"Do you not dare to touch any of them..your matter is with me. Not them." Lìngxiāo split at the moth curse before he could stop himself, his eyes both wide but also never lacking sharpness.
Just when the words left his mouth, he realized maybe..Chóng Fēi might catch the already familiarity with the curse.
And he was.
When his shaky gaze moved over Chóng Fēi for a second, he was already staring at him while holding the child securely close to his chest. His gaze had so many big question marks that he could hear it in his voice, asking: How the fuck do you know it? What matter do you have with her?!
Lìngxiāo's gaze snapped back to her, quickly adding with the same bite, "Because I am the one who catches all of you mōs."
Hoping it would just let it slide away after adding this sentence. But he couldn't also deny that now he felt another different force around him. The curse had perfectly held him back with his other three curses—all were curled with each other while the corpse didn't let go of his feet like a piece of toy.
Lìngxiāo's feet hurt at the strange angle of being pulled behind, unable to break away. He just managed more messy snaps over its chest by the back of his elbow or the curse tool or needles—like pouring all of his disbelief and frustration over it.
'I need more of my mōs. Now.'
His fingers steadied like dancers ready for a ballad. And that was it.
The curse, on the other hand, was really..deliberate, as if she owned the whole space. She tilted her head, listened to whatever they said like it felt like music to her, chuckling at having the whole control here. But her gaze fixed over Chóng Fēi and that child.
"Ah, not allowed right now. Children should not interfere when elders are in the room." The curse purred as if scolding little children. She raised a delicate hand and snapped her finger.
Right when Lìngxiāo managed to push away that corpse and draw his symbols, his fingers also went paralyzed. The tool he was gripping fell from his grasp.
An invisible force stopped his whole body—which barely any curse had managed to do after all his hard work over exorcism.
His breath caught. If he couldn't draw a symbol, the mirror would never open even if curses turned ghosts after dying.
The snap even made all of the ghosts who were attacking go cold. All were gone, leaving only them and that corpse.
'She..did not try to fight me. She just stopped..the whole source of my powers so I cannot even fight.'
'Only Fēi Gōngzǐ is left for moving..only he can save the child at this moment. He does not own what exorcism ability I have. Nor do I have any ability of solid ordinary weapon like sword. That kitchen knife holds nothing but bittersweet memories..'
A numbness hit Lìngxiāo's spine with the realization. His jaw felt like it was going to break as he tried to swallow back his boiling anger which he barely showed at his smile.
Chóng Fēi was all tense like the strings of a ragdoll pulled tight. But he was surely noticing everything. He took a step back as the absence of the ghosts let him breathe a little, still raising his sword, perhaps trying to find his strength over his muscles which he had lost. His gaze moved between the child and her, analyzing.
Lìngxiāo also noticed her having a strange eye contact with the child—which could be deadly because they often could kill or cause any effect by their cursed eyes.
The child couldn't sense danger like any other child. So he was just staring at her like any another strangely gorgeous-looking human.
"Gēgē...gēgē..arms..arms...arms." The child mumbled repeatedly, his innocent eyes shining between her and Chóng Fēi's reflection. Only he knew what he meant by the arms.
The curse took small teasing steps forward towards Chóng Fēi. Her focus was now mostly over the child like the sweetest thing she could eat. Her expression dangerously excited.
"Hello, little boy~" She purred, her voice high-pitched, poisonously sweet and baby-talking like a mocking perfect trap. "This world feels too dark, right? Do you not worry. Just follow everywhere I go. You will be safe under my control. Just let me in~"
She raised a hand with the large black nails, tilting her head at the right side more like any hunter bird which looks fragile but definitely can hunt.
Lìngxiāo stared like a nightmare happening in front of his eyes without the night or uniting his eyelids together. Just as childhood, not a single talisman or needle touched her—as if she had also grown much more powerful than she was before.
His curses all knew what was happening, finally found their voices, voicing his own realizations. Their own eyes seemed to curse her—which never reached her, as if she wasn't among their species.
