[Vol. 1] Chapter 11 - Step One: Run
Xiaolan's mind was a blank, white static. Pure, suffocating horror filled her, thick as the fog and twice as heavy under the weight of Feng Yue's oppressive gaze.
Mingyuan, weakened but not blind, tracked the silent exchange in the air. She coughed, a thin, ragged sound. "Thank you for your help. Are we… disqualified?" Her apricot eyes narrowed.
Feng Yue let out a languid hum, the sound utterly at odds with the crisp decisiveness of her words. "Unfortunately not."
The pressure in the air didn't lessen; if anything, it sharpened, a silent authentication of the Shadow Guard authority she currently wore.
Her masked head tilted, a fraction of an inch, toward Xiaolan. It was a gesture of lazy, predatory interest
—the kind a cat shows a sparrow before growing bored and looking away.
(Think, think, think!) Xiaolan's thoughts screamed, scrambling for any way to save herself. (One psycho wants me dead. Another psycho can erase me on a whim!)
More than anything, she wanted to merge with the fog, to become background noise. A non-entity.
Gaining favor from a higher power was cause for celebration, but gaining favor and attracting Feng Yue's interest? That was cause to plan your own funeral. (That madwoman would turn me into a human kebab!)
Mingyuan wasn't finished. Her voice was weak, but each word was careful, testing the footing of this guard. "You're very skilled. May we know which division we owe our thanks to?"
Different Shadow Guard divisions had different specializations.
Feng Yue's reply was a blade sheathed in silk: "Just external affairs. Save your thanks. You held out well, though. That alone was impressive."
It would have been better to say nothing than answer like that. It was hardly different from refusing at all. Her tone was clear: You're useless. Are you even qualified to know?
"External affairs…" Mingyuan echoed, her gaze flicking to the fallen mangled beasts. "Then, your duty is done here?"
"It is," Feng Yue said, the words final. But she didn't move. That crimson gaze, visible through the mask, lingered on the top of Xiaolan's bowed head with the idle curiosity of one examining a strange, dull insect.
(Leave! Please leave! Get away from us! Ah ah ah ah! Great devilhead, spare my poor dog life. I haven't tasted heaven's sweetness yet!)
Xiaolan's thoughts frantically roared.
That voice again. The mask Feng Yue wore covered only her forehead and eyes, not her mouth, and now her lips curved into a blooming, beaming smile.
It startled Xiaolan so badly she nearly wet herself, because one thing was certain: the more brilliant Feng Yue's smile, the more terrifying it was.
Feng Yue did not leave immediately. With the fluid grace of absolute power, she took a single, unhurried step back. Her white sword became a silver blur as it slid into its sheath with a soft, final click.
Her crimson eyes moved slowly between the two of them, and the faint smirk on her lips remained. "I'll remember you." Though the words were directed at them both…
Xiaolan felt their weight settle solely on her.
"Do take care, we'll see eachother again" Feng Yue said, her tone flat but with an upward tilt on the last word...cloying, almost playful. It was a statement of fact, or perhaps a subtle test.
Then she was gone, vanishing into the mist without a sound.
The oppressive pressure lifted, leaving a silence that felt just as dangerous. Xiaolan's plan snapped into her mind, crystal clear and desperate.
Step one: Get out of this clearing. Now.
Step two: Make Mingyuan move. She's a shield and a weapon.
Step three: Find a hole in the world and hide.
Step four: Never have another thought again. Become a rock. A very stupid, boring rock.
Three heartbeats passed before Xiaolan noticed her own system notifications.
[Current charge points: 190]
When did she get ninety more points? Was it when Feng Yue arrived…?
Xiaolan shuddered. The world ended right there. It meant she now had the attention of Feng Yue.
Her knees ached terribly, locked in a prostrate position. She looked worse than Chen Mingyuan...pale, unmoving, a perfect picture of terror.
This scene was watched by Feng Yue from several dozen feet away, her eyes closed as though savoring the tableau. She had covered the distance in a single, soundless breath.
As expected...
She opened her eyes and stopped. She stood perfectly still, surrounded by fog. Alone, but her vigilance never relaxed.
