Of Mountains and Rivers 17
Here is the bonus Kofi chapter!
Chu Huan Felt a Chill Run Down His Back. He Turned His Head Abruptly and Saw Someone at the Centre of the River.
The other fellow who came with Dashan promptly led the horses over and passed the reins to Chu Huan.
Chu Huan also had an impression of this person. His looks were slightly feminine and he treated others with politeness; in the Liyi Clan, where both men and women were a size larger compared to people elsewhere, he appeared especially thin and small. He also had a name which, when translated, meant ‘Long Horsewhip’…
He didn’t know which ‘whip’1 it was nor what kind of great expectations his parents placed on him.
It was said that, within the clan, Horsewhip was the best at maths – each time, he’d be the one to follow Nanshan across the river to sell things. Although he’d only go several times a year, it was like a walk in the park for him when compared to the others. His Chinese was also better than the others.
Horsewhip gave Chu Huan a bashful smile before he began leading the horses and repeatedly urged, “Let’s be quick.”
He said it a consecutive three or four times – from Chu Huan’s impression, Horsewhip didn’t seem to have an impatient character. Then he realised that each time Horsewhip spoke, he’d look in the direction of the mountain foot and forest as if there was something urging him.
Dashan wore his knife around his waist, his expression tense; even his movements were more imperative than usual.
Chu Huan didn’t know whether it was intentional or not, but one of them walked at the front and the other behind, sandwiching him in the middle.
Those who knew would say they were going to the market; those who didn’t know would look at this tense and urgent atmosphere and think they were making a strategic retreat.
Three people and a few horses quickly reached the foggy part of the river. On this day, there were no women washing laundry or children playing in the water. Just as the fast horses stepped their front hooves into the water, Chu Huan heard a long and shrill eagle’s cry from behind that was gradually coming closer, followed by a whistling sound that could only occur when a large pair of wings flap in the air.
Horsewhip furrowed his brows and glanced at Dashan. He asked in a low voice, “Why is it here so quick this time?”
Dashan shook his head. He didn’t say much, just urged, “Go quick.”
Chu Huan looked back and saw a huge eagle falling from the sky before landing less than ten metres away from them, its eyes shining as it stared at them.
If it spread its two wings, its height may have reached two or three metres.
But don’t eagles of this size typically come and go in Northeast China or Inner Mongolia?
Before Chu Huan could think further, he heard a string of cries. He raised his head. Large eagles fell from the sky like rain and landed in quick succession, completing a phalanx filled with killing intent.
Chu Huan looked around bafflingly – was there a raptor-breeding farm nearby?
His horse was slightly frightened. Its steps lost their rhythm and the front hooves dug at the ground uneasily.
Chu Huan worked hard to mobilise his lacking knowledge of animals – he’d never heard of horses being afraid of eagles.
From the corners of his eyes, he swept a gaze across the group of eagles before reaching out to pat comfortingly against his horse’s neck. He softly said, “Alright, alright, with such silly expressions on their face, even if they had reinforcements what can we possibly be afraid of?”
A person’s state could also affect a horse’s. The horse quickly calmed down with his comfort, but it still didn’t want to be watched by a group of eagles. If it wasn’t for Chu Huan’s slight control, it might’ve performed a ‘disorderly double-quick scamper’.
When they reached the dense fog with Dashan spontaneously leading the way, Horsewhip began leading his horse.
Chu Huan silently took this opportunity to position himself as if adjusting his glasses and turned on the signal-reception device installed – just then, when he brushed past, he secretly tagged a signal transmitter on Dashan.
The dense fog was like a natural labyrinth; anyone who walked in would involuntarily lose their direction. It also seemed to contain hallucinogenic ingredients, but the target of confusion seemed to differ with lineage; for example, the people of the Liyi Clan were completely immune to it.
Towards such natural wonders, Chu Huan was irresistibly curious.
However, something strange happened. As the fog thickened, the signal transmitted from Dashan gradually weakened before it simply disappeared; yet, at this time, Dashan was only half a horse-body quicker than Chu Huan, his back still within the scope of his naked eyes.
His signal was blocked.
The dense fog around the Liyi Clan’s settlement wrapped it into its own small independent world. Chu Huan took off his glasses, rubbing off the moisture stuck on the lenses whilst also trying to debug the equipment, thinking, how interesting.
Suddenly, Chu Huan felt a chill run down his back. He turned his head abruptly and saw someone at the centre of the river.
