Last time on way of the jaded fist.
The wind is lying to us. Yeah, it's too still, to be
honest. Greeting strangers, welcome to
Bao Guang. I'm afraid Zhang Shu may be
haunting your village spirit. Grant me the power to bind his
limbs. Render him in the.
It's not being driven. I see the king of the Jung Shir
must have allowed this mayhem to occur.
Emperor. For the record, he gets pretty
pissy about it. Well, I guess to begin, the
shrine didn't fall all at once. It rotted, one prayer at a time,
unanswered. We never saw his face, only the
shape of him, cloaked in robes darker than shadow.
Pulled their belief away from it, made it hollow, easier to
twist. You know of this person?
Lord Valerius. Something had infected this
place, something old. Am I?
Bewitched, Mr. Rose, Lady
Esmeralda. I don't want you worrying about
those sorts of things. It's why Danny and I are here.
We're here too. Please tell me won't.
You. And now, Part 2 of pale breath
Beneath the Mountain. Oh.
Fog draped Bao Guang like a burial shroud, but the dead
beneath it had started to breathe again.
It just got real. Didn't want to use this, but
you're not giving me a choice. Maybe try something arcane for
once? There's a score of them.
Many juncture about as bad a scenario as I could imagine.
Spell it unsheathed the sword Esmeralda.
Bunny. Scourge of the Earth Norm's Fury
was a staff by name, but when Rose got serious, it remembered
other shapes. This formed heaven cracks.
Damn it, it knows how to sword fight.
She buries the dead with a weapon.
Warriors, I'd imagine. Mind giving me a hand here
partner? Got hard to cast when we're
fleeing. That's grand, but in the land of
self preservation, we flee. A swing or two and they
scattered like dry leaves, but the graveyard wasn't done with
them yet. It's your turn.
By bone, by breath, by soul on me.
Seal your limbs and halt your shade.
Uh oh. Uh oh.
What do you mean uh oh? Well.
Great, now what? You will succumb to us.
We shall feast on. Rest well, spirit.
I don't understand. Esmeralda, your magic won't work
on them, no. It should have.
Worked. It did, It doesn't.
Now, are we going to go back and forth on this?
Let's regroup. Easy for you to say, Master
Rose. Says the woman who can change
into any animal she wants. Now let's move.
Eventually these knuckle draggers are going to catch up
to us. Fine, now we're talking.
Esmeralda, now a fiery steamer, rushed Danny through the grave
site back toward the village. They didn't win, but they didn't
stay to lose either. You're listening to Way of the
Jaded Fist, produced by Desmond Childs and Jazzy Nay.
Be sure to follow us on Spotify, iHeartRadio and Pocket Casts.
We pick back up with Rose and Esmeralda having been accosted
by more Jiang Shir. We know Lord Valerius to be
behind the use of forbidden name walking magic, but now the dead
that have risen again. I don't know about you all.
I think we're missing a few pieces to this puzzle.
Raymond Getty, your show announcer speaking.
Thanks for listening and enjoy the show.
None. They escaped the graveyard, but
not the questions, not the chill that settled deeper than fog.
Tell me you've got a spell that makes tea not taste like boiled
bark. Only if we survive long enough
for seconds steep. Thank you.
Enjoy. I call it Moonvale Reverie.
It's got white peon ET lavender buds and hibiscus petals.
Dried lychee too, I'd guess. Why, yes, that's correct, Mr.
Rose. Beautiful sip Esmeralda.
Thank you, I take great pride in.
I'm starting to understand how you pulled off the whole old
sage of the tea leaf gag back in Harbour Town.
Oh, how'd you? Bao Guang, unlike Oakhaven,
actually has an established paper.
Award-winning actually. Listen, I stop.
I just want to know one thing, Esmeralda or whoever you are.
Is my niece safe from harm? She was never in harm's way.
Damn it, don't lie to me. I read the paper, remember.
Please. Your actions LED directly to
that chaotic display in my place of business.
You're right. Please accept my apologies for.
To hell with an apology. Is my niece safe from harm?
Well. Truth is, I don't know.
I fled Harbour Town Guard and never looked back.
I see. Danny, I'm so sorry.
Truly I am. I'll do whatever I can to ensure
the safety of your home. That settles it.
You owe me, spellcaster. I already did Rose.
I'll repay it at all costs. All right, so let's talk about
what just tried to RIP us apart, because I've fought Jang Shur
before, and those were not Jang Shur.
They were, but only on the outside.
Scary part is your seals no longer work.
Not even a flinch. They didn't just resist the
spell work, Danny, they rewrote it.
The incantation disintegrated on impact, like it hit something
smarter than code. Yeesh, never thought I'd miss
the days when undead just hopped and moaned and bit ankles.
Don't forget the weird moaning and drool.
Hey, I'm drinking here. Traditionally, Zhang Shu are
bound by fear and by law. Talismans, rituals, bloodline
echoes, it all holds them in a kind of spiritual logic.
They move like puppets under old rules.
So what's changed? Someone is breaking those rules,
or worse, weaponizing them. That tracks.
What we fought out there, they weren't obeying instinct, they
were following intent. You see, magic is a language,
but some speak it like poetry, others like orders.
Fong and Valerius sit somewhere with the ladder.
Exactly, and it appears Valerius is fluent in both, so to speak.
Diabolical. Indeed.
He's testing tradition, seeing how far he can bend the old laws
without breaking them. Those Zhang Shi, they weren't
raised, they were authored. And the author's got a cruel
pen. Hell, it's more like a scalpel.
