"They sometimes side us too much.." The three-eyed one muttered, crossing his arms, leaning close to the female one. "For being at the same rank."
"Ah, happens, happens." The female curse huffed softly, taking the three-eyed one over her shoulder like some doomed couple. "You know you both get different treatment from me based on how handsome you two are."
The three-eyed one's eyes snapped on her with a bitter look. His two eyes blinked first, and then the last one over his forehead. "How could you are judging me for being less older and experienced?"
The female curse batted her lashes, raised her shoulders with a grin. "He is just too handsome~" But then she cut in seriously to herself. "But Gōngzǐ is more."
Lìngxiāo blinked to himself like their conversation was dust in his eyes.
This felt too much.
So he took out his mirror and ordered in a low tone, "All three of you..get back inside now."
"Apologies, Gōngzǐ!" They lightly cried out like spoiled kids, hugging each other, making their eyes extra large by increasing the size of their sharp pupils to look harmless.
"No." Lìngxiāo was final.
Both of them pouted softly.
"Please Gōngzǐ I wanna stay and help!" The female curse whined.
"He is not healed yet totally, Gōngzǐ.." The three-eyed one reminded with an awkward smile, hoping he would buy it.
"I and Mō Qīn will see the rest. Thank you for the help." Lìngxiāo drew his symbols and opened the portal of the mirror. "Get back inside. We will talk later."
"You children could have stayed out of this. Now I have to go back too." The eight-eyed one muttered and floated closer to the mirror. "See ya, Qīn Qīn."
"Have a good nap, friend. We have a lot of work later actually." Mō Qīn waved the eight-eyed one with his tail again.
Then they were back inside the mirror, leaving them alone. The mirror returned to its normal reflective side.
"Much better.." Lìngxiāo put back his mirror into the bag he had—thankful that it was still with him while he was in the chaos.
Once alone again, he took a plain polished metal piece this time and pressed lightly over the space above Chóng Fēi's eyes, pulling gently to make his eyes slowly open.
The eye opened slowly—bloodshot at some sides. The bluish-gray lenses caught some frozen fire into it as the evening sky brightened by the golden lanterns. Even in a critical condition, his eyes never stopped looking like something more than an organ to see the world.
Yet Chóng Fēi had seen very little of the world. Lìngxiāo could guess as much as he had seen.
Lìngxiāo's eyes softened. He felt responsibility pressing deep over his chest.
'I am..really so sorry..'
Mō Qīn looked at the eye carefully, his tail under his raised face like thoughtfully holding his chin. "He has caught much frozen fire into his eye. It is going to take a lot of work."
Lìngxiāo stayed silent, his expression fallen back into silent guilt, letting the eye close back. He still couldn't decide how to fix the damage without getting stuck with him or coming into his personal space.
And now, the possibility of Chóng Fēi being the qì container and attracted to danger was a big discovery even for himself. He hadn't paid attention to his qì type until now. Nor had he met him in these fifteen years after growing into exorcism-type cultivation.
From upside, they looked the same. Besides, for the tradition, Chóng Fēi might have just more likely worked tirelessly on swordsmanship.
And that swordmanship was something he was not good at it for hating blades. Those look reminds him of that knife from past—though he keeps it with himself anyway.
He looked at the sky thoughtfully. The sky had gone darker than before.
'We seem to be getting late too..we both would get sick if we stay like this..'
"Are you willing to go back to the Yùn Chóng clan, Gōngzǐ..?" Mō Qīn asked.
Lìngxiāo nodded once, his eyes still on Chóng Fēi. "Let the rest of it be done behind the doors after some preparations."
"What will you do with his eye? He will start to feel the burning pain once he wakes up. Besides, his zhù fù is already a bluff." Mō Qīn said.
Lìngxiāo thought for a bit. But it didn't take much time.
"As a curse, you cannot heal." Lìngxiāo noted.
"Hm.." Mō Qīn agreed, tilting his head.
"But you can reverse for some time, right..?" Lìngxiāo finished.
Mō Qīn blinked. "After removing his memory, he would still feel like he is forgetting something important because nobody except Gods can truly erase anything..and you are telling me—a curse to reverse?"
"But you can. You did once with me too..when I was dying.." Lìngxiāo reminded, a side eye on him. "You are the bridge between special-grade first class and middle first class curses."
