Chapter 39 Jiang Er III

　　—A child without an umbrella in the rain must run still harder. Life is simply to be born and to go on living.

　　Chen Qing was a cultivated human of the Tianyou Clan.

　　After the outbreak of the War of the Gods, although the Yellow Clan celestial gods forbade the Tianyou Clan to join the fighting, the Tianyou Clan secretly dispatched a number of young masters to the various tribes of the continent of Mu so that they might help the tribes resist the aggression of the Green Clan.

　　Jiang Er’s parents, Jiang Sheng and Chen Qing, had been sent to the Wolf Tribe. Jiang Sheng had fought bravely in every battle and repeatedly won merit, yet unfortunately died in the final battle.

　　After the war Chieftain Yu Yong of the Wolf Tribe wished to reward the widow of the meritorious minister, yet Chen Qing quietly hid among the common people, gave birth to Jiang Er, and lived in the marketplace.

　　Great Master Tianyouzi of the Tianyou Clan told Chen Qing that she hoped she would continue to remain latent in the Wolf Tribe and protect the human gathering parties of the tribe from the harassment of the Centaurs.

　　Chen Qing had already several times helped humans escape smallscale Centaur raids, yet this time she had never expected the Centaurs to send out more than three hundred elite troops to raid the harvest. For the sake of protecting the humans and her own young son she could only exert every last ounce of strength and resist to the death.

　　When the celestial gods created the human race they deliberately set a key within the human brain—the pineal gland. Yet in order to limit human abilities they deliberately designed the pineal gland so that it would gradually atrophy after the human reached the age of six.

　　The pineal gland is the energy center of the human race, responsible for the normal functioning of the body’s systems; it is also called the MudPill Palace and is the human “celestial eye.”

　　Cultivated humans can, through continuous cultivation of the pineal gland, restore vitality to this atrophied “celestial eye,” communicate through it with all things of heaven and earth, continually absorb the energy of heaven and earth, obtain spiritual power, and thereby acquire certain superhuman abilities.

　　The distance between the Centaurs and the humans closed still further, while the humans had still not reached the mountain pass of the Misty Mountains. Another rain of arrows fell from the sky.

　　Chen Qing looked back at the distant Misty Mountains, then lowered her head and gazed tenderly at little Jiang Er; her eyes were filled with pity, helplessness, and despair. She stroked Jiang Er’s head with her hand, then resolutely turned and, exerting the last of her spiritual power, cried “Open!”

　　On this cold, rainy night Jiang Er closed his eyes and dared not look back; he only felt the sound of the pursuers’ hoofbeats growing nearer and more urgent.

　　First he heard his mother’s labored breathing; then a sudden great twanging of bowstrings; whizwhizwhizwhiz—the whistling of the rain of arrows descended from the sky.

　　Accompanied by his mother’s cry of “Open!” he thought that this time, as on the previous two occasions, the arrows would “thudthudthud” plant themselves slantwise in the grass.

　　Yet this time the sound was somewhat different. He heard several “plopplopplop” sounds, followed by the piteous neighing of a camelhorse; immediately afterward he felt his body flung outward like an arrow leaving the string.

　　Only after a long while did Jiang Er sit up from the muddy grass. Not far away he saw his mother lying on her side, her back toward him, motionless.

　　He crawled and scrambled to his mother’s side, seized her shoulder, and pulled hard toward himself. His mother was turned over by his pull; only then did little Jiang Er clearly see that she had been struck by several arrows and that blood had already dyed her garments red.

　　“Mother… Mother…” Jiang Er held his mother’s head and wept with heartrending grief.

　　The relentless rain continued without cease; the water upon the ground was already stained red with blood. His mother’s eyes were still wide open, yet those eyes no longer held their former clear light.

　　The Centaur pursuers behind had already reached Jiang Er and his mother; they formed a fan shape and surrounded Jiang Er in the center.

