~~~五~~~

~~~兰花淹没在邪恶中~~~

When the group had arrived at their base camp in Dangsu, it wasn't hard to tell that the situation was becoming dire as the dense fog already reached so far from the lake itself.

Even to the one who couldn't see, the one who felt the strongest barriers placed around the affects area and the massive demonic energy already beginning to leak out from it, she knew that this issue needed to be resolved quickly otherwise it would spell trouble for all existing clans, not just those in the surrounding area.

The female had received a quick description of the demon's abilities and a vague one on its appearance, the being reminding her of a creature from tales she'd heard from western sailors.

With the lower half of a fish and the upper half resembling a grey and rotten humanoid corpse with long, ratty hair and claws that could extend to be the length of its tail, the creature would lull its victims into a false sense of security with its hypnotizing song before striking.

"Princesa, you should leave this job to the other healers," Little Bear spoke as she watched the ravenette's hands illuminated with a soft purple glow, pressed onto the wound of a disciple in grey, "You need to conserve your energy for tonight."

"You're probably right, but I don't have anything else to do right now," she replied, letting her hands fall back to her side to reveal the newly mended flesh and turned her head halfway over her right shoulder as she donned the borrowed robes of another female disciple in attendance from her clan, "and I feel like I need to be doing something."

"Mei-Mei, why don't you go out and play your lyre for awhile?" Yaling suggested as she worked with her own patient, "You be keeping your hands busy without using your spiritual energy that way and I'm pretty sure no one would mind some music to lift the atmosphere."

"Alright, that's sounds like a good idea," Lánhuā sighed as she took the instrument from her hip and exited the tent, followed by the taller female to find an empty spot to play.

As the pair made their way through the camp, they were eventually approached by the rogue cultivator who had yet to show his face to the others.

"Lánhuā, how are you doing?" he questioned as the female sat under a nearby tree and began plucking at her lyre's strings to play a simple melody that she had made up on the spot.

"I'm extremely nervous," she chuckled in return before she cracked her neck, her fingers never interrupting her playing as they continued to dance across the strings, "one would think I'm used to demonic energies with how much time I spent in the forest back home, but it is so much different over here."

"Yeah, it's pretty tense for all of us," Mázhe sighed as he scratched the back of his neck, "and I can only imagine how it is for you with your enhanced sensory abilities."

"It's... not a nice feeling," the woman replied with a nervous chuckle, unconsciously switching to a melody she had known since she was young, "There's a lot of deep set anguish and resentment in the area, so it would be best that we take care of this problem as soon as possible."

"That would be for the best," the darket replied with an unseen grin as he leaned against the trunk of the tree, "and that should be much easier now that you're here."

"You're overplaying my abilities and that doesn't exactly make me feel any better about this," the ravenette hummed as some disciples started to follow the sound of her lyre, "At least I can swim, but that changes little to nothing!"

"Hey, are you out of your fucking mind?!" a male voice called as the owner made his way to the front of the crowd, "Are you trying to draw that damned thing over here?!"

As whispers of agreement began to rise from the crowd, the nineteen-year-old just tilted her head to the side with the foreigner and masked male standing defensively in front of her upon sensing definite aggression coming from those before them.

Before she could voice her confusion at his accusation, a familiar soul shoved his way through the crowd to confront the other by asking, "What do you think you're doing?!"

"She was just playing the demon's song! Obviously she has something to do with this whole situation!" the other retorted as he walked straight up to get in the noriet's face, "Is this the kind of people the Shu Clan allows to join them?!"

"You piece of-" "Young Master Tān," interjected the elder Shu sibling, emerging from the crowd to hold her brother back as the darket crouched down to place a hand on the target of discussion who was clenching onto her instrument, "The lullaby my Mei-Mei was indeed playing was a song she had known since she was a child."

"But she's never left Fengrao until today so how could she possibly have anything to do with this?" she continued before anyone could use the information to argue, "Growing up all she's learned were healing spells."

