Walking through the quiet little town, he occasionally saw a few children wandering aimlessly across the empty streets, or stripping off their trousers to urinate by the roadside.
But he rarely saw any adults.
Xu Qi’an guessed that these children were still weak and did not need to hide themselves every day to alleviate the side effects of the Dark Gu.
When they grew up and their abilities improved, they would become like their elders, hiding away in every nook and cranny every day.
No wonder Heaven Gu Grandma said the ‘economic situation’ of the Dark Gu tribe is poor, no wonder indeed. Most of their time is wasted on this pointless game of hide and seek, Xu Qi’an muttered to himself.
When he had first obtained the Sevenfold Gu, he had only thought of the Dark Gu’s side effects as troublesome, having to spend time hiding himself every day, a session lasting one or two hours.
He had not considered that if an entire people lived like this, it was effectively a disaster.
“Hiding at night works as well, there’s no point in hiding during the day.”
Xu Qi’an remarked.
The young man from the patrol team nodded repeatedly:
“Of course, some hide at night, but most of those are unmarried. Those with families have no time at night.
“Moreover, as your cultivation increases, the purpose of hiding was not just to suppress the side effects. You are also a Dark Gu Grandmaster, you should know what I mean.”
Suppressing the side effects was the most basic need of the Dark Gu. To advance in rank and nurture the Dark Gu, one had to actively hide in the shadows and comprehend the power of the Dark Gu.
As he spoke, he saw Xu Qi’an’s gaze drifting to the shadow beneath his own feet, so he smiled and said,
“You’re not mistaken, the rest of the patrol are all hiding in the shadow between my legs.”
What the hell, shadow between your legs, do all you Dark Gu people live under each other’s crotches… Xu Qi’an almost could not hold back his urge to lampoon.
After walking through several quiet alleys, the two of them approached the centre of the town, where people were much more numerous. Scattered groups walked the broad, empty streets, and there were shops on either side.
Xu Qi’an saw that there were both Central Plains folk and people from the Southern Marches among the pedestrians, all dressed in ragged linen clothes, no better than Central Plains refugees.
Most importantly, very few of them actually had Dark Gu in their bodies.
“They’re slaves. Some were captured from the Central Plains, others from unruly Southern Marches tribes we purged. Their populations end up divided among the seven tribes.”
The young patrolman explained,
“These slaves are precious labour for our tribe.”
Xu Qi’an paused for a moment and said, “The shaman clans often trade in people with Central Plains caravans, don’t they?”
The words “trade in people” gave the young man pause before he understood and replied,
“That’s right.
“Central Plains caravans know we are short of hands and often send people south in exchange for local herbs, timber, minerals, and so forth.”
Most of those people must have been abducted… Xu Qi’an thought of the ancestor of the Chai family, whose entire family had been slaughtered by enemies in childhood, and who had been sold to the Corpse Gu tribe in the Southern Marches as a slave.
Later, somehow, he had escaped back to the Central Plains and founded his own sect in his hometown of Xiangzhou.
Speaking of which, I still need to ask Youshi for the map, the Chai family’s ancestor’s half of the map is in the Corpse Gu tribe… At this moment, Xu Qi’an saw a large residence ahead, with a plaque bearing words in the Southern Marches script.
“This is the chief’s manor. Silver Gong Xu, please come inside.”
Stepping into the residence, Xu Qi’an glanced over the layout of the courtyard. A flagstone path led to the inner court, with water jars covered by wooden boards lined up on the left side.
On the right were several deep pits with narrow openings.
There are people hiding in both the pits and jars… Xu Qi’an withdrew his gaze and followed the young man deeper inside. After walking for a while, he did not see a single figure.
Not until they entered the main inner hall did Xu Qi’an finally see the Dark Gu chief, Shadow, dressed in black, seated in the chief’s seat with a cup of tea in his hand.
Because he had not seen sunlight for years, his face was pale, but he managed a faint smile as he said,
“The tea is ready. Silver Gong Xu, please be seated.”
Serving tea to a guest, this was a Central Plains custom.
Once Xu Qi’an had taken his seat, the chief said again,
“One moment, please. I have sent for the elders. Matters of war cannot be decided by me alone.”
This had been discussed in outline after the battle yesterday.
After half a cup of tea’s time, eight shadows emerged from beneath the table, transforming into eight elders of various ages in the hall, some middle-aged, others elderly.
