The room was just as they had left it in the morning,
The sheets folded neatly, and the window gaping open.
However, the stacked talismans on the table had scattered covering the floor. It was surely due to the wind coming from the window that had blown all of them to the floor.
The temperature drop was obvious, cooler than when they were outside, due to the cold wind trapped unable to flow out after coming through the window
In the midst of scattered talismans and spells Yue Ran walked over them without any regard, he carried Xue Hua slowly and placed him down, on top of the bed,
The boy breathed softly seemingly asleep as his eyes remained shut
Yue Ran stared at him for a moment, the edges of his eyes were red, which must be from when he cried earlier.
Yue Ran then promptly walked towards the window and closed it, drawing the curtains too, preventing the cold wind from entering.
However, the room was still cold with all the trapped wind that refused to leave.
Yue Ran looked at the floor, his gaze wandering, looking for a specific spell as he searched through the scattered pieces of papers before it landed on the few talismans left on the table.
His steps were quick, as he silently moved and touched the papers, pulling them to the side before finally finding what he was looking for, he picked the spell up.
It was one of which he had made through the night, he made it half mindlessly while his brush moved,
The brush was still there, however its ink had dried.
And the inkstone was empty,
He held the spell between his two fingers soon with a deep breath he closed his eyes feeling his energy concentrate around the tip of his fingers before being drawn by the talisman, with this the talisman turned to ashes upon use.
Soon, warmth returned to the room, as though there was a fireplace inside,
The heat allowed Xue Hua to relax, crawling up into a ball as slowly as his hands gripped the cloak tighter, pressing the fabric on top of his nose.
But in doing so, he accidentally pulled it too much leaving his legs exposed and peeking out
The night had come, dawning the place in darkness, and so,
He heard the emerging chatter from the yard, despite it being quite some distance from where they were, he could still hear the noises, it was certainly disturbing, but the kid didn't seem to think the same, as he slept peacefully.
He should go soon as well
He sat on the edge of the bed, hearing Xue Hua's smooth breathings, he lightly rubbed the edges of his chipped pendant.
He then walked to the table, pulled out an unused candle and lit it up. The flame flickered ever so often, but a single candle wasn't enough to illuminate the entire room, so he burnt another one
Then another
His shadows formed on the ground from the flickering light, moving with each flicker.
But before he decided to leave, he glanced at the kid, he knew his sleeping habits and they weren't at all pretty
Sighing, he unfolded the blanket and covered the bundle of clothes where he curled within, warmly sleeping as he wore both his and the immortal's cloak,
Yue Ran pulled the blanket up to his neck, and satisfied with this, he let out a short "hm" sound,
Then a knock came from outside,
It seems that the chief had sent for him
Pausing for a moment, he looked down at his clothes, which were fairly light and inappropriate for a freezing place such as the north.
Then at the kid, who had hoarded his cloak, and was using it shamelessly.
A memory from the past resurfaced, the kid using his cloak as a bedding, then waking up and attempting to fold it.
It seems that he had decided to use this cloak too.
But this made him wonder,
When he would wake up, would he nervously try to fold it again?
But for some reason, he had a feeling that the child would simply use it as an excuse to visit him if he were to wake up after Yue Ran left to join in with the dinner.
He couldn't skip it, after all it was the perfect place to listen to various information regarding the situation, or even the points that may give him a hint of the situation here.
He opened the door facing the maid whom the chief had sent for him, she carried a well lit lamp with her, which made seeing in the pitch darkness of the north easier.
The moon was hidden from the north that night, making the night darker than ever. He blocked the view of the room as he walked out the door.
"The lord is waiting for your arrival" the maid spoke, bowing politely
Yue Ran nodded
"Lead the way"
Flicking his sleeves backward, they walked away from that door.
...
It was warm.
The sun kissing the top of his skin, like a mother with her child.
He felt the cool breeze blowing past him, as the sound of long grass swayed along.
