Episode 2. Asura (1)
At the foot of Qingyun Mountain. In the northwest region, roughly fifty li from the massive Heyang City, there was a small village called Caomiao Village. It was home to around forty households, and most of the people made their living cutting wood in the mountains and trading with the Qingyun Sect, earning a few meager coins while living simple, honest lives.
Normally, the people here looked up to the disciples of the Qingyun Sect, believing that those who displayed such remarkable skills and wondrous arts had attained the Dao and reached the realm of immortals.
The Qingyun Sect also cared well for the common folk in the surrounding area and treated them quite decently.
It was a day when dark storm clouds hung so low that they seemed to suffocate the very air. From Caomiao Village, the towering Qingyun Mountain could be seen, with strange rocks at its peaks exhaling an ominous aura. However, the villagers, who had lived here for generations, had witnessed such sights countless times, so much so that even the children did not find it strange.
“Hey, you! Where are you running off to like that?”
A playful shout burst from a child’s mouth. This boy looked to be around twelve years old and possessed striking looks. Leading a group of four or five children his age, he was chasing after another child.
The child fleeing up ahead appeared a year or two younger than them, and his build was slightly smaller as well.
Yet this child, even as he ran with all his might, would turn his head back from time to time and grin tauntingly.
“Zhang Xiaofan! Stop right there while I’m asking nicely!”
The boy running behind shouted loudly, but the child ahead, Zhang Xiaofan, had no intention of stopping.
“You think I’m stupid?”
With that, Zhang Xiaofan began running even faster.
The running children soon arrived at an old thatched hall on the eastern side of the village.
This hall was so dilapidated that one glance was enough to tell it had weathered countless years of wind and rain.
Zhang Xiaofan was the first to rush inside, but he let his guard down and tripped over a wooden plank by the door, tumbling head over heels.
The children who ran in after him burst into giggles and immediately piled on top of him.
The handsome boy at the head of the group said with a triumphant expression.
“Finally caught! You don’t have any excuses this time, do you?”
But unexpectedly, Zhang Xiaofan glared upward and shouted.
“I can’t accept this! You tricked me!”
The handsome boy replied with a bewildered expression.
“Me? When?”
Zhang Xiaofan pointed at the wooden plank he had tripped over.
“This plank here. Can you really say you didn’t put it there?”
The handsome boy, Im Ryangu, snapped back at the accusation.
“I didn’t do that!”
Even so, Zhang Xiaofan pouted and held his head high, still neither surrendering nor admitting his defeat.
Furious, Im Ryangu reached out and grabbed Zhang Xiaofan by the scruff of his neck.
“You said you’d admit defeat if you got caught! Is this how you’re going to act?”
Zhang Xiaofan pretended not to hear. Im Ryangu’s face turned red as he squeezed tighter and shouted.
“You still won’t admit it?”
Zhang Xiaofan’s windpipe was being pressed, making it increasingly difficult to breathe, and his face gradually flushed red. Nevertheless, he stubbornly refused to say a single word.
This only made Im Ryangu even angrier, and the strength in his hands increased.
“Won’t admit it? I’m asking if you’ll admit it!”
By this time, the other children realized something was wrong and all slipped outside with intimidated faces.
In the end, only the two boys, blinded by rage, remained inside. What had started as a playful scuffle had escalated into a battle of pride, with neither willing to yield an inch, and the atmosphere suggested it was about to lead to a serious accident.
Just then, someone within the thatched hall murmured a Buddhist sutra.
“Amitabha. Release that hand.”
Then, a withered hand cut through the air and suddenly flicked Im Ryangu on the back of his hand with an index finger. Im Ryangu felt chills run down his entire body as if struck by lightning, and the strength naturally left his hand.
Zhang Xiaofan, who had been on the verge of death, gasped deeply for air.
The two boys stood in place, looking around, then recalled what had just happened and looked at each other. Gradually, fear crept into their eyes.
“Xiaofan, something feels wrong. What in the world just happened?”
At Im Ryangu’s words, Zhang Xiaofan steadied his breathing and shook his head.
“Really? I’m fine… Hiiik! W-who are you?”
At the center of the hall, where the two boys’ gazes fell, stood an old monk. His face was full of wrinkles, and his body, covered in worn-out clothes, looked dirty.
The old monk held a jade prayer bead in his hand. These prayer beads were so clear that they were blindingly transparent, emanating a faint blue light. The more than ten jade beads were all the same size, but peculiarly, among the clear and luminous beads, there was also a dark purplish-black pearl that was neither jade nor stone.
The old monk said nothing and merely observed the two children carefully. He gazed especially long at Im Ryangu.
‘A child of truly outstanding talent, but why is his temperament so volatile?’
Just then, Zhang Xiaofan boldly took a step toward the old monk and asked.
“Um… who are you? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in the village before…”
Caomiao Village, being close to the Qingyun Sect, held the Dao in high esteem, but people of the Buddhist faith were rarely seen. That was why Zhang Xiaofan asked this.
