Alcohol and Sin, a Cultist gone astray

The following night was very unpleasant. While Ying yue lay in bed, tense and stiff as a board, and felt the alcohol in his head doing a few laps of honor before leaving him, Zhen yan sat against the bed, leaning on his elbows on the mattress next to him, and watched him with a blissful grin on his face.

Ying yue didn't know what was worse, the after-effects of too much alcohol or Zhen yan's triumphant face. It wasn't as if he had declared his love for him, was it? He thought back to his awkward kiss, the way he had practically pounced on the demon, and shamefacedly closed his eyes. Well, at least he hadn't said anything.

But as soon as he opened his eyes and the dizziness had subsided a little, he looked into the demon's glowing emerald eyes and knew that words were not necessary, that words were irrelevant.

Zhen yan hadn't listened to him when he said he should go home, he hadn't listened to him when he said he should stay away from him, and he certainly wouldn't listen to him now when he said he should forget about last night.

Zhen yan heard what he wanted to hear, and if he didn't, then he would interpret the words as he pleased. Ying yue's thoughts wandered on, back to Yi Rui qin. He still remembered their first meeting perfectly well. He didn't know how old he had been at the time, but his father had sent him to the sword master as soon as he could walk and hold a sword. Rui Qin had simply beaten him, a small child who could barely walk and talk.

He had handed him a wooden training sword over and over again and just as often cut it in half with his broadsword, leaving the poor child with nothing more than splinters in his hand. Right after the first lesson, he had a broken arm, several bruises and abrasions, and a concussion. Reluctantly, Rui Qin had fetched a doctor to treat Ying yue, but after Lingxi's birth, Ying yue had to drag herself to the healer. He was whipped for everything he did.

For every wobbly stance, for every uneven swing, for every word he said, even for every noisy breath, Rui Qin punished him. On his fifth birthday, he received the sword Xiaodan as a gift; it was a mere formality, no one had expected the sanctuary of the Bai clan to choose Yingyue as its master. His memories took him back to every day when spring began to thaw the last snow.

The smell of blossoming trees and early bloomers was in the air. It had been a cold day, but for the first time, little Ying yue had worn a robe made of the high-quality Bai clan fabric. Light blue and white silk wrapped around his small body and warmed him.

His hair had been tied up and styled into a braid, the end of which tickled his neck. He had to wait a long time in the ancestral hall, but he was so excited that time flew by anyway.

His father Bai An rong and his stepmother Bai Deng Hui had entered ceremoniously, followed by a crowd of followers. Among them were the sword master and some of the clan's elders, who kept the scriptures and artifacts. Xiaodan had been placed on a small wooden altar in front of him and he had been told that this sword had been passed down in the family for thousands of years.

This is a mighty sword, forged in the realm of the gods to defend the weak against the superior forces of demons. Only a pure heart, free of hatred and envy, could wield it. And that it had rejected every owner for centuries. Although Ying yue had been very afraid of failing at the time, which in retrospect had been the purpose of the whole ceremony, he had bravely stretched out his hands.

The first time he touched Xiaodan's cool sheath. The intertwined ornaments that seemed to tell a story. He had felt the sword tremble slightly in his hand, as if it wanted to be drawn, and that's what he did. Although the sword had been too big for him back then, he drew it from its sheath with one movement.

Xiaodan had glowed, a silvery light that brightly illuminated everything around him. He had felt it tremble as if it wanted to tell him something. But the chaos around him had been too loud. Everyone had screamed in confusion and Rui Qin had looked like he wanted to grab the sword and ram it through the little body.

Instinctively, he had pressed Xiaodan close to him and although the old masters insisted that he should let go so as not to hurt himself, he hadn't let go again. And he hadn't hurt himself, nor had he ever involuntarily cut himself with the blade unless it was for a spell.

Ying yue was torn from his thoughts by a thundering noise. When he turned around, Zhen yan was still sitting at the foot of his bed, watching him.

»What were you thinking about?« he asked. Ying yue rose. His head still hurt and everything blurred slightly. If alcohol had such an effect, even hours later, how could Zhen yan drink this brew like water?

»I'll never touch another drop of alcohol,« he swore to himself and stood up. Zhen yan grinned.

»That would be a shame!« he remarked. Ying yue tried his best to push his present as far into the background as possible, which was admittedly even harder today than usual.

He straightened his robes; he couldn't believe that he had spent the whole night half naked, and he was even more surprised that Zhen yan hadn't touched him any further. He pushed all the confused, reckless thoughts aside and walked out of the room.

He took the few steps down to the taproom. The owner of the tea room had trouble calming the excited mob in his establishment.

»Last night I dreamt of the demon bride!« shouted one.

»Me too, and they say that before they come for you, they appear to you in your dreams,« shouted another.

»I had the same dream, dozens of men had the same dream in one night, in which the malicious bride asked us if we were her bridegroom!« Ying yue swore that the voice sounded tearful. He pushed his way through the crowd until he stood next to the bewildered innkeeper.

