Legends of Ogre Gate

The horses pulled the chariot into the middle of the hall in dramatic fashion, whereupon they stood stock still, almost as if they were nothing more than statues. Du Qian hopped off of the chariot and then flourished his arms and said, “Phoenix Sovereign. Dragon Sovereign. Allow me to present to you an artifact of incredible power. Crafted by Ruan the Flamingo using a branch from the Epoch Tree as its axle, this is the Chariot of Qi Xien!

“It is created by magic both ancient and mysterious, and will give you an edge in the fight against the Demon Emperor that no one else in the land possesses.” Running his hand down the side of the chariot, he said, “As you can see, it is large enough to fit four or five people. The magical horses which pull it never get tired, and most shocking of all, can drive the chariot with no one at the reins! You heard me correctly. Once in the chariot, simply say the words ‘chariot, take me to...’ and say any place in the world, and the chariot will take you there!

“Furthermore, the speed the chariot can attain on an open road vastly exceeds that of any ordinary chariot or horse. Best of all, the horses need no rest or food. The chariot can ride without stop through a cloudy, moonless night, or even dark caves and caverns beneath the surface of the earth. Not even the fastest steeds from Kushen would be able to overtake it. With the Chariot of Qi Xien, you will be able to move across the lands with incredible speed, and in complete safety. For example, the trip from here to Daolu, which would normally take weeks, can be made in only five to seven days!

“Dragon Sovereign. Phoenix Sovereign. Ruan and I have been preparing this gift for many, many months. Years even. Please accept it with our most humble congratulations!” With that, he clasped hands and bowed deeply.

Bao and Sunan were, of course, completely stunned, as was everyone else in the room. In fact, at first, nothing met Du Qian’s speech other than astonished silence.

A long moment passed, after which Sunan said, “Master Du, this... this is incredible!”

Du Qian smiled, and opened his mouth to say something in response, but before he could, Sun Mai rose to his feet.

“Brother Du Qian,” he said, “this is indeed most impressive.” Looking over at Sunan, he said, “Dragon Sovereign, may I have the honor of inspecting this marvelous gift?”

“Of course, Sun Mai.”

Sun Mai stepped forward to look more closely at the chariot, starting with the horses. “Brother Du Qian, I presume that you tested the powers of the chariot, correct? It really can go anywhere in the world?”

“Of course, Brother Sun Mai. Over the past months, Ruan and I have taken the chariot to locations such as Zun City and the outskirts of Xuanlu. And of course, Daolu.”

“How did you get it down the steep steps leading to the bottom of the mountain?”

Du Qian smiled. “This chariot is driven by ancient, powerful magic. Do you really think a few steps would pose a problem for it? We even told the chariot to take us to Naqan. It instantly began to speed to the west, but we interrupted the journey. In any case, rest assured, it can take its riders anywhere.”

“Anywhere?” Sun Mai said, looking up, an expression of slight surprise on his face.

“Anywhere,” Du Qian said confidently.

Sun Mai walked around and hopped up into the chariot itself. “According to the legends I have read, the roots of the Epoch Tree burrow down so deep into the earth that they provide an anchor for Qi Xien within the flow of time. I wonder how that affects the powers of the chariot?”

Du Qian frowned slightly. “What do you mean?”

“Brother Du Qian, you crafted the chariot using an item of power that comes from a different Realm. Doesn’t that mean that the chariot can transcend the world we see around us? Might it not reveal secrets regarding the very nature of the world itself?”

Du Qian seemed slightly taken aback. “Perhaps it could--”

Before he could finish his sentence, Sun Mai smiled, picked up the chariot reins, and said, “Chariot, take me to the Perfect Realm.”

Gasps echoed out from the audience, and yet... nothing else happened.

Du Qian’s face drained of blood, and he took a step back.

Sun Mai cleared his throat. “Chariot, take me to the Upper Realms.”

Nothing happened.

“Chariot, take me to see Xian Nu Shen. Chariot, take me to see Hen-Shi. Chariot, take me to see Supreme Judge Yu.”

Nothing happened.

At this point, Du Qian’s face darkened. Hurrying forward, he hopped up into the chariot next to Sun Mai. “Now listen here, Sun Mai--”

“Chariot, take me to the moment when Xian Nu Shen created the world.”

Instantly, muffled rumbling like distant thunder filled the ears of all present. Simultaneously, time seemed to slow... and then stop. Brilliant colors burst out from the chariot, surrounding the entire thing, filling the eyes of all onlookers until all they could see was painful whiteness. Then... the chariot vanished.

After the light faded away, cries of shock filled the room, and numerous individuals shot to their feet, including Sunan and Bao.

Only a moment later, though, more rumbling sounds and blinding light filled the room, and the chariot was back.

It looked different. Its previously smooth and lustrous surface was now riddled with damage, as though it had been hacked at with blades and beaten with clubs. There were even arrows protruding from a few areas, and... what appeared to be teeth marks.

Du Qian and Sun Mai were in the chariot, although they looked very different as well. Sun Mai’s head was no longer cleanly shaven. His hair hung past his shoulders, and was completely disheveled. He also had a scraggly beard, and his robes were stained with both dirt and blood, seemingly on the verge of falling off of his body. Du Qian was similarly bedraggled.

