The Journey of Flower

There were not any stars or moon in the sky, complete darkness like a bottomless black hole, difficult to know up or down, it seemed as if a mistaken step could lead to falling into the hole.

“Namo Amitabha, Namo Amitabha……” A girl about 12 years old walked quickly on the road, her right hand held prayer beads while she chanted continuously, her left hand held a lantern made out of oil paper.

Her walking was more like running, the things following her did not get too close because of the prayer beads. It was complete darkness, only a small light from the lantern floated visibly above the ground. Everywhere was eerie silence, even the sounds of water flowing or insects chirping could not be heard.

The village was near, the child kept telling herself that she would be safe once she could be in the village even though her face was pale and her body covered in cold sweats. Her right hand constantly pulled the cloak made from the skins of eight black dogs more tightly to prevent the fragrance of her body from seeping out.

But at the stone bridge in front of the village, the child froze. A woman holding a paper umbrella stood on the bridge facing her, embroidered on the umbrella was a bright red peach blossom, likewise on her white gown. The umbrella was held low so the face was hidden. It was hot because there was not even a breeze, but the skirt kept whipping back and forth.

The child was scared and could not move, her legs trembled. It was over, the evil spirits finally appeared.

“Namo Amitabha……” She continued chanting in a low voice, her body twisted away as she walked to the other end of the bridge, looking down and pretending not to see the woman. However, the woman appeared in front of her in the blink of an eye. The white shoes embroidered with delicate flowers were covered with mud, next to her feet was a puddle of water as well as green algae and seashells. The child saw clearly now, on the woman’s skirt was not a peach blossom, it was blood.

The soft yellow light in the lantern mysteriously turned blue and then red, as if filled with blood. The atmosphere was filled with the pungent smell of rotten flesh and blood.

“Namo Amitabha……” Firmly pushing the prayer beads forward, the female apparition fell back two steps, the child walked forward two steps. When she almost reached the other side of the bridge, a horrifying laugh rang out.

The face of the female apparition cracked, her body disintegrated into pieces as if sliced abruptly, filling the ground with blood and maggots.

The child was scared, she almost threw away the prayer beads and the lantern to run away, her legs shook violently.

She suddenly saw a round object rolling out from under the umbrella, it was wrapped in black hair, upon closer look it was the head of the female apparition. Her body felt as if encased in ice, she could not move. The voice in her head kept shouting, run away run away, but her legs could not move even a little.

The head was like a ball, rolling around and around aimlessly, bouncing back if it hit the parapets of the bridge. It promptly rolled to the child’s feet, scaring her to the point she almost fell to the ground.

Staying still for a moment, the child looked at the head near her feet, her heart almost jumped out of her throat. The head unexpectedly rolled closer, now the child could see the woman’s face. There were two large dark holes in the face, her eyes were ripped out, who knew what happened to one eye, the other eye was stuck to blood vessels, nerves and tissues covering half of the face, dangling, the eyeball swiveled to stare at her. The woman’s lips were mutilated as if eaten by the fish in the river, quivering as if wanting to say something to the child but could only whisper like wind passing through wooden doors.

The child held back the urge to vomit, running forward across the bridge, ignoring the arms on the ground she just stepped on. Her leg was caught suddenly, it was half of the right hand, the fingers submerged too long in water were swollen, rotting and white. At the cutoff of the hand, bones could be seen sticking out.

In her horror, the child quickly discovered the head had bounced her way, opening its mouth to bite into her right leg. Pain mixed with the bitter cold instantly spread all over her body.

The child waved her prayer beads to hit the female apparition, hearing hissing like raw meat frying on a red hot iron, it took a long time before the head reluctantly rolled away. The child began to run but heard something being crushed, feeling her feet had stepped on something. When the child lifted up one foot to look, it was the other eye of the female apparition she had inadvertently stepped on, it burst open full of pus and maggots.

The child heaved dryly while running swiftly off the bridge, one hand surprisingly still held onto her ankle, the head rolled on the bridge, the top and bottom teeth knocking against each other, crying out: “My hand, my hand, my hand……” The wailing was miserable and horrible, but the female apparition could not get off the bridge or give chase. People who died in the water, their souls would be trapped there forever.

The child struggled to pull the other hand away from her leg and threw it back toward the bridge. Then she turned and ran. Her scared face was drained of colors.