It felt like he was laying down in a meadow during spring under the sunlight.
And beside him sat a presence, whose face he couldn't really make out, but merely from the scent of lilies, he knew who he was.
His face continued with a smile
Occasional noises of flipping pages creeped through his ears as he began falling asleep.
However, he abruptly "woke up" looking around, and the presence beside him was gone, the gentle wind was replaced by the violent chills, instead of the long grassy meadows he found himself on top of the sinking snow.
The memory of how he met the immortal, he felt everything vividly once more, his wounds still bleeding as every breath turned laborious.
Him trying to stop the bleeding but barely even being able to lift his fingers, his eyelids felt heavy, but as he dreamt about it, he witnessed it with clarity despite "his" body refusing his thoughts.
His body curled up beside the freezing walls by itself, just like the first night.
After living through this memory for so many times, he hardly panicked, but still...the previous dream turning into this nightmare left a bitter taste in his tongue
But as he realised that he was living through his memory once more, he found himself eagerly waiting for the immortal to come,
He was just beside him in his first dream as well, so he wondered how he'd look or what he'd say to him
But the immortal, when he arrived
Instead of asking a question, stared at him, Xue Hua could barely even lift his gaze, but he forced himself to do it.
Then his mind froze,
Why was he looking at him like that?
As if...
He was looking at merely a "thing "
Not a single flicker of warmth passed through his indifferent eyes like still mountain
Rather, Xue Hua felt as though he was about to be thrown off a cliff.
His lips quivered, he wanted to move, even to say something, but he couldn't even make a single sound.
Then he suddenly felt an immense regret and loneliness flood his chest.
It was not his "own" but rather, what the current "he" was feeling.
Xue Hua thought again,
Maybe the immortal couldn't recognise him
Since instead of the warm embrace he expected, he felt a chill down his spine as the immortal before him pulled out his sword.
He felt a chilling blade brush up his throat--
Xue Hua got up, gasping as his heart pounded uncontrollably,
He immediately whipped his head around, but found himself inside the Tang manor, even so, his heart wouldn't stop racing,
His hands trembling, the room was cold, the candles flickering with loneliness
The entire floor was scattered with yellow talismans with all sorts of strokes written on them. He didn't know what they were for, but he did remember Yue Ran writing talismans when he woke up in the middle of the night.
Why had they gotten so messy? His brows trembled forming a knit,
Then he would soon get his answer as the cold wind blew on his face.
The curtain blowing and swaying with the wind coming from outside
His heart was still racing unnaturally, that no matter what he tried it wouldn't stop, so he tried pressing his chest tightly in order to calm his beating heart, but it wouldn't listen
Soon his sight fell onto the cloak he had been holding till now,
Remembering the Yue Ran had worn it, he pressed it into his nose,
Just like how it had calmed his mind earlier, he knew if nothing worked this definitely would.
But--
The scent of lily was gone.
His heart dropped,
He felt another brush of cold wind, turning his head, he narrowed his eyes
The window...
He turned his eyes towards it, sweat was still rolling off his forehead after forming into various beads due to the nightmare.
Despite the many layers covering him,
They all felt cold as corpses
He could barely feel anything from his sole.
They had gone ice cold.
His hair stuck to his face from sweat and despite his shaky breath and trembling heart he shut the window tight.
But the warmth was already lost, and the scent didn't return.
He was still trying to catch his breath, his hand placed flat on his chest, feeling every knock of his anxious heart
He could still remember, it felt almost like an illusion, Yue Ran gently placing him in the bed,
He tried focusing on it, he thought about how he looked when watching from behind, and how his voice felt like a lullaby, but instead of putting him to sleep, it gave him a sort of peace of mind.
he tried to think of various similar things, but would end up tearing his eyes open as soon as the cold glint swept past his brain, he unconsciously rubbed his neck
And soon, whenever he tried to think of anything, his figure, his kindness, all of it got replaced by that cold gaze as he swung his blade.