»Where are you all from?« he asked loudly and clearly so that everyone could understand him. There were not only men crowded together, Ying yue also recognized mothers and frightened daughters, who kept looking around.

»The ladies and gentlemen are from Suzhou, which is the next town, about half a day's ride from here,« the innkeeper answered his question. So far, only the visitors to the mountain and a few farmers who lived in the immediate vicinity had been haunted by the bride, but now she seemed to be gaining power and had haunted a dozen men in one night.

If it was true what people were saying, they would all be taken within the next three nights. No wonder there was mass panic and everyone fled at the same time.

»How many had the dream at the same time?« Ying yue asked. A man broke away from the angry crowd, seemed to recognize the cultist in him and turned to him in desperation.

»Gongzi, for weeks now, several men at a time have been having this dream. At first, we tried to protect ourselves with talismans and protective spells, the wealthy among us hired mercenaries for protection, but nothing helped.

All the men were taken within the following three nights. After we realized that none of our protective measures were effective, most of us began to flee,« he explained. Ying yue thought about it. The power of the demon bride had increased enormously in a very short time. Similar to the Fubei senlin, something could have gone through a hundred years of development in just a few years. In addition, something must have sparked her anger.

While she had claimed only twenty to thirty victims over the last two hundred years, she was now hunting in earnest. Ying yue couldn't help but wonder if this might also be the work of a shard, and if so, who had given it to the demon bride? Who would have an interest in making the demons stronger?

»Suzhou is now a ghost town; hardly anyone has remained except the old and poor,« the innkeeper sighed. It seemed to be not the first time that refugees had gathered in his tea room. He scratched his head. ‚Are we staying here? Where are we going?' someone asked.

»We can't stay here long, the demonic bride will find us here too,« someone answered.

»I can't walk anymore, when will we reach the next town?«

»They weren't sent after the cultists, what's keeping them?« another called out. The innkeeper looked up at Ying yue. Others followed his gaze. They eyed the young man skeptically. He was an impressive figure, tall, muscular, with his robe of dark blue and silver and the impressive sword he held in his hand. But did he not look too young for the job? Was one really enough to solve the problem of the bride who killed men? Doubts were spreading and Ying yue had to do something before the panic broke out again.

»Tell me everything you know about the bride, who she is, how she operates and if there are any known weak points. I'll take care of it,« he said, appeasing the suspicious crowd. »All right, all right, one at a time,« the old innkeeper said, pushing a table and two chairs into the middle of the room. Ying yue sat down on one of them, while the crowd of ghosts surrounded him and everyone who thought they had something to say sat down in front of him.

The name of the ghost bride was Mei ling. As mentioned in the report, she was the daughter of a highly respected merchant. About two hundred years ago, she was on her way to meet her bridegroom when a storm forced the wedding procession to stop. The wedding procession itself consisted only of hired sedan chair porters and a few paid actors, since the bride's father was a miserly man. When they could go neither forward nor back, the frightened Mei ling was left at a temple. However, it was deserted because of the storm.

The temple servants had come down from the Hongshan mountain range to avoid being stuck. And this is precisely what happened to the bride. What happened next was only speculation, and there were many. Some said she was raped by looters in the temple, which is why she was so angry; others said a part of the roof collapsed and killed her; still others claimed that she starved to death kneeling in front of the altar.

When the temple servants returned, the bride's body was said to have been badly decomposed, with only the bridal gown still radiant. Although an announcement was sent to all surrounding villages and towns, no one came to claim her body, so they had no choice but to bury him in the temple.

According to later reports, the merchant had assumed that his daughter had made it to the groom, since he had not sent word that Mei ling had not arrived.

The groom, on the other hand, seemed to assume that she had gotten cold feet and run away. Not wanting to push her into a forced marriage, he had not reported her disappearance. Both sides had simply talked their way out of responsibility and no one seemed to consider the case important enough to resolve. When Mei ling later haunted the temple and harassed the temple servants, it was assumed that if she was ignored for a while, her resentment would fade away, as was often the case.

This might have worked, had it not been for a joker who claimed to be the groom, thus sparking her anger. With her first murder, she had mutated from an undead ghost bride to a demon. Soon after, they closed the temple, sealed the mountain and for a while things remained quiet. Except for the few travelers who encountered Mei ling unprepared, there were no further victims.

Until a few months ago. Some of the farmers at the foot of Hongshan Mountain told of a strange apparition. They could hardly see the figure itself, only the blood-red wedding robe they could see clearly and distinctly. She apparently just stood there for a while before she was spotted more and more often outside the mountain.

She asked the men, young or old, if they were her groom. Most of them who had grown up in the area ignored her and did not answer. Then, however, she appeared to the first one in a dream and a few days later he had disappeared without a trace. The first was followed by a second and a third and then a fourth. At ever shorter intervals, they dreamed of the bride and had disappeared shortly afterwards.

