, amazingly he does not need to search for long, because she appeared before his eyes. All the sensations of tiredness, that he was going through, he even forgot about his wound, vanished upon setting his eyes upon his princess. With a slight limp, he starts to make his way towards her, greeting one another with a warm embrace.
“Thank you so much for saving me from this awful place,” the Princess plants a kiss on Chun Jie’s right cheek.
“You are most certainly welcome my Princess,” Manchu takes hold of the elaborate handle of the family knife that hung in its holder near his back, while slowly revealing the blade. Rapidly draws the knife and quickly he thrusts the sharp metal blade, plunging it right into her heart. She gags and winces, he retracts the blade, she then falls flat on her back with blood flowing from her wound.
Chapter Fourteen
[“Mom! What the heck just happened?” Rosie gasps in horror, “I thought this was a love story? Why did it all become a bloody massacre story?”
Without batting an eyelash, the mother coyly smiles and says, “You wanted a different type of love story, so I am telling you one.”
“I said I didn’t want a fairy tale, but I didn’t have this in mind,” Rosie’s eyes were wider than they have ever been, “I mean people who love each other don’t normally go around stabbing one another!”
“I see that you are disappointed,” the narrator looks at her wide-eyed daughter, “I could just stop here and we could just forget about this bad story so I would not disappoint you further.”
Rosie can see that her mother is toying with her, “What would really disappoint me is if you wouldn’t finish the story.”
“Well I don’t know…” Rosie’s mother twiddles her fingers, “…Okay, I’ll continue if you can tell me why Chun Jie stabbed her?”
Rosie’s face becomes blank, which she then places in both of her hands, looking away from her mother. Thinking about the various motives for why Chun Jie killed the woman he loves, many thoughts fly around in her head as if they were a flock of migrating birds. She narrows down what she thinks are possible reasons and affixes her gaze back on the narrator.
Excitedly she says, “Okay, I think I have an idea.”
“Well, what is it?” her mother awaits Rosie’s answer.
“Maybe Chun Jie felt that Li Wei was beyond his reach and figured if he can’t have her, no one will.”
“Nope. That is not in his character. Plus if he felt that way, he would have done it earlier and why is he still devoted to her despite knowing she loves another?” her mother responds.
“Um…Okay, how ‘bout this one,” she pauses, “Chun Jie figures that his adventure and putting his life on the line is not worth it when he was told that she wasn’t ‘pure’ anymore. Rather than have her face the indignity, he kills her. Knowing how conservative people were back then,” Rosie for some reason has her arms flailing about as she says this.
The mother gathers up Rosie’s hands and settles them in her, “My dear, you are think far too much into this. Overanalyzing can make you lose sight on what’s really important. Let me give you a hint, it is really very simple.”
Rosie’s enthusiasm is replaced by apathy, “Okay mom, I give up.”
“No, no dear. Don’t give up. Remember that is what Guo Shi keeps telling his nephew, that and believing in one’s self. Okay if you’re having a lot of difficulty, I’ll give you another clue. This is the last thing she did before Chun Jie stabs her,” she looks at her slightly annoyed daughter.
“Alright…” Rosie sighs deeply, almost sucking all the air in the room as she thinks, again her eyes light up, “…The kiss…That’s it! It’s the kiss that the Princess gave to Chun Jie just before he stabbed her. Li Wei kissed him on his right cheek, she never had done that before, it was always the left. Chun Jie knew that this ‘Li Wei’ was an impostor! Also, she didn’t do the pinky thing,” Rosie says with excitement in her voice.
“Very good Rosie,” she pats her daughter on the head, “Yes, Chun Jie stabs this fake Li Wei for that very reason. He knew that it could not be possibly the woman he loved, since he pretty much studied her for years Chun Jie knew all the little idiosyncrasies that she had, down to the littlest details, such as how she bids him goodnight. Since you’ve solved my riddle, I’ll continue the story tomorrow.”
“Mom!”
The mother just wanted to see her daughter’s response, “Hehe…I was just kidding.”
]
Chun Jie approaches the body, but suddenly it began to transform. From the delicate visage of Princess Li Wei, the body morphed into the vile Lord Yaoguai, still with the wound seeping crimson blood. The knife that was in the wound began to dissolve as if it were ice held next to an open flame. The demon starts to laugh, although choking on his own blood.
