Chapter Text
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After a night’s rest, Ranma was determined to keep moving. He trekked hastily through the thick shrubbery and made his way to the base of the mountain. It was somewhat like a base camp, where throngs of tour groups would go to start their journey. Especially in the last few years, the hot springs of Jusenkyo, known to the locals as ‘Zhòu Quán Xiāng’, have gained popularity - not just as a training ground but also as a tourist destination to learn about the fascinating mystery behind the curses. With the rise of visitors, meant opportunity to earn money and gave way to the introduction of entrance fees, fences and the need to sign a waiver. The locals didn’t want the tour groups demanding refunds for being turned into goats or insects or worse!
As Ranma entered the welcome office, he saw the same official guide as last time. Once the guide saw Ranma, he rolled his eyes.
“What do you want this time, boy?” He asked.
“Don’t mind me! Well, I mean… if you have info about the spring of drowned man…” Ranma replied sheepishly.
The guide, who he found out was named Fen, rolled his eyes again and came over with some paperwork. “The fee is 500 yuan and you gotta sign here.”
As if memorized from a script, he continued, “You agree that you have come to the famous Jusenkyo Hot Springs on your own accord and understand the risks involved. The Jusenkyo Association will not be liable for accidents or mishaps from your actions. The Association will not entertain requests to reverse any curse brought upon by negligence!”
Ranma barely read the terms but signed anyway and pulled out some cash.
There were other guides with bigger groups but Fen instructed him to tag along his own small group.
Fen held a yellow flag and explained to the group of six that they were heading east. Besides Ranma and Fen, there was a senior old man followed by two younger men and one middle aged woman. The two, possibly the senior’s apprentices were carrying much more baggage and held a large leather-bound book. Out of curiosity Ranma sneaked closer and saw the title, “Catalog of Jusenkyo Springs by Scholar Zheng He”.
“Studying the springs too, boy?” The old man asked him without even turning to face Ranma.
“No. Not really. I’m here to fix.. a problem.”
“What’s your curse?” The old man asked him and slyly signaled to the woman.
The woman poured a bucket of cold water on Ranma and he turned into his red-haired feminine self.
“Hey!” Ranma yelled.
The old man laughed. “I was only playing. Da Li, give this boy a rag to dry himself off. What’s your name, boy? You can ask me anything, I know a lot about these springs!”
The woman called Wan then poured hot water on Ranma. Ranma took the rag and dry robe from Da Li and dried himself off. Keen to hear more, Ranma replied the old man.
“My name is Ranma. I come from Japan. It was a stupid mistake but I’ve lived with this for years but have come back to get rid of it once and for all! So are you, Scholar Zheng He?”
“Call him Master Zheng!”, snapped the other apprentice defensively.
Master Zheng signaled to him that it was okay and continued. “Yes, that’s me. I’ve been fascinated by these springs for over 65 years. I work with Fen and the other guides and have been gathering all the information about every spring and every curse. It takes a long time to research, it’s not like you get ready volunteers to jump into a spring just to find out what the curse is. So Fen and the other guides help feed me information when there’s something new and I’ve been mapping it and trying to uncover as much as I can about it.”
“Have you found a cure?”
“Well… yes and no. In all my years, the wisdom I have gained from my research is that the curse is actually a blessing. And those who seek a cure even when one hopes with all their might, simply accept their fate.”
Ranma rolled his eyes. “No offence, gramps but if I wanted wisdom, I’d read read about Confucius and not come all the way here in defeat.”
Master Zheng laughed. “Okay, okay. I have some theories about a more permanent cure but my research isn’t finish. But what I have told you is the truth. I have spoken with many people with the curse and they’ve just grown to live with it.”
The small entourage continued through the springs and Fen would stop occasionally to confirm new springs and their new labels while the two young apprentices marked it in the book.
To keep up the energy while trekking, Fen and Master Zheng would converse about the springs and Ranma would listen behind them.
“Aren’t you worried about the attention these springs are getting lately, Fen?” asked Master Zheng.
“No, not really. It’s just us in the Association who know of its true power while the rest are just fascinated by the possibility of a curse. Most wouldn’t dare try. And here is the spring of drowned horse.”
