Fuwa Village was a small tribal village hidden in the mountain’s belly. Li Si had previously planned to inquire about the whereabouts of the Poison Hand Holy Physician at Fuwa Village, but his plan became impossible to realize the instant he walked into Fuwa Village, because there wasn’t a single person in the entire village. Li Si gazed blankly at the empty village. The Fat Daoist suddenly said: “The poison miasma came through here.”
Bian Kui slapped his chin in realization: “No wonder we can’t see a single soul. The people of Fuwa Village probably all fled to hide from the poison miasma. Waiting here for them to return won’t be a matter of just one or two days. This trip seems to have been for nothing. Alas, the cursed poison miasma arrived early, making everything chaotic.”
“A’Mu!” Mi Ta cried out in alarm. A’Mu swayed unsteadily and collapsed at the village entrance.
Li Si checked her breathing and said: “It’s fine. She’s just unconscious. First, let’s find a place for her to rest properly.”
Bian Kui found a nearby wooden building. Inside the building there wasn’t much furniture—just a simple rattan wood bed, a square table, three or four stools, and a few pots and pans scattered about. Li Si placed A’Mu on the bed. Bian Kui pulled out a small jar of Green Snake Tip and handed it to Mi Ta: “Feed her some white liquor. The child might have been frozen badly.”
Mi Ta obediently accepted the Green Snake Tip and fed it to A’Mu. It seemed the liquor was indeed effective—A’Mu’s pale complexion gradually gained a trace of rosiness.
“Shifang Mountain is such a harsh place, and A’Mu’s health isn’t good either. Why did you still bring her in?” Li Si voiced his doubt. Bian Kui and Gongyang Yan and the others at the door also looked toward Mi Ta. Mi Ta’s expression was desolate as she tightly gripped A’Mu’s hand: “It was A’Mu who insisted on coming. She wanted to see her father with her own eyes one more time.”
“A’Mu’s father?”
Mi Ta nodded: “Her father entered Shifang Mountain with a merchant caravan three years ago and has been without any news since. A’Mu has suffered from chronic illness since childhood. After her father went missing, her illness became increasingly severe. A’Mu insisted that before her last breath, she must see her father one more time, so I brought her to Shifang Mountain. A’Mu, my poor, ill-fated child!”
Li Si looked at the dispirited mother and waved his hand, signaling the others to leave.
Coming out of the wooden building, the Fat Daoist muttered that he was tired and wanted to sleep for a while first. The remaining four people made a circuit of the not-very-large Fuwa Village. The village’s thirty-plus wooden buildings were distributed in a regular oval shape. Each wooden building’s exterior and interior furnishings were roughly similar. In several of the wooden buildings, Li Si saw that a few families had left cold rice and cold dishes on their stoves—food that had only been eaten for two bites before being abandoned. From this, one could infer how panic-stricken the people of Fuwa Village must have been at that time.
Li Si walked out of one wooden building and happened to see Gongyang Yan and Uncle Chang across the way. Gongyang Yan stared dejectedly at the ground while Uncle Chang was saying something to him in a low voice. Li Si’s eyes shifted. Bian Kui came over from another direction rubbing his ear: “I really can’t stand that Fat Daoist—what amazing sleeping ability! I originally wanted to find him to ask what else needed to be bought, but I couldn’t bear his snoring. By the way, does Master Li want to buy anything else? That Green Snake Tip from last time was good. Actually, I have even better stuff.”
Li Si waved his hands repeatedly: “Forget it, forget it. I don’t want to get drunk. If the poison miasma comes, how could I possibly run away?”
Bian Kui, having found no interest, thought for a moment and headed toward Gongyang Yan instead, probably unwilling to give up and going to bother Gongyang Yan.
Li Si walked along the edge of Fuwa Village. Walking back and forth, he arrived at the village center. Here was a neat stone platform four to five zhang wide. Beside it was an ancient well that still had water inside. To the left of the well were two towering ancient trees. Beneath the trees bloomed clusters of purple, crystal-clear small flowers. Li Si seemed to have seen this kind of flower before but couldn’t recall its name.
Plucking one small flower and placing it in his bosom, Li Si sat cross-legged beneath the tree, gazing at the poison miasma’s outline that occasionally revealed its ferocity like a white giant beast. A wave of inexplicable loss surged through his heart. Bai Zhenzhu was still waiting, yet he himself had not the slightest news of the Poison Hand Holy Physician. The girl was probably suffering terribly from waiting. Perhaps she had already secretly wiped away her tears—she was such a crybaby after all. Li Si’s mind wandered restlessly with random thoughts, and somehow he fell asleep.
Time in Shifang Mountain seemed to pass extremely slowly—so slowly it only made one want to sleep. Uncle Chang went out to find water. Gongyang Yan sat restlessly in the wooden building. That matter of coming to Shifang Mountain was like invisible shackles firmly locking him down. Gongyang Yan felt suffocated and wanted to shout but feared others would hear. Walking back and forth like this, a strange sound suddenly came from behind the wooden building. It sounded like human moaning, yet also like some wild beast’s low growl. Gongyang Yan already had a belly full of fire with no way to vent it. Gripping his precious sword, he leaped out of the wooden building.
Behind the building, between the gloomy tree gaps, there was indeed a black shadow, as if something was lurking there. Under normal circumstances, Gongyang Yan would definitely not be so reckless, but at this moment, with a belly full of pent-up anger, he didn’t even think before swinging his sword and charging over, shouting angrily: “Who’s there?”