“Haha! Foolish human! You think you have won have you?” looking with fiery eyes at Chun Jie, “True that you have slain me and a clever man you are, I give you that. But I have won,” pauses, “You see when you took up the challenge, the deal was if you defeat me, the Princess goes free. But you do not know is what is to become of you. Do you know how I became the ruler of this place, hmm?” asks Chun Jie, who nods his head ‘no,’ “I killed my predecessor. That is the way power is transferred here, and now that you have wounded me mortally…you are going to be the new Yaoguai for all eternity, unless someone kills you, only then will you be relieved of your duty,” he cackles while on the ground.
All semblance of color becomes absent from Chun Jie’s face and throat becomes as parched as the Gobi upon hearing this, “That can’t be…I do not want to be in this horrible place!”
“I offered you a chance to leave with your life, but you decided to take the other alternative. You believed that the life of your dear princess is worth more than yours, so now you must pay for the consequences of your decision,” Yaoguai chokes, “Slowly the curse will enter your veins, taking over your soul. Painfully eating its way into your essence. Eventually all the ‘good’ in you will be lost forever and you will be as good as dead!” At that moment, Yaoguai takes his last breath as his body seizures and convulses, finally all movement ceases.
Chun Jie puts all this newly revealed information aside for now, he must find Princess Li Wei before the curse takes over him completely. As soon as Yaoguai had died, all the other demons got on their knees and bowed before their new master. Mysteriously, at the same moment, the wound on his abdomen vanished, not even a scar left behind. Though he did not like this notion of becoming their leader, Chun Jie thinks of a way to use this to his advantage and expedite his search for Li Wei.
“My servants, I want you to take me to the Princess that we have captive at once!” he dictates.
One of the servants approached him and says, “My lord, I will take you to her.”
As the servant was leading him, Chun Jie starts to feel a slight pinching pain in his head, but he dismisses it, thinking it was an after effect of the battle with Yaoguai. When they reached the gate, one of the guards standing before the cell grabbed his keys and commenced with opening the rusted door. The door groaned as it was pushed opened, Chun Jie’s eyes were greeted with the sight of Li Wei sitting quietly looking away from the opening. After telling the guards that surrounding the area to leave, he immediately went inside the cell.
“Li Wei!” he says excitedly, “Are you hurt in anyway?” Chun Jie asks with a concerned look on his face.
At first the Princess was not responsive, but when she started to look towards the voice all the life returned. She springs up and embraces Chun Jie very tightly, securing her arms around his neck before placing a sweet kiss on his left cheek. Li Wei’s eyes flutter as they look into Chun Jie’s, “I’m fine,” she squeezes tighter, “I am just glad to see a familiar face, especially your goofy one,” Li Wei teases. Releasing her grip on Chun Jie, she then asks, “I take it that you have defeated Yaoguai, does that mean we get to go home?”
Chun Jie ponders a way to explain his situation to her, “Yes, I have defeated the demon that captured you and yes, you will be able to go home.”
“I always knew that you could do it. That vile Yaoguai always brought me to his quarters to show me your struggles, I guess you showed him and proved me right. After all, a girl can never be wrong,” she smiles, “Chun Jie, what do you mean ‘you will be able to go home?’ Don’t you mean we will be able to go home?”
Chun Jie sighs, “In order for me to win your freedom, I had to defeat Lord Yaoguai, which I had done. But along with that,” takes a long pause, “I exchanged my soul to ensure that you will be set free. When I had killed the demon, inadvertently I became his successor.”
Blankness could be seen across her face, “I—I am not sure what you are saying Chun Jie. What do you mean you are his successor?”
“With him dead now, I am the new ruler of Feng Du,” tilts his head down, looking at the floor.
The blankness is replaced by concern, “What will happen to you now?” she asks.
“Slowly, the Chun Jie you know will be no more, replaced by an evil spirit and there is nothing I can do about it,” Chun Jie feels the pain growing stronger, causing him to take a seat.
“Are you okay?” Li Wei aids him.
“It is the curse starting to set in,” he tells her, “It is beginning to take hold of me.”
The Princess sits beside him, “Chun Jie…I am sorry,” a tear rolls gently from one eye.
He takes his sleeve and wipes away the solitary tear, “Sorry for what?”
“If it were not for me, you would never have had to give up your soul and spend forever down in this terrible place,” more tears began to follow, “It would have been better for you if you had not met me. I am the curse.”
