Of Mountains and Rivers 33

Chapter 33 Chu Huan Quietly Stood at the Side. Never Had He Thought ‘All Life Should Be Treated Sacredly’ Until This Moment, Causing Some Kind of Unspeakable Guilt to Surge Forth.

T/N: Whenever I read my past translations or come back from not translating after some time, I want to slap past-me to the Heavens. So many unforgivable mistakes ಥ_ಥ My ancestors must be watching me from above (or below ｡◕‿‿◕｡) and thinking what a disgrace I am to my Chinese ancestry. When the live-action is released and they translate everyone’s names or major elements of the story (e.g. Mountain Keepers) differently in the subtitles, I’m going to curl up and cry in shame (இ﹏இ`｡)

Remembering that bazooka-like pretty face that couldn’t distinguish right from wrong, Chu Huan felt his scalp numb – he couldn’t help but respond vaguely, “Me? I think I won’t-”

Before he could finish his rejection, the Elder came over.

The Elder was old, so his fighting power wasn’t embodied in fighting or killings. He’d been watching over the cubs within the Patriarch’s yard walls this entire time; however, he was well aware of what happened outside. 

Sometimes, if people were to fight together, their feelings would experience a slight change. 

The Elder took a good look at Chu Huan with a snappish expression and snorted. “Are you done? Follow along!”

Sensing such vigorous irritability, Chu Huan couldn’t help but think, could it be I accidentally dug this old man’s grave again? 

Although he was indignant at the Elder’s pompous¹ attitude, he still stuck a courteous expression on his face, not revealing any clues, because Chu Huan understood – the Mountain Keepers must’ve been guarding an important secret regarding the Mountain Gate² . Although the old mountain goat was deliberately embarrassing him, it can be said that he’d accepted him. 

The Elder stretched his neck. His goatee quivered as he loudly ordered, “Have half of you remain to clean up. The rest, bring your weapons and follow me!”

Immediately after he spoke, the clans-people immediately followed him. Chu Huan could only follow along down the mountain confusedly. 

The route down the mountain wasn’t easy. The stone steps were antiques from who knew how long ago and were merely skimpily repaired – some areas were even left out. It was exactly the kind of trail that ‘only became a path after many footsteps’. 

They hadn’t walked far before the Elder decided to wickedly point at Chu Huan and Xiao Fang, who was beside him, and command, “I can’t walk anymore. Go cut a bamboo pole and carry me.”

The innocent collateral Chu Huan was once again at a loss for words.

He felt so aggrieved it felt as if it was going to snow in June. It wasn’t as if Chu Huan kidnapped the old thing’s daughter, so who exactly was he showing his ‘old mighty father-in-law’ front to? 

Let’s not mention whether he actually had a daughter at home – even if he did, who would want to abduct a mountain goat’s daughter?

Chu Huan really wanted to fling back the other’s arrogant and bossy demeanour and plunge that old face into mud; however, he chanted ‘respect the old and cherish the young’ in his heart. In the end, he swallowed his anger and remained quiet – he rolled up his sleeves and prepared to cut bamboo with Xiao Fang. 

Chu Huan must’ve made it a habit to be flashy. When he was young and frivolous, he was the typical ‘gilded exterior, shabby interior’ kind of lad; he didn’t even bother washing his socks but in front of others, he could easily flaunt like a peacock. Although his silly adolescence was something of the past, he most likely wasn’t able to recover his original simplicity and still retained some traces of this habit. Anyway, this ‘casual and elegant’ pull of his sleeves made the Elder feel extremely unpleasant. 

As if he got goosebumps, the Elder shook his bare, skinny arms and tried to force out a lofty and powerful Tarzan-like manner. He viciously stared at the only man wearing a shirt and muttered, “You’re not a maiden, so why are you wearing a top? [xx]!”

Chu Huan couldn’t understand the last word he said, but he guessed it probably meant ‘effeminate’. 

