Chapter 11

The lady’s face was blue and green, her lips nothing but thin pieces of jerky. The skin had no moisture, plush and youthfulness sucked dry. The cheeks were sunken, her teeth nothing but brittle powder that sat at the back of her throat. Any healthy fat the young lady had taken on was diminished, and she began to look like twigs from trees that were cut for torches.

“I can’t even recognize which one she was.” Fu Guanying cried, his face hidden by his two hands, as water pooled down his face. You knew her for a week before she died. You didn’t love her, just her face. And trust me, Fu Xia is a perfect replacement.

“So, we don’t have names for these bodies. Do we at least know who was killed? We can ask the families what was the last thing each of them were doing. If they were all near the shore or in the sea, it must be a water demon.” Ru Zhaozhi spoke up. He then looked at the other bodies that laid in the green grass. Each looked the same. Blue or green, wrinkled, and thin. Their souls sucked out of their bodies.

The memorial grounds itself was warm. It was an open field, close enough to the ocean to hear its waves crashing down, and the lukewarm winds as air flows inland. The memorial grounds was also close to the mansion, where Fu Xia watched them from a balcony, Yue Mingkun behind her.

The memorial grounds was a graveyard for those who have passed that lived in or near Chun Hai. It wasn’t necessarily a memorial for any specific person, but a memorial of the people.

Fu Guanying has yet to tell the people, as it would be a problem if the citizens of Chun Hai where to find out that people that have just gone missing were actually dead, and by a demon at that. Ba Yihan understood that, and would be just as freaked if there was a demon or other creature amongst them. Well, he was freaked out just staring at the bulging eyed zombie freaks that stared up at him. He shuddered, before turning to Fu Guanying.

The wind made Ba Yihan’s hair float, and his petunia and blue uniform flutter. His cuffs at his forearms held his sleeves in place, giving him room to move his arms. Another way to move a sword swiftly. “This doesn’t happen even when creatures suck the life out of them. I have never seen it to this degree. What about the families…” Ru Zhaozhi muttered as he walked past each body, examining it.

The phrase, ‘suck the life out of them’, is taken more than seriously in this sense. As it means a demon, ghost, or beast truly ages the person. Consuming the celestial energy, or living energy, out of them. Which then makes the victim older, before dying due to lack of energy. Sure, wrinkles are bound to form. But to this degree? Impossible. Ru Zhaozhi was right.

“The families?” Fu Guanying was quiet as he stood up straight. His body turned to each dead body, a tag on the wrists of the dead. “Yes. Their first and last name, as well as the family’s addresses.” He answered.

Each body did have a tag on the wrist. The hands of those who had died were the only thing that could be seen out of the cloth, giving easy access to the tag. Ru Zhaozhi squatted down to get closer to the dead body that they were examining and read her tag. “Ai Guiying, one-seventy-two. Ba Yihan and Tai Xinbing, you two can go meet up with her family, and see what happened last.” Ru Zhaozhi instructed, and Tai Xinbing nodded his head.

Ba Yihan, on the other hand, was hesitant. They didn’t know much about the layout of Chun Hai. Sure, Ru Zhaozhi had shown the group the outline of the coastal city, but how was Ba Yihan supposed to memorize all of that?! He couldn’t even memorize the root prayer scripts! Offensive, defensive, resource…? Damn, I need to study just to be mediocre!

“Tai Xinbing, to you have a talisman paper?” Ru Zhaozhi asked, and reached for his own bag, where it seemed he had absolutely everything they could ever need. But, Tai Xinbing raised his hand to stop the other disciple. He reached two fingers into his long sleeves, before removing his hand smoothly.

Ba Yihan was surprised to find a small brown paper, ready for painting with water. What did you do? Stuff all that in your sleeve? You must be uncomfortable. Tai Xinbing looked down at the paper and then over at Fu Guanying, who stared back at the cultivator. “Do you happen to have water on you, Master Fu?” Tai Xinbing asked, his face calm.

He didn’t have the same look as Ru Zhaozhi. To call it stoic would be close, but not yet perfect. He was still and calm, just like Ru Zhaozhi. But, how he acted earlier in the cabin, it seemed he had yet to gain the full amount of expertise as Ru Zhaozhi, or any disciple at Liu Bai He Clan had.

That wasn’t to be surprising. Liu Bai He Clan, and Wo Zhedong in particular, was always know for the harsh and strict lives the disciples had to live. Sure, the blue, gold, and white are pretty. But is it worth waking up at the break of taiyang time? Absolutely not!

Fu Guanying, or Master Fu as Tai Xinbing just called him, quickly scanned the memorial grounds. “Ah, a bowl of water? Any kind?” He asks. Tai Xinbing looked back down at his talisman. Ba Yihan looked over at it.

Water was needed for a talisman to write down the specific characters. The main reason water was used is because it created a dull dampness as it absorbed into the thick piece of brown paper. However, it would not drip or become too noticeable, to the point where anyone would be able to read it from far away.

Appearing right in front of the four disciples, Fu Xia popped out of thin air with a small bowl of water. Yue Mingkun stood beside Ru Zhaozhi, also appearing while Ba Yihan and Tai Xinbing were distracted. Ru Zhaozhi didn’t seem surprised, but Ba Yihan had to clutch his chest to not yelp. He pressed his lips shut to make sure he didn’t swear. Not in front of the disciples, and definitely not in front of Ru Zhaozhi. He would most definitely snitch to Wo Huangchun about his lack of professionalism.

“Did the mighty cultivators ask for water?” She said with a bright smile. Ba Yihan noticed now, being so close to the young woman, that her cheeks were pink in a perfect way. Tinted the warm color, Ba Yihan could tell it was simply natural beauty he was staring out.

While Ba Yihan was infatuated with her ethereal beauty, Tai Xinbing nodded. “Thank you, Concubine Fu.” Tai Xinbing dipped his index finger into the crystal clear water, and began to write the words down onto the piece of paper. His hands never left the paper until he had reached the bottom, the talisman being completed. Tai Xinbing then placed the paper between his two fingers and lifted them into the air, tossing the talisman as he did so.

The talisman floated up, not stopping until it turned a bright red. Ba Yihan then looked over, and an outline in the distance begin to glow a bright red. It was colored red with straight lines. The talisman in the air then drifted back down, floating carefully back into Tai Xinbing’s fingers. Ah! A discovered talisman! I forgot those were a thing!