"Bullshit!" scoffed one of the other nearby disciples, "You say that all she's learned were healing spells, but then why is her cultivation on the same level as all of ours?"

"Yeah! How can we trust someone who doesn't even show us their face?" added a female disciple who wore all white, "At least the man shows us his eyes, and the woman from the Eastern Tribes is straightforward about her identity, but we know nothing about the one you say grew up with you!"

"Princesa, should I-" "No, there's no need to do anything," the nineteen-year-old interjected as she stood up and placed the lyre back at her hip, "They're just irritated and put on edge because of the current situation."

"They aren't thinking straight," she continued, turning to walk away from the crowd only to be halted by the tip of a sword being pointed at her face from just beyond her veil.

"And where do you think you're going?" huffed the female from the Shèng Clan, glaring at the faceless woman in blue as her grip tightened on her sword.

"We're not done-" "Suihe," spoke the esteemed Young Master in white, looking over at his fellow disciple with his normal air of authority as she gave a panicked salute upon seeing his form step closer to them.

"Leave her be," he ordered, earning sputtered excuses that were quickly silenced as his golden eyes hardened on her form.

"Thank you, Young Master Shèng," the ravenette spoke quietly, giving a small salute before leaving as fast as possible with the stoic female following and her carriage driver close behind.

"So you're defending her too?" scoffed the male in green as he switched targets from the cultivator in blue to the cultivator in white, "I thought you were smarter than that, Young Master Shèng."

"Young Lady Cháng was personally requested to assist us by Grand Master Shèng," he stated bluntly, not even bothering to look in the direction of the younger male who was invading his personal space which caused almost everyone to gape in shock.

Grand Master Shèng was not the clan leader of the Shèng Clan, but he was well known throughout the cultivation world for being one of the oldest cultivators that remained in the mortal realm, said to have turned down the opportunity to ascend to heaven in favor of teaching the young disciples of his clan.

He was known to take the art very seriously and focused mainly on the development from an individual standpoint, so hearing that he requested someone to help on a hunt was a surprise.

"Don't cause her any more trouble," was all the Young Master said before turning on his heels to return to his own tent, while the Shu siblings stalked off to find their long time companion.

Meanwhile, Lánhuā had returned to the tent she was sharing with the people who had helped to take care of her for the past nineteen years, tossing her hat to the side as she plopped facedown onto her cot and letting out a groan.

"Mei-Mei, don't take their words to heart," spoke a comforting voice as a hand softly began stroking the female's head, the corners dipping next to her, "Everyone here is just stressed. They don't know of your circumstances."

"I know that," the younger woman sighed while turning her head to the side so that her face wasn't smothered in her pillow, "I just want the sunset to come quicker so that we can get this over with."

"I don't want to stay here any longer than I have to and it would be best for the others to go home to recuperate as soon as possible," she continued, nuzzling into the the beauty's calming pets, "I don't think their barrier will last much longer around the lake with how much the energy is fluctuating."

"That's right," the younger Shu sibling stated as he entered the tent, "Barriers need to have an even flow of energy to be effective and even if we rotate the disciples who are maintaining it, their energy will eventually run out because we don't have much time to rest in between."

"Those people you brought," he continued while walking over to stand before the cot, each step resulting in soft padding from the dirt below the tarp floor, "Will they be able to fight with us tonight?"

"Yes, they've both said that they're coming onto the lake," the ravenette replied as she let her right arm dangle off the cot, "Though I doubt Little Bear will leave my side at all, so none of you have to focus on keeping me protected. She'll do that just fine."

"No, we can't say that for sure," the male scoffed as he crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head, "Not when we haven't even seen her capabilities in battle."

"I think we can trust her," Yaling spoke as her lavender toned irises flitted up to see her younger brother's face twisted into a scowl, "If she was given a direct mission from her Chief, on her own at that, then I think she's capable enough."

