The rancid smell intensified as soon as the creature appeared. Oh, how vile it looked.
It was as tall as the average adult human, but because it hunched over, as though its spine was a hook, it appeared short. Its body was a striking red and shiny, with a bit of transparency. It might have been a red jade. If you looked closely, you could see the thick, long bones in its long arms. Its thick fingers scraped the ice and snow.
The creature's head twitched. Its lamp-like orange eyes barely hid the slit-like pupils within them; they were locked onto Yun Jieshi, and its wide mouth, set upon a heavy square jaw, opened to tease sets of sharp, curved teeth, and a lumpy tongue quite unlike its jade skin.
Terror slowly gripped Yun Jieshi, but the urge to keel over and vomit was a strong contender for the sensation to leave the most impression on him.
He tried to avoid the horrid smell from reaching him by pinching his nose, but it was little help.
He took a few steps back.
'What kind of a creature is this?'
The red jade monstrosity grinned and pretended to lunge right then. Yun Jieshi was so startled that he fell into the snow on his back. He hurried to stand back up, ashen, only to find the creature howling in laughter. Its explosion of mirth was no different from the sound of sandpaper scraping against a rough wall.
The creature's laugh infuriated Yun Jieshi, but he could scarcely do anything about it. Not when the sound of scurrying and chipping and scratching below the rock pillar's peak only grew louder and louder until dozens of figures began appearing all around.
More of the red jade creatures showed themselves, their stink compounding to create something phenomenally disgusting. They were all equally enthusiastic at seeing Yun Jieshi, it seemed. they derived several tonnes of joy from the prospect of skinning him or worse.
They differed in stature, however. Some were taller, even with their hooked veterbraes, and some wielded weapons.
There were archers with bows made of some kind of blue wood. There were those that wielded spears with hafts made of the same – presumably – sturdy wood, and reddish blades for the ends. Some of them favored daggers and swords of different kinds, yet equally unimpressive in their make.
Yun Jieshi turned around, eyes watering from the unbearable smell. He was surrounded from all sides. The red jade creatures behind him scaled or wound around the broken peach-shaped rock to get a better look at him. Some were already nocking thin, crooked arrows on their bows, preparing to shoot.
The little monkey's breath quickened. He didn't know what to do. The only thing he found the sense to accomplish was to strap the wineskin around his shoulder as he turned on the spot. He took in the view of all his enemies from all sides.
What to do? What to do?
The enemies jeered. Just as he could smell their stink, they could smell his fear. They were perhaps emboldened by his small stature.
One of the enemies shrieked with glee and loosened an arrow at him right then.
Yun Jieshi's heart might have exploded. He was dead for sure!
For sure!
For…sure?
Yun Jieshi frowned.
His pupils constricted… and he saw the arrow crawl its way towards him.
It was coming. Slowly. Anytime now.
It was probably moving at a modest speed of one meter per three seconds, slower than the average person's walking speed.
"Huh?"
Yun Jieshi had time to scratch his head, confused, before the arrow arrived.
He… moved out of its way.
How absurd it must have looked to the red jade enemy to loosen the arrow. Its grin vanished almost instantly.
One moment its enemy was a perfect target for its arrow and in the next, he was not. Its companions, much too drunk with pride and excitement, chalked this up to the archer's poor aim. Four more of them shot their arrows at Yun Jieshi.
The little monkey's eyes sharpened once more and he saw the arrows sloth their way towards him.
"This is… unbelievable," he said to himself, and for a moment, he lost himself to the thrill. When one of the arrows reached him, he poked it and its trajectory changed slightly.
"Can they even hurt me?"
For the other arrows, Yun Jieshi placed a palm in front of one and bared his back against the other. When the arrows touched his skin, his mirth sprayed from his nostrils. The arrows simply stopped and began falling to the snow.
This time, the red jade creatures were not betrayed by delusion. They grew silent, gaping – astonished.
…And then they charged towards the little monkey, howling in rage.
Yun Jieshi was startled. It was such an unexpected outcome. The enemies decided as one and at the exact same time that the enemy had to be jumped.
'I can't avoid all of them!' Yun Jieshi thought. There were at least four dozen of these creatures and some of them didn't wait until they were close.
They flung their spears with surprising accuracy, shot their arrows, and skilfully aimed their daggers at his head. Others lunged from the skies while screaming incomprehensible war cries; many more snarled, digging into the snow with their hands as they charged.
With his mystical electric blue eyes, Yun Jieshi saw the enemies move in slow motion, but that only worked for things in his direct line of sight. He was no speedster, and there were too many enemies!
Yun Jieshi's neck must have lost a few of its screws. It almost spun in a perfect circle.
'Crap' Yun Jieshi moaned inwardly.
A wave of the red jade creatures came upon him from his right. His mortal instincts made him brandish his daruan as a barrier between him and the four to five enemies that made to slam into him.
It was no mystery. Yun Jieshi wished he could delay as many of them from getting too close as possible.
His little wish was more doable than he could have imagined.
Indeed.
In accordance with his desire, his daruan became as thick, tall, and wide as a wall.
Its great, pale belly, embossed with daffodils, ballooned to the size of the Guangzhou Circle.
Its neck became as large as the Southern Sky Column.
Snow and ice filtered off the rock pillar.
The daruan groaned as many of the red jade creatures knocked against it and grunted in confusion.
Yun Jieshi was just as confused as they were, but in the next instant, he couldn't have looked more like a vile, grinning monstrosity, equal in ferocity to his enemies.
'So, this…!' He didn't finish the thought, because his hands had already grabbed onto the daruan's enlarged belly. The ruan was happy to feel his touch. His hands might have been stuck to it.
Yun Jieshi exerted all the strength he could. The daruan, even while many times his size, was still as light as a feather. He swung it, and the red jade creatures caught behind its belly and neck were sent flying off the rock pillar. To them, it weighed as much as ten trucks.
Yun Jieshi's grin turned increasingly manic.
'I really can…' He didn't finish the thought. Arrows bounced off his back inconsequentially and his long tail even helped swat others away. And then Yun Jieshi swung again at the baffled enemies behind him. They were no different than the snow. They went soaring into the fog screaming and howling.
Yun Jieshi was particularly merciless with the ones that pretended to be clever. A few of them had ducked down to avoid his blows, and now, he picked them off one by one. He seamlessly adjusted the size of his daruan with a thought to better punt them off the rock pillar!
"Aha… Ahahaha…AHAHAHAHAH!" It was the laugh of someone half-convinced they were dreaming. Yun Jieshi had dreamt of himself as the Jade Emperor once, hosting a banquet and eating delicious food reserved for Immortals.
Of course, this followed after he read many fictional texts at the end of an exhausting day, but this was different. It was…
"What reality is this?"
When none of the red jade creatures remained, Yun Jieshi gawked at his ruan in its enlarged state. He heard splashes of water down below as the enemies fell.
"There's so much else outside of this rock pillar and the fog. Could I…?" he thought and dropped the ruan onto the snow. He willed it to enlarge further. It obliged.
Its neck lengthened and pierced the thick clumps of fog ahead. Its belly soon because wider than the circular rock pillar's summit and Yun Jieshi hurriedly climbed on top of it. The rock pillar groaned and was soon cracking under the weight.
Excited and a little apprehensive, Yun Jieshi raced along the enlarging ruan's neck, between the ebony strings, heading towards what lay beyond the fog.
Towards the new world.