The Tale Never Ends

I looked on with admiration and concern. Shang Pei was saving people from death by channeling his divine Qi into these people, the divine aura that he has amassed after years, decades or even centuries of hard work. Saving just a couple of men would hardly put a dent in his magic, but if the numbers pile up, he could just as well see his powers exhausted and spent…

Shang Pei and the other men scoured every fissure and crevice for survivors and under the directions of the beggar-like young man, they found almost everyone, even the corpses of those who had died.

Morning came brightly as ever, still, none of the men stopped their hunt for anyone still alive. But many too collapsed due to fatigue. I suppressed the urge to help; I could not risk everyone witnessing rocks hovering in the air on their own, or bodies moving on their own as if they had been reanimated.

The young lad heaved an easy breath, the first one since the calamity had struck. He recognized Shang Pei from the midst of the crowd of relief volunteers and waved at him, beckoning him to sit together. Shang Pei wore a wry smile as he strode near and plopped to a seat beside the younger man. “Are you different too, are you not?” The boy cast a glance at him as he gulped down some water for his thirst, emitting a curious, “Oh?” “Everyone else around here addresses one another as ‘Comrade,’ but only you called me ‘Brother.’ Do you know who I am?” Shang Pei asked with a smirk.

The young lad grinned, saying nothing, and upended his flask of water into his mouth. “You have great powers. But channeling your aura into dying people, that reduces your own. But more importantly, Heaven does not look kindly upon the Fates of the people being tampered with.” Shang Pei’s hand betrayed a slight trembled at the mention of “tampered,” and he immediately stood up, staring at the young lad with disbelief.

But the young lad merely simpered and waved him down, motioning for him to sit back down. His gesture casual and lackadaisical. “We live and die by the Will of Heaven, and Heaven suffers no contradiction nor defiance. By the way, you don’t seem local?” Shang Pei carefully descended into his chair, never once taking his eyes off the young lad. “I’m the Third of the Six Terrors of the Frontier.”

The young lad stuffed a Wotou, a Chinese cornbread, into his mouth and chewed. When he heard Shang Pei’s identity, he froze and he slowly turned to regard Shang Pei, shocked and unconvinced. “Shang Pei of Fort Enigma?!” Shang Pei jumped with surprise too. He had not thought that his identity could be divined so quickly. He bowed at once, “Well met. How about you, Brother?” The young lad immediately shoved another Wotou between his teeth, holding it in his mouth and he gave a hurried bow before he took the Wotou and said, “I’m Chen. I was an orphan when my teacher found me and I grew up with him. But he died before he could give me a name. But I’m known around as ‘Chen the Seer.'” They bowed again to each other, muttering, “Your reputation precedes you” to each other, although I could hear from Shang Pei’s voice that he was merely trying to sound polite. I daresay he must have never heard of the name “Chen the Seer” before.

So this ragged-looking young lad was Old Man Chen when he was young! He cackled and said, “I am in awe of your divine aura, Shang Pei. It’s extraordinary.” Shang Pei grinned, tacitly pleased with the flattery. There was small wonder that Old Man Chen had heard of Shang Pei’s name; the Six Terrors of the Frontier were well-known among the magical community and folk people. Then Shang Pei had a question of his own. “You were pointing us towards almost every survivor that we’ve been able to rescue. You’re able to see them? Is that your power?” Old Man Chen stifled a burst of laughter. “It’s just a simple trick. Nothing special at all. Divination and soothsaying are my forte. That’s all.” Shang Pei realized that he had mistaken Old Man Chen’s ability as X-ray vision. Hastily, he bowed again, “I see. The Seer indeed!”

Their small chat went on until a bicycle’s bell could be heard ringing from a distance. A man whose sight was as sharp as an eagle’s cried loudly, “A doctor! That’s a doctor!”

The cry roused everyone and not a man remained sitting as the volunteers all got up to look at the direction from which the ringing bell came from. A man was riding a rickety Flying Pigeon, paddling his way towards the rescue point. On his back, the man was carrying a medicine case the same as all barefoot doctors did, a large brown box bearing the large red cross insignia.

It was when he was near that only I had a good look at him. He looked young, a lad about my age. He parked his bike just outside the tent and he stepped quickly inside. As soon as he saw Old Man Chen, he barked, “What in the bloody world are you lulling about for!? GO GET SOME WATER!” He immediately strode inside with his medicine box before waiting for a reply, leaving a flabbergasted Chen still gaping outside. He sprang to his feet a heartbeat later, throwing aside his Wotou, seething and cursing, “How dare you?! You wretched…”

Still, despite the litany of expletives he spewed, he trotted off quickly and returned with a basin full of hot water.

