Yi Ran readjusted the jade bracelet, which strung around her wrist.
She leaned against the front gate, with a solemn and uninterested expression etched across her face. Guarding behind the front gate were an army of villagers—villager ghosts. These ghosts were the deceased original villagers, who died in the fire that she set.
Yi Ran calculated many things in her mind.
She could destroy them if she'd like to. With one snap, she could light them all on fire. However... what if Ah-Sha was in that crowd as well?
Therefore, Yi Ran could not destroy them. She could not set things on fire, though her impulse was growing stronger.
"Let way! Let way!" A sudden roar arose.
Yi Ran was surprised. What kind of scheme are the villagers doing?
It was then, her pupils widened and shuddered. Her heart began to beat erratically, as if something tripped the rhythm of her breathing. "That's..."
In the distance was a familiar figure. It had the same stature of the young man Yi Ran used to carry on her back... until it dried into a corpse. The familiar figure was draped in a heavy cloak, not allowing the young woman to see his face. Yet, Yi Ran could still recognize him.
Ah-Sha... She gullibly skipped over.
However, the villager ghosts were blocking her way. A thin line separated them. The villager ghosts knew that the only reason they managed to live so far was because of Yi Ran's search for Ping Sha. She didn't dare to set the village on fire, in case if Ping Sha gets incinerated as well.
"Move." Yi Ran deadpanned.
The villager ghosts didn't move. They stood there motionlessly, acting as a wall to separate Yi Ran from the one she wished to meet.
"Don't rush! Take your time!" Wei Wuxian hollered. He was the one to escort the "Ah-Sha".
Soon enough, Wei Wuxian and "Ah-Sha" stood before Yi Ran. The latter could hardly believe it. She had been searching for this certain ghost so long... she could hardly believe that they were finally reunited...
"You want this man back, right?" Wei Wuxian questioned.
Yi Ran shot a glare towards his direction. "What does this have anything to do with you?"
"I am making you an offer." Wei Wuxian sneered. "If I give you this ghost, then you must promise to never mess around with Square Town again. There must never be fires, blue fires, or anything of the sort. Do you hear me?"
Yi Ran was puzzled. A promise was all he wanted?
"Huh," She snickered, "Do you have any right to negotiate with me?" Yi Ran planned to directly steal "Ah-Sha" from Wei Wuxian's hands. But the next step that Wei Wuxian did had doused her in cold water.
Wei Wuxian has unsheathed Suibian, pressing the blade against "Ah-Sha"'s neck!
"You!" Yi Ran seethed.
Wei Wuxian didn't even bat an eye, "I couldn't hear you. Can you repeat your words?"
Yi Ran shuddered. Her words were "do you have any right to negotiate with me". However, now it was proven that Wei Wuxian did have the right to negotiate with her. Otherwise, "Ah-Sha" would die in his hands. And "Ah-Sha" was merely a ghost.
Why would Wei Wuxian care if he killed a ghost?
Yi Ran could only surrender. "I... I won't hurt Square Town, as long as you don't hurt Ah-Sha."
Wei Wuxian's eyes thinned. In the middle of the crowd of ghosts were Lan Zhan, Xie Lian, Hua Cheng, Shen Qingqiu, and Luo Binghe. They were hiding, waiting for their chance to strike.
"Then take him." Wei Wuxian threw "Ah-Sha" at Yi Ran.
The young woman caught the ghost, with her eyes brightening. She knew that this was definitely Ah-Sha! There was the same scent of the shrine... except, "Ah-Sha"'s arm feels more thin than usual...
All of a sudden, Yi Ran's ears perked up.
A flash of light turmoiled in the night, and a blade was thrown in the direction of "Ah-Sha"! Yi Ran instantaneously deflected it. The blade had fallen on the ground, with a soft ting resounding against the cobblestone.
"Who was that?" Yi Ran scowled.
The first person she looked at was Wei Wuxian, who threw his hands up in defeat. He carried no blades, only Suibian.
"You..." Yi Ran was still on vigilance.
It was then a heavy air began to thicken the atmosphere. There was the sound of footsteps and heels, clicking against the ground. Yi Ran turned around, seeing a familiar figure. Wei Wuxian recognized the figure... it was the female corpse who the twenty hunters were touching...! Then it turned out, this female corpse was never a carcass, but rather a ghost!
