Chapter 39: Reunion in Hell
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“Someone jumped into the well! Someone jumped into the well!”
In the midnight hours at Yuan Mountain Stronghold, panicked shouts from a young person rang out, quickly alarming several minor leaders. A group of bandits rushed to surround the well.
Through chaotic questioning, the minor leaders finally learned from Xu Yan that the person who jumped was a woman. Combined with the fact that the Zhao family girl had disappeared, this group of bandits immediately concluded it was that woman who had jumped into the well.
“Damn unlucky! Quickly send someone down to fish out the corpse and throw it outside the stronghold!”
A horse-faced minor leader ordered his subordinates. With everyone’s help, they spent a long time finally fishing out the woman’s body. The naked corpse was already ice-cold and lifeless.
“Throw it far away!” The horse-faced minor leader cursed: “Just this one well, and now people can’t even eat properly. Are there any kitchen people here? Don’t bring me food today – I’m going outside to eat.”
Two cooks from the kitchen were also watching the excitement nearby. Hearing this, they immediately smiled obsequiously and explained: “The well water is living water. The dead person didn’t soak for long – in half a day it’ll be fresh water again.”
“Just seeing that idiot makes me sick. Couldn’t die anywhere else, had to die in the well. Bah!” The horse-faced leader cursed and walked away with his subordinates. He was planning to leave the stronghold now anyway. Yesterday he’d received quite a bit of silver, enough for him to squander for a while. With money, who would stay in the stronghold drinking well water that a dead person had soaked in?
Dead person’s meal, dead person’s meal – this time it really was a dead person’s meal.
Xu Yan followed the two cooks back to the kitchen. Along the way, the two whispered: “We should tell Boss Wu about this, right? The water is living water, but it’s still taboo. Others eating it might be fine, but we can’t let the three chiefs eat it.”
“Exactly. If the head chief gets unhappy, we’ll lose our heads. Xu Yan, you go fetch water from the mountains these next few days. There’s a small stream in the mountains. The road is a bit far, but consider it exercise.”
The two had already pushed the hard work onto Xu Yan. Xu Yan just grinned foolishly and nodded in agreement.
Having him fetch water from the mountains was perfect – he was just planning to go into the mountains to look for gelsemium.
One woman’s suicide had ultimately stirred up the ferocity in Xu Yan’s heart. The malevolent ghost formed by the Zhao family girl had already disappeared, but Yuan Mountain Stronghold now had one more demon that Xu Yan had personally released.
In this world there were people, ghosts, and many man-eating fierce tigers. When the old Taoist was dying, he had once told Xu Yan that if he truly wanted to become a pig, then let that pig devour all the fierce tigers in the world!
The foolishly grinning little Taoist seemed incredibly stupid to the two cooks – going to the mountains to fetch water and still being happy about it. What difference was there between this kind of fool and a stupid pig? However, they couldn’t imagine that some pigs were destined to eat tigers, and once they opened their mouths, they would devour everything down to the bone fragments.
Starting from early morning, Xu Yan left the kitchen early, carrying water buckets into the deep mountains.
The mountain stream was quite far from Yuan Mountain Stronghold. A round trip took at least an hour or two. With so many bandits, the water they consumed in a day filled a large vat. One person carrying water from dawn to dusk might not even be able to fill it. This kind of hard work was something no one wanted to do.
The little Taoist entering the mountains faced the morning sun with an honest smile on his face. He walked and stopped, occasionally pushing aside grass, searching for traces of gelsemium.
The reason he had shouted loudly by the well was to fish out the corpse. If the body had soaked too long, no one would drink the well water anymore. He needed to clean up the corpse early, because that well wouldn’t just drown one Zhao family girl – it would poison all the Yuan Mountain bandits to death.
From dawn to dusk, the little Taoist worked hard carrying water through the mountain forests. On the first day, the water he brought was barely enough for the stronghold’s use. Starting from the second day, the water Xu Yan carried became somewhat less, because once he went to fetch water, the kitchen work became busy again.
The fat head chef, learning that someone had died in the well, also didn’t dare use well water to cook for the three chiefs. He feared the three stronghold leaders but wasn’t afraid of the other minions. So starting from the second day, he ordered Xu Yan to only carry enough water for the three chiefs and several minor leaders – he didn’t care about the others.
After several more days, the incident of the Zhao family girl jumping into the well was gradually forgotten by the bandits. The time since Xu Yan arrived at Yuan Mountain Stronghold had also reached three months.
Once three months arrived, Zhang He was as happy as if he’d peeled off a plaster – he finally didn’t have to be awakened by grinding teeth sounds in the middle of the night. Xu Yan was also assigned a small sleeping room. Though crude, it could shelter him.
With no one monitoring him, Xu Yan could finally do things he liked.
For example, secretly bringing food to the little black pig that remained in the mountains and that he could see every time he fetched water. For example, stretching and practicing the Three Styles of Flying Stones in his room at dawn. And for example, grinding some dried strange herbs when no one was around.
In half a month’s time, the little Taoist who frequently went into the mountains to fetch water found over twenty gelsemium poison plants. Just a small piece of this poisonous herb could kill a cow. With over twenty plants, plus the doubled toxicity when combined with Xingwu grass, it was enough to poison eight hundred to a thousand people.
Since the fierce demon in his heart had been released, Xu Yan didn’t plan to leave anyone alive. The bandits making him work and bullying him into labor was nothing – he didn’t even hold a grudge. But the malevolent ghost formed by the Zhao family girl was like a knife constantly stabbed into Xu Yan’s heart.
That was a barbed hook – to pull it out required filling it with human lives!
Mid-Autumn was approaching, and the weather was becoming increasingly cool. Though Pu Nation was said to have spring-like weather year-round, winters could still be very cold – a damp cold where snow was rarely seen.
The moon in the night sky grew rounder and rounder. Xu Yan liked full moons because they represented reunion. He had no relatives, and his only master had also left him, but he still liked round moons.
Relatives would reunite, and sometimes enemies would reunite too. What could bring enemies together was either during a life-and-death battle, or in another place.
Hell!
It was time for reunion. The little Taoist by the well looked up at the brilliant starry sky with an honest smile covering his face. Beside him, Mei Sanniang was carefully sprinkling a bag of dried herb powder into the well.
It was indeed time for reunion. Mei Sanniang would reunite with the relative she’d been separated from for five years, and all the evil bandits on this mountain would reunite in hell with that Zhao family girl they had violated.
“It’s Mid-Autumn… I really want to go home…”
Mei Sanniang shook the remaining herb powder from the back of her hand into the well opening, then turned to look at the little Taoist and whispered: “Be careful, don’t let anything slip.”
“I understand, Third Sister.”
Xu Yan returned her smile. The two who had briefly met then separated, each returning to their own quarters.
When dawn came, Yuan Mountain Stronghold seemed much livelier than usual. Festive holidays belonged not only to princes and nobles, but also to common people, and also to this group of desperados.
A few days ago, the Yuan Mountain bandits had raided and slaughtered a nearby small village. Most of the villagers had escaped, but the pigs, sheep, and livestock in their homes couldn’t be taken away in time. After killing dozens of villagers who were too slow to escape, a group of pigs and sheep were driven back to Yuan Mountain Stronghold.
When there was meat, it had to be eaten – this was the bandits’ habit. Taking advantage of today being Mid-Autumn, at noon the kitchen set up two large fire pits. Dozens of lambs were cleaned, seasoned with salt and chili, then began roasting over the fire pits. Before long, the entire stronghold was filled with the aroma of meat.
