Chapter 30 — Old Grudges Follow the Trail into the Wasteland Ruins

Shen Mu put the gold ingot away and said, "Big fellow, put your mind to your cultivation; I will come find you again tomorrow. Whatever you do, do not go into the side hall — that demon is a sly one!" The Dark Ape nodded. Shen Mu set off back to the village at once, and before long he came to the outskirts of Yincan Village. From afar he saw two paper boats moored in the air at the village gate, and a paper crane settled beneath the tree at the entrance; but there was no one aboard the boats or on the crane, so they must already have gone into the village. He walked in and saw that the old man who had spoken from the boat was sitting facing the village headman and talking with him, saying, "I have heard that Granny Zhu of your honorable village has remarkable skill, and so I have come to ask the old woman to cut out a few garments for me." "May I ask what sort of garments, and of what measurements?" said the village headman. "Burial clothes," the old man said, "nine sets in all; cut them to the measurements of your village folk. I have also heard that Old Ma's carpentry is excellent, so I must trouble him to make nine coffins as well — let their length be taken from your people's stature too." Suddenly the old man caught sight of Shen Mu walking up; a look of consternation came over his face and he corrected himself: "I misspoke — ten sets of burial clothes, ten coffins. Qianxun, pay the deposit." The man named Qianxun stepped forward and gave a slight wave of his hand; one of the paper boats at the village gate drifted over and came to rest beside the village headman, and Shen Mu saw at once that its cargo was nothing but paper money, gold ingots, candles, funeral staffs and white funeral banners — wares of ill omen, every one! The old man had him leave the paper boat at the village gate and said, "This is the deposit for ten sets of burial clothes and ten coffins. May I ask whether Granny and Old Ma can have them ready today? To be frank, I am in urgent need of them." In the village the Lame Elder, the blacksmith, the alchemist and the rest had been busy at their own work, but all at once everything fell quiet. Granny Zhu came over on trembling legs and said with a smile, "Ten sets of burial clothes, and you want them today? Guest, that is rather rushed." Old Ma came over and said coldly, "My hands are quick; the coffins can be done today. Can the old gentleman wait?" The old man laughed. "It is a little rushed, true, but you are all people of ability — surely you can manage it?" Granny Zhu glanced at the ingots and candles on the boat, gave a cold laugh and said, "If you are in a hurry to wear them, they can be made right now; it happens that I bought some bolts of cloth a few days ago." The old man bowed slightly. "I am much obliged to you, Granny." Granny Zhu went back into her house and brought out several bolts of cloth; with a shake of her hand she tossed them up, and bolt after bolt floated in midair; then a pair of scissors flew of itself from her basket and began cutting with a creak and a crunch in the air, and before long the garment patterns took shape. Then one silver needle after another flew from that little basket, threading and stitching, darting to and fro with a hiss, and in no time the burial clothes were sewn up one by one. Old Ma, meanwhile, walked out of the village to the thick willows by the river; green qi flew from between his fingers and whirled hissing around one willow after another, and before long the great trunks had been cut into white-wood coffins. The white-wood coffins flew over and came to rest at the village gate. Granny Zhu's garments were finished as well; the old woman waved her hand lightly, and the burial clothes settled one by one upon the coffins. Old Ma strode over and said coldly, "You brought a good deal of money, so I made two extra for you free of charge — twelve coffins, tailor-made; lie down in them and I guarantee not an inch too long, not a fraction too short! Is the old gentleman satisfied?" Granny Zhu said, "I too have made two extra sets of burial clothes for you, free of charge; a perfect fit, I guarantee." The old man chuckled. "Satisfied, quite satisfied." Shen Mu felt the mood grow stranger and stranger; he counted quietly, and the men in blue robes together with the old man came to exactly twelve! The alchemist came over, his face grim, though his voice was gentle: "By your accent, old gentleman, you are not a local — it sounds like the accent of the southern frontier." The old man smiled mildly. "We are indeed from the southern frontier, from the region of the Li River." The Lame Elder came over, his face wreathed in smiles. "There is a Lanjiang Sect by the Li River; I hear it is a great sect, dwelling on the riverbank, with many masters among its number. I have heard that the sect master of the Lanjiang Sect is named Mu Beilan — his divine powers are beyond mortal reckoning; he can stretch out a hand and sever a river's flow." The old man said hurriedly, "You flatter me, you flatter me. This old one is indeed Mu Beilan. Our Lanjiang Sect is in truth a small sect that lives from hand to mouth, taking from the mountains when we live by the mountains and from the waters when we live by the waters; we make our living on the river. I have five junior brothers; by the kindness of fellow cultivators on every road, they are known as the Five Elders of Lanjiang." Shen Mu's heart lurched and his expression shifted. Were the Five Elders of Lanjiang not precisely the five old men who had died at Granny Zhu's hands? Could it be that this Mu Beilan had brought his people here to avenge the Five Elders of Lanjiang? He had asked for exactly ten coffins and ten sets of burial clothes — plainly they were meant for every soul in Yincan Village. Once the villagers were killed, they would be dressed in the burial clothes, laid in the coffins and buried on the spot, and then a few paper ingots and candles burned over them! And these paper boats and paper cranes, too, had been prepared for the villagers of Yincan after their deaths! Mu Beilan turned the jade thumb-ring on his thumb and said unhurriedly, "Two years ago the court offered us amnesty; the state preceptor came in person with the imperial edict to our Lanjiang Sect and sat talking of the Way with this old one. Within the burning of a single stick of incense I was won over; I accepted the edict and gave thanks for the sovereign's great grace. The emperor and the state preceptor honored our Lanjiang Sect, and made me prefect of the Wumiao Prefecture in the Southern Wilds, an official of the second rank, to govern the five Miao peoples. The state preceptor also made the Five Elders of Lanjiang deputy protectors of the Miao frontier, officials of the third rank. But we are, after all, idle clouds and wild cranes; though we were given office, we still love to be on the move." The village headman said, "The Yanning Kingdom is a sect disguised as a nation, and with the Yanning State Preceptor — called the first man beneath the gods — at the emperor's side, its fortunes have only flourished these years; it has subdued many sects and even brought the disciples of those sects into its armies, opening up territory and carving out land. Brother Mu was free and unrestrained before; to take office at court is to be bound by the laws of the court, so it is only natural that you find it somewhat hard to grow used to." Mu Beilan said, "That is why my five junior brothers, weary of stillness, thought of movement and wanted to go out and travel a while; they took the Lanjiang Five Youths into the Wasteland Ruins. The Lanjiang Five Youths are the disciples my five junior brothers took; they have a little ability, and my five junior brothers meant to take them out for experience." The Blind Elder came over leaning on his bamboo staff and said, "The Five Elders of Lanjiang went into the Wasteland Ruins for experience? With disciples in tow? The Wasteland Ruins are a