"Nice to see you again, Mo Xuecheng," Wu Xingyu pointed his fan at the Demon Lord. "We'll finish you off today!"
"We can't!" intercepted Song Yehai hastily.
Wu Xingyu turned to him in surprise. "Why not?"
"He's poisoned one of my disciples. I need to get the antidote from him."
"Poisoned? What kind of poison?"
"The Colourless Poison."
Wu Xingyu shot a glare at Mo Xuecheng. "You poisoned his disciple with the Colourless Poison?"
"It was her honour to have a taste of it," said Mo Xuecheng snidely.
"Let's beat him up first!"
Agreeing to the proposition, Song Yehai lashed out his whip just as Wu Xingyu charged forward and slashed his fan across the air at the Demon Lord.
"You didn't have that fan with you last time you and I fought," Mo Xuecheng, shielding himself from the two incoming attacks, was pushed back. "It looks like in such a short time you've already mastered a new skill."
"You got it wrong," said Wu Xingyu bluntly. "I've always had this fan. I just didn't use it the last time we fought."
"Where is your White Jade Flute?"
"Up your ass."
Mo Xuecheng's lips curled a slight. He distanced himself considerably from his opponents, his stance lax and languid as he shouldered his sabre. "You have quite a foul mouth there, Snow Phoenix."
"Who are you to talk?" retorted Wu Xingyu.
"I'm a renowned villain, I'm a different case from the two of you. I earned the title by being as evil and uncouth as I can be. You two, on the other hand, are part of the orthodox..."
Unwilling to listen any further, Wu Xingyu threw out his fan. Mo Xuecheng was forced to whack it away and then immediately attend to Song Yehai's whip.
"Attacking while I was in the middle of talking, and you two call yourselves gentlemen?"
"No one's interested in your bullshit," said Wu Xingyu.
The two-on-one fight ensued, sabre versus whip and fan. In the middle of the fight, Wu Xingyu and Song Yehai eyed at each other, transmitting the same suspicions of something amiss with the opponent they were facing. The more it seemed like they were winning the more they could sense themselves walking into a deathtrap.
Enduring the onslaught Mo Xuecheng's sabre suffered a number of nicks. Song Yehai's whip spiralled again, wrapping around the blade and then releasing smoke. The heat traversed over most of the surface, enough to start melting the metal. Wu Xingyu leapt forward, appearing in front of Mo Xuecheng in the blink of an eye, and sliced his fan across, cutting the deformed blade from the hilt.
"Tsk, tsk," Mo Xuecheng clicked his tongue. "Shitty dragon and phoenix, you two just turned my beautiful sabre into a piece of junk metal!"
Wu Xingyu threw his fan again. It distracted Mo Xuecheng long enough for Song Yehai to bind him with his whip.
"Aaaahhhh! This whip is burning!"
"Mo Xuecheng, hand over the antidote!" demanded Song Yehai again.
Wu Xingyu caught his fan and closed it. He went to stand beside Song Yehai when Mo Xuecheng's pained countenance disappeared, replaced with a smirk. Sensing danger, he called, "Yehai, look out!"
Heeding the caution Song Yehai untied his whip and jumped back with Wu Xingyu just before the grounds under Mo Xuecheng's body. A thick, ashy mass of black, putrid gas engulfed him. Virulent and corrosive it dissolved all the bricks and rocks of the surrounding rubble it touched.
"We need to stop it," said Song Yehai.
"I've got it," Wu Xingyu opened his fan and whirled it in the air. A giant whirlpool with a light violet shade gathered the smoke together into a single column, containing the spread. Song Yehai's whip snaked around it in a swirling pattern from bottom to top. Pure energy streamed along it, emitting azure mists. The pillar was slowly compressed as the two grandmasters channeled their spiritual energy, diluting the smoke into a greyish hue.
The eyes on the fan began to illuminate. Wu Xingyu spun it skilfully over his fingers just as Song Yehai pulled on his whip, forcing the whirlpool to contract further. Once the pollutive gas was neutralised Wu Xingyu threw his fan towards the giant pillar, slicing it several times to disperse the whirlpool before returning to his hand and losing its glow. Wu Xingyu closed it just as Song Yehai retrieved the ends of his whip. The two grandmasters stored their weapons away in the folds of their long sleeves.
At this moment the Fire Feathered Eagle flew down from the sky and perched lightly on Wu Xingyu's shoulder.
"Tai Ying, are there any survivors left?"