The old monk glanced at the child, smiled at the corner of his mouth, and asked back.
“Little Bodhisattva, even in such a life-threatening situation, why did you refuse to admit defeat and stubbornly cling on, forcing this old man to intervene? You nearly crossed the road to the underworld.”
Zhang Xiaofan blankly mulled over the old monk’s words for a moment. There was reason in what he said. Thinking back on what just happened, a great calamity had approached right before his eyes, yet he had merely stood there in a daze.
Im Ryangu looked up at the old monk with wary eyes, then tugged on Zhang Xiaofan’s arm and said.
“Xiaofan, this old monk… seems a bit suspicious. We’d best not pay him any mind.”
Having spoken, he immediately grabbed Xiaofan and dashed out of the hall.
The other children waiting anxiously outside ran after them without knowing what had happened.
* * *
Deep in the night.
Fierce winds carrying storm clouds swept across the sky together with thunder and lightning, and a biting rainstorm threatened to descend.
The old monk still sat on the bare floor of the thatched hall.
Raising his head to look into the distance, he could see Qingyun Mountain only faintly, and no sign of human presence could be felt in any direction. Only the sounds of the storm and lightning filled heaven and earth.
Rough, violent winds blew, and a bolt of lightning split the air.
The thatched hall, standing alone in the wind, was brightly illuminated.
In this weather, the old monk stood before the hall door, looking up at the sky with a solemn expression. His brows gradually furrowed.
From the western side of the village, a dark aura that one knew not how long had been brewing swirled like surging black ink.
The old monk stood stock-still in the center of the thatched hall, staring at this dark aura.
Then, suddenly, the dark aura began to whirl more violently, breaking free of the village and rushing toward the hall at an incredible speed.
The old monk saw with keen eyes a child wrapped within the dark aura. It was unmistakably the boy named Im Ryangu that he had seen during the day.
The old monk’s countenance darkened in an instant.
Unable to simply watch any longer, he raised his gaunt frame without the slightest hesitation and threw himself into the center of the dark aura.
In the darkness, one could not tell from where the voice came, or who spoke, but a small sound was heard.
“Hey!”
Dull thuds echoed several times in the darkness, and before long, the dark aura lingered in the air above the hall and stopped swirling.
The old monk landed safely on the ground with Im Ryangu tucked under his arm, but the back of his kasaya had been severely torn.
Im Ryangu’s face could be seen in the faint light. The child’s eyes were tightly shut, and his breathing was calm and steady. One could not tell if he was asleep or unconscious.
Without setting the child down, the old monk raised his head to look at the black aura in the air and spoke.
“One of such profound Dao arts—why would you do this to a child who knows nothing? You should know well that this is a shameful deed.”
The black aura replied with a raspy voice.
“How dare you interfere in my affairs. Who are you?”
The old monk did not answer the question and continued.
“This is the foot of Qingyun Mountain. If the people of the Qingyun Sect were to learn of such savage deeds, the aftermath would not be pleasant for you.”
In the darkness, the black aura snorted derisively.
“Hmph! What do I care about the Qingyun Sect, that motley crowd who only relies on numbers? Old geezer, if you’re done talking, hand over the brat and be on your way.”
The old monk calmly pressed his palms together.
“Amitabha. How could one walking the path of cultivation turn a blind eye to injustice? Before dirt enters this old man’s eyes, I cannot hand this child over to your clutches.”
The voice in the darkness roared angrily.
“You bald donkey are digging your own grave!”
As if matching their conversation, a flash of light glinted from the swirling black aura.
In that instant, a sinister wind blew around the thatched hall, and sounds brimming with evil aura surged forth.
The black aura shouted.
“Poison Blood Banner!”
The Poison Blood Banner was a powerful martial art that drew upon the vital energy of the living to unleash the Poison Blood Corpse King.
Upon seeing this, the old monk’s face filled with rage.
“Wretched thing. You would dare use the power obtained through cultivation to harm the world and destroy human lives? Today, I absolutely cannot let you leave!”
From within the black aura, the raspy voice scoffed without replying to the old monk’s words.
Then, a red light flashed brilliantly, and a fishy stench vibrated in the air. On the other side, a red banner fluttered with supernatural power. The sounds of the evil aura gradually grew more ghastly, resembling the wailing of countless vengeful evil spirits shrieking in the dead of night.
This sound, which sent shivers down one’s spine just to hear it, seemed to pierce between the bones and resonate.
“Die, bald donkey!”
A great bellow erupted from within the black aura.
The old monk saw a ferocious evil spirit’s face forming above the red banner.
The evil spirit’s face had four eyes, all triangular. Baring its sharp fangs, it emitted a strange, bone-piercing sound: “Kya, kya, kya, kya.” Then, flashing its four eyes open simultaneously, accompanied by a dull thud, it transformed from a spectral state into a physical body endowed with flesh. It leaped down from the banner, reeking of blood, and lunged at the old monk.