Chapter 21 Ending third lifetime
“Hey.”
Hiding in the grass, I asked Chu Kong in a low voice: “What are they worshipping?”
At this time the sunlight gradually faded and the night came. Two men holding three torches were kneeling on the ground against a dusky hole. Bowing three times and worshipping with great respect.
Chu Kong didn’t answer my question. His eyes were fixed on the two men. A little while later he said: “You go and howl two times.”
His attitude made me unhappy. I smiled coldly: “Go howl yourself. Why should I go?”
Chu Kong didn’t say anything. A hoof landed on my paw. I howled in pain, shocking all the tigers in the mountain. I gritted my teeth. This guy…this guy….
“Ah,” one of the man exclaimed.
“Ti…tiger!”
Together with two torches in his hands, he fell on the ground. Like someone paralyzed, he only moved a little back. The other guy hold his torch in front of me, while he steps back. Stepping back, he pulled the man on the ground up.
“Calm, calm down! She’s afraid of fire. She’ll not come here easily.”
Since he said that, I moved towards him. The two men were so afraid that they were trembling and sweating. One of them fell down. I was surprised for a moment and wondered if I’ve scared somebody to death. The other man suddenly started to run. In a blink of eye, he was gone. He must be thinking that since I’ve a prey, I would certainly not chase him.
I shook my head while sighing. When it’s between life and death, you can see someone clearly. Behind me there was a sound of grass rustling. Wild boar Kong stepped out. I patted the man who collapsed on the ground with my paw.
“Hey, look at what happened because of you. You took him back to the village on the foot of the mountain.”
“You still have the heart to care about these stupid humans,”Chu Kong said. “You’re still as ignorant as ever.”
He ignored me and walked with his four hooves carefully into a dark cave. Although I was dissatisfied with his attitude, but seeing the always arrogant Chu Kong being so careful, I hold back my temper and carefully walk behind him.
Inside the cave, it’s really dark. If humans enter here they will get lost. Fortunately, the vision of tigers is stronger than humans. I can see all the things in the cave clearly: where the stones are, where the puddles are…wait, why does this puddle smell like blood?
My gaze followed the sound of water dripping. There was a hole on the wall. The water is flowing out from there.
I was still looking at the hole, when suddenly a human head slowly came out. My heart went through a shock. I was stunned for a moment. I saw that the man’s expression was distorted, looking really haggard. I don’t know what suddenly sucked the flesh away, leaving only the bones. With a “hulalala”sound the bones fell down. Before my paws was a white skeleton.
Although I’m an immortal, but I lived a peaceful life. I never saw someone who died so miserably. I was scared an gasped for air. Subconsciously I wanted to grab the Chu Kong in front of me. But he’s a wild boar now, facing me with his behind. I exposed my sharp claws and carelessly hold onto Chu Kong’s rough skin of his behind.
“There’s a demon,” I yelled.
Chu Kong also shouted: “Do you want me to drag you with my claws and dump you in the river of wine!”
“But there’s really a demon!”
I pointed with my claws at the hole in the wall and also pointed at the white skeleton near me.
“Before he dropped in front of me, he was eaten cleanly.”
Chu Kong no longer accused me. He turned around and looks at the pile of bones and said with a cold voice: “Now do you know what the two men were worshipping outside the cave?”
I shook my head.
“I don’t know.”
Chu Kong felt hopeless, looked at me and said: “Two people carrying three torches. There must’ve been three people. One of them entered the cave.”
Chu Kong pointed at the pile of bones with his hoof.
“This man turned into a sacrifice. They are worshipping with a living sacrifice for the….”
Chu Kong thought for a moment: “I don’t know who they are worshipping, but I can be sure that’s not an immortal from heaven. It’s full of yin air here, just like….”
Netherworld.
Chu Kong didn’t say it, but I could guess his meaning. My cultivation is still a bit less than him. At the beginning I didn’t detect the strange atmosphere in here. But now that Chu Kong has pointed it out, I could feel it. The cold air here is exactly like the netherworld.
Chu Kong explored everywhere and said: “The ground has yin. It must be connected to the netherworld. His voice turned deeper: “Seeing the two men like that before, this living sacrifice must be something very common.”
I wondered: “Accepting living sacrifices will harm the yin and will make it easy to fall into the evil ways. This is clearly prohibited. I didn’t hear any immortal from the netherworld is so daring.”
“Heng, an immortal doing something evil, will he dare to say it?”
Chu Kong said full of dislike: “What were you doing so many years in heaven? How come your head doesn’t have any common sense?”
I exposed my claws and said with a low voice: “If you speak like that to me again, I’ll scratch of the skin of your behind.”
Chu Kong shook his tail and continued: “The immortals of the netherworld aside from Yanwang and the magistrate, to treat them equally are prohibited from accepting sacrifices. In the netherworld is prohibited to kill. The ghosts working in the netherworld don’t have the ability to receive sacrifices, so they won’t ask for sacrifices, let alone living sacrifices. Aside from the ghosts, there’s also gods from the heaven in the netherworld. There are two possibilities why a god will go to the netherworld. First, like you and me, to end something. This sort will be a short stay. We don’t have the time nor the ability to receive sacrifices. As for the second possibility, must be a God who committed a great sin. He must go to the eighteen floor1 of the netherworld to atone for his sins.”
