Willow-Leaf Throwing Knives

Taking stock of everyone, Sun Qi was the only honest, decent soul among them; not a single one of the rest was easy to deal with. That raised the question: did the Yita World prefer someone like Sun Qi, or someone who stirred up reckless chaos? Or perhaps someone like himself—wise, rigorous, deliberate in thought, who strove to make amends even when some minor hiccup occurred due to objective circumstances? Hmm? From the sound of what Blind Zhao said, Blind Zhao was already certain disaster was upon them. That made sense. Daoist Baiyun had staked his own life to divine the hexagram, and the reading was that a great calamity had already come to pass, not merely that bad omens loomed. So why hadn't Daoist Baiyun insisted on evacuating the villagers? Perhaps the old gentleman also clung to a sliver of wishful thinking: ninety-nine years had passed, and all that remained was this final hurdle. Or perhaps he believed his own cultivation was enough to settle the matter. Inside San Niang Temple, Haitang was still kneeling in prayer, with Zhang San by her side. Daoist Baiyun was not idle either. Armed with a brush dipped in cinnabar, he traced strokes across the statue of San Niang. Because the colors were so close, onlookers couldn't make head or tail of what he was doing. From his chat with Blind Zhao, Ding Shi had already gathered what Daoist Baiyun intended: he planned to seal San Niang's spirit within the wooden carving. Once the day of sacrifice passed, her spirit would be trapped for another full year. During that year, the villagers would offer more incense, and Daoist Baiyun would chant scriptures like the Jade Emperor's Mind Seal Scripture every day to suppress the violent aura of her spirit. Now that the great calamity had already come to pass, this was the only way to keep the sacrificial cycle going. A method was a method, but what worried the village chief and Blind Zhao was whether Daoist Baiyun could actually hold San Niang's spirit down. "All right, you may go back," Daoist Baiyun said. He had already sensed the resistance rising from San Niang's spirit within the statue. It was not yet time for the sacrifice, so what stirred her defiance was very likely Haitang's presence. In other words, San Niang not only refused to accept Haitang's repentance, but didn't even want to lay eyes on her. Once the idle crowd dispersed, Ding Shi fulfilled his quest from the village chief by watching Daoist Baiyun draw talismans while lending a hand—mixing cinnabar, grinding ink, and doing odd chores. Daoist Baiyun took the cinnabar jar and walked into the back hall, and Ding Shi carried over a stepladder. Standing on the ladder, Daoist Baiyun dipped his brush in cinnabar and began inscribing scriptures onto the wall, chanting as he wrote: "Mouth-Purifying Divine Mantra: Danzhu, god of the mouth, expel filth and clear noxious vapors. God of the tongue, uphold rectitude, guide destiny, and nourish the spirit. Luoqian, god of the teeth, repulse evil and guard the true. God of the throat, brave as a tiger, god of qi, guide the saliva. God of the heart, vermilion essence, grant me communion with truth. God of thought, refine internal fluids, may Daoist qi forever endure. Swiftly, as decreed by law!" Daoist Baiyun climbed down from the stepladder and said, "This is the Mouth-Purifying Divine Mantra, one of the Eight Great Divine Mantras." The most formidable of the Eight Great Divine Mantras was the Heaven-and-Earth-Purifying Divine Mantra. Even with boundless effort, an ordinary person could only master the barest surface. The deeper one's cultivation, the greater the mantra's might, until at its pinnacle it could slay ten thousand ghosts and grant pardon to ten thousand ghosts. Daoist Baiyun recommended that Ding Shi study the Golden Light Divine Mantra. The Golden Light Divine Mantra was the most common among the Eight Great Divine Mantras, and how potent it proved depended entirely on individual ability. With any luck, one might even comprehend the Golden Light Divine Thunder from it. Ding Shi asked, "Daoist, is just reading it enough?" "After reading, you must memorize; after memorizing, you must comprehend; after comprehending, you must reflect; only after reflecting can you use it," Daoist Baiyun answered. One had to read it first, then memorize it, unraveling the meaning of the entire incantation, before chewing on every syllable to digest it thoroughly. Only then, tailored to one's own constitution, could one truly master the Golden Light Divine Mantra. Ding Shi agreed verbally without taking it to heart. If Daoist Baiyun could blast the malevolent ghost San Niang to pieces tomorrow with the Golden Light Divine Thunder, Ding Shi would transcribe a copy of the Golden Light Divine Mantra, take it back to the island, and pore over it daily. If not, study my ass. With Ding Shi's help, Daoist Baiyun covered the walls of San Niang Temple with scriptures, then used a bagua mirror to establish the array's core. Daoist Baiyun instructed him as he set it up: without an array core, if San Niang's spirit attacked a section of wall, only that section bore the brunt. With an array core, if