Chun Jie gently puts his arm around her shoulders, “Li Wei, you could not have been more wrong. I do not consider meeting you a curse; if anything…it is a blessing. I chose this path, and I have no regrets.”
The Princess places her head on his shoulders and says, “There is one thing I been meaning to tell you. Since I have been detained here all alone, it has given me a lot of time to reflect. Here I realized that my heart had deceived me,” she looks him in the eyes, “All along the love that I have been dreaming of for the longest time was right in front of me, but I was too blind to see it,” another tear falls from the corner of one eye, “Now it is too late,” Li Wei begins to weep and has to look away from him.
Chun Jie is absolutely at a loss for words, he had loved her from the moment he saw sitting amongst the most beautiful flowers in the garden, and now she revealed what was inside her heart, for the moment he forgot about the curse that is set to consume him. This moment is certainly bittersweet.
“You do not know how happy you have made this condemned man,” he says, putting his hand over his heart, “Even for a fleeting moment, I can say for certain I have felt what it is like to be truly in love,” Chun Jie embraces her warmly, taking in every precious instance, “I would like to give you something,” he pulls out the journal he had been carrying throughout his journey, “This little book chronicles all the emotions that I have experienced since my heart first grew fond of you. It all culminates with what I consider my masterpiece, a poem that has taken me years to write to get it just right…and now I would like to present it to the lady who inspired it,” he places it in her hands and closes them, “Promise me you will read it when you get home, not before.”
“Yes…my love…I promise,” she tucks the book in her dress, suddenly she holds his hand tightly, tighter than ever before, “Chun Jie, I cannot leave you. With you is where my heart belongs. If my heart becomes separated from the one it loves, it will die. For the death of the heart is just as tragic as the death of the body. I do not want that to happen. I would become the queen of demons if need be, I will do what it takes to keep my heart beating.”
Chun Jie takes his hand, lightly guides her face so that he can look deeply into her almond-shaped eyes, “I cannot allow you to do that. You have duties to fulfill to your people; you are to become their Empress. The empire needs a monarch like you, one that is unconventional and odd,” he teases, “You still have dreams to accomplish, by staying here you cannot do complete any. I remember you told me you want to see the world, I suggest you go out and see all you can. Break free of the palaces walls,” Chun Jie explains with animated arm gestures, “Continue to look up at the stars Li Wei, down here you would not be able to do that. Dream those dreams, and live them out! But most importantly your father needs you. Losing your mother was a lot for him to bear, but if he loses you it might be his end. As much as I would like for us to be with one another, the both of us have to go on separate paths. That is the way it has to be,” he grimaces again in anguish, “Yaoguai did not succeed entirely with his diabolical plan for my soul to be completely destroyed. Even though I will be in bondage for eternity, you will set me free.”
“How would I be able to do that?” She asks him.
“ For as long as you keep me in your heart, not even the most evil of evils will be able to suppress my soul and keep me captive. That is how I will be set free,” Chun Jie explains.
“I can promise you that, forever you will be in my heart,” Li Wei says strongly as she clutches his hands.
The shooting pangs of the curse are occurring more frequent, “Li Wei, before we part there is one last gift I would like to give you,” taking his sword from his belt he hands it to her, “You are the new guardian of this sword. It should never be in the hands of evil, a dark master couldn’t possess it. Which is why I am entrusting it to you.”
“Chun Jie…I am not sure I am worthy of such a sword. I do not possess the skills to do this sword justice,” she tells him honestly.
“Then have Uncle teach you, with your grace and balance you will be a greater swordsman than I. Uncle always told me to believe in myself, and I am going to tell you the same piece of advice. I have seen you dance, you have the talent you just have to hone them. I know you can,” he encourages her, shooting a smile her way trying to mask the pain.
For the first time since he revealed his condition to her, Li Wei cracks a smile, “I will do my best to be better than you,” but it does not last long, tears burst through with the force of a raging river. She buries her face in his arms, Chun Jie cannot bear seeing her this way and decides it is time for her to depart.
“Li Wei, this is when we should part,” he caresses her hair, still silky and smooth despite her surroundings, “I can feel this curse more and more, by the time you exit Feng Du I will be no more, but I will promise you that you will be granted safe passage through the forest. When you reach the edge you should see a hunchback. Do not be alarmed at him, he is harmless. The hunchback is tending to my horse that I rode in, ride it back home. One last thing I am to ask of you and I do not want you to question or refute it,” she nods in agreement with her face still buried in his torso, “When you leave, please do not look back,” his voice begins to crack.
