Chapter 3

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Thanks to the long weekend (as Monday was a holiday in my country), the translation of Chapter 3 of The Demon in the Mirror has been completed early – and in this Chapter, the first interactions between our two leads finally occur (at long last)! Yes, it will take time for our dear Xi Feng to warm up to our gentle dragon, given Xi Feng’s survival instincts, miserly(?) nature, and the age gap (of 100,000 years, at the minimum) between the two, and we have little choice but to contend with what we have, for the time being.

Chapter 3: Empty Coffin (Part 3)

Xi Feng hurriedly attempted to suppress her ill-timed laughter, her shoulders trembling from the silent laughter that was ferociously wracking her body.

What a pitiful, small, black demon! It had, after all, invested a huge amount of thought and effort into the destruction of the seal (and, in so doing, also exhausted most of its demonic powers) in order to gain the respect and service of an all-powerful demon — but, who would have thought……

At this point, Xi Feng was no longer able to control herself any further, and dry heaves of laughter began to escape from her body once more.

The small, black demon that had originally been stunned into silence came to his senses, and stammered, “I… I…”

The grave gaze of the green dragon remain fixated on the small black demon, causing a single bead of cold sweat to fall, ever so slowly, from his forehead.

“I… I…” Unable to withstand the immense pressure that accompanied the green dragon’s gaze, the small, black demon threw himself onto his knees, and pleaded sorrowfully, “I was wrong… I…. I simply possessed too much admiration, and reverence, for you, so… so I wanted to… to release you into the world once more.”

After all, never in his wildest dreams did he think, that there would exist a person that was so daft, and so dotty, that he would actually seal himself away.

With such immense demonic power, it was such a waste that the green dragon didn’t put more effort into conquering, and becoming the supreme ruler of all six Realms!

Or, even if the green dragon didn’t possess such grand and lofty ambitions, he could, at the very least, try and become the dictator of the Demon Realm.

But, no – what this, all-powerful, mighty, and fearsome green dragon chose to do, was to seal himself up for 100,000 years. And it was just his sheer, bad luck that, of all the demons that he could have chosen to release, he decided to release this silly green dragon.

The small, black demon was close to tears.

And Xi Feng, was extremely close to death (by uncontrollable laughter).

No, she can’t continue staying at the present spot – any longer and she’s truly going to suffer death by stifling (of laughter). Clasping her hand tightly over her wide grin, Xi Feng scurried over to where Yin was laying, and hovered her fingers under Yin’s nose to monitor Yin’s breath intake. Thankfully, Yin was still alive. She did, however, lose a substantial amount of blood, and would require proper nutrition and rest before she would be able to resume her usual liveliness and energy.

Xi Feng pressed her fingers on Yin’s glabella, and muttered a spell under her breath. As Xi Feng uttered the final words of the spell, Yin transformed into a small ball of light, and flew into Xi Feng’s outstretched palm. Xi Feng turned to leave.

The forested area where Yin originally lay was right smack in the center of the freshly-formed crack in the cliff from which the green dragon had emerged. As Xi Feng leapt across the crack, a bright, white glare that appeared to be refracted from an object deep within the cliff caught her eye.

Just as Xi Feng was puzzling about the source of the bright glare, the bright, white glare, together with a ball of fiery red blaze, began to fly towards her.

As the fiery red blaze neared, a familiar, demonic aura began to waft into her nose. Ah – it turned out, that the fiery red blaze was the missing Xiao Huo which had originally hid himself away at an unknown location.

Xiao Huo speedily began his ascent to the top of the cliff where Xi Feng was, his short, grubby hands clasping a mirror that was approximately his size. The moment Xiao Huo reached the top of the cliff, Xi Feng grabbed his huge, floppy ears and railed, “Coward! Have you finally decided to make your reappearance?”