Right now, the fog wasn’t so dense that one couldn’t even see their fingers. Chu Huan could, though barely, see a person in the water – male; long-haired, the tips floating in the water like a big pile of rich seaweed soup; his naked upper body tattooed with similar motifs as Nanshan’s, though the details seemed to be slightly different. Covered by the mist, Chu Huan couldn’t tell how exactly it was different.
His skin was so fair and almost transparent he almost seemed non-Oriental, causing his lips to look especially bright red; however, all things would develop in the opposite direction when they reach an extreme point. When one’s lips are red and skin is white to a certain degree, they’d actually look like a demon who’d just eaten a corpse.
It’s not ugly, but it made them look non-human.
Seeing this scene after crossing the river halfway didn’t give Chu Huan ‘the reeds are so green, oh my beloved one’2’ kind of poetic associations; he only felt that a water ghost had risen up.
Horsewhip and Dashan immediately reigned back the horses. Dashan lowly yelled something, a term Chu Huan had never heard before from the Liyi Clan’s native language; it was similar to when they called for Nanshan, yet it wasn’t the same either.
He could tell from the youth’s voice that he held respect, but there was also a hint of cautiousness behind it, nothing like the intimacy from when he called out to Nanshan.
If they called Nanshan their ‘Patriarch’, then what did this mean?
‘Former Patriarch’? ‘Dead Patriarch’? ‘Patriarch From the Nether World’?
The ‘water ghost’ just stared intensely at Chu Huan.
Horsewhip and Dashan stared at each other before Horsewhip took a step forward and prudently explained their itinerary. This time, Chu Huan could understand his words. He said, “The Patriarch asked us to sell the last batch of items before winter, we’re just… Just about to leave.”
The ‘water ghost’ didn’t even look at the goods he motioned to. He raised his hand and pointed at Chu Huan, using a voice he didn’t know whether to describe as ‘feminine or ‘gracefully soft’ to ask, “Who is he?”
Horsewhip obediently answered, “A guest the Patriarch brought back.”
“Guest?” Suddenly, the water ghost’s scarlet lips hooked up. Even his smile was different from ordinary people's.
When he smiled, the upper half of his face was as if frozen, the muscles unmoving; only his lips would transform into an upper-curved form, a model interpretation of a ‘skin-deep smile’.
Chu Huan sat upright on his horse, his muscles tightened involuntarily. He instinctively sensed the other’s threat.
The water ghost suddenly jumped out from the water and fiercely slapped the surface; however, no water splashed. Instead, his palm seemed to be repeatedly pushing out a huge undercurrent under the shallow river. Even the horses were dashed against, forcing them to take half a step back together.
Although he didn’t know how he did it, he was clearly a bowl of seaweed soup they couldn’t treat lightly.
The water ghost’s figure flashed past and arrived before Chu Huan with lightning speed. He looked at Chu Huan – who was still on horseback – from the bottom up with eyes like a pair of depthless holes. They were terrifyingly black. A metallic colour flashed across his pale hands and he grabbed Chu Huan’s legs.
Right at this moment, Chu Huan’s horse retreated. Its front hooves raised slightly and, when it fell, the horse’s head was gently pushed aside. It turned a half circle on the spot and avoided the water ghost’s claws just in time.
Everything happened naturally as if the horse was just afraid of the person before it and had spontaneously backed away.
Chu Huan gently patted the horse’s head, his gentle friendliness swept away as he looked coldly at the person in the water.
Horsewhip immediately stood in front of Chu Huan and Dashan rolled up his pants before jumping down – these two young fellows were extremely nervous. Chu Huan heard Dashan call to the other. His manner had increased in seriousness but, at the same time, his voice was still lowered in respect. “He’s a guest the Patriarch invited back.”
The ‘water ghost’ death stared at Chu Huan. “He harbours malicious intentions.”
Dashan’s brows furrowed viciously.
“Step aside,” the water ghost said sternly before grabbing Dashan’s shoulders.
Dashan abruptly moved sideward; he raised his shoulders and drew out the knife around his waist, smashing it against the other’s wrist. The knife’s metallic handle collided against the water ghost’s pale hand, the force causing a ringing clank.
The water ghost viciously pressed down Dashan’s shoulders, his nails leaving five distinct bloodstains on each shoulder. Using the support, he jumped up, his hands stretched out as claws in an attempt to grab Chu Huan’s shoulders.
Chu Huan’s horse took another half-step back with perfect timing. The man on horseback seemed to slowly draw out a dark ‘iron club’; for some reason, he accurately slipped it into the water ghost’s claws.