Upon hearing this, Li Wei looks at Chun Jie and for the first time in all the years they were friends, it is the first time that she witnesses her dear friend, the holder of her heart, with tears streaming from his once powerful eyes, that veneer of strength now has given way, this time Li Wei wipes away his tears. She takes a long gaze at him, trying to embed his image into her mind. They smile at each other shyly, as if they were meeting one another for the first time, not knowing what else to say. At that moment, Li Wei moves her face close to Chun Jie’s and gives him a kiss in the same manner she has many times in the past, on the left cheek. When Li Wei pulls away, she sees Chun Jie extend his small finger from his trembling hands. As a solitary tear rolls down from one of her eyes, she meets his little finger with hers and they embrace one last time. Their fingers grasp one another tightly, neither one wanting to let go…but eventually, almost in unison they slowly release one another. Once more, they take lengthy glances at one another before Li Wei stands up and proceeds to head out the door, as instructed she does not look over her shoulder, walking out with composure and poise as only a princess can. Several guards await her outside the cell; they then escort her to the gates. Unlike when she first came here, the horrors of the place reveal themselves to her unshielded eyes. Li Wei tries her best to ignore all the suffering around her by simply looking forward. A sense of relief comes over here when they finally reach the gate that was at the exit of Feng Du. As she started to take her first steps of freedom, a horrible wail superceded all others, reverberating in the hollow passageway…Li Wei knew where the shrill of pain came from, she wanted to turn back but fought the nagging urge and continued on her way, even though it ate away at her. Li Wei made her way through the forest without incident and at a fairly rapid pace. In no time she reached the forest’s edge. There awaited the friendly hunchback who greeted her with a smile, who then bows respectfully before her.
“You must be the Princess, I am honored to be in your presence,” the hunchback looks around, “Where is Master Chun Jie?” he asks.
The Princess cannot answer his question and looked away, the hunchback got his answer. The hunchback does his best to console Li Wei, which she appreciates greatly. Princess Li Wei walks over to the horse that stood to the side waiting patiently, she gives it a pat on the head. The hunchback assists her as she mounted the horse, they exchange goodbyes and off she went, headed for home. The forest dweller watched as she rode off until his eyes could no longer see traces of the trail of dust kicked up by the flying hooves of the horse. She and her mount rode for what seemed like hours. There was a point in the journey that she was on the verge of collapsing. Luckily Li Wei made it to the gates of the palace before exhaustion took its toll on her.
Chapter Fifteen
When she arrives at the gate, the guards that stood there were pleasantly surprised to her come home. Immediately, two guards came up to her and assisted her as she dismounted her horse. Another batch of them went inside the compound to announce to the Emperor that his daughter had returned.
“Welcome home Princess, we are glad you have returned safely,” one of them said to her.
The guards accompanied Li Wei into the palace. In the palace, the Emperor stood their waiting, looking rather haggard. Despite being overwhelmed by sheer exhaustion, Li Wei ran up to her father at a tiger’s pace and hugged him firmly; finally they were reunited once more. The Emperor took a few moments just staring at his daughter’s dusty face.
“I almost thought that I would never see this pretty little face ever again,” he squishes her nose, “Had I lost you, I would not know what to do with the rest of my life. I would never forgive myself. I may have all the riches that comes with being the emperor but all that would be meaningless if I did not have my little flower’s smile greeting me every morning,” the Emperor brushes away the dirt and kisses Li Wei’s forehead, “I love you my daughter.”
Tears of happiness stream from her eyes upon hearing the words that her father utters to her, “I love you too papa,” she hugs him so tightly that he almost suffocates.
“Li Wei…you are holding me…too…hard…” the Emperor tries to say, Li Wei then realizes and eases up on her grip. Just then Guo Shi and Wang walk into the scene of the father-daughter reunion. Turning from her father, she goes over to and embraces the old wizard first.
“My, how I have missed this mischievous girl,” Guo Shi says to her.
Wang looks at them, “Hey! None for your old buddy?”
Li Wei smiles and says, “Oh how can I forget about you,” giving him a quick hug.
Watching from the side, the Emperor then says, “I noticed that Chun Jie is not with you when you came home, where is he? I want to thank him for bringing back the treasure that I value more than anything.”
Guo Shi also adds, “Yes, where is that nephew of mine?”