His throat felt tight.
"It's just a dream, just a dream"
He repeated,
Then as he finally turned and tried to regain composure he saw Yue Ran's cloak, the one he had worn all around the village.
Xue Hua still had it, he lightly rubbed the surface, his own cloak was still over him
But he also held the immortal's cloak,
So then, what was he wearing?
He stood still for a moment.
Grabbing the cloak, he pressed it once more on top of his nose, but no matter what the smell didn't return, it was disappointing
But he realised that he should just go to Yu Ran, the source of the scent, after all no clothes could ever carry his scent forever
He could say he went to give him his cloak, that the immortal forgot and left it in the room
Moreover, Xue Hua didn't have to guess where he was, despite his pounding heart and aching head
He could still hear the chatterings with clarity, ones that came from the direction of the yard, Yue Ran must've gone there to get more clues.
His body was still trembling, but he hugged the cloak as tightly as he could and turned towards the door planning to rush to the yard
But a sudden sharp pain washed over him.
Making him immediately stop on his tracks unable to move
The world immediately went silent, except for the loud ringing in his ears that overcame him.
He grabbed his head and in doing so dropped the cloak
The world seemed to spin and before he knew it, he too was on the ground, clutching his head.
He couldn't think of anything, he shut his eyes tight as he tried to endure it,
No pain could last forever, it would pass,
but as soon as he felt the sickening crawl return to his stomach, he immediately threw the cloak far away,
His mouth threatening to pour out bile, he immediately shut his mouth tight, clenching his teeth, to try as hard as he could to delay it.
But it crawled up to his throat very soon.
He covered his mouth with both hands,
But the nausea was not his,
It was invasive, relentless and sharp.
His stomach was twisting and turning into knots and he was left feeling extreme discomfort along with all sorts of wrongs in his body.
His ears rang, his head pounded and soon, his mouth flooded, dripping through his fingers
He once again failed to control himself.
Once it got out, his body relentlessly poured making him gag and throw up violently.
The bitter, sour taste only made things worse, all he could smell now was his disgusting fluids.
But soon, he began tasting something else,
Something familiar
Something metallic.
It came with many memories.
Before long, he found himself sitting in the midst of his blood and vomit
All while he didn't get a single break from his other senses, his fingers barely moving as they twitched
His body went weak with exhaustion, barely keeping his vision, he was about to lose consciousness, his eyes felt extremely heavy,
His surroundings looked a blur, the world hadn't stopped shaking and spinning.
However, while he still hung onto the fragments of consciousness, through his blurred vision
He saw the figure of a child, much like him...
Enter the room
.
A chill passed through,
Yue Ran unconsciously looked back.
The direction where he came from seemed weirdly more desolate than ever darker than ever.
He paused as he stared through the dark hallway,
Unlike yesterday, the walls were yet to be hanged with lamps,
The darkness in itself would make a mortal drop.
Seeing him pause, the maid, too stopped in her steps,the lamp swaying slightly with her movement, she glanced at Yue Ran and opened her mouth, asking
"Is something wrong?"
Yue Ran's gaze lingered on the hallway for a moment, but he immediately turned his face away, "it's nothing"
He answered,
Hearing this the maid nodded, and they continued walking, but the air felt colder
It wasn't his imagination.
There was no doubt about it,
The whole village was under a spell.
An illusion, the "ever blooming tree" or what they called was its testament.
Seeing how Yun Buizha praised it for its beauty all he and Xue Hua could see were its rotting branches with not a single leaf in sight
Either they were affected or him, but the chances of him being under an illusion was hardly worth a single thought.
After all, unless a being older and far stronger than him had cast the spell, then the chances of it consuming him was less than zero
And as far as he knew, he couldn't think of such a being
He had far surpassed his master too.
Still, Siquan wasn't understanding a mere spell that could easily be broken, the entity taking its root in this small village was certainly not like those common ghoul or undeads he should encounter in the wild.