　　When Hali clearly recognized the face of Chen Qing lying upon the ground he ground his teeth and roared: “It is this demoness! Someone—cut off the heads of her and that child for me!”

　　A personal soldier, long sword in hand, approached and raised the blade to strike at Jiang Er.

　　Having witnessed his mother’s tragic death with his own eyes, little Jiang Er’s heart felt as though cut by a knife, the pain piercing to the core. He suddenly raised his head, spread both arms, and let out a long cry toward heaven.

　　That roar was like successive peals of thunder exploding in the sky, detonating one after another beside the ears. The volume was so high that every Centaur present discarded his weapons and hurriedly covered his ears. Even so, the eardrums of many soldiers ruptured and blood flowed continuously from their ears.

　　Jiang Er’s eyesockets burst and blood sprayed forth. At that very moment a flash of lightning crossed the sky above; with a downward pull of both hands the lightning seemed to obey him and struck straight down upon the Centaur soldier before him.

　　Accompanied by a scream the soldier was instantly burned to black charcoal. Jiang Er’s vision went black and he fainted.

　　At that moment several points of light and drifting human figures appeared in the mountain recess of the Misty Mountains ahead. The humans, guided by these figures, had already entered the recess of the Misty Mountains upon their camelhorses.

　　At the same time two ghostlike black shadows drifted from the mountain pass and moved toward this place with lightning speed; in the blink of an eye they had arrived silently before Jiang Er.

　　They were two human men, both whitehaired and whitebearded, wearing gray cloaks, long swords upon their backs. One was lean and vigorous, several strands of long beard floating upon his chest; the other was solidly muscular, a scar running across his left eye.

　　Only afterward did Jiang Er learn that the two who had come were the grayrobed masters of the Tianyou Clan, Xuanjizi and Xuejizi.

　　Xuanjizi looked with considerable astonishment at Jiang Er lying upon the ground. On the way he had heard Jiang Er’s roar and had also witnessed the entire process by which Jiang Er used the art of summoning lightning to strike the Centaur soldier dead. He had never expected that so small a child could possess such spiritual power.

　　When Xuanjizi’s gaze fell upon Chen Qing in Jiang Er’s arms he could not help starting in great alarm. He hurriedly bent down, clasped the corpse of Chen Qing that had been shot into a hedgehog, and cried in agony: “Qing’er—how is it you! How can it be you! We have come too late!”

　　“Old man, who are you?” Hali, wolftooth club in hand, pointed at Xuanjizi and Xuejizi and demanded sternly. He had just seen little Jiang Er’s skyward roar and the power of the lightning art and had been inwardly more than a little startled; afterward he had seen two ghostlike shadows drift rapidly from the distance and thought he had met living ghosts. Only when he looked clearly did he discover they were merely two ordinary human old men.

　　Hali composed himself and thought: we have more than three hundred fierce Centaur warriors on our side—what have we to fear from two human old men? He continued arrogantly: “Old man, I advise you not to meddle in others’ business, otherwise we shall deal with you as well.”

　　Xuanjizi paid Hali no attention whatever, regarding them as less than nothing. He sorrowfully lifted Chen Qing’s corpse; Xuejizi lifted Jiang Er; the two turned to leave.

　　“Want to leave? Not so easy. Frontrank warriors, hear my command—prepare, nock arrows, release!” Hali issued the order.

　　About fifty or sixty Centaur archers in the front rank, at so short a distance and with only these two humans as targets, loosed their arrows in a dense volley.

　　Hali could not help smiling at the thought of the two being shot into hedgehogs. Yet very soon he could no longer smile.

　　Xuanjizi swept his left hand backward; the fifty or sixty arrows strangely halted in midair as though time itself had frozen, then quietly fell to the ground.

　　Xuejizi casually scattered some powder behind him; upon meeting the rain the powder produced a dense smoke.

　　When the smoke cleared Hali looked again—the space before him was already empty!

　　“Do not let them escape! Warriors, hear my order—pursue!” Hali raised the wolftooth club and raced forward at the head.