But when several men started dreaming of her on the same night, mass panic and flight began. From what the dreamers had reported, she became furious no matter what the answer was, she became angry if you tried to ignore her, she was angry, she said, you would not be her husband and the very brave who told her she was, she probably tore off his head. Ying yue sighed. He would have no choice but to kill her.

Unlike Chen Chen lu, whose resentment had polluted an entire body of water, Mei Ling had buried hers deep inside. There was no question of releasing her soul; neither her family nor her groom were still alive, and even if they were, what could he have done to appease her? Cut off her head? Chen lu had been appeased when he burned the remains of her son and she was able to take revenge. In Mei ling's case, it was essential to find and cremate her mortal remains. Ying yue hatched a plan. He stood up.

»I'm going to Suzhou to take care of this matter. Innkeeper, please take care of my horse for a while. I will set up a protective circle around the tea room that will protect you all until I find and kill Mei ling,« he said.

He didn't waste time with long explanations; what the people here wanted to hear was that he was able to destroy this monster. A speech about salvation, defilement and mortal remains was too complex for them. The innkeeper nodded.

Ying yue pushed his way past the crowd outside, where Zhen yan was already waiting for him. He seemed quite bored when he saw Ying yue, but his expression brightened. From the little luggage he had brought with him, he took out a bundle of talismans, a red thread and prayer bells. Ying yue noticed the bracelet on Zhen yan's wrist.

The bells remained silent, they only rang when evil approached. But the shiny golden little balls around Zhen yan's wrist remained silent.

He set up protection points in all four directions and built a wall around the house with the talismans, through which nothing could penetrate. Zhen yan watched him for a while.

»This looks almost like the protective circle around the camp in Fubei senlin,« he remarked. Ying yue stood up. He had indeed taken a closer look at the barrier there. The individual layers built on top of each other and the writings that complemented each other.

They hadn't tried to outdo each other, which clan had the best magicians, but had worked together. Otherwise, the circle wouldn't have lasted as long. Ying yue made use of the same principle and added to the respective points instead of wanting to turn each of them into a fortress. Zhen yan had recognized that. A shiver ran down his spine.

»Someone like you would hardly be stopped,« he sighed.

»If you were in there calling my name, not even a god could stop me from entering,« Zhen yan said softly, close to his ear. Ying yue felt him blush again and frantically put some distance between them.

»We should leave if we want to reach Suzhou by nightfall,« he said quickly and stomped ahead at a fast pace. »The demon bride first appears in a dream before she claims her victims. I plan to wait for her in Suzhou. Hold back until she has dragged me to her retreat. She will most likely stay close to her mortal remains. I have to find her and burn her,« Ying yue explained on the way. Z

hen yan snorted harshly, as if he didn't like the plan. Ying yue struggled with himself, he had actually wanted to ask the demon for something, but couldn't bring himself to do it. It wasn't that Zhen yan wouldn't help him, it was just that he wasn't ready to ask for anything from him yet.

Again and again, Xiaodan rolled back and forth in his sweat-soaked hand, but it didn't come over his lips the whole way to the city limits.

As the fugitives had described, the city was deserted. It was already dawning when Ying yue looked for an inn on the outskirts of the city, as close as possible to the mountain. On a sign that had been hastily hung over the entrance, the scrawly writing read »closed.« Ying yue pushed the door slightly open and slipped inside.

He put some money on the deserted counter, all he needed was a bed for the night. If Mei ling was so greedy, she wouldn't miss the chance to pay him a visit tonight. If he answered yes to her question, it would make her so angry that she would kidnap him on the spot. When he lay down on the bed in one of the empty rooms, Zhen yan approached him.

Ying yue looked up at him.

»Go now!« he said harshly. Although he had to admit to himself that he would rather keep him close, it still brought a blush to his face when he thought about what the demon would most like to do to him. At least they were alone.

Ying yue closed his eyes and listened for the sound of Zhen yan's boots, but to his surprise, they weren't moving away, but quickly approaching. He opened his eyes just as Zhen yan bent over him and placed his hand over Ying yue's eyes. The young man felt his heart almost jump out of his chest, smelled the familiar, soothing scent of plum blossoms and the heat that emanated from Zhen yan's cool fingers.

»Isn't this what you wanted?« the demon said softly and withdrew his hand. ‚Next time, don't be afraid to ask for it directly. There's nothing I wouldn't give you.' Although his words were arrogant, his tone was quite different: friendly, kind and gentle. Sincere, as if he meant every word. Ying yue blinked a few times, then Zhen yan had disappeared.

The world had turned negative. He saw the dark shadows in the room light up as the sparse moonlight now seeped darkly through the window. Zhen yan's greenish smoke had covered his body and kept him warm and safe. He felt tiredness overpower him. Was that the demon's doing, too? Under other circumstances, he would be wide awake and unable to close an eye. He laid his head back on the pillow and let his eyes close.