I Was Called A Demon

Leading their advance, Huang Su slowly navigated the Ghostwood, each step taken with some difficulty. Although she could use her flames to burn away the brambles or branches, it could come at the risk of alerting anyone watching out for them, be they friend or foe, not to mention that the thick yin presence stifled her flames, causing them to be weaker and dimmer.

Of course, if she was to exert herself, she would be able to overpower that effect, but again, it would bring about the same risks as simply burning the brambles.

As such, the lot of them had to travel down the few openings in the woods that were able to fit them in. At times, it required walking in inconvenient ways, backtracking at some times and ducking under brambles and branches at others.

The darkness made it seem as though it was night, and the samey, confusing layout of the forest made it easy to lose track of time, making Bianca wish that she still had a phone on her… but eventually, they came upon something. She was able to spot the faint semblance of an aura, and Huang Su’s spiritual perception, too, happened upon something.

“There is someone – or something – ahead of us,” the Phoenix Sect’s leader said softly, pausing on the spot and glancing over to the others, “Shall we proceed? Sect Mistress?”

Giving it a moment of thought, Bianca eventually nodded, “Yeah, let’s do it. What’s the worst that can happen? Don’t… don’t answer that.”

The kitsune sighed in disappointment, “If you insist, fine… boring.”

They moved forward, through a convenient opening in the brambles, and found an opening a few more trees and bramble walls ahead of them. The presence they had felt was there, a faint silhouette standing in a clearing, looking thin yet tall.

Long, white hair billowed in the cold wind, loose and clearly aged, though that was about all that Bianca could spy from afar – before, in the blink of an eye, the figure disappeared.

“Where did-”

Her words were cut off by the sudden appearance of a fist heading straight for her skull, with force so immense that she couldn’t even begin to comprehend it, nor to contemplate blocking it. It felt too powerful, too absolute, to the extent that nothing she could do would stop it.

There was also the fact that she only realised it was there once it struck a hasty barrier of flaming feathers, put up by Huang Su, absorbing most of the impact and only leaving enough to fling Bianca away, into one of the bramble-coated trees. Although suddenly crashing against so many sharp points was far from pleasant, she knew all too well that it was nothing compared to what that fist could’ve done to her.

“Long Musong! If you invited us, shouldn’t you at least hear us out?” Huang Su suddenly exclaimed, and the white-haired figure reappeared, standing calm and still before them, as if it was a statue carved from stone, “Were you actually willing to kill her so quickly?”

“My apologies. The intense demonic aura set me off, even after I had prepared for it. Furthermore, her incomplete realm means that her energy is less controlled than it should be, intensifying that aura further,” the man, Long Musong, reached up to stroke his white beard, a thin wisp growing from the chin, “In truth, I had feared you to be necromancers, but with a reaper, such a fear is unwarranted.”

Xue Yaling asked, “You trust them that much? Even after the war?”

“I know them well enough – I have seen the full extent of their truths and principles. No reaper would tolerate a necromancer, nor submit to their will, as it would go contrary to the Compact of Life and Death. It would inevitably scatter their cultivation.”

“… You know us well, Sect Master.”

“Hmph. If I learned nothing from the war, what kind of fool would I be?”

While they were speaking, Bianca caught her breath and rose to her feet, looking over the man while desperately subduing her more… aggressive urges. She could see a potent golden aura wrapped around him, tendrils of it reached out far to sweep the Ghostwood, and an intense presence that far exceeded Huang Su’s, meaning only one thing.

“You’re in the Oblivion Halo realm.”

“I see no need to point out the obvious, young aspirant, but do as you see fit,” Long Musong looked at her dismissively, returning his attention to Huang Su afterwards, “Tell me, Huang Su, are the rumours true? Are you obedient to that young aspirant because of some mind control ability?”

The Phoenix Sect’s leader replied without hesitation, “No, I obey my Mistress as she deserves my service.”

Long Musong frowned, but finally turned to face Bianca, “Then, I shall ask you. What happened to my son?”

“… He was raised by the necromancers. They had used his corpse to fight us as we freed the Reaper’s Grave from their grasp,” Bianca sighed and replied directly, holding nothing back, “We had to break the body out of their control, and we have now brought it here, as your letter had requested.”

“… Show me.”

With Bianca’s glance, Huang Su did so, bringing the body out of some storage artefact. The body looked just as she remembered it, tall, with scars across his chest that dug deep enough to reveal his ribs, though it still remained almost life-like, as though it could rise up the next moment if it so willed.

