Legends of Ogre Gate Chapter 27: An Eye

Chapter 27: An Eye

Throughout the months during which Bao had lay there still and unmoving, her body never seed to change at all. Her hair hadn’t grown. She didn’t lose weight. She remained the sa as ever.

After waking up though, she felt a wave of weakness building up deep inside of her. It was as if she hadn’t slept during all of those months, and all the exhaustion were on the verge of breaking out at one ti. She felt like she might fall unconscious again at any mont.

Other than willpower, the only thing that kept her awake was hunger. Deep, piercing hunger that made her stomach feel as heavy as a mountain.

She swayed a bit back and forth, then placed her hand down on the bed in front of her to stop the dizziness. For the mont, all thoughts of talworkers vanished from her head.

“Bao, you’re back!” Mao Yun exclaid, leaping to his feet.

“Hungry,” she said. “Food. Now.”

Mao Yun blinked, then rushed out of the room, whereupon the entire stronghold was thrown into a frenzy.

Mao Yun returned minutes later with stead buns, pickled vegetables, and cured at. The food vanished almost before he could put the tray down in front of Bao.

“More,” she said before she even finished swallowing the final mouthful.

Mao Yun’s eyes went wide. For the course of the next three hours, dish after dish was brought in, which Bao wolfed down without hesitation. Even during the ti in which the event played out, exaggerated stories already began to spread.

“Did you hear that Chieftess Bao just ate ten bowls of noodles in a row? Without even breathing!”

“I heard that Mao Yun already sent people down to Fan to buy more pickled vegetables. Chieftess Bao ate an entire month’s worth of stock!”

“I heard that at one point she was so hungry waiting for the next dish that she ate the chopsticks!”

“The chopsticks were nothing! They even had to get a new table!”

After three hours, Bao took a deep breath. “Water,” she said. Mao Yun nodded.

More stories spread.

“Third Zhou said we’ll probably have to start working on a new well after this. The current one is running dry!”

“Mao Yun said that for the next month, all the alcohol and wine is free because Chieftess Bao drank all the water!”

“Hey, what are you doing?!”

“I’m going to burn this incense to Eastern Sea Goddess and beg her not to turn Chieftess Bao into a water ghost!”

Finally, Bao finished. She wiped her lips with a cloth handed to her by Mao Yun, then yawned.

“Mao Yun,” she said.

“Yes, Chieftess Bao.”

“I... need to... sleep for a--” She promptly flopped back down into the bed and began to sleep. This ti it was not a coma, but she did sleep for three days straight, during which ti Mao Yun, Third Zhou and Li Runfa took turns watching over her, just like they had during the long months in which she was in a coma.

Third Zhou was on watch when she woke up again. This ti, when Bao suddenly sat up, she didn’t ask for food and water, but instead, a pen and brush. Third Zhou hurried back monts later, followed by Mao Yun. When Bao was handed the brush, she imdiately began to write onto the paper.

From north to east the clouds surge forth

From south to west fair feathers sing

“What’s that?” Third Zhou asked.

Bao sighed and shook her head. “I’m not sure.” She looked at the words she had written, then slowly handed the brush back to Third Zhou. “I just felt... as if I had to write them. They were burning within my head.”

Mao Yun looked over at the lines of poetry. “This reminds of that ti we got drunk.”

Bao looked up and grinned wryly. “Which ti?”

Mao Yun chuckled. “The first ti. Rember, you jumped up onto the table and wrote a poem on the wall?” [1. Bao wrote two lines of poetry when drunk in chapter 9]

“I rember you telling that story.” Taking a deep breath, Bao experintally scooted to the end of the bed and swung her legs over the side. When she tried to stand up, her legs felt a bit creaky, but none worse for the wear.

After a mont passed, Mao Yun cleared his throat. “Chieftess Bao, may I humbly ask... what happened?”

Bao looked over at the table where the fallen star lay, perched on a wooden platter. “I’ll explain later,” she said. “First, do we have a talworker in the stronghold?”

Third Zhou answered the question. “We do, Chieftess. But according to him, treasures like that fallen star are far beyond his level of skill. He said that if you want sothing made from the star, you should talk to Ruan the Flamingo.”

“Flamingo?” Mao Yun said. “What’s that?”

“A type of bird,” Bao answered. “From the lands on the other side of the Banyan Mountains. I saw a painting of one when I was a child. They’re pink, and stand on one leg.”

“That’s right,” Third Zhou said. “Ruan the Flamingo originally ca from the south. Perhaps that why he has the nickna. I’m not sure. In any case, he’s sowhat of a hermit, but is well-known for this talworking skill. He even made so famous swords and spears when he was younger. He fought against the Demon Emperor during the invasion of Fan, and when the city was sacked, he fled into the mountains. Nowadays, he lives in a cave in the foothills of Mount Fohe.”

“Mount Fohe,” Bao said thoughtfully. “That’s far, but not too far.”

“I already made so calculations,” Third Zhou said. “Most of the traveling would be through forests, hills, and mountains. Depending on the exact route we take, it should take 14-20 days to get there.”

Bao sucked in a breath. “A month-long trip in total, maybe even two months.”

“Chieftess Bao,” Third Zhou exclaid, “you’re not thinking of going yourself, are you!?”

