This was the first time in his life that Gui Linghuo had consumed this much alcohol. Even if Li Fangyin taught him how to pace himself, the world seemed to have turned upside down for the entire week. If he wasn’t a cultivator, he was sure he would have fallen ill for the greater half of the year.
Seeing how wasted Gui Linghuo was, Li Fangyin couldn’t help but let out a laugh. He squatted down beside the younger man and placed a warm cup of tea in his hand.
“Happy birthday.”
“Already?” Gui Linghuo mumbled, taking small sips of the tea.
Li Fangyin’s laughter became even more boisterous. He rubbed Gui Linghuo’s head, holding back the remaining cute aggression he had, and sat down beside him.
“What? Do you want to drink more?”
Gui Linghuo shook his head, appearing a little childish. “I don’t think I’ll be drinking again for a long time.”
“It’s something you should experience once in your life. You were too young to drink when we were back at the barracks, so you can only do it with me,” Li Fangyin said. He pressed the cup up to Gui Linghuo’s lips again. “Hurry and finish the tea. You have places to be.”
“Places…what?” Gui Linghuo blinked at Li Fangyin blankly.
“As the acting peak lord of Shuangye Peak, you’ve been volunteered to check on a suspicious case down south,” Li Fangyin said, handing over the letter to Gui Linghuo as soon as the man finished his cup of tea. “The little disciple told me that it’s near Devil’s Desert, where you wanted to go.”
“So coincidental?” Gui Linghuo mumbled. He rubbed his eyes. The headache was already beginning to clear up, but he still retained a bit of the brain fog. His eyes quickly darted over the pages contents and his expression became more serious. “Ghost cultivators again.”
Li Fangyin looked over Gui Linghuo’s shoulder and skimmed the contents. “Do you want me to come with you?”
Gui Linghuo glanced at Li Fangyin. “Just say you don’t want to go back yet.”
“I don’t,” Li Fangyin whined. “If I go back, the elders will nag at me to hurry up and complete the trial to become the new palace lord while my Father badgers me about my cultivation—as if he’s much better than me. Honestly, sometimes I think he’s delusional enough to think he’s hit Nascent Soul.”
Gui Linghuo pouted in mock sympathy and patted Li Fangyin’s shoulder. “Then, Fangfang, do you want to come with big brother?”
Li Fangyin glanced at Gui Linghuo. Amusement tickled the back of his throat. A somewhat grouchy, very relaxed Gui Linghuo was one that reminded him a lot of Gui Yin. Though, Li Fangyin wasn’t sure if he was even sober enough yet to understand what he was doing.
“Alright! Big brother, please take me along on your adventure.”
Gui Linghuo nodded and shakily stood. Li Fangyin quickly caught him and managed to right up.
“Let me take a bath first,” Gui Linghuo said, walking past Li Fangyin. “I need to douse myself in cold water.”
When the hour passed, Gui Linghuo returned. He carefully tucked Fenghua into his sleeve and the two set off for Devil’s Desert.
More than a decade ago, Li Fangyin had visited Devil’s Desert and discovered a slave trade with Gui Yin. Ten years later, Li Fangyin returned to Devil’s Desert with Gui Linghuo to figure out what was going on with the supposed cult.
“So, do we just,” Li Fangyin stared at the sand storm ahead of them and looked back to Gui Linghuo, “Do we just walk in?”
Gui Linghuo tightened the scarf around his face and shrugged. “Do you have any other suggestions?”
Li Fangyin lightly cleared his throat. Indeed, he did not.
The letter was extremely vague, for all that it was worth. It had been over a decade since Devil’s Desert recovered its reputation as a cursed desert, with no way through, but on the other side of this desert was still the oasis that housed some desert sects. There were secrets that they knew that those in the central plains wouldn’t know. But in order to reach them, Gui Linghuo and Li Fangyin would have to brave Devil’s Desert.