The eagle cooed and swayed his head sideways.
"Ok," Wu Xingyu gave the eagle a gentle scratch on the chin.
A body was left where Mo Xuecheng last was. Its facial features had reverted to the guise of the rice farmer that chatted with the shopkeeper and the other customer over a plate of savouries, and the regal, black attire downgraded back to simple, grey clothes.
"Is that a puppet corpse?" asked Song Yehai.
Wu Xingyu kneeled beside it for a close examination and confirmed, "Yeah, it is. This is the puppet curse."
"But that's a skill of the Three Ghosts Sect."
"Only direct disciples of the Three Ghosts Sect can learn how to use it. I thought Mo Xuecheng had only been a guest disciple there in the past. But the demon I had killed before getting here said that the Killing Immortals Sect has conquered the Three Ghosts Sect and forcibly taken it in as a subsidiary sect. All their secrets, techniques, fighting moves, knowledge and skills were surrendered. It seems like what he said is true. Mo Xuecheng must be constantly learning new skills to improve his spiritual energy. If he really learns all of the highest skills of the Three Ghosts Sect, his powers will grow exponentially."
Song Yehai nodded in agreement. He glanced at the cracked in the ground from where the explosion occurred. "It was the sabre that caused the explosion and the smoke, wasn't it?"
"Yeah," Wu Xingyu picked up a black shard before it turned into smoke. He then pressed two fingers against the side of the corpse's neck. "This person's soul is still imprisoned in the body. Seems like he was only very recently killed. Since Mo Xuecheng used music to bind the soul, we'll have to use music to unbind him."
From his sleeves he pulled out a white bamboo xiao, a vertical end-blown flute made of white bamboo and began to play. A trail of white mist seeped out of the flute and circled above the body like a halo. Wu Xingyu blew a little harder until a spiritual backlash forced him to stop. "Aiya."
"What is it?" asked Song Yehai.
Wu Xinyu lowered his xiao. "Seems like Mo Xuecheng used a stringed instrument to play the soul-binding suite."
"So only a stringed instrument can free him?"
"Tai Ying, go find a guqin and bring it here."
Heeding the order Tai Ying opened his wings, his golden eyes taking a brilliant golden light as though they were on fire, and took off.
Wu Xingyu turned to Song Yehai. "Yehai, do you know the soul-binding suite? We have to play it in reverse to undo the binds on the soul."
Song Yehai shook his head. "No, never heard of it. You'll have to liberate the soul."
"I'm not good at playing the guqin," admitted Wu Xingyu a little abashedly.
A distant eagle call drew their attention to the skies.
"That was quick," remarked Song Yehai as Tai Ying returned with a seven-stringed guqin in his careful clutches. The wood sustained a number of scratches but the talons did not pierce through it. Taking the guqin Wu Xingyu was about to hand it to Song Yehai when Song Yehai declined.
"You play the suite. I will guide you over your techniques."
"Oh, ok then," Wu Xingyu sat down, crossing his legs, and placed the guqin on his lap. He position his left hand over the strings and plucked the first note with his right index. The sound was frail and clumsy to the ear as his finger had flinched when it pulled on the string. The vibration tickled his thumb that he used to press rather lightly the string.
"Press harder so that the note does not falter when you pluck the string and the vibration does not hurt your skin. Try not to fear the pain when you slide your thumb across the board," Song Yehai took Wu Xingyu's hands from behind, guiding them as he spoke. "The key you just played is a little too high. The correct position is here. Don't pull too hard when you pluck. Just enough to bring out a tune that's rich in sound. Keep your hand hovering over the board until you have completely finished the song. And don't bend forward too much either."
When Wu Xingyu leaned back a little to straighten his posture, he accidentally bumped onto Song Yehai's chest. A sudden surge of heat overtook him as he couldn't help but take note of their current proximity and position. His fingers continued playing attentively but the rest of his body was locked in place.
'Oh my God! He was right next to me,' he thought nervously. 'It's ok! I'm calm. I'm just very calmly plucking the right notes.'
It was also here when Song Yehai realised that he had his arms wrapped around Wu Xingyu. He quickly dropped them just and turned away as Wu Xingyu quickly finished the song. Possessed by a rush of blood, Wu Xingyu followed Song Yehai's instructions and played the rest of it perfectly albeit a little too quickly. His fingertips whitened a little from the friction on the guqin strings.
