Killing

Li Yesheng's father had passed away the previous year, and the family's fields and possessions had all fallen to him as the eldest son. Delighted beyond measure, he had promptly sold off a plot of land to get some cash and feasted heartily in the village taverns. Since then, he spent every other day idling about, loitering through the village and hills, growing ever more brazen in harassing others and pilfering. In the whole of Lijing Village, aside from his eldest uncle Li Mutian, he feared no one and shrank before none. Pity his younger brother, Li Yesheng. Though of an age with Li Xiangping, while Xiangping had studied with the teacher at the village entrance from childhood, the younger Li Yesheng was left all alone, cold and starving. A mere teenager who had just lost his father, he had to herd ducks every day and tend cattle for others. If Li Mutian's household had not stepped in to help from time to time, he likely would have starved to death at home long ago. The elder Li Yesheng cared nothing for his brother's survival. Whenever he sat idle, an itch gnawed at his heart; watching Li Changhu's family enter and leave their grand courtyard of blue bricks drove him mad with envy. "We both carry the Li surname—why do you get to be of the direct line while I'm cast aside as a secondary branch? Why do you get to buy fertile fields and build a walled compound? You're nothing more than a prominent family in a village, so what gives you the right to put on airs and build a great manor? As if you actually have mountains of treasure hidden inside!" He suddenly straightened up, struck by a sudden realization as he recalled that night a few years ago—the tense expressions on their faces, and the blade in Li Mutian's hand. "Li Mutian has a treasure..." Chewing on a stalk of green bristlegrass, Li Yesheng watched Li Changhu chatting and laughing with tenants in the fields, feeling a secret bitterness fester within him. "All you did was get born into the right belly." After napping for a while in the shade of a tree, seeing that night had deepened, Li Yesheng spat out the stalk of grass with a sharp pah. Rolling up his trouser legs, he crept stealthily toward the Li family compound. Circling the courtyard walls, Li Yesheng could not find so much as a crack. He pawed at the brickwork a few times, but the masonry was so flat and smooth that climbing over seemed nearly impossible. "Dog bastards." Li Yesheng spat against the wall. A vicious stubbornness seized him, and he took off toward the mountain behind the village. "I don't believe you bastards could put a lid over the whole roof!" Mount Dali stretched in winding, undulating folds, and the hill behind Lijing Village was merely one of its peaks. The villagers, not bothering to give it a proper name, simply called it the Back Mountain. Crossing the Back Mountain toward the south led to Meichi Peak, and continuing further south down the slope brought one to Jingyang Village. The two villages traded goods back and forth along that mountain trail. Li Yesheng pushed aside the shrubs and climbed along the trail for half a quarter of an hour. Finding a rocky outcropping that offered a wide view, he crouched low and peered down at the courtyard below. He rubbed his eyes. He could only make out a few blurry figures moving about—some seemed to be sitting cross-legged, while another carried a slab of bluestone back and forth, doing heaven knows what. "Word has it there are stone locks set in their yard. Could it be that Li Mutian got his hands on some damn martial arts manual out in the world, and he's secretly teaching it to those brats?" Li Yesheng looked up at the sky. The mountain was already dim, and the bright moon was veiled behind dark clouds. The earth below was pitch-black, and even the figures gradually blurred out of sight. It was late in the night. High in the mountains, apes wailed, jackals barked, and wolves howled. A chilly gust swept up beneath Li Yesheng's trousers, making him clamp his thighs together in the cold as he plopped his rear down onto a large boulder. "Creepy as hell out here." Li Yesheng sat there for another half a quarter of an hour, the cold making clear snot run from his nose. In his mind, he had already concocted the rumors he planned to spread throughout the village: Something about ancestral treasures—he, Li Yesheng, was part of the Li family too, so why shouldn't he get a share? If it turned out to