Chasing You (Arc 8+)

Beneath the Heavens (XVIII)

An eerie black mist rushed out at a speed faster than the eye could see and flooded Fu Yemu's body. Clawing its way, it forced its way into the most inner depths of his body. He howled in pain, his face was as pale as a sheet of paper. It was invading him, invading into every part of him. Not only physically but mentally; even his memories were harassed by this raving insatiable beast.

He must have been imagining that he heard a sigh as it finally pervaded every inch of his body. At last, attaining what it desired, the black mist rushed back out of his body at the speed of light. Fu Baisong's eyes constricted as soon as he saw the black mist that emitted a disturbing and baleful aura. Stepping back, he tried to get away from it but it was relentless in its pursuit. Wherever he went to, it would always be two steps behind him.

After a while, the stygian mist seemed to be angered as it failed to catch the target, black tendrils shot out after them. Fu Baisong narrowed his eyes as his jaw clenched. Surrounding them was the word 'error' in big bold red letters.

His teeth were pressed so tightly together that it was about to crack. He felt so useless as he was unable to access his powers. He jumped into the air to evaded the sweep of the black mist at his feet. It surged forward and dispersed all around them. Within seconds, they were surrounded by the mist. It condensed around the two of them in the shape of a ball, leaving no space uncovered by its sparse body.

Fu Baisong's eyes were able to track the movements of the mass within the darkness. It curved forward into an arc-like shape and bolted at them like a predator finally locking down on its prey. He flipped his body to shield him and held him tight. Once it made contact with his body, he immediately felt the deep cold and empty void. The fog did not stop there though, it went right through his body easily as if he was nothing but air and coiled itself around the person in his arms. Finally able to go back to the holder, a wicked laugh seemed to be heard in the caliginosity. With a clang, Hanchan fell to the ground and two people went limp as the inky mist dispersed into the air.

Fu Baisong stared at the unconscious An Zhangyi leaning against his chest. His thin lips were harshly pressed into a discontent thin line, an unperceivable emotion swirled in his onyx colored eyes like a storm.

When Fu Yemu was charging at them, An Zhangyi took hold of Hanchan and used it to counter their attack for a chance to release gluttony. This all happened a blink of an eye, and Fu Baisong was only able to pull him (AZY) back into his arms.

Glancing at their expression that was so serene and tranquil, he couldn't even begin to imagine just what kind of pain he must be enduring right now.

His eyes lifted and a ruthless light flickered in his eyes as he stared at this 'nephew' of his.

———

This time it was different from the past. When gluttony returned to him, it was quite irritated and slammed at his core savagely. Every pore of his body ached down to the marrow of his bones, as their negative emotions assimilated into him. But this wasn't the only difference from when he used gluttony on Mikael, this time it brought a 'friend'; a heart demon¹.

The moment the heart demon entered his body, he could feel the fluctuations in his emotions. At once, he understood which heart demon had Fu Yemu been harboring; wrath.

Hidden deep within, a part of him screamed out in joy and wanted to house the inner demon. It crazily slammed against its latent walls with excitement. This was the cause of the fluctuation in his emotions.

Concentrating, An Zhangyi was stabilizing his disordered wavelengths. His inner tilitation was tamed once again and locked in the chasmic chaos in his heart.

An Zhangyi's mouth twitched as a response within his subconsciousness. He felt as if he had descried a sneer from the black mist. Why did he feel that gluttony was gaining more and more of a personality as he uses it? Before, it was like a child that had received its first piece of candy, happily consuming everything. This time it chose to act petty and not consume everything. An Zhangyi was ninety-nine percent certain that it was due to Fu Baisong not letting it return back to him.

Next time, he would ask his system if there was any way to reset this skill of his that seemed to have its own awareness. Using his mental strength, he shoved the black smog to wrath. Pressuring gluttony with a tremendous amount of his mental strength, he forced it to obey him.

It gave one last twitch before it reluctantly enclosed itself around the heart demon. The moment it consumed wrath, An Zhangyi felt a force attack him before he fell into opaque obscurity.

At this moment outside, An Zhangyi coughed up a handful of blood, alarming the man holding him in his arms. Fu Baisong wrinkled his brows as his hand wiped the blood from the corner of the youth's mouth. Their black orbs tinged with concern, but underlying it was a dark and unfathomable emotion. They were no longer within the array in the courtyard, instead, they were within Fu Baisong's chambers. Within it was simple wooden furniture, the items were all coloured with a grey or light blue hue.

His hands trailed their exquisite facial features slowly. His lithesome fingers only stopped at their lips which had been dyed a deep red by their blood. After rubbing it a couple of times and successfully making it swollen from his excessive rubbing, he finally leaned down and captured their cool lips. Drooping his lashes to cover his emotions, he whispered silently, "When will you tell me about yourself, Zhang'er?"

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¹Heart demon: '心魔' xinmo translates to internal demon (lit. heart devil). They are the negative emotions and mental barriers which stymies the practitioner's cultivation/ training. In this case, I translated it to 'heart demon' rather than 'heart devil' or 'internal demon' because it sounds better that way(?).