Chapter 2: There were Fog Spirits in the Mountains
The ten or so men all looked middle-aged. The two armed guards were easy to identify as they were dressed identically and looked like jianghu people. One man carried a glaive[1] and the other had a flail at his waist. The rest were dressed like merchants according to Great Yan Dynasty regulations, chiefly in black and white.
The group entered the other pavilion and unloaded their goods, piling them in a place away from the rain. Only then did they remove their cloaks, shaking off a great deal of water onto the floor.
The pavilion wasn’t large. The horses and mules had tough hides so they were left outside in the rain.
The men conversed softly with dialect-influenced accents. After being soaked and chilled by the night wind, they were freezing. Some couldn’t help looking at Song You’s fire and the dry firewood piled in a corner of the pavilion. Following that, they stared and pouted at one another.
Finally, one man walked over and greeted Song You with cupped hands.
“Greetings, Young Mister. Did you collect these firewood? It looks like you have more than you could use for one night, could you sell us some? Our clothes are wet and we'd like to warm ourselves at a fire.”
During the Great Yan Dynasty, people liked to address Daoist priests as “Mister.”
Song You was still wearing a Daoist robe at the moment.
“I didn’t collect them. They were already here when I came. If all of you need it, please make use of them if you like.”
“I will help myself then.”
The middle-aged merchant went back with a small armful of firewood. However, they didn’t borrow fire but lit a fire themselves. Then they took out dry rations and toasted them over the fire. They conversed softly as they ate the dry rations with the water, occasionally looking around. The wind blew their voices over.
He heard them discussing the earlier decision to take shelter from the rain. It seems there was some conflict. Song You more or less understood their reason for traveling in the night until here.
These people were all tea merchants. Originally, today’s destination was an inn with a warehouse thirty li ahead, a kind of lodging convenient for merchants. Unfortunately, it started raining heavily in the middle of the journey. The waterproofing of someone’s goods had been damaged due to unknown reasons. They were worried the tea leaves would get wet so they found a place to shelter from the rain. It so happened that there were fog spirits haunting that stretch of the road recently. Most people did not dare to walk there at night. Therefore, as soon as the rain lessened, they fixed the waterproofing problem and set out hurriedly.
When they passed by here, it was already dark. Traveling at night wasn’t a good idea so they had to rest here.
Someone said that this place was already past that part of the road but someone else said that the tea-sellers must have moved away due to fog spirits causing trouble here.Another said that they shouldn’t have taken shelter from the rain earlier. Someone else said that they shouldn’t have stopped just now but should have continued their journey.There were also people discussing Song You.
Although Song You wore a Daoist robe, he couldn’t help being young. Lately, not one in ten Daoist priests could catch spirits and expel ghosts. Naturally, no one took him seriously, and after some discussion, they stopped paying attention to him.
“Fog spirits…”
Song You stared at the fire, spell-bound.
This was a kind of spirit that often appeared in the mountain wilderness. They liked to roam about in the fog. Weak ones depended on the fog to hide them and usually relied on fear to harm people. However, those with higher cultivation could puff out fog to envelop a place and assault pedestrians in the fog.
However, this kind of spirit normally wouldn’t get far. Ordinary young and vigorous jianghu martial artists, or even just bold and strong men, wouldn’t fear them.
The fire was dying and Song You added more firewood.
Before he noticed it, the rain had stopped.
When mountain rain stops, fog will often arise. It would mostly be pockets of fog or gather in low-lying mountain areas. This time was no exception.
Yet this fog seemed to be a little too thick.
Previously, it was already dark but there was still some light. One could vaguely see the outlines of mountains in the distance. Where the firelight shone, one could also see the ancient cypresses on the sides of the road and the weeds under the trees. Now everything was dim and the entire world seemed to be filled with the thick fog.
In the thick fog, one could not see the mountains or the trees. The two pavilions were close to each other and had fires burning, yet even so, the only thing visible was each other’s dim firelight.
Even this firelight was suppressed to its smallest by the fog.
Before anyone noticed, things had become creepy.
The merchants immediately felt great alarm. They knew they had encountered a spirit.
“Everyone, don’t be afraid! The more you fear, the fiercer it is!”
“That’s true! Spirits are afraid of humans too!”
“Add firewood! Build up the fire!”
“There’s no more firewood…”
Everyone looked at one another. They gazed in the direction of the other pavilion from earlier and only saw orange-yellow firelight.
Although it was only two to three zhang[2] away, there was thick fog in-between. It seemed that only this small area illuminated by firelight was safe. Who would dare to go over through the fog to fetch firewood? Or should everyone go over together to that side?
A cold wind suddenly blew in.
Everyone looked at the two hired armed guards.