Wang nods in agreement.
Li Wei stood there, motionless with the exception of her quivering lips and a couple of tears that made their way down her cheeks. The men in the room knew that something was not right, so they take Li Wei and had her sit in one of the chairs as they all went on one knee and doing their best to put her at ease.
“Chun Jie will not be able to come home,” she meekly says, “My freedom came at the cost of his,” looks down at her feet, “I’m sorry…”
Guo Shi puts his wrinkled old hands on her knees and says, “Sorry for what? If you have strong feelings of guilt in your heart, don’t. Dispel those evil thoughts from your mind.”
“Yes my dear, do not dwell on those feelings,” her father pats her head, “I know Chun Jie would not like it if he knew you were sad.”
Wang trying to lighten up the somber mood, “Hey Li Wei. I know what you need to cheer you up, some good food made by your buddy Wang,” he says while wiping away a tear, “Would you like for me to bring you some?” She nods to acknowledge him. Wang then scampers off to fetch something for the Princess to warm her stomach. Only a few minutes have elapsed, here comes Wang again carrying a steaming bowl.
“Here you go Princess, your favorite,” Wang offers her the bowl along with a spoon.
Li Wei takes a look at the contents of the bowl, she immediately turned away.
“Please…excuse me,” Li Wei ran off, overwhelmed by her emotions upon learning what Wang had brought before her.
Guo Shi walks over to Wang and hits hard him over the head with his fan, “You imbecile! You know that Swallow’s Nest is the first meal that Chun Jie made for Princess Li Wei and that was the means by which they first met. Now you made her condition worse!”
Wang rubs his head at the spot where the fan made contact, “Should we follow her?”
“No. Let her be,” The Emperor asserts as he watches his daughter in the distance.
Princess Li Wei runs to the place where she had always sought refuge, her garden. The sight of seeing the bowl of Swallow’s Nest stirred memories of her dear friend, causing her a lot of pain. The food reminded of how Chun Jie used to say that his food tasted great because he was inspired, she finally got the answer to who was the muse behind his art. She sat down in the center of the garden, but to her the feeling was not the same. The garden did not seem to be as inviting as it once was, the flowers looked less radiant…perhaps sympathizing with the wilting rose, who sat there just crying her heart out. Li Wei then remembers about the journal that Chun Jie wrote in, which she then takes out from one of her pockets. She was tempted to open up to the last entry that he wrote, but decides to start from the beginning of his memoirs. Flipping through the many pages, she took in all things Chun Jie wrote about, carefully reading each one. Many entries were humorous and found herself giggling while in tears, particularly with the earlier ones. But as she progressed deeper through the journal, his entries became much more serious and heartbreaking, particularly ones that involved Prince Wen. The poetry documented the anguish that he was feeling. They were beautifully written, she never would have imagined Chun Jie as an accomplished poet. Li Wei saw for herself how much she hurt him without even realizing it, she was impervious to his true feelings at the time, but yet he continued to love her despite all that. She eventually made it all the way to the last page, his masterpiece. The Princess closed the book slowly, she reflected for a few moments on what she had just read. Finally a torrent of emotions erupted from her body, greater than ever before, Princess Li Wei breaks down unable to muster the strength to contain her sorrow
Chapter Sixteen
“The End,” the narrator ends the story in an anticlimactic way.
“Is that it mom?” Rosie looks rather puzzled, “What happens to them? Is Li Wei going to be okay?”
The mother thinks for a second, “Hmm…well, that is for you to find out another time.”
The daughter looks disappointed with what her mother just said.
“Well, you didn’t want a ‘happily ever after’ story, so there you go,” she replies teasingly, “But I have a feeling you wanted this story to be one…am I wrong?”
“Yes…I did,” Rosie utters under breath.
Even though the mother heard her daughter’s reply she asks, “What did you say dear? Because for a second there I heard that you wanted a happy ending…”
Looking annoyed Rosie says, “Yes. I don’t know, for some reason I wanted it to be a happy ending,” this time much more audible than earlier.
“Aha! See, that goes to show that you, my little girl, cannot banish love from your heart, no matter how much you try to reject it,” she gets up from her seat and walks over to snuggle up to her irate daughter, “You see, even though in love we feel pain, we always wish and hope for the best. Also, being selfless, that is the key for learning to love. Even in this tragic story, there is something good that came out of it.”
