Tap

Xiao Yin Yu’s fingers drummed against her thigh.

Tap

A soft and repetitive sound.

Tap

An annoyed sound.

"They’re really doing their best to look grand so that they can cover up their dirt, aren’t they?"

She grumbled, her lips twisting. A large gate loomed over her, its shadow stretching far beyond her. Dark silver metal adorned with decorations that resembled the seemingly burning leaves that filled the forest all around them. A few crystallised leaves had been embedded into the metal, each one resembling a carved ruby as they reflected the light.

The walls that stretched out on either side of the gate seemed to be made from something akin to polished marble, except it had a darker colour. She couldn’t tell how thick the wall was from this angle, but judging by the towers that stood erect on some parts of the wall it was clear that it wasn’t anything to scoff at.

She couldn’t lie, it was beautiful. Surrounded by a forest that seemed to be eternally burning, the walls stood as a bright and safe harbour, a haven where you could rest and find some peace from the surrounding chaos.

But the more she looked at this splendour and beauty, the sicker she felt.

"You can polish dirt as much as you want. At the end of the day, it’ll still be dirt."

‘Yin Long’ stood at her side, a nearly disinterested gleam in its black eyes as it looked at the gate. There was a slight yet constant motion to its gaze, drifting towards Yin Yu every few seconds.

It was just what she wanted, for Yin Long to look at her, even if only briefly. But this… when this ‘Yin Long’ looked at her it made her feel almost as sick as this gateway.

But she couldn’t get rid of it. That thing stuck by her side no matter how fast she moved or where she went. It constantly whispered to her in the sweetest manner, reciting words dredged up from deep within as it guided her hand, taught her what she desired to know.

It was useful, extremely so. But it was disgusting. She knew what it was so she could only find it disgusting, and in turn, she had to find herself disgusting.

"You two. Take one each. They’ll rupture in three days time and activate the traces of Qi that they leave on you so that we can find you. If you wish to extend their duration then you must seek the approval of the guard captain or the city lord."

The guards standing outside the gate tugged at Yin Yu’s attention as her insides churned. A stone engraved with something resembling a tick tossed at her and ‘Yin Long’.

The moment the rock touched her hand, she felt as if something rubbed off on her, the corners of her lips twisting. She’d heard about it from the two people they fought earlier, but experiencing it herself was something else entirely.

Three days. You had three days to prove your worth, after that you would be chased out of the city. Well, if you were lucky then you would only get chased out of the city. A far more likely outcome would be that you would just get killed, your eternally decaying corpse tucked away so that they could use it as fuel in the future.

Disgusting.

She hadn’t thought about it much at first, but this place really was hell. It made sense that people would fear and loathe the Netherworld. No life should be allowed to exist down here, because everything that drew breath down here would just end up corrupted.

Perhaps it was to be expected, but the city that rose beyond the gates was gorgeous. If the outside alone was splendid, expecting anything less of the inside would just be foolish.

Tall buildings with smooth and polished exteriors. Clearly marked and paved roads that formed an orderly net throughout the entire city. Decorations that either hung from ceilings or stretched between buildings. Shades of green and red that made the entire city feel alive with colours.

It was splendid, truly splendid. It would have been idyllic if it weren’t for those blemishes that stood out like sore thumbs.

Black domes without a single window, each one towering above all but the largest buildings. A single door that served as an entrance and nothing else, not even a shred of colour or decoration.

‘Resting Stations’. What a funny name. There was no rest to be gotten there, no peace for the living nor the dead. Those buildings were just tombstones and graves, mausoleums for those who suffered. And they were the lifeblood of these cities. They were the origin and source of her disgust.

"Shall we get some rest first, Dear Yu? Should be time to get some food soon too, don’t you think?"

The voice was as strong as she knew it to be, but the tinge of gentleness in it was something unfamiliar to her. It spoke of what lurked within her, the slight hunger and weariness that were creeping up her spine. In that way, it could be considered a sensible remark.

But she winced, barely able to glance at the thing following her. The more time she spent with it, the worse she felt, the more she hated herself.

