Chapter 328: Negotiation And Golden Snake Gu Art |
The stilt house fell dead silent in an instant, as if the whole world had narrowed to just that fire pit, flames leaping and dancing in the hush, broken only now and then by the sharp crackle of splitting wood as it burned.
Perhaps he hadn't expected Shaman Xia to stand her ground so firmly. Feng Yuanfa froze for a long while. When he finally spoke again, his voice had turned cold and grim. "Shaman Xia, are you seriously thinking of throwing in your lot with those Marling bandits? Have you even considered the consequences? If not for yourself, then at least think of everyone in this village... your whole tribe."
“We Yao people have never pledged ourselves to anyone,” Shaman Xia replied calmly. “The only ones we rely on have always been ourselves.”
Feng Yuan drew in a deep breath. “Shaman Xia, even if all eighteen Yao villages of the Lingnan banded together, you still couldn't withstand the fury of our Qingyuan Sect... and the other Yao villages might not share your... boldness.”
“The other seventeen villages are none of my concern,” Shaman Xia said. “Here in South Water Village, all we want is to live our lives in peace. We don’t want to get dragged into the power struggles of your immortal sects. South Water Village is far from both of your mountains. We’ve never depended on anyone, and we’ve always shown proper respect. All we’re asking now is to stay neutral. So I also ask you, Immortal Master Feng, not to push our Yao village toward Maling Mountain. We can’t afford to offend Qingyuan Mountain, but we can’t afford to offend Maling Mountain either.”
Feng Yuanfa was furious for a moment, but he also found himself at a loss for words, not knowing what to say. In the end, he just said, “Shaman Xia, you’d better think this through carefully; don’t come crying to me later if you regret it.”
Shaman Xia replied, “Our Village is already struggling, squeezed between Qingyuan and Maling. Life is already hard enough as it is. Everyone here just wants a better life. We have no intention of offending anyone. We only ask that Immortal Master Feng not force our hand.”
Shaman Xia’s stance genuinely gave Feng Yuan pause. Right now, Qingyuan Mountain was locked in a fierce struggle with Maling Mountain. If South Water Village were to set a precedent and defect to Maling Mountain, it was entirely possible that the six Yao villages within a few hundred miles would follow suit. That would only swell Maling Mountain’s influence. And if more than a dozen shamans joined them all at once, it would be a serious headache.
Worse still, if Shaman Xia were to spread word that it was he who had pressured them into siding with Maling Mountain, there would be no way for him to explain himself before the sect master and the elders.
After the Battle of Zhuoshui all those years ago, Wulong Mountain became the borderland between the spheres of influence of the Zhanglong Sect and Gengsang Cave. Both sects should have sent people up the mountain back then. But how, exactly, did the Daoist friends on Wulong Mountain deal with it at the time?
Today’s South Water Yao Village looked uncannily like Wulong Mountain had back then. Could it be that Shaman Xia was nursing her own little scheme... hoping to play both sides and end up as the mountain queen who answers to no one?
But Wulong Mountain was Wulong Mountain, and South Water Yao Village was South Water Yao Village. Trying to become another Wulong Mountain was no easy thing at all.
And even if she did manage to turn it into another Wulong Mountain, so what? In the end, it’d just wind up the same way. Everyone gone, nothing left but an empty mountain.
Feng Yuan urged again, “Fellow Daoist Li Mu?”
Liu Xiaolou snapped back to himself and let out a heavy sigh. “Ah…”
Shaman Xia’s half-lidded eyes flicked toward Liu Xiaolou, her face unreadable. Shaman Qiu picked up the bronze kettle and poured more hot water into Liu Xiaolou’s bowl.
Feng Yuan asked, “Why the sigh, fellow Daoist?”
Liu Xiaolou said, “I’m sighing for the thousands of Yao people in all of South Water Village.”
Shaman Xia gave a small smile. Shaman Qiu let out a cold laugh. Feng Yuan, on the other hand, broke into a genuine smile. “And what are you sighing over?”
Liu Xiaolou said, “If things go exactly as Shaman Xia expects, and both Qingyuan Mountain and Maling Mountain hold back out of caution and agree to let South Water Village stay neutral, then yes, South Water Village might enjoy half a year or even a full year of peace. But what happens after that? Once Qingyuan Mountain and Maling Mountain decide a winner, how will the South Water Yao face the victor’s fury? When that time comes, the village will likely be destroyed and its people wiped out. That’s what I’m sighing over.”
Feng Yuan sighed as well. “That’s true. Three thousand Yao people. Where can they possibly go?”
Shaman Xia fell silent, staring into the fire pit, her face numb and expressionless.
