When Ying yue came to, the first thing he saw was Gao Hong yi's wide-open eyes. His head was pounding and a reddish haze had settled over his vision. When he made a move to sit up, the black-green wisps of smoke that had spread out around him like a fan crept back, clinging to his skin and merging back into his body.
Immediately, the dull pain subsided a bit and his vision cleared. A smacking sound was heard, and Hong yi's body twitched at irregular intervals. Ying yue didn't have to lean forward to see that he had run right into the arms of an undead and been overrun.
He himself only owed it to Zhen yan's magic to be still in one piece, once again. He shook his numb limbs and stood up. Gao Hong yi groaned and reached out for Ying yue. The latter squatted down beside his head, behind the corner of the corridor, so that the feeding undead didn't see him, and looked coldly into the dark eyes of the man who had now tried to kill him for the second time. Undead were easy to handle, but cruel opponents.
They were only a real danger in their sheer numbers, but this imbecile had allowed himself to be overpowered and nibbled on by a single one.
»What did you call me?« Ying yue asked, tapping Hong Yi's head with Xiaodan, as if to make sure that it wasn't really as hollow as it appeared to be. Hong Yi winced in pain and spat out a torrent of blood, while the half-decayed undead continued to gnaw at his intestines. The man's teeth and muscles were certainly badly decomposed, so he could only bite through skin, tendons and muscles with difficulty.
However, the cadaveric poison he secreted had a paralyzing effect, so it was an extremely slow and painful death. Enough time, then, for Hong Yi to answer his questions. He had had his second chance and blown it. Hong Yi tried to reach for him, but Ying yue brushed his hand aside with Xiaodan; he wouldn't even touch this wretched traitor.
He had trusted him, felt friendship and compassion for him. »What are you doing here? What did the Gao clan do with the black jade? Is Gao Teng fei behind it?« he asked. Hong Yi was visibly struggling to speak.
»S...ave... m... me...« He gasped heavily.
»From your own stupidity? I'm afraid my hands are tied,« Ying yue replied coldly. Hong Yi opened his mouth, but only another gush of blood came out. »You know what? Actually, it doesn't matter whether you speak or not. I'll take your seal, which proves that I've encountered a member of the Gao clan here. Further investigations will follow,« he said and stood up.
Hong Yi clawed at his trouser leg. With all his might, he pulled and tugged at him, repeatedly vomiting blood. Full of panic and despair, he held on to the only thing he could. Ying yue bent down and slapped his knuckles with Xiaodan. Before Hong Yi let go, he gasped,
»Yi Rui qin... Yi Rui qin... Yi... Ru... i... q...!« His hands fell to the ground and his eyes glazed over, then he fell silent. Ying yue paused. He shook the corpse.
»What? What did you say?« But Hong Yi gave no more answer. Ying yue cut the smacking undead's head off with one blow and it rolled down the aisle. His body slumped and a sickening smell rose from his neck stump. But Gao Hong Yi was dead.
Angrily, he plunged his sword through his heart. This could be seen as an act of rage, but it was the last shred of humanity he could muster for him, and it would prevent Hong Yi from also becoming a drooling undead in a few hours.
»What does the Bai Clan's sword master have to do with this?«
Attracted by the commotion, a few more of the groaning undead pushed through the corridor. Ying yue had actually wanted to avoid it, but he seemed to have no other choice. Once these drooling dead had scented prey, they would not let go. He stood up and conjured a circle with Xiaodan, a dozen shimmering blades appeared, whizzing through the corridor, through the bodies of the undead, who slumped to the ground and disappeared into the nearest wall.
A tremor shook the underground vault. He quickly tore the seal of the Gao clan from Hong Yi's hips and left him behind. More undead blocked his path, and with precise attacks he dodged their claws and teeth, cutting off fingers, arms, and finally heads without hesitation. Some were so badly decomposed that they dragged their bony limbs behind them as they tried to reach for him with wildly flailing arms, while others were so fresh that Ying yue hesitated briefly to make sure they were really dead.
Cold sweat broke out after Hong Yi had knocked him down; the fight was physically exhausting and grueling, but in the end he stood in the chamber that had guarded the undead. The room was spacious, with rows of torches on the walls and a simple stone coffin in the middle. Ying yue walked towards it. Various seals and spells had been carved into the stone. But most of them had been scratched and defaced.
So someone had released this ghost bride a long time ago and allowed her to mutate into the Yao. It took some effort before Ying yue was able to push aside the heavy stone lid. When he bent over the opening, he saw a mummified skeleton. It smelled awful and he gagged. Only the wedding robe she was wearing still glowed scarlet.