Deep down, lurking within parts she didn’t even know she had, she was starting to accept it. And that was why she was disgusted. It was a trap, it was all a trap. It wasn’t real, she couldn’t accept it, she mustn’t accept it. But desires were things that were hard to control, here more so than anywhere else.

But she had to hate it. She couldn’t accept it. Only the real one could be good enough for her, for if she ended up being fine with a fake then she herself would never be good enough for the real one.

"No. There’s no telling where he ended up so now isn’t the time to rest, I’m going to start searching immediately."

The real Yin Long, the reason she rejected that strange man’s offer and descended down here. He was here somewhere, probably suffering all alone. She had to find him before he broke, she had to find him before this place swallowed him while he was at his weakest.

The ‘Yin Long’ at her side probably expected her answer, it was inside her head after all. But even so, it did what Yin Long would have done, what she knew he would do, and kept talking.

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"Resting is a vital part of training. If you never rest and constantly rush around then you’ll only see adverse results. Who knows, you might never accomplish a proper cut if you never take a break."

Her hands clenched slightly as he spoke. The cut. The fine line between someone using a sword and a swordsman. It sounded so simple, yet the more she practised the wider the gulf felt.

‘Yin Long’ was helping her with her training, teaching her how to be a Woehowl, but perhaps it really was as Hongzai said and she didn’t have what it took.

She had tried and tried again, but she never got it right. She never managed to make the cut, her emotions were never present on the blade. So she tried and she tried again, ‘Yin Long’ sticking to her like a tick as it whispered of a past only she knew.

But the past stayed in the past. It never reached her blade, and her blade never reached the world. So the present moved on unabated, and the future became the present without a mark of the distant past. The blade couldn’t become a sword.

"…It doesn’t matter, now isn’t the time for a break."

Words she couldn’t believe, a lie to ease her own heart. She wanted it, she really did. No, she needed it, she craved it with her entire being. A swordsman. He was a swordsman, one she had no doubt could blot out the entire world at some point. If she too could become one then she would be one step closer, one step worthier. So she had to be it, she needed to be one.

But the search came first. It had to, otherwise she would lose to her desires, and she was too proud to do that, even if they felt like an obsession that pierced into her very being. So she searched. She questioned. She dug.

But three days… Three days was just too short of a time. Three days wasn’t enough to search even a tenth of this city, much less the rest of the Netherworld. So when the appointed time to leave the city came, she hadn’t discovered a single clue that might point her in the right direction.

But she couldn’t leave like this. It wouldn’t be as simple as just leaving and then entering with a new stone, the mark of the previous stone would still be on her, it would linger for at least another two or so weeks. Would she even be able to reach another city in two weeks?

There were obviously spatial arrays in a city this large, but using them was a bit of a problem. Sure, she would get to another city, but that didn’t stop the imminent problem of the rupturing stone. It would break, her position would be broadcast and the guards of that city would track her down.

"We’ll just have to fight our way out. Not like it’s the first time."

True to the real one, ‘Yin Long’ was extremely relaxed, a hand fiddling with the sheath at its waist as a small glint flashed through its eyes. They had ventured quite a bit into the city already, leaving within the alloted time was nigh-on impossible. So they would have to fight, be it here or in some other city.

"Hey, it’ll be a good time to work on your cut. Who knows, maybe all you need is a flash of inspiration to get it right."

Always ready to train, always ready to look at things from the bright side. How true to the real one, yet how disgustingly fake.

But in the end, what it said was right. They just had to fight their way out of it, the guards wouldn’t bother chasing them far once they made it beyond the gates, be it this city or another one. Fast and heavy, that would have to be how they did it.

But not here. Not in this city. They were too deep, it would take too long to reach the gate. Luckily, there was a plaza for spatial arrays not too far from where they currently were, that was why Yin Yu had chosen to question people in this area at this particular moment.

But still, she had been too absorbed in her search. She’d forced herself to shut out everything else so that her other desires couldn’t creep further up. As a result, the stone she had been forced to keep with her crumbled as they moved, a bright white light sticking to her like glue as it rose into the sky like a pillar.

The mark had been set, the hunt had begun.

She moved quickly, ‘Yin Long’ sticking close to her, another pillar marking it. The people in the city didn’t bother with them, simply steering clear of them. The guards would handle it, anyone who needlessly interfered may just end up on their bad side.