Bai Yu appeared at some unknown moment behind her, his muted blue-gray hair now neatly combed. His face had lost its earlier carefree expression. "You're not one of the Shadow Guards."
Feng Yue responded with a languid hum. Lazy, truly. She had no desire to answer, but the buzzing was irritating. "Look elsewhere, my hands are perfectly clean." A brilliant, untouchable smile remained on her face.
"I'm not accusing you," Bai Yu said flatly. But one cannot strike a smiling face. In fact, he had been suspicious of this individual. He was sure she wasn't one of the Wusheng Yin sect members.
"Aren't you?" Feng Yue replied, her own smile not wavering. She hummed again, the sound soft and mocking. "Your little righteous clan truly gathers misfortune. I wonder what sins you all committed in your past lives."
Her gaze deepened, shifting with predatory focus. "Crawl out of there, you're embarrassing yourselves."
Bai Yu raised an open hand. Other Shadow Guards materialized from the fog, their expressions tight with frustration. They could do nothing to her.
Feng Yue's smile sharpened, a gentle blade. "So are you done?"
Almost all of the Shadow Guards nearby were Alphas, ready to subdue tension with the raw dominance of their secondary gender where cultivation alone failed to intimidate.
But Feng Yue remained still, unaffected. Her brilliant smile faded into detached indifference, as though she were regarding mere imitations of life. Uninteresting.
Bai Yu interjected sharply, "Stop." Seeing the confrontation was futile, he chose to preserve their strength. In the end, his clan had more to lose.
"Clever," Feng Yue remarked mildly from the side, her tone a silk-wrapped thorn.
"Yet you waste it in a clan waiting to die." A compliment and an insult, delivered in the same breath.
"You're here for them aren't you?" Bai Yu's voice was flat. "Here, take it and leave." He tossed the bodies of the Wusheng Yin sect disciples at her feet.
She tilted her head, the movement almost elegant in its indifference. "Certainly, wit can get you anywhere," she said, her voice smooth and distant. "But you must know when to use it… and when not to."
Then she flicked her sleeve, a motion so effortless it seemed to dismiss the very air around her.
There were no qi fluctuations, no ripple of energy...only the unsettling quiet of someone vanishing as though they had never truly been there at all.
Bai Yu remained still for a long moment, his expression unreadable. Only when the last trace of her presence had fully dissolved did he allow his furrowed brows to soften.
A dark, imperceptible qi seeping through his skin, subtle as shadow, cold as deep earth.
Chen Mingyuan settled down near a rock, her gaze fixed on Xiaolan's slumped form... curled in on herself like a shrimp. "Did something happen?"
"No, not at all," Xiaolan answered. She had, after all, gone through everything in just a single day...
[Charge points +1]
Or was it two days? she wondered, recalling the system's information. It granted a daily +1 charge point every 24 hours.
Mingyuan narrowed her eyes and spoke bitingly, "Yeah, not at all—considering I forgot my own soul-bound weapon. Definitely not at all."
Crap. That was a word trap. Xiaolan began to sweat profusely, slumping even further as if to defend herself.
"Hey, can I see the Jade slip again?" Mingyuan asked.
Xiaolan fumbled for it, then held it out like a modern person showing their phone screen to someone else.
Mingyuan nodded. "As I thought."
"You know something about it?" Xiaolan asked.
"You're a bad-luck magnet," Mingyuan shook her head. Though still weak, she could now circulate her qi.
They were settled in a relatively safe area, at least away from those spirit-sapping trees. Sensing the heavy mood, Mingyuan lightened her tone. "Remember when you painted the courtyard cat?"
"Oh, yeah..." Xiaolan chuckled dryly. Others transmigrated and received the original owner's memories, but she hadn't!
Mingyuan studied her for a moment, then slowly reached up and pulled the jade hairpin from her own hair. "I also remember how much you wanted this," she said, her voice softening.
She held it up, letting the pale green stone catch the light as she twirled it slowly before Xiaolan's feignedly interested gaze.
"Are you giving it to me?" Xiaolan asked, her voice a mix of polite confusion, surprise, and pretended interest.
[Charge points +5]
[Current charge points: 196]
"Hmph." Mingyuan put the hairpin back, her apricot eyes narrowing in irritation. "No, not at all."