Shaman Qiu cut in from the side. “Immortal Master Li, are you also from the Qingyuan Sect? Leaving aside the sect master and the two elders, among Qingyuan Sect’s three guest elders and eight core disciples, there doesn’t seem to be anyone like you.”
Feng Yuan immediately said, “Fellow Daoist Li is a senior cultivator of the Xuanyuan Sect of Bazhong. He traveled thousands of li to come here, out of pure goodwill, to help Qingyuan Mountain campaign against the bandits of Maling Mountain!”
Shaman Qiu nodded. Her big, bright eyes lingered on Liu Xiaolou’s face for a long moment. “May I ask Immortal Master Li, in this battle, is the Qingyuan Sect guaranteed to win?”
Feng Yuanfa jumped in confidently. “Of course! Five days ago at the battle at North River Mouth, our Qingyuan Sect won a crushing victory. We already drove the bandits of Maling back a hundred li!”
Shaman Qiu replied, “Then congratulations, Immortal Master Feng. But going forward, can you still guarantee victory? You should know that—”
“I know what you’re getting at,” Liu Xiaolou cut her off. “I only want to ask you one thing, Shaman Qiu. Do you believe Maling Mountain has the strength to wipe out the Qingyuan Sect entirely?”
Shaman Qiu shook her head. “No.”
Liu Xiaolou then turned to Feng Yuanfa. “If the Qingyuan Sect were to suffer a defeat, would you still protect the South Water Yao village and make sure they don’t face retaliation from Maling Mountain?”
Feng Yuanfa answered without hesitation, “Absolutely. I swear it.”
Liu Xiaolou turned to Shaman Xia and Shaman Qiu. “The two of you, I’m not a member of the Qingyuan Sect, so let me speak plainly. Making a choice is better than making none. If you refuse to choose, the consequences will be truly heartbreaking.”
“Immortal Master Li,” Shaman Qiu asked curiously, “what consequences are you referring to?”
Liu Xiaolou waved his hand. “Some things are better left unsaid. Once they’re past, they’re past.”
Silence fell again around the fire pit.
After a long while, Shaman Xia finally spoke up. “Some things can’t be settled just by talking. Do you actually have the strength to make our village submit, or not? Let’s settle this the honest way. With our hands.”
Feng Yuanfa glanced at Liu Xiaolou helplessly. Liu Xiaolou gave him a small nod, and Feng Yuanfa had no choice but to agree. “Fine. Then let’s have a match.”
He wasn’t stupid; he could see right through it. Shaman Xia was still scared of Maling Mountain, and this sparring idea was her way out. If she submitted to Qingyuan after putting up a fight, at least she’d have a decent excuse to give the Maling Sect. They lost, so they submitted.
Still, her tone had been dead serious. This meant the match would most likely be a real one, not just for show.
If one of the Qingyuan Sect’s true experts had come instead, say one of the top three inner disciples, Feng Yuanfa would have been confident of a sure win. But if it was just him, honestly, he wasn’t so sure. He had only reached Foundation Establishment two years ago. Compared to Shaman Xia’s level of cultivation, his was much shallower. On top of that, Shaman Xia was a shaman of a Yao village, skilled in strange and unpredictable Gu arts.
Feng Yuanfa slowly rose to his feet. “Strictly speaking, Shaman Xia is my senior. Back when I was still at the Qi Refinement stage, I came to South Water many times and received guidance from you, Senior...”
Shaman Xia shook her head. “I don’t deserve that.”
Feng Yuanfa went on, “Today, I’m fortunate enough to seek instruction from a senior in cultivation. I ask that you show mercy.”
Shaman Xia replied flatly, “I won’t.”
Feng Yuanfa froze for a brief moment, then smiled. “Fair enough. There’s no need. Life and death are decided by fate. I’ll just do my best. Shall we go to the valley field?”
Shaman Xia didn’t stand up. She only shook her head. “Right here is fine. There’s no need to fight to the death. We’ll just decide who’s stronger. It won’t take more than a moment anyway.”
Her words dripped with disdain, but Feng Yuanfa was, after all, a disciple of a great sect. He’d already slipped into the calm mindset of a duel and refused to let her taunts rile him. He slowly sat back down and gave a solemn nod. “Very well.”
Shaman Qiu didn’t leave, and Liu Xiaolou didn’t clear space for a battleground either. The two stayed seated by the fire pit, no more than five feet apart, facing each other. To fight without affecting anyone else while unleashing every mean they had, this would come down to how precisely a Foundation Establishment cultivator could control their true qi.