“The chief has told us. Silver Gong Xu wishes for members of the Dark Gu tribe to journey north and help the Great Feng resist the Yunzhou rebels.”
The white-haired old man, apparently the great elder, spoke slowly,
“It is not impossible, it depends on the price Silver Gong Xu can offer.”
Xu Qi’an sipped his tea and replied,
“Once the war is settled, the Great Feng will grant the Dark Gu tribe an annual allotment of fifty thousand taels of silver, fifty thousand bolts of silk, and thirty thousand dan of grain, for a period of five years only.”
Several of the elders were visibly moved, chatting in the Southern Marches tongue.
“Fifty thousand taels of silver, enough to fill my house!”
“With fifty thousand bolts of silk, all our people could wear fine clothes.”
“Grain is most important, our people never have time to hunt or farm.”
The white-haired great elder coughed forcefully to interrupt the elders’ chatter, grateful that Silver Gong Xu did not understand the Southern Marches tongue, or their lack of shame would ruin their bargaining position.
The great elder shook his head:
“But what if the Great Feng loses? Would our efforts not come to nothing?”
Xu Qi’an’s expression did not change.
“How would you like to amend the deal, great elder?”
“Forthright!” the great elder nodded in approval and said in a deep voice, “Double it.”
“Forthright!” Xu Qi’an rose silently to his feet and cupped his fist.
“I must visit the Heart Gu tribe as well. I will not disturb you further. Farewell.”
The chief’s shadow stirred slightly but restrained himself. Watching Xu Qi’an reach the doorway, he sighed and said,
“Sixty thousand taels of silver, fifty thousand bolts of silk, fifty thousand dan of grain, for six years.
“In exchange, our tribe will field eight hundred elite warriors. You may rest assured, they are the very finest.”
Though all shaman clans were warriors, by the time you discounted the old, weak, women and children, then again discounted the ordinary tribesmen, eight hundred elite fighters was a considerable number.
Xu Qi’an stopped, smiled, and said,
“Deal!”
Before coming, he had communicated with Huaiqing and had checked the reasonable range for ‘annual allotments’ with her.
After all, Xu Qi’an had never studied history and did not know the market price for such arrangements.
The chief’s conditions fell within reasonable bounds.
The chief exhaled, “The elite warriors of the Dark Gu tribe will do all we can to help the Great Feng wipe out the rebels.”
As for whether Xu Qi’an could truly represent the Great Feng court, neither the chief nor the elders doubted him. Not only did this man have the reputation of the Great Feng’s foremost martial artist, but he was also the dual cultivation Dao companion of the National Teacher, Luo Yuheng.
To the Dark Gu tribe, his word was even more reliable than the golden promises of the Central Plains emperor.
“In due course, I will have the court send an official document as proof of the alliance between the Great Feng and the shaman clans,” Xu Qi’an said.
The chief nodded slightly.
…
Leaving the Dark Gu Tribe, Xu Qi’an flew through the air, and after half an hour, arrived at the territory of the Heart Gu Tribe.
Here, birds sang and flowers bloomed, with wild beasts and flying creatures everywhere.
The houses of the Heart Gu Tribe were built in dense forests, each pavilion and building hidden among lush green branches and leaves, where humans lived harmoniously alongside beasts.
A young girl rode a gigantic, multicoloured tiger, happily playing in the wilderness; in the fields, all manner of giant creatures served as working animals; nimble long-tailed monkeys carried bamboo baskets, roaming the hills and picking fruit.
Suddenly, Xu Qi’an saw a huge beast, covered in scales, burst out of the dense forest below. It beat its membranous wings and, carrying a young Heart Gu clansman, circled around him.
“Silver Gong Xu, the chief sent me to welcome you.”
The young patrolman spoke reverently, his Central Plains dialect far from standard.
Xu Qi’an responded with a quiet “hmm”. His choice to fly openly was a deliberate move to let Chunyan notice him.
The young Heart Gu clansman steered his flying beast and descended into the forest.
This flying beast is not female, so the rider is a proper rider… Xu Qi’an found this thought floating inexplicably into his mind, and, following the patrolman, arrived at a pavilion on the southern side of the mountain, at the edge of a cliff.
By the side of the pavilion stood an old pine tree, its canopy like an umbrella.
Squirrels played among the branches, and white apes called out beneath it.