He's refining them. No more hopping, no more
Talisman weaknesses, no more soul left to protest.
Just enough left to walk and kill.
This is worse than resurrection, Danny.
He's not raising the dead, he's replacing them.
Come in. It's me, you 2, ready to
continue this interview. Ready as we'll ever be, my
friend. Is Ojasan feeling up to it?
He said he'd just be a moment, that he only needed to see the
well again, just to listen. What?
Don't worry, I told him to rest, but he kept saying there was
something in the water that remembered no.
You fool, we must. Hurry.
What do you mean I don't understand?
Damn it, Ojisen has been bewitched.
The curse is calling out to him. PBH means way of the jaded fist.
Bao Guang's wells sat still, too, still, like it remembered
being something sacred before someone whispered otherwise.
There's the charm over there. I gave it to him with your seal.
Should have held. Let me see that by the Spirit.
You're scaring me a little. This is.
What do you see? Something that's supposed to
have been impossible. Something that violates the very
laws of life, death. I just cannot believe the seal
didn't hold up. It was meant to.
I mean, this is all just just unprecedented.
There's no blood, no drag marks. It's like he just vanished.
You hear that something's down there in the well.
Look there. That rope's swinging on its own,
Mr. Rose. Lady has run I, I think I.
Fell. It's mimicking.
Poorly, for the record. Studying repetition, cadence,
hesitation. It's testing what we'll believe.
There was No Fear in the voice, it was as if he were sleep
talking and you and I were a part of some waking dreams.
Tea and the Wind. I wanted to say.
Thank you. We now know Eru K doesn't devour
flesh. It instead lingers, feeding on
what memory leaves behind. This isn't necromancy, it's
identity decay. This is also involved.
I haven't come across a case like this in years.
If what you're saying is true, this hilarious has created a
sort of blueprint for his army. A quiet way to replace the world
before we notice it's gone. If this is what he can do to
strangers, what's he doing to someone like Master Kai Lung?
Assuming he hasn't already, sorry.
It's all right, though I must admit this whole spooky ordeal
has waned my confidence quite a bit.
Confidence. Aya, I think you may be right
right about Kai Lung, but I'm praying with every ounce of my
spirit that you're dead wrong. Understood, I would feel the
same way. He deserves better than this,
they all do. OG son.
Next time I don't want to be too late, no matter what it costs.
We weren't too late to stop the curse.
We were too late to stop it from learning.
Way of the Jaded Fist. Dawn came to Bao Guang, but the
sun did not warm it. It lit the bones of a village
half swallowed by silence. Attention everyone, lend me your
ears and hear me well. The spirits have spoken and I
have heard this place is no longer ours.
You must take your families, your names and leave.
War machines are condemned, the Fung chita.
We must flee from this place, Akhu.
Shanghui Panju woman, have you some explanation of all this?
I have indeed. What of the strange whispers
from the village? Well.
Not just that, Gung Jung Yadah, Sir, what about the shrine?
Let it fall. Its foundation was hollowed long
ago. What?
Hollowed out so go this. Cannot everyone please try to
stay calm? Danny Rose.
Evening, friend Monk. And Lady Esmeralda, how goes the
investigation as? Steady as a monsoon.
And you're right about one thing.
Sometimes surviving means knowing when to walk away.
Excuse me, Mr. Rose, my friends spend this time packing your
belongings. I will speak with these two and
form some sort of contingency plan for life after this place.
I can see I was right about the two of you.
You fought bravely. The light is worth fighting for.
Not always a pretty job, but someone's got to do it.
If not us, another bleeding heart would test his or her own.
But I know this. The E rouke does not charge in.
It waits, it listens, and it whispers back.
Understood. Well, I guess this is it then.
Hmm. As Meralda and I have already
been summoned to another case not too far from here.
Oh. Yes, friend.
Monk, I'm afraid we must take our leave from here rather
abruptly. We wish you and the other
refugees well. Thank you both 1000 times over.
Give my regards to the in staff. The T was exquisite.
I mean that figuratively and literally, of course.
Of course, of course. If that is the case, may the
Spirit of the Rift guide you detectives.
Farewell, you have our thanks. Something wrong?
Maybe I. Shall I lie on us?
No, I'd like to walk for a bit. Helps me sort out things.
OK then, well something is definitely on your mind partner.
Care to share? You got a spell that'll conjure
us up some sake. Be serious.
It was worth a shot. Now are you going to tell me
what's bothering you or not? I I never spoke of the eru K.
Pardon, our entire quest is. A no listen.
I'm trying Danny. I said I I said I never spoke of
the eru K. Not to the monk, not to any of
the villagers, not to Ojisan. The monks parting words.
But know this, the Eru K does not charge in.
It waits, it listens, and it whispers.
Back. Way of the Jaded Fist is
produced by Desmond Childs and Jazzy Nay, appearing in today's
episode where Desmond Childs as Danny Rose, Jessica Anne Bogart
as Esmeralda, Kurt Messenger as one shady monk, Sorry I couldn't
help myself, and finally, Greg Kite as the very clearly
bewitched villager. Additional voices were provided
by Serena Foster, Marcus Ryder, Calendar, Bara and Mack Bolan.
Don't forget you can find the show on Spotify, iHeartRadio,
Podcast Addict, and Pocket Casts.
Some voices used were implemented via text to speech
or recorded remotely. Voice actors were financially
compensated. Truly a blend of talent and
technology. And check out the show's
official web page, Jaded Fist Drama dot WordPress dot com.
I am Raymond, Getty Show announcer extraordinaire.
Thanks for listening and we'll see you all next time.