Chapter 38

Cheng Yunqi responded with a smile, leaped down from the house, landed with a few bounds, and arrived at the bonfire.

He sat down beside the chief; he could only sit by the chief, as he could not understand what others were saying.

As soon as Cheng Yunqi sat down, the old chief handed him a wooden stick with the mountain rabbit he had caught today. The old chief also had one in his hand, skewered with what looked like cured meat, but more people were roasting a type of food Cheng Yunqi had never seen before.

This thing was golden-yellow, like a thick stick, five or six inches short and a foot long, with grains arranged neatly on it—probably three or four hundred of them. He did not know what it was.

"Corn."

Seeing Cheng Yunqi staring at the corn, the old chief handed him one.

Cheng Yunqi held it in his hand and roasted it near the fire, smelling a faint fragrance.

Cheng Yunqi held a wooden stick in each hand. At this moment, the old chief stood up and muttered another string of words Cheng Yunqi could not understand.

After the old chief finished speaking, the people around the bonfire began to move. A man wearing a rooster-feather crest stood up, holding an earthenware bowl and an ox horn, and walked over.

The old chief told Cheng Yunqi that the man was called Zaohuo Nai and was the village's number-one warrior. The rooster-feather crest on his head was made entirely of the longest tail feathers of a rooster; only the number-one warrior in the village could wear it, because if anything happened that required leaving the village at night, he would be the one sent out.

Cheng Yunqi stuck the wooden stick in his hand into the dirt and stood up. At the same time, he finally understood that "Nai" was the surname.

The man passed the earthenware bowl in front of Cheng Yunqi to show it was a full cup, then drank the wine in one gulp.

The crowd cheered.

Afterward, he actually brought the ox horn to Cheng Yunqi's mouth.

Cheng Yunqi did not know what he meant at first, until the fragrance of the wine in the ox horn hit his nose, and he realized it was wine.

The old chief gestured from the side, signaling Cheng Yunqi to open his mouth.

The youth found it interesting and opened his mouth.

"Pfft—"

The wine in Cheng Yunqi's mouth sprayed out directly, landing on the bonfire and stirring up a pillar of fire.

"Cough! Cough!"

Looking at the rising pillar of fire and feeling the scalding heat in his mouth, Cheng Yunqi could not help but wonder: was what he just drank wine or liquid fire?

In Zhangxiang Town, he had drunk clear rice wine; on Mount Sanqing, he had drunk nectar fruit liquid. Where had he ever drunk such fierce wine?

"Hahahahaha~"

Everyone laughed, and the old chief laughed the most happily.

Cheng Yunqi's eyes turned red from the choking. He thought to himself, isn't this "fire in water"? So the intersection of Kan and Li refers to strong liquor!

He steeled himself, opened his mouth again, and signaled the man to pour it directly in.

"Gulp!"

As the fierce wine entered his throat, the burning sensation made him wonder if the liquor had broken through his Twelve-Story Pagoda (meridians).

"Woo-ooo-ooo—"

Everyone began to cheer.

Zaohuo Nai returned, and then Tanghuo Nai came, also finishing the wine in one breath. Cheng Yunqi understood: surrounding the bonfire, it was a wheel battle!

After seven or eight people had drunk, the warriors in the village saw that the guest from afar had turned red in the face, so they paused to let Cheng Yunqi catch his breath.

Cheng Yunqi felt a bit dizzy and sat down. The fierce wine in his stomach was churning like a river. The Daoist, who had been practicing Grain Bigu (grain-abstinence) and drinking dew, felt an unbearable hunger in his stomach. At this moment, the corn was slightly charred and golden, and the fragrance was compelling, making his appetite stir.

He held the wooden stick with the corn in his hand and asked the chief how to eat it.

The chief demonstrated: he blew on it twice, then opened his mouth to bite down, gnawing off the corn kernels and revealing the cob.

Cheng Yunqi understood and could not wait to taste it.

It was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, fresh, sweet, and juicy. Cheng Yunqi's eyes lit up, and he quickly gnawed a few more bites.

