Daomu Biji: The Mystic Nine

In Xiangxi, opium was usually the currency in circulation, and even the bulk of arms sales was settled with it. The people here were very fond of it, and since there wasn’t any opium on the corpses, that meant someone must have taken it.

"But where would you find a thief in this wilderness?" Old Man Zhang asked.

Zhang Qishan said, "A few days after the train left, there were a lot of dead people and few living people. He couldn't finish taking everything at once so he must have made several trips. He took anything and everything, which shows he’s very greedy. There must still be something left in these shacks, so after Ba Ye’s finished his calculations, burn them and see who comes running first."

As he spoke, he pointed to several positions, and the soldiers went over to stand guard. Zhang Qishan continued, "Pay attention to the mining holes on the cliff. If it’s a miner here, he’s unlikely to be moving about aboveground."

Half an hour later, Qi Tiezui climbed up from the mine and collapsed on the ground. His collar was completely soaked in sweat and he was gasping for air.

When Old Man Zhang went over and helped him up, Qi Tiezui gasped out, "I say, old man, is your Zhang family full of fucking monkeys? They climbed so fast I thought I was going to die trying to keep up."

Old Man Zhang laughed and said honestly, "Ba Ye would be better off doing Wuqinxi (1) every day or training with Fo Ye. That way, your legs and feet will be stronger."

Qi Tiezui took two wobbling steps. He usually rode in rickshaws in Changsha, and always had Lieutenant pick him up and drop him off in the car whenever he went to Fo Ye's house. After accepting apprentices, he didn't even have to go out to the fields to collect rent anymore. It was true that he hadn’t been exercising much lately, but only a monkey would be able to keep up with that kind of climbing method.

After taking a few steps, Qi Tiezui was shocked to get an eyeful of corpses. He turned around, but couldn’t see Zhang Qishan or Lieutenant anywhere. He grabbed the old man and said, "Look, this is strange. Why did all these people die here?"

"Ba Ye, Fo Ye asked you to come up for this very reason. You don't know?" Old Man Zhang asked.

Qi Tiezui pinched his fingers together and started his calculations. He ordered a few soldiers to cut off the insect silk with their knives, and then went in while saying, “They’re all covered in quilts, which means they died while sleeping. Tell everyone to remember not to sleep here.” Just as he finished speaking, he suddenly smelled something burning. He looked up and saw that several shacks in front of him were on fire and black smoke was rising in the air. "What’s going on?" He asked.

Old Man Zhang relayed Zhang Qishan's order to him. Although Qi Tiezui disagreed, he also knew that it was useless to say anything. Those northeast gangsters didn't listen to anyone.

At this time, he also realized once again that all the corpses were lying face down.

The bodies were covered with quilts, indicating that they had died in their sleep, but they were all curled up and the posture looked very stiff. It didn’t seem like it would be too comfortable lying face down like that, but all the bodies maintained this position.

He pushed aside the clothes on the nearest corpse’s back, but couldn’t see anything strange besides the spots on the withered skin that were starting to rot from the inside.

Qi Tiezui did some more calculations and said, "Those who belong to snake, dragon, monkey, tiger, and dog are all out. Is there a rooster?"

All the soldiers looked at each other and shook their heads. Qi Tiezui took a deep breath and said to himself, you’re a rooster. Just do it yourself. He put on gloves and carefully turned the corpse over so that it was facing up.

He looked down and took another deep breath. This corpse looked to be in the exact same state as the one they had seen in the whistle coffin. Even its hands were curled up in the same stiff position.

He checked for a long time, but didn’t find anything significant. The corpse’s mouth was full of that white silk insect thread, but he couldn’t tell if the bugs had been the cause of death at that time. If they were, then these bugs were either carrying harmful bacteria or highly toxic.

He went to move on, but hadn’t taken a few steps before he suddenly heard a "bang" come from behind him, as if something had turned over. He looked back and saw that the body he had turned over was suddenly shaking. After a short moment, it started stiffly rocking from side to side like it wanted to turn over.

Qi Tiezui's face turned green, and he tried to shout, but found that his throat couldn’t make a sound.

The body rocked back and forth again like a turtle trying to right itself, and finally managed to turn back over on the bed with a loud “bang”.

All the nearby soldiers put away their guns and pulled their bayonets out. Qi Tiezui was sweating all over as he repeated to himself, don't be superstitious, don't be superstitious, it’s not a zombie. When his racing heart finally slowed down, he ordered Old Man Zhang, "Don't touch it. There may be something inside these bodies. If you cut them open, it’ll be more troublesome to escape. Come here and help me turn another one over."

As he turned his attention to the corpse of an old man beside him, Old Man Zhang went over to help. But just as he was about to start, he saw the old man’s "dead body" jump up from amidst the thread-covered corpses and start running. After taking a few steps, he pushed aside a wooden bed, exposed a hidden mine shaft leading down into the riverbed, and jumped in.

****

TN Notes:

(1) Translates as “Five Animal Exercises”. It’s regarded as the earliest form of Medical Qigong in Chinese history. It’s a set of Daoyin (deep stretching) and Tu Na (deep breathing) exercises that imitates the actions of animals based on the habits of the tiger, deer, bear, monkey, and crane. Info here and here