Journey to Wubang 01 - Earth to Hell (47 page)

Liang Tian, Marshal Zhou and Marshal Shi were already inside, looking like serene Confucian gentlemen in their traditional black robes. Martin sat in the front passenger seat, staring out the window. The Tiger was in the back row, scowling.

Simone and Michael climbed in behind me and seated themselves, we closed the door and Marshal Ma started the van.

‘Not taking demon form yet?’ I said.

‘Not on the Celestial side, Emma,’ Marshal Ma said as he pulled the van away from the kerb. ‘We’d get ourselves killed.’

‘Tell me more about this demon business,’ I said as we drove along the side of the lake. ‘Why do you all have demon forms?’

‘You’ve obviously never read
Journey to the North
,’ Marshal Zhou said, his bushy beard bristling. ‘Have you read
Journey to the West
?’

‘Got about halfway through, then it started getting really repetitive,’ I said, ashamed. ‘They go over a mountain, they get captured by demons, the Monkey King frees them, the monk admonishes everybody, and they journey to the next mountain where exactly the same thing happens again.’

The Generals chuckled.

‘That’s about the gist of it,’ Marshal Ma said from the front. ‘But you may have gleaned from the text that the Pig was a Heavenly General who was cast down from Heaven, and accidentally reborn from a pig’s womb.’

I stared around at them. ‘You were all cast down from Heaven? Is that why you have demon forms?’

‘Something like that,’ Marshal Zhou said.

‘I have to read
Journey to the North
now,’ I said, almost to myself.

‘Would probably be a good idea,’ the Tiger said from the back of the van. ‘What I’ve done is
nothing
compared to what some of these guys got up to.’

‘Oh, I wouldn’t say that,’ Marshal Ma called back. ‘You’ve done some pretty despicable things in your time, my friend.’

The Tiger dropped his head and glowered. ‘And we’ve all gained redemption.’

‘I really need to read it,’ I said.

‘Me too,’ Simone said. ‘And
Daddy
did this too?’ She turned to Martin. ‘What about you?’

Martin’s face went rigid. ‘I have never been cast from Heaven.’

‘What about—’ the Tiger began, but Martin cut him off.

‘I have never been cast from Heaven,’ he repeated. ‘I have been exiled from my clan, thrown from my family, but I have always acted with honour.’

We came to a causeway and Marshal Ma slowed the van. He turned left and the Judge’s mansion at the Celestial end of the causeway appeared in front of us.

‘We drive to the end, then we have to walk,’ Ma said.

‘Will there be issues with us going through the Gates?’ Michael said.

‘We take demon form inside the van, park it at the
end, and stroll out like we own the place,’ Zhou said. ‘We won’t be questioned.’

‘We just eat anything that stops us,’ the Tiger growled.

‘You will be with me. You will not be questioned,’ Martin said.

‘I can’t change in here, there isn’t room,’ Liang Tian said. ‘You’ll have to park the van so it blocks their view of me, so I can change after I get out.’

‘Not a problem,’ Marshal Ma said. He picked up speed as he drove along the causeway across the absolutely waveless lake. ‘It’s about a fifty li drive. I suggest you do any preparation now; we have at least half an hour before reaching the demonic section.’

I turned to Marshal Zhao. ‘Tell me about
Journey to the North.
’

Both the Generals in the back of the van grimaced. Martin remained impassive.

‘Tell her, it’s about fucking time,’ the Tiger growled.

‘Tigers don’t tell me what to do,’ Zhao snapped back.

‘No, but we do,’ Simone said, her voice sweet and childlike. ‘And cut it out with the bad language, Uncle Bai.’

‘Humph,’ the Tiger said. He summoned a can of beer, opened it and took a swig, then settled back into his seat to look out the window.

‘Some aspects of the story as it has been retold are wrong,’ Zhou said. ‘Lord Xuan Wu is not a soul of the Jade Emperor.’

‘He’s said that himself,’ I said.

‘The Turtle and Snake are not separate entities—well, not separate in the sense of separate from
him.
They
are
him.’

‘In the story they are separate from him?’

Zhou nodded. ‘And Avalokitesvara had very much more to do with this than is hinted at in the book—’

‘Who?’ Simone said.

‘Avalokitesvara is Kwan Yin’s Sanskrit name,’ I said.

Zhou nodded again.

‘She’s
Indian
?’

‘She’s a Bodhisattva, Simone. She isn’t anything,’ I said.

‘That is correct in many more ways than one,’ Ma said from the front of the car.

