Chapter 1

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Now, as I’ve mentioned in my review of The Demon in the Mirror, I’m not extremely blown away by The Demon in the Mirror due to the limited character development of the main characters, although it does still stand as a pretty awesome novel in its own right. I have, nevertheless, decided to translate The Demon in the Mirror as (1) it would help to expand the variety of translated novels available on this site, and (2) its upbeat, hilarious tone makes for an easy read (especially after the darker tone that we were exposed to in The Youthful You Who Was So Beautiful). As with most Chinese mythology novels, the first couple of chapters serve as introductory chapters where we’re introduced to the main characters, and the world that is built by the author, so stay patient, and I hope you enjoy the ride!

Chapter 1: Empty Coffin (Part 1)

Spring. 11:00PM. Thunder rolled overhead, furiously cracking the pitch black night sky whilst thin, grey sheets of rain poured relentlessly onto the ground below.

The faint light emitted from the lanterns were refracted from the incessant droplets of rain, shattering into countless fragments of light. In the rain, a troupe of people silently forged ahead in the muddy forrest, each of them consciously keeping their heads lowered as they clutched onto the shovels or spades hoisted on their shoulders.

Having traversed the terrain for approximately an hour, layers of mud had begun to form and solidify around their shoes, inevitably causing the troupe’s pace to slow down tremendously. It was as though they were lost, lonely ghosts that were forced to wander about in the night.

“We’re here.”

The village chief, who had been heading the troupe all this while, made a sudden announcement, breaking the deathly silence that had settled over the troupe in the past hour. Stretching his lantern out into the pouring rain, the village chief’s hand gave an involuntary shudder as his gaze landed onto the object that had been barely illuminated by the light.

A solitary grave lay before the troupe. The soil that had been originally heaped onto the grave had, in most part, been washed away by the pouring rate. The tombstone was entirely void of carvings, betraying no hint as to the name, or the identity, of the person that lay within. All of a sudden, a couple broke free from the ranks of the troupe, and threw themselves onto the muddy grave, sobbing, “Yin Yin [1], Yin Yin…… My daughter……”

The remaining troupe exhaled a long, collective sigh.

Sighing, the village chief turned to the troupe, “Let’s start digging. We should, at the very least, bring her bones back to the village.”

The villagers who were armed with spades and shovels hesitantly asked, “Are you sure? She’s only been buried for three days – would she really have transformed into a pile of bones? What if……”

What if the person buried within the grave hadn’t actually transformed into a pile of white bones? If so, opening the grave at this point of time would expose Yin’s battered, tortured and rotting corpse to her parents – wouldn’t this be equivalent to a direct stab to Yin’s parents’ hearts? Yin’s parents would surely collapse from the shock and sorrow.

“That demon’s instructions were that it would consume Yin on the very day we buried her, and that we are to open the coffin three days later to retrieve her bones. It doesn’t matter how disagreeable, or how resistant we are, to opening the coffin – we simply don’t have a choice; if we disobey the demon’s instructions, it may very well come looking for us once more……”

The village chief persuaded the troupe in a low voice. However, his low utterances still drifted into the ears of Yin’s parents, and their raised their heads sharply to gape at the village chief. “Chief! Yin Yin died to save the entire village! If Yin Yin hadn’t willingly agreed to sacrifice herself as a gift to the demon, the demon would have devoured our entire village by now! How… how could you utter such cold, heartless words!”

Consumed with shame and guilt, the village chief fidgeted with his hands, “Let’s not argue at this juncture. Our main priority now, is to bring Yin home.”

Having heard the village chief’s words, Yin’s parents had little choice but to step aside from the grave. Their daughter possessed a kind and sweet disposition since birth, and always got along extraordinarily well with every single person in the village. As the entire village had survived for years by hunting in the surrounding forests, the wild animals in the forests always treated the villagers with much animosity and caution – with the exception of Yin. The wild animals could sense that Yin never meant them any harm, and often basked in her company.

Every single person in the village thought Yin was a deity who had come down to Earth to experience mortality.

But, one day, a demon suddenly arrived in the village and announced that it wanted Yin to be delivered to it for its consumption. If Yin refused to offer herself up, it would slaughter every single person residing in the village.

For the sake of the villagers, Yin agreed. As such, the villagers proceed to seal Yin, alive, within the coffin, and buried the coffin in the location designated by the demon.