"After all, the Eastern Tribes are known for being fierce warriors, so I doubt that any chief would send someone that was incapable of fulfilling their task," she continued as the younger female flipped onto her side and curled up to bring her knees to her chest.

"Yeah, and she already has a title so she had to have made some contribution in battle already," she added with a small huff, as the others gazed down at her condensed form, "Those from the Eastern Tribes are only named after beasts when they make great achievements, right?"

"Even then, it won't be enough to just have one set of eyes on you," Xuefeng retorted, "And I refuse to believe that carriage driver that just so happened to tag along with you is a reliable character!"

"Oh you don't have to!" called a familiar voice from right outside of the tent, "But you might want to lower your voice next time you want to talk shit about someone behind their back!"

"Almost everyone in the camp heard what you had to say!" he continued which caused the noiret to tighten his grip on his scabbard before storming out to face the other male, resulting in loud shouts to be heard all over the camp.

"Jiějiě, shouldn't you go and stop Xuefeng from killing him?" the nineteen-year-old questioned as she tilted her head towards the older female.

"I should go do that" she sighed while standing up and holding her hands together at her waist, "Little Bear, you may come in now."

"Thank you for watching over my Mei-Mei," the darkette spoke with a soft smile as she passed the taller woman on the way out of the tent, earning a silent nod before the flap fluttered closed behind them.

Just as the sun began to sink down past the horizon, five river boats set out on the large lake of Dangsu, with five people on each of the hollowed vessels.

The first had a mix of disciples who wore either green or grey, the second had a mix of those who wore blue or gold, the third had those who wore white or gold, the fourth had a mix of those in blue or gold, while the fifth boat had the biggest variation in passengers.

The last ship in the formation had the Young Masters from both the Shu Clan and the Shèng Clan, Young Lady Cháng, the woman from the Eastern Tribes, and the mysterious male of unknown origin.

Each boat had at least one person with advanced sensory skill; however, all but one had a difficult time locating the summoner of the fog and the source of the demonic aura.

"A-Lán, can you pick up on anything?" the male in blue questioned as he stood close to his long time companions in an defensive stance, grey eyes scanning around even though he couldn't see past his own hands.

"Yeah, just barely," she replied, focusing on her senses and finding any traces of energy around them, "The fog itself is made up of energy, so it's hard to find anything."

"I can sense about ten water demons that are circling at the perimeter of the lake at the moment," the woman continued as her lips turned down into a frown, "But are you sure that everything you were fighting here was an actual demon?"

"What do you mean?" the male in white asked as his eyes flicked over to the veiled woman who stepped closer to the front of the boat.

"There's a significant presence in the lake that doesn't have the soul of a demon," she explained while crouching down to dip her hand in the water, "I can't exactly place what it is. It's too far away."

In a split second, the female backed away from the edge and stood up, turning to the other boats to exclaim, "There are five demons closing in on us!"

Inhuman screeches sounded from all around them as five humanoid creatures left out from the water, trying to attack various disciples only to be met with the cold steel of their swords as a haunting melody began drifting towards them.

Immediately recognizing the beginnings of the song, the nineteen-year-old tuned out the sounds of battle going on around her and focused on the distorted voice that produced the familiar lullaby.

'This really is my song,' she thought, clenching her fists while standing at the edge of the long boat, 'Why does this creature know it too? This was a song that I had heard in a dream when I was a child.'

It was as if the voice was singing directly in her head as the young woman easily comprehended the anguish and longing hidden behind the foreing words that would have served to lure an average person tp their doom if they couldn't use their spiritual energy to resist, barely paying attention to the strange presence that was drawing closer to their boat.

"Lánhuā!" called the darket, holding onto the oar of the boat just as her began to fingers reach for the instrument at her hip, "Where is the demon that's maintaining the fog?!"

"We need to get rid of it for us to go on full offensive!" he continued, while knocking away one of the demons by forcing some of his energy through an open palm.

