The scorching afternoon sun was shining over us. Despite the light breeze that swept some cooling, beads of perspiration were rolling down my face.
"You need blessing," Okutai gestured to a Hu who got up in reluctance and dragged his feet towards their bundle. He started rummaging through the cloth and grabbed some small object.
"Blessing? What is that?" I looked at Aguzen, hoping that he could answer the question.
"Blessing - land spirit can recognise," He answered in a vague, unhelpful manner.
What does that all even mean? I raised my eyebrow at him. He gave me a sheepish grin, which did not comfort.
My heart was beating faster. Were they going to put me through some hocus-pocus procedure to get some immunity against spirits?
I could hear the footsteps of the Hu man. Turning around to glance at his approach, I could spot a nondescript small pocket sized basket, in a tight weave of dried yellowish reeds, with its top coveted by a dark moist looking hemp cloth, in his hands.
He offered it to Okutai with a bow. Okutai's trembling hand took it. My ears pricked up at the sound of high pitched chirping and the rattling scales emanating from the basket.
Bugs. I froze at that thought. Bugs are in that small basket. My nervousness was growing. I would be fine with a non-bitting beetle, like a cicada but not other insects like a centipede or a scorpion. Goodness knows how venomous they would be in Jinshi.
"Give me finger," Okutai stretched his hand out.
"Is that really necessary?" I cringed as Aguzen nudged me to cooperate.
Where the fuck was Xuanyi? Maybe I should have brought along Xuanjing to stop this nonsense mumbo jumbo.
"Finger," Okutai repeated with an impatient gesture.
Why was he so insistent? I stretched out my index finger in such an unwilling manner, only to have it grabbed by his wizened, bony fingers. My eyes shut tightly and my face formed a grimace.
I could hear chuckling and snickering from the Hu men around. Okutai has pushed my finger into the basket. There was a cold creepy crawly antenna of an insect feeling on my finger.
Then it came. A burning sting. I pulled back in an instant, out of instinct. My eyes opened and saw the blood oozing out of a dot on my finger.
Before my mouth could utter a word, a searing heat raced through my meridian points and veins. My heart beat at an erratic pace.
"Why… poison me?" I gasped and clutched my now hurting chest.
"Not poison. This give immunity."
F**k my life if this is some screwed up way of administering some vaccine against the spirit world. My vision began blurring. My hearing could make out more noises. Shadows were flickering like blackish flames in front of me.
"You fight what you see. I give sight."
The pain was fading now. Okutai signalled for his man to take the pocket basket away.
Cool. I can see dead people. This is going to do wonders for my psyche and mental health. If both weren't already in shambles over the transmigration gaffe, both will be shredded to pieces. Unless the spirit world could tell me about my future.
My eyes blinked again, and the vision sharpened into reality. The shadows were gone, but I could spot strong radiating auras around each of the Hu. Aguzen had a reddish glow around him while Okutai had a strange patchy golden one. My eyes wandered to my hands and there it was, a purplish one.
"Killing aura?" I looked at Okutai, who shook his head and uttered a few words to Aguzen.
"Look me." Aguzen tugged at my sleeve. "Watch killing aura."
Above his reddish aura was a magenta one like Xuanyi's. Aguzen was barely out of his teens, and that was already the state of his aura.
"Me warrior," he pointed to himself, puffing his chest in pride.
Yeah, wait til you see my killing aura. It is the best 'warrior shade' ever to exist. What was the old saying on Earth? That adage by Jean Rostand - "Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a God."
Based on my aura read, I could be a conqueror. Or maybe not. The idea of killing a living breathing being did not appeal, although I could stomach watching the processes in a slaughterhouse of livestock.
"Then what is the red aura around him? Yours is gold," I asked Okutai.
"Energy," he directed his bony thin finger at the half dead bush, "Focus attention and see."
I took a deep breath and shut my eyes for a moment. The shadows returned, waving in and out of the darkness. My eyes popped open in surprise and the bush, which Okutai pointed to, had a strange bluish glow.
"Color?" Okutai asked.
"Blue."
"Cooling plant. Not poisonous," he said.
"What about food, does poison glow as well?"
Okutai shook his head. "Food, dead. No spirit."
Everything around me had a mild glow. My vision was adjusting at a quick pace. Any brighter may trigger my dreaded migraine and screw my brain up to ghastly heights.
"Then you have a gold hue around. What is that?" I asked, in curiosity.
"All my tribe has gold hue. We see no normal things. Future, past and sometimes gods or god's things," Okutai glanced at my sword and added, "It is gift by blood."
"So what colours are dangerous?"
"Red. They kill. Green, they are not as good as red. Not kill, but do much, much bad. No thought. No regard. Green kills because it can. But…," Okutai paused and glanced at me.
"Purple is yours. Extreme good or extreme bad is purple. The sign of star gods. Most die young. People jealous. Those alive become conquerors or gods," Okutai continued his lecture.
Shit, I don't want this colour. Neither do I want to live life like a conqueror.
From the history of Earth, conquerors often sacrifice a lot, and most had a tragic ending from weapon wounds or some political intrigue which led to their demise.
Not the lifestyle which could be envisioned by me. A peaceful life with enough food and water is better, in my opinion.
Even the chance of godhood was not tempting enough for me to enter this path. My hun, or what's left of the spirit which was in me on Earth, was feeling restless.
"Third Prince," Xuanyi's voice could be heard from the entrance to the Hu quarters. "Time to go back and take your tonic."