Regular people may see their trek as foolish. They were cultivators, can’t they just fly through? The theory had been tested time and time again, but like many mysteries of the Devil’s Desert, when you began to fly, you would be caught in a loop, unable to go further than the entrance until you landed and started walking on two feet.
“I think the story of the Ruby-Eyed Serpent is true,” Li Fangyin said, his voice raised to almost a shout as they walked through the swirling sand. “But what puzzles me is why there would be a barrier above the desert as well.”
“Maybe it wasn’t placed there on purpose, just like how the sand doesn’t swallow you with a mind of its own,” Gui Linghuo guessed. “Perhaps, after absorbing the energy of a Heavenly Beast for so many years, this desert gained its own sentience and created its own space.”
“Oh brilliant. I love when places decide to gain sentience and then enjoy playing little pranks on humans. It’s very cute,” Li Fangyin said, sarcasm laced into his voice.
Gui Linghuo glanced at him. “If you compliment it a few more times, maybe we’ll survive the night.”
“Oh, you have such soft, soft sand. It’s nothing like any other desert I’ve seen,” Li Fangyin called out into the wind.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Gui Linghuo chuckled. He hadn’t really expected Li Fangyin to say it.
Ol Mjcuslc rlutfv. “Gb kf gfjiis tjnf ab ub ab Tec Cc Vqglcur? Qf’gf kjralcu rb wemt alwf, tjnlcu ab ub atfgf jcv atfc milwy jii atf kjs yjmx. Qbeivc’a la pera yf fjrlfg ab jrx atf ibmjir? Qtja jybea atf Qjafglcu Lbif?”
“Gb sbe agera atf qfbqif ja atf Qjafglcu Lbif?”
Li Fangyin shook their head, but still seriously answered: “They all have very interesting characters though.”
“Yu An Springs is where we should go for information if we want to understand the culture of cultivators. If we go to a place like the Watering Hole or the hundreds of unnamed towns, we’ll just be talking to civilians who hear rumors,” Gui Linghuo said.
“Hasn’t your Shizun ever taught you that the best information comes from civilians?” Li Fangyin asked. He grinned. “Cultivators are liars.”
Gui Linghuo glanced at Li Fangyin. “Then, do you want to turn back?”
“I argue we do,” Li Fangyin nodded. He sighed. “It’s not that I have anything against the cultivators at Yu An Springs, but we’re talking about a cult right now, aren’t we? What if those at Yun An Springs are part of that cult? Do you think they’ll give us information then? And we’re foreigners intruding on their territory—they won’t take kindly to that.”
Gui Linghuo hesitated. What Li Fangyin said was reasonable, but there was still an odd premonition in his heart.
The two men stopped in the middle of the desert with two options in front of them.
“It’ll take at least another two weeks to walk all the way to Yu An Springs,” Li Fangyin said. “Let’s just go back for now and—”
A piercing screech interrupted Li Fangyin’s sentence. Gui Linghuo met Li Fangyin’s gaze and sprinted off in the direction of the sound.
Li Fangyin frowned, but followed anyway, his heart doubting the validity of the scream.
Gui Linghuo and Li Fangyin eventually found a cart that was already covered in sand. Near the cart was a man, clawing for his life out of the sand. Sweat drenched his brow and when he saw Gui Linghuo and Li Fangyin approach, he reached out for them desperately.
“Please! Please help me out of here!”
Gui Linghuo moved forward but Li Fangyin held him back. His eyes narrowed slightly as Gui Linghuo brushed his hand away.
“What are you doing?” Gui Linghuo asked in displeasure.
“He’s getting eaten by the sand, but if you go in, then what makes you think you also won’t get swallowed?” Li Fangyin asked, raising a brow.
“That’s a human life,” Gui Linghuo said.
“Is it?” Li Fangyin turned back to the wailing man skeptically.
“Save first, and then worry about the details later,” Gui Linghuo said. He turned to dive back in, but Li Fangyin pulled him back again.
