Daomu Biji: The Mystic Nine
Book 2: Chapter 12

Zhang Qishan couldn’t fire. Even though the mountain god looked humongous, it moved very fast. Every time Zhang Qishan quickly moved the gun’s muzzle, the mountain god used Zhang Xiaoyu to block itself.

Zhang Xiaoyu began to “laugh”. In fact, every time the mountain god moved, it would laugh a few times.

Zhang Qishan became angry. On the one hand, he was angry that the mountain god was teasing him. On the other hand, he was angry that the mountain god was treating Zhang Xiaoyu like a doll.

He suddenly attacked. After throwing the gun straight up into the air, he rolled over and charged. As Zhang Xiaoyu slammed into him directly, Zhang Qishan moved like a loach and used his physical skills to duck under Zhang Xiaoyu’s armpit.

This was a technique only humans would use. It was a skill for people to move themselves at the fastest speed while sticking close to the opponent. It was generally used for close combat.

The mountain god obviously didn’t expect Zhang Qishan to make such a move, so Zhang Qishan’s bayonet was in front of its face before it knew it. But Zhang Qishan didn’t stab the mountain god’s head. Instead, he went for the mountain god’s elbow joint.

The bayonet immediately pierced the joint, going right through the cartilage. The mountain god wanted to withdraw its hand, but the joint was stuck. It couldn’t move as easily as before and ended up hitting its hand on the branch on the side. Zhang Xiaoyu was instantly released from its hold and fell down.

Zhang Qishan was alarmed since they were still very high up, but the mountain god used its other hand to catch Zhang Xiaoyu in mid-air.

At this time, Zhang Qishan’s gun finished its descent through the air. Zhang Qishan instantly caught it and put the gun directly against the mountain god’s head.

“I will kill him if you shoot me,” Zhang Xiaoyu suddenly said.

Zhang Qishan immediately fired, pulling the trigger so fast that all the bullets instantly shot out and hit the mountain god’s head. The mountain god fell onto the branch and stopped moving, its brain matter and blood flowing out quickly and dripping down the branches.

When there was a stalemate, the more you hesitated, the more dangerous the situation would become for the hostages.

Zhang Qishan loaded another magazine and shot again and again until he shattered the mountain god’s skull. Then, he went to grab Zhang Xiaoyu, who was hanging from the mountain god’s hand.

The nails of this mountain god had firmly pierced through Zhang Xiaoyu’s skull and went into his brain. They were so long and thin that they looked like needles. These needles seemed able to control people’s speech once they were embedded in the human brain.

Zhang Qishan carefully pulled Zhang Xiaoyu off of the mountain god’s nails, taking note of the wounds covering the other man’s scalp. He put Zhang Xiaoyu on his back until he found a place on the branch where he could set him down. He felt Zhang Xiaoyu’s heartbeat and found that it was still beating, but both of his eyes were rolled into the back of his head. Zhang Qishan had seen this kind of situation before. Most people who had been shot in the head all had this expression.

He didn’t know if Zhang Xiaoyu could be saved, but he could at least stop the bleeding first. He then quickly flipped over to where the wind lanterns were and used one to signal to the others in the darkness.

None of his soldiers responded.

He lit the wind lanterns one by one and hung them everywhere on the branches, making the area as bright as possible.

There was blood everywhere. Some guns were scattered on the branches, some had been snapped to pieces, and some had fallen into the water. But there was no one in sight.

Zhang Qishan had an unpleasant feeling in his heart. Was it possible that his people had been killed just now? But the mountain god hadn’t been that powerful, so why did his people suffer such a big loss?

As he was thinking, he suddenly heard the sound of a baby crying coming from the tree canopies above his head.

Meanwhile, Zhang Qishan was unaware that Qi Tiezui’s team was already very close to this banyan forest. But Qi Tiezui didn’t approach it and instead chose to remain in a tree canopy in the distance, looking anxiously at where Zhang Qishan was.

“Ba Ye, why aren’t we moving?”

