Chapter 11 — The Deep Valley

He was lost in his reverie, but Tian Lingsu had already drawn far ahead. She turned and shouted, "Xiaofan, why are you so slow?"

Zhang Qingyue started awake, his face reddening. He dared not let his thoughts wander further, and hurried to catch up.

When the two reached the edge of the grove, Tian Lingsu said to him, "Xiaofan, go in first by yourself. I'll follow behind."

Zhang Qingyue nodded, took his billhook, and went in. After a few steps he suddenly remembered he ought to warn Tian Lingsu to be careful, and turned to look—but she was nowhere to be seen.

He stood blankly for a moment, an inexplicable sense of loss rising in his heart. Then he shook his head, cast aside such idle thoughts, and walked deeper into the grove. When he reached his usual spot, all was still. Zhang Qingyue looked all around, but could not find the grey monkey anywhere. He muttered to himself: surely the monkey had not grown clever enough to guess he had brought help today, and dared not come.

So he thought, scanning about him, but finding no trace of the monkey was useless; he had no choice but to walk to a black-joint bamboo and make as if to cut.

"Chee chee chee chee"—suddenly the familiar shrill cry rang out overhead.

Zhang Qingyue leaped aside by reflex, but felt a pain atop his head—too late; a pine cone struck him square, and hurt abominably. He looked up and saw the grey monkey hanging upside down from a branch as usual, laughing without end.

Joy surged in his heart. He sprang up, pointed at the monkey, and laughed aloud. "Ha ha, you've finally come!"

His voice was not loud, but the monkey was greatly startled. It thought: this fellow is always furious when hit, blazing with rage—why is he so glad today? Could it be that after being pelted for days he has come to like it, that he is uncomfortable without it and happy only when it hurts?

Just then a flash of red passed among the bamboos: Tian Lingsu came flying on the "Amber Vermilion Silk," swift as lightning, her five fingers curved like talons, reaching for the monkey.

But the monkey was exceedingly quick. A glance from the corner of its eye and it reacted at once: its tail unwound from the branch, and its whole body dropped. Tian Lingsu had calculated every direction in which it might flee and framed her pursuit accordingly, never guessing the grey monkey would simply fall; she froze for an instant, and her grasp closed on empty air.

Zhang Qingyue, below, made ready to move, but saw the monkey in midair stretch out a slender arm, seize a bamboo trunk, and cling fast to it; then, without a moment's pause—as though it knew the red-clad woman above was dangerous—it swung and sprang from one bamboo to the next and then the next, bent on escape.

Tian Lingsu's competitive spirit was roused. In midair she cried, "After it!" Her left hand beckoned, and the Amber Vermilion Silk tore through the air in pursuit. Zhang Qingyue broke into a run below, chasing with great strides.

On open ground, with the speed of the Amber Vermilion Silk, Tian Lingsu would have caught the grey monkey in no time; but in the dense bamboo grove it was a great hindrance. The monkey was clever: it never fled in a straight line, but swung left and right among the trees, doubling and turning as it ran. Tian Lingsu had to watch the monkey's tracks and guard against the black-joint bamboo that came at her from every side—a great nuisance. As for Zhang Qingyue, he could only chase on the ground and fume, unable to help.

So the two of them and the monkey raced on in desperate pursuit, amid the grey monkey's shrill "chee chee chee chee," and who knows how long they chased. Zhang Qingyue's breath grew heavy and he felt weary; he judged they had run a long way indeed.

The green bamboo before him seemed endless, layer upon layer coming at him. His mouth was parched, when suddenly a grey shadow flashed ahead and dropped straight down. He was overjoyed; his strength returned at once, and he charged forward—when at that moment Tian Lingsu cried out sharply from above, "Careful!"

A cliff abruptly opened before Zhang Qingyue. He pulled up short and nearly went over. He steadied himself and saw a deep ravine below the cliff, thick mist filling its distant reaches so that nothing could be seen clearly; on the near valley wall the black-joint bamboo gave way to all manner of scrub and wild trees, mostly pines and cypresses. They had chased all the way to that secluded ravine far behind the mountain.

Zhang Qingyue saw the grey monkey drop, repeat its old trick in the air—catching a branch, swinging and drifting—break its fall, and flee onward.

As he stood in anxious helplessness, he heard a whistling through the air and looked up to see Tian Lingsu, red robes fluttering, flying toward him. She stretched out a jade-like hand and called, "Come up."

Zhang Qingyue did not stop to think. He reached out and caught her hand; Tian Lingsu pulled hard and drew him onto the vermilion silk. The Amber Vermilion Silk sank for a moment, then at once recovered.

It was the first time Zhang Qingyue had ever done such a thing, and he did not know where to put hands or feet. Tian Lingsu pulled him behind her and scolded, "Hold my waist, quick."

Zhang Qingyue obeyed and held her. Tian Lingsu at once urged the silk onward; a red shadow swept past, and the two of them, riding the Amber Vermilion Silk, plunged straight into the deep ravine, chasing the grey monkey's figure.

The wind roared past, so loud that Zhang Qingyue could scarcely keep his eyes open. And the Amber Vermilion Silk beneath his feet seemed soft and yet not soft, so that one false step would drop him—his heart was in his throat. A little frightened, he could not help holding Tian Lingsu tighter. He felt her red robes like a cloud drifting before his eyes; his senior sister's back was like a fairy of the nine heavens, pure and lovely beyond compare, and a faint delicate fragrance drifted into his nostrils. Joy filled his heart, and he truly wished this moment would never pass.

Tian Lingsu, for her part, had no notion of the strange thoughts churning in the boy behind her; her mind was wholly on the grey monkey ahead. Spoiled and praised by her parents and senior brothers alike, she was proud by nature, and that she should fail to catch a monkey was simply unacceptable.

And so through the deep ravine and among the tree shadows, a grey shadow fled and a red shadow pursued, weaving and darting, chasing and running.

Thus another half hour or so went by. What strange breed the grey monkey was, none could say—it showed no sign of weariness and still fled swiftly. But after so long a chase, Tian Lingsu had gradually grown used to darting among the trees, and she was visibly gaining on it.

The grey monkey fled deeper into the ravine. Looking past Tian Lingsu's shoulder, Zhang Qingyue saw the trees ahead thin out and light break through; dimly he made out an open clearing, and there seemed to be the sound of water. The monkey's cries grew more urgent, as though it had not expected the two to pursue so long without giving up; but with no road behind it, it could only flee forward with all its might.

Before long the view suddenly opened, and there indeed was a broad clearing, its ground all broken stone, with a small emerald pool in the middle whose rippling waters flowed away westward. Reaching this place, the grey monkey visibly hesitated; but the whistling pursuit was upon it in the blink of an eye, and it had no choice but to drop to the ground and run on. Yet for some reason its steps grew exceedingly slow—it hardly looked like flight; one might almost have called it a stroll. Even so, it crept forward step by step.