‘He fell. He was redeemed. When he returned to Heaven, his Generals had also fallen and he made the journey to retrieve them,’ Zhou said.

‘Whoa, that’s the
Reader’s Digest
version of the
Reader’s Digest
version,’ the Tiger said.

‘We’re nearly there,’ Zhou said.

‘Some of you guys didn’t fall,’ the Tiger said.

‘This is true. Guan Gong—I mean Guan Yu, Gao Yuan the Heavenly Star—’

‘Is that why Gao Yuan glows all the time? He’s a
star
?’ Simone interrupted.

‘Yes. His story is very sad, but I can’t go into it. Ask him later. Marshals Deng and Zhang of the Thunder Gates, Heavenly Lord Xin, Grand Marshal Xiao of the Hours, Wang Tie of Tiger Peak—’

‘Yeah, a few of you guys just went off and did your own thing but didn’t eat people,’ the Tiger said with humour. He swigged his beer. ‘But a few of you went off—and
did
eat people.’

‘No
way
,’ Simone said. She stared at Marshal Zhou, wide-eyed. ‘You
ate
people?’

The Generals were silent, all of them obviously embarrassed.

Simone turned to Marshal Ma, who was suddenly concentrating on driving. ‘You
ate
people, General Ma?’

Ma grimaced, dropped his head, then raised it again, concentrating on the road. He sighed heavily, then replied, ‘Okay, so sometimes presidents of countries
have their sordid pasts brought up. Some of them may have done drugs when they were in high school—’

‘But they didn’t
murder people and eat them
!’ Simone said.

‘It’s much the same thing though, my Princess. It’s easy to become addicted to the blood of humans. We’re all reformed addicts.’

He glanced over his shoulder, saw my face and smiled slightly. He knew my cravings.

Simone turned to look out the window. ‘I’m consorting with murderers and cannibals.’ She leaned her head on the glass. ‘And my father was the biggest one of all.’

‘Reformed, judged, punished and redeemed,’ Zhou said. ‘He gave us the Fire Pill and enabled us to control our addiction—’

‘Holy shit, that means you’re all tame demons,’ Simone said, her head snapping around to see him. ‘That’s what we do to tame them—give them the Fire Essence Pill. It took me a long time to learn that at the Academy!’

‘That’s the point they’re trying to make, honey,’ the Tiger said. He dropped his voice. ‘And you complain about
me
using bad language.’

Simone turned back to the window. ‘What about Daddy—is he a demon too?’ She turned to gaze at Zhou. ‘Am I half-demon? Is that what it means that I can take this demonic form?’ Her eyes went wide. ‘And who gave
him
the Fire Pill?’

‘Nobody needed to,’ Martin said, breaking in. ‘He met Avalokitesvara and decided on this path himself, the path to redemption. He attained the Tao with her assistance. He is the mightiest creature ever to have shaken off his past and turned to the Celestial.’

‘Will he revert to demon when he becomes whole?’ she said, her voice small.

‘There is no chance of that at all,’ Ma said with conviction. ‘He has changed more than any of us. He will never return to that path, it cannot happen. He is either the Xuan Wu the animal spirit, or Xuan Tian the Celestial General.’

‘We’re here,’ Ma said.

There was a small car park with space for about ten cars at the end of the causeway. Ahead was a towering craggy black cliff seemingly made of some type of shining glass, with enormous red doors, about fifty metres high, adorned with black metal studs, much like the doors of the Celestial Palace. Demon guards in armour carrying swords stood on either side of the gates, like statues.

Ma parked the van sideways to the gate—there were no other cars there—and turned off the engine. He turned to speak to us. ‘Who is bigger than the inside of the van?’

‘Just about all of us, Ah Guang,’ Marshal Zhou said.

Ma peered out the front windscreen. ‘Only two guards on the Gates, and they look parked. Might as well go for it. Use the van as cover.’

We slid the door open and got out. Everybody stood there, obviously hesitant at changing. Martin didn’t bother waiting: he took his demonic form again—black skin with long bright red hair, bulging eyes, and tusks. He raised one clawed hand and summoned the Silver Serpent, the sword that Xuan Wu had originally given to me.

He grimaced. ‘I still have your sword. Do you want it back?’

‘Was it yours originally?’ I said.

He nodded his massive demon head. ‘Father had it forged for me. When I was disowned, he took it from me.’

‘Keep it,’ I said.

Marshal Ma grew and thickened and his skin turned green. His clothing changed from a business suit to a traditional black silk robe, and his face became longer and his eyes round and bulging. His mouth thickened and became redder. When he was about two-and-a-half metres tall he stopped growing, and visibly relaxed.