And sure enough, before long, the first guards reached them. They came in with full force from the side, attempting an ambush. But Yin Yu wasn’t someone weak, and ‘Yin Long’, disgusting as it may be was just as strong as she remembered.

Killing the guards in a short amount of time would be rather hard, but keeping enough space to flee was easy enough. The problem came after that.

The closer they got to the plaza, the more guards they encountered. Since killing them quickly was hard, it just ended with them being swarmed by more and more guards. Naturally, this made it that much harder to hold them back.

But it was fine, the plaza was right there. She could already see the spatial arrays scattered about, her gaze settling on the closest one as she unleashed a particularly violent outburst of azure lightning to create some space.

But as her foot moved forward, she felt something in her ear. It reached her like a whisper, soft and disbelieving, despairing and begging. An indistinct voice that stabbed right into her chest. Her eyes moved on instinct, sliding towards a spatial array that was further away.

And then she froze.

There, on top of a recently activated spatial array, stood six people. She instantly ignored four of the six people as she had never seen them before, but the last two figures were all too familiar to her.

Short amber hair and brown eyes, a gentle demeanour that seemed to charm you. When Yin Yu last saw her, it was this very girl who had exploded into a burst of verdant green light and sealed their fates.

And there, right next to her, was a broken man.

The silver hair that usually shone like the moon was dirty and dishevelled, clumped together by dirt and blood. The strong body was thin and gaunt, skin pale and nails both dirty and cracked. His simple robes had been completely torn and tattered, not even fit for a corpse.

And then there were his eyes. By the gods, his eyes. The ‘Yin Long’ at her side had dark eyes just like she remembered, a brilliant night sky that tugged at your soul and lulled you to sleep. They were beautiful.

That Yin Long over there did not have black eyes, he had dark eyes. Something darker than the night, something deeper than black. There were no moons or stars in those eyes, only darkness and misery, a twisted mess that swirled around without end, swallowing even the smallest of reflections.

How could eyes like that see anything? How could a gaze like that reflect anything?

He was there. He stood on the edge. Or perhaps, it was already too late? Perhaps this hellhole had already broken him, torn him apart through the sweet whispers of the thing by his side.

The thought terrified her. Her breath stopped in her throat and her lungs refused to move. Her heart stopped pumping and her blood stopped cold. It hadn’t been that long, but was she already too late?

No. No, surely there was still something she could do, there had to be. And even if there wasn’t, she refused to do nothing.

She felt an attack creep up behind her. It was natural, she had ended up this distracted on a battlefield, only a fool would choose not to take advantage of this opening.

But she felt as if Yin Long would crumble to dust if she took her eyes off of him, she didn’t even dare to turn and look at the attack. And then. Then he moved.

A spark of life flashed past those murky eyes, swallowed by the swirling darkness almost as soon as it arose. But it was there nonetheless, and the spark moved his arm.

He drew the sword that hung at his waist, but it was different from the beautiful swords he usually made. It had a matte colour and the edge was barely sharp, it looked like scrap metal forced together into the shape of a blade, a crude stick that didn’t fit at his side. In that regard, perhaps she felt a moment of similarity with that crude stick.

But he held that dull sword high, and Yin Yu felt her already cold blood freeze.

Darkness bubbled up from within the sword, like a seething ocean it roiled, drops of darkness akin to ashen oil dripping down the blade and spilling to the ground. Her stomach shrank back just from looking at it, all memories of food seemingly fading from her mind.

Hongzai said that Woehowl were those who cursed the world, those who tried to cut it with their swords. But that sword that was held so high, the darkness that pooled on the ground, it wasn’t a curse. It was a scream. That blade was a scream, that oil was tears.

Yin Long raised his blade, the past drawn upon the weapon’s edge. But what he poured out onto the world wasn’t a curse, it was a silent scream. There he stood, alone. There he cried. There he wallowed in his sorrow.

And then the sword moved down, ashen oil and murky darkness accompanying it as the wielder cried. And for a moment, as a single cry blocked out the world, Yin Yu felt like she understood what ‘Yin Long’ meant with inspiration.