However, what was most shocking about the scene was neither the chariot nor its two riders.

Instead, it was what hung on the outside of the chariot, on its wheels, and even clinging to the horses. Corpses. Dozens of them, complete with rotting flesh and protruding bones. Some of them even dripped with viscous blackish fluid that was apparently partially-congealed blood.

As soon as the chariot appeared in the room, it became clear exactly what type of corpses these were, as their heads moved, and they looked around with snarling grimaces. Almost instantly, they began to hop off of the chariot and look around at the stunned wedding guests.

One of the corpses seemed older, and somehow more limber than the other corpses.

“Well well,” she said, opening her mouth to reveal long, razor-sharp teeth. “You’ve brought us to some lovely food!”

If the sight of a talking, reanimated corpse wasn’t shocking enough as it was, when people looked over at her, cries of astonishment and shock filled the room.

“Mao Mei!?” Mao Yun blurted.

This reanimated corpse looked almost exactly like his own sister, Mao Mei!

Mao Yun’s head swiveled, and moments later, locked onto another young woman sitting some distance away from him, who was looking at the reanimated corpse, her jaw dropped and her eyes as wide as saucers. That young woman was also Mao Mei.

As of this moment, there were two Mao Meis in the room, one of them young and very much alive, the other a withered corpse with sharp teeth bared in a vicious grin.

“Feed, my children,” said the corpse version of Mao Mei. “Feed to your hearts’ content!” Cackling, she leaped off of the chariot toward the nearest wedding guest, and before the man could react, she buried her fangs into the base of his neck.

At the same time, the other reanimated corpses began to hop in different directions toward other wedding guests.

Thankfully, virtually everyone present was a martial hero of some sort or another, and most of them reacted quickly. Within moments, fierce fighting had broken out between the wedding guests and the reanimated corpses.

Meanwhile, the corpse version of Mao Mei remained latched to the neck of the initial victim, who was struggling to push her off.

At this point, Du Qian vaulted out of the chariot. “Sun Mai,” he shouted, “prepare the Encompassing Emerald! Everyone else, listen carefully. These jiangshi are immune to normal attacks. Hit them with fire or energy!”

With that, he leaped toward the corpse Mao Mei, pulling what appeared to be nothing more than a crude hemp rope out of his robe, the end of which had been tied into a noose. However, when he hurled it through the air toward corpse Mao Mei, it began to glow with a faint, violet light.

As for Sun Mai, he jumped out of the chariot and then settled down cross-legged right in the middle of all the fighting. Closing his eyes, he clasped his hands together in front of him and began to meditate.

Corpse Mao Mei apparently sensed the noose flying toward her head. She dropped her victim, shoving him away from her and flying backward in an attempt to dodge the noose. However, she was just a moment too slow, and although the noose didn’t manage to settle around her neck, it snagged her right wrist.

Not hesitating for even a moment, Du Qian jerked on the violet rope, causing corpse Mao Mei to spin through the air and then slam into the ground only a meter in front of Sun Mai.

“This trick again?!” corpse Mao Mei said. “It didn’t work last time and it won’t work this time either!”

Sun Mai’s eyes snapped open, instantly sending bright green light spilling out into the room. “I’ve improved it a bit since our last encounter,” he said.

The green light began to spin around corpse Mao Mei, who could only look on in shock as it formed something that looked like an enormous, illusory emerald, with her in the very middle. Letting out a screech, she violently kicked the emerald, but other than a thudding sound, it did nothing.

“This won’t work, you fools!” corpse Mao Mei shrieked. “I wasn’t reaminated by some bungled ritual. I’m a servant of the Five Ghosts! I command power beyond your imagination! You can’t kill me!”

As she continued to rave, the illusory emerald began to shrink down. Sun Mai remained in place, his eyes glowing with brilliant green light as they remained fixed on corpse Mao Mei. Seconds ticked by, the emerald slowly shrank, and corpse Mao Mei began to scream. Incredible invisible forces were causing immense pressure to engulf her from all directions, pressure that even her powerful, undead body could not resist.

The pressure mounted, and her screams increased. She attempted to batter her way free from the emerald, but no amount of thrashing on her part produced even a single result. Her body began to twist and distort, and eventually one of her legs snapped. Then an arm was crushed, and her neck twisted at an unnatural angle. Soon her screams were reduced to muffled grunts. And then, after only about a minute had passed, she was crumbled into nothing more than a ball of flesh, crushed bone, and oozing, black liquid.

Moments later, the emerald faded away, and the lump of flesh plopped to the ground. At the same time, Sun Mai’s eyes returned to their normal color.

Du Qian didn’t hesitate for even a moment to pull out a burlap sack that seemed equally as ordinary as the hemp rope had. Dashing forward, he threw the sack over the lump of flesh, and then tied it closed with the hemp rope. As the knot was secured, a flash of violet light swept across the surface of the sack, after which it continued to look as ordinary and unimpressive as before.

It didn’t take long for the wedding guests to use a variety of fire and energy attacks to blast the other animated corpses to pieces.

From the moment the chariot had disappeared, to the moment it had returned and fierce fighting had broken out, to the moment that the fight had ended, only a few short minutes had passed.

Now, eerie silence filled the entire wedding feast.

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