Just as the ravenette was about to open her mouth to respond, a hand shoved her back and stood in front of her of her as the strange being floated in just in front of their ship with just their head sticking out of the water, the fog clearing up just enough for it to be seen.

With how close the being was to the boat, Lánhuā could clearly identify why she had found its soul to be so strange compared to everything else she had been exposed to.

"Its soul... is human," she muttered under her breath, earning strange looks from everyone else as the other demons seemed to avoid their boat in favor of attacking the others.

"Are you sure?" the noiret questioned as he glared down at the creature that had begun circling their boat, "There is no way that thing could be a human."

"Xuefeng, you didn't let me finish," the female stated as she stepped out from behind the taller woman, "Its soul is indeed human; no, it has multiple fragments of human souls just stitched together by some sort of negative energy to act as one."

Little Bear's eyes widened upon hearing the description of the strange occurrence; but before anything else could be done, the creature's jaws unhinged to release an ear piercing shriek that had all but one reaching up to cover their ears.

"HELP ME!"

Upon returning to shore, everyone was glad to see that there weren't any fatal wounds dealt to anyone thanks to the increased number of those with sensory talents who were able to better read the actions of the demons and defend against them.

As the injured were sent to be treated in the infirmary tent, the Young Lady Cháng sat in front of a dying fire in the center of the camp, fiddling with her hands as she thought back to the creature in the middle of the lake.

'Who would be so cruel as to just mash together the souls of others?' she thought while biting her lip, 'Each and every piece of it was in utter pain.'

'If I could somehow free them the fog would most likely lift and then the water demons would just become a minor issue that could be taken care of in less than two hours,' the woman continued, not bothering to turn to the second presence that had joined her, 'But how would I even do that?'

"Princesa," greeted the ever stoic female from the Eastern Tribes as she bowed with her right hand placed over her heart, "May I ask something of you?"

"That depends, what is it?" the younger figure questioned as she pat the spot on the ground to her right, soon feeling the presence take a seat.

"I would like you to describe that creature's soul to me," the older woman requested as she focused on the person she was assigned to serve and protect.

"Well, before I start, can you see souls?" the ravenette questioned as she angled her ear towards the other, "Or do you at least have the ability to distinguish between them?"

"No," Little Bear answered bluntly, "I do not have the ability to use magic, nor have I ever been in a scenario where I needed to use it."

"I thought so, but that's okay," the younger female chuckled as she rested her hands in her lap, "Magic can be quite troublesome sometimes, when I'm not using it to make my way around."

"Anyways, to me, souls are usually balls of life energy that vary in quality depending on the person," she explained, returning to the question that was originally asked of her, "In the case of the creature, I saw multiple pieces of different souls being held together by a darker energy, almost like how one would use thread to mend torn clothes."

"I understand," the silverette started before her crimson irises flitted over to the dying fire, quickly feeding it another log, "And how do you plan to defeat it?"

"Well, I would like to at least be able to separate the souls," the other woman sighed, "That seems like the humane thing to do since they were just forced together."

"If that's the case, then I have a way for you to do so," the albino spoke, causing the other to perk up, "I may not practice magic, but there are many others in the tribe that do and they have verbally shared some of their findings with me."

The next morning, the first one out of the tent of the Shu siblings was the youngest female who was taken in at infancy, donning her usual blue robes and veiled hat as a wooden lyre was strapped to her left hip.

She could only assume that breakfast wasn't ready yet since she couldn't smell any food or smoke from fire that would be used to cook so she just turned to walk over to one of the nearby trees with the intention of meditating to further refine her cultivation base.

Unfortunately, the nineteen-year-old couldn't even sit down to start this process as four other beings stepped forward to surround her.

"Can I help you, Suihe?" she questioned while keeping her head straight forward to face the disciple of the Shèng Clan.

"Whatever you're planning to do, I won't let you get away with it," the brunette huffed as she walked up, stopping a few meters in front of the other female.