The armed guard carrying the flail was anxious and he averted his eyes somewhat. The one carrying a glaive met everyone’s eyes. He turned his head and spat. He scowled, with an expression on his face that was bound to terrify even spirits..
“I will go and borrow some firewood!”
“Senior brother, I will go with you!”
“It’s fine. Junior brother, you stand guard here and protect all the clients. If I meet a spirit in the middle, I’ll cut it down!”
“Be careful, Mr. Chen!”
“It’s just an insignificant little spirit, I’ll be back soon!”
Mr. Chen strode into the thick fog with his glaive, heading directly toward the firelight opposite. He was not tall but had an imposing aura.
The merchants saw this and felt a little relieved.
As the saying goes, humans are somewhat afraid of ghosts but ghosts are even more afraid of humans. With such a bold, hot-blooded martial artist, they needn’t dread common little spirits and ghosts.
Thus everyone looked on helplessly as that figure rapidly became indistinct. They vaguely saw him flourish his glaive a few times and heard him mutter a few curses with his Guanxi[3] accent. However, this fog not only obscured the line of sight but also seemed to have the effect of muffling sounds. He had only taken a few steps but they actually couldn’t hear him clearly.
The merchants became nervous again. They stared sometimes in that direction and sometimes turned their heads to look around.
Not long after, a figure walked out of the fog towards them.
It was Mr. Chen.
Mr. Chen still carried his glaive but his other hand was empty. He simply stood outside the pavilion, looking somewhat alarmed. “Oh no, that young mister on the other side has fainted. Someone come over quickly with me and help me to lift him!”
Everyone heard this and was shocked again. Their eyes widened.
As for the other armed guard, he had long ago taken out the flail at his waist and was now swinging it about.. However, even with it in hand, he continually licked his lips, trying to hide his anxiety.
At last, the merchant that had previously gone over to the neighboring pavilion to borrow firewood stood up. He tried to stay calm and even made a bow.
“We are just passing by, trying to earn some hardship money. We didn’t mean to disturb you. If you are willing to leave now, we will still pass by here when we return. At that time, we will definitely bring some pig, sheep and incense offerings here for you to express our thanks.”
Mr Chen said. “What are you talking about? Come over here quickly to lift the man!”
The merchant replied. “You…your imitation of his voice is not convincing.”
“…”
Mr. Chen immediately froze and stared at them with wide eyes. In the next second, he exploded into a cloud of fog with a pop like a pricked balloon. The cloud melted into the surrounding fog, leaving no trace.
This spirit had simply disappeared but this was even more alarming.
Everything was as rumored…
Yet, according to rumors, this spirit was not easy to deal with.
After a short while, a figure walked out of the fog again, carrying the glaive in one hand and a bundle of firewood in the other. Hurriedly, he took two or three steps out of the fog and didn’t relax until he walked within the range of the firelight.
He looked at everyone but found them staring at him with frightened and suspicious eyes.
Mr. Chen froze and his gaze turned grave.
“What? Did something happen?”
“Just now, that fog spirit pretended to be you and tried to coax us out.”
“Did anyone go?”
“It wasn’t convincing…”
“Hmph, a cheap trick!”
Mr. Chen opened his left hand and the firewood he carried rolled onto the floor. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw that there seemed to be a figure moving in the fog and instantly became alert.
“Mr. Chen, how was the other side?”
“Which side?”
“Of course, the young mister’s side! Has he noticed the anomaly? Was he frightened? When you went to borrow firewood, was he willing to give you some?”
“Well…”
Mr. Chen was unexpectedly dumbfounded.
Just now, he had been anxious as he had hurriedly gone over to borrow firewood. After saying a few words, he had hurriedly returned again with the firewood, even dropping it a few times.
He had not taken a good look at the other man. Now that he was thinking about it carefully, he realized that the other pavilion and the young man in it had been both surprisingly calm. He could only remember the sound of the fire crackling and nothing else.
After thinking about it, Mr. Chen said, “I didn’t notice anything else, but when I asked to borrow firewood, that young mister immediately agreed and even allowed me to take it all.”
“Did you explain the situation to him clearly? Did you invite that young mister over?”
“You must be joking, Mr. Li. How could I have forgotten this matter?” Mr. Chen sounded rather unhappy. “I told him we have encountered a spirit over here. I said we have too many goods so it was inconvenient for us to move over to be with him. I asked him to come over but he just told me to take all the firewood.”
“What…”
The merchants looked at one another again.
They were about to speak when they heard a cry. The cold wind sounded like a spirit wailing, and it brought rain with it. It actually blew until the flickering fire in the pavilion was almost extinguished.
The flames turned deep red at once and the reflection made this pavilion in the fog look as if it was in the netherworld.
