The Immortal’s Poison

Wen Leyang could still recall, when he was studying in the county town, he had watched a movie titled ‘The Gods Must Be Crazy Too’. The features of the lead actor and the black people, who suddenly visited, were very similar. Their complexion was black in color, penetrated by a layer of yellowish-grey. They were very tall but their backs were slightly bent. Perhaps it was because they lived on the grasslands, thus did not possess strong and tall physiques. On the contrary, they appeared to be slightly skinny and weak, with short curly hair coiling tightly on their scalp.

The hints of never ending sorrow etched into their wrinkles and their gaze. However, occasionally, a smile would appear, causing one to immediately feel their simple and honest nature.

These African people did not appear evil. They did not carry any evil energy.

Their leader walked in great strides towards Gu Xiaojun. He patted on his thin and bony chest strenuously, making a blunt banging sound. Simultaneously, his mouth spewed out a few syllables that sounded like gibberish. Wen Leyang was afraid that the moment he exerted his strength, he would break his ribs… or fracture his arm.

Gu Xiaojun peered towards Fei Fei. Both of them shook their heads helplessly. No one could understand the African people’s language. However, Fei Fei could read the other party’s emotions, she told the group softly, “Anxious, dejected!”

The African people’s leader shook his head. He continued to pat his chest strenuously, his mouth muttered repeatedly, “”Batis, Tutatunte. Batis, Tutatunte!”

Gu Xiaojun asked probingly, “Your name? Batistuta… Tunte?”

A looked of happiness floated on the African people’s leader’s face, he corrected the separation of his name, “Batis, Tutatunte!”

Gu Xiaojun laughed as he nodded, he patted on his chest. “Gu Xiaojun!”

The African people’s leader was elated, he immediately nodded his head vigorously. He stretched out his hand and pointed towards Gu Xiaojun. “Gu Xiaoqun!” Then he turned his hand and pointed at himself. “Batis, Tutatunte!” He stopped for a moment. As if concluding that his name was too long, he shortened his name slightly.. “Tutatunte. Tutatunte!”

The small eyed Xiao Sha burst out laughing. “Xiaoqun? You’re wearing a pair of huge trousers though!” He has only laughed twice when his laugh was cut off by Gu Xiaojun’s guillotine-like glare.

Wen Leyang was much smarter, he laughed from the side as he patted his chest. “Yang!”

The rest of them sniggered as they imitated Wen Leyang. They patted on their chests as they said, “Zhui!”, “Fei!”, “Sha!”

Batis Tutatunte’s memory was pretty good. Wen Leyang and the rest only needed to say their names once and he remembered them all. He called out their names one by one, his pronunciation was accurate, with the exception of Gu Xiaojun, whom he still called “Gu Xiaoqun!”

Gu Xiaojun heaved a sigh, he was felt at a loss. If Xiaoqun it was, then so be it. The name sounded rather artistic once he had gotten used to it.

After Tutatunte was acquainted with everyone, his face shown with a heartfelt smile. He suddenly gestured, akin to a big bird, flapping his arms continuously, imitating the movements of flying. His mouth gave out a series of sharp cries like a falcon. Gu Xiaojun was extremely confused. Tutatunte ‘flew’ for a long time before he stopped. He raised his ‘left wing’ and pointed to himself, then raised his ‘right wing’ and pointed to ‘Gu Xiaoqun’ and the rest, looking at them in anticipation.

Wen Leyang suddenly understood. He had spent quite some time with Ah Dan and had a good understanding of body language. He turned his head to the side and hesitated on whether he should imitate the bird flapping movements as he said to Gu Xiaojun, “Male eagles. One of the wings represent him, the other wing is us. I think it’s meaning is almost the same as hands and feet?”

Fei Fei was desperately trying to refrain from laughing. She used an extremely slow speed as she asked Tutatunte, “Frie..nd?” Following that, she made a gesture of holding her hands together.

Tutante had been in China for some time. Even though he still could not speak a word of Chinese, at the very least, he has heard many Chinese words. He seemed to understand the meaning of ‘friend’, the wrinkles on his face squeezed together in happiness, he roared in a choppy accent, “Frie…nd!” He stretched out his hand and pointed towards the two parties and probingly asked again, softly, “Friend?” Finally, he stretched out a hand and held it out in midair as he watched Gu Xiaojun.

The African people seemed to be truly desperate. The majority of the ‘great powers’ had since divided up into factions and there were only two flocks of lambs left. A flock of black African lambs, and a flock of yellow Asian lambs…

Gu Xiaojun laughed as he nodded. He stretched out his hand and gripped Tutatunte’s hand tightly and spoke determinedly, “Friend!”