And now, three days has past. The time has come for the villagers to retrieve Yin’s bones from the grave.

Since the demon’s instructions indicated that the object for retrieval was Yin’s bones (and not her corpse), Yin’s flesh must necessarily have been consumed and devoured by the demon. Whenever the village chief thought about the set of pale, white skeletal bones that was soon to appear before them, he felt a overcome by a strange mix of fear and sorrow.

The iron tools began to claw at the wet, loose soil, and a hole gradually began to form.

Ding Ding Dong Dong, Ding Ding Dong Dong.

The sound of the numerous iron spades colliding with the tiny rocks embedded in the soil were muffled by the sound of the pouring rain striking the ground. As the villagers neared the exact, precise location of the coffin, their hearts grew heavy, and their actions slowed.

Thud.

The iron spade scraped against the surface of the wooden coffin, leaving a large, wide scratch mark in its wake. The villager who had inadvertently struck the wooden coffin was extremely shocked, and retracted his spade immediately, apologetic murmurs streaming out of his mouth as he anxiously turned to look at the village chief.

Furrowing his brows, the village chief commanded, “Bring it up!”

Yin’s parents burst uncontrollably into tears. They were unable to bring themselves to witness the unearthing of their daughter’s coffin.

That day, their breathing, living, daughter had been sealed within the coffin – they were simply unable to contemplate, or comprehend, the amount of despair and suffering that their daughter had to bear before her death.

Ah, their precious, precious daughter……

The coffin, which had originally been buried deep within the ground, was quickly excavated by the continuous, combined efforts of eight villagers. Huge droplets of rain continued to pelt down mercilessly from the sky, tugging and ebbing at the dirt that stained the surface of the coffin. Bathed under the light emitted by the various lanterns, the coffin appeared to emit a soft, reddish glow – an eerie, and goosebumps inducing sight for all onlookers.

“Open the coffin.”

The villagers pried the rivets from the wooden coffin one by one. There were a total of twenty eight rivets, with each rivet measuring three inches in length. It was impossible for any human being to escape the coffin with such rivets sealing the coffin in place.

With all twenty eight rivets entirely removed, the eight villagers proceeded to grip the lid of the coffin, and began to heave the coffin lid in unison.

Creak.

The coffin lid shifted ever so slightly – and even then, such a sight was too much for Yin’s mother to bear, and she collapsed in her husband’s embrace, crying.

Creak.

The villagers continued tugging and shoving at coffin lid, the coffin lid gradually shifting to reveal the person laying within. Clenching his fists, the village chief readied himself to apologize to Yin aloud.

Creak.

The villagers had just completed the removal of the coffin lid when, all of a sudden, a blinding, white bolt of lightning tore the sky apart. The mountains shook from the deafening cry of thunder, and the forests quivered under the thunder’s full rage, causing the villagers to flinch out of instinct.

And yet, none of the villagers made a single sound. Because, at the very moment the jagged bolt lit up the night sky, they saw, that the coffin was completely, and totally, empty!

There was no corpse. There was no bones. It was as though, the villagers had buried nothing but an empty coffin from the start.

Stunned and confused, the legs of the village chief gave way, and he fell to the ground, “This… this……”

Yin’s parents, too, saw that the coffin was entirely void of Yin’s bones and/or corpse, and fell into a state of shock, “Where’s Yin? Where’s our dear Yin?”

However, none of the villagers present could answer their query, because they, too, didn’t have any clue where Yin went.

Unless, the demon not only ate Yin’s flesh, but had also gobbled up her bones?

The rain showed no sign of letting up, and continued beating down from the sky onto the forest, the villagers’ straw capes, and the empty coffin. No one knew what to do next.

All of a sudden, the villagers heard a soft, feminine sing-song voice drifting into their ears from deep within the darkness of the forest. The voice paused and started at various intervals, and conveyed a sinister sense of eeriness, causing its audience’s hair to stand on end, and their hearts to pound in fear and uncertainty.

Slow and muted, the sing-song voice overlapped with the noisy pitter-patter of rain, making it extremely difficult for the villagers to discern the source of the sing-song voice, or the contents of the song.