Everyone hurriedly gathered around in a circle to block the wind. Only then did the fire grow stronger again. The light in the pavilion became brighter again, bringing some sense of security.
Mr. Chen stood up with his glaive and started cursing again.
According to folklore, cursing is able to repel minor spirits. Perhaps this was what Mr. Chen thought, or maybe he was simply trying to boost his own courage.
Whatever the reason, the merchants did derive some comfort from it. A martial artist is vigorous and hot-blooded. It is hard for spirits and ghosts to harm him. If he has a bold heart that doesn’t fear spirits and ghosts, he would be even more secure.
However, normal martial artists would be unable to deal with this insubstantial fog spirit. Mr. Chen may be able to protect himself, but he would be unable to protect them.
Also, this firewood…Even if the fire wouldn’t be extinguished by the ghastly wind, the firewood wouldn’t last until dawn.
This fog spirit could definitely wait until their firewood is used up!
As they thought of this, a gust of ghastly wind blew again.
Whoosh…
It was more pressing and colder than before. It seemed to penetrate the skin all the way into one’s organs and the deep recesses of their souls, causing them to tremble uncontrollably. As for the fire, it seemed to have been affected somehow and shrank until one could only see scarlet embers.
Before everyone could protect it—
Whoosh…
The fire was instantly extinguished.
At once, there were only glowing scarlet embers left. The light reflected on every panicked face, making them look ghastly.
The embers swiftly became dark ashes.
In the midst of panic, everyone saw that there seemed to be a figure moving in the thick fog. They also saw firelight nearby which fuzzily glowed yellow in the thick fog.
The fire on the other side was actually still burning!?
“Let’s go over there!” someone shouted.
Everyone immediately jostled one another as they climbed to their feet and ran like mad towards the fire over there.
The fine rain fell on them and froze them to the bones.
The merchant surnamed Li was not only short but also the oldest. Even though he ran as fast as he could, he was still the slowest. He saw the fire that symbolized safety grow nearer and nearer.
However, he suddenly felt a hand grab his clothing, then try to grab his arm and neck. The cold fingertips seemed to pierce his flesh. In that instant, he was scared to death. He tried stretching out his arm to grab the clothing of the person in front but he could not reach it.
He was doomed….
On the brink of death, he could no longer remember those erudite phrases that he had learned while travelling as a merchant. He only knew that death was upon him. Perhaps this spirit would eat up his flesh, drink his blood, and suck away his soul until there was nothing left.
Just at this crucial moment, a hand covered with old calluses grabbed hold of him. Those calluses were as hard as wood and scraped his skin.
Mr. Li widened his eyes. He discovered that the armed guard they had hired at a high price had come into play. At this moment, the armed guard was holding his wrist tightly and directing angry curses behind him while pulling him forward with great strength.
The two seemed to be fighting over him.
“Pop…”
Mr. Li vaguely saw a burst of firelight as if a wood knot had burst into flame. The cold touch on his body immediately disappeared. The force dragging him backward also disappeared, replaced by an irresistible force dragging him forward.
Swish!
Mr. Li had already been pulled into the pavilion.
The sound of Mr. Chen spitting again echoed in his ears. He even said proudly and dismissively, “And I thought it would be a tough nut to crack!”
Mr. Li came back to his senses from his alarm, only to realize that this pavilion was actually so peaceful—
There was the sound of the wind, but it was normal, so soft that it was almost inaudible. It was tranquil compared to the previous ghastly wailing and howling. He saw the fire in the pavilion burning brightly as it crackled, spreading comfortable warmth. It seemed that the ghastly wind was unable to blow in.
It was just as it had been when he first came.
Within the firelight, a young man wearing a Daoist robe stayed seated cross-legged on the floor. His face was delicate and his expression was calm. His head was lowered and his eyes reflected the firelight.
This pavilion was really tranquil.
As they turned their gaze outside, they saw that the surroundings were still shrouded in thick fog. There seemed to be a figure moving. It lingered around as if unwilling to leave, yet seemed to be afraid to approach.
“Everyone…”
It was the voice of that young mister.
With a jolt, everyone hurriedly turned their heads to look at him with respect in their eyes.
“Rest here tonight.”
That young mister said and pursed his lips, turning his head to look outside the pavilion. A fine rain was falling in the fog. He added softly, “Be patient. When the rain stops, I will come and look for you.”
1. A Chinese weapon literally called “eyebrow saber.” https://images.app.goo.gl/JS9ZTckgcrm6vD9Z7 ☜
2. Chinese unit of measurement, about 3 ⅓ meters. ☜
3. This is an accent from the western part of the country which usually sounds rougher and more informal when compared to the standard. ☜
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