Outside the pavilion, several long-legged, black-feathered birds pecked at the ground. At the sight of strangers, they flapped their wings in alarm and flew away.
Wearing a blue long skirt, with two tiny red snakes dangling from her earlobes, Chunyan, her eyes bright and beautiful, stood outside the pavilion, a faint smile on her face.
“Chief Chunyan!”
Xu Qi’an returned her smile.
The two entered the pavilion and sat in the main hall on the ground floor. As a Heart Gu Master, Xu Qi’an immediately noticed all sorts of venomous insects, snakes, and small beasts hiding in the corners.
“This place is swarming with insects, rats, ants, birds, and beasts. Does it make you feel at home, Silver Gong Xu?”
Chunyan said half-jokingly.
I can’t help but want to summon them all for a square dance…1 Xu Qi’an smiled, “It really is endlessly fascinating and very familiar.”
Such a simple sentence seemed to bring them closer together.
Ripples danced in Chunyan’s almond-shaped eyes as she sighed,
“But to be too close with beasts is to risk losing oneself among them.”
You mean… physical activities with beasts, don’t you? Xu Qi’an’s expression was one of complete lack of bias as he replied with a smile,
“That is their personal choice.”
Chunyan looked steadily at him. Noticing he was genuinely without prejudice, her smile softened a little.
“There is a rule in our tribe: those who have been over-intimate with beasts may never marry. This serves both to deter our people and to respect their decisions.”
Xu Qi’an continued,
“Resisting the urges brought by the life Gu helps temper one’s willpower, but to drown in instinct also benefits Heart Gu cultivation. Truly, it is a double-edged sword.”
He resolved not to let the little mare out while in the Southern Marches, but to keep her quietly in the stupa tower. Otherwise, he feared the Heart Gu people might steal her, or the Strength Gu people might eat her.
Seeing the conversation progressing pleasantly, Xu Qi’an stated his purpose and offered the Heart Gu Tribe the same terms as the Dark Gu Tribe.
After a moment’s thought, Chunyan said,
“The Heart Gu Tribe doesn’t lack food and crops. I would rather barter for cloth, tea, porcelain, salt, and iron.”
For a Heart Gu Master, eating meat was never a problem, and for farming, beasts could be used as labour animals.
“No problem,” Xu Qi’an agreed.
With the deal struck, Chunyan’s smile widened, and she asked,
“So, Silver Gong Xu, what type of troops do you seek? The greatest skill of Heart Gu Masters is beast-taming. There are few powerful beasts in the Central Plains, and they are scattered, so it’s almost impossible to deploy them in battle directly. The best way is to draft them directly from my Heart Gu Tribe.”
Xu Qi’an agreed readily, “What do you suggest, Chief Chunyan?”
Unlike the wildlife-plentiful Southern Marches, the Central Plains were filled with only stray cats and dogs in cities. There were plenty of animals in the mountains, but there was no guarantee that vast herds suitable for combat would be found at the edge of the battlefield.
Ordinary beasts were of little use; compared to the Southern Marches’ exotic beasts, their combat power wasn’t in the same league.
Chunyan said,
“The Heart Gu Tribe possesses two units: exotic beast cavalry and flying beast corps. Personally, I recommend the flying beast corps. The cavalry move slowly; if they travel in numbers to Qingzhou, it will take at least a month.
“Along the way, people eat and beasts chew, food will be a huge problem, and when they reach Qingzhou, it will remain a huge problem. In the Great Feng, famine is rampant and food scarce, and the cavalry only eat meat, not grain.
“The flying beast corps also eat only meat, but they are much swifter, needing at most six days to reach Qingzhou. Along the way, our people can easily hunt for food, a simple task for our Heart Gu Masters.
“As for combat effectiveness, the Great Feng is not short of cavalry, but has very few flying beast troops, only the Scarlet-tailed Flame eagles that performed outstandingly at the Battle of Shanhai Pass.
Yet, as the nation weakened, even Scarlet-tailed Flame eagles became unsupportable, the court sold them to local merchant guilds and powerful families in Leizhou, keeping only a handful of flying beast troops… Xu Qi’an sighed inwardly.
“How many can the Heart Gu Tribe provide?”
“Our tribe has only one thousand two hundred flying beasts, and at most can spare five hundred for the Great Feng.”
“Deal!”
Knowing Xu Qi’an had other business, Chunyan did not urge him to stay and escorted him to the door.
