But Tu Tzuchun still remained silent.
All of a sudden a tiger with very bright eyes appeared from somewhere, and leaping upon the rock on which Tu Tzuchun sat, began glaring and roaring at him very fiercely. At the same time the pine-tree on the cliff just behind him shook violently, and a huge white snake with a big head, as big as a barrel, came wriggling down the precipice toward him, and stopped before him waving its fiery tongue.
Tu Tzuchun, however, remained still and silent, and did not move so much as an eyebrow.
The tiger and the snake glared at each other, as if gloating over their chances of getting their victim first. Presently, and almost at the same instant, both of them sprang upon Tu Tzuchun. He was prepared to feel the sharp teeth of the tiger embedded in his throat, or to be swallowed by the snake, but just as they both almost touched his body, they disappeared suddenly, dissolving like mist, or losing their substance like the night wind. Only the pine-tree on the cliff moaned as before.
Tu Tzuchun drew a long breath, and waited for the next terrible thing that might happen to him.
Presently a great gust of wind began to blow, and the clouds, black as ink, shut everything from his view. Dazzling, purple-colored lightning cut the sky asunder, followed by a terrible thunderstorm, but Tu Tzuchun sat still and showed no sign of fear. The wind howled, the rain fell in torrents, the lightning became incessant, and the mountains themselves seemed to shake to their very foundations. All at once a dreadful thunderbolt, blazing hot, fell from the skies of inkyblack clouds, and struck Tu Tzuchun upon the head.
In spite of himself, he fell flat upon the rock, pressing both his hands to his ears. When he opened his eyes again, the sky was as clear as before, and the great polar star, as big as a cup, was shining above the high mountains across the ravine.
Then, this thunderstorm, too, must have been the evil trick of devils, just as the tiger and the white snake had been. Tu Tzuchun’s heart became calmer, and wiping the cold perspiration from his brow, he again seated himself upon the rock. He sighed, and looked about him.
But while his sigh was still dying on the wind, there appeared in front of him the solemn figure of a great god. He was some thirty feet high, and wore a suit of armour made of pure gold. He held a three-forked spear in his hand, and pointing it at Tu Tzuchun’s breast, he roared in a terrific voice like thunder:
“Hey, there! What are you doing in this part of the world? These mountains of Emeishan have always been my abode since the very beginning of the world. How dare you sit here alone without paying any attention to my presence. You cannot be any ordinary mortal. If you value your life, I command you to make answer!”
But Tu Tzuchun still kept silence, for he remembered what the old man had told him.
“You will not answer me? … Well, then, do as you please. I will command my army to cut you to pieces!”
The war god held up his spear, and beckoned to the sky above the opposite mountains. In one instant the dark clouds opened, and a host of countless warriors, some armed with spears and some with swords, came surging down upon him.
This sight nearly made Tu Tzuchun give vent to a cry of terror, but remembering the old man’s instructions, he did his best to keep silence. Seeing that Tu Tzuchun did not move or utter a sound, the war god was beside himself with rage.
“You obstinate brute! Since you will not answer me, you shall die!”
So saying, the war god raised his three-forked spear and plunged it into Tu Tzuchun’s breast, and killed him. And laughing so loudly that the mountains of Emeishan shook violently, the war god disappeared, and his countless warriors also disappeared with him like figures in some horrible dream.
The polar star began to shine once more upon the flat rock. The pine-tree on the cliff moaned as the wind swept sadly through its branches. But Tu Tzuchun lay flat on the rock, for his life had left his body long before.
Part V
Tu Tzuchun’s body lay on the rock, but his soul, floating from his corpse, drifted silently down to the bottom of Jigoku, the Inferno.
Between this world and the Inferno there is a dark, dark passage, and an icy-cold wind brows furiously in the sky all the year round. Carried on by this icy wind, Tu Tzuchun floated in the sky for a very long while, just as a dead leaf might float through the air, until he came in front of a magnificent palace. On a tablet outside this beautiful place was written: “Senlotien.”
Crowds of terrible and evil-looking devils were in front of this palace, and, as soon as they saw Tu Tzuchun they gathered thickly around him, and, carrying him, they took him to the foot of a throne where a king in a black robe, and wearing a golden crown was seated. As he sat there he glared angrily around him. It was evident that this was Yama, or Yemma, the king of Hades, of whom Tu Tzuchun had often been told. Tu Tzuchun knelt down before the king, fearing what would become of him.
“Why were you on the top of the mountain of Emeishan?”
Yama’s voice thundered from the throne, and Tu Tzuchun was about to make answer, when he remembered the caution of Tiehkuantzu: “Never speak one word!”
He therefore hung his head, and remained dumb. Yama became very angry, and rising on his feet, and raising his sceptre, he again roared like thunder:
“Do you know where you are? Answer this instant, or you shall feel the torture of the Inferno!”
But Tu Tzuchun never moved a muscle. Yama seeing this, turned to the devils and harshly