To be honest, Shaman Xia’s cultivation was far deeper than Feng Yuanfa’s. But Feng Yuanfa was an orthodox sect’s Foundation Establishment disciple. He had plenty of top-grade items on him, far more real-world experience, and his combat experience was in no way inferior to Shaman Xia’s. All things considered, he was still pretty confident in his chances.
Then, all at once, the flames in the fire pit bent toward Feng Yuanfa. Every single flame bowed at the same angle, as if bending at the waist. Within the fire, something seemed to be writhing, like squirming worms.
The sight made Liu Xiaolou’s scalp prickle, and the atmosphere instantly turned eerie.
...
When all the flames suddenly turned toward Feng Yuanfa, he immediately felt danger
Righteous sects had studied fire control in great depth. But no matter how skilled you get, nobody can pull off what he's seeing right now. Each flame was alive with spirit, like a cluster of tiny snakes. They were moving toward Feng Yuanfa of their own accord, not being driven by Shaman Xia.
His face darkened. A small box of red clay flew out from his sleeve. He dipped his index finger into it, leaving a muddy smear, then slowly reached toward the fire snake, aiming for the head that was lifted highest and closest to him.
As his finger drew near, the fire snake proved just how sentient it was. It seemed to sense the danger and flicked its tongue.
Feng Yuanfa hesitated. His finger paused for just a moment.
Logically speaking, you don't mess with something you don't understand. But right now, the chance to crush this fight and cow the entire South Water Yao village, hell, all seven major Yao strongholds in Beijiang, was staring him in the face. Feng Yuanfa was already committed; the arrow was nocked and drawn. So after the briefest flicker of hesitation, he kept moving and pressed his finger forward.
At the same time, he poured his true qi into his index finger without restraint. A golden light flickered at the tip. It was the Far Mountain Brush Style he had cultivated in for more than thirty years, now fully concentrated into the red clay on his fingertip.
Liu Xiaolou, who was sitting nearby, felt a blast of heat rush toward him. So intense that it felt as if his eyebrows were about to be singed off. He instinctively leaned back to avoid it. And as his true qi began to circulate, a bit of coolness spread through him.
The young Shaman Qiu had underestimated how fierce the heat wave would be. Instead of getting the hell out of the way in time, she decided to tough it out and see what she could handle. Her body arched backward like a drawn bow as she threw some kind of technique into resisting it. The wave stalled briefly at her chest, but still surged upward. A few strands of black hair hanging over her forehead caught fire in an instant.
The fire curled up along her temples, on the verge of engulfing her entire body in blazing light. Just then, Liu Xiaolou reached out and yanked her hard, dragging her straight out of the flames.
The tongue of fire still burning atop her head tried to leap forward again, but it could not sustain itself. Dragged back by the flames behind it, it retreated unwillingly into the fire pit.
This was because Shaman Xia, with precise control, kept the flames confined to the fire pit. Otherwise, if the fire had chased after her, Shaman Qiu would not have gotten off so easily.
Shaman Qiu’s face was flushed red. It was hard to tell whether it was from the scorching heat or sheer embarrassment. After lowering her head to thank Liu Xiaolou, she clutched the front of her robe, now burned to blackened tatters, and hurried away. Her long black hair had been badly singed as well. She'd have to go back and fix it.
In just those few moments, the clash between Shaman Xia and Feng Yuanfa had already reached its conclusion. Feng Yuanfa’s red clay finally touched one of the fire snakes and extinguished it. But the remaining snakes suddenly lashed out, coiling around his finger. They burned up along his hand, then up his arm, and from there to his eyebrows and topknot.
Feng Yuanfa let out a roar and tried to strike back, but this fire was clearly unlike any he had ever faced. Every counter he used was completely useless. In the blink of an eye, he was burned into a living torch.
Shaman Xia watched Feng Yuanfa engulfed in flames. “Well?” she asked coldly. “Do you yield?”
Feng Yuanfa said nothing.
“Yield,” she said again. “You are no match for my Yao Village. Go back and send someone else. If they defeat me, the Yao Village will follow Qingyuan Mountain’s orders.”
Feng Yuanfa bellowed, “I haven’t lost!” He continued to hold on inside the flames. Even now, he remained calm. He did not bring out his Judge’s Pen or any other magical tools to counterattack, because the rules had been agreed upon beforehand. This contest was meant to showcase precise control of techniques. Escalating it would still count as a loss.
But he could not make sense of Shaman Xia’s technique. If he kept forcing himself to endure like this, he was still going to lose. Worse still, if one of those fire-snake gu things managed to burrow into his meridians, the consequences would be horrific.
