Chapter 5: Biting Back the Humiliation

◎ A mute bird? ◎

Fu Yuqiu was bewildered too.

He had clearly been trying to trigger the White Sparrow’s Spirit Core Self-Detonation — how had spiritual power suddenly come pouring out instead?

Fu Yuqiu was used to bad luck; hit with such good fortune at once, he was almost overwhelmed by the favor.

The Fire Spirit Bird’s screams still penetrated dully through the water.

That arrogant big-tailed bird had finally been doused into a cowering quail, struggling desperately yet unable to escape the Water Dragon’s binding.

Fu Yuqiu stamped his claws, venting fiercely.

Since rebirth he had taken losses nonstop, bullied by this one and that one — at last, a little satisfaction.

“Chirp chirp!”

Fu Yuqiu kicked his claws gleefully.

But just then, something went wrong with the Fire Spirit Bird struggling in the water.

As if devoured by raging fire, it suddenly let out a shriek of utmost sharpness; its splendid plumes withered like grass, then flesh and bone parted and turned to ash — in a blink only a few charred bones remained, slamming heavily to the ground.

— It had been crushed to ash and scattered, alive, in the water!

The Water Dragon burst apart, falling as fine rain.

Fu Yuqiu gaped; even his unwitting “chirp?” of confusion came out trembling.

What… what in the world was that water?

How had it corroded a living body of flesh and blood into a handful of bones in the blink of an eye?

The water-mist re-condensed into a single mass and drifted familiarly up to Fu Yuqiu.

Fu Yuqiu stiffened, not daring to move a muscle.

The water nuzzled the red plume at the White Sparrow’s brow, then abruptly plunged into his Inner Mansion and vanished.

Fu Yuqiu waited, quaking, a good while — finding himself not yet withered, he finally heaved a great sigh of relief.

His whole body went limp, flopping down with a “chirp-weep.”

Scared out of his grass.

Yun Shou, who had watched the whole thing, was badly startled too, teal scales surfacing on his cheek.

He said hoarsely, “Venerable One — that was the Linked Azure Water…”

“What?”

“The Linked Azure Water!” Yun Shou repeated. “They say Feng Beihe intends to use it so you can never…”

The words cut off abruptly. Yun Shou glanced timidly at the Venerable.

“They all want the Linked Azure Water.” The Venerable wasn’t looking at him; apparently finding it amusing, he laughed until shards of light broke in his golden eyes. “But no one imagined it would be swallowed by a White Sparrow — was there anything strange when he arrived?”

“Strange? For a while he wasn’t breathing at all — I thought he was dead. But after eating the Golden Radiance Grass, he was bouncing around again.”

Presumably that had been the backlash of the Linked Azure Water entering the body; luckily the White Sparrow had survived it.

The Venerable’s golden eyes stayed fixed, unblinking, on the Cloud Mirror.

Yun Shou dared steal one glance, and his heart shuddered.

Even toward Feng Beihe, the Junior Venerable he favored most, the Venerable had never looked with such burning eyes.

What madness had possessed the Venerable One this time?

Then the Venerable gave a puzzled “Hm?”

Yun Shou, fearing something had happened to Fu Yuqiu again, hurriedly turned to look.

In the Cloud Mirror.

Fu Yuqiu, exhausted in body and spirit, was listlessly cursing away.

Not far off, a small snow-white snake, silent under cover of the drifting mist, was crawling toward him.

Yun Shou hissed.

Fu Yuqiu, weary after the fierce battle, noticed nothing.

The hand hooking the konghou strings also stopped abruptly.

The White Snake glided to Fu Yuqiu’s side, flicked its tongue, and reared up — its head, smaller than the sparrow’s claw, swelling several times in an instant.

Fangs sharp, its horrific maw gaped wide, lunging to swallow the sparrow in one gulp.

Yun Shou sucked in another cold breath.

He utterly despised this water-splashing White Sparrow, yet — as if possessed — his finger flicked, sending a thread of spiritual power into the Cloud Mirror.

At the same moment, a phantom dragon tail materialized beside Fu Yuqiu and swept hard, knocking the resting White Sparrow clean away.

The next instant, the serpent’s fangs bit empty air.

Had Fu Yuqiu been bitten, he would likely have been swallowed whole in a single motion.

“Chirp-weep!”

Fu Yuqiu tumbled dizzily through several rolls; struggling up, he saw a snake racing toward him.

The Venerable glanced at Yun Shou with a smile.

Yun Shou smiled ingratiatingly. “This sneaky ambush trickery reeks of the Peacock Junior Venerable’s orders. I can’t stand it!”