Nanshan couldn’t watch any longer. He stretched out a hand and stopped Chu Huan, but didn’t talk back to the Elder – he just unsheathed the chopper hanging from Xiao Fang’s waist. With just a few raises of his hand, he neatly hacked off a stout bamboo pole and silently peeled it. He lifted one end and tossed the other end to Xiao Fang. “Elder, come up.”

The Elder was so angry his beard was trembling and his eyes were glaring; however, in the end, he didn’t have the heart or shamelessness to have the Patriarch personally lift the sedan for him. He could only slap the back of Wooden Club’s head with spitting anger. “What are you looking at? Why are you still not holding on? Are you waiting for someone to invite you?” 

The further down they travelled, the more rugged the mountain road became. Piles of ‘mad dog’ Mutayi corpses covered their surroundings. Occasionally, they’d encounter some trying to flee. Oftentimes, arrows would shoot out from the bushes. Fortunately, other than the Elder, everyone else was in the prime of their lives. When facing individual Mutayi, the Mountain Keepers’ fighting power was extremely stunning; along the way, they eliminated numerous of these escapees. 

Very soon, they arrived from halfway up the mountain to the foot of the mountain. 

Chu Huan saw a huge, naturally-formed cave tunnel. 

Nanshan said to him, “This is the Mountain Gate.” 

Only one side of this mountain could be climbed; the other side was a cliff that went straight up. If one wanted to climb the mountain from that side, they had to pass through the ‘Mountain Gate’ – it was the perfect barrier. 

Before Chu Huan could sigh in admiration, the Elder nimbly came down from the bamboo pole. He sniffed forcibly. Although silent, his expression began to turn ugly. 

Xiao Fang suddenly shouted, “Aigu!”

He hurriedly ran forward and pushed aside the tall grass. 

The corpse hidden there immediately struck everyone’s vision. 

It was a young man as pale as a vampire. His upper body was severely mutilated whilst half his body from the waist down had been removed by something sharp, leaving only half a leg to hang alone onto his body. 

His entire face was bloodstained. He’d died thoroughly and completely. 

On the way down the mountain, Nanshan told Chu Huan that the Gatekeepers usually couldn’t take a single step away from the Mountain Gate. Only for three days a year, when the Mountain Gate naturally closed on this side, could they travel across the Mountain Gate and take a short break at the Liyi Clan. 

All other times, from sunrise to sunset, as long as the Mountain Gates were open, they had to be sleepless, restless, and always prepared to face foreign enemies. 

Chu Huan couldn’t imagine what someone who could only rest for three days a year – to have only three days of peace and leisure – could possibly be like. 

Perhaps with every passing second, they couldn’t help but wish to be broken into two. 

Nanshan squatted and took a look at the wounds on the Gatekeeper’s body. He said nothing – just reached out, wiped off the bloodstains from the young man’s face, and closed his eyes. He patted Xiao Fang’s shoulder. 

The grass at the mountain’s foot was all very wild and had grown up to half a person’s height. As they made their way through it, they soon found more corpses – the Gatekeepers’, ‘mad dog’s’, and the flat people’s…..

Under the first glimmer of dawn, flooded within the grass were hidden sorrow and bitterness. 

Although they long felt the foreboding, seeing it with their own eyes was still a difficult thing to accept. Xiao Fang had a few people check the corpses one by one with him, trying to find one still breathing. Chu Huan followed Nanshan and the Elder all the way through the Mountain Gate.

Then, he was left in shock.

The towering Mountain Gate silently faced the rising sun. The pale rays of dawn hit against the great bluestone, reflecting a layer of feeble halo – its brilliance resembled the solemn form of Buddha. 

Leaning against the Mountain Gate’s upper side was a Gatekeeper. His messy long hair covered half of his face and his lifeless eyes stared outside the Mountain Gate. His cramped and rigid fingers were still pinching an also-lifeless ‘mad dog’ Mutayi. 

The Gatekeeper’s dagger had penetrated the ‘mad dog’s’ throat, whilst the middle of his own throat had a dark rupture, possibly caused by a wind arrow. 

His blood stuck his body tightly to the Mountain Gate – he stood, demonstrating his unswerving will and loyalty. 