“Oh, the injustice! I only disappeared because I went to retrieve treasures for you! Look – look at this mirror!” Xiao Huo hastily stuffed the mirror into Xi Feng’s hands, “I think the mirror will be able to fetch us a huge stack of coins at the pawn shop, which we can use to buy lots, and lots, of meat-filled buns!”

With a haughty expression of disbelief etched on her face, Xi Feng turned to analyse the palm-sized mirror in greater detail. As the surface of the mirror was smeared with a thick layer of mud, Xi Feng was only barely able to discern that the mirror was, in actuality, a bronze mirror. The bronze mirror generally appeared to be normal and unassuming, save for various iridescent rubies that ornately decorated the bronze mirror. The rubies were so luminous, Xi Feng thought she was going to go blind from staring at them.

Xi Feng resolutely tucked the mirror into the storage compartments within her robes – she was going to find a pawn shop the moment she reached the city, and pawn it for coins!

“Wait, wait!” Xiao Huo tugged at Xi Feng’s ear. “Don’t forget the tiny sesame seeds just because you saw a watermelon [1]! Aren’t you going to capture the small, black demon and surrender him to the villagers? If we don’t, aren’t we forgoing the money which we could very well use to buy a few, additional buns?”

“You’re right.” Xi Feng did a 180-degree turn. But… as she surveyed the ground before her, the huge, immense shadow that lay outspread on the ground stared back at her. And, when she raised her head, she could only manage to glimpse the jaw of the green dragon that hovered in the air. Xi Feng gulped involuntarily. Capturing the small, black demon… would necessarily require her to confront and battle the green dragon for his “meal”.

She wasn’t tired of living just yet.

Once again, Xi Feng did a 180-degree turn, and readied herself to leave.

“You. Wait.”

Impatient, Xi Feng asked Xiao Huo, “What are we waiting for?”

Xiao Huo shrugged innocently, “I didn’t ask you to wait.”

“Then, who did?”

“He did.” Xiao Huo raised his finger, and pointed at an object above Xi Feng’s head.

Xi Feng turned her head to glance in the direction that Xiao Huo was pointing at – only to find two extremely long whiskers gently grazing against her cheeks, and his dragon mouth right before her very own. As their eyes met inadvertently, beads of sweat began to pour down the sides of her face in earnest.

As the green dragon drew himself closer to Xi Feng, she realised that she was not even as tall, or as wide, as the length or width of his eyes. And she was seized… with an nearly uncontrollable urge to give his eyes a good, hard, poke.

But, she managed to repress herself, successfully putting a halt to her suicide journey.

The green dragon enunciated in a solemn manner, “I’ve been away from the two Realms for way too long……”

“Two Realms?” Xi Feng was momentarily stunned before recalling that, during the pre-historic, ancient times, the universe was split into only two Realms – the God Realm, and the Devil Realm [2]. It was only with the gradual passage of time, that the other four Realms were formed. Having sealed himself away for a good 100,000 years, it was little wonder that the green dragon had no clue about the other four Realms. “Sir Green Dragon, the world today is now split into six different Realms – the God Realm, the Immortal Realm, the Human Realm, the Demon Realm, the Devil Realm, and the Nether Realm [3]. And this cliff which we’re currently standing on, has long been deemed to fall within the boundaries of the Demon Realm.”

The green dragon fell into a contemplative silence, his head muddled with confusion as he slowly stated, “I am lacking a guide.”

Staring at the colossal, gigantic dragon demon before her, Xi Feng froze, “I refuse.”

Puzzled, the green dragon pressed Xi Feng, “Why are you refusing me?”

To think, that there were people in this world who would actually reject his requests! Did the order and principles of the world undergo an extreme, drastic change during the 100,000 years that he was asleep? If so, does that mean, that there would no longer be any young, female fairies who would pelt him with flowers when they met him, or scream giddily in happiness when they saw him, or stealthily climb over the walls of his residence in the middle of the night – just so they could catch a glimpse of his face?

