Paintings of Terror

Chapter 34: Toxic Friends

Translated by Eve

Edited by EB

Sha Liu was breathing a bit hard. When she heard these words, she swallowed. “I’ve heard of Heishitian before. My mom’s friend—the one that was cured of cancer after taking the dews of wisdom pill—became a believer of Sahism after that. The friend had bought a lot of books related to Sahism and I’ve seen a description of an eight-armed creature named Heishitian in one of the works before.

“The book I read had said that it wore human skin, a necklace of human heads and held a cup made out of a human’s skull in its hand. The skull also held a human brain inside. The book also had a description of common offerings to Heishitian….

“The offerings included hearts; intestines; legs; arms; skinned heads; lanterns made up of human hair and human fat; flowers made of human eyes, nose and lips; liquid mixtures made of blood, bile and brain; or ‘dough’ made of blood, viscera and brain….”

Li Ziling vomited again upon hearing this. Zhao Dan had also started to dry heave while held in Zhou Bin’s embrace.

Zhou Bin’s eyes had lit up, however. “Maybe this is what duomu and gala are referring to? And the skull cup—that might be the sacrificial cup we need to look for. The libation wine might not be ordinary wine. It might be a mixture of human brains, blood and bile. And the lantern—the one we found yesterday wasn’t right. We have to light it up with human fat!”

Sha Liu thought it over carefully and nodded. “I think you’re right. I recall there being a long list of transliterated words in that book. But because I didn’t read it in detail, I can’t remember what they were precisely…. Wait, I know what duomu is! It refers to sacrificial cakes. Maybe it’s…the ‘dough’ balls mentioned earlier….”

“That’s it!” Zhou Bin clenched his fist in the air. “We just have to find those things!”

Qin Ci was much more cautious. He asked Mu Yiran, who hadn’t spoken in a while, “Xiao Mu, what do you think?”

Mu Yiran glanced at the excited Zhou Bin. “I’m skeptical. I’m not sure the offerings that person mentioned refer to what Sha Liu’s talking about. I also don’t think that the things she mentioned will do us any good.”

Qin Ci looked at him. “Why is that?”

“Ke Xun said that the giant shadow looked larger last night than it had on the first night,” Mu Yiran said, “What would cause such a change? I think that it must have something to do with the offerings we brought back. All deities rely on faith to survive. The stronger the faith, the stronger the deity’s powers. Offering sacrifices is the most straightforward way to manifest one’s faith. The offerings can also be transformed into energy that will power the deity.”

“So what you’re saying is that, Heishitian absorbed the power of faith contained in the offerings we collected? That’s why it looked stronger and larger than it had on the first night?” Qin Ci realized what the other was getting at.

“That’s why I said that gathering offerings might not necessarily be beneficial to us.”

Zhou Bin frowned. “But we’ll be killed by that thing if we don’t prepare the offerings. Besides, if the offerings are equivalent to one’s faith, why would a deity kill its own believers? It might be killing us only because we haven’t collected all of the offerings yet. Once we collect them all and conduct the sacrificial ceremony, it might protect us.”

“Besides,” Mu Yiran said, “It was said that prior to Heishitian’s induction into Sahism, it was a violent, fierce demon from another pagan religion. Even after it obtained its godhead, it had become an evil god. It took lives instinctively. If practitioners of Sahism wish to command it, they must pay a price. For example, they would have to sacrifice offerings or divine instruments that would please Heishitian. The more vicious or fierce the evil creature is, the more useful it is to practitioners.”

Zhou Bin punched his fist into the palm of his other hand, as if the truth had just dawned upon him. “It requires offerings and divine instruments. You mentioned that it wears human skin, a necklace made of human heads and a cup made out of a human skull. Think about how Tan Zheng and Ma Zhenhua died! Tan Zheng’s body was dismembered and his head was ripped off. Ma Zhenhua was skinned alive. Doesn’t this mean that that thing is trying to use us to complete its wardrobe? It’s because we haven’t gathered everything it wants that it’s taking things into its own hands. This also means that, so long as we gather everything, it won’t kill us anymore. We might even be able to use it. Maybe we can order it to find the seal for us so we can leave the painting.”

The others seemed to agree. They nodded along.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s hurry up and go collect those things!” Zhou Bin looked at everyone expectantly.

Qin Ci still chose to remain prudent and asked Mu Yiran another question. “Xiao Mu, are you heading north in search of an offering?”

“That’s partially why. The main reason I’m heading north is because I wanted to take a look,” Mu Yiran said.

“What’s over there?” Sha Liu asked.

“A large group of bald eagles,” Mu Yiran said coldly.

Zhou Bin didn’t get what the significance of this was. He was about to ask what did it matter that there were bald eagles around, but he stopped upon seeing Sha Liu’s face pale. Sha Liu said, “A sky burial platform.”

Sky burials didn’t belong to a single religion. Many religions in Southeast Asia—and even the Maasai people of Kenya in distant Africa— have evidence of sky burials in their records.

Sky burials are also a part of Sahism. Everyone has more-or-less heard of this before, therefore, no one doubted it. After walking for so long, it would be a waste to head back now. Thus, they all decided to go take a look at the sky burial platform.

After winding around a tall summit, tens of bald eagles spiralling through the air suddenly appeared before them.

In front of them, a group of people were solemnly holding a sky burial on the platform.

There was a group of three to five people surrounding the platform. Someone had gone to start a bonfire and light up incense. Someone was also sitting cross-legged on a rug made of sheepskin, chanting some kind of scripture. Another person was selecting from a variety of tools laid out on the ground. There were knives, hammers and spades.