Shang Pei left alone, looking on, dazed and confused. He watched as Old Man Chen returned with more hot water and flasks and he went into the tent after him with me just behind. The young healer was taking on flasks and flasks of medicine and ointments, none of which were marked. As he bent down to examine the wounded and taking their pulses, his mouth never stopping yapping, “What an utterly hopeless fool you are, Chen!” “And what does that leave you, damned Xie!” Old Man Chen hissed defensively.

I almost laughed at their banter. Who else could this be but our very own eccentric healer, Xie Binyi? It seemed that their rivalry had begun long when they were still boys, a loathing that could have been as long as the years they had lived.

“What about Xiguan Town? Have you dealt with those people?” Old Man Chen asked with ice. “Of course, I did! Who do you take me for?!” Xie Bingyi retorted at once.

At the same time, Xie Bingyi’s hand touched the wrist of a little girl, one of the many whom Shang Pei had saved by channeling his divine aura into them. As soon as he felt her pulsating radial artery, he gave out a surprised “Ah?!” and he threw a confused look at Old Man Chen who responded with a brusque scoff. He nudged at Shang Pei who had been standing beside them. “You’ve felt it, did you? It was him who had saved her.” Xie Bingyi got up and bowed to Shang Pei. Shang Pei returned the gesture but a stony-faced Xie Bingyi growled suspiciously, “I am Xie Bingyi. And you are…” Shang Pei smiled benignly. “I am the Third of the Six Terrors of the Frontier.” A dawning expression shone on Old Man Xie’s face. “I see! Shang Pei of Fort Enigma! Small wonder indeed! So you were the help that Brother Hai mentioned in his message yesterday night?!” Shang Pei merely nodded and I was witnessing this unbelievable event. This was how the Triune of Wu Zhong came to be!

Xie Bingyi walked out of the tent and took out a wad of yellow strips from his case. He stood in front of the row of corpses and crouched down, setting the yellow talismanic strips ablaze. Green plumes of smog rose gently into the air, summoning forth a company of Hell Guards.

Strangely, none of them could see the Hell Guards and the sentries from the Underworld hardly paid any heed to Shang Pei and his companions. They dexterously rounded up the wandering spirits that once belonged to the corpses and lead them away! This must have been a predetermined arrangement that whenever bidden to, the Hell Guards would appear and lead any spirits or ghosts nearby with them away. There was hardly any need for further communications between the summoner and the Hell Guards.

With their work done, the Triune of Wu Zhong retreated to a quiet and isolated corner to talk. “What happened last night in Xiguan Town?” The Seer first asked. Xie Bingyi shot a distasteful glare at his companion before he replied, “Nothing special. Just a bunch of thieves stealing corpses, calling themselves the Cult of the Damned.” “What is this Cult of the Damned?” Shang Pei interjected curiously, “I’ve never heard of them before.” But Xie Bingyi merely shook his head before he exhaled grimly, “I know little of them myself. I’ve never heard about them too before this. I’m guessing that they originated from some evil sect that existed a long time ago. They are seeing this disaster as a chance to steal more dead cadavers. From the way they operated, they share several similarities to the voodoo and necromancy witchcrafts of the Miao tribes in Xiangxi. They have this strange kind of insect. Bewitched bugs that they released into dead bodies so that they could control them with their accursed sorcery. The corpses would then arise once more as the walking dead. I shudder to think how many people at the rescue point of Xiguan Town would have been dead by these walking fiends if I had not reached there in time. The dead bodies piled up at the rescue point were already showing signs of rising and I had to quickly use some water mixed with my talismanic strips to destroy the insects before their foul magic took hold. In the end, I received a note left by the Cult, asking me to leave them alone.”

“You reach there on time?” The Seer smirked with apparent disdain, “Come on, you’d never have reached Xiguan Town in time if not for my divination.” Both Chen and Xie both scoffed at the same time and refused to look at each other. Caught up in the middle, Shang Pei watched on with a bemused expression. “Come on, there’s no need to fuss with all the details,” he said, hoping to placate both of them. “Master Shang,” Xie Bingyi said to him, “I’m fairly certain that that is hardly the last of the Cult. I’m sure they’ll retaliate tonight. But if things were to turn ugly, we’d need your help.” Shang Pei bowed. “Of course. Lacking that, Brother Hai would never have bidden me to come here!”

They both turned to look at Old Man Chen. The Seer was nowhere as slow and dull as his surrogate son Chongxi and he immediately understood the tacit message from them both, “There’s no need to divine where they’ll strike. Without a doubt, this is the place they’ll come tonight.” He raised an arm and pointed towards East. “East side. The fertilizer manufacturing plant at Balipu Village.”

Hearing this, Shang Pei’s gaze turned suddenly to where he came from.