But Yun Shou’s well-meant sweep accomplished nothing.

Fu Yuqiu, as if scared witless, stood woodenly in place, letting the snake crawl right up to him.

Yun Shou panicked at the sight, thinking: Use the Linked Azure Water, quick!

As a youth, Fu Yuqiu had been bitten soundly by a snake, and ever since, the sight of one rooted him to the spot.

His pupils unfocused, he stared dully as the snow-white snake gaped wide and lunged at him.

“Move… move…” Facing death, Fu Yuqiu’s mind screamed in terror while his body had turned to stone. He was dying of anxiety. “MOVE! I’m going to die, aaahh…”

But this snake was far more brisk than the Fire Spirit Bird; in a blink, its fangs had touched the White Sparrow’s plumes.

Fu Yuqiu’s whole body was locked; there was nowhere to flee. Uselessly he widened his eyes, watching the snake open its blood-red maw over him…

Reborn barely a day — was he to die miserably again?

His heart went cold — but the next instant, a muffled “boom” sounded at his ear.

Fu Yuqiu’s pupils blew wide.

The mist around him twisted suddenly into phantom arrows which, like falling rain, hissed toward the White Snake.

In an instant, the snake began to shriek horribly.

Its soft body was crushed as if kneaded inch by inch, joints twisting, thrashing wildly.

A snake’s scream was a strange sound — like the howl of a Wrathful Ghost, boring into Fu Yuqiu’s ears shriek by shriek.

Fu Yuqiu, stunned stupid, could only stare blankly.

In the sleeping hall one wall away.

The Venerable withdrew the hand that had released his spiritual power, wide sleeves trailing to the floor, and said smiling, “Xingyun has sent me quite the amusing little toy.”

Yun Shou stared openmouthed, suspecting he was dreaming.

Didn’t the Venerable most love watching the three clans fight? Why would he, against all precedent, step in to help that White Sparrow?

Yun Shou didn’t dare ask such a question. Lowering his head to smother the storm in his heart, he feigned calm. “Venerable One, that snake…”

The Venerable said mildly, “Beihe told me the Snake Clan of the Three Realms was slaughtered to the last by him long ago — Yun Gui, go and ask how a snake got onto the Nine Heavens.”

Yun Gui appeared as if a ghost. “Yes.”

Having finally tuned the instrument, the Venerable said idly, “Bring the Little Highness to the inner chamber.”

Yun Shou bolted out. “Yes.”

In the outer chamber, the snake lay stiff and dead; Fu Yuqiu stared at it, dumbstruck.

“Hey.” Yun Shou came over, pinching the tail plume the White Sparrow had nearly had singed bald, and shook it crossly. “Still alive? A single snake scares you like this — what a waste.”

Fu Yuqiu’s face was wooden; he suddenly choked out a breath and resumed gasping great mouthfuls of air.

Had he still been a Crimson Spirit Secluded Grass, every leaf would have wilted from fright.

A snake…

A snake that could swallow him in one gulp!

Still shaking, Fu Yuqiu gave Yun Shou a listless sidelong glance — seemed about to blow up, then, remembering that dragon tail, forcibly restrained himself.

This dragon had saved his life. A secluded grass repays kindness; he could barely rein in his foul temper.

“I’m not like that dog of a man Feng Beihe, repaying kindness with enmity,” Fu Yuqiu thought. “Fine — I just won’t blow up at this dragon for now.”

Yun Shou, oblivious to Fu Yuqiu’s “leniency,” unceremoniously pinched up the White Sparrow, lifted the curtain of woven mist, and entered the inner chamber.

The inner chamber’s spiritual power was even more torrential — sumptuous, resplendent, ablaze with candlelight.

In the vast sleeping hall, faintly drifted the sound of strings.

Someone was playing the konghou.

Fu Yuqiu had once saved a musician who fell into the Secluded Sound Valley; in gratitude, the man had played music for him day after day.

Having listened long, Fu Yuqiu knew a little of music.

This konghou’s sound was heavenly — snow flying from rising clouds, the lingering notes circling the beams — and Fu Yuqiu’s terror-jolted heart unconsciously slowed.

“There’s a musician like this in the sleeping hall?” Fu Yuqiu thought sourly. The Living Yama does know how to enjoy himself.

Yun Shou tiptoed into the inner chamber.

As the woven-mist curtain was silently lifted, the face of the konghou player came into view.

Fu Yuqiu, lost in the music, looked up unthinkingly — and beheld the white-robed Yama himself, hair loose, features gentle, fair hands upon the strings.

Fu Yuqiu: “…”

Pah.

Ill omen.

