The Great Worm Lich

The sun was shining at noon. Song Zhengge, the deputy mayor of Damu Town had encountered an accident on the way back from Guawo Village. The car planted straight into the forest, and had exploded after an oil leak. The news of him being burnt into a pile of bones was passed back to the village, causing the originally badly shaken village to be shrouded with a deep layer of shadow.

“F*ck! You guys have really f*cked up! To think that you actually said that Mountain Worm has gone to the US to enjoy his life and that he wouldn’t come back again but look what happened now? The instant he returned, he cursed three national cadres to death and now that he has voiced it out loud, I’m afraid he wants all of your ancestral lines to cease to exist.”

“Father, stop scolding him. Hasn’t the wad of banknotes sent by the big boss from the city entered your pocket? Didn’t you also say that it was a good thing at the time and that it’d also be considered as helping the Zhang Family take care of their old house? Now that Mountain Worm has come back, you didn’t even utter a word…”

“Y-You… You! Where did you learn to talk back now, huh? You no good child! Just watch, I’ll beat the hell out of you! I’m already 78 years old so my brain is kinda jumbled out already but you’re not even 50 yet and your brain has also jumbled up already? I have the final words…”

“Beat me? Beat me? Even if you beat me, can you soothe the anger of the Zhang Family? Mountain Worm has told Ermu t-to settle his arrangement and to go up to the ‘mountain’ all by himself three days later. He even said that all of us who have agreed to occupy his ancestral home in the village assembly will have to give him an explanation. Speaking of it, this generation of the Zhang Family really has something against this pet name called ‘Ermu’. A few years back, the Ermu in the He Family has also died in his hand. Now, the Ermu from Xiang Family is also going to die in his hand. You know what I think? No matter how evil that Father from Zhang Family is, he can’t just annihilate half of the villagers right, can he? Perhaps he’d be able to soothe his anger after killing Ermu and no longer pursue this matter. Or perhaps we can just go hide somewhere for a few days…”

“Hide? Hide? Hide your ass! Even if you can hide for a few days, do you think you can hide forever? Besides, even if that Mountain Worm doesn’t dare to annihilate half of the villagers, how do you know he’s going to vent his anger at which family? Go, go bring a healthy mule for me! I’ll find your Brother Ah Lie and show my old face and see whether it would work or not. Sigh…”

Similar conversations were carried out among many of the mountain villagers. Not long after, the entire mountain village was full of villagers who were pulling a mule awkwardly, rushing to Tao Lielin’s house that was situated at the mountainside.

At this time, Zhang Lisheng, who had sent the entire Guawo Village into chaos, was still diligently studying the ancient books in the wing room of the Zhang Family’s old house. He was not concerned about the fact that he had just cast a small spell to kill somebody for after all, since the ancient time, the Qu County was a land of wilderness that had countless people die being injured by poisonous insects. It would not be fishy having one or two deaths occasionally.

Sitting on the wooden bed, Zhang Lisheng put down a roll of “Mountain Exodus” written on antique parchment and carefully picked up a book titled “Witchcraft Record Pool” as thin as a cicada’s wings, that was made of an unknown material, from the wooden box on the head of the bed. After flipping through it, the young man’s eyes lit up right away as he began to mumble, “‘Sacrifice — Devour its will using your will to take its shape essentially.’ Could it be that the key to the Witchcraft’s Gate of Sacrifice lies on only one word ‘will’…’Will’, consciousness, resolution… Don’t the Gate of Sacrifice wizards rely on absorbing animal’s souls to obtain their strength before reaching Rank-6 Wizard stage? ‘Devour its will using your will to take its shape essentially…’ To take its shape essentially… Don’t tell me that ‘will’ actually reacts to the material, and that I can turn into whatever I want just by thinking about it? No no… If the Gate of Sacrifice is really this amazing, why would it still require to absorb animal souls?”

