Chapter 17 - The Devil Witch of Tian Yin
Chapter 17 - The Devil Witch of Tian Yin [1]
A rustle came from the bamboo forest, and with the sound a nymph-like young girl in white dress wandered out, who looked merely the age of fifteen, or at most sixteen, but her figure was gracefully slender, her breasts bulging from her blouse, her feet as white as pure snow, her dark black hair tumbling until her waist; as her large bright eyes blinked, beautiful glances flashed from her liquid orbs, and a seducing amorous fragrance could be smelt all over her body which not a single man was able to resist.
Seeing this barefoot nymph-like girl, the Taoist priest shouted harshly as if he’d seen a hideous snake or scorpion, “The Devil Witch, I’d never thought you’re still tailing me? Do you really think my cold sword would shrink before your witchcraft?”
“Cold Sword [2], you should be the one most clear of my reason following you. Dear poor Lan Yun[3] sister, she’s that into you, should you feel at ease while she lay under the ground, cannot rest in peace?” The beautiful girl’s eyes blinked, clear and shining, as if heavenly streams. She walked steadily to the middle-aged Taoist priest in a slow pace.
“You witch, I’d told you a hundred times, Yun Er’s death has nothing to do with me. She’s only killed because our appointment venue was leaked out. “ The middle-aged Taoist’s face twisted with fierceness, he swished out his sword reflecting cold blue light and roared at the girl.
“I don’t care if you mean it or not, but you did make the promise to live and die with Yun Er, so I’m only here to help you fulfill your oath. Don’t thank me so much, “ the barefoot girl said with a light smile while raising her sleeves, a short ruler, as white as jade, shown from inside.
The ruler was not longer than a half chi [4], two cun[5] in width, but there should be wisps of white fog coiling up around the surface, looking extremely mysterious.
“The...the Legendary Ice Ruler, isn’t it your Tian Yin sect’s ultimate weapon? You lunatic, stealing such a final weapon out just for a dead woman? Aren’t you afraid of your sect’s seniors? They’ll annihilate all your skills once they find out!” The Taoist priest had had prepared to put up a desperate fight, but his face froze at the ruler, only stammering the weak threat.
“Well, that’s not your business then. Let’s waist no more time, I’ll now send you to meet Yun Er.” The barefoot girl only gave him a faint smile while shaking her ruler slightly. Suddenly there nearby air stirred invisibly, white fog appeared from thin air rolling incessantly; in its swirl the fog turned to white flowers as big as bowls in a rapid speed.
“To kill me? Stop dreaming!”
With a whiz the Taoist priest flung the little animal out of his hand to the girl unexpectedly, while he stomped hard unto the ground and shoot himself backward, right into mid air, before he vanished like a giant bird into a nearby dark wood with a swirl in the air.
“Witch, I’ll tell about your theft of the Legendary Ice Ruler, see what your sect will do to you.” The vile oath came from the wood, the last words of the oath already growing faint as he fled deep into forest. Obviously, he had already gone faraway.
“Idiot man, a mere fake should have scared you out your wits! But my Soul-Hunting Incense have got you, you could never run out of its power! Just move your legs and run! Why, the golden hamster has opened its holy pupils!” The barefoot girl lift her slender fingers, catching the golden hamster with ease, and was just about to ridicule the Taoist priest when her eyes turned alight with surprise: just as she lowered her head and looked briefly at the little animal in hand, she found something out of expectation.
“Well, I was wondering why Cold Sword would grab an ordinary golden hamster without scruples. It turned out to be a holy-pupiled hamster, soon to be a holy animal!” Taking back her jade ruler, the barefoot girl held the golden animal into her breast, stroking it tenderly, full of affection.
The mouse-looking golden animal rolled its tiny green eyes all the time, while it dared not to move its body as stroked by the ten slender fingers.
“Oh yes, there’s another little guy. “ After making a fuss of the golden hamster for a while, the barefoot girl suddenly found Shi Mu frozen still nearby, whose body had grown a thin layer of white frost, only his eyes movable, with which he was staring fixedly at the barefoot girl.
She giggled and wandered her way to Shi Mu at an unhurried pace.
Shi Mu’s eyes rolled slowly with difficulty was the girl’s figure moved, without turning away once.
“Well that’s funny.” Seeing thus the barefoot girl cracked a smile, a trace of interested expression shown on her face. Suddenly, she deliberately swung her body left and right.
Though unable to move, Shi Mu’s eyeballs began to move left and right to trace the girl, a hilarious sight indeed.
“Haha, that’s so funny!” The barefoot girl halted in front of Shi Mu, with the little animal in her breast she giggled girlishly, her back arched, as if her stomach was aching due to the laugh.
The girl laughed for a good while before she straightened her back anew, her sleeves raised while a puff of white fog rushed out and seeped into Shi Mu’s body in no time.
Then a surprising scene occurred.
The frost on Shi Mu’s body began to resolve in a rapid speed that even naked eyes could see the process clearly.
With a loud thud Shi Mu fell down straight, heavily into the mud, so hard that he could not manage to raise his back only his head, slightly.
Then he suddenly saw a pair of slender feet as lotus rhizome, their ten toenails painted bright red, as seducing as fresh petals.
“Beautiful?”
The owner of the slender feet asked, leisurely.
Shi Mu blushed to the very roots of his hair at the question; suddenly a strength grew inside him, quite strange, which even made him rise from the ground slowly. He then studied the extremely beautiful face with strange looks unknown to himself before.