"She's manipulating the easiest soul she could have, Gōngzǐ!" Mō Qīn hissed, eyes wide, his worm form twisting and turning to get free or shift his shape larger.
"Why am I feeling so powerless right now? Why can I not feel anything?" The eight-eyed one hushed with disbelief.
"Gōngzǐ! You are different and powerful than us! Do something!" The three-eyed one jumped off, only managed to get bumped over them.
"Could you stop fucking moving!?" Mō Qīn hissed, frustration boiling up.
"You men scream a lot." The moth curse muttered in annoyance, her face flinching.
And then the curses' eyes were shut forcefully to even look at things properly but just feeling. Their own chances were also gone to do something properly.
The corpse without a head seemed to find the perfect time to have its own dominance. It gave the three-eyed one a slap from behind as if it found him the easiest to annoy. Even the moth curse didn't bother stopping it. Using it as her own since it wasn't interfering with her too.
"Ah! How dare you try to overpower me, nothing but some dry bones?! I would have burned you if my eyes and body were free!" The three-eyed one yelled, his form flickering violently in anger but helpless.
"Your lady could help us if Gōngzǐ's fingers were not tied up too!" The eight-eyed one was losing it. He also tried to pull away but just retained another bump.
Lìngxiāo's eyes shut and opened at the double bump with a faint gasp since he was bound at the middle, stressed and already moved that he also couldn't tell more than ordinary high-ranked curse—yet its powers were saying a different story. He glared at his paralyzed fingers in disappointment.
'Am I missing something important about mōs?'
'I cannot feel more than what she felt that day.'
'She is undeniably a special grade curse. No more grades exist above them. Perhaps I still lack something..or strangely she could be something more..'
"In..in..in...in.." The child mumbled after some moments of her saying this, catching the last tiny word as he was now eager, arms raised towards her.
"I SAID STEP BACK!" Both Chóng Fēi and Lìngxiāo snapped. Their panicked voices echoing through the old stone walls.
Their yell only made her laugh harder, throwing her head back and then looking back at the child. "They all get scared so easily, right? You are more brave, are you not?"
The child didn't understand. But he nodded or shook his head like he wanted to nod back at her statement.
"Don't look at her. DON'T look. She's not good." Chóng Fēi hissed, hiding the child's eyes by keeping his head over his shoulder.
Lìngxiāo again tried to do something, anything to keep her playing with them and then snap in a moment he wouldn't even get the breath to understand what happened. The new stronger wave of anxiety making his chest burn with the same energy again. But this time everything felt like it was blocked inside.
'No, no, no..this cannot happen. Why would they pay for my interfering with this mō? Nobody should.'
"FĒI GŌNGZǏ!" He called Chóng Fēi loudly, his chest raising and falling almost visibly. "You have to move alone for now! Use your sword!"
Chóng Fēi looked at him and then the curse. Disappointment, confusion, and embarrassment crossed over his expression. But he was more stable than before, so after some seconds of gazing at Lìngxiāo, he did nod—understanding the necessity of his acting.
But Lìngxiāo was sure Chóng Fēi couldn't digest the fact that this curse managed to hold all of them in one place.
"Ou~ men like you are strangely..attractive to fantasize, young man.." The curse purred again, touching the tip of his sword.
With a sharp tag, Chóng Fēi moved past the curse's fingers from the left with a sharp move.
"F-fantasize or not. Women like you don't deserve men like me." Chóng Fēi got his voice back to sharp and confident, quickly moving away—probably to take the child somewhere safe.
The child peeked from his shoulder, still looking at the curse.
Lìngxiāo let out the faintest breath of relief, though he couldn't drop the strange thought of why only Chóng Fēi wasn't bound yet—only himself.
'Did he have something more in him? I did not read that any container ability could..do things like this.'
'But the child can be saved..that is enough for now. The rest of the mystery can wait.'