He wanted to take back every word of praise, his eyes rolling with disgust.

The Venerable wore a loose, flowing white robe, long hair and hem trailing on the floor, weaving a strange beauty. When the piece ended, he gathered his slender fingers, gathered his robes, and rose slowly with a muffled cough.

“So he really is a sickly invalid,” Fu Yuqiu thought, unable to resist kicking the man while he was down.

The invalid said, “Put him down.”

“Yes.”

Yun Shou placed Fu Yuqiu in the Golden Cage on the small table, bowed respectfully, and ran.

Having twice nearly been killed, and now face to face with a living Yama, Fu Yuqiu was all the angrier; he buried his head in a corner of the cage and refused to make a sound.

The Venerable chuckled and flicked his slender five-fingered hand lightly against the Golden Cage.

A tiny “ding” — jarring Fu Yuqiu’s head, pressed against the bars, into a daze.

Fu Yuqiu was furious to death — he seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of anger. Perhaps his brain had been addled by rage, for he actually had the audacity to glare at the Venerable, viciously.

Glared at, the Venerable didn’t take offense; he laughed again instead.

Fu Yuqiu: “…”

Laughing?!

Widower, your wife is dead and you laugh this happily?!

Half-reclining on the couch, head propped on one hand, the Venerable seemed in candlelight far more human than his daytime coldness.

He extended one finger, its pad sliding slowly down a bar of the Golden Cage, and said as if in idle chat, “Frightened?”

The tone was light as a passing cloud, carrying even a trace of warmth.

But Fu Yuqiu sensed ill intent, burrowing his head into a corner by the feeding dish, leaving only two bare tail feathers pointed at him.

He grumbled inwardly: I wonder if a Spirit Core is even any use to this Living Yama? Push me too far and I’ll douse him with water!

The Venerable apparently liked his tail feathers; he raised a hand and tapped — the half-burned feathers were instantly whole again.

“Sing a little song.”

Fu Yuqiu of course refused to chirp; he even wanted to bite that detestable finger.

Seeing Fu Yuqiu silent, the Venerable raised a hand and beckoned.

Before Fu Yuqiu could react, he teleported into those five fingers, cupped in the Venerable’s palm.

Being at someone’s mercy like this was too humiliating. Fu Yuqiu recklessly channeled his Spirit Core’s power.

But for some reason, the Spirit Core in his body refused to obey.

Fu Yuqiu strained until his feathers flushed red — and still couldn’t summon that Water Dragon.

Fu Yuqiu: “…”

The Spirit Core was playing dead?!

Typical detestable bird — even its Spirit Core was insufferable.

Nothing like a secluded grass’s Spirit Core: ready to blow on command, without even giving Feng Beihe time to flee.

The Venerable, at his leisure, watched the sparrow’s cheeks puff round, straining with all his might; he waited patiently a while, and seeing the White Sparrow’s face full of bewilderment and embarrassment, couldn’t help laughing softly.

Had Fu Yuqiu been in grass form just then, even his leaf-tips would have turned red.

Whether from shame or fury, who could say.

Having admired enough, the Venerable said smiling, “Sing.”

Fu Yuqiu’s skull buzzed. Instinct screamed Spirit Core Self-Detonation — but it was only a song, hardly dangerous; blowing himself up over this seemed a losing trade.

Swallowing humiliation, he steeled himself to chirp — yet refused to be a plaything pet.

Soon, inspiration struck. He parted his beak slightly, his tiny tongue moving twice — without making any sound at all.

The Venerable understood, and gently pressed the beak open to look.

“Oh? Scared mute?”

All half-day Fu Yuqiu had been drinking water; a vague fullness sat in his belly — yet he feared thirst too much, and at the sight of water simply couldn’t stop.

Worse, in the Golden Cage’s water dish was a single water bead that replenished endlessly no matter how much he drank, as if inexhaustible.

Fu Yuqiu had nearly drunk himself sick.

Now, with a finger pressing his tongue, he “wrenched” out a dry heave, nearly vomiting a beakful of water into the Venerable’s hand.

“Truly can’t take a fright.”

Sighing, the Venerable actually believed this White Sparrow was a mute bird.

Fu Yuqiu… Fu Yuqiu was ecstatic!

The Venerable placed him back into the Golden Cage with a soft sigh.

Fu Yuqiu thought: a mute is a mute — you can’t demand songs from a mute, surely.

He was congratulating his own cleverness when the Venerable lifted a hand slightly, and a wisp of cloud came drifting over.

“Go fetch the Snow Deer Physician.”

The cloud bobbed its body and sped away.

Fu Yuqiu: “…”