But, what was undeniable, was that this song…… was sung in an incomprehensibly spine-chilling, blood-curdling, hair-raising, dreadful manner. It was so dreadful, that the villagers no longer felt any fear or terror, and were instead seized with a single, all-consuming thought – to find some object (any object, really) to stuff their ears and block out the noise. It was only when the villagers saw a small, red flame floating mid-air in front of their very own eyes, gliding towards them, that their sense of horror and fright reawakened. Gripping their iron tools as tightly as they could, they stared at the tiny flame in trepidation.

The flame drifted up and down in the rain, and even danced in a circle at times, as though it was a live object.

Unable to tear their gaze away from the flame, the villagers’ hands began to tremble. But, somehow, their hearts managed to find comfort in the horrendous song — because more often than not, demons sang in a beautiful, beguiling manner that enraptured one’s soul; conversely, the current song was so atrocious, and so ghastly, that it was unlikely that it was sung by a demon.

The sing-song voice and the mini ball of flame began to near the villagers, only stopping when they were approximately three feet away. At this distance, the villagers were finally able to take a close, detailed look at the tiny flame – on closer analysis, the villagers realised that the minuscule, moving flame strongly resembled a mouse (and yet, it couldn’t be said to be truly a mouse). With its entire body radiating a crimson, radiant glow, the tiny flame provided more than sufficient illumination for the source of the sing-song voice — the source had a brain, hands, and legs, but did not have a tail. The source was a human being, and an extremely pretty lady at that.

And, she. was. still. singing.

Truly, the screech and squawks emitted by the lady was incomparable to anything else they’ve ever heard before. Complicated thoughts raced across each villager’s brain, and each villager displayed an identical dumbfounded and thunderstruck expression on their faces.

The lady had an extremely youthful appearance, looking approximately sixteen to seventeen years old. Her figure was slim and svelte, and she donned a light blue long-sleeved upper garment and an apricot pleated skirt. A flute hung around her waist.

Glistening from the fiery glow, she resembled a vivid, red flower in full bloom. With a gentle, personable smile on her face, she gazed at the cautious villagers in front of her, and announced, “My name is Xi Feng, and I’m a demon-catcher. Give me the money, and I’ll give you the demon.”

&&&&&

“The hanging white clouds float, the relaxed birds run, looking for worms, one worm, two worms, three…”

“Stop singing! It’s terrible!”

Xiao Huo [2] protested as vehemently as he could, and tried to forbid Xi Feng from her unending attempts to destroy his eardrums. Upon hearing Xiao Huo’s protests, Xi Feng simply cast a quick glance at Xiao Huo before continuing, in a louder volume, “The hanging white clouds float, the relaxed birds run, looking for worms, one worm, two worms, three…”

Xiao Huo rolled his eyes in disdain, and clapped his hands over his ears in a futile attempt to mute the singing that was equivalent to the shrieking of ghosts and howling of wolves, “Any demon which has the misfortune of hearing your song will most definitely be overcome with an unshakable desire to run for their lives.”

“Wouldn’t that be great? If that’s the case, then we would be able to successfully rescue Lady Yin with minimal effort on our part!” Xi Feng waved the wooden hairpin in her hand at Xiao Huo, “Smell it again. Can you tell if she’s anywhere near us?”

Xiao Huo, who had been perched on her shoulder all this while, took a couple of sniffs at the wooden hairpin, and responded, “Yes, she’s nearby. And she’s definitely up and kicking.”

“Is she still alive?”

Even though Xiao Huo has indicated that Lady Yin is still up and kicking, Lady Yin may not be alive. After all, being up and kicking does not necessarily mean that one is a living and breathing human being – in fact, one could very well be a ghost, and Xi Feng had indeed seen one such pretty female ghost before that was jumping about like nobody’s business.

Xiao Huo’s reply was curt and terse, “No idea.”

“Xiao Huo, tell me, what exactly are you good for?”

“Without me, there would be nobody left on Earth who has the guts to hear you sing.”

Ah, Xiao Huo was absolutely right! Xi Feng decided there and then, to stop nitpicking on Xiao Huo, and sighed, “Although we do not earn tons of money from catching demons, we used to, at the very least, be able to afford three warm meals a day. But now that demons rarely run amok, our finances are in such dire straits……”

Xi Feng slowly counted the pathetic number of remaining copper coins left on her hand, and discovered that it was only sufficient to purchase one single bun. People often said, that they were so broke that you could hear the piteous amount of copper coins clanging against each other in their pockets, but Xi Feng suspected that she would, very soon, be unable to assemble even a pair of copper coins that could produce such clanging noises.