‘Haven’t done that in a while,’ he said.

‘You look nearly human,’ I said.

He bowed slightly. ‘I thank you, madam.’

Zhao Gong Ming and Shi Cheng shared a look, then both changed at the same time. They took similar demonic forms: Zhao was red all over with scales and tusks, and Shi went completely white. They both wore traditional black lacquer armour. Shi Cheng carried a long, narrow sword with characters along its length. Zhao held a golden leather strap in his left hand, and in his right a sword embellished with tigers on the hilt.

The Generals bowed slightly to me, and Zhao grinned, revealing his fearsome tusks.

Liang Tian, who usually appeared as a middle-aged scholar with a refined, elegant face, grimaced. ‘They’re right. My demon form is a bit extreme.’ He appeared embarrassed. ‘Please don’t take fright at it—and you need to move back, it’s large.’

‘Let’s see it,’ I said, curious.

Liang Tian changed quickly, the transformation taking only a few seconds. His body went from human to long and serpent-like, then to that of a dragon on all fours with black scales and claws, three metres long. But his head was like a Chinese lion, all fangs, bulging eyes and a mane of large scales. He shook his head and opened his mouth, revealing his huge red tongue.

‘Frankendragon,’ Simone said. ‘You look like two monsters glued together.’

Liang Tian bowed slightly to her. ‘I shall take that as a compliment, miss.’

‘Your turn. Let’s see it, ma’am,’ Ma said. ‘I’ve heard an awful lot about this famous serpent form.’

I gestured towards Simone, the Tiger and Michael. ‘Me last. You guys first.’

‘Why?’ the Tiger said.

‘Because I might slip into demon form,’ I said.

None of the Generals seemed surprised.

General Ma nodded his huge green head. ‘I understand. You last.’ He turned to the Tiger, Simone and Michael. ‘Any chance of the demon side taking over on you three?’

‘No guarantee I won’t eat anything,’ the Tiger said gruffly, and changed. He grew taller and his head became much larger, turning into a full tiger’s head with long fangs. His body filled out, still remaining reasonably human, and his clothes shrank to a simple tiger-skin loincloth. His hands grew and spread into paws with fearsome long claws that hung level with his knees. He shook his head. ‘Been a while for me too.’

Michael’s change was sudden. His body lengthened and grew pale gold tiger fur with black stripes, and as it lengthened he fell forward to stand on all fours. His head also became a tiger’s head, with a shaggy mane. He must have been at least three metres from nose to tail.

‘That’s not too different from your tiger form,’ Simone said.

‘Different enough,’ Michael said, his tiger vocal cords making his voice a rough growl. He raised his black nose to her. ‘Your turn.’

Simone concentrated, and suddenly grew so that she was at least thirty centimetres taller, and her skin went completely black. Her jeans and T-shirt changed to flowing black robes, and her fingers lengthened and grew long nails that were almost claws. Reptilian scales appeared all over her body, and her face became more
narrow and reptilian, her nose disappearing and her large green eyes showing slits instead of pupils. Her legs stayed in normal human shape but were black and covered with scales. She bent forward, stretched her scaled arms in front of her, then, with a growl, threw herself back again to complete the form.

Everyone stared at her in awe.

She rubbed her clawed hands over her face. ‘I
hate
this form. It’s really itchy.’ She gestured towards me. ‘Your turn, Emma.’

‘I really don’t want to do this. I don’t remember anything that happens while I’m in this form,’ I said.

‘You can always stay behind,’ the Tiger said. ‘Wait here for us.’

I didn’t reply, I just changed. I concentrated on taking the serpent form, and slid into it easily; nearly as easily as demon form. When I lifted my head it was about the same height as Simone’s.

‘You there, Emma?’ Simone said.

‘Yeah,’ I said. I flicked my tongue and tasted the air. It smelt/tasted foul: the presence of the demons and the demonic side of Hell close by. ‘This place really stinks.’

Michael raised his head and sniffed. ‘That it does.’

Martin hefted his sword. ‘Follow me. I will guide.’

Ma raised one arm. ‘Lead on, Gui Dai Ren.’

W
e followed Martin to the base of the gates and the demon guards changed from inactive automatons to living creatures. They raised their pole arms, then saw Martin and lowered them again, falling to their knees. Martin raised one hand and the gates opened slowly and smoothly inwards. A blast of foul-tasting stale air hit us and we went in.