Sensing that he had found a certain key, Zhang Lisheng carefully digested the meaning implied by the sentence ‘Sacrifice — Devour its will using your will to take its shape essentially’. The more he pondered over it, the more he was led up to meaningful afterthoughts. He re-read the Witchcraft Record Pool once again and put the ancient book back into the wooden box before composing himself quietly to contemplate about it. All of a sudden, he heard a knocking sound resonating from the yard.

Frowning, the young man closed the lid of the wooden box on the head of the bed and got down on the bed to wear his shoes and walked up to the door. After unlatching the door and opening it, he was surprised to see Uncle Ah Lie standing in front of the door. Both sides of the mountain lane, on the other hand, was crowded with healthy green mules. Each of the mule had an old villager standing in front, pulling its rein while looking at him with a face full of smiles.

As a thought entered his mind, Zhang Lisheng immediately realized what was going on. However, with an unchanged expression, he asked Tao Lielin right away, “Uncle Ah Lie, what is this?”

“Mountain Worm, all of us fellow villagers feel sorry towards your Zhang Family, so we’re here to make an apology. You can ignore everything else but for the sake of all of our ancestors who have lived in the same village…”

“Uncle Ah Lie, if they knew that all of my Zhang Family’s ancestors have lived in the same village with them, they shouldn’t have come to snatch my Zhang Family’s old home in the first place, should they?”

Tao Lielin’s words were interrupted by Zhang Lisheng and at once, he was rendered speechless. At this moment, a short hunchback old villager by the side who looked at least seventy years old, whose skin had already dried up and wrinkled suddenly kneeled on the ground with a ‘thud’. “Oh Father Lisheng, Father Lisheng, it’s my Gepu Family who is at wrong! We’ve been blinded by the big boss from the city and have become covetous. Oh Father, Father, you’re a magnanimous person! Let me kowtow to you to repent my sin and I’ll sacrifice four big animals to the former Zhang Family’s Father next year as an offering. Please let us go this time. Please let us go this time. Please… Please…”

“Aiya, Uncle Raolin, w-what are you doing?” Upon seeing the old man kneeling down, Zhang Lisheng’s expression remained unchanged but it was Tao Lielin, instead, who was struck with panic as he quickly went to lift him up. However, before he was able to help the old man up, all of the villagers pulling the mules had snapped into realization and kneeled down as well.

When Tao Lielin saw the mountain villagers kneeling on the ground all around him, his face became completely flushed right away. Rubbing his palms together with force, he told Zhang Lisheng loudly, “Mountain Worm, kid! Kid! Look at this, look at the situation is unfolding now! Do you really want me to kneel down as well before you’ll forgive all of them?”

Then, as he was speaking, he began to proceed to kneel down as well.

Zhang Lisheng immediately stopped him in panic. Helplessly, he said, “Uncle Ah Lie, you’ll cut my lifespan short if you kneel. Alright then, I’ll listen to you. I’ll let this go this time but I’ll be frank with all of you, if there’s a second time, I’ll make reprisals together with the old account too. Also Grandfather Gepu, who is that ‘big boss from the city’ that you mentioned just now? Explain it to me.”

When Old Man Gepu heard that Zhang Lisheng had forgiven him, the stone in his heart was put down immediately. Hastily, he replied, “Father Lisheng, it is a boss with the surname Guodi who came from other state who wanted to open a hotel in your Zhang Family’s ancestral house. He has even opened a company called ‘Heng Xiang’ something…”

“Uncle Rao Lin, don’t say it anymore!” Tao Lielin anxiously interrupted the old man’s words and looked at Zhang Lisheng with a panic-stricken face. “Mountain Worm, it’s no longer a small matter now so you can’t act rashly.”

Zhang Lisheng nodded noncommittally but he did not say anything more.

At this time, in the entire Guawo Village, be it the tourists from other foreign countries or the villagers in the village, all of them had their attention focused on this old Chinese-styled house that was built on the mountainside of the village by the mountain, which looked completely different from the surrounding bamboo buildings.

