Chapter 34: Lu Jiuyuan's Awakening
378 Words
Lu Jiuyuan was staying in a small hotel on the west side of town.
When Shen Moyan pushed the door open, he was sitting on the bed, surrounded by things—replicas of those 127 relics, each with a paper tag listing the name and cause of death for each lifetime.
"You're here." Lu Jiuyuan looked up. "Good timing. I have something to show you."
He handed over a piece of paper.
Shen Moyan took it. It was a hand-drawn map. A mountain, with a temple on it, and behind the temple, a well.
"I drew this map just before my first lifetime died." Lu Jiuyuan said. "That mountain is Mount Qingcheng. That temple is the Demon-Suppressing Temple. That well…"
He paused.
"Is the well in Chenghuang Temple's backyard."
Shen Moyan froze.
"You're saying that well was on Mount Qingcheng?"
"Yes. Three hundred years ago, someone moved it here. Along with whatever was at the bottom."
Lu Jiuyuan stood up and walked to the window.
"In my first lifetime, I was a Taoist at the Demon-Suppressing Temple. My job was to guard that well. What was sealed at the bottom wasn't a fox demon. It was something else. The fox demon fell in later and got eaten by that thing, became what it is now."
"What was that thing?"
Lu Jiuyuan turned to look at him.
"You."
Shen Moyan's head buzzed.
That phrase again. The woman in red said it. Hu Sanniang hinted at it. Now Lu Jiuyuan was saying it.
"What do you mean?"
"You're not Shen Moyan." Lu Jiuyuan said. "You're the reincarnation of a Taoist from a thousand years ago. That Taoist was the first person to fall into that well. He died at the bottom, but his soul never dispersed. He's been waiting for someone to come and get him out."
He stepped closer.
"That Taoist's name was Shen Mozhi. Your name comes from his."
Shen Moyan stood there, mind blank.
Shen Mozhi.
He'd never heard that name before.
But somehow, hearing those three words, something stirred inside him. Like someone at the bottom of a very deep well, knocking on the wall.
"He's waiting for you." Lu Jiuyuan said. "Waiting for you to finish the nine strokes and go down to get him."
- Writer