…
Xu Qi’an’s next stop was the Corpse Gu Tribe. Of the seven Gu tribes, the Heaven Gu were not suited for battle, ruled out; the Poison Gu people harboured too much hatred for the Great Feng, ruled out; the Desire Gu Tribe’s aphrodisiac gases affected friend and foe alike, and they too resented the Great Feng, ruled out.
Thus, he sought help from the Strength Gu, Dark Gu, Heart Gu, and Corpse Gu tribes.
Among these, the Corpse Gu Tribe’s contribution was the greatest. Though their control of corpses required child Gu and could not, like the Warlocks’ corpse-manipulating arts, deploy dead armies en masse, their puppeteered corpses were of high quality and possessed formidable combat power.
And a single squad of elite shock troops could produce astonishing results on the battlefield.
What Xu Qi’an found at the Corpse Gu Tribe was somewhat different from his expectations. He had thought their headquarters might be a ghostly city of legend.
In reality, the Corpse Gu Tribe’s headquarters was the grandest of all, rivalling that of the Heaven Gu Tribe.
It was a small city.
Massive stone blocks formed tall and square city walls. The architecture within was similar to that of the Great Feng, combining bricks and timber.
The city bustled with people and trade was flourishing.
The only strange thing was that all sedan chair carriers had white pupils, and every living person was accompanied by one or two corpses, serving as followers and manual labour.
In the crowded market, two-thirds of those present were walking corpses.
It was rather unsettling.
Who would have thought, the coarse Strength Gu Tribe actually has the most normal culture of the shaman tribes, second only to the Heaven Gu Tribe… Xu Qi’an marvelled in silence.
Having deliberately revealed his presence, he immediately drew the attention of Youshi, who had him invited into the three-tiered courtyard compound at the city’s heart.
Servants bustled around the courtyard, working at their various tasks; all the patrolling guards had white pupils.
Corpses and the living coexisted harmoniously.
Entering the inner courtyard, Xu Qi’an saw many scantily clad maids, who seemed perfectly accustomed to it, showing no embarrassment at all.
After waiting for a moment in the reception hall, Xu Qi’an was joined at last by Youshi, who said coolly,
“State your terms directly.”
He had not come in person, but had manipulated a corpse to meet Xu Qi’an.
Xu Qi’an looked him up and down and smiled,
“Did I interrupt your enjoyment?”
With his present cultivation, Xu Qi’an could hear perfectly the activities of Youshi’s true body with the maids inside.
“Youshi” replied coolly,
“This is the best way to suppress the side effects of the Corpse Gu. Whenever you feel the urge to do something with a corpse, having several scantily clad maids around allows you to divert your attention.
“Once you have vented your desires on them, you will, for quite some time, lose any interest in the walking corpses.”
Clever use of sage mode to resist the Corpse Gu’s side effects… Xu Qi’an nodded slightly.
The Corpse Gu Tribe was relatively wealthy, so they did not raise the price like the Dark Gu, but Youshi added one condition: during Xu Qi’an’s stay in the Southern Marches, the ancient corpse had to remain with the Corpse Gu Tribe.
He could take the corpse away only when he left the Gu tribes.
Noting Youshi’s feigned calm, yet inwardly eager tone, Xu Qi’an pondered for a while and replied,
“Agreed, but I also have a condition.”
“Go ahead,” Youshi replied at once.
“I once travelled to Xiangzhou, where there is a Chai family, who have learned Corpse Gu Tribe secret arts and can refine Iron Corpses…”
Xu Qi’an told Youshi about the Chai family. “Do you remember them?”
The Chai ancestors dated back over a hundred years.
Youshi thought for a moment, then nodded,
“There was such a slave, during the time my father was chief. If I recall correctly, he used half a map to buy his freedom.”
A map deliberately gathered by Xu Pingfeng is certainly no ordinary thing… Xu Qi’an said,
“I need that half of the map.”
Youshi thought over it for a moment.
“Very well, but I have a request.”
No more endless requests, please… Xu Qi’an nodded, “Please say.”
“If you ever uncover the map’s secrets, I hope you’ll tell me.”
Once Xu Qi’an nodded his agreement, Youshi said, “Wait a moment.”
A dozen minutes later, a white-pupilled walking corpse entered the reception hall, carrying a black wooden box.
Like those aunties dancing together outside in the public squares, very chinese thing ↩
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