With the sound of a crash, Tutatunte plucked a necklace made of a string of fangs of an unknown animal, perhaps a wolf or a jackal or a leopard or a hyena, from his neck. He hung it around Gu Xiaojun’s neck in an appreciative maner, his mouth continuously repeated, “Friend, friend…” His tone sounded heavier the more he spoke.

Gu Xiaojun gave out a forced smile as he padded his body. There was not even one worthy gift on him. Finally, Qin Zhui wrote a blessing talisman in good penmanship and gifted it to the African people’s leader, which surprisingly, Tutatunte held up and waved around his forehead. It seems that he has watched some Chinese zombie films. He kept the talisman away carefully, turned around and raised his hands high up towards his troop.

All of a sudden, more than ten African people cheered in unison as if they had truly found their most trusted allies. Tutatunte waved his hands towards them and they immediately started bustling about. Like agile grassland jerboas, they proceeded to move their items and shifted their campsite next to Wen Leyang and his team’s tent.

Gu Xiaojun suddenly raised his hand and slapped his forehead heavily. He chuckled. “We are all out of our minds!” He spoke to Tutatante in a flurry of Tibetan. When the small town’s people were informing everybody about the ‘elimination match’, they had used the Tibetan language. It was apparent that the African people had understood them.

Unexpectedly, Tutatunte shook his head, his face filled with puzzlement. He could not understand the Tibetan language at all. Even Qin Zhui was astonished, his tone persistent as he spoke to Wen Leyang and the rest, “When those Tibetan people were informing them, they had used the Tibetan language. Evidently, they were not speaking a foreign language! I do not understand what these people are saying now but I can still differentiate between the Tibetan language and foreign language.”

Wen Leyang’s expression turned solemn. The African people did not understand the Tibetan language, yet they were capable of understanding the words of the small town’s residents. He pondered for a long time. There seemed to be only one explanation that made sense. As they shared the same beliefs, they were capable of surpassing the language barrier.

Even though this idea seemed highly unlikely, it did not mean that it was not a possibility.

Fei Fei peered at Wen Leyang’s face. She could roughly guess his thoughts. She nodded and used a voice that could only be heard by her own people, “If what you are thinking is true, then there are two possibilities. First, is that between the troops, even though they each have their own language, they can still communicate with each other unhindered. Second, is that only the resident of Tuer Town have the ability to communicate with Xiang Liu’s followers unhindered. The people in between troops can’t communicate.”

Gu Xiaojun’s said in a affirmative tone, “It is the second! If it was the first one, Tutatunte would have never formed an alliance with us.”

At that moment, Tutatunte was bustling about. He was drawing out a long line of small human figures in the sand with a wooden stick.

The moment Wen Leyang saw the drawing, he was overjoyed. The African people were drawing the different evil cult troops in the small town of Tuer. Each human figure represented one troop. The African people’s drawings may have been done with just simple lines, but within those few lines, one could see every troop’s characteristic. For example, the Khmer people were short in stature and the contours of their faces sharp, the Koreans’ eyes were closely arranged, the Europeans had long noses, the Indian people had their head wrapped in scarves.

Qin Zhui pointed towards a human figure that seemed to have a talisman stuck to his face and asked in puzzlement, “Who is this?”

Tutantu widened his mouth and revealed a mouthful of pearly white teeth. He pointed towards Gu Xiaojun and the rest and laughed.

He pointed towards a tall human figure, with it’s back rested on the figure of the nine-headed snake and long silk in his hand, and pointed to himself as he continued to laugh joyously.

Wen Leyang and the rest were at a lost on whether to laugh or to cry. Tutatunte continued to draw his own human figure. Finally, on the row of small human figures, he drew out five circles, each encompassing of a few different human figures. Gu Xiaojun had long picked up on the hint, he laughed as he nodded. “Our African companions are quite remarkable, they had spent the day going around each of the other campsite. Even though they did not manage to form any alliances, they had scrutinized the other troops!”

Tutatunte drew out the different alliances that have formed within the evil cult troops. Within each circle, there was also a human figure which he marked with a point symbol, this person appeared to be the leader of the alliances.

The evil cults’ alliances did not follow any laws, regions or race. There were a total of eighteen troops of evil cult followers. They had currently divided into five major forces within the short period of half a day. Setting aside the China-Africa alliance, the rest of the four forces’ heads were the Greeks, the Indians, the Khmer, and the Persian Empire immigrants from the southwest Asia.