At that moment, a violet light flashed past them, directly piercing the man through the skull. Gui Linghuo and Li Fangyin stared in part horror and part awe until the attacker revealed themselves.
The young woman clicked her tongue, tugging her scarf tighter around her face. She glanced at Gui Linghuo and Li Fangyin and rolled her eyes.
“You two must be new around here, right? You don’t even know about Sand Devourers?”
“Sand…Devourers?” Gui Linghuo blinked at her blankly.
“You don’t even know about them, but you still decided to venture into the desert? Are you crazy?”
Before Gui Linghuo could form a rebuttal, the man that had just been pierced through let out an inhuman screech. The cart of goods dissolved into sand and the man himself quickly dried up into a blackened carcass. The trio took a step back, but the creature didn’t lunge forward. Instead, it hissed at the young woman and disappeared within the sands.
Gui Linghuo and Li Fangyin were shocked.
“See? You woulda been eaten by that thing if I hadn’t saved you,” the young woman grumbled.
Li Fangyin cleared his throat and stepped between the young woman and the perplexed Gui Linghuo. “Young Miss, we were sent over by Yunjing Pavilion to investigate a case of a mysterious cult. My surname is Li and my companion’s surname is Gui. May I please ask for your honorable surname?”
The young woman looked Li Fangyin up and down. She sheathed her scimitar. “My surname Guang.”
“Miss Guang, your sword skills were extraordinary. Seeing as how you took care of that odd creature so quickly and since you know the desert so well, you must be from Yu An Springs, yes?”
The young woman frowned at Li Fangyin skeptically. “Yes. What do you people from the grasslands want from us in the Springs?”
“We just need some information,” Li Fangyin said. “How about this? Since we’re quite close to the Watering Hole, we can head there for now. I will pay for the meal and you’ll allow us to ask a few questions?”
The young woman raised a brow. She crossed her arms over her chest. “You think I’ll give you information just for a meal?”
“I also have money,” Li Fangyin said.
The young woman hesitated. She glanced at Gui Linghuo. “What about him? Is he mute? Why hasn’t he said anything?”
“This is my little brother,” Li Fangyin said, patting Gui Linghuo’s head. “You needn’t mind him.”
The young woman fell into a silent contemplation for a moment. She clicked her tongue and straightened. “Alright! But we’re not eating at the Watering Hole. If you take me somewhere further inland, then I’ll answer whatever questions you ask.”
“Deal!” Li Fangyin agreed.
Gui Linghuo had yet to recover from seeing the man dissolve into a monster when Li Fangyin and the young woman tugged him away. When he had refocused again, he was already watching as Li Fangyin ordered nearly everything on the menu for the young woman to eat.
Perhaps it was because her way of dress was a little different, the waiter couldn’t help but sneak a few glances at her. He lightly cleared his throat. “And to drink?”
“Just chrysanthemum tea would be fine,” Li Fangyin said.
The waiter nodded and left to send off their order.
The young girl tugged her scarf from her face, as if even having it around her head would keep her from taking in the view, and leaned out of the balcony. Her eyes were wide as she looked around. The building structures in the towns around Devil’s Desert were vastly different. Their homes were made of mainly dirt, stone, and sometimes stray. The shapes varied and pointed roofs were often optional. It was just whatever worked was what was made.
Here, the buildings had a specific structure. Everything was streamlined. The people were dressed in many layers and they all had beautiful hair ornaments that decorated their hair.
The girl slumped against the railing and looked down. She didn’t notice Gui Linghuo until he had set a cloak around her. She frowned and glared at him. “What’s this?”
“It’s winter. Even if you’re not cold now, you’ll feel colder once the adrenaline wears off,” Gui Linghuo said, sitting down beside Li Fangyin again.
The girl scoffed, blew her hair from her face, and turned to look outside again. She giggled to herself. “My grandfather was right. The city sure is interesting.”
“Your family wasn’t originally from the area?” Li Fangyin asked.