"What are you talking about now?" the ravenette sighed, resisting the urge to shake her head, "Shouldn't you be supporting those who were injured in your clan? Or reserving your energy for the next attack?"

"Why would I need to wait when I just get rid of the source of the problem right here and now?" Suihe hissed as she drew her sword and pointed it at the one on blue.

"Do you really still believe that I have anything to do with this whole situation?" she shot back, not even moving despite hearing that the others around her had also drawn their weapons.

"It became obvious last night when the demon refused to attack your boat," one of them stated, "You must be the one controlling them!"

"The creature isn't a demon," retorted the blind female without even turning to the one who spoke, "You'd know that, even without having great sensory abilities, if any of you bothered to look at the creature with spiritual energy running through your eyes."

"Just because you have eyes doesn't mean you can rely on them alone," she continued in a serious tone, "You have to use your other senses in combination in order to be efficient, especially as cultivators."

"You're second statement does make sense; however, that doesn't mean that we'll let you go for lying about the demon," the leader of the quad stated as she stepped closer, "You're obviously just trying to cover up for your own involvement."

"Believe what you want, but you do realize you need solid proof in order to convince to others right?" Lánhuā sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest, "Not just your empty assumptions."

"Oh, I have proof," the brunette replied as her eyes narrowed at the form in front of her, "It's right under your stupid veil!"

Clang!

To everyone's surprise, the sound of metal hitting metal echoed throughout the area as the female's sword clashed against another, causing her to immediately drop to her knees upon seeing who it was.

"Young Master Shèng," she greeted while holding her arms in front of her in a salute and bowing her head as the others did the same, "What are you doing here? I thought you had a meeting with some of the others."

"All of you return to the estate," the male ordered, not even addressing their question as he effortlessly sheathed his blade, "You're dismissed from this mission."

"W-wait! You can't-" "Young Lady Cháng," he stated, turning to the veiled woman and effectively cutting off the female who had tried to plead with him, "Let's go."

"Yes. Thank you, Young Master Shèng," the ravenette replied with a small salute, earning a nod before he led her back to the main part of camp where they were now serving breakfast.

Surprisingly, the taller male stayed with her even after they both got their meals, not that she minded, but it did earn some strange looks from the people she was usually around.

"Young Master Shèng, how nice of you to join us for breakfast today," greeted the Young Lady of the Shu Clan with her usual smile as they sat in a secluded part of the camp.

"What are you doing here?" Xuefeng asked, earning a slight slap on the arm from both of the females that sat at either side of him.

"Don't let Young Lady Cháng wander off on her own," answered the male in white, causing everyone to stare at the woman who ate her noodles from under her veil.

"I can feel that you're all looking at me like I did something, but it wasn't my fault this time," the nineteen-year-old huffed before taking a long sip of water, "I just wanted to sit under a tree and meditate."

"How was I supposed to know that Suihe would try and corner me like that?" she continued to mutter under her breath as the others looked in between each other.

'This is why I didn't want her to come out here,' the noiret thought as he clenched his hand into a fist, 'She's already being targeted and she can't even defend herself!'

The rest of the day was spent with many of the cultivators locked in long meetings as they had decided not to go back to the lake that night in favor of making plans for their next attack with the new discovery of the main entity in the water.

Since she wasn't technically a cultivator, the blind musician sat under a tree with Little Bear and Mázhe to fulfill her original task of meditating and refining her own cultivation base.

The other two remained mostly quiet while she did this, acting as guards to make sure no one came after her again and just to watch over her progress in general.

Russet-brown eyes flicked to the right to see that the female's jet black locks where floating around her as her form was outlined in a thin layer of soft purple that pulsed every now and then.

"So what are you planning for tonight?" he questioned after a few more minutes of silence, "I know you're the kind of person to take things into their own hands, so if you have a plan then I'm all ears."

"You don't have to be there for it," the ravenette replied quietly, without stopping her concentration as she kept the energy flowing freely throughout her body.