These four troops had a great number of people while the other evil cult troops with lesser numbers attached themselves to other smaller groups in their surroundings. When the African people were relocating, the others were also moving their campsites as well. The few great forces were displayed in plain view.

Right now, the alliance with the highest numbers was the Greek’s alliance. The number of people in their troop exceeded the others few times over. The rest of the three forces had almost the same amount of people. Wen Leyang’s group had the least amount of people. They only consisted of a dozen people, appearing exceptionally pathetic.

Tutatunte realized that Gu Xiaojun understood the meaning of his drawings. His mouth widened as he laughed again. He stretched out and used his huge feet to erase the drawing on the ground rapidly then he patted his chest and gestured, full of confidence, finally emphasizing again, “Friend!”

Wen Leyang truly did not have to heart tell to the others, perhaps these African people were not necessarily as kind as they seemed, but they were absolutely honest and simple. They did not possess the evil energy that was said to come with the nine-headed snake of legend. Perhaps the nine-headed snake in their drawings were utterly unrelated to good or evil, it was only a symbol of power which they worshipped.

Gu Xiaojun burst out laughing as he nodded. He led the other four youngster back into their tent.

In contrast, their African companions did not rest. They bustled about the surroundings of the two parties’ campsites and continuously set about building defenses. Tutatunte would raise his head occasionally and see that the China people had already turned off the lights in their tent. His expression was one of puzzlement. He did not understand how the Chinese could still sleep peacefully when they were about to head into a life and death situation. He was suspicious of his allies, whether this was a mistake. Two lambs gathered together, in the eyes of a wolf, it was no problem at all. On the contrary, they posed an even bigger temptation.

Gu Xiaojun’s group of five laid down in a row in the tent. If a grave robber had entered right now, he would be startled, as the few of them were not sleeping at all but were discussing the mysterious small town and the approaching chaotic battle.

All the cult followers of the nine-headed snake from all over the world had received the same calling simultaneously. In the beginning, Wen Leyang had thought of the worst possible scenario, which was the nine-headed snake was about to struggle free from it’s shackles. However, when they arrived in the small town, a new possibility began to surface.

The people of Tuer town was undoubtedly connected to Xiang Liu that was currently chained in Black and White Island. They had been on guard next to Namtso Lake with painstaking efforts for such a long period of time. No one knew what they were guarding or what they were looking out for.

They also did not know the about the powers of the town, like how they had the power to communicate with the other Xiang Lui followers…

Gu Xiaojun reminded the group softly, “We cannot gauge the severity of this battle. Perhaps, it will not be difficult for us to defend ourselves but do take note of two important matters. Firstly, do not display your skills in an overly flashy manner but we cannot be eliminated, but also never arouse the suspicion of the Tibetan people of Tuer Town. Secondly, be careful of the Africans, heh, if they were only ten troops left in the end, they will not hesitate to stab us with their African knives!”

Upon saying that, he stopped for a moment as he looked towards Wen Leyang and spoke softly, “Protect Fei Fei and Xiao Sha as best you can.”

Wen Leyang felt there was no need to display his determination. He simply nodded a yes upon hearing that. “How about you then?”

Gu Xiaojun sneered unpleasantly. “Of course, you ought to protect me as well!”

On the highlands, nighttime arrived early and daytime started late. It was already seven o’clock in the morning but the skies were still dark and silent. Wen Leyang and the rest could not sleep, with the exception of Gu Xiaojun. He slept soundly, occasionally letting out a snore.

Qin Zhui lifted his Tang knife and used a tone of speaking which did not allowed for further discussion as he spoke to Wen Leyang, “Once we start fighting, you are in charge of protecting the two siblings. If anything goes wrong, you will be the one to blame!” He had always been a daring vanguard, afraid that someone else would burden him.

Wen Leyang raised the portiere and took in a deep breathe of cooling air. He answered while he laughed, “Don’t worry, all will be well if I do not have to protect you as well!”

The small-eyes Xiao Sha followed behind Wen Leyang. He urged in honesty, “Don’t worry about me, I have my own tricks but you must protect my sister at all costs!”

Fei Fei did not object to this. She knew that now was not the time for modesty. She nodded towards Wen Leyang. “Thank you for your efforts. I will try my best to stay out of your way.”

Wen Leyang laughed. Having such great teammates, he felt at ease, even though their fighting abilities were no different than that of little white rabbits in Wen Leyang’s eyes.