“Nope!” the young woman shook her head. She glanced at Li Fangyin and stuck out her tongue. “But I won’t be telling you how we got there.”
“Fair enough,” Li Fangyin hummed.
The waiter returned with the tea. He set it down and glanced at the young woman again.
“What are you staring at?” the woman snapped.
The waiter cleared his throat awkwardly. “My apologies, Miss. You’re just…very pretty.”
The young woman raised a brow, but before she could say anything else, the waiter had already scurried off. She shook her head and poured herself a cup of tea. A small smile touched her lips when she felt the warmth.
Food soon filled the table. There was little conversation between the trio before and even less after the food arrived. Li Fangyin and Gui Linghuo had enough to fill their own stomachs, but they watched intently as the young woman ate whatever was left on the table.
When she was done, she topped it off with a cup of warm tea and looked at Li Fangyin. “Alright, pretty boy. Ask me your questions.”
Li Fangyin’s smile twitched slightly, but he had learned to fake cordiality from the best. “Have you heard anything about cult happenings in Devil’s Desert?”
“After Huigu Palace fell ten years ago, no one has willingly set up any other sect in Devil’s Desert,” the young woman replied, her fingers fiddling with the skewers left behind by one of the dishes. “Oh, aside from those weirdos with the masks. But they didn’t necessarily move out either.”
Li Fangyin and Gui Linghuo glanced at each other.
“What do you mean by that?” Gui Linghuo asked.
“I was a bit young then,” the young woman said. She frowned. “Maybe…ten? I don’t remember too much, but I remember my grandfather saying that the Beidou Alliance only trimmed the leaves. They didn’t get to the roots. Now, those leaves are growing out again, probably. You know, when I was patrolling just last week, I saw them.”
“You saw them?” Gui Linghuo’s brows furrowed.
The young woman nodded. She glanced around and leaned in to whisper. “The people with the black cloaks and white masks. Those people.”
A shiver ran down Gui Linghuo’s back. Li Fangyin glanced at him and turned back to the young woman. “Where were they headed? Deeper into the desert?”
The young woman shook her head. She dipped her finger into the cup of tea and drew out a rectangle. “Say this is Kunlun, this is where the desert starts. Right here is a way you can slip through between the upper and lower realm of Quanjing.”
“Slip through? There aren’t guards stationed anywhere, so why would they have to slip through?” Gui Linghuo asked.
“There aren’t guards, but don’t spirits live in the Kunlun Mountain Range? They’re transporting humans and they’re filled with ghost qi. You don’t think those spirits would stop them?” the young woman asked.
It was true. No matter how ambivalent the spirits were towards humans, they wouldn’t allow just a band of them to be brought through by ghost cultivators.
“You’re sure they’re all humans?” Li Fangyin asked.
“Living, breathing humans. They were all quite plump and healthy too. I mean, if you don’t account for how scared out of their wits they were,” the young woman said. “Now, don’t come at me with your righteous bullshit, okay? I may be able to handle a Sand Devourer here or there, but I won’t be able to go up against people from that group. It’s a miracle they haven’t tried to plunder Yu An Springs, but we’re always on guard nowadays.”
Li Fangyin hesitated for a moment. “Nowadays? Why?”
“For a while after the Beidou Alliance took care of their first hideout, they didn’t really come out, but after last year when the war ended, a lot of children started to go missing. Some prostitutes and homeless men as well,” the young woman said, growing more and more upset as she spoke. She took a deep breath to calm herself and shook her head. “They’re getting bolder. It’s definitely because you people in the grasslands are too busy licking your own wounds, so they think you wouldn’t notice anything. I suppose they’re right. It took you a year and even then, you just think it’s a cult.”
“So, you’re saying whatever they’re doing, they’re doing it in the lower realms and not within Devil’s Desert?” Li Fangyin asked.
The young woman nodded.
Li Fangyin and Gui Linghuo shared a glance.