As morning turned into noon, Ranma was already getting antsy. “Fen, you’re taking us to the spring of drowned man, right?” Ranma chimed in.
“Yes, yes.” Fen sighed. “Okay, let’s keep moving.”
‘Drowned man? Hmm, that is one spring I know very little about,’ Master Zheng pondered.
After three hours of walking, pausing, and walking again, they reached the eastern most end. Fen looked at Ranma and pointed to the small hole in the far end, 800 meters away. “And that over there is the spring of drowned man. Last year, Mr Liu’s puppy ran away and fell inside and turned into a man! He never had a son so deep down, I swear he doesn’t mind!”
Ranma felt a rush of adrenaline but was met with confusion.
“But there’s no water!”
“It’s a small spring and quickly dries up. But fret not, the monsoons will fill it up again next year.”
Ranma tried to hide his disappointment. The spring was far and barred by fences among several other springs - some big, some small.
Defying all ‘Do not enter’ signs, he jumped above the fence and maneuvered his way around the springs - hopping, tiptoeing and balancing around it.
Ranma, now faraway, could only hear the faint sounds of Master Zheng, Fen and the rest warning Ranma. He didn’t care and kept going.
As he peered into the empty hole, he used his bare hands to dig, hoping there would be some water left. After some time the dried up spring still had no water but he spotted a small stone half hidden in the silt. It stood out from the rest because it appeared to have some kind of engraving - he wasn’t sure as some of it was already smoothened out. Ranma decided to take it as a keepsake.
With the little stone in his hand, he clenched hard, angry that this was the outcome of all his effort. But he sighed and went back to the group.
“Are you crazy, Ranma!” Fen cried out.
Ranma shrugged and stayed quiet.
As the light from the sun was soon fading, the small group set up camp nearby. Tomorrow they would make a short stop at the south springs then head back to base camp the day after.
Ranma had a tiny little tent while Master Zheng had a big, fancy one.
The other bossy apprentice, named Jia Wen, called for Ranma to join them. Sensing it was more of an order than an invitation he could decline, he dragged his feet and joined them.
The fur lining of the carpet was definitely more cozy and there was even a portable heater. Perhaps it wasn’t such a bad decision.
He sat near the entrance, to give himself some distance from everyone.
Master Zheng appeared to be in full-on storytelling mode.
“When I was young, my grandfather would tell me ancient tales about different gods and magic. One of them was about the God of Mischief. Excessively playful and too eager to play pranks, he was disliked by most and didn’t have many friends.”
Ranma scooched over closer as this sounded interesting.
“Instead, the God of Mischief would bid his time playing pranks on humans and animals alike and would build his collection of stones, specially carved with his own symbol. According to the tale, the God of Mischief would throw his enchanted stones at passers-by and they would slip and fall into the many springs of Jusenkyo. Though shallow in appearance, each spring of all sizes was actually deep and difficult to escape from and the unsuspecting creature would drown.”
‘Mischief? More like evil!’ Ranma imagined all the victims.
Master Zheng continued. “Eventually, the God of Mischief started to feel two things. First is pity for the drowned victims. To keep their memory alive, the original living creature became the namesake for that respective spring. The spring of drowned cat the spring of drowned grasshopper and so on. As his name suggests, the mischief did not end there. He vowed that any living thing that fell into its spring thereafter would then take the form of the original drowned spirit through a half-curse marked by cold and hot water, which is the Jusenkyo curse as you know it.”
“What is the second thing?” Ranma asked.
“The second thing the God of Mischief felt was boredom. Only a few ventured into the dangerous springs until eventually no one did. So he scattered his collection of carved stones into the pools of Jusenkyo and abandoned his playground. As we know many springs have already claimed its curse but some are still waiting for the next victim to fall in.”
Admittedly, Ranma knew little about the springs nor did he really care. But he was intrigued that it was supposedly some mythical stones that gave the springs its power.
“It’s all fascinating but is what the legend says actually true?” Ranma questioned.