be a martial arts manual, he wouldn't bother practicing it anyway; selling it for cash would let him live like a king for quite a while. He looked down into the courtyard. Not a single figure remained. Li Yesheng thought nothing of it. Tightening his cuffs, he stood up, ready to head home. "Mother of—!" To his horror, the moment he turned around, he saw a figure standing silently on the mountain trail. Scared out of his wits, Li Yesheng scrambled in terror, diving back behind the large bluestone. Trembling, he poked his head out to look. The person had refined features and was looking down at him with lowered brows—it was none other than his cousin, Li Xiangping. Li Yesheng glared, putting on his usual truculent swagger. Just as he was about to unleash a tirade, he saw Li Xiangping form a hand seal. "What—?" A dazzling ray of golden light flashed before his eyes. A sharp agony tore through his throat. The world spun violently around him—one moment showing the brilliant moon, the next revealing the hazy courtyard beneath the moonlight. Li Yesheng's head flew into the air and landed heavily on the mountain trail. His lingering consciousness stared in bewilderment at the cold smile on Li Xiangping's face, feeling that this cousin was stranger than he had ever known. Behind the rock, blood gushed in wet spurts from the neck of the headless corpse. Steaming sprays of crimson dyed the bluestone, the dirt path, and the withered leaves, flowing all the way to Li Xiangping's feet. Taking a disgusted step back, Li Xiangping watched Li Yesheng's corpse topple over. He pondered for a moment, then formed another seal, conjuring a ray of golden light. Squatting down, he carved the corpse with wet slicing sounds into sizable chunks of suitable proportions, so that the beasts lured by the scent throughout the night would carry them off to different parts of the mountains. Having finished all this, Li Xiangping stood and glanced around. In the shadows of the woods, numerous pairs of glowing green eyes had already gathered. Li Xiangping clapped his hands and murmured softly: "Enjoy your feast, gentlemen." *** The Li residence. Li Changhu woke from his meditation, but found neither of his younger brothers. The vast backyard was so quiet that only the chirping of insects could be heard. Puzzled, he hurried into the main courtyard, where he finally saw Li Tongya. Watching Li Tongya leafing through a technique manual at the wooden table, Li Changhu asked in bewilderment, "Where is Xiangping?" "Gone to wash his hands," Li Tongya replied leisurely as he rolled up the wooden slips, looking at his eldest brother. "Tongya, have you begun preparing to condense the Xuanjing Wheel?" Li Changhu pressed his hands against the wooden table, asking with a trace of envy. "In a few more days, I should be able to gather eighty-one strands of moon essence. We fall far short of Chijing; I always feel it's better to wait a little and prepare for a few more days." Smiling, Li Tongya took a strip of white cloth, wrapped it firmly around the wooden slips several times, and tied a slipknot. "Eldest Brother, which of the four of us do you think resembles Father the most?" Li Tongya asked suddenly, gazing intently at Li Changhu. "You, of course," Li Changhu blurted out. Then he paused, found a seat, and continued with a smile, "I am too gentle and accommodating, Xiangping is too restless, and Chijing is too shy. Only you, Li Tongya, remain calm, composed, and unruffled. You resemble him most." "Hahaha." Li Tongya gave a dry laugh, waved his hand, and grew solemn. "Eldest Brother, stop flattering me. In my view, among the four brothers, Xiangping is the one who resembles him most." "Why?" Li Changhu looked at his brother in confusion. Li Tongya spoke slowly: "When we were playing in the courtyard as children, Father once said: when a man first kills, his ears may ring and his head burn with heat, leaving him flustered and helpless; or he trembles uncontrollably, unable to contain himself; or he roars incessantly, lost to all sense of heaven and earth. "Only he, Li Mutian, after killing for the first time, sheathed his blade and drank wine, chatting and laughing as if nothing had happened. Having said that, he burst into hearty laughter, tremendously pleased with himself." "Xiangping resembles Father most," Li Tongya lowered his voice, leaning close to Li Changhu's ear, and whispered softly: "Because he is ruthless enough."