“I refuse!” Xi Feng huffed angrily. “I don’t even earn enough money to feed myself, so I refuse, reject, and wholeheartedly disagree with the idea of having to feed, and raise, an additional dragon! And, to make things worse, a dragon……” Xi Feng used her arms to form a wide circle, “A dragon as large as yourself!”

The moment she completed her rant, Xi Feng raised her finger, and indicated for the green dragon to look behind him, “The old, black demon is about to attack you behind your back.”

The green dragon glanced backwards, only to find the small, black demon still lying prostrate on the ground. Overcome with shock at Xi Feng’s accusation, the small, black demon trembled, “I had no such intentions!”

The green dragon paused momentarily. The moment the green dragon paused, however, a gentle, cooling breeze engulfed him, and, when he finally turned his head to gaze at Xi Feng, he discovered that Xi Feng had already seated herself on a red mouse, and was already yards away, well into the midst of her desperate escape journey. And no, she never once turned back to look at him.

Noting the green dragon’s distraction, the small, black demon also started to quietly shift to the side, and was about to slink away when, all of a sudden, the green dragon whipped his head back to stare at him.

The small, black demon collapsed onto the ground as tears of bitterness and regret streamed from his eyes. If the Heavens ever gave him an opportunity to turn back time, he would never have destroyed the seal that held this green dragon captive, and interrupted the afternoon nap of this all-powerful, super demon!

&&&&&

The frantic escape from the green dragon left Xi Feng with feelings of anxiety and trepidation, and, upon reaching a town located near Yin’s village (the Ba Shan Village), she immediately began rubbing her chest to expel such negative feelings. “That nearly scared me to death! Ah, that was really a near-death experience!!”

Xiao Huo give Xi Feng the side-eye, “The person, who should truly complain about having to undergo a near-death experience, is the small, black demon. After all, it didn’t seem like the green dragon was intending to take your life. But, now that you’ve unilaterally escaped without his consent… who knows?”

“Oh, please – he doesn’t even know where he is! He lived in a time when there was only two Realms; now that the world has undergone such a drastic evolution to consist of six different Realms, how could he possibly track me down?”

Xiao Huo “tutted” at Xi Feng whilst shaking his head from side to side, “Even a demonic beast like me experiences little to no difficult in tracking humans; what makes you think that it would pose any difficult to a member of the great, ancient dragon tribe, which had come into existence at the same time the universe was created?”

Startled, Xi Feng gave an involuntary shudder, “Xiao Huo, is it too late for me to return and apologize?”

“Hehehe.”

“……”

Xi Feng sighed in resignation, “I guess there’s no helping it – if I die, so be it. But, at the very least, I don’t want to be a hungry ghost.”

With that, Xi Feng rapidly advanced towards a pawn shop, and retrieved the mirror from her robes and placed it on the counter, “Pawnbroker, I’m selling this.”

After some time, the pawnbroker pushed the mirror back towards her, making no attempt to hide the contemptuous and disdainful expression on his face, “This is worthless.”

Xi Feng blinked in surprise – is the pawnbroker blind? She remembered that the rubies which decorated the bronze mirror were such an intense red that they resembled pomegranates, and that each ruby was crystal clear and luminous. She was certain that each ruby would, at the minimum, fetch her an amount equivalent to the cost of purchasing an entire city. Xi Feng grabbed hold of the mirror. However, as soon as she laid her eyes on the mirror, she couldn’t help herself from taking a step back.

The bronze reflective mirror generally remained the same, save that this time, when Xi Feng laid eyes on it, not even a single ruby remained.

Scratch that. Not even half a ruby remained.

Wide-eyed, Xi Feng extracted her flute in a rage and hopped onto the counter. Brandishing her flute, it swiftly transformed into a sword as Xi Feng thundered, “Con shop! Unscrupulous merchant! Return me my mirror! How dare you swap my prized mirror for a piece of broken metal – right in front of me, no less!”

The pawnbroker shook like a leaf, “La… Lady, you have to be reasonable! Look – the bronze mirror still has a layer of mud caked on it. Surely I wouldn’t have the foresight to prepare an identical, mud-caked mirror in advance, given that I’m not a fortune teller?”