Under the Mountain Gate, densely packed wherever the naked eyes could see, were the corpses of the ‘mad dogs’ and flat people. They overlapped in piles, burying the grass beneath them. A day and night had already passed, yet the babbling river still carried slight streaks of blood. 

The terrain was like an ancient battlefield where the wind howled and horses neighed, yet it also resembled the flickering Avici³  in horror films. 

Only now did Chu Huan understand how small a part were the enemies who’d surrounded them today. 

If it wasn’t for the Mountain Gate’s obstruction, they’d be completely powerless in facing them. 

The Elder closed his eyes and mumbled something. They were the words to an ancient rite Chu Huan couldn’t understand – perhaps it was to bid a reluctant farewell to the lingering souls around them. 

At this moment, a clans-person suddenly shouted as he ran in, “Patriarch! Patriarch! Luger⁴ is still- Still breathing-!”

Nanshan ran as soon as he turned around. Chu Huan hesitated for a moment but didn’t catch up.

The Elder glanced at him. “What are you looking at?”

Chu Huan stood between the Mountain Gate, gazing out into the limitless world beyond, and suddenly asked, “What’s out there?”

Hearing this, the Elder was silent for a moment. Right now, only two of them remained – it was rare of him to not quarrel with Chu Huan. 

After a while, the Elder said, “There are mountains out there like this one, where there is more life than death, so people can live on it. There are other places where there is more death than life, so people can’t live there. When a place with more life becomes a place with more death, we call it the ‘Fall’. When more and more places become ‘Falls’, they birth many things you can’t even imagine. They all come to plunder life, so we have to battle against them until one side completely eliminates the other. What’s that thing you people say?”

Chu Huan: “One of the two must die.”

The Elder looked at him with a superficial smile and said mystifyingly, “You have an inexhaustible supply of everything you need there, yet you have such phrases. How ridiculous.” 

Chu Huan was silent, pretending he didn’t hear it.

After a while, he asked again, “Then the Mountain Keepers….. What will happen to all of you?”

“Follow me.” After saying this, the Elder turned around and walked into the tunnel. 

After entering the Mountain Gate, the Elder didn’t take the route from which they came; instead, he led Chu Huan into a small, disorderly cave. Chu Huan flicked open his lighter and used the small flame to illuminate his surroundings. Seeing this, the Elder muttered something, most likely something like ‘troublesome outsiders’. 

Then, Chu Huan heard the sound of flowing water. 

Very soon, he realised he didn’t need to use the lighter anymore. 

They’ve reached the end of the cave’s stone walls. Chu Huan saw a lake. A gentle milky-white glow naturally shimmered from the water’s surface, illuminating their surroundings. Floating above the lake appeared to be a thin layer of green-grey smoke. Watching it could make one feel comforted and at peace. 

Chu Huan was in a daze. “This is…..”

The Elder replied, “In your language, it’s called a ‘mountain spring’.”

Chu Huan: “…..”

What an obvious answer.

The Elder continued, “It is the mountain’s essence, so calling it the ‘Sacred Spring’ is also correct – oh, they’re here.”

The sound of footsteps echoed around the cave. Chu Huan turned his head around and saw Nanshan had brought people in with him. Several clans-people carried Luger, someone he once had a fleeting encounter with – he couldn’t see the giant python anywhere. 

This time, Luger didn’t flip out because he didn’t see Chu Huan.

He couldn’t see anything. 

When the Mountain Keepers found him, he’d been coiled around by the giant python he’d raised. The python was riddled with gaping wounds from wind arrows and had long died, having used its life to keep Luger alive. 

Luger’s eyes were closed. A dried trail of blood stained his face from the corners of his eyes. Only the shallow yet urgent undulations of his chest showed he was still alive. 

Luger seemed to have heard the sound of water. He turned his head and slightly parted his lips, but no sound came out. 

Nanshan held Luger’s shoulders and carefully moved his long, grimy hair to his back. He softly whispered into his ear, “Luger, we’ve arrived at the Sacred Spring. Can you hear the water?”