It was obvious that the African people had not got any sleep, the sallow complexion on their face were even thicker now. They were holding sticks of short clubs in their hands which were almost the same color as their complexion, staring out at the surroundings vigilantly.

Within the campsite, where the two parties have combined into one, the African people had spent the entire night drawing out a wild and savage looking nine-headed snake on the ground. Under the reflection of the flames from their bonfires, the giant snake appeared to come to life. It’s gaze gloomy yet fierce.

The skies were still dark. Within their campsite, the silence before dawn was covered in a blanket of troubled agitation. Troops upon troops of evil cult followers gathered silently according to their own alliances. Everyone’s gaze shifted towards the black and yellow lambs almost all at once.

Finally, a dazzling streak of silver glow surged through the sky without warning. The black veil was shattered! Wen Leyang had never witnessed dawn break in such a way. In the blink of an eye, the night had completely turned into day!

The long wait broke the moment the sun rose. Tutatunte and his African companions almost simultaneously gave out long and sharp shrieks. Every person sounded like violent, hunting leopards, their bodies arching slightly. Their murky eyes reflected the bright glow, like ice shards. They stared firmly at the four enemy troops that had assembled at the far end.

Unknown since when, the Tibetan people had walked out of their houses. The old and young, men, women, and children… all of them gathered together, carrying no expression on their faces, gazing out numbly. They observed everything before them attentively but with an icy look and numb attitude.

The small-eyed Xiao Sha walked next to Tutatunte and patted Tutatunte on his bony shoulder. He held up a finger and pressed it to his lips. He gave out a tight smile as he shook his head. “Stop screaming…” It had already been ten minutes since daybreak and the Africans had been shrieking continuously but the enemies did not attack.

Fei Fei laughed softly towards Wen Leyang. “None of them wants to make the first move.”

It was then, Gu Xiaojun emerged from the tent with a look of impatience. The black people’s howls were so shrill, even a sleeping elephant would be awakened by them.

Wen Leyang peered towards Gu Xiaojun with heartfelt admiration. “So you knew that no one would be attacking us first?”

Gu Xiaojun yawned as he answered with sleepily, “Well, that was not a difficult guess. We appear the weakest here but we won’t necessarily be targeted for slaughter first! Everyone wants to attack us last. Perhaps, they might help us to achieve our aim.” As he said that, he turned around and instructed Xiao Sha with in a relaxed tone, “Scare them a little so that they understand that whoever attacks us will certainly suffer losses!”

Xiao Sha burst out laughing. While under the ghastly gaze of their African comrades, he crossed his arms and walked to the border of their campsite. He stood with his legs wide apart. Xiao Sha stood unmoving outside of their camp but to his left and right, two rows of gigantic footprints appeared soundlessly as the ground, as if a group of invisible giants had lined up next to him.

Wen Leyang remembered seeing this trick once but Xiao Sha had then only left behind his own gigantic footprints and there was only one row of footprints. This time, there were dozens of giant footprints as if they had invisible bodyguards that were guarding closely next to Xiao Sha. There were also a few footprints moving about continuously. Even with Wen Leyang’s psychic abilities, he could not tell what was happening.

In a flash, there was a stark contrast between the surprised Africans companions in the campsite and the astonished evil cult followers opposite them. The Tibetan people’s expressions were still cold and indifferent though, utterly nothing in the world was capable of moving them.

It was as if, within a short moment, the lambs had turned into poisonous snakes…

Let alone the amateur foreign evil cult followers, even Wen Leyang or the big and little demon rabbits would have been petrified by the small-eyed Xiao Sha, if they had not known any better. Wen Leyang’s eyes were looking at the footprints on the ground, which were pacing back and forth, but he could not pick up on the giants’ shadows.

It never occurred to Tutatunte that his ally had such a shocking ability. How could a small-eyed youth possess such power? Within his surprised gaze, there was a whiff of concern mingled within, he urged Gu Xiaojun earnestly, “Friend!”

Gu Xiaojun burst out laughing, he patted the black man’s should to set his mind at ease. “Friend, friend!”

The dawn massacre which was on everyone’s imagination did not happen. The air of the town, with the gigantic footprints walking back and forth, turned from nervous scene to one of awkwardness.

Qin Zhui held onto the Tang knife. He was becoming impatient. He turned his head to the side and asked Fei Fei, “So, are we going to have to fight?”

Fei Fei had been observing the evil cult followers’ expressions carefully, upon hearing Qin Zhui’s words, she shook her head lightly, “I can’t tell, some of them are unyielding, they still want to try fighting us!”