San Niang's spirit attacked one section, it was equivalent to attacking all the walls at once. To bind San Niang's spirit, Daoist Baiyun not only drew talismans on the wooden statue, but also laid down an array inside San Niang Temple. Ding Shi asked a question: "Why didn't the master a hundred years ago destroy San Niang instead of just suppressing her?" "He was powerless to do so," Daoist Baiyun replied. "San Niang took hatred as her primer, willingly became a zombie, and tempered herself under the moonlight. The moment she emerged, she was already a black zombie." The hierarchy of zombies was ranked as purple, white, black, hairy, flying, and drought demon. One tier higher were sapient zombies, who lived among humans and were almost indistinguishable from them. A black zombie's body was quite stiff, and it feared sunlight. Compared to white and purple zombies, however, black zombies not only had no fear of humans, but would actively attack them. Hairy zombies were agile and lightning-fast, with copper heads and iron arms; they feared neither fire nor sunlight, and their claws carried virulent poison. Compared to black zombies, a hairy zombie's combat strength was a qualitative leap. Daoist Baiyun's master had been formidable, but his specialty lay in exorcising ghosts and dispelling evil, not destroying zombies. Confronted with San Niang as a black zombie, even Baiyun's master was helpless. But necessity was the mother of invention. Baiyun's master first found San Niang's spirit and drove it into zombie San Niang's body, thereby subduing her. After suppressing the zombie, he used secret arts to separate her spirit from her corpse once again. Just as Ding Shi was listening with rapt fascination, the village chief called out, "Xiao Ding, come here." Ding Shi jogged over to the village chief, playing the dutiful lackey of an assistant to perfection. His satisfaction rating was at 90 points now, just 10 points shy of a full score. The village chief said, "Because the dense fog has cut off the village, many villagers couldn't make it back in time. Go compile a count." Ding Shi's heart twitched. "Count the villagers?" "That's right." Ding Shi said, "Village Chief, there are over a hundred households and two natural hamlets. I can't possibly cover all that in a day, can I?" The village chief produced a notebook and said, "Twenty-one people work outside the village in total. You only need to check whether they've returned." Fine, then! Ding Shi took the notebook, skimmed through it, hopped onto his bicycle, and set off on his rounds. Some had returned, others had not. The quest should have wrapped up smoothly without any incident—until Ding Shi visited the very last household. Living in the final house were a brother and sister, performers in an acrobatics troupe who had returned to Taoyuan Village the previous night. The elder brother was named Xiao Suan, and the younger sister was Xiao Jian. Through polite chatter, Ding Shi learned that Xiao Jian had once been a sacrificial bride. Hoping to learn more about San Niang, Ding Shi sat down to sip tea and chat with the siblings. The details of their conversation weren't important; Ding Shi already possessed far more intelligence than the siblings did. What mattered was that Ding Shi spotted a set of willow-leaf throwing knives. Thrown weapons had existed since the late Eastern Han dynasty. During the foreign wars of the Song dynasty, both sides employed all kinds of concealed weapons, such as the javelins favored by the Mongols. Concealed weapons used on the battlefield were relatively large, whereas those used by armed escort guards were meant for sneak attacks—small, compact, and often dipped in poison. Supposedly, the most popular poison was not red crane crest or similar concoctions, but fecal matter. Once struck by a weapon soaked in feces, one had to quickly gouge out the flesh around the wound; otherwise, the rot would fester and spread. Dung poison appeared not only in the jianghu, but was also fairly common in ancient warfare. Naturally, willow-leaf throwing knives used in acrobatics would never be poisoned. The siblings' routine was quite traditional: the sister was tied up, and the brother threw knives blindfolded. In its modern incarnation, the sister was strapped to a spinning wheel, and as it spun, the blindfolded brother hurled the knives. Such a performance was closer to magic than acrobatics. The set contained six willow-leaf throwing knives in total, sheathed in a leather pouch. Ding Shi took a real liking to them and asked about the price. At first, neither sibling would name a price, but when Ding Shi slapped down a ten-dao banknote, the sister was tempted. Ding Shi added another five-dao bill, finally swaying the brother, and walked away with the set of willow-leaf throwing knives. Willow-leaf throwing knives were shaped like willow leaves, their blades extremely thin. They were unsuitable for close combat and snapped easily. Having received such a handsome sum, the siblings were delighted and also felt a little guilty, so they invited Ding Shi to stay for dinner. Ding Shi accepted. His reason: he wanted to learn knife throwing.