Shaman Xia had the whole situation completely under her thumb now. The way she was toying with Feng Yuanfa without breaking a sweat pumped her full of confidence. Her mind swung back to Liu Xiaolou, and she thought to herself that if she could defeat two Foundation Establishment cultivators of the Qingyuan Sect in one go today, then when the Yao Village submitted to Qingyuan Sect, she would surely earn their special regard.
With that thought, three flames split off from the fire pit. They raised their heads toward Liu Xiaolou in open provocation. Then launched an attack of their own accord.
Liu Xiaolou had been observing the flames all along. He had long sensed that they resembled living snakes. They looked eerie, but in truth they were most likely connected to Soul-Gu Arts. Serpent phantoms had been refined within the flames.
While Feng Yuanfa was suffering miserably inside the fire snakes, Liu Xiaolou had already been considering how to step in and save him. Now that he had been pulled directly into the fight, there was nothing left to discuss.
He flicked his wrist and revealed a bone flute, lifting it to his lips and playing a few quick notes. The sound came out harsh and grating, like a flute with a cracked reed, sharp enough to make teeth ache.
It was still the same tune, “Soul-Seizing,” but the player had already reached Foundation Establishment. The soul-seizing power carried by the flute's notes was worlds stronger than before!
The three fire serpents that had been baring their fangs and hissing at him instantly began to twisted. Like they'd had their tendons yanked out, the flames writhed and convulsed, somehow looking as if they were in excruciating, inexplicable pain.
Shaman Xia’s expression changed at once. The silk ribbon holding her hair in a bun snapped apart. Her gray-white hair spilled loose, cascading down to cover her upper body. Her entire body trembled within that curtain of hair. And at the same time, she looked utterly still, like a stone statue.
The flames in the fire pit thrashed wildly, each tongue of fire desperately surging and twisting as if trying to break free from some invisible chains. No matter how they struggled, they could not escape.
Liu Xiaolou pressed the holes and blew into the flute. The sound shifted from hoarse to piercing, then from piercing back to hoarse. This cycle repeated three times until, at last, everything fell into dead silence.
But his fingers flew even faster across the holes. And the true qi he poured into puffing out his cheeks grew stronger fuller.
Shaman Xia's body shook harder and harder, violent tremors ripping through her. The snake-like flames trembled along with her, quivering frantically as if trying to shake off that silent, formless soul-seizing force. No matter how they struggled, they could not escape. Then, at a certain moment, all of the flames froze in place, no longer flickering, as if locked solid in ice.
The fire serpents surrounding Feng Yuanfa did the same. He was finally freed from danger, struggling out of the flames and retreating three feet. In his haste, he swallowed a spiritual pill and began to regulate his breathing and restore his qi.
The gray-white hair hanging down over Shaman Xia’s face slowly parted down the middle, opening a narrow gap and revealing one of her eyes. That eye fixed on Liu Xiaolou for a long moment before she finally asked, “Why did you stop playing?”
Liu Xiaolou smiled. “If I kept going, your little pile of fire would die. You’ve been feeding it for a long time, haven’t you? A snake soul?”
Shaman Xia drew in a deep breath. “The soul of a dog-mother snake. I’ve raised it for fifty years. And who are you, exactly? Why do you understand Soul-Gu techniques?”
Liu Xiaolou glanced at Feng Yuanfa, who was still sitting cross-legged and regulating his breath. “I’m from the Xuanyuan Sect of Bazhong. I was invited by the Qingyuan Sect to lend a hand.”
Shaman Xia glanced at Feng Yuanfa as well, then said two words, “I concede.” After that, she said nothing more.
Shaman Qiu appeared outside the hall, dressed in entirely new clothes. Her hair was wrapped up in a red cloth headdress adorned with gold and silver rings. She looked every bit like a princess.
Shaman Xia gave her orders, while also explaining to Liu Xiaolou and Feng Yuanfa. “Qiu, take Immortal Master Feng to soak in the Five-Colored Smoke Grave Mud. Otherwise, the burns on his face will leave scars.”
Liu Xiaolou nodded. Feng Yuanfa was genuinely spooked now. He scrambled to his feet and hurried after Shaman Qiu down the wooden stairs.
After they had gone some distance, Shaman Wu suddenly spoke. “Immortal Master Li, are you from the Miao villages of Bazhong, trained as a shaman?”
Liu Xiaolou shook his head. “I am not Miao. I learned this gu technique by chance. There is no need for you to worry, Shaman Xia.”
Shaman Xia stood there in a daze for quite a while. “I have an unreasonable request,” she finally said. “I do not know whether Immortal Master Li would be willing to agree to it.”
Liu Xiaolou said, “Go ahead. Let me hear it first.”
“Your soul-seizing technique, could you grant it to me? I am willing to trade my Golden Serpent Gu technique in exchange.”