Doesn't this mean that this female ghost could have moved... and heard everything Ping Hai told them...
"Nu Wang?" Yi Ran was confused. "What are you doing?"
The female ghost reacted to her name. Nu Wang took out a second blade, pointing it at "Ah-Sha". "The person you're looking for is not alive."
Yi Ran was puzzled. It was then, she felt the person beside her moving...
Her eyes flashed a strange light.
She wanted to react, but then pain shot at her abdomen. Yi Ran flinched. A blade was stabbed at her stomach, with blood beginning to soak her robes. She then saw how "Ah-Sha" unveiled the cloak over his face. A familiar face was revealed, but that face didn't bring the young woman any single shred of happiness.
Instead, it felt like her heart was being seized. Floods of unhappiness and anger had washed over her, drowning her in a torrent of emotions.
"PING HAI!" Yi Ran yelled.
Ping Hai shuddered, then shoved the blade deeper into Yi Ran's stomach. However, it was like the young woman was entirely numb to the pain.
A maniacal smile was worn on her face, as Yi Ran leaned closer, with the blade sinking deeper into her flesh. "It turned out... you're a ghost." Yi Ran's amber eyes were bloodshot, and a spark of flame danced in her pupils, "You won't stop haunting me no matter what... alive or dead."
Ping Hai felt an unknown feeling wash over him.
He wanted to pull back, then, a strong pain made him tumble over. It was then he realized that Yi Ran had palmed him in the stomach, with his ghost robes catching on fire...
The blue fire engulfed him whole once again.
All of a sudden, the fire was put out. Wei Wuxian had run over, with the rest of the three couples. They had put out the fire, leaving Ping Hai unburnt. However, Yi Ran's force of palming him was powerful. Her palm had sent in currents of force, jumbling his insides. The young ghost had collapsed on the ground, spitting out a puddle of blood on the ground.
"You..." Shen Qingqiu worried.
Xie Lian had long ago set the black cat aside. The black cat had scurried off elsewhere, unwilling to get tangled in the middle of the fight.
Ping Hai closed his eyes, with a trail of blood sliding down his lips.
"I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!" Yi Ran was relentless. She pulled out the blade from her abdomen, throwing it at the ground. She then summoned two balls of blue fire in her palms, with the flames roaring wildly.
The two balls of blue fire was so hot that they began to burn the air, with smoke rising upwards.
Then, she hurled the two balls of blue fire at the crowd of ghosts.
"Not good!" Wei Wuxian blurted. If the ghosts were to get caught on fire... the consequences would be immeasurable...
All of a sudden, a plain white cloth had caught his eyes.
Lan Zhan elegantly stood before all the ghosts, acting as a fine divider. His white robes danced in the wild wind, fanning those who stood in his shadows. He pulled out his guqin, Wangji. His snowy white fingers had fallen across the surface of the wooden guqin, beginning to pluck the strings poignantly.
Time seemed to stop.
The fire paused, no longer flickering or moving-
Then, a large rebound concurred. The winds whistled past the ghosts' and cultivators' ears, stunning practically almost everyone at the scene. Their robes fanned hysterically against the currents of wind, overlapping one another.
The three couples blocked their faces from being whipped by the wind.
Once the backlash ended, they realized that nobody was harmed. Lan Zhan's guqin playing had destroyed the two balls of blue fire in Yi Ran's palms.
Yi Ran was stunned, then frustrated.
She tried to summon more blue fire, then felt something stab and sucked away from her... Yi Ran then noticed. The blade which was stabbed into her abdomen by Ping Hai was coated in venom. This venom was like a tranquilizer, used to paralyze the opponent.
Yi Ran gritted her teeth, as her strength melted away from her grasp.
Last time, she was hit by the Mo Clan's needle, which sucked away her spiritual energy. This left her empty of spiritual energy. Her spiritual energy had only returned after a day.
Now... she had to suffer again! This time, she was being tranquilized by the Mo Clan's tranquilizer!
How unfair life was to her! Yi Ran wanted to swear, as she planted face first into the ground.
Nu Wang crouched beside her. She checked Yi Ran's pulse, then determined nothing was wrong. Afterwards, Nu Wang turned to look at the three couples.
