'This is bad. It would surely signal the gûis to offend Fēi Gōngzǐ.'
Lìngxiāo's boot scratched over the rough ground as he held himself up even within the blow which pushed him backwards.
He steadied himself within a few seconds before lunging back behind the corpse, grasping the curse tool within a spin, holding his hat over his head, veil and robe blowing from the dusty wind of the force—and sealing the paper female ghost into his mirror within that exact moment.
"FĒI GŌNGZǏ, LOOK OUT!" He called from behind, voice urgent, running like he weighed nothing, legs eating up distance like a cheetah.
Chóng Fēi froze where he was standing and then turned, aware of the strange presence, moving away from the exact spot within the last second by a jump and skim.
The corpse moved past him like an angry ox, hissing from the throat, probably unable to even see without the head—just following the feeling. Lìngxiāo didn't give it breath to catch the exact place where Chóng Fēi was standing, stunned.
His curse tool spun with the wind whispering, giving stabs after stab from back to chest while that key around his neck had now gone silent—probably Chóng Fēi hadn't even seen it yet.
As expected, more ghosts had taken entry, which left Chóng Fēi paralyzed at one corner of the room, almost hugging an old pillar and doing nothing but trusting Lìngxiāo's protection over here. His face now looked more like he was regretting ever stepping over here.
"Why did you come up here, Gōngzǐ?! It is not safe!" Lìngxiāo managed to ask within breathless moments, keeping that beast away and also repeatedly throwing his talismans, burning away the ghosts.
"I should be asking you this! What the fuck is happening here?!" Chóng Fēi yelled, looking around with wide, confused, angry eyes, his one leg hooked over the pillar, not caring if the curtain was old and dirty—just hiding in it.
"I will fucking see you after this trouble! How dare you leave without my permission and then I was punishing those dirty-mouthed men all by myself! The children waited and then were also taken away by their parents by now while you are late. Thankfully I left that Mō Bàyàkūyà's child alone before coming here!" Chóng Fēi kept yelling within one breath.
Lìngxiāo didn't stop him from speaking. Not after knowing it wasn't only anger pouring out, or informing what he had missed within those moments—but also trying to distract himself from the fear of that very phobia.
"I hear you, Gōngzǐ. Just do not come out from there yet. Not until I say so—for your own good." Lìngxiāo said after taking a sharp, fast breath, his silk robe now matching his rhythm of moves like the way he carried his usual casual soft golden robe.
"I apologize for keeping you waiting." He added after dodging a claw of the corpse, pressing it over the wall with the tool, gaze on the way Chóng Fēi was hiding—watchful.
The way he apologized almost felt like apologizing for the harsh words earlier, and also for leaving without ceremony. His tone wasn't really soft as always, but noticing.
"I should have informed you properly. But you can see how critical the matter is right up here. We cannot let it spread all over the prison realm." He added, throwing more talismans to close the doorways of this floor so that nothing went downstairs.
Chóng Fēi barely got the chance to peek from there, faintly cursing himself for coming up here—like hating his own bravery, like another separated being.
Then he managed to say within the curtain, "F-fine. Forgave you twenty-five percent. Just clean those creatures up! Not a single one should touch me!"
"All up to me, Gōngzǐ." Lìngxiāo said.
He was also aware of external things—not only Chóng Fēi's safety. The way something still rippled into the corpse like tiny pieces of glass. The faint cursing from his own mirror because probably his curses were arguing with the ghosts right now to spill out more information which the male one wasn't giving. And that corpse might be another story.
"Gōngzǐ! The head is now rotting!" The eight-eyed one called urgently.
"It is intentionally leaving things gasping! But the body might still fight like another different being!" The three-eyed one informed from the mirror.
"My beautiful hair would fall out while screaming to this thing, darling!" Serpent also complained dramatically.
Lìngxiāo felt his rising silent disappointment. He pulled out the tool just a little to stab it back. "Nothing? Now this head is also a timer type?"
"Just one thing we have found." Mō Qīn called. "That male gûi and the puppet are connected through one presence and one element. The qì is the same. But we can only know it if the puppet body reveals it. Kill it completely."
'Someone seems to be planning really spotlessly.'