Just then, he caught a glimpse of several children looking at the roasted rabbit in front of him. Scanning the area, he discovered that the meat was almost entirely eaten by the strong men, while the old, young, and women were mostly gnawing on corn. Even the small piece of cured meat in the old chief's hand had been divided among several half-grown children.

Seeing this, Cheng Yunqi immediately handed the mountain rabbit to the old chief, his eyes glancing toward the children.

The old chief understood but felt a bit embarrassed, rubbing his hands and not taking it.

Cheng Yunqi stuffed the stick into the chief's hand. "Master Munai, I have already practiced Grain Bigu and do not need to eat meat. From now on, just leave some of this corn for me."

The chief gripped the wooden stick, said many words of thanks, and then stood up to share the mountain rabbit with the children.

Many people saw this scene, so the second wave of toasting began.

After finishing the second wave, Cheng Yunqi actually broke into a sweat. He asked the old chief, "Master Munai, what kind of wine is this? Why is it so fierce?"

The old chief told Cheng Yunqi that the wine they drank was brewed from corn, but it was a type of white corn. They used the last batch of mature white corn in the autumn, which made the wine brewed from it particularly fierce and spicy. They called it "White Knife."

Sometimes when someone was possessed, had a fever, or was suffering from chills, they would feed them this wine; drinking it made the whole body warm and easy to sweat.

The ox-horn wine Cheng Yunqi drank was prepared for honored guests; it was aged "White Knife" and had an even fiercer nature.

=9+Shu_ba

Everyone was in high spirits when suddenly a man ran over, shouting anxiously, which instantly broke the warm atmosphere.

Cheng Yunqi saw the old chief's expression change.

The old chief asked Cheng Yunqi to sit for a moment; he had to go and see.

Cheng Yunqi immediately said he would go along.

It seemed very urgent; the old chief did not say much, nodded, and left. Several warriors followed, and the remaining people had no heart to eat or drink, their faces showing sorrow as they sat quietly by the bonfire roasting themselves.

The group followed the man who brought the news into a house. The house smelled strongly of medicine, and there was the sound of sobbing.

Entering the room, Cheng Yunqi saw a child lying on the bed, eyes tightly closed, face like gold paper. The person beside the bed must have been his mother, holding the child's hand, mouth tightly shut, tears dripping onto the bed and soaking the sheets.

The man who brought the news must have been the child's father, his face filled with misery.

The old chief stepped forward, pinched the child's pulse, and pried open his eyes to look.

He shook his head.

Several warriors wearing rooster-feather crests automatically surrounded the bed.

Seeing this, the child's parents could no longer restrain themselves and wailed loudly.

Cheng Yunqi asked the old chief quietly in his ear what was wrong.

The old chief explained in a low voice: it turned out that this child had been playing a few days ago and had not returned to the village by dark. Everyone went out to find him in groups, carrying roosters.

When they found the child in the fields, he had already lost his soul.

The villagers immediately beat the roosters, and the crowing called back the child's soul. But after the child's soul returned, he cried in shock for a while and then fell into a coma. Today was already the fourth day.

The village had no way to deal with this situation. Because after the soul is hooked away, if one is lucky, it is still lingering near the physical body; in this case, the child would be fine after resting for two days after the soul returned. If one is unlucky, the soul has gone far away, perhaps already being gnawed on by some Yin evil. When the soul is finally called back, one can only see if the soul can recover after returning to the physical body. If it recovers, the child might be physically weak and prone to nightmares in the future, but their life is saved. If it does not recover, then it is the end.

The child before them was the latter; he had been in a coma since his soul returned, his breathing growing weaker and weaker, and now, it was gradually becoming imperceptible.

As for the rooster-feather warriors surrounding the bed, they were afraid that if the child died, his soul would scatter and be hooked away again, leaving him no peace even after death. In such cases, the warriors would guard him until he was buried.

Cheng Yunqi looked at the child and said, "Master Munai, since this is the case, may I try?"

Two chapters released at once, this is the first.

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(End of chapter)