By the next evening, the sun was setting, covering the sky in an amber glow as they spotted a village near the foot of Tiankong. The village was unceremoniously named 'MouChu' as if the founder had been too tired to think of a real name. Even the sign to the village was painted with poor handwriting, and it was laying sideways and partly hidden by overgrown weed and grass.
MingYu was barely walking anymore. He was starving; he had already finished his water bottle, and if he had to walk any further, he would be crawling on all fours.
XiaoHe was being dragged along by PingZe. The kid had given up halfway through the journey and had been hanging onto PingZe for his dear life ever since.
The demons seemed to be in their full health, not even a speck of sweat had broken out on their smooth skins. The contrast was striking, as MingYu was heaving and reeked like something crawled up his clothes and died as they stepped among civilization.
Brightly lit lanterns hung along the streets, and pleasant chatter filled the air. Small children ran along, playing with wooden sticks as if they were the mightiest of swords.
XiaoHe pushed MingYu by the shoulder and groaned. "Brother MingYu, I'm starving. Let's find food."
The two wandered around chasing the smell of food, and soon enough they found a man selling dumplings in a corner of the street. XiaoHe was already reaching in his hand to snatch a piece. The old man slapped his hand away and scolded them.
"No touching! Money first, then you will get the food."
XiaoHe stared at the man with bulging eyes, and said in a disbelieved tone, "Money?"
"Well, you didn't think they are free?" The man looked at their robes. Judging by them, he knew they were not from any established monasteries, so he said, "I don't know what type of monks you are, but this is not a charity. Pay money or stay starved."
"What is money?" XiaoHe looked confused. It really wasn't the boy's fault. Growing up, he never heard of the concept of money. They foraged the woods for food. There was never a need for such things.
MingYu had forgotten that in the earth realm they had such trivial things as money. Knowing where this was going, he took hold of XiaoHe, and tried to pull him away. The seller was turning deep red as he felt these boys clearly were trying to dupe him. "What monastery raises such shameless disciples? First, you try to steal my buns and now you try to feign ignorance?"
MingYu was apologizing profusely while trying to pull XiaoHe away, but the boy was adamant. They had done nothing wrong, he just asked. Why be so mad?
ZhiYi and PingZe were out of sight. Just when they needed them, MingYu cursed to himself. He could mask some rocks or leaves as money and fool the people, but judging by his current punishment, he refrained from cheating and adding to his list of amends.
While he was fighting to drag XiaoHe away, two girls appeared before them. Both dressed in modest cotton robes, identical in their delicate round faces and posture. Twins, MingYu realised as his pull on XiaoHe eased. They looked to be around the same age as XiaoHe and ShiBai, merely 18 in appearance. They both were staring at the monks with their round, bright eyes.
"Look, FenFen, monks in our humble village."
"Are you hungry? We have some food to spare. Father always said we should feed monks well. It will bring good fortune to the family." Said FenFen as she peered at the monks with curiosity. A pouch with stitched yellow flowers dangled at her waist.
MingYu grew up in poor conditions, and that exact phrase was embedded in his mind since a toddler, yet no matter how many passing monks his parents had fed, they saw no fortune, luck nor health. Thinking back on it, he was sure everything went downhill after those encounters.
The two girls seemed out of place in such a modest village. That little pouch looked too expensive to be carried around by mere village girls. All the red flags were waving at MingYu and he made a move to leave, but XiaoHe stood rooted in place. The kid was hungry and charitable work sounded pleasant to his ears. Especially when the charity was offered to him.
"We should go," MingYu said, but XiaoHe had already started walking after the girls.
Succumbing to his hunger and honouring his promise to babysit the monk, MingYu followed XiaoHe. Besides, they were just two girls, what could they do to two men?
Meanwhile, ZhiYi and PingZe were pacing the village, looking for the two. They had taken their eyes off them for a minute, and already the two disappeared from the face of Earth.
"Where could they be?" ZhiYi asked as they weaved through the tight road, strolling between the small stalls selling every trinket possible.
PingZe hadn't answered when they noticed a commotion ahead. They pushed through the crowd and found themselves standing over a patch of thick grass under a tall pine tree. A donkey was tied to the tree trunk. As ZhiYi got to see a glimpse of the donkey, it looked rather mundane to him. These kinds of donkeys were a dime a dozen. It was dark grey and had a white tassel under its muzzle. Then ZhiYi noticed the way the donkey was looking at people and he felt affected. Heavy eyes filled with contempt as it looked at the surrounding people, occasionally showing its teeth to them. The look was that of a dignified soldier, a general, maybe even that of an emperor, the least it should be, was a leading war horse! But a donkey tied to a tree? Truly a cruel destiny!