Frankly,
It had for itself...a disgusting sophistication
As it stayed true to its aesthetics, and seemed to be much more intelligent than normal monsters or ghosts.
However, its appetite for sick aesthetics was certainly hard to witness leaving him frowning.
Still, it was laughable.
His steps echoed as he walked down and stepped on the inlaid stones of the yard, the lively and boastful noise now far closer, he had entered their heart, the heart of the villagers laid in this dinner.
What they called a ritual developed through hardships,
He couldn't help but think, the chief was a saint, to be sharing his resources so freely with the villagers while his daughter laid sick and the food sources depleting quick
Either, he was a fool, a saint or...he had a reason making him act this way.
In his entire life, he had hardly come across a mortal of high position, sharing tables freely with peasants, much less their resources in disasters.
Regardless, the scene was certainly not less than intriguing.
Every single corner of the yard was illuminated with burning lamps,
The folks seemed to have started drinking, as they got rowdy,
But,
If he looked closer,
He noticed something chilling.
Every single act,
Stumble,
Slurs
And every single movement of their body
Unfolded identically to the previous night.
His brows twitched
To think, he had thought that a scholar coming bare to a dinner outside would set suspicions seemed ridiculous now.
The area, now he realised, was completely cold.
Not a single warmth emanating from the so-called people.
The only reason...he couldn't figure it out was because the woodcutter sat next to them.
This realisation was nothing short of pleasant.
The warmth coming from his heart, the heat of the living...
distracted him from the actual villagers, misleading him, and masking the true face of the village.
"...ive me"
Yue Ran's attention immediately turned as he heard the soft mumbles,
The chief, this time, present in this whole puppetry of a show, his hands folded as if in the middle of desperate prayer.
But what immediately drew his attention wasn't his strange behavior, it was far from it.
"....spirit stones."
They were placed in front of him, crushed, broken and in various forms.
Yet, its essence came strongest from his internal organs.
Physical consumption of spirit stones?
This was a concept absolutely absurd, especially for a mortal.
It seems, despite his age he hadn't seen everything,
The mortals surely were creative about their deaths.
A spirit stones, consumed in large quantities, physically, the energy given would be potent to a cultivator much less a mortal without a single hint of cultivation
But the chief's mindless mutters stopped when he saw Yue Ran, it seems, the village wasn't the only thing unveiled.
He knew,
How? That wasn't important.
The chief's eyes were full of clarity, as he stared at Yue Ran serenely, putting on a weak gentle smile.
It got under his skin
He immediately took a seat beside him, the chief didn't say anything, but he stopped his prayer.
Unlike the first night when Yun Buizha came by himself and sat between them obstructing the thread of emptiness, whether intentional or unintentionally, it didn't matter at all.
The only important thing was,
He now knew how to get answers.
The chief was certainly directly related to it.
The consuming entity that devoured the village,
He couldn't help but scoff.
"So much for a saint"
The chief remained silent, there was no need for more pretense.
But Yue Ran didn't intend to disrupt the atmosphere immediately,
'the ill little lady'
Yun Buizha's voice echoed in his head.
Either her, or him.
It hardly mattered.
Yue Ran could already make a guess.
In this repetition of a show, the only anomaly remained him and the chief along with the missing presence of a child.
Yue Ran leaned back on his seat, and soon, the same servant came despite his different seat, and placed a glass of water before him.
The same exact glass that Xue Hua shattered.
A mocking smile played on his lips,
So this was it.
Grabbing the glass, Yue Ran felt the gaze of everyone turn to him.
The chief was gone.
Yue Ran didn't stop him, nor did he chase him,
After all he was merely running on a ticking time that could abruptly stop any moment.
Most, if he was under the heavens goddess of luck's guardian, then perhaps he'd get four more hours of living.
But that was it.
Even thinking about it again he still found it ridiculous
A mortal, consuming spirit stones?
Was this how people took their lives these days?