“I have no choice,” she replied. “The fallen star... is too dangerous. Plus, only I know how to control it.” She frowned for a mont in thought. “Make preparations. We leave the day after tomorrow.”

**

The following two days were a buzz of activity as various preparations were made. They didn’t leave the stronghold until noon. Third Zhou and Li Runfa were left behind to administer the daily affairs. Mao Yun went with Bao, as well as a handful of other followers, so from the old bandit group, and so from group they had assimilated after the untily death of Lord Shu.

It wasn’t until they were well into the journey on the second day that Bao finally had a chance to explain to Mao Yun what had occurred to her. Although she didn’t go into explicit detail, she didn’t hide anything either. After she finished with her tale, Mao Yun shook his head.

“It’s almost unbelievable,” he said.

“I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t experienced it myself.”

“How did you do it? How did you stand up to the... the ‘oversized chicken’? How did you defeat her?”

“I didn’t defeat her. I just... suppressed her. I think it had to do with confidence. The further I go along in life, Mao Yun, the more convinced I am that confidence is the key to everything. Those who lack confidence never co out on top. Those who maintain deep and unswerving self-confidence have what it takes to be victorious.”

“But Bao, that Phoenix Demon, she’s... like a god! You said she talked about Xian Nu Shen as if she knew her personally? And she fought with Supre Judge Yu? I don’t know if I could even look her in the eye, let alone have a battle of willpower with her.”

“Well, from the very beginning, she made a mistake. She said that she had been watching the Pure Phoenix Sect for a long ti. But the Pure Phoenix Sect was nothing more than a joke. Who was it that brought it up the first ti? Second Zhou?”

“First Zhou. Well, First Zhou and Second Zhou, to be most accurate. It was actually on the trip to look for the fallen star. Sohow they started talking about how you fight, and Second Zhou said your fighting style was like a dragon. Then First Zhou said that since you’re a woman, it should be a phoenix. And then they both joked that you were ‘pure phoenix.’” Mao Yun chuckled.

“That’s right, I rember now,” Bao said, also chuckling. “When I started talking with Sect Leader Sunan, I rembered that his group was called the Golden Dragon Sect, so for so reason that ‘pure phoenix’ joke popped up into my head, and told him that we were the Pure Phoenix Sect. The Phoenix inside the fallen star must have heard that, and taken it to be the truth. That was what made realize that she was lying.”

“Pure Phoenix Sect,” Mao Yun said. “It actually sounds quite impressive.”

“It does,” Bao replied. “Actually, I think we should keep it.”

As they traveled further south, the terrain grew more mountainous. Eventually, they hired a local guide with the odd na of Piduk to help them make their way through the valleys, foothills, and mountains that led to Mount Fohe.

In the end, the first leg of the journey to Ruan the Flamingo’s cave took a bit over two weeks. An entire day of that ti, the last day, was spent simply finding the actual cave, even though they knew they were in the right general location.

A door had been built into the cave mouth itself, sowhat defying the image that Bao had built up in her mind about what the place would look like. When Ruan the Flamingo appeared, it was instantly obvious the reason for his nickna.

He only had one leg, and walked with a crutch.

As was expected, he was old, with a long scraggly beard, and one eye that was milky with blindness. He opened the door of his cave dwelling, stared out at the group, then said, “Well? Whaddya want?”

“Your skill,” Bao replied. “And a private audience. The matter is... sensitive.”

He peered at them with narrowed eyes, then said, “Fine, co in.”

As Bao dismounted, she gave a aningful look to Mao Yun and then said, “You stay out here with the n.”

He nodded.

Ruan the Flamingo led her into his cave dwelling, which was much more luxurious inside than she would have imagined. A small audience chamber was built into the side of the main tunnel, where the two sat down at a wooden table. Ruan served her a cup of tea.

Not waiting for him to ask questions, Bao pulled out a burlap sack which she placed onto the table with a resounding thump.

“I want sothing made from this,” she said, carefully rolling the fallen star out into the open.

Ruan’s eyes went wide. “That’s....”

“A fallen star,” she replied.

He reached out with his index finger to touch it, but her hand shot out like lightning to grab his wrist. “You must not touch it under any circumstances.”

He looked up at her. “Do you an to tell ....”

“There’s... sothing inside of the star. Sothing like a Demon.”

Ruan sucked in a breath, then leaned back. “Dangerous. Very dangerous. You want to turn this thing into a weapon of so sort, and keep the demon sealed inside?”

“Have you done sothing like that before?”

He grinned. “Oh, once or twice. I even designed a chariot once.”

“Very well then. The final form doesn’t matter to . It could be a dagger, or a bracer, or a bowl for all that matters. The most important thing will be to use this design as the final sealing elent.” She produced a piece of paper, upon which had been sketched a magical symbol, the very sa symbol she had seen on the forehead of the phoenix.

Ruan looked at the paper for a mont, then back at the fallen star. He leaned his face close and inhaled deeply, then produced a pair of wooden tongs from underneath the table. “May I?” he asked.

Bao nodded in affirmation. “Just don’t touch it with your flesh.”

For the next few minutes, Ruan analyzed the fallen star using a variety of thods. “I can do it,” he said. “However, I’m missing an ingredient, sothing I don’t have here in my cave. Get that for , and we have a deal.”

“What ingredient?”

He looked up and smiled. “An eye.”