In the crowds, a tall man with thick brows and huge eyes, who looked like a college student, pointed at Tao Lielin and told a slightly tanned girl with pretty facial features but a delicate appearance in astonishment, “Lulu, isn’t that your dad? Why is he leading a large group of people holding their mules kowtowing at a young man on the street? Is this a folk performance in your hometown?”

“Yao Lin, don’t talk nonsense if you don’t understand. Don’t point either! That young man is the ‘Father’ in our village…” the girl replied with a complicated expression, before forcing a smile as she continued, “Sigh, you won’t understand even if I explain it to you. Don’t you guys want to go take a look at the Snake Barricade Valley? We’ll be late if we don’t depart now.”

“Let’s go then! The Snake Barricade Valley is the highlight of our trip this time. Let’s go! Let’s go! Just how fun can you have watching other people kowtowing anyway? Haven’t you watched enough from the palace drama?” Among the group of seven to eight young men and women as her companions, somebody could tell that the girl’s mood had been dampened so he quickly shouted and motioned to the rest, walking towards the village’s mountain road while carrying a backpack as he spoke.

The young people were agile in their movements and soon, they vanished in the mountain road. At the same time, the mountain villagers, who were asking for forgiveness around Zhang Family’s old house, had also returned to their own houses together with their mules, under Zhang Lisheng’s command, with thousands of thanks, leaving behind Tao Lielin standing right there in front of the Zhang Family’s house.

“Uncle Ah Lie, is there anything else?” When Zhang Lisheng saw that his Uncle Ah Lie was still there, he asked.

“It’s nothing. Erm, well, it’s actually regarding Ermu. Sigh, this is really eerie. A few years ago, the elder Ermu from the He Family has died in your house and now the younger Ermu from the Xiang Family has offended you because of your house again. Just now, Grandfather Xiang was here too and I saw that he has opened his mouth several times but did not dare to say anything at all…”

“Ah don’t worry, Uncle Ah Lie. Everything is behind us now after that one sentence of yours.” In the face of his Uncle Ah Lie, of whom he had owed huge gratitude before, and who had always been sincerely caring about him, Zhang Lisheng’s attitude became more amiable, with an attitude that looked more like a junior. Without beating around the bush, he agreed to it directly.

“Great, that’s great!” Tao Lielin breathed a sigh of relief. His entire expression relaxed visibly. After pondering for a while, he asked again in a whisper, “Mountain Worm, do you have anything to do with Mayor Song’s incident?”

“Mayor Song? What’s wrong with Mayor Song?” the young man acted dumb as he asked.

“He has encountered a car accident on the way back to the town and crashed into a tree. The car oil has leaked causing the entire car to burst into flames and it’s said that it has almost caused a forest fire. All three passengers in the car have been burned to charcoal.”

“Uncle, I’m a Father, not a terrorist. How could the oil spill explosion of his car have anything to do with me? It’s true that I’ve placed a curse on him but I don’t even know whether it’s effective or not. Even if it was effective, it would have only caused him to have nightmares for a few years,” Zhang Lisheng casually weaved a lie.

“A few years of nightmares? Then he would have had mental illness too. Mountain Worm, you have even lived in the US before so why are you still…. Sigh…”

“Uncle Ah Lie, even if I have lived on Mars before, I’m still Zhang Lisheng and would still have this temper of mine, wouldn’t I?” The young man smiled and said in a low voice.

“Alright, alright! I can’t win against you. Anyways, do you plan to stay here for a few days and then leave or you’re going to stay here for long?”

“I’ll just stay for ten to fifteen days.”

“Alright. In that case, I’ll ask Auntie to cook your meals for you to these few days. We’ll send it to you every meal.”

“Uncle Ah Lie, there’s no need to go all the trouble. It’s the same too if I cook it myself.”

“There’s not even a single rice, noodle or a single drop of oil or flour in your house at all so how are you going to eat? Don’t argue with me, I’ll send your meal to you. Enough, enough, you can go back to your house now.” After saying so, Uncle Ah Lie waved his hand and walked back on the road that he had come just now.