He continued to scoff,
While their gazes burning through his face, Yue Ran's eyes passed through everyone
Then with a smile Yue Ran dropped the glass,
He looked at those villagers as though he dared them to move.
He remembered his previous passing thought,
Had he fallen into an illusion?
Obviously not,
In this entire village, three still retained their clarity of sight.
The chief, Xue Hua, and him.
Soon, the ground rumbled.
Shaking as every dish started falling off the table, shattering one by one.
He was sick of their pretend play, and it seems
So was "it".
No wonder
The traces were so scattered.
He could now sense them clearly, each and every single villager, in a place where they should've had their heart instead radiated the same essence like the rotting tree.
An endless noise of shattering and smashing of dishes filled the place.
It seems.
The pillar had completely fallen.
Yue Ran jumped, and with a flick of his sleeve, his blade formed, materialising into its physical form.
The chilling glint matching him perfectly
A deep earthy brown tassel swinging from its handle.
The sword was long giving light as its surface glowed with heat and in its hilt, there was a small gap, a hole which was filled with a smooth obsidian that had been crafted and polished into an
intricate design
The crystal perfectly resembled his black hair that seemed as dark as night itself
A delicate design leading down, its handle delicately crafted from the bones of an now extinct moon spirit deer's legs
As his hands gripped the handle, a chilling aura surrounded him,
Which seemed to be his aura itself.
Yanlian
He didn't release his aura, yet as soon as he held his soul bound sword, the atmosphere around him shifted.
"-tsk" he looked towards his hand holding the sword as if it felt troublesome.
He didn't like handling it as much as he preferred talismans, but it doesn't look like he could even use talismans in this situation.
After his reveal, came their turn
Soon,
The faces of the villagers, along with their flesh melted away like a candle shoved into the blazing flames.
The people who once were called,
By Yun Buizha as 'Aunty Ming' or 'old jie"
All those characters melted into a disgusting rotting pulp
Yue Ran furrowed his brow,
So this was the 'hive' ?
And the queen had made its move.
.
.
.
The familiar sound of blowing wind,
Xue Hua opened his eyes and found himself in the middle of the vast snow.
He was leaning on a tree, and he wore, not the clothes he had worn to the village as a disguise, but his actual clothes
His eyelids trembled, seeing a flash of blood on his hands, he shut his eyes,
Once, when he opened them once more, the image was gone, his hands were clean.
Yet, he couldn't bring himself to relax, as his breaths only turned irregular,
He realised his body wasn't freezing.
The chill wasn't climbing through his bones.
His stomach was whole, not like after being healed by Yue Ran, but before it even got injured.
Despite him finding himself in his past self, he didn't recall anything,
Instead his entire mind was still filled with Yue Ran.
So he knew, this wasn't real.
This place wasn't real.
He had entered somewhere, leaving his physical body.
He had fainted.
It seems that after fainting he immediately found himself here.
A similar white scenery, the same desolation, the same aching.
but, he didn't feel cold.
His body pressed into the snow slowly raised itself, despite the vivid senses he felt, everything was off.
The snow, still soft, didn't melt in his hands nor did it emit any chill.
His heart pounded loudly within himself,
Where was he?
His heart was still beating, his stomach was whole.
He was in his past appearance but without his memories.
What was he being told to witness?
This was a memory, but whose?
It wasn't his
He tried to remember how he got here, but he only remembered losing unconsciously due to extreme pain
The last thing he remembered was--
"My lady!" A voice cried in the distance, and soon a house formed,
One he was familiar with
"It's a daughter!"
The servants rejoiced, and a distant wailing of an infant could be heard.
That was the bird of "Xiaoming"
The mother held the baby close and pressed their forehead as she shed tears,
"Welcome...my baby" she embraced the child.
He finally remembered, the last thing he saw before fainting,
A frame of a young girl.
Without any doubt, he had fallen into the memory of the ailing little lady of Siquan
The chief's daughter.
.