　　The Centaurs quickly reached the mountain pass of the Misty Mountains.

　　The Misty Mountains run eastwest, lying athwart the territories of the Centaur and human clans. On the eastern and western sides of the range each has a mountain pass—the principal routes by which the Centaurs enter and leave human territory.

　　The pass on the western side is called the Kara Pass and is an extremely wide corridor; the pass on the eastern side is extremely narrow. Between the two mountains lies a basin called the Immortal Valley of Qiongling.

　　The Immortal Valley of Qiongling is overall the shape of a rugby ball; the pointed ends of the ball are the northern and southern mountain passes, more than ten li apart. On either side of the basin within the valley rise winding, undulating high mountains. For reasons unknown the valley is shrouded in dense fog throughout the year.

　　The mountain pass the Centaurs had reached was the northern entrance, about fifty meters wide, with a stone pillar standing on either side.

　　A Centaur soldier holding a NightBright Flower approached the pillars and looked; upon the righthand pillar was written “Tianyou Forbidden Ground”; upon the lefthand pillar “Trespassers Die.”

　　A thin layer of mist covered the mountain pass; against the darkness of night it was impossible to see clearly what lay within.

　　Hali took the lead and charged toward the mountain recess, yet before he had even passed between the two pillars a sudden “bang” sounded in his ears; as though striking a spring he was flung backward, crashed heavily into the Centaur warriors behind him, and fell flat on his back.

　　Hali had no way of knowing that the Tianyou Clan had set barriers at both the northern and southern gates; ordinary living beings without spiritual power could not enter at all.

　　The soldiers beside him hurriedly helped General Hali to his feet.

　　The deputy said to Hali: “General, I have heard that inside the Immortal Valley of Qiongling lives a group of monsters who call themselves the ‘Sorcerer Clan.’ Their magic reaches the heavens; even the fiercest animals dare not set foot here. I think we had better withdraw and return to the tribe by a roundabout route.”

　　“No. I do not believe they have three heads and six arms. Someone—shoot arrows into the interior for me.”

　　The Centaur soldiers loosed arrows toward the mountain pass one after another, yet the arrows that struck the thin mist fell as though striking a steel plate.

　　“Someone—shout curses into the interior for me! We must force those sons of bitches inside to come out and fight this general!”

　　All manner of foul vocabulary continually poured from the mouths of the Centaurs; inside the mountain recess the mist continued to swirl and there was no reply.

　　Leaving aside the Centaurs’ cursing at the northern mountain pass, let us speak of Xuanjizi and Xuejizi. The two, carrying Chen Qing and Jiang Er respectively, drifted swiftly into the Immortal Valley of Qiongling.

　　In the mountain recess more than a dozen disciples of the Tianyou Clan were already waiting, holding NightBright Flowers. Some wore brown cloaks, others blue.

　　The masters of the Tianyou Clan were divided into four ranks, ordered from high to low as whiterobed masters, grayrobed masters, brownrobed masters, and bluerobed masters.

　　The humans who had earlier fled into the Immortal Valley of Qiongling had already been guided by the Tianyou Clan into the heart of the basin.

　　Inside the mountain pass, on the right, stood a row of small wooden houses with NightBright Flowers set within—the dwellings of the Tianyou Clan guards.

　　Xuanjizi laid Chen Qing upon a bed in one of the small wooden houses, first drew out the arrows that had struck her, then placed his index and middle fingers upon Chen Qing’s forehead and injected spiritual power into her celestial eye.

　　Xuanjizi knew perfectly well that no matter how much spiritual power he infused, even if the celestial gods themselves were present, saving Chen Qing would be harder than ascending to heaven.

　　Yet Chen Qing had died with eyes wide open, unable to close them in peace, carrying enormous regret and unwillingness. Xuanjizi hoped that by infusing spiritual power into the celestial eye within Chen Qing’s brain he might try to bring about a brief final radiance so that she could leave her last words and depart in peace.