Chapter 32 Gongkong III

　　—Worship arises from humanity’s fear of the world.

　　Gongkong had grown up in a commoner’s household in the outer city. That household consisted only of a woman who raised him; their home was an extremely inconspicuous singlecourtyard treehouse at the edge of the outer city.

　　After his birth his mother had hung about his neck a lucky charm—a semicircular AzureDragon jade pendant engraved with hairfine lines—and had wrapped his head in a yellow headcloth.

　　The yellow headcloth had accompanied him as he grew.

　　Once he could run upon the ground, one day he ran out to play still wearing the yellow headcloth and was pointed at by people outside.

　　When he returned he flew into a rage at his mother, declaring that he would never again wear the yellow headcloth. Yet the very next day the entire city of Wangqiu became a sea of yellow headcloths.

　　It was said that the Great Chieftain had issued an order changing customs, requiring that the garments of the Gongyou Clan be unified; every member of the clan, regardless of age or sex, no matter where they were, must wrap the head in a yellow cloth.

　　The order even stipulated that anyone discovered in Wangqiu without a yellow headcloth, whether man or woman, young or old, would be regarded as a spy and could be beheaded on the street by anyone without incurring guilt. Thereafter the hunters of the Gongyou Clan were mocked by other clans as the “YellowCloth Army.”

　　Childhood passed carefree until a certain day arrived that changed everything.

　　He remembered it clearly: that day a huge triangular bird floated in the sky above Wangqiu City.

　　Someone shouted “The Vimana has come!” and people in the streets fled into the treehouses, tightly closing doors and windows.

　　He later learned that every year this day was a day of suffering for the hunters of Wangqiu; a fear of enslavement and oppression would descend upon them.

　　While every household was busy closing the windows he stood upon a stool, leaning upon the window sill, and curiously looked outward.

　　“Kong’er, close the window at once!” his mother ordered.

　　At that moment his mother also came to the window. When she looked through it and saw the triangular bird in the sky she too opened her mouth in astonishment and stood frozen.

　　That ugly bird, like a ferocious giant beast, was at that moment opening its great mouth and sucking the children upon the ground into the air, swallowing them.

　　He pointed at the children being sucked into the air and asked a stream of questions: “Mother, are Little Kui and Little Tian among them? I want to know—are there celestial gods inside that great bird? Are Little Kui and Little Tian going to be eaten by the celestial gods? Why do they want to eat us humans?”

　　His mother looked at him for a long while, not knowing how to answer, and could only murmur: “Child, Mother has never seen the celestial gods either. But Little Kui and Little Tian are being offered as sacrifices to the gods. Who told us to lose? Fortunately Mother did not draw the lot; otherwise…”

　　“The FireWorship Clan is our enemy. If we had not lost to them in the combat, Little Kui and Little Tian would not have been taken. I hate them!”

　　“Child, the FireWorship Clan is the same as we—lowly, cowardly humans. Our fate is supposed to be thus; offering sacrifices to the celestial gods is our duty and our sacred obligation.”

　　“Celestial gods—I hate them too! Were we truly created by them? Was the purpose of creating us simply so that they could eat us?”

　　His mother started, then said: “Child, you must never speak thus. You must not hate the Yellow Clan Celestial Gods who created us. Without the Yellow Clan Celestial Gods there would be no Gongyou Clan.”

　　She stroked his head and continued: “I have heard that in former times the Yellow Clan Celestial Gods never required us humans to offer sacrifices. This is the punishment imposed upon us by the Green Clan celestial gods after our Yellow Clan gods lost that war.

　　“Child, this is our destiny. The sacrifice of Little Kui and Little Tian has preserved the safety of our entire human race; it is worth while.”

　　“Mother, for the sake of our living, letting Little Kui and Little Tian die is unfair to them. I do not want them to die.”

　　His mother was silent. She felt comforted that a child so young could speak of great principles, yet she herself was also confused and helpless about this world and did not know how to explain it to the child.

　　At that moment the great bird in the sky suddenly emitted successive beams of white light, shooting at the pedestrians still walking in the streets, punishing those who saw it yet did not know to avoid it. Screams rose one after another without cease.

　　His mother immediately closed the window and held the child tightly; she could clearly feel his body trembling. At that moment she felt a sense of relief, for the child had safely passed this year.

　　Gongkong remembered that in childhood his name had been Little Kong. The singlecourtyard treehouse in which he lived with his mother was very close to the homes of his playmates Jia Kui and Lei Tian.

　　Jia Kui, Lei Tian, and Little Kong were childhood companions. The two children had always been curious why Little Kong’s surname was “Little,” and why Little Kong had never had a father and had grown up with only his mother.

　　Little Kong himself felt inferior and often asked his mother why he had no father.

　　Each time he asked, his mother would tell him that his father had flown up into the sky and would come to take him to fly together when he grew up. Hearing this he was very happy and finally understood why his mother had given him the name “Little Kong”; thereafter every day he fantasized about flying into the blue sky.