On top of its head, a small, black hill myna was tied by its feet to the donkey. Its golden peak was bound with a small piece of robe. It looked ruffled, its pride hurt almost. Intelligent eyes looked at the brothers and it looked shocked, the black eyes wide and head tilted to the side.
The people were chattering as an older lady stepped up front, waving two bamboo scrolls in her frail hands. Her hair was a messy heap of grey and black that swayed with her jerky movements.
"Heavenly deities, I tell you! Trapped in the bodies of a bird and a donkey!"
ZhiYi and PingZe exchanged looks of confusion. The bamboo scrolls she was waving in her hand looked terribly familiar. MingYu had one too.
"You are crazy, old Mo!"
"Deities and demons, just go back home!"
"Soon she will say she is a deity herself too!"
The people sneered and threw looks of sorry and pity at the old lady. Apparently, the brothers learned from the fellow onlookers; the old lady had been a widow for many years, living in seclusion after her husband never returned from the mountains years ago. She had gone crazy, waiting for him to come back home. She never had children, family, or friends. The loneliness took its toll, turning her into a shell of her former self.
Yet, the brothers knew she currently wasn't spouting nonsense. The scrolls were indeed of deities. But which deities exactly? What a coincidence that so many deities were simultaneously assigned to enter the Earth realm.
"You don't believe me? The bird can talk!" Madam Mo hurried to open the robe tied around the bird's peak, but the bird didn't utter a word, it only glared at madam Mo with distaste.
Madam Mo poked it and the bird pecked at her finger, ruffling its feathers before turning its back to her. ZhiYi suppressed his smile. Hill myna's could talk. It was a special skill of the species, but this little one was not having it.
Madam Mo turned back to the crowd, swinging the scrolls in her hands. "Read it yourself! The scrolls came down from Heaven itself!"
People were waving their hands and shaking their heads at her. The consensus was she had gone off the hill crazy now. So lonely she had to make up stories to get attention, poor old Mo. ZhiYi stretch out his hand and old madam Mo looked delighted, her crow's feet crinkling as at least one wanted to hear her stories.
Opening the two scrolls, the brothers read it with awe. Both scrolls were identical to that of MingYu, with the exceptions that were as following,
General Zhen LongHai, Qin dynasty, went down in battle at age 29
Task: end the Wu dynasty as Lee SunLiu
Punishment: suffer the pains of the mortal realm
Current status: spirit possession of a donkey
And the other scroll,
General Nie ZhouYan, Qin dynasty, went down in battle at age 23
Task: end the Wu dynasty as Ruan AnChen
Punishment: suffer the pains of the mortal realm
Current status: spirit possession of a hill myna
PingZe unexpectedly burst into a laugh, folding in two as he held his stomach. ZhiYi was looking at his brother with scolding eyes. "PingZe, stop it. It must be very upsetting to them!"
PingZe wiped the tears off the brims of his eyes. "You must admit, it is quite a coincidence, brother!"
Indeed, all five sworn brothers were now present in the Earth realm. What were the odds?
ZhiYi handed the scrolls back to madam Mo. "Madam, I would like to buy these two animals from you."
The crowd looked at the brothers as if they had gone nuts. What would two well-dressed men do with a bird and a donkey? They were silently watching the scene unfold, thinking, who was crazier, old Mo, or the two young masters?
Madam Mo looked pleased with herself. "They are not for sale. I finally have a family. Nobody sells their family!"
"A donkey and a bird can hardly make a family." PingZe said dryly. But madam Mo was unyielding. She would not sell the animals. They weren't only keeping her company, she also gained attention from the public.
After a negotiation of prices, conditions, and family principles, the brothers had to turn away in defeat. Talking to madam Mo was as effective as talking to a brick wall. The hill myna looked like he would collapse on top of LongHai as their sworn brothers walked away.
"What now? Steal the animals?" PingZe asked as they strolled forward, looking for the two monks.
"Let's find MingYu first."
As the two crossed an array of small houses, a soft scent of Gelsemium Elegans wafted their way. Both PingZe and ZhiYi froze in their tracks. What was heartbreak grass doing in MouChu? It shouldn't be growing in these areas. And with such a strong scent, whoever consumed it would be dead in seconds!
"Brother, didn't master Ye gift A-Fen a bag of this powder?" PingZe said, his usual grin gone. ZhiYi didn't answer as he hurried after the scent with PingZe closely behind him.
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* Gelsemium elegans – a poisonous yellow flower plant that causes comatose and in severe cases internal bleeding and death. Grows natively in Asia.
* MouChu = somewhere