Becoming Immortal - Chapter 2 - Part 2

The morning sun had just risen above the horizon. In the pine and bamboo forest, a matronly woman rushed out of a thatched cottage. Outside the wicker gate, the morning mist had already dissipated. She looked around for a while, then turned and hurried back into the house. “Old Zhao! Old Zhao!”

Old Zhao was holding a cane, and was about to go into the backyard to carry in some firewood. Hearing his wife’s shout, he turned around, frowning at her anxious expression. His forehead wrinkled. “Ran out again?” 

Lin-shi* nodded her head. 

Old Zhao had always been reserved. At present, he turned without another word, limping as he carried the firewood to the kitchen. 

“Old Zhao…what should we do?” 

These days, Lin-shi’s eyes were constantly red and swollen from crying. 

“What else can we do?” Old Zhao sat on a stool, breaking apart the firewood one by one. “She hasn’t disappeared. These days, we’ve tried tying her up, then locking her up, but that didn’t stop her from running to the black river every day.” 

Old Zhao was approaching forty. His eyelids had barely started to sag. He raised his head to look into the pitch black stove, continuing, “When we took her back from the black river that day, she didn’t even know how to walk. She even needed you to hold her hand and teach her step by step. At least these few days she is able to run and jump.” 

It wasn’t just walking. From getting dressed to eating, she had forgotten how to do everything. 

Lin-shi walked to the stove. “But those two blabbermouths from the Zhang and Li families keep gossiping about Lin-niang, even spreading rumours that our daughter has been replaced by a demon. I should really go and rip off their mouths!” 

If something had not happened to her daughter, Lin-shi’s fiery temperament would not have allowed her to weep and wail like this. Thinking about the gossipy housewives made her so angry that she nearly ground her teeth to dust. 

“This is all because that Liu Xing Yun tricked our Lin-niang. People who have been out of the village really do become rotten. I should have convinced Lin-niang to give up on him.” The stick of firewood in Old Zhao’s hands snapped in half. The couple fell into silence. The pale light of dawn slanted in through the door, falling on Old Zhao’s slightly wrinkled face. The muscles in his face spasmed, then he sighed. “Lin-niang became like this ever since she fell into the water, while Liu Xing Yun disappeared. Who knows if he was the one who hurt our daughter…” 

Lin-shi said bitterly, “Now everyone in the village is gossiping about Lin-niang, how can a grown man like Liu Xing Yun just vanish into thin air? Even if he burrows into the ground, I will gouge him out!” 

Black Water Village was surrounded by mountains and lush forests. Before the sun had even evaporated the morning dew, the villagers gathered to eat breakfast around a millstone, chattering away.

“Old Fish Head, are you losing your eyesight as you get old? You say Lin-niang’s heart was gouged out, but how can a person stay alive without a heart?” 

A middle aged man holding a bowl of porridge with salted vegetables shuffled closer to a fishy-smelling old man. 

“Then can’t you live without your innards?” 

Because he was approaching seventy, and was a fisherman by trade, the villagers referred to him as Old Fish Head. Seeing the man’s disbelief, he placed his bowl on the millstone and continued, “That night, I forgot to keep my net, so I went to the black river. But I hadn’t even reached the black river when I saw a man and a woman under the tree…” 

He assumed the pose of a practiced storyteller, even though the villagers had already heard this story multiple times in the last few days. “The man’s back was to me so I couldn’t see his face, but the woman looked a lot like the Zhao family’s daughter. I wanted to take a closer look…but suddenly!” He shouted abruptly. 

Despite having gotten used to his theatrics, the villagers still jumped out of their skins. Old Fish Head continued, “That man stretched out his hand and pulled out a lump of red from the lady’s chest! Then, the woman fell into the black river. I was so afraid. I wanted to run, but who would have guessed that the woman would suddenly jump out of the water and sit on the shore, alive and kicking!” 

“But without her heart, how could she be alive?” 

A man questioned. 

Even so, they were all aware of the situation in the Zhao family these days. Not only did Lin-niang not know how to walk, she needed Lin-shi to teach her. After learning to walk, nobody could stop her from running to the black river every day. 

“If you ask me, I think the young man Old Fish Head saw that night could be Liu Xing Yun!” The daughter-in-law of the Zhao family said. 

Hearing Liu Xing Yun’s name, the group exchanged helpless looks. The Zhao daughter-in-law continued, “We all know that Liu Xing Yun and Lin-niang were flirting with each other a few years back. They clearly liked each other. If Liu Xing Yun hadn’t left, they would have been married by now.”

“Our village is an isolated place. The few who left all died for some unknown reason. In all these years, he’s the only one who managed to come back alive. Who knows what kind of crooked methods he used? Otherwise…how could Lin-niang have become insane?” 

The Li family’s daughter-in-law frowned. “Has anybody seen Liu Xing Yun recently?”

The group glanced at each other, all shaking their heads. 

Thinking about the view of the man’s back that night, Old Fish Head shivered with fear. On the day that Liu Xing Yun returned, he showed his face at the village head’s house. Old Fish Head recalled that his figure was indeed similar to the man he saw that night. His heart started racing. After a while, he let out a ragged breath. “The village head was right. Everybody who leaves the village gets what’s coming to them.”

Every person in the group felt a chill go down their spine. Although they did not fully believe Old Fish Head, who loved to drink and exaggerate, it was evident that Lin-niang had been possessed. 

A light drizzle started to fall. Amongst the soft rustle of rain, the villagers prepared to return to their own homes, but were interrupted by a crisp tinkle. 

It was the sound of gems tapping against each other. 

The light rain fell like threads of silk, half-obscured by the mist all around. The group turned their heads, only to see a tall figure ambling toward them through the damp mist. 

His white clothing seemed to melt into the mist. 

As he approached, the silver of his hair became visible. Half of it was combed up into a topknot, pinned in place with a white jade lotus crown**. The remainder was draped across his back, the long ends of his headband swaying elegantly with every step that he took. 

With pale skin and a defined jawline, his features were extremely beautiful, but his beauty had a sort of untarnished purity. The red dot between his eyebrows accentuated his saintly countenance, making him seem like a god among men. 

It was an innate divinity.

A chain of lake-green beads dangled at the front of his snow-white robes. Each translucent bead glistened in the light rain, looking as if they were filled with clear lake water. 

He raised his eyes, looking past the crowd into verdant forest in the distance. At the end of the meandering path, the stretch of black river could be seen between two mountain peaks.

He retracted his gaze after a quick glance. 

He stopped in front of the crowd. Despite having come by the mountain path, his shoes were completely free from dust. The villagers stared blankly at this unfamiliar young man, not even daring to breathe. 

The rain fell softly. He lowered his head slightly, the bead chain at his chest clinking softly, exposing a beiyun*** made of jade pearls hanging down his back. 

He opened his mouth, his voice clear as a bell, “May I have a bowl of water to drink?” 

*T/N -shi is a suffix for married women, indicating their maiden name. In this case, Lin-niang’s mother maiden name is Lin (the character for this is different from that Lin-niang’s although they sound similar)
**T/N The guan, translated as crown here, is a hair accessory used by men to hold their topknots in place.
***T/N A beiyun （背云）is an extra chain of beads attached to a long bead necklace, which hang down the back.