The water ghost instinctively closed his hands and, in mid-air, met Chu Huan’s shadow of a smile.
Chu Huan: “How could I be harbouring malicious intentions? Have your persecution complex symptoms already proliferated to the terminal stage?”
As he talked, he deftly and efficiently clamped the horse’s sides, forcing the horse to take a big step forward. The riding whip in Chu Huan’s hands seemed to inadvertently bump into the other’s elbow.
The water ghost’s claws involuntarily lost their strength and, with a ‘pu-tong’, they fell back into the water.
This time, he was infuriated.
The water ghost took a step back and gazed coldly at Chu Huan. He raised his hand and bent his fingers before using them to blow a lengthy and penetrating whistle.
As soon as the whistle sounded, Horsewhip’s expression abruptly changed. Without time to explain, he whipped Chu Huan’s horse with disregard. Chu Huan’s horse was caught off guard – it pulled up its front hooves and turned the gently flowing river water into a pot of boiling dumpling soup, leaping up and immediately rushing away.
The water ghost refused to let him go and, not overlooking nor sparing them, jumped over Horsewhip and Dashan to chase him.
This time, Chu Huan no longer worried whether his horse was frightened or not.
He didn’t know who exactly this pretty boy with a half-dead look was but, judging from those two fellows’ attitudes, this person either had a mutually beneficial relationship with the Liyi Clan or he was a relatively important figure. Thus, for the sake of the clans-peoples’ consideration towards him during this period, even if the other repeatedly acted aggressively, he’d continue to yieldingly retreat.
But just because time and experience bestowed him maturity and reason didn’t mean Chu Huan had a good temper. When he was younger, he was a hooligan, so the probability of him growing up and suddenly changing into a temperate and gentle young role model was far too low.
The horse was frightened once again whilst Chu Huan himself was also feeling a little angry. He turned around and drew out the short knife Nanshan gave him, planning to release some of his youthful madness and fight him.
But right at this moment, there was a sudden, violent tremor from beneath the waters. Chu Huan’s horse plaintively whinnied and abruptly stopped.
This time, no matter what he did, it couldn’t be soothed; its knees softened and it immediately knelt down. If it wasn’t for Chu Huan’s passable riding skills, he would’ve been taken off by this rise-and-fall movement.
Hang on, what’s with this habit of calling for external help during a fight?
A fishy stench wafted over. There was a loud noise before the shallow waters were split in half by something alive and a large head spurted up beneath the water ghost, propping him up high in the air.
Chu Huan: “…”
The external help was a gigantic python.
Let’s not mention how he’d never personally seen one, Chu Huan never even thought a snake could grow this big. Its body was so thick one couldn’t even wrap their arms around it and when it lifted its upper body, even an adult man could stand on its head.
The snake’s entire body was blue-green to an almost black colour and when opening its mouth it exposed awl-like fangs, its breath dizzyingly fishy.
Chu Huan suddenly heard a small ‘hiss’. He looked down and found a tiny head revealing itself from a cargo pouch filled with wood-carved crafts. While nobody was paying attention before, the small, dark-green venomous snake had taken the opportunity to make its way in. It glanced up before slowly shrinking back in again; after a moment, it carried a wooden bird the size of a fingernail on its head and swam onto the horse’s back, posing itself exactly the same way as the colossal monster.
For his new friend to fearlessly hold its ground and face danger like this, Chu Huan felt he should express his gratitude; however, he also had to admit – it really had a specialty for ‘being a disgrace’.
The water ghost, who was still riding on the gigantic python’s head, arrogantly sized up Chu Huan, looking as if he was gazing at a dead being. A sudden shout left his mouth and the large snake immediately understood his command to attack. Its upper body abruptly straightened and, with lightning speed, struck towards Chu Huan.
At this moment, Chu Huan inserted the short knife back into the leather case around his thigh and used his hand to search his chest. He touched his pistol.
This creature that dared open its mouth at him had to prepare for its head to blow open by a bullet.
A fishy wind assaulted his nostrils. Suddenly, a hasty leaf-flute tune sounded, so intense it was as if it wanted to tear apart the dense fog.
The gigantic snake that’d just wanted to bite down seemed to have been hit by an immobilisation spell in mid-air – it remained on the spot, maintaining an unmoving, half-attack posture.
Everyone turned their heads and saw someone wade through the water.
Nanshan?
Nanshan walked directly between the gigantic snake and Chu Huan and stood there like a towering mountain.
“Go,” he said.