　　In childhood he had often heard the adults speak of the annual humansacrifice combat tournament, yet the meaning of the combat was unclear to him in his youth.

　　He remembered that one spring the Gongyou Clan had been defeated.

　　That year he was exactly three, Lei Tian four, and Jia Kui five.

　　In the following days he saw a group of people wearing masks and clad in black above and red below force their way into his home and demand that his mother go to a certain place to draw lots.

　　His mother took him to the front of that treehouse. He saw the parents lining up one after another; among the crowd he also saw the fathers of Jia Kui and Lei Tian waiting in the queue.

　　His mother went in first to draw the lot and emerged a short while later filled with joy.

　　Next he saw the fathers of Jia Kui and Lei Tian also go in to draw lots; when the two emerged their faces were ashen. Especially Lei Tian’s father, who after leaving the treehouse had taken only a few steps before collapsing.

　　He later learned that Lei Tian’s elder brother had been chosen as a sacrifice only two years earlier. Lei Tian’s father had never expected his luck to be so poor that his last remaining young son would also be drawn this year; how could he not faint on the spot?

　　The day Jia Kui and Lei Tian were taken away remained deeply impressed upon his memory.

　　That morning the two children put on new clothes and were led by adults into the street. Seeing Little Kong standing by the roadside to see them off, they came forward to bid him farewell.

　　Jia Kui took his hand: “Little Kong, we two are going to serve the celestial gods. I have heard that over there one can eat meat every day. Elder Sister and Little Tian will go first to scout the way; next year you must come too.”

　　“Is that so? Meat every day? Elder Sister, I want to go right now.”

　　“You must wait until your mother draws the lot.”

　　The parents of the two children escorted them to the end of the street. There High Priest Fang Mu, acting upon the order of the Great Chieftain of the clan, led the priests to receive the sacrificial children at every intersection. Jia Kui and Lei Tian skipped away after them.

　　The parents of Jia Kui and Lei Tian forced back their tears and only wept aloud after the children had gone far. They dared not tell the children the truth and could only deceive them by saying they were going to serve the celestial gods and could eat meat every day.

　　The onlookers by the roadside, seeing the scene, discussed among themselves.

　　“Having children is truly a sin. Better not to give birth than to have them eaten by the celestial gods.”

　　“Indeed. I do not intend to have children. To bring a child into this cruel world and then deceive him so that he goes happily to be eaten by the gods—that is truly a sin!”

　　…

　　Only after hearing the adults’ discussion did Little Kong finally understand what sacrifice meant. He cried and shouted that he wanted to find Jia Kui and Lei Tian, yet was forcibly pulled home by his mother.

　　The scene of Jia Kui and Lei Tian being taken away by the triangular monster in the sky became a permanent nightmare in Little Kong’s heart.

　　Only then did he understand the purpose of the humansacrifice combat tournament held every spring by the Gongyou and FireWorship Clans, and finally understand what it meant if the combat was lost.

　　The celestial gods required only boys and girls between the ages of three and six. Every year on this day the celestial gods would pilot the triangular flying craft Vimana to the losing clan and take away the children gathered in an open area.

　　No one knew what happened to these boys and girls after they were taken, but it was certainly nothing good, for once taken they never returned.

　　Every year when spring arrived it was a torment for families with children between three and six. The parents would pray daily to the Yellow Clan Celestial Gods, hoping their own clan would win the coming combat.

　　If they did not win, in the days that followed the parents would again pray daily, hoping their own family would not be drawn in the lot.

　　Defeating the FireWorship Clan in the humansacrifice combat tournament so that the terrifying triangular bird would never again appear in the sky became the dream of his childhood heart.

　　In the three years that followed, the Gongyou and FireWorship Clans successively recruited masters and trained warriors; the combat tournament saw victories and defeats for both sides.

　　Fortunately, in those three years the Gongyou Clan lost only once.

　　All eligible families of the Dragon Tribe again took part in the drawing of lots; this time Little Kong’s mother’s luck was again especially good and she did not draw the lot.

　　Little Kong was not taken away by the Vimana as a sacrifice and safely passed the three years that many children did not.

　　Growing up in constant fear, he heard that the Green Clan celestial gods possessed a third eye upon the forehead and often, when alone in the room, secretly removed the yellow headcloth to examine the fine seam upon his own forehead.

　　Until one day, when he parted the seam and discovered that there was actually an eye inside, he could no longer restrain himself and pursued his mother with questions: why did he also have a third eye upon the forehead? Why did Mother not have one?

　　His mother had no answer. The next day a man named Gongdian came and told him everything.

　　It turned out that the woman who had raised him was not his birth mother but his wetnurse. He possessed the blood of the celestial gods and was a halfgod born of the leader of the Yellow Clan celestial gods and a human woman.

　　Gongdian said to him: “Your human mother is my elder sister Gong Shui; I am your maternal uncle.”