Xi Feng was unable to bring herself to believe, that the bronze, ruby-studded mirror which should have been capable of fetching her unimaginable riches, was now simply a broken piece of copper metal. And yet, the mud caked on the bronze mirror still retained an intense demonic aura, and the carvings around the mirror were also identical to the those of the ruby-studded mirror.

The only difference, really, between the ‘two’ mirrors, was the disappearance of the bright, numerous rubies.

Xi Feng was seized with a desire to cry.

“My money, my meat buns……”

Wailing, Xi Feng tightened her grip on the mirror and held it under the blazing sun at different angles, but to no avail – there simply wasn’t any clue regarding the location of the rubies.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Xi Feng plopped herself down on the stone steps in front of the pawn shop, and asked the demon perched on her shoulder, “Xiao Huo, do you think, that the rubies would reappear on this mirror in the future?”

“Perhaps.” Feeling slightly famished, Xiao Huo rubbed his flat tummy, “Why don’t we escort Yin home first? Once we do that, we could, at the very least, obtain some small monetary rewards! And, Yin’s parents may even offer us a free meal – given that they’re hunters, I’m sure that they should have no difficulties obtaining meat.”

Well. Even though she no longer has the watermelon in hand, she could still comfort herself with the tiny sesame seeds [1]. Xi Feng sighed dejectedly, “Let’s go.”

Having given the entire incident some thought, Xi Feng still couldn’t bring herself to throw the bronze mirror away, and stored it in into the a tiny storage compartment within her robes.

Ba Shan Village was not far from the town at which Xi Feng attempted to pawn the bronze mirror. It was noon by the time Xi Feng neared Ba Shan Village. Xi Feng could see huge clouds of chimney smoke drifting from the valley in which the Ba Shan Village was located; it was as though the village had been mysteriously engulfed in an impenetrable, thick fog.

Before Xi Feng could, however, step foot into the village, a dog began to yelp maniacally at her. Upon hearing the commotion, the villagers gathered instantaneously and began to form a crowd around Xi Feng. After successfully restraining the dog, they began to lead Xi Feng to Yin’s home.

Yin’s parents have yet to commence cooking lunch. After Yin had been buried by the villagers, the lifestyle of Yin’s parents had been thrown into a disarray; they no longer ate their meals or went to bed at regular time slots, and often spent entire days grieving for their daughter.

Yin’s mother was the first to spot Xi Feng’s arrival. When she realized that her daughter’s familiar figure was missing from those who surrounding Xi Feng, she began to weep silently. Yin’s father let out a long sigh, and thumped his chest in regret.

“Auntie, don’t be so quick to cry – I’ve brought Yin Yin [3] home!”

Stretching out her arm, Xi Feng opened her palm. A small ball of light slowly floated from the center of her palm to the ground; and, the moment the small ball of light touched the ground, the spell was instantly broken, and the small ball of light transformed back into Yin. The stark contrast between Yin’s scarlet robes and her pale complexion caused Yin’s face to appear chalk white, and even Yin’s parents couldn’t help but wonder whether their daughter was already dead.

Grabbing hold of her daughter’s hand, Yin’s mother wept as she repeated Yin’s name. Trembling, Yin’s father hovered his fingers under Yin’s nose to monitor Yin’s breath intake, before inhaling sharply, “She’s still breathing! Mama, our Yin is still breathing!!”

Upon hearing the news, the villagers that had led Xi Feng to Yin’s house dispersed and headed towards the house of the village chief to inform him about the latest developments.

As the news began to spread, numerous villagers began to congregate at Yin’s house to visit Yin – their expressions varying from that of joy, to that of relief, to that of worry.

Xi Feng leaned against the walls of the thatched hut that was Yin’s home, silently surveying the villagers that entered and left.