“Well little guy, you know, if you are two or three years older and look at me in this way, I’d gouge your eyes right away. “ The barefoot girl rolled her beautiful eyes, the little animal in her breast, made a horrified remark unexpectedly.
“What’s your name?” Finally Shi Mu opened his mouth; his voice, though somewhat husky, was calm enough, to the girl’s surprise.
“Do you think I’ll tell you?” The girl was stunned for a moment, then answered with a grin.
“I can only go to your family and propose to you after knowing your name. “ Shi Mu’s fixed his eyes on the girl; there was a nondescript trace of fervent emotion shown on his face.
“What, say again? I didn’t hear you quite clearly. “ The barefoot girl thought she must heard him wrongly. She opened her beautiful eyes widely and asked in a big surprise.
“I’d ask you to be my wife. I shall make you my wife. “ Shi Mu answered without hesitation, his looks determined and unchanged.
“What nonsense...Do you know my age, my identity to speak such a daring thing?” The barefoot girl, though had always been cruel and merciless, her mind shrewd and deep, was caught unguarded by the youth’s words.
“Or you are already engaged? Or in your forties, fifties? “ Shi Mu asked, knitting his eyebrows.
“Surely not, and I’m only in my twenties...Wait, why should I tell you so...You...” The barefoot girl answered subconsciously first, only realizing her bluntness with anger and shame.
“In your twenties, and not yet engaged with anyone, that’s perfect. No matter what you are, I take a liking to you at first sight. I’ll definitely make you my wife. “ Hearing the answer Shi Mu relaxed and said earnestly.
“Haha, you like me so you can marry me? Even if you are an accomplished warrior, I won’t agree, let alone a practitioner...Well, it’s only a waste of time speaking with you. To tell you the truth, I don’t believe a thing in a man’s honey-sweet words, and I’ve decided to never marry anyone in my life. “ The girl finally resumed her ordinary state to some extent, then giggled, but meanwhile evading Shi Mu’s fervent looks.
“My mother used to tell me, if you did meet a girl you really liked, you must let her know as soon as possible, so as not to miss a perfect marriage. Here I, Shi Mu, vowed seriously to marry this girl in front of me in my life, if ever I eat my word, I shall be pierced by ten thousand arrows, be cut to death by axes. “ Shi Mu’s eyes never once moved from the girl, his eyes not blinking, his hands raised. The deadly oath was made.
But whether it was accidents or not, just as Shi Mu finished his last word, there came some booming thunders from the sky gratuitously.
The barefoot girl opened her red lips slightly, her beautiful eyes gazed at Shi Mu, unable to speak a word. Only after a long while she burst into a charming laughter.
“That’s...so...so funny! Me! The Devil Witch of Tian Yin sect, should be proposed one day, and by a teenage boy! Good, good, don’t say I leave you no chance, if you can reach the accomplished level before thirty, then come for me in Wan Long mountain [6], Tian Yin sect, I’ll tell you my real name by then. And this, it’s the pay for the holy animal.”
Holding her laughter the girl straightened her back and threw a bottle to Shi Mu, then crumbed something in her sleeves.
“Pu!” A sound was heard.
There came suddenly a strong wind in the nearby air, and white clouds appeared to lift the girl to the height of over ten zhang, sending her floating to the faraway sky, only leaving Shi Mu with a faint, melodious last warning,
“ To tell you another thing, the holy animal was faking unconsciousness that time. If not caught by Cold Sword before it fled, you may really return with empty hand.”
From the moment the barefoot girl threw the bottle to the one when she flew with the animal, Shi Mu only experienced a split second; she left so soon as if hurried to flee from something...
“She did fly...The Devil Witch of Tian Yin...”
Shi Mu stood was struck dumb, freezing at the direction of the girl’s disappearance, looking into the distance for a long while. Then he murmured to himself in a loss.
After a long time he finally came to himself. Looking at the bottle and the previously made trap, he smiled to himself bitterly.
“’Try to steal a chicken, only to end up losing the rice’, that’s the saying, isn’t it? Hundred of silver and the animal, all gone.”
But then he could not help but become curious of the content inside the bottle.
After all, the girl was so enigmatic, the thing she gave should not be ordinary.
Shi Mu only give it a brief thought before he opened the bottle, taking it as his possession now, and a roundish pill of white color rolled out, swirling, as big as his thumb, and silver light seemed to glitter faintly on its surface.
“Qi Ling pill!”
Shi Mu cried out involuntarily after making out the pill’s appearance.
Notes:
[1] The Devil With of Tian Yin: The original spell in Chinese is Tian Yin Cha Nv, which means the beautiful girl of Tian Yin sect, while “Tian Yin” is the name of the sect. “Tian” means heaven, “Yin” has the multiple meaning of ‘negative’, ‘female’, ‘shade’, ‘cloudiness’, ‘sinister’, ‘of the ghosts’ world’, etc. So the translator here decides to adopt the title of “the Devil Witch of Tian Yin”, since the word ‘witch’ carries as complex meanings as ‘yin’, indicating the girl’s viciousness and beauty at the same time.
[2] The Cold Sword: it is both the man’s name and his skill’s name.
[3] Lan Yun: a girl’s name. “Lan” means blue, “yun” means a fragrant herb.
[4] chi: a unit of length (=1/3 meter).
[5] cun: a unit of length (=1/3 decimeter).
[6] Wang Long: a fictional mountain’s name, meaning a huge, verdant mountain.