Luger raised a hand with difficulty. He grabbed Nanshan’s clothing and pinched it roughly. 

Nanshan: “Alright. I’ll let you see the next Patriarch.”

After, he walked to the spring, knelt down, and dipped the tip of the patriarch truncheon into the water. 

The water rippled silently. Chu Huan watched as the truncheon’s submerged tip condensed into a flame-shaped bubble. 

The Elder knelt and bowed his forehead on the shore into a prostrate. He began to recite an incomprehensible incantation. The water’s once-calm surface soon surged with the fluctuation of his voice, spraying powerful and continuous spindrifts. 

Nanshan bit his finger and dripped a drop of blood into the mountain spring.

The drop of blood congealed and didn’t disperse. It formed itself into a small ball before a strange bubble wrapped around it; then, as if the water’s surface came to a boiling point, it violently produced a large number of bubbles. 

Immediately, there was a ‘huala’ and something broke out of the water. Chu Huan was taken aback. He thought it was some kind of water monster – remembering that mutant crocodile that could emit what he suspected to be infrasonic waves, his hands instantly clenched by his side and he took a small, cautious step back. 

But when the splash settled, Chu Huan was shocked to find it was a person that’d come out of the water. 

A person emerged from the water – this alone wasn’t enough to shock Chu Huan. However, this person looked exactly like Luger. 

He was completely naked as he silently hovered, his feet standing in mid-air atop the water. His pale skin flickered with the water’s light, making him appear like a large, meticulously-carved doll. It was crimson between his brows as if it’d been stained by Nanshan’s drop of blood. 

Gradually, the crimson seeped under his skin. He opened his eyes and he slightly glanced around. He just….. Came back to life.

Chu Huan’s vision shifted unsurely to and from the person on the water and the person on land. His worldly outlook once again received an all-powerful shock. 

What’s happening? A person ‘grew’ from the water? Luger ‘grew’ from the water?

But the one on shore still hadn’t spent his last breath, so which of these two was actually Luger?

He once joked saying Gatekeepers were born through mitosis, but he never thought they were actually born through cloning!

And the equipment needed for cloning was a deep pool of lake water, a stick of wood from an unknown species, a drop of blood, and an….. Old man with a mountain goat face? 

So were the Gatekeepers man-made humans or were they not human at all?

Nanshan beckoned to the person above the water. “Luger, come.”

The Luger on land, who was holding onto his last few breaths, slightly tilted his head and strugglingly stretched out a hand. The Luger on water used the air as his chariot to travel across the water and step on shore; he knelt on one knee before the incumbent Gatekeeper Patriarch. 

Two equally pale hands grasped one another. 

A small, relieved smile appeared on the incumbent Gatekeeper Patriarch’s face. Then, his head suddenly limped and his body leaned pliantly into Nanshan’s embrace; the hand grasped in the other person’s hand also lost its strength. 

He held the hand of a new life and walked towards death. 

One of the other, the Liyi clans-people walked towards the water-side and bit into their fingers. Droplet after droplet of blood fell into the spring, and person after person walked out. 

Among them, Chu Huan saw the one they discovered near the Mountain Gate, Aigu, and the unknown youth who’d been nailed to the Mountain Gate…..

They all stood behind the new Luger, quietly standing in a file. 

Nanshan, who somehow came close without Chu Huan knowing, said, “This is how Gatekeepers are born.”

Chu Huan’s eyes never left the lake. As if he was sleepwalking, he asked, “How are they born? Do they die then reborn again? Or are they….. Cloned?”

“No,” Nanshan said, “It’s through longing.”

Chu Huan turned his head around with doubt. At this moment, his eyes met the nearby Luger’s. Luger’s hostility towards him could still be felt; however, that terrifying viciousness was gone. 

This new Luger didn’t rush over with a battle cry – he just stared at Chu Huan with a gloomy expression. 

Chu Huan subconsciously asked in reply, “Longing?”