In the middle of the platform was a corpse lying face-up. Several eagles were perched on the rocks surrounding the corpses, eagerly waiting.

The group didn’t dare get too close. They hid behind a large stone and cautiously peered in the platform’s direction.

A while later, the person who had been chanting got up. The person said a few words. The tools person then picked up a knife and walked over to the corpse. That person flipped the person over and stabbed the blade into the corpse’s butt. He then slid the knife down through the ankle, causing the flesh to open up.

Li Ziling shrieked. The people at the platform turned to look in their direction upon hearing it. Malevolent expressions immediately appeared on their faces. They came running in the group’s direction, knives, hammers and spades swinging through the air!

“Run!” Qin Ci yelled as he broke out into a sprint. Everyone else promptly followed after, panicked and scared. The uneven mountainous road underneath their feet was covered in rocks. Very soon, Li Ziling and Zhao Dan both ended up spraining their ankles and fell to the ground.

Zhou Bin carried Zhao Dan on his back and continued stumbling forward. No one paid Li Ziling any attention. She wailed and begged. “Don’t leave me behind—please—save me—I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die—Sha Liu! Sha Liu! Don’t leave, save me—”

Sha Liu had not gotten far. She was only a bit further ahead. Right at that moment, she also tripped on a stone and fell down. She tried to climb to her feet but couldn’t do it. Li Ziling had grabbed hold of her pants with her long arms. Sha Liu couldn’t break free.

“Ziling, let go of me—” Sha Liu’s face paled.

“No—take me with you—we’re good friends. You can’t abandon me. We either both survive or we both die—” Li Ziling’s howls became even more mournful and fierce.

The two of them were entangled on the floor. Suddenly, a pair of legs appeared in their line of sight. Before they could look up and see who it was, they were lifted up by the collars of their shirts.”

“What toxic friends, huh?” Ke Xun raised a brow. He then started to run again.

Sha Liu and Li Ziling didn’t stray far behind. It was clear that Ke Xun would not turn around again.

When thrust into moments of life or death, the human body could do previously unimaginable things. Li Ziling endured the pain in her sprained ankle and ran. Fortunately, the people from the sky burial platform were still a ways behind them. They wouldn’t be able to catch up for some time.

Everyone ran in a panicked flurry for about ten minutes. Zhou Bin was exhausted after running with Zhao Dan on his back this whole time. He turned to look behind them and noticed that it looked like they had lost their pursuers. Thus, he stopped running and let Zhao Dan down.

“Let’s hurry up and leave,” Zhao Dan cried. “It’s terrifying. It’s just a sky burial. What could we gain from that? Let’s just go, okay?”

Zhou Bin placed a hand on her shoulder. “It’s fine. They won’t reach up. Rest a bit. Does your ankle hurt? Let’s ask Dr. Qin to take a look.”

A moment later, the rest of the group caught up. Li Ziling and Sha Liu trailed in at the end. However, Ke Xun, Wei Dong and Mu Yiran were missing.

“Where did they go?” Zhou Bin asked Sha Liu.

Sha Liu was gasping for air. She pointed behind her: “They looped around the summit. They weren’t very far from the platform. I don’t know if they were trying to avoid those people or lead them away.”

Zhou Bin gazed at the sky burial platform and then asked Qin Ci, “Dr. Qin, do you think we’ll find clues at the sky burial platform?”

Qin Ci shook his head. “I can’t think of anything at the moment.”

Zhou Bin gave him a meaningful look. “I think that there might be something there. Mu Yiran isn’t a simple fellow. He would never shoot aimlessly. He must have a reason for wanting to come here. Perhaps his reason is the sky burial platform. Look, even while escaping, he wasn’t willing to leave that place. He probably went back to take another look. After leading those people away, he can take advantage of their absence to examine the platform.”

Qin Ci looked at him: “So what are you saying?”

Zhou Bin’s eyes lit up. “Weren’t we just talking about divine instruments, human fat, brains, blood, bile, hearts, head, arms, hair, legs and skulls? Where do you think we can get those things?”

Sha Liu was startled. “You don’t mean to say…we can get those things from the corpse at the sky burial platform?”

“Of course. Otherwise, why would Mu Yiran want to head back there?” Zhou Bin said in a certain tone. “That Wei Dong had also said that the village people had pointed them north when they asked about the offerings. That’s obviously a hint. It means that what we need is here. What do we need? Obviously it’s the offerings! What’s here? All we have here is a corpse, so the corpse can give us everything we need. We have to think of a way to get the offerings!”

“But those people are so violent. How can we get those things?” Zhao Dan was extremely worried. “They have knives and other tools. We’re barehanded. We’re no match for them.”

“But we outnumber them.” Zhou Bin grit his teeth. “I have an idea.”

Ke Xun and Wei Dong followed Mu Yiran around the summit and carefully toed their way along a cliff.

After threading through a forest of strange stones, they reached a valley.

“Boss, let’s rest a bit. I’m exhausted…” Wei Dong huffed, as he bent down with a hand on his waist.

“Did your body burn out at the age of eight or something?” Ke Xun said.

“You think I can compare to you? You and the other phys-ed kids would run practically everyday on the track while preparing for your triathlons. Dude, my freaking neck gets tired just from holding my head up,” Wei Dong said.

Mu Yiran didn’t pay any attention to these two idiots who have always relied on bantering to reduce their fear/nervousness/pressure/awkwardness/fatigue. He simply said: “Wait here.”

He then headed onward on his own.

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