A translucent, luminous trail of vapour emerged from the mouth of the corpse. Lingering in the air it gradually took the exact shape of the body when he was alive. His eyes were half-lidded in a dazed state and his posture was limp as a sapling.
"What's your name?" asked Wu Xingyu.
"Shu… Yong," answered the spirit.
"How old are you?"
"Twen… ty… nine."
Wu Xingyu persisted in asking straightforward, one-answer questions until the spirit's monosyllabic breaths turned into full sentences that could hold a normal conversation. He blinked several times, breaking out of his dazed trance, and straightened his back.
"I… am I alive?"
"No sir, you are not," answered Wu Xingyu matter-of-factly. "You were killed and your soul was trapped in your own body, unable to move on."
"Oh yes, that is correct," the spirit nodded as he recalled his death. "You two are ...?"
"I'm Wu Xingyu from the White Phoneix Sect."
"Song Yehai from the Sea Dragon Sect."
"Oh yes, you two are the Snow Phoenix Grandmaster and the Moon Dragon Grandmaster, right?"
"Yes," replied Wu Xingyu.
"Thank you, both of you. Thank you for freeing me from my body. Ever since that evil demon Mo Xuecheng killed me, he has imprisoned me in my own corpse so that he can use me to do wicked things. It felt like being trapped in an insufferable, endless nightmare, but now I am finally free and can pass on peacefully. Moon Dragon Grandmaster, please also extend my thanks to your disciples. The man they saved is my uncle."
"I will keep that in mind," promised Song Yehai.
"Mr Shu, if it's not too much trouble, do you mind telling us what happened to you just before you died?" asked Wu Xingyu.
"I was on my way to deliver several bags of rice to this town and meet with my uncle when on my way I was ambushed and stabbed through the heart from behind," Shu Ying pulled down the neckline of his shirt, revealing the hole through his left chest. "Mo Xuecheng then took out all my organs before imprisoning my soul within my body."
Song Yehai took a look at the body and pressed against the chest, abdomen and stomach. "All hollow."
"Ever since I've been imprisoned, I could still see and hear everything I've been forced to do. Grandmasters, I swear I never intended to cause harm to anyone. I really didn't want to do any of the things he made me do. But I couldn't fight back."
"It's not your fault," assured Wu Xingyu.
"Moon Dragon Grandmaster, I didn't mean to poison your disciple either. Please apologise to her on my behalf."
"Mr Shu, please don't blame yourself," said Song Yehai kindly. "You have no need to apologise."
"Which of your disciple got poisoned?" asked Wu Xingyu.
Song Yehai answered, "Wu Yi."
Wu Xingyu's eyes tensed. "Wu Yi did?"
Although Song Yehai was curious over Wu Xingyu's unexpectedly strong reaction he decided not to prod about it.
"Mo Xuecheng planted a piece of his soul into my body so that he can use his spiritual energy through me," said Shu Yong.
"A piece of his own soul?" repeated Song Yehai. "That's the..." he turned to Wu Xingyu, who finished his sentence for him solemnly.
"The soul separation technique."
"He threatened to tear my souls into pieces if I fought back," continued Shu Yong, "and he said that if that happened, I wouldn't have been able to reincarnate anymore."
"This soul separation technique is both extremely difficult and dangerous," said Song Yehai.
"Repeated use of it will cause the user to lose more and more of their mind, They become violent and insane. It might even destroy their own soul. And yet Mo Xuecheng is willing to use it just to kill an entire town to spread a message of fear, which means he's been using this technique rather casually," said Wu Xingyu with a hint of distress in his voice. "Has he really fallen so low he would really mess with his own soul like this?"
"As the Demon Lord, he has long lost his humanity," ascertained Song Yehai.
"I suppose he has," sighed Wu Xingyu. "Or he's just an idiot."
After a moment of pause he brushed away his thoughts and turned back to the spirit, "Mr Shu, is there anything you would like to request before you pass on?"
"Just one more thing, please."
"Go ahead and tell us."
"I've been living with my uncle and his family at the rice farms just east of this town ever since my big sister got married. Please protect them from the demon Mo Xuecheng. Don't let any one of them end up like me."
"I will send a few disciples of the Sea Dragon Sect to go to their residence and set up some demon protection arrays," promised Song Yehai.
"Moon Dragon Grandmaster, I can't thank you enough!" Mr Shu bent forth his head to make a deep bow.
Wu Xingyu completed the ending of the song. Mr Shu's spirit faded, his eyes peacefully closed as he smiled contently to pass on and await reincarnation.