"Yes. Indeed. But it would still not help forever." Mō Qīn argued lightly. "Even back then, you survived because you wanted to live. Later, you did not believe whatever the curse said to you. You refuse to know who is your zhù fù, who is that curse, and who was even your shù fù—and if that one you saw was again an illusion or not."
Lìngxiāo's jaw tightened lightly, his eyes shut, his head tilted at the left side where Mō Qīn's tail was. "I know. I remember those properly. Now instead of repeating my whole life value, tell me how long..you can hold up things? I need some time.."
"Oh, you could say that directly. You would never change at some places." Mō Qīn exhaled, then answered, "Two weeks.."
Lìngxiāo nodded to himself. "Alright. This much would be enough." Then he added lower, "I would..think about whatever you suggested. But not now. I myself seem unsteady while I have a lot of work to do."
"Fine. But I will not do it again." Mō Qīn agreed, his face raised like tilting up his chin.
He didn't forget to remind him. "Not like I have any cursed partner to refill me with the negative energy as Yínglòu cultivators do. Last time reversing your life cost me ten skin layers of my body. I could have died because of your demanding soul. Sometimes you get over—"
"Alright alright, my friend.." Lìngxiāo cut in gently, his smile carved softer—half-hopeless, half-exhausted, and half-fond. He put one hand over Mō Qīn's head like patting an aggressive bunny. "It will be the last time I am telling you to do something risky for your own..when I could have done it myself."
Mō Qīn's head quietly bobbed by the press of his hand, his eyes bored but not actually annoyed. His cheek flushed orange.
"Alright I am on it now." He gently stopped Lìngxiāo's hand by pressing the tip of his tail on his hand lightly before sliding down closer to Chóng Fēi's side.
Lìngxiāo watched him silently.
Mō Qīn closed his eyes and turned into his giant worm form—but this one was his deep orange smoke form. His eyes burning in lighter orange, curled around Chóng Fēi's whole body tightly, swallowing his whole body into it.
Then his shape melted into full smoke—no shape—and entered into Chóng Fēi's mouth, something he said in his curse language.
A spell named "What Was Mine. "
But Lìngxiāo knew what he said—because Mō Qīn believed him enough to share just the sentence, but still never the key of the language for the sake of their own race.
Besides, only pure curses or contracted half-human curses could use this.
He could have pressed as other exorcists tried while the curses rather die than speaking about it. But he didn't—not only because it was useless amd stressful but because he respects even boundaries of curses.
After all he saved him.
He also actually liked the spell. It felt like a song being sung into something dark.
Darkness is dangerous..but perhaps there is no right or wrong when all you wish is to bring back what was yours.
"Reverse the time,
Reverse the season back to the hollow winter
As if the soul cried into the previous peaceful late autumn.
Let the rules break.
Let the violet crack into two—I do not know for what.
I do not need to know~
All I demand is—the return of what was mine...
Return me what was mine.."
'I do not own him. Nor would. But still..I wish for the best..for him.'
He faintly mouthed the words with his thoughts. Then moved closer, opened Chóng Fēi's eye in the same way again, watching it heal.
The bluish-gray lense swallowed all of the frozen ice like the deep sea. Those few strands of hair at the edges started to swallow down the gold—coming back to life just like it was before.
The spell and ritual ended—almost fully, in the softest way possible. Chóng Fēi's eyes opened slowly, blinking to clear his vision.
'Oh Lord. He is finally awake. His eyes..they look exactly as they were before.'
"Gōngzǐ, how do you feel?" Lìngxiāo helped him sit though he was still worried about things going wrong.
His hand pressed lightly over Chóng Fēi's back, fingers lightly tangled into his now-opened hair. His face was lightly hidden under his wet, open hair. He looked at his arm—which had been injured but was now healed.
He looked at it like searching for that same wound like a missing piece, but had totally forgotten about it, faintly coughed with a face of confusion and discomfort. His hand went to his throat while his head was still lowered.
Lìngxiāo didn't speak, tilting his head to look at him properly.
'Has he fallen into the lake before me too, to catch water? Or is it because of the rain..?'
Then he blinked in half-sure realization.
'Mō Qīn is still inside. Is he feeling him there, making him cough? Probobly yes.'