The people in the village were sleeping at this time, it was so silent that even chickens and dogs were not heard. The child ran wildly to an apothecary and pounded on the door, but it seemed as if everyone had died in their sleep, there were no reactions, not even a light could be seen. The child continued pounding on the door until someone answered some time later.

“Who is it……”

“Physician Zhang, Physician Zhang, I’m Xiao Gu! Quickly, come save my father, he’s dying!” Xiao Gu anxiously cried out.

“Oh, Xiao Gu, don’t worry, let me dress and pack my things. It’ll be quick, it’ll be quick……”

Soon, an old man with his head half covered with grey hair carrying a medicine box walked out, rushing to her side.

“How could you come out at night! Did you encounter anything?”

“Just now on the bridge…… There’s no other way, my father suddenly felt very sick……” Xiao Gu held onto Physician Zhang’s clothes, hiding behind him, limping along, her body still trembling. When nearing the bridge, she stuck out her head, the rotten body and crushed eye were gone. It was as if nothing happened.

Her Ba Zi was rare, her yin qi too strong, her constellation would harm everyone close to her, this combination had not appeared in hundreds of years. When she was born, her mother died from complications of childbirth, a mystical fragrance covered the village, it was a beautiful spring but flowers withered in a moment, thus she was called Hua Qian Gu.

Her father was a scholar who failed the examination many times, his life was hard because he tried to care for her up to now. However, she easily attracted evil spirits, often bringing trouble to the village so they had to live in a wooden hut near the river that passed by the village.

Her father invited a wandering monk to come for exorcism and change Hua Qian Gu’s fate, but the monk only shook his head, giving Hua Qian Gu the prayer beads he carried for many years and used the skin of eight black dogs to make a coat to cover the mystical fragrance that evil spirits could detect from her body. He said after sunset, Hua Qian Gu should not go outside, because of this, she managed to live to the age of twelve.

Physician Zhang pitied her young age, filled with so much fear and suffering. He especially took care of the father and daughter. He was a physician, whose hands determined the lives of many people, contaminated with the survival and death of people, his energy was somewhat heavy so evil spirits usually did not provoke him. Physician Zhang held Hua Qian Gu’s hand to go to the hut, on the way trouble never appeared.

Scholar Hua was very sick, spending these years with Hua Qian Gu, he could not escape the side effects that came from evil spirits, he was less than forty years old but looked fifty or sixty. Physician Zhang kept shaking his head, it was doubtful he would survive tonight.

Hua Qian Gu ran in and out to boil water, simmering medicine, wiping sweats for Scholar Hua. She was afraid to sit down and rest, probably she already guessed so she felt fearful. In this world, her father was her only family.

Scholar Hua could not make it until morning, while dying, he worried for Hua Qian Gu after his death. Physician Zhang comforted him and promised to care for Hua Qian Gu, but Scholar Hua did not want to bother him and was also afraid he could not protect Hua Qian Gu for long. Thus he told Hua Qian Gu to go to Mount Mao to study with a teacher of mystic arts. Once successful, she would not be afraid of evil spirits.

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Hua Qian Gu held tightly onto her father’s hand, which gradually became cold, and felt desolate, her father was gone, she was alone in the world, what was the point of living? She forced herself not to cry, from the time she was little, the only thing her father was stern about was not letting her cry. She knew that if she cried, strange things would happen, and her father could not be with her forever so he forced her to be independent and strong.

Physician Zhang treated the injury on her leg, wiped away the blacken blood, sprinkled a little ash, applied cream made out of animal fat then bandaged the leg. It was a little poison from a corpse, nothing serious.

The next day, Physician Zhang and a few willing villagers helped her organize a simple funeral. Physician Zhang thought she was too young, she could not wander out by herself, wanting to take her in, at least until her leg healed. However, she was determined to leave as soon as possible, obeying her father’s wish to study at Mount Mao. Physician Zhang could not persuade her, he helped her sell the valuables in the house and also gave her some of his money.

When darkness came, Hua Qian Gu wore the dog cloak, listened to the wind blowing and howling violently, laying on a wooden board in the empty hut with her eyes wide open all through the night. Her head was filled with grief and confusion about her future. Early next morning, she said goodbye to the villagers to journey toward Mount Mao.