Sinophagia by Xueting Christine Ni

Author:Xueting Christine Ni
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Horror
Publisher: Rebellion Publishing Ltd
Published: 2024-06-11T00:00:00+00:00

11

Waiting For What?

The nighttime fog was thick, and the temperature had dropped. Iron Mouth Qi had been advancing for over two hours with his temporary troop. Judging by eye, they did not seem to have made much progress, but Iron Mouth Qi was already exhausted, and the Zhang fighters under him were growing impatient. “At this speed, we’ll be lagging behind Buddha by ten thousand li.”

Despite their moaning, they dared not leave him behind. Qi was trying his best. When they took the first break, he was pinching his lip while his eyes were rolling back, and was so tired he actually fainted. The team could only wait for him to come round. When they started to march on, they planned on resting every two hours, and then every half an hour, and in the end, they had to stop every few steps. The soldiers gave up the idea of being ready at any moment to provide backup for Zhang Qishan’s squad, but what else could they do? They had no clue. After all, they were not travelling fast, nor did Iron Mouth Qi issue any orders. So everyone slipped into a state of bewilderment, and morale fell, weighing them down.

Iron Mouth Qi understood the situation, but did not have the physical strength to solve the problem, so he pretended not to notice.

When they took another break, one of the soldiers could not help but ask him, “Master Qi, your physical condition is totally unsuited to fighting or the army life. Why does Buddha bring you every time? Can you really make accurate divinations? Buddha almost never listens to them.”

Iron Mouth Qi glared at him. “The relationship between Buddha and I, is it something that you junior initiates could understand?”

Another soldier said, “I heard from someone in The Nine Gates that Buddha brings you every time because he’s worried that when he’s not in Changsha, you’ll get beaten to death on the street.”

Iron Mouth Qi’s entire face flushed red. He snapped back angrily, “Nonsense! When Buddha’s not there, there’s Second Master, and Fifth Master. I wouldn’t be in such a sorry state as to be beaten to death.”

Even though he was speaking this way, Iron Mouth Qi knew full well that he possessed expert knowledge and proficiency in all manner of esoteric lore, folk customs, paranormal practices, knew of every sprite, demon, goblin and monster in existence, as well as the complete fengshui and fortunes of Changsha. Zhang Qishan brought him along mainly for his encyclopaedic knowledge. Besides, it was not that Zhang did not believe him – he could not, or he would never have accomplished half his fate-defying feats.

There were certain people whose fortunes Iron Mouth Qi avoided telling. Foreigners, conspiracists, and of course anyone with a qilin tattoo, because it was said that they were no longer bound by the Five Elements. Among everyone’s threads of destiny in this world, only theirs were not fixed, so their destinies could not be foretold. Zhang Qishan’s birth chart was almost illegible.

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