On the other hand, Lìngxiāo purposefully ran behind the moths as Mō Qīn gave him the right opportunity for it.
His messy emotions made it hard to keep his already untamed spiritual powers in check. With every loud and forceful step he took, his frozen fire spread over the ground, covering the small plants in soft yellow-golden before slowly burning away—yet still leaving the traces of the ice.
He was already struggling to dodge the wings of the moths, and now his steps felt sloppy from the ice.
He nearly fell a few times. His heart pounded and squeezed with every slip he got without any warning. His jaw tightened as he tried to keep his balance, his heart throbbing like it was knocking against his ribs. He couldn't even summon his other curses because those weren't tamed enough to be used either.
They would just mock and create chaos.
'I have to stay calm. I have to—for him.'
'I have to balance both my weight and my qì.'
His mind raced, trying to find any better ways so that he could make use of this ability. His gaze turned over the moths, left and right, and then down to his feet which kept drawing those ices.
'What if I..let it freeze? Skate on it?'
His mouth parted faintly with the thought. It had risks too. But he had already come here with risk, so now to make each effort worth it, he needed to take this risk too.
He took a deep breath, his eyes full of determination, the emotions still trying to settle back into their places.
'Please work...please.'
Then he slammed his feet harder than before within the run. The frozen ice spread faster, swallowing more of the ground, glowing with the fire beneath it.
This time he softened the pressure over his feet, giving it equal weight of himself, and slid over it—though he was worse at it. He had always stumbled even on the hardened lake near to their house whenever his uncle had pulled him to skate with him.
But right now—it felt bittersweet within the situation where he felt like he was moving towards something he might not be able to accept again.
When he stopped fighting with the frozen fire, it guided him towards his destination. When a larger moth lunged towards him, his hand unconsciously raised up to protect himself when it came too close to even dodge. A shield was raised from the ground made by that ice and trapped the moth beneath it before it disappeared too.
He looked at his hand as if it was not a part of his body.
'Could it actually listen to me sometimes too?'
His thoughts didn't even get the time to finish before three more came with their turn this time. Lìngxiāo repeated the move in each direction he needed.
The more he tried, the more he felt how untamed yet powerful it was for him—valuable energy to keep it away from the world's acknowledgement.
Because without the pure original ice manipulation and sixteen shades of rose manipulation, not a single kind existed like this—at least not in books.
'Mō Qīn was right..not everything is in books. I have to find out things by myself too. Not to bring it to the world's eyes, but to protect myself and the people around me.'
But his short moment of relief didn't even stay a little longer.
The path suddenly ended and the moths crossed from one mountain to another—the middle was just a valley.
His eyes widened, his heart dropped into his stomach just by the sight. It was so deep that his bones wouldn't even be discovered from here.
And he was going to fall into it.
'I HAVE NOTHING TO FLY WITH!!'
'EVEN THOSE CURSES ARE USELESS RIGHT NOW!'
'SHOULDN'T THERE BE A BRIDGE?!'
"No!" Lìngxiāo's hand covered his own eyes, not going to look at this dangerous hole which felt—but his feet had already lost connection with the ground.
He felt like time slowed down.
His hair bounced with the rest of his hood and robe. His left leg behind while his right foot pointed at the front hopelessly, as if it would find ground somehow.
But then he felt himself actually standing over something solid.
'Huh??'
He blinked into his palm, his eyes almost watery.
He slowly looked down—his frozen ice had made this large pillar where he was standing. Its body was all wild with sharp edges, while under his feet, it was smooth—like the ice he had slid on earlier.
His gaze immediately looked forward too—the moths were much farther away, moving towards that mountain where the shrine was actually located.
More and more moths were rising upwards from the valley or forest and joining the rest of them. The soft light of the afternoon falling over the nature from the left side, creating a large shadow behind the mountain over there.
He shook his head, roughly wiping his eyes—tears or water, he didn't know.
He steadied himself over the pillar, though it was hard while it was already trembling, about to fall.
'I think..I can run over before it falls..'
'But what if I can't form it in time?'
While his head was a mess, he still couldn't stop in one place. It was about to fall if he didn't move. But first, to test the waters, he raised his right foot at the empty space to see how the ice actually formed.
He heard those familiar cracking sounds of ice rising up, getting louder and louder until it formed under his feet like the last one.
'I-I did it..? But I thought..shù fù said it would be untamed until I get the right balance which..is not in me directly either.'
'I am like wild, flowing of water with no container. '
His heart skipped a painful beat when the pillar he was standing on from the first started to crack under his raised feet and leaned to the left side.
Lìngxiāo quickly jumped over the new one which wasn't made at too much distance from him—and the other one fell into two pieces right before him.
His breath was silently shallow as he watched the pillar disappear within the deep bushes down there and birds flew away.
He swallowed dryly like he would become unconscious out of the fear of height—so much fear that he couldn't even die by this much height because he would fear it more than his terrible life.
"Okay, okay.." He pushed back his hair behind with trembling hands and focused on the road again, fixing his aim.
'I won't stop running on the air until I reach there.'
He pointed at the edge of the other mountain, showing it to himself. Then exhaled and started moving, running while his eyes shut.
As before, the pillars kept catching his feet no matter where his legs led him, while the previous ones kept falling behind at left or right side when he passed them.
When he felt less danger, he opened his eyes and looked forward. It felt like another unforgettable journey where he ran both over air and his untamed ability. His running turned into confident long jumps, effortlessly, until he reached the other peak and landed safely on the ground, faintly scorching the ground with the frozen fire.
He panted softly and looked behind like saying thank you to his own ability.
The last five pillars lowered themselves in different directions before falling down with faint sounds, totally disappearing from sight—until the valley looked like how it was earlier.
The beauty at this mountain was a little more silent.
Almost like waiting for something.
He found two holders of ropes at the edge of the mountain which meant the bridge used to be here, but for some reason, it was gone.
He had lost the moths by now. They had gone much farther. So, he used his hyper-aware spatial exorcism to track them back. When he shut his eyes—this time things were glitching within black and red but clear as if his eyes had been with the moths themselves. He saw how each of them took twists and turns.
The path was leading directly near to the shrine. By sending the blessing energy of the shrine itself, Lìngxiāo found the actual location. A clear white hue showed a path like a glowing rope laid over the ground. He followed it but also kept his eyes on the moths, checking their movements every few minutes.
***
Finally, after a few more minutes of following the glowing rope—it ended in front of the Kamisama Onegai shrine.
The place wasn't too fancy. Just neat, tradition was unknown to him beyond just books. The glow of Nihon was clear all over its every piece.
Old but carefully taken care of.
Nobody was there—like it was lonely, full of too much positive energy for even a curse to enter here.
But one—almost peaceful, larger moth which had white edges, not only black-red—flew at the back of the shrine.
"You came? Good. You would get some of it too.." Someone said in a calm feminine tone.
It was mature and ancient. A faintest giggle followed—otherworldly and full of dry, dark humor without trying.