“If you don’t believe me, you can ask around when you get back. Ask the people if they’ve seen a cult around recently. I guarantee you, they’ll say no,” the young woman said. She sighed. “The fact of it is, people go missing around the desert all the time. Another couple orphans off the street or a few more familiar faces going missing isn’t anything new. People will be put off at first, mourn, or be scared, but then the next day, it’ll go back to normal.”
The eerie statement clung onto Li Fangyin and Gui Linghuo even after they finished asking the common people of any sightings. Their words matched the young woman’s. Many would rudely brush them off, saying that it was a common event anyway—nothing to be shocked over. Others would mention the cloaked people, but failed to give any other information or direction.
Li Fangyin and Gui Linghuo settled down at a tea stall, back in the familiarity of the “grasslands”, both silent and in their own thoughts.
“Something is wrong,” Li Fangyin finally said. He looked at Gui Linghuo. “If there’s no cult, then who reported to Yunjing Pavilion as a ‘cult’ sighting?”
Gui Linghuo slowly shook his head. “It shouldn’t have been reported to Yunjing Pavilion. If my guess is correct, it was sent to Beidou Alliance and then coincidentally would have been given to us. Yunjing Pavilion doesn’t touch cases in the desert unless the alliance asks us to.”
“Coincidentally,” Li Fangyin repeated. “I’ve noticed this, but there were quite a lot of coincidences today. The Sand Devourer and then the young woman. Now, you’re saying the case being delivered to us was also a coincidence?”
Gui Linghuo pinched the bridge of his nose. “Or else, what? Do you think there’s anyone with enough free time on their hands to mess with the two of us? Do you have any enemies?”
“I don’t.”
“Then, I definitely don’t,” Gui Linghuo said. He fiddled with Gui Yin’s folding fan as he frowned. “But the fact is, people are still going missing and it’s because of those people in the white masks. If it’s them, then that means they’re sacrificing humans again. Last time…last time, we didn’t even figure out what it was for.”
Li Fangyin hummed. “The victims just said they knew they were being sacrificed to some god. Is it the same centipede pseudo-god that Gui-qianbei found? Or did they find themselves a new god? I suppose we don’t even know if it’s the same group…”
Gui Linghuo frowned. He looked at Li Fangyin. “Could you tell me about that case? I was a bit young then. I hadn’t paid attention.”
Li Fangyin let out a long sigh. He began to recount the crimes of Qi Du Tower. A small frown graced his face as he leaned against the palm of his hand.
“But back then, that centipede demon took the essence of spirits they kidnapped. Humans were used in experiments,” Li Fangyin said. “They never said anything about human sacrifices.”
“But that’s just what the victims believed right? The ones who were experimented on never came back, did they?” Gui Linghuo asked.
“But why would they need to lie to a group of prisoners?” Li Fangyin raised a brow.
The two men fell silent. It was odd. The more they tried to make sense of this situation, the harder it became. Almost miraculously, this group of ghost cultivators constantly seemed to be one step ahead of them. When they thought they had gotten a hold on what they were doing, a new question would pop up.
“Are we on the wrong trail?” Gui Linghuo murmured, his fingers pinching the side of his fan.
Li Fangyin sighed. He glanced outside. “Well, there’s only one way to find out, I guess. Are you ready to head to the lower realm?”
i love Lin Fangyin 🥰
uM GUI LINGHUO SON BOY, rushing to save a stranger!? have yoU LEARNED NOTHING??
i sure havent, ive got some spaghetti to throw on the wall: my gut is telling me Erlang(‘s people) may have reported the cult sighting and set up coincidences where possible… hm… [taking out more spaghetti] unless it’s someone we haven’t met or possibly another im not thinking of… hm…..
(cough glh has Issues uwu) thanks for reading!!!!
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
thanks for reading!!!!!!!
I reread this just now…making more sense this time…my brain was foggy last read. Stealth bad guys sneaking, never stopped sneaking, possible moles … intrigue high alert! Thanks ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️