Lìngxiāo didn't answer, as if the inability right now felt like a sharp insult—worse than any statement. His body moved at the rhythm of the fight to physically do anything to make it stop hurting Chóng Fēi seriously.
His mind was just racing to remove Chóng Fēi from here too. The curse seemed mainly to have come here to steal his soul in front of him. Or worse—leave things on edge again so that she could make him more anxious next time.
She was torturing him.
Taking time to make him feel close to losing and then letting go to breathe for a few minutes—which had no guarantee when it would be cracked again.
"Because no cheating, kids~" The curse chuckled again, enjoying every second of it.
"Shut up!" Chóng Fēi hissed, drawing another attack with the sword from a different angle. "Just leave already! Lìngxiāo, would you seal him or not!?"
"Tell him, darling—you cannot~" The curse tilted back her head with a grin as she said that to him.
Though this felt like a cruel joke, Lìngxiāo had no other choice but to answer Chóng Fēi. "It is not possible, Gōngzǐ!"
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY NOT POSSIBLE?!" Chóng Fēi sounded on fire. His anger was full in each word.
"You will NOT touch him, I said." Lìngxiāo gritted his teeth while stabbing his curse tool into her body, making sure Chóng Fēi didn't hear him.
"I do things more which is warned~ and torturing you is more fun than just blood rain." She also muttered back to him, challenging.
"Even more if you have grown up so well~" Her long tongue lightly licked the tip of his sword.
Disgust crept into him. He removed his sword to stab her over the chest—though she still laughed like a crow.
But it was just like pressing on air. Nothing really worked, as if he was just playing with a stick with her. Even more since he didn't have much skill in swordsmanship—that even Chóng Fēi was yelling at him to instruct.
"This is not a sword, Gōngzǐ!" He answered back while already tired of everything. Every second felt like something bad could happen.
"Still you aren't stabbing her right! Aren't you known for perfection everywhere?!" Chóng Fēi said while still drawing his sword or webs.
"I do not use a sword in exorcism, Gōngzǐ!" He pulled back his curse tool, panting faintly.
His smile darkened at the reminder of how high expectations had grown about him among the people around him.
But he couldn't blame anyone either.
After all, even finding that mirror was hard—yet he had done it without his uncle's help, and only high-ranked exorcists or cultivators had it. How could he expect to stay this much out of public eyes while being this skilled?
His thoughts were like a flicker of distraction—which wasn't saved from being taken advantage of.
It broke by another playful chuckle of the curse and a spin, like she was in any ballad within black. "Those are useless, children! Fight me with something solid!"
Lìngxiāo's gaze moved to her instead. But something else seemed to be coming.
"MOVE!!" Chóng Fēi's yell—eyes wide and horrified—because she was gripping Chóng Fēi's web and had thrown him over the air until he crashed into Lìngxiāo.
Lìngxiāo's eyes widened. His body tensed already at seeing too many details of Chóng Fēi's eyes—too close already to pull away—and then they were thrown back over the walls of the rooftop.
His head spun as both heavy things landed over both his chest and back. He hoped the headache wouldn't come back at the wrong timing.
He shook his head. When he was steady enough, he felt the weight over his lap and shoulder.
"Get. It. Fucking. Out.." Chóng Fēi groaned in faint pain.
He was beating over Lìngxiāo's wrist shakily. His head dropped over his shoulder in helplessness as the whole tool seemed to make him feel paralyzed for sure too. It was long, of course.
The only miracle was that it hadn't gone totally from his stomach but from the side. But still deep—because it had come out from behind.
'No.....'
'No, no, no, no! I had hurt him again accidentally?!'
'First was eye and now stab?!'
Lìngxiāo's blood went cold with silent panic and guilt all over again when he saw the tip of the curse tool was lightly but surely digging into Chóng Fēi's stomach.
The panic was higher than he could actually show—that he threw away his own tool a little far, forgetting how sensitive his senses were to physical touches, to cause another disaster by his unstable powers.
"G-gōngzǐ!" That single word seemed to take too long to come out from his mouth. Almost choked.