As he leaned in closer, he noticed that something had been forcefully jammed between the corpse's collarbone. He pulled aside the veil covering her torso and tugged at the collar of her robe. It was the jade shard. The upper apparition was only a reflection of it. Ying yue forced himself to cover the shard with a piece of cloth and pulled.
It took a lot of strength, there was an ugly cracking and grinding sound, and once more the air was filled with the sickening sweet-sour smell of death. Holding the splinter up, he could just make out the remains of Mei Ling's decomposing flesh. He cleaned the splinter clumsily, then searched for a flammable fire talisman.
The mummified corpse did not burn well, and Ying yue had to use almost all the talismans he had to keep the fire going. His eyes stung from the acrid stench and smoke that filled the chamber. As the air grew ever more scarce to breathe, the underground vault was shaken by a mighty tremor, and a shrill, piercing scream was heard.
The last of the undead, those who hadn't had their heads lopped off but were no longer able to move, howled in unison and writhed in agony. Dust and earth burst through the ceiling and walls, Ying yue took a last look at the burning bride and made sure that nothing but ashes remained of her, then he retreated. He dived through the room and the light of the fire brightly illuminated the walls. On them were paintings of a man with a rabbit mask, wedding ceremonies and pictures of lanterns rising into the sky.
Something about the bridal couple seemed wrong; they were depicted differently than other images of weddings, but Ying yue had no time to take a closer look at the pictures.
When he hurried through the corridors of the labyrinth, he initially oriented himself by the bones in the walls, but eventually it grew increasingly darker until he was standing in pitch-black darkness. Even Xiaodan could only dimly illuminate the gloom. The acrid smoke wafted through the corridors and Ying yue narrowed her eyes.
Just as he was about to decide on a course of action, the blue flames ignited one after the other. He hesitated briefly, then ran along the corridors, which were brightly and bluishly illuminated. When he reached the surface of the temple, everything was shaken so violently that he went down on his knees. Part of the roof had collapsed, and tiles, stones and earth were lying everywhere.
Ying yue got back up and ran on, just before he rushed through the temple's double doors, he was so violently pulled off his feet that he crashed into a wall. Breathing heavily, he rose. The blue flames had lit up the wall brightly. When Ying yue looked up, he recognized another painting, which depicted a wedding.
The wedding procession, the bride's dowry, bowing together before the temple god, who gave them his blessing. Now he also recognized what seemed to be wrong with the bridal couple. Ying yue looked more closely and saw that they were two men. Flabbergasted, he stood still and looked at the picture, which had once been in magnificent, bright colors, only the red still shone.
»Do you now know what has changed?« a melodic voice asked. Ying yue turned around. Tuér Shen was standing next to him. He shimmered slightly, like a hallucination in the desert. He sighed heavily. »I want to thank you for finally destroying this creature that has defiled my temple for so long. I felt so sorry for her back then, but there was nothing I could do for her; a woman's threads of fate are none of my business.
But your thread of fate will be the most beautiful one I have ever tied,« he said and laughed. Ying yue felt a draft of air and when he raised his right hand, he recognized a wafer-thin red thread around his ring finger, the end of which disappeared into the darkness.
»When two souls are related and destined for each other, it doesn't matter in which body they live. Do you think the gods can tell who is a man and who is a woman from up there? If your destinies harmonize, a marriage is always under the protection of the gods. But I think you've already realized that, haven't you?« Tuér Shen asked gently. Ying yue felt how he blushed and turned around again. The man in the flowing robes sighed again before he gently stroked the painting, over which long cracks stretched, growing ever wider.
»When my last temple falls, I too will disappear from this world. Perhaps one day a new temple will be built for a new god. I hope he has more luck than I did,« he said wistfully. Then he patted Ying yue on the shoulders. »I was very happy when you met Zhen yan, and I hope that one day you can be just as happy without hesitation.
There will be a lot of prejudice and only a few will be sympathetic to your relationship, but you should not make your decision based on the will of others, but on your own wishes...« He paused briefly. He looked through him, melancholy, before his gaze cleared again and he looked at the swordsman again.
»Go now!« he said firmly, pushing Ying yue. Before he knew it, he suddenly stumbled backwards out of the double doors, which hung splintered in their rusty hinges. Instinctively, he lifted Xiaodan as he whirled around and plunged into a deep, nameless darkness. Although it seemed frightening at first, he only felt soft, cool and familiar feelings.