Lìngxiāo landed six more stabs more brutally over the body and threw it backwards, away from Chóng Fēi. He released Mō Qīn out.
"Stop the gûis from coming. See if people downstairs are safe. I will see the rest." With that he released Mō Qīn out of the mirror.
The fight rolled a little longer. Like ten minutes. Not a single guard came up to even offer help, even if it was only formality. They really were selfish—and really, really aware that the trouble lived on this floor. They didn't even stop or warn Chóng Fēi from coming here for the sake of help, even if Chóng Fēi was capable of fighting greatly here—unless ghosts were evolved here.
Lìngxiāo silently panted a little, deeply disappointed as the head had rotted by now and the body seemed dead with a mind of its own. He had just thrown a powerful blow of talisman which had burned five ghosts all at once.
'Who knows who was this powerful that my three high-ranked curses are also now out, fighting and struggling to just knot it off.'
'It always stands up again, never dying yet—and also not revealing whatever was in its body which connects to the male gûi.'
'That male gûi has already vanished with the head. And I do not even know yet who is causing this.'
"G-G-G-GGŌNGZǏ! YOU SHOULD SEE THIS! HOW DID A HUMAN CHILD COME IN HERE?!" Mō Qīn cried out from the other corner of the room while fighting with the neckless puppet, his demonic eyes wide.
'A child? Here?'
"What?" Lìngxiāo felt like he had fallen from the sky, his gaze immediately shifting towards the doorway. He was definitely not ready for this word.
"How the fuck? Who?" Chóng Fēi finally peeked out from the curtain at the words, eyes darting around to find the children.
"No, it's actually two!" Mō Qīn growled in disbelief while that corpse seemed not even close to shutting down right now, fighting back with him instead—while even he used Lìngxiāo's cursed tool.
One was found at the stairs which was shut by Lìngxiāo's spiritual powers. This was the little girl Shà Shà. Her eyes wide with worry for them and also panic. Her hands over the invisible wall.
"Gōngzǐ, that little boy has gone inside silently after a few months when you came here!" She called.
"No, no, no!" Chóng Fēi looked like his soul left his body before Lìngxiāo himself.
His face looked paler. He seemed to forget the fear over the ghost for a moment.
Then both of them spotted the child.
It was probably that one child Chóng Fēi talked about. His ordinary big black eyes knew nothing but Chóng Fēi—he might have followed here. His small black robe made him look like a naive little doll.
He understood nothing to even fear the chaotic environment. He just walked towards Chóng Fēi while arms spread, ghosts stumbling above him like rain without touching him—because of Lìngxiāo.
"Gēge.." The boy muttered soft and tiny.
Chóng Fēi's mouth parted and closed at this scene at first. His right hand trembling violently, grip tight over his sword as he was trying to come out of his spot, but he was probably having his internal battle with the phobia. Lìngxiāo could see how hard he was fighting. His hand wasn't even properly holding the hilt but kept the sword parted from the cover, his fingers bleeding.
"Mō Qīn, I have to catch him—"
"How would it be if I steal..both of those two precious souls?" That familiar voice of that moth curse purred, cutting through Lìngxiāo's command.
The black moths appeared out of nowhere.
Nothing stopped them—not even the barrier—as they crossed inside, taking that familiar shape of the cursed woman, walking closer to them gracefully. Even today, her hips moved like slow sea tides as she walked with her thin black robe, ink-black hair floating behind.
A smirk spread across her lips as she also turned at the doorway, muttered darkly, scaring Shà Shà. "Or maybe three."
'No..'
'She has come again..for revenge over the soul?'
Lìngxiāo's blood ran cold. He swallowed hard, left staring. That corpse pulled him by his feet from behind. He stabbed it again but knelt as the corpse still didn't let go. His skin over there felt like burning.
Chóng Fēi's breath caught at the appearance of the curse. He quickly pulled the kid between his arms, opening his sword and pointing it over the curse—only since he was still recovering from the phobia which usually left him fainted like that time.
"Stay back." He split coldly. He was unshakable with everything else. Then he hushed his command to Shà Shà. "Leave. Now."
Shà Shà's eyes narrowed. She quickly obeyed. But now strangly the curse's attention was them—not the other girl anymore.