“So what is the good that came out of Chun Jie’s situation? He didn’t have a very good outcome?” Rosie asks her mother.
“True that he has to spend the eternity in the bowels of hell, but even for a short while he felt what it was truly like to be in love. For him that exchange was worth it,” Rosie rolls her eyes at this, “Yes, this sounds a little corny, but it is true. When you finally discover that one special love, you too will understand why Chun Jie made the sacrifices he did. Chun Jie was willing to give up everything in order to save her, even if he was tricked by Yaoguai by not telling him all the conditions, he still did not waiver from his decision and there was not a hint of regret from him,” she pauses briefly, “Sometimes the greatest expression of one’s love for another is the ability to let go.”
Intrigued by this, Rosie asks, “What do you mean?
“Remember when Chun Jie and Li Wei had their final talk? Even though he wanted to be in the company of Li Wei, his situation would not allow for it. Instead of having her stay…remember she wanted to…Chun Jie let her go for he knew it would not be for the best, even though it ate away at his very soul. Since he knew after they part, he would never see her again,” she explains to her daughter.
“But doesn’t this show that love is a painful experience? It seems like all this hurt in exchange for a few instances of happiness is not worth it mom,” Rosie declares.
“Trust me on this my dear, when you experience it for real…you’ll know if it’s worth it or not,” giving Rosie some words of wisdom, but Rosie still is not convinced, “Remember this my dear Rosie:
‘When two people are at one in their inmost hearts, they shatter even the strength of iron or bronze; and when two people understand each other in their inmost hearts, their words are sweet and strong like the fragrance of orchids.”
Rosie ponders for a brief moment about her mother’s quote, “That is a lovely saying mom. Where’d you get that? I bet it is from one of the great works from the past.’”
“Actually I read it off the back of the tea box,” she chuckles a little and gives a coy smile to her daughter.
“Mom, one more thing…if Chun Jie and Li Wei were so much in love, why didn’t they give one another a passionate kiss. You know, like in those movies,” Rosie inquisitively asks her mother.
The narrator chuckles and pats her daughter’s head, “Hehe…my dear Rosie, you’ve been watching way too many of those American love stories. The greatest expression of one’s love is not always shown through a kiss. Sometimes, a simple little gesture is enough…it may seem ‘kiddie’ for some, but for those involved, that gesture is as passionate, if not greater than the greatest kiss,” she explains to her daughter with words from her bank of wisdom.
Rosie thinks for a second, “Oh, so I guess their little pinky swearing could be their version of a passionate kiss?”
“Yes, it most certainly could be,” the mother replies.
When the mother finishes her sentence, the doorknob begins to rattle. Lazily, the door swung open, and standing in the doorway was Rosie’s dad.
“Hi honeys, I’m home!” he says gleefully from the entryway with his luggage at his sides.
The two ladies run up to greet him a warm welcome.
“I missed you daddy,” she wraps herself around her father’s waist.
“I missed you too darling,” her dad kisses the top of her head, “Did you shower yet?” he sniffs.
“Dad!” Rosie says in protest.
Rosie releases her dad and goes to pick up some of his belongings that were at the door while her mother gives daddy a loving kiss. She takes some of the luggage, straining at times due to their hefty weight and banging into some of the furniture, into her parents’ bedroom. Rosie heaves a suitcase on top of the bed, she pants lightly from the effort. When she left the room to go back into the main living area of the unit, Rosie finds her parents chatting, which they normally do, but this time she observes them carefully from a distance. From her vantage point, Rosie watches them and she notices something different. Looking at their eyes and expressions on their faces, Rosie could see the pure unbridled love being conveyed between their eyes. The gaze between the two was filled with passionate adoration for one another, but yet at the same time very subdued. She had never seen this before, or more accurately, she never looked for it before.
“Heh…I guess it does exist,” she thinks to herself. Rosie then walks over to one of the windows and looks outside down towards street level. The clouds that brought forth the downpour that had been pounding Chinatown has now evaporated, the drenched streets and soaked pedestrians are the signs left by the storm’s wrath. Rosie then turns her gaze skywards, and sees a gift left behind by the storm, a brilliant arc of seven hues shooting across the sky spanning from east to west as if an artist took his brush and made the heavens his canvas. As she admired this natural work of art, Rosie does something that she has not done in a long while…her lips begin to move in a certain way, fashioning themselves into an expression well known to most, which until now was almost extinct to her…she learns to smile once more.
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