“That’s a banyan tree, isn’t it? A very big banyan tree?” Qi Tiezui asked.

The soldier nodded. “We scouted the place just now. It’s a banyan tree. Fo Ye should have gone in by now.”

“I don't think it’s a banyan tree. No, it’s not just a banyan tree. It’s like a container.”

“Container?”

“The container used by the Miao people to raise Gu (1).” Qi Tiezui looked at the banyan forest. “I get it. I get it now. That thing isn’t a mountain god, but it isn’t something from our world, either. That thing is a Gu, which was cultivated by the ancestors of the Miao people. The Gu is to be raised and this is the Gu’s longevity. The old leader who asked us to send the baby here wants to transfer the baby’s lifespan to himself.”

The soldiers didn’t completely believe him, but Qi Tiezui just wiped his sweat and continued, “You have to replace a way to notify Fo Ye about it. He has to leave there as soon as possible.”

“Ba Ye, didn’t you say that you predicted that we would be safe on this journey?”

“This Gu isn’t something in the human world. It’s neither human nor ghost, so my calculations may not be accurate. But I didn’t expect my calculations to be this wrong. There must be another reason for it.” Qi Tiezui’s face turned pale. “There are three things our Qi family don’t calculate. First and foremost, we don’t make calculations about people who have Qilin tattoos. We aren’t sure about these people, so we may not be able to make accurate calculations about them. It might even result in bloodshed if we make calculations about them. I remember that Fo Ye doesn’t have a Qilin tattoo, and none of you have Qilin tattoos either. Is it possible that the mountain god was a human before becoming a Gu?”

Not only was it a human being, but it was also a woman. A woman with a Qilin tattoo. That was why he couldn’t see in his hexagram what effect this person would have on the whole incident.

Since this mountain god was a human before, was she from the main branch of the Zhang family? Was this the place where the Zhang family cultivated Gu? Was it something that had been designed a long time ago?

Qi Tiezui pinched his fingers and did the calculations again, his brows furrowed. A Qiongqi met a Qilin.Fo Ye is back to his old job (2). This is fate. Although I can’t figure out the calculations, it’s fate that these two people met each other here.

Wait, that’s not right. Qi Tiezui felt that it was too coincidental. Then who’s the person with a Qilin tattoo? Shit, is it the baby?

In the banyan forest, Zhang Qishan had climbed up to the tree canopies and was slowly moving in the direction where the sounds of the baby crying were coming from.

He had twisted the mountain god’s head off and hung it by the wind lanterns. Zhang Xiaoyu lay in the original spot where Zhang Qishan had left him, still in a deep coma.

As he gradually moved forward, Zhang Qishan saw the baby standing on a branch by himself in the depths of the tree canopies, pretending to cry.

He was fake crying. Although the baby was making crying sounds, his expression was calm and he was staring at Zhang Qishan with an unwavering gaze. Not only could he see Zhang Qishan, but he also seemed to see him clearly.

“Who exactly are you?” Zhang Qishan asked.

The other party didn’t answer, but staggered and walked towards Zhang Qishan while making a gesture asking for a hug. 

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TN Notes:

(1) The traditional preparation of gu poison involved sealing several venomous creatures (e.g., centipede, snake, scorpion) inside a closed container, where they devoured one another and allegedly concentrated their toxins into a single survivor, whose body would be fed upon by larvae until consumed. The last surviving larva held the complex poison. Gu was used in black magic practices such as manipulating sexual partners, creating malignant diseases, and causing death. According to Chinese folklore, a gu spirit could transform into various animals, typically a worm, caterpillar, snake, frog, dog, or pig. Wiki link here.

(2) He meant that Fo Ye met people from the main Zhang family again after he wanted nothing to do with them.

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Tiffany’s Notes: NoOoo. That little baby is starting to creep me out. (つ﹏⊂)

Merebear's Notes: (⊙_⊙) My ass would be drop-kicking a baby and punting it 50 ft away like a football