My heart skipped a beat.
“Obviously the god is being punished in the netherworld, he still has the gall to do such a thing. This is sin with a sin. Which god doesn’t want to live anymore and dare to commit such a grave sin…..”
Chu Kong was silent for a moment. Then he said: “Yanwang should be informed about this matter as soon as possible.”
I nodded in agreement: “But we haven’t assessed the situation clearly yet.”
As I spoke, I walked toward the hole in the wall. I raised my head to get a clear view of it.
“I’ll look at it first……”
“No!”
Chu Kong voice hasn’t reached my ears; I already put my head in the hole. There was nothing from the left to the right. There was nothing above, below……
A gold light suddenly flashed in the dark. I was still in shock, my breath stopped, when a cold wind came in my direction. The wind hit me straight into my face and pushed me backwards. With four legs in the air, I fell onto the ground.
“So painful,”I shouted.
The running sound of a wild boar hooves sounded in the cave. Chu Kong stopped beside me. A nose rubbed my head.
“Where are you hurt?”
The cold air entered my nose. I couldn’t tell what my heart was feeling. I only said blankly: “I don’t know……my backbone is painful.”
Seeing that I was alright, Chu Kong stared at me blankly for a while. Suddenly he raged: “Try an be reckless again! How can you just go take a look?! Do you really think that now you can’t die? See how you’ll reincarnate when your soul is scattered!”
“Why are you angry? If my soul is scattered you won’t need to spend a few more lifetimes with me. Shouldn’t you be happy?”
I looked at him strangely. Seeing that he was stunned for a moment after hearing my question, I suddenly came to a realization. Reluctantly, I stood up and patted his head with my paw.
“I understand, I understand. You really like me.”
“Like your butt.”
“You don’t need to cover it with words you don’t mean.”
“Cover your butt.”
I helplessly sighed and shook my head.
“I know that I’ve too much charm. I’m a bit slow at this thing called love. Liking me must be really hard on you.”
I paused.
“You can continue to work hard.”
Wild boar Kong’s throat made a low “gululu” sound. He howled angrily. He turned and got rid of the paw I put on his head. Angrily, he walked to the outside of the cave.
I reflected for a moment.
“What are you being shy about? Hey! In situations like this do you want me to chase after you, ah?! You should just say it. I said I was a little slow!”
I trotted behind him. Chu Kong couldn’t take it anymore. He turned around and yelled: “Xiaoye is going to commit suicide! You get away from me! You’re not allowed to die together with me!”
I think that after two lifetimes, I and Chu Kong became indifferent to death. Look at how easy and natural he said that he’ll commit suicide.
When we were at the opening of the cave, we saw that the place was lit with torches. I nodded my head: “I can foresee mu fur being stripped and sold. Your meat will be cooked as dinner.”
Outside the cave, there were dozens of men holding a variety of sticks, knives and torches.
It looks like the man who fled brought the whole village with him to kill a tiger.
“There’s also a wild boar!”
“It must be the food of the tiger.”
“It doesn’t look much like it ah…..
The strong men outside were discussing. I looked at their weapons. My heart made drums sound. These weapons looked so dull and old. I won’t die a painless and fast death. My backbone was still aching. I whispered at Chu Kong: “Can we change our way of dying?”
Chu Kong’s eyes swept over me. He said with dislike: “Xiaoye will divert their attention. Run when you get the opportunity. Don’t be so stupid that you can’t even escape from a few humans.”
After saying that, he pounded his hooves on the ground and ran into the direction with the most people. He rushed past them. The villagers flustered. Weapons begin to cut on Chu Kong’s rough skin. But even if the skin is rough it still would be painful…….
He knows I’m afraid of death and afraid of pain, so he looked for opportunities for me to escape……
Looking at his bulky body being besieged by a crowd was a funny picture. But I don’t know what’s the matter with my heart. It’s like in the first lifetime when I saw Lu Hai Kong through the fire in the dog hole. That feeling is like the softest string in my heart being touched. I couldn’t tell what this feeling felt like.
Perhaps deep in the arrogant celestial start Chu Kong, he’s like Lu Hai Kong of that lifetime, hiding his gentle and considerate side. Once that side is revealed, it will attack and defeat me.
I know that he’s seeking death. I also know that maybe he’s looking for a way to end our few lifetimes together. But once my head turned warm, I stopped everyone with a howl. I rushed forward and pressed the most powerful man hitting Chu Kong to the ground. I roared in front of his face. The brawny man was scared and began to shake.
Being a tiger, I was very proud. But it didn’t last long. There were too many people. After a while I was exhausted and lay on the ground. I glanced at wild boar Kong. His eyes were white. Apparently he must be already on the road to the netherworld. I sighed. Impulse ah impulse. Giving up a life of a tiger in vain. Weapons went into my bones. Being killed as an animal, I died more miserably than any other lifetimes……