Chapter 129 — Legend

"From that time on, the forebears of the Wu Tribe knew at last that a monster had appeared in the hundred thousand wild mountains. Later, through much searching and probing, and at the cost of many brave men's lives, they came gradually to know that this monster had suddenly appeared in the hundred thousand wild mountains, possessed of inconceivable and uncanny powers. Under its demon arts the mountains that had been lush with forest turned to barren wastes, the clear rivers ran full of venom, and venomous miasma lay everywhere. And the various beasts of the forest it changed by its demon arts into monsters—bear-men, tiger-men, leopard-men, wolf-men, and other such demon things—savage and man-eating, terrible beyond measure..."

The corner of Ming Li's mouth suddenly twitched. He broke in: "Was there among them a kind of fish-man?"

The Great Shaman's back gave a start. He was silent a moment, as though recalling something, then slowly nodded. "Indeed. The tribe's legends say that among those savage tribes of the hundred thousand wild mountains there was indeed such a race of fish-men. Why—can it be that you..."

Ming Li was silent a moment, then at last said, "Indeed. I once saw such a monster, with a fish's head and a man's body, in the great western marshes."

The Great Shaman's frame shook violently. At last he could contain himself no longer and abruptly turned his head. The firelight shone on his wrinkles, like deep rings carved by the years, and his voice was now gone hoarse: "You—you have truly seen these monsters?"

Ming Li nodded, silent but certain.

The Great Shaman's face went white in an instant. He muttered, "They have appeared. At last they have appeared. Heaven's will—heaven's will! But why should they appear in the west? Is not the entrance to the hundred thousand wild mountains guarded by the Fenxia Valley of the cultivators..."

Over his aged face fear and bewilderment came and went without cease, and he seemed to have fallen into a trance.

Ming Li reached out and gently patted the old man's shoulder.

The Great Shaman gave a start, as though waking suddenly. He looked at Ming Li, his expression gradually calming, then once more turned his head away and faced the flames.

"I—I shall go on with the tale. After all, if it is heaven's will, we mortals can do nothing against it."

Into his voice there seemed to come another measure of desolation: "After they learned of this monster, the beast demon, the people of the Wu Tribe never again knew a single day of peace. And as time went on, the various monsters under the beast demon's command began gradually to come out beyond the hundred thousand wild mountains. Thus reports of tribesmen slain came unceasingly from place to place, and the number of the dead grew ever greater, until panic was everywhere. In the end even common folk of the Wu Tribe began to abandon their homes and flee north at all costs. It looked as though, at this rate, the whole Wu Tribe would be destroyed."

"The Maiden of the Wu of that generation had meant first to gather more news of this monster and then to deliberate how to rid them of it. But by then the Wu Tribe was seething with fury and the situation had truly reached its most desperate pass. At last she resolved to summon all the shamans and warriors of the whole Wu Tribe and go forth together to punish this monster of the age, to fight it to the death and save the Wu Tribe."

"But on the very night she made that decision, the beast demon suddenly led his countless hordes of monsters out from the hundred thousand wild mountains and drove straight for the place where the ancient Wu Tribe's altar stood. The Wu Tribe's altar was where the tribe made sacrifice to the Shaman God; it had always been the very lifeblood of the tribe, sacred and inviolable. That night, it may be said, every soul of the Wu Tribe—men and women alike, even the older children—rushed onto the field of battle and fought those savage monsters to the death!"

Here the Great Shaman's voice gently fell still, and Ming Li and Xiao Bai each held their breath. That bloody slaughter of ages past seemed, in the darkness all around them, in the Great Shaman's desolate and aged words, once more to rise faintly before them.

"That dreadful battle is beyond anything we could imagine. What my Miao forebears passed down from generation to generation was no more than a few scattered fragments, a scale here and a claw there, that painted that war. In sum: after blood had dyed red all the land beneath their feet, after countless warriors of the Wu Tribe had perished together with the monsters, the beast demon at last broke through with a few of his monsters into the Shaman God's altar, where the Maiden of the Wu made her final stand. And outside the altar the slaughter still went on..."

"Only then did the great Shaman God at last begin to shelter his people, and the Maiden of the Wu of that generation was, by the common voice of all generations, the mightiest in shamanic arts of them all. After a battle of arts that shook heaven and earth, the beast demon and those few formidable monsters under his command were at last trapped by the Maiden of the Wu within the Eight Fiends' Dark Fire Formation, passed down from the ancient Shaman God within the altar..."

"What?" Ming Li and Xiao Bai both blurted out at once.

The Great Shaman turned his head and gave them a curious look. "'The Eight Fiends' Dark Fire Formation'—what of it?"

Ming Li and Xiao Bai exchanged a glance. After a moment Ming Li said, "The name is rather strange."

The Great Shaman sighed. "That formation was passed down from the ancient Shaman God and is set in motion by the peerless treasure the Dark Fire Mirror, the essence of ten thousand fires. Its power is supreme. In those days even the beast demon, whose demon arts reached the heavens, was held fast within it. The people of the Wu Tribe were greatly heartened, while the monsters' ranks fell into confusion, and at last they were gradually driven back."

"Yet though the Eight Fiends' Dark Fire Formation's power was boundless, the beast demon's demonic force was truly no small thing. Though scorched day and night by those eight fiery dragons and gravely wounded, it still survived and held its ground against the Maiden of the Wu without cease. Within the whole altar at that time, because the formation's own power was too great, none of the other shamans of the tribe could come near to help; the Maiden of the Wu alone sustained that vast formation with her own shamanic power. Thus three days and three nights passed, until—when the whole Wu Tribe was all but driven mad by it—the beast demon broke free of the formation and came out."

"Yet though the beast demon escaped, the formation had scorched it to the brink of death. It dared not linger a moment longer, but flew straight back to its lair in the hundred thousand wild mountains. And when the others rushed into the altar, the Maiden of the Wu was already utterly spent, her strength all but burned away. Yet she was a figure truly worthy of reverence: after but a single day's rest, though her vital force was gravely wounded, she resolved to enter the hundred thousand wild mountains alone and put the beast demon to death. For if the beast demon should recover, the doom of the Wu Tribe would truly come."

Xiao Bai sighed softly. "This Maiden of the Wu was truly a heroine among women, with the heart of a Bodhisattva, so selfless in sacrificing herself for others!"

The Great Shaman said mildly, "Here in our Southern Border, we do not believe in Bodhisattvas."

Xiao Bai smiled and said no more.