She said emotionlessly, "I am Nu Wang, entitled as the Stringed Ghost of Reminisce." Out of nowhere, she pulled out an instrument- a pipa. The string instrument laid quietly in her arms, as she caressed the wooden material. "My will is to prevent you from hurting Yi Ran."
Nu Wang guarded her collapsed companion.
"I will begin now."
Then, she began playing. Her beautiful fingers ran over the pipa, plucking the strings with a firm and yet fleeting strength. The sound began raining by the three couples' ears, making their world spin.
"It's not over." Lan Zhan deadpanned.
He responded to the instrument, plucking his guqin. And thus, a battle of guqin and pipa began! The two string instruments had exchanged a flurry of sound attacks, with the sound imprinted on the cultivators' mind. Their ears stung, as the strings were strummed precisely.
Each attack was powerful and contained a large amount of energy.
Finally, the duel of sounds had ended. Lan Zhan and Nu Wang stared down at each other. They both remained unharmed from the rally.
"Remarkable skill." Nu Wang praised, but her face was devoid of any affection.
Lan Zhan's expression was cold as the frost. "Yours is as well."
The two musicians praised each other, but they looked like they were speaking death threats instead. They stared each other down, with the air thickening.
"However," Nu Wang's eyes twitched. "You fall short to me."
All of a sudden, she began playing a weird tune. It was as if the music notes were bouncing off of her pipa. The strings shook to her fingers, which appeared like spider legs imperceptibly weaving a cobweb. The melody of her playing was ominous and yet strangely... cold. It was winter, but the three cultivators had never been affected by the temperature.
Yet at that moment, the cultivators felt a shiver down their spine.
Suddenly, it was like something was pressing against their eyelids... a soft voice soothed by their ears... as if singing them to sleep...
The three couples collapsed, with their eyelids closing.
Nu Wang gently ended the song. This was her specialty, a piece of melody perfect for reminiscing the past. Yet, when she hears this song, nothing can move her to recollect her lost memories.
This melody was basically grabbing the sadness in the target's hearts, then intensifying it to leave the target in misery. This melody doesn't work on ghosts, who've become spirits only because of their sad memories.
"Huh?" All of a sudden, Nu Wang was confused.
She saw that one of the three couples had stood back up again. Xie Lian and Hua Cheng were completely unharmed to the melody, their faces expressing that nothing was wrong.
"How..." Nu Wang bit her lips. How are these two not affected?
Xie Lian looked over at his lover. Earlier, Hua Cheng had talked to him in their private communication array. This had distracted him from listening to the melody. Besides, he was also a God. This way, the melody didn't seem to affect him that much. Nonetheless, Xie Lian listened to his lover's faith and didn't fall to the spell.
And Hua Cheng was a ghost. He couldn't be affected by such a method.
"Who are you guys!" Nu Wang felt panic wash over herself.
Hua Cheng glared at her. "I'm your ancestor!"
*****
Wei Wuxian felt around his surroundings. It was all pitch black. He couldn't hear anything except for the rapid beating of his heart.
He wasn't feeling nervous, but his heart said otherwise.
"Lan Zhan?" He felt around. "Shen-xiong? Luo-xiong? Xie-xiong? Hua Chengzhu?"
Nobody responded to him.
All of a sudden, he felt something knock right into him. The force used was great and strong, making him tumble and fall over on his bottom. Wei Wuxian winced, then looked up. "Who was that-" His words were left unsaid, as a droplet of blood had splattered onto his pale cheek.
Wei Wuxian's eyes widened, with his pupils dilating.
His entire body began to shake from head to toe. It was like his bones couldn't handle the pressure, and his eyes couldn't take in all of the information.
Before him was a familiar woman, who shielded him from an incoming attack. The woman was beautiful with unblemished skin, a pair of fair eyes, delicate red lips, and hair as smooth as a bird's feathers. She wore purple robes, the same to match with Jiang Cheng's.
Jiang Yanli smiled sadly. "A-Xian..."
Wei Wuxian responded with a heartbroken, "...Shijie?"
The Author Has Something to Say:
CoolCool-Aid: We ended off with a cruel cliff hanger. It seems like the two couples are experiencing painful memories of their past. Speaking of "painful memories", what was the strongest angst you've ever felt from all of the novels? Or the dramas? Or the donghua's?
Let's share the angst! No worries, I have prepared tissues.