The Red Scorpion

Chapter 2. The Curse

On the surface of a small lake of Bihan, not far away from Xia Palace, there was a small gazebo; a man dressed all black with a hood covering his head was standing inside gazebo. His eyes were fixed to the beautiful scenery in front of him, the starry sky moonlight which reflected on lake water. He remembered a poem that once was written by famous poet,

Before my bed, there is a pool of light
I wonder if it is the frost on the ground
Looking up, i find the moon bright
Then bowing my head, i drown in homesickness (Moonlight, Li Bai)

He tilted down his head, looking at the palm of his hand with enigmatic expression, saying, "Although, it was no more, the warmth of home would remain in the heart." He turned his body to the west side, he could see greyish smokes soared high from a far. He closed his eyes and smiled in relief.

No long after, a man with red sokkat jumped to gazebo with his qigong, charging the man in black hood with qigong fist. He quickly fended off it with his right arm. The qi was so enormous to create water waves on lake surface, blowing the red sokkat to the water and revealing the black hood. The man in black robe swiftly snatched the crimson mask exposing the one behind it.

"Qiu Ye, you blew up my sokkat." The man was slightly annoyed. Qiu Ye chuckled, "It's not my fault. You attacked me first, Mao Shan." He embraced Mao Shan's back shoulders with his right arm while his left arm hit Mao Shan's chest lightly. Mao Shan did not react to him. He let down his hands and rubbed his head, "You are really petty, being mad for a sokkat. Alright, I will get it for you."

As he tried to jump into the water, Mao Shan held his wrist, halting his movement. He tilted his head meeting Mao Shan's eyes, he sensed something not right. He got closer to Mao Shan, caressed his round lumpy face gently, "What is it? You can tell me."

When Mao Shan was going to open his mouth, Qiu Ye embraced him in a sudden, immersed Mao Shan's head into his chest. He moved his forefinger into a rotation and pointed it to the trees near gazebo. A sword flew according to his finger movement. Again with the same trick, he called his sword back to him, and instantly the sword was in his hand. "You are being tailed." A strand of string coiled around the sword along with a stain of blood.

"Damn it. It's Wang Qing's henchman." Qiu Ye scoffed. Mao Shan leant on his chest, "Let me for a moment..." He patted Mao Shan's head to calm him down, he felt the heat permeated his palm. He reversed Mao Shan's body, his yellowish lumpy face which full of red acnes turned to a beautiful fairly white skin with a small mole on his right cheek. His face was red and his breath was short.

Qiu Ye helped him seat on the floor. He gripped Mao Shan's head, channeling his own qi to Mao Shan's upper dantian. Soon as he felt a slight cold to his palm, he sat behind Mao Shan, thrusting both of his palm on his back and transfering his qi to Mao Shan's middle dantian. Then with his left forefinger and middle finger, he pointed the seven qi points on Mao Shan's back. Last, he thrusted his fingers to his ming men point (lower dantian on the back).

As he finished, Mao Shan spatted black blood from his mouth. His body was drenched of sweat. He could finally breath with relief. His chest pain was reduced over time. "Why didn't you take the elixir? How long have you skipped it?" Qiu Ye reached out Mao Shan's shoulder, grasping it hard and forcing Mao Shan to look at him.

Mao Shan wiped the blood trace on his lips. He fixed his robe and kept his mouth shut. "Mao'er...!" Qiu Ye yelled his pet name. Mao Shan shuddered; he closed his eyes and held Qiu Ye's hand which resided on his shoulder. "Not long after master died."

Hearing that, Qiu Ye became furious. He grabbed Mao Shan's robe collar angrily, "How dare you?! You just let him sacrifice himself for nothing. What a disgrace!"