Gongyang Yan led with his sword, the blade’s tip stabbing toward that dark shadow. The black shadow suddenly shot out from the tree gap like lightning. What kind of face was that! Gongyang Yan was so frightened he even forgot to cry out. It had a round head as big as a wicker basket, a vicious face with only pitted small holes, a blood-red mouth with exposed veins bulging outward, and a pair of dark gray eyeballs without eyelids. The black shadow had no nose and no ears, but it had… three hands!
This was absolutely a monster—a noseless, earless three-handed person. Two left hands and one right hand! All three hands reached together toward Gongyang Yan’s chest. Just as his chest was about to be pierced through, Gongyang Yan awakened from his shock. He turned his body and swept his long sword upward. The blade’s edge cut off two of the three-handed person’s fingers. The bloody fingers fell to the ground. The three-handed person showed not the slightest sign of pain. Its hideously terrifying face, carrying violent energy, lunged toward Gongyang Yan. Gongyang Yan had no desire to make contact with it. His long sword blocked, slightly hindering the three-handed person’s momentum, then he turned and ran.
“Uncle Chang, save me!” Gongyang Yan’s hoarse, exhausted voice sounded especially piercing in the empty deep mountain village.
Li Si was startled awake. Bian Kui and Uncle Chang appeared at the sound. Mi Ta also rushed over from afar. Gongyang Yan rushed to Uncle Chang’s side, looking with lingering fear at what was behind him, saying intermittently: “Mon… monster… it has three… three hands, no eyes and no ears… it’s chasing me!”
The monster Gongyang Yan described did not appear. Li Si and the others looked at Gongyang Yan with astonishment. Gongyang Yan’s face reddened: “I’m not lying—there really is such a monster! It tried to attack me, but I cut off two of its fingers.”
“He has blood on him,” Bian Kui pointed at Gongyang Yan.
Li Si had already noticed the bloodstains on Gongyang Yan’s sleeves and precious sword: “Calm down. First, let’s go take a look at the place you mentioned.”
“Alright.” Gongyang Yan led everyone to that wooden building. On the ground behind the building remained quite a few bloodstains, but the monster and severed fingers Gongyang Yan spoke of could no longer be found. Li Si twisted the bloodstains between his fingers and looked around: “The blood is fresh, but there are no more blood traces left in the surroundings. It’s clear the injured fellow has very agile movements.”
“The monster isn’t dead yet… Uncle Chang, do you think it will come looking for me again? Tell me!” Gongyang Yan threw down his precious sword and shouted with uncontrolled emotions.
“Stop shouting. With me here, it can’t harm you, Young Master.” Uncle Chang forcefully grabbed one of Gongyang Yan’s hands. Gongyang Yan’s anxious and uneasy expression gradually calmed, and he picked up his precious sword from the ground.
“Alright, there’s no need to worry too much. Perhaps it was just a large monkey born with three hands. Such things aren’t rare in deep mountain forests like Shifang Mountain. However, for everyone’s safety, I suggest we don’t sleep separately tonight. Let’s all squeeze together and sleep on the stone platform in the village center.” Bian Kui proposed.
Gongyang Yan looked imploringly at Uncle Chang. Uncle Chang made a sound of affirmation and said: “I have no objections.”
Li Si also agreed. Mi Ta, worried about her daughter, nodded in agreement as well. Only the Fat Daoist hadn’t come over.
“Ha ha, the Fat Daoist is easy—he especially loves eating my glutinous rice cake. At worst, I’ll be generous for once.” Bian Kui spoke with a magnanimous appearance. Those who didn’t know might think he was being so generous, giving away some treasure, when actually it was just a piece of glutinous rice cake.
“You all go to the ancient well first. I’ll go call the Fat Daoist over. He should have woken up by now.” Bian Kui ran in the Fat Daoist’s direction.
The rest came to the ancient well in the village center. Mi Ta brought A’Mu over. After resting for a period of time, the young girl’s complexion had gradually become rosier. After another half cup of tea’s time, Bian Kui came back shaking his head, saying he hadn’t seen any trace of the Fat Daoist.
“I came long ago,” the Fat Daoist said leisurely, walking over from the shadows nearby.
“Good that you’re here.” Bian Kui felt somewhat puzzled, then immediately became all smiles again. “The hour has arrived—everyone should eat dinner. I wonder whether the esteemed guests want some dried beef, cured meat, Green Snake Tip, or sweet and delicious fruit?”
“Here we go again.” Li Si casually rubbed his nose, his slightly puzzled gaze passing over each person’s face.
Everyone ate dinner absentmindedly. Due to the terrifying poison miasma and the monster Gongyang Yan had seen, all seven people except Mi Ta and A’Mu were arranged to keep watch.
After dinner it was only the end of the hour of You, yet the sky had become completely pitch black, as if the canopy of heaven had been splashed with a layer of thick ink. In the northeast direction, one could discern the outline of a large irregular shape—needless to say, that was the poison miasma. Bian Kui lit the insect-repelling incense again. Although it might not necessarily drive away mosquitoes and insects, it did indeed help somewhat with sleep.
Li Si glanced at the others. Uncle Chang, Gongyang Yan, Mi Ta, and A’Mu all slept in the center of the stone platform. The Fat Daoist kept the first watch, sitting on the rim of the ancient well. Li Si leaned against the ancient tree. Beside him was the already soundly sleeping Bian Kui.
“Time to sleep,” Li Si thought wearily to himself, and his eyelids slowly closed accordingly.