Sun Lichai walked on the darkening Mount Song, a butterfly net in her hand.
Simon sat on the mat, a Go board in front of him.
The twilight forest was quiet and eerie, and through the branches, one could still glimpse the faint red glow of the setting sun in the west; this weak, indistinct light passed through the arms and hair of the trees, scattering in beams on the fallen leaves.
The pieces on the board were placed one by one, chaotic and disordered, and almost all of them were black.
The shadows of the forest were dark and deep, and the low thorny weeds appeared particularly terrifying. Sun Lichai walked slowly, her eyes bright, like a dim star fallen from the sky. The fading colors reflected in her clear mirror, distinct and elegant; though the outlines were blurred, there was a different kind of reserve. The night seemed like a light veil over all things, offering the world a corner of rest after the scorching sunlight had dispersed.
A white piece landed on the board and was continuously moved. Simon silently adjusted it. A monk ran over to say that Young Benefactress Sun was missing. Simon sighed, "Call Jueguang."
In less than a quarter of an hour, Jueguang rushed over, his brows tightly furrowed, looking at Simon as if he wanted to speak but hesitated.
"Sit," the Buddha-son pointed to the Go board.
Jueguang slipped off his sandals and sat cross-legged opposite Simon.
"Look closely."
The monk lowered his head to examine it; this could hardly be called a game of Go. On the entire board, there were only two white pieces, all the rest were black.
The next second, a soft, fair finger gently moved a white piece.
The board changed; all the horizontal and vertical lines disappeared, turning into a smooth, clean surface like water, and the black and white pieces also merged into it.
"This is!" Jueguang exclaimed in a low voice.
Ripples of water light appeared, and a blurry scene emerged.
Sun Lichai wandered among tall, straight trees, her delicate hand touching the bark, which was cracked, rough, and hard, like skin covered in scars, dull and ugly.
At this time, the sun was almost set, and all was silent, with only the low chirping of insects.
All commotion was suppressed, simply because an Insect King had emerged.
Sun Lichai carried her crude butterfly net, listening patiently. She did not look like a child, but rather an experienced hunter.
Jueguang praised, "Mr. Xu was right; this child indeed possesses seven parts of spiritual wisdom."
The surrounding nannies and monks all looked bewildered. Things were urgent, yet why were the two of them still staring blankly at a Go board? But since Bodhisattva Lu Yuan had not spoken, how dared they make a sound to disturb him?
After watching for a short while, Simon raised his head and said to a monk standing respectfully beside him, "Go tell Wang Ruoping that her child is safe and sound; tell her not to worry." He then instructed Jueguang, "Go find her, but do not disturb her."
"This humble monk obeys."
"Understood." Jueguang rose and left.
Simon lowered his gaze to the mirror-like board, his fingers gently flexing and extending, as if playing a zither or weaving threads.
...
Darkness completely swallowed the forest.
The golden light of dusk had also been diluted by the night, turning into a faint purple streak along the continuous mountain peaks.
Cold air mixed with dampness began to seep into her body, and Sun Lichai's face turned a little pale.
It seemed to be getting foggy.
Sun Lichai stubbornly walked through the chest-high bushes. Tomorrow was the Mid-Autumn Festival, the fifteenth day of the eighth month, and she was determined to catch a cricket to offer to Simon under the full moon tomorrow night.
The moon rose, its water-like white light spilling over the land and mountains. In this hazy light, the mist in the forest also exuded a serene elegance, like a white jade beauty veiled in gauze.
Sun Lichai stood dazed in a treeless clearing, where moonlight could shine directly without obstruction, illuminating a cluster of orchids. Their wonderful fragrance seemed to dissolve into the moonlight, seeping into her bones with the cold mist.
The jungle at night was mysterious; above the normal world, there was another layer of bizarre existence, like an invisible cover. In such a scene, the strange tales her mother had whispered into her cotton quilt all resurfaced from the depths of her mind, one by one, string by string: the child-eating demons, the spirits of mountains and rivers.
Mr. Xu's favorite "Nine Songs" by Qu Yuan, those beautiful and strange verses, now recalled, felt so vivid and apt.
"If there is a person at the foot of the mountain, covered in Bi Li and girded with dodder. She glances and smiles, and you admire her graceful beauty…"
As she was thinking, the surrounding chirping of insects gradually faded, replaced by rustling chewing and rubbing sounds, accompanied by a faint chanting, like a bewildering ghostly mirage.
What was that flashing through the tall, towering pines, those dark shadows?
A grotesque shape, was it a mountain imp?
Swift as a dot, was it a ghost?
Sun Lichai started to run.
But the disturbances around her grew more numerous and dense, until she crashed into a hard body, knocking it to the ground.
"Squeak, squeak!" The other party cried out a few times. Sun Lichai looked by the moonlight and saw that it was a large cricket on the ground. However, this cricket looked like a human, with hands and feet, a round body, and a pair of dull insect eyes that stared around blankly, continuously chirping.
The little girl looked around. She didn't know when she had arrived in a pile of crickets. These enormous, anthropomorphic insects were jumping and frolicking in the grass and on branches.
They were similar in size to Sun Lichai; the larger ones were even a head or two taller than her. The smaller ones were not even up to her waist.
For some reason, this group of crickets had transformed into this appearance. Though they looked large, they still seemed foolish and dull, having human form but lacking human understanding, dazed and confused, purely instinctual.
Could they be monsters?
Sun Lichai tried to help up the cricket she had knocked over, but it jumped away in fright.
Seeing it was unharmed, the little girl no longer paid attention to it, but instead turned her gaze to this group of monster insects. Their insect characteristics were softened, making them not frightening, but rather quite cute.
After observing for a while, Sun Lichai discovered many rare crickets; the normally hard-to-find Captains were everywhere, and there were even more Imperial Guards. They chirped loudly, and a faint colorful light seemed to emanate from their bodies.
Sun Lichai eagerly chased those shiny, brightly colored crickets, but the more beautiful the cricket, the faster it ran, often disappearing before she could even get close.
She vowed to chase them to the death. Since she had promised to catch the most beautiful autumn insect, she would never give up.
She was getting farther and farther from human habitation.
It was also getting darker and darker around her.
Those beautiful insects streaked across the sky like shooting stars, disappearing and no longer able to be chased.
Sun Lichai finally had no strength left to move.
Just then, a fierce red light suddenly flashed from the bushes in front of her. So she gathered her remaining strength and pounced. The light dissipated, and an ugly cricket was pinned under her on the ground.
Sun Lichai was greatly disappointed.
This insect was truly too ugly!
It was short, with a crooked mouth and squinted eyes, withered limbs, a thin abdomen, dull body, dark color, shriveled wings, and a hoarse cry.
As a cricket, it could not be more inferior, more of a failure!
Sun Lichai sat up, checked that it had no injuries, then waved her hand to push it away, intending to rest there for a while.
Then she saw the insect's eyes.
Clean, stubborn, like a burning bonfire, ardent and unrestrained.
Beneath such an ugly skin, there was such a breathtaking soul!
It lay on the ground, its body expanding, filling the sky and earth. Though its cry was hoarse, no other insect dared to respond even half a sound.
"This insect is full of Eight Failures, one in ten thousand, truly absurd. Do not lightly discard such ugliness, for with all Eight Failures, it is an Insect King."
A rare specimen among insects, the King of Crickets, Eight Failures!
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