　　After the War of the Gods, in order to protect his safety, Gongdian had chosen a reliable maidservant to be his wetnurse and had raised him in this inconspicuous place in the outer city.

　　In addition, Gongdian had long arranged for a trusted subordinate named Yao Gang to live secretly nearby, protecting and attending to their daily life in secret.

　　Before leaving, Gongdian also linked fingers with him and made him promise never to tell anyone that he possessed a third eye.

　　His childhood companions had been taken by the threeeyed monsters; he had never expected that he himself also possessed three eyes. He hated being of the same kind as the monsters, so that for a long time he remained withdrawn.

　　When he was thirteen Gongdian brought him to live in the Great Chieftain’s residence in the inner city and adopted him as a son. Thereafter he acquired a surname and was named Gongkong.

　　By that time the War of the Gods had long ended; the Gongyou Clan had already submitted to the Green Clan celestial gods and the world was at peace.

　　Gongdian treated him far better than his two natural sons. Gong Kang and Gong Yi were strictly disciplined in ordinary times and dared not even breathe heavily in Gongdian’s presence. Gongkong, however, received Gongdian’s special favor—one might even call it doting—so that rumors circulated that Gongkong was Gongdian’s illegitimate son.

　　After he came to live in the inner city, Lady Yu Jiao, seeing how greatly Gongdian favored him, never gave him a kind look and constantly set obstacles in his path.

　　He was intelligent and understood that Yu Jiao was jealous because Gongdian treated him better than his two natural sons and feared that Gongdian might one day pass the position of Great Chieftain to him. Therefore he deliberately abandoned himself, quickly becoming proficient in every form of dissipation, and every day put on the appearance of a ruffian, causing trouble everywhere and making his own reputation thoroughly foul.

　　Once, while gambling in the outer city, he lost and had no money to pay the debt; the gamblinghouse owner chased him through several streets and nearly into the inner city. In the end Gongdian had to intervene to settle the matter.

　　Strangely, afterward Gongdian not only did not punish Gongkong but did not even utter a single word of reprimand. This made Yu Jiao realize that Gongdian was not cultivating Gongkong as a successor, and only then did she set her mind at rest.

　　Fortunately there was no estrangement between Gongkong and Gongdian’s natural children; he was especially close to Gong Jie.

　　After moving into the inner city he continually thought of the wetnurse who had raised him and once asked Gongdian privately where she was now.

　　Gongdian told him that for the sake of his safety and to prevent his origins from being revealed, after he entered the inner city the wetnurse had thrown herself into the river and drowned. He grieved for many days.

　　Yao Gang, who had always protected him and the wetnurse, now began to serve as a colonel guarding the outercity gate. Gongkong knew that for so many years it had been Yao Gang who had secretly protected his safety; therefore every time he met Yao Gang he would grin and call him “Old Man.”

　　He once asked Gongdian where his birth parents were now. Gongdian recounted the events of the War of the Gods.

　　Even after many years, whenever Gongdian recalled the fierce scenes of flashing blades and clashing swords, his expression would change and he would grow melancholy.

　　According to Gongdian, he and his father Gong Chang had personally taken part in the great decisive battle of the RoeDeer Grassland upon FireWorship territory.

　　In that battle the fighting had been so fierce that the sky darkened. The allied celestial gods of the Yellow and Black Clans had fought the Green Clan celestial gods and their faithful servants the EagleGod Clan in the sky; upon the ground the humans had engaged in handtohand combat with the BullHead Clan and the Giant Clan. Both sides fought until the heavens and earth were darkened and blood flew in every direction.

　　The human race suffered heavy casualties; Clan Leader Gong Chang of the Gongyou was killed in the fierce fighting. Yet for the sake of the Yellow Clan celestial gods the hunters of the Gongyou Clan shouted “Live toward death; die and be reborn,” fought with bloodred eyes, refused to surrender, and battled to the end, inflicting heavy losses upon the BullHead and Giant Clans.

　　Just when both sides upon the ground were locked in stalemate, the leader of the Green Clan celestial gods descended from the sky, holding in his hands the heads of the leaders of the Yellow and Black Clan celestial gods.

　　Having witnessed with their own eyes the fall of the Yellow and Black Clan leaders, the Gongyou and FireWorship Clans had no choice but to bow their heads and submit to the Green Clan celestial gods.

　　Gongdian finally said to Gongkong with tears: “At that time the Yellow Clan celestial god was together with your mother Gong Shui. I personally witnessed the fall of the Yellow Clan celestial god; your mother was probably also killed by the Green Clan in the war. The strength of our human race is so small that we could not protect the Young Lord’s birth parents; I beg the Young Lord’s forgiveness.”

　　In that great battle Clan Leader Gong Chang of the Gongyou had been killed and the elite of the clan almost completely wiped out; what could Gongkong still blame them for?

　　His childhood companions had been seized by the Green Clan as human sacrifices; now he also knew that his own birth parents had both been killed by the Green Clan. From that time a seed of vengeance against the Green Clan was planted in the depths of his heart.