“So poor……” Xi Feng sighed in resignation, and carefully stored her copper pieces back into her pocket. Shortly after Xi Feng entered the mountainous area, Xi Feng arrived at the bottom of a cliff. Turning her gaze upwards, Xi Feng discovered that she was unable to see the top of the cliff. Rather, the cliff seemed to stretch on endlessly, its vertical walls piercing into the heavens and disappearing within the sea of clouds.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Xi Feng grabbed Xiao Huo off her shoulder, and mercilessly threw Xiao Huo upwards.

Whoosh.

The tiny flame which had originally been no bigger than the size of her palm exploded midair, and morphed into a blazing ball equivalent to the size of a horse. Leaping onto Xiao Huo, Xi Feng sat comfortably on Xiao Huo as Xiao Huo speedily scaled the vertical cliff and manoeuvred the jagged rocks and tree branches sticking out of the cliff as though it was traversing on flat ground. From afar, it looked as though a smouldering inferno was hurtling towards the top of the mountain at breakneck speed.

Within minutes, Xiao Huo had already managed to reach the summit of the cliff.

The moment Xi Feng felt the wind billowing past her ears come to a stop, she fished out a tiny mirror from her pocket, and began running her fingers through the frizzled, wayward chicken coop that was her hair before dismounting. Xiao Huo shrunk back to a palm-sized flame, and resumed his usual spot on Xi Feng’s shoulder. Inhaling as deeply as he could, Xiao Huo commented, “I suspect that there’s a black swamp up ahead – there is simply no other explanation as to why this place is overflowing with the putrid odor of decaying flesh. Congratulations, Xi Feng! You’ve finally been granted the opportunity to capture a humongous, mega-demon! I’m sure taking two bites of this mega-demon would be more than sufficient to fill my tummy.”

Xi Feng laughed dryly, “The meat of demons like you is not yummy. At all.”

Startled, Xiao Huo clarified, “…… You’ve tried demon meat before?”

Xi Feng cracked a smile at Xiao Huo, her pearly whites blinding in the dark night. Raising her hand to her mouth, Xi Feng smirked and tapped her teeth twice, the clear, brisk sound evidencing the sturdiness of her teeth. Xiao Huo decided, at that very moment, that he would never, ever, criticise Xi Feng’s singing again. Ever!

Scarcity of sunshine, coupled with abundance of water, provided the perfect conditions for the formation and breeding of evil beings. As such, swamps were often seen as the ideal location for the rearing and cultivation of demons. As swamps located deep within forests didn’t receive even a single ray of sunlight, people often referred to such swamps as black swamps.

Xi Feng had barely taken a couple of steps into the forest when she heard the threatening growls and roars of the demons and animals hidden within the forest. Xi Feng reached for the flute hanging around her waist, and gave the flute a short, cursory wave. With that, the wooden flute transformed into a sharp, double edged sword, capable of slicing iron and piercing gold.

Simultaneous with the unsheathing of Xi Feng’s sword, an irrepressible, domineering aura emanated from the cold blade, easily pressuring more than half of the animals and demons into submission. Only a handful of menacing animals and demons continued to unleash angry growls.

“Xiao Huo, let’s go.”

With the utterance of the word “go”, Xi Feng shot forward into the swamp, like a tightly drawn arrow that had been released from its bow. The dense, thick miasma hanging over the swamp obscured the vision of mere mortals. Xi Feng shut her eyes and deepened her focus, her ears keenly listening for any indication of movement. All of a sudden, a black clump of gas charged directly towards Xi Feng! Xi Feng easily sidestepped the attack, and, with a decisive swing of her sword, slashed the clump of black gas into two.

Before the demon could even attempt to shriek in terror, it had already died under Xi Feng’s sword. Grabbing hold of the slashed up clumps of black gas with his short, tiny arms, Xiao Huo hurriedly gobbled up the demonic gas, and patted his minute tummy.

With her sword in her hand, Xi Feng slashed her way into the black swamp , leaving a trail of demon corpses behind her wherever she went.

[1] The actual name of the lady is “Yin”; however, it is common in Chinese families for parents to utilize a nickname when referring to their children, and such nicknames can take the form of “doubling up” (for instance, Yin Yin).

[2] Xiao Huo can be directly translated into “Little Fire”.

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