The book said she would be able to the spirits from the realm but she didn't know to make that happen. Again, bright ideas.
Cenisa hoisted the branch in the air. "Spirits of the realm hear my call! Guide me to Jing!"
"You are a fucking idiot." She put the branch down and looked around. "I mean, you running around looking for somebody, great, but also your missing the goddamn point of it."
"Who the fuck is that?"
"Me!"
Her head swished back and forth to random places. "Goddamn girl, look forward."
She looked forward. "Ok, now count to ten and turn to the right." 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,--OH "Who are you?"
"Al'Riti but call me Jahmai." That didn't make sense. "What's your real name?" she asked. "Jahmai." he said. "Well, why would I call you Al'Riti?"
"I just wanna be fancy." Jahmai was a African man with a ethereal body. His eyes were gray and he wore a long robe patterned robe. "Why are you here?"
"To make fun of you. You understand right?" he batted an eye. "No…" she averted her gaze. "The nigga told you that Jing's daddy wants hearts. You have to settle the spirit."
"Ok…" she folded her arms. "Afro samurai…"
"Bitch I am black…" he rolled his eyes. "The village is in pieces. I can tell you were Jing is but at the end of the day, dead people exist."
"What do I have to do?"
"You have to go to the hills and dig out the hearts. Also revive the damn oni. Jiu Yan manipulated the oni with his damn curse."
"Can I ask why this man is cursed?"
"Miscarriage." he shrugged. "Anyway, Jiu is unlike any jiangshi. He takes hearts which is like symbolic to what qi stands for."
"He doesn't have a heart…" he remembered. "Exactly, because his stupid and thinks if he steals one or many he'll get a second chance on life."
"But I have a heart…" she pointed at herself. "You do because the branch zapped yo ass. So like it started back up!"
"And I have to save the world?"
"Bitch…"
"Well, that's what it sounds like I have to do!"
"Jing is dead." Cenisa's face stilled. "No he isn't." She just met him. "Chill. You can get him back but first you gotta find the hearts of the village. They is all Jiangshi."
"You a ghetto ass African…"
"You want some African wisdom?" he said.
"Ok."
"Fucking go mind your business. Again, Jing is dead. Old folk lore, the jiangshi comes when the soul fails to leave the body but in your case that isn't it."
She ust felt pain at the thought Jingyu was gone. "Bitch, he is fine. He has his soul but it didn't leave right and now he walkin' around looking fucking stupid."
She smiled a little. Why did she care? Because that was the last bit of kindness she asked for. That man was clean, he washed his ass thoroughly- in the rain. "Supposedly you finna marry his ass but whatever. Go to the hill outside the village, the branch makes the soul have sense."
"Have sense?"
"Like… destroy evil, I don't fucking know." he coughed. "Anyway, the hill is south east from the village. Get the hearts, easy." He looked off to the side. "Well… easy is a word." he disappeared.
"Southeast." she looked around where she was. She had to be near the plaza. "So, where is southeast?" she looked behind her. That was the woods, she moved to the house with a cat on the ground and found a space of homes and an area for sitting with pillows and a place for incenses to be set and burned.
She decided to take it. "Put that back where it came from!"
"Lord!" she dropped the incense. "Who was that! Jahmai?"
"No!"
"Who is it?" she readied the branch. "An old woman!"
"Huh?"
The spirit appeared, it was a old little chinese woman with a crinkled face and wooden leg. "Who are you?" she gawked. "Ren." she furrowed. "Put the incense back where you found it."
"S-sorry." Cenisa put the incense back and it lit itself. "Now get out."
She watched Ren sit on one of the pillows and pray in silence. She backed away from the praying area and continued the way she was going. "You're going the right way. Just follow the rock slide." spoke Ren without breaking away from prayer.
"What the fuck is wrong with Chinese people…" she grimaced and moved on.
Once she got to the rock slide. The path changed into a plank of wood splitting a died river and the rock that traveled from a highter level. She examined the rock and could see bones wedged between the rock and the barrier. The skeleton was still clothed and had a purse on it.
She picked it up and looked inside, she found a little stray note with a heart. "What happened in this village?"
Ren said go up the hill. There were stepping stone made into the path, she tread lightly. Up here the graves were labeled with sticks.
RIP: Ren Baozhai
RIP: Jun Tang
RIP: Shanzhi Lu
RIP: Jia Lu
RIP: Fu-Fu Mei
RIP: Fan Cao
RIP: Papian Ha
There were so many bodies buried. She counted 23 people, but where was that thing she was suppose to find? "Wrong hill." Ren appeared. "what the fuck!"
"I'm old and dead. You want the hill with Oni. Or…" she thought. "Is this the hill and in it's Jingyu's cave. I forget."
"You old bitch, where is the graves."
"You have the find the graves to find the hearts. Maybe you should try digging." she looked to the right. "Or go in there, maybe they hid themselves."
"What is wrong with you people?" she fumed. "We are dead young lady because of people like you!"
"Oh really!"
"Not black people!" she shouted. "Vampires!"
She was ready to fight but calmed her nerves. "That's right bitch." Ren squinted. "We hate vampires."
"What happened to the village?"
"Yugayama Village was never big. We didn't want it to be. I'm the oldest resident here. Well, I'm dead now. After my husband died, I decided to change my name. My son and grandson are in the cave." she pointed. "You think you can free my son?" Ren shock her head. "That boy will never be smart. He's so stupid, he used to tell me he needed rocks to count." Ren looked down the hill. "That's my damn grandson, Ma. He acts like his father, I hate him too."
"But why are Jiangshi?"
"Because we used the talismans for the wrong thing and now the graves are disturbed." she looked back at Cenisa. "You aren't fro here but you were definitely summoned. Why? Because you have a heart." she tilted her head. "Or maybe it's just building connection."
"What connection?" she investigated. "The connection to your world from here. The bureaucrat wamts hearts to relive his curse."
"Y'all know a lot about this man. I think y'all cursed him--"
"We did not. I am 1,000 years old. Jingyu is dead but you have the will, the means, and the tree sap to brinf him back!"
The tree sap? "I planted the damn pines because I thought the seed was a pinecone seed! I don't get credit for shit but I'm dead so forget it." she turned her back. "They probably destroyed their graves. Did I say that already?"
"And I need to put them to rest?"
"No."
"Then what the fuck am I here for?"
"I don't know but if you could mow the lawn sometimes, we'd be thankful for cut grass. Aside from that could give a message to the main city?"
"WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING HERE!"
"YOU ARE DEAD!" she snapped. "I have a heart!"
"Then why do you keep asking?"
Because she was flustered. "In the cave?"
"Yes, you dumb bitch!"
"Excuse me granny?" she lifted a brow. "Go in the cave and get rid of the jiangshi. The hearts are probably with them too. And then…"
"Then what?"
"You'll marry…"