Puzzled, Xiao Huo asked, “Shouldn’t the villagers be happy given that Yin has been found alive? However, based on my observations, it would seem that at least more than half of the villagers are, in actuality, unhappy.”

“Because now that Yin has been confirmed to be alive and kicking, that would necessarily mean that the demon has failed to receive their sacrifice. They’re afraid that the demon will take its revenge.” Xi Feng laughed dryly, “I’ve seen incidents like these happen all the time.”

After all, when confronted with life-and-death issues, more often than not, people caved in to their fear of death and are quick to abandon their kindness – after all, kindness will not be sufficient to save them.

Although such choices may appear to be callous and cold-hearted, could one really blame them?

As she spoke, she saw the village chief emerging from Yin’s room with his brows furrowed. Xi Feng stepped in front of the village chief, and effectively blocked his path, “Chief! Do you still have any money on you?”

Taken aback, the village chief spluttered, “What do you mean?”

“I’m a demon-catcher. Give me the money, and I’ll give you the demon.”

Fearful, the village chief pressed Xi Feng, “Will the demon really return?”

One of the villagers surrounding Xi Feng and the village chief piped up, “Of course the demon will return! After all, we failed to make the promised sacrificial offering, didn’t we? Why would the demon let us off the hook?”

Xi Feng decided there and then, that she would remain mum about the demon’s motivations – that he had only requested for Yin to be sacrificed to him as he wanted to make use of Yin as the “key component” for the blood formation that was utilized to break the 100,000 year seal.

Now that the seal was broken, it was unlikely that the demon will ever return to the village – but……, there was also absolutely no need, for the villagers to be fed with such information.

After all, even if Xi Feng came clean and told them the truth, the villagers were unlikely to believe in and take comfort in her words, and would continue to spend most of their days in fear, suspicion, and terror. In fact, their paranoia may even lead to them treating Yin like a monster.

The only solution for the villagers to rest assured, is for Xi Feng to pretend to “catch”, and “subdue” the demon, and “rid” it once and for all.

Ah – by offering to “catch” the demon, she would not only be able to earn money, she would also be able to bring peace and reassurance to the Ba Shan Village! It was the true epitome of killing two birds with one stone!

Xi Feng’s eyes crinkled happily, her inner sly-merchant characteristics beginning to show, “That’s easy. As long as we offer the demon another sacrifice, we would be able to catch the demon with no difficulty at all. And, voilà, mission accomplished!”

“But, who is going to agree to be the sacrificial object this time round?”

Xi Feng patted her chest twice, enthusiasm bursting at the seams, “Me!”

[1] 捡了西瓜忘了芝麻 – A play on the typical saying “Penny wise, pound foolish”. Here, Xiao Huo is cautioning Xi Feng against being “Pound (i.e. watermelon) wise, but penny (i.e. sesame seeds) foolish”, and that all money, be it large or small amounts of money, are important to them, and that just because they have an expensive mirror which appears to be of great value, they should still remember to claim the minute monetary rewards from villagers.

[2] Devil Realm 魔界 (Mo Jie) – Most translators typically translate this as “Demon Realm”. However, as this novel draws a distinction between 魔界 (Mo Jie) and 妖界 (Yao Jie, which is also typically translated as the “Demon Realm”), I have made a conscious distinction between the two Realms (with 魔界 (Mo Jie) being translated as the “Devil Realm” and 妖界 (Yao Jie) as the “Demon Realm”). Whilst there is no universal consensus / understanding with respect to the difference between 妖 (Yao) and 魔 (Mo), it is often understood that 妖 (Yao) are living beings (other than human beings – for instance, trees, flowers, insects, animals) that gradually gain enough cultivation to live a long life, whereas 魔 (Mo) are either created / born as a 魔 (Mo) (like Gods), or are fallen Gods who chose to enter into the Devil Realm.

[3] Nether Realm (冥界) – Also known as the Underworld. I have, however, translated it as the “Nether Realm” as the other five Realms have the word “Realm” in their respective names.

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