“When a Mountain Keeper adds their longing into their blood, it will awaken the Sacred Spirit’s memory of that person, which allows it to remake them. This is how each generation of Gatekeepers are born,” Nanshan said, “But the appearance of the one you long for is different from their actual appearance – in addition, the Sacred Spring’s memories are fused together – so although the newborn person and the original person look the same, they’re still different people. We are the same. Children may look similar to their parents, but they aren’t the same people – no person in this world is the same.” 

Chu Huan couldn’t help but evaluate Nanshan’s mystifying words with his ethics. He thought, according to that, could it be that the Sacred Spring is the mother and these river-side Mountain Keepers are the fathers? And those who were born through several drops of blood because many people longed for them….. Actually has many fathers?

This thought was almost ridiculous. Chu Huan shook his head and flung it out of his mind, feeling this method of birth couldn’t be considered ‘reproduction’. Using the old society’s ethical code to think about this was inappropriate. 

The Mountain Keepers still standing outside came in pairs or groups of three’s, carrying their original Gatekeepers’ damaged bodies next to the Sacred Spring. 

The two tribes stood by the shore of the Holy Spring, both helping to wash off the grime from the deceased’s bodies, organise their remains, and strip their muddied, bloody clothing. It was as if they were responding to that idiom – ‘how clean to come and go stark naked’. 

Nanshan personally washed clean the just-deceased Luger’s hair and tied it into a neat bundle. 

From beginning to end, none of them spoke, like they were commencing a quiet and solemn rite. 

Chu Huan quietly stood at the side. Never had he thought ‘all life should be treated sacredly’ until this moment, causing some kind of unspeakable guilt to surge forth. 

It wasn’t until this long cycle of life and death ended and the new Gatekeepers were led to gradually disperse by their new Patriarch did the Mountain Keepers follow practices to take away the deceased’s bodies. 

Only then did Chu Huan recover his senses. He discovered he’d been standing motionless for a very long time and even his legs had gone numb.

Nanshan pulled him a little. “We’re going.”

Chu Huan hummed in response. However, he’d just turned around before the lake – which had only settled from its boil not long ago – suddenly splashed; a drop of water just so happened to land on his hand. Chu Huan had just experienced a battle; no matter how skillfully he handled it, it was impossible for him to not have even a single scratch. By chance, there was a small wound on the back of his hand. 

That drop of water seemed to have a life of its own. When it landed on his skin, it immediately entered his wound and swept out his blood, which had stopped flowing out ages ago. 

Chu Huan: “Ai, wrong person-”

He didn’t know what would happen if the blood of an outsider like him entered the water, so he hurriedly reached out a hand to wipe it off; however, the water droplet that’d swept away his blood was highly quick-witted. It automatically avoided his hand and directly submerged itself into the water. 

Pa da.

Previous || TOC || Next

1. 二五八万 (‘er wu ba wan’) – I’ve talked about this before (Chapter 19), but just to add more information– it can also refer to the 258 joker tile in Mahjong, which replaces two, five, or eight of any suit. In Beijing (which is where the slang originated from), it’s typically required for players to have a 258 joker tile to win, so when someone is described as ‘二五八万’, it also means they’re ‘cocky’ or ‘arrogant’. (By the way, in Chapter 19’s footnote, I somehow translated it as 258-thousand which was stupid of me LOL cause ‘wan’ (万) actually means ‘ten-thousand’. I must’ve had a stroke translating that ke)
2. I used to translate this as ‘Mountain Door’ but I feel ‘Mountain Gate’ just… Makes sense LMAO I mean, I translated the Gatekeepers as ‘Gatekeepers’ not ‘Doorkeepers, so pfft- I’ll be changing the translation from ‘Mountain Door’ to ‘Mountain Gate’ from Chapter 30 onwards (cause the chapters had only been posted by me starting from that chapter).
3. 阿鼻 (abi) – the lowest level in Buddhist hell.
4. En, if you’ve read Chapter 18, I’m sure you would’ve realised I changed his name from ‘Luger’ to ‘Ruger’. Once again, I must’ve had a stroke translating cause Luger sounds way better.