Master Zheng looked at Fen who shrugged his shoulders. The master replied, “Well, I believe so but the stories are also from thousands of years ago and many of the stones have eroded over time. That’s why I believe the water itself has inherited the power of the stones and continues to take effect. Unfortunately I’ve only gotten tiny pebbles and dust mixed in with the soil, and I can barely tell which stone is magic and which stone is ordinary, let alone experiment on it.”
Master Zheng opened the book to a page with some pebbles taped to it with scribblings and labels. He took the biggest pebble he had, a mere speck, and held it firmly.
He looked at Wan and Jia Wen as he revealed more about the pebble. “Five years ago, I dropped this very pebble into water and after some time, it turned hot. Wan and Jia Wen offered themselves to my experiment. Wan submerged herself into a bath of plain water after I dropped this pebble into it while Jia Wen submerged himself into the spring in which I found the pebble. As you know the springs are naturally hot so we didn’t know the effect until we poured cold water after. Sure enough both had turned into frogs.”
“I have no regrets,” Jia Wen assured everyone.
“So it proves the stones hold power and so do the springs itself. But what I am more invested in is if ingesting the spring water is more effective. I have some initial theories but I require much more research. It is entirely possible it could be more potent or permanent when consumed. It’s too bad I don’t have more stones.”
As he spoke, Ranma put his left hand in his pocket and started fiddling with the stone and pulled it out for everyone to see.
“Like this?”
Everyone’s eyes widened and Master Zheng gasped in shock.
“That is the biggest stone I have seen yet! It even has the God of Mischief’s emblem etched in!” Master Zheng signaled for Ranma to show it to him.
Reluctantly he handed it over.
“If your initial research is correct, perhaps this is the stone that can give me a permanent cure. I’m sorry Master Zheng but I need to hold onto it. I want to start a new chapter when I get home.”
Without thinking Ranma took out a picture of Akane from his chest pocket. Once he realized everyone was staring he put it back and pretended he never did that.
With big puppy eyes, the Master felt for Ranma but couldn’t let go (literally and figuratively) of the stone.
Moved by Master Zheng’s higher goals, Ranma gave him a chance.
“Okay old man. I like challenges. Let’s make a deal. You have a nifty set of hands. Place the stone in one of these cups and jumble it up - no cheating okay! If I find the stone, I get to keep it. If i choose the wrong cup, it’s yours.” The drinking glasses were stacked in the table.
Master Zheng smiled at the proposal and they shook hands to seal the deal.
The Master laid out the cups on the table. With absolute precision, speed and technique, the three cups were shuffled several times. Ranma did not blink for even a millisecond.
When Master Zheng was done, Ranma peered at the three cups. He chose the leftmost cup.
Master Zheng, with teary puppy eyes lifted the cup and the stone was inside.
“Here you go Ranma. You won it fair and square. And you were the one who found it in the first place.”
Ranma smiled and took the stone. Just as he was about to exit to his own tent, he called out to Master Zheng.
“On second thought, you keep it.” He threw the stone and Master Zheng caught it. Ranma wasn’t sure what compelled him to give it away but his stomach weighed heavy thinking this was the closest he would get to finding a permanent cure. He sighed and called it a night.
The rest of the trip was generally quiet and they finally reached base camp. Even if Ranma was going home empty handed, he was so ready to go back home.
Ranma thanked Fen and the rest. As he turned around, Master Zheng called out to Ranma, and threw something at him, echoing what happened several days ago.
Ranma caught a small vial of liquid - hot to the touch with little grey dust swirling inside.
“The stone sample is big enough for me to do plenty of tests and you’re going to be my first test subject. I ground up some of the stone. Try drinking this and see what happens. If my theory is correct, this should cancel out your curse for good.”
Ranma didn’t show the full extent of his emotions and just smiled.
“Thanks old man. If it doesn’t work I’ll come find you! And if it does work, well… maybe there’s people I know who might come and find you to cure themselves.”
“More test subjects? Fine by me! But remember what I told you! Most cursed people I meet have accepted their fate without a cure!” He said gleefully.
Just like the Jusenkyo springs that would refill with new life after the monsoons, hope sprung within and Ranma yearned to be back with the one he loved.