"So you do have a plan!" the male mused before his grin changed into an offended frown, "What do you mean, I don't have to be there for it?"

"I know you realize how dangerous that lake is right now," he continued while crossing his arms over his chest, "Not to mention, you'd alert the ones maintaining the barriers as soon as you went in."

"That's fine, I'll be fast enough," the female retorted as she finally stopped her energy and nodded towards the silverette, "I already have someone to steer the boat for me."

"Alright, at least you have someone going with you," the man spoke with a small nod, "But if you do end up needing extra help, then just call and I'll be there."

"Thank you."

Although, it was extremely easy for the pair of females to make their way over to the edge of the barrier when the sun disappeared from the sky, the younger one knew that they only had a limited amount of time before her other companions would come looking for her.

Focusing energy into her fingertips the woman in blue brought her right index and middle fingers up to the barrier, temporarily interrupting the flow of energy to create a hole large enough for a person.

As soon as the both of them had made it inside the energy returned to normal and the barrier closed behind them.

Immediately heading over to where the boats were, Little Bear worked on untying one while the Young Lady took her lyre from her hip and began playing her lullaby, allowing the words she had learned the night before to spill from her lips.

Surprisingly, none of the demons attacked the boat, though they all swam relatively close as the vessel made its way closer and closer to the center of the lake.

When they had reached their destination, the veiled female had strummed her last chord and ripples began forming in the water in front of them.

"Princesa, the others are here," the crimson-eyed female stated, watching the barrier open up to allow several people inside as the other took off her veil and set it on the floor of their boat.

"That's fine we're already here, just keep them from interrupting," the ravenette instructed as she made her way to the very front of the boat and knelt down, "Just don't hurt any of them."

"I believe I can help with that," interjected a familiar voice as she boat rocked slightly with the weight of an additional person.

"I'll leave it up to you two," the young woman stated, earning nods before the turned back to the water and reached her hands out.

She ignored the distant calls from shore as a few moments later, she felt a wet pair of hands with sharpened nails gently take hold of her own before allowing her energy to flow freely throughout both of them.

When it finally reached the combined soul of the creature, Lánhuā let out a hiss as she urged the foreign threads of energy to slowly come undone and travel back to herself.

It felt as if there were multiple small worms wriggling just under her skin as the energy made its way up her hands and arms, all the way up to her chest where her soul and cultivation base dwelled in her body.

"A-Lán!" called the Young Master Shu, rushing forward on his sword as he and all the other cultivators that had gathered witnessed the transfer of energy, only to be stopped by a transparent red barrier cast by the masked male on her boat.

"Hēi'an! What are you doing?!" he growled, his eyes boring holes into the amused looking male who stood next to the foreign woman.

"I'm just following my instructions and making sure you don't interrupt her," he replied with a shrug as his left hand was held out to maintain the barrier, "I would be focusing more on the hungry water demons if I were you."

Just as he said that, one of the humanoids jumped out of the water only to be slashed by a male in green who said, "I knew that wretch had something to do with this!"

Before any other action could take place, a burst of energy suddenly flashed from where the woman and creature were.

Looking over, everyone was surprised to see seven bursts of light being expelled from the creature's disintegrating body as they heard something crack before falling onto the floor of the boat in two pieces as the nineteen-year-old was thrown back by the explosion of energy.

Many individuals called out to the female who let out a cry of pain as one of the lights shrunk down and traveled to her pendant before dimming down completely.

"Lánhuā!" Mázhe called as he helped the girl sit up, many others floating around while two other males touched down on the boat.

"A-Lán, are you alright?" the noiret questioned, brows furrowed as he knelt down in front of her and took one of her hands to see that the band of metal no longer covered the top strip of her face.

With a small groan, she squeezed the hand that held her own before her eyes show fluttered open to reveal a pair of pure golden irises with pupils narrowed into vertical slits.

~~~Fin. Chapter 5~~~