To Long Musong, though, the body was enough to make his hands clench up into fists, his eyes furrowing just a little.

“Yes, I can see their touch. Necromancers… they have gotten too comfortable in the position they had earned after their victory over the reapers,” he shook his head, his hands slowly relaxing, “I had almost wanted to believe that the rumour was just that, that Mudan yet lived somewhere… that he would emerge to return to his position as my successor. I should have known not to assume such a thing…”

Bianca didn’t want to speak over him, so she remained silent as she returned to the others’ side, brushing away the dirt and dust that got onto her clothes.

“They killed my son. I may not trust the likes of you, whose energy so vividly radiates malice, but you have brought me back his body, where they used it as their puppet, almost certainly in aim of more vile things. They can never be forgiven.”

“You are correct. If my assessment of the body is correct, they aimed to develop a skill that would permit the dead to walk among the living without any obvious signs, blood coursing through their veins, heart beating with a regular rhythm, chest falling and rising with each breath, as though the spark of life yet resided in their core,” Huang Su added, “You can see it in how the body has been preserved, the way in which the necromantic energy is subtle. They had not yet succeeded… but it was possible that they had meant for your son to return to you after all.”

He frowned, “I knew them to be vile, but if this assumption is true… if they had truly meant to do something like that, they are a greater threat to our world than the reapers could ever be – they could effectively steal away our sects, infiltrate every position of power… it is a vile plan that must be made known.”

“…” Shouge Zhe nearly opened her mouth to speak before thinking better of it, keeping her words to herself.

The Solitary Peak Sect’s leader kneeled down beside the body, opening up the eyelids with his hand, and looked into the dulled brown eyes for a long, long while.

“Mudan… my son… I could see him waking in the next moment, eyes focusing, greeting me as he used to… arguing with me, then embracing me…” Long Musong practically had to force himself to look away from his son’s corpse, “You are foes with the necromancers too, are you not? Then rest assured, I will do everything in my power to oppose them, and to spread the word. Furthermore, if the Exarch or another faction are involved with them or their plans, I will ensure that the connection is discovered.”

“What about us?” Bianca asked.

“Young aspirant, I hope you understand that you do not have the capability to fight against factions like ours. Unless you are able to charm every single Sect Master out there, you will be powerless against the necromancers, the Exarch, or any other foe,” Long Musong shook his head, “If you attain the sixth realm, or grow that faction of yours to a significant extent, then I will reach out again. Until then, focus on your cultivation.”

“I hope the next message won’t be so cryptic, then…” she muttered, making the man raise an eyebrow.

“Cryptic? This is how all messages are sent in the Solitary Peak Sect… perhaps I have forgotten what a conventional message entails. Was anything unclear?”

“If not for Shouge Zhe, we wouldn’t have known of the ‘eerie tangle’, and honestly, ‘the tenth step’ could’ve been just about anything. We were really lucky… lucky. Again…”

“Luck?”

“… It feels like there have been a lot of convenient coincidences happening as of late. The fact that we knew exactly where and when to find you despite the cryptic message, that you believed us so quickly…”

“Luck as a concept is merely based on ignorance. There is no such thing as a coincidence, only details to events that you had missed. I cannot say I have ever seen or heard of a being wielding the concept of luck itself, but one that could influence such unseen events would inevitably have to be powerful.”

The kitsune nodded, “That was my understanding of the matter as well, but I must admit, there are quite a few fortunate events that have happened in our brief history. So many situations that could’ve ended painfully resolve themselves… and I cannot see which powerful being would wish for our success.”

Though she said that, she shared a look with Bianca, the meaning of her look being rather obvious. They had never shared it with the others, so the two of them were the only ones that knew about the otherworldly gift in Bianca’s possession, and the powers that it specifically had. To the best of their knowledge, it didn’t have any powers to manipulate ‘luck’, or string about events that would come off in that way, and it was actually rather simple in nature… but perhaps that was deliberate.

If it was actually capable of a lot more than it seemed, then it would certainly explain a few things… but after giving it a little more thought, Bianca ended up shaking her head, just enough for the kitsune to notice.

It wasn’t that she didn’t think that the Demonic Tyrant was capable of more than it seemed – after all, it had mitigated the worst of her failure to break through not long ago – but it didn’t seem like that thing’s style. Typically, anything associated with it was demonic, perhaps with a blazing skull involved, whereas all this luck was just… luck.

“It would also be rather peculiar to have such a being be able to hide their tracks so effortlessly. Even the energy we cultivate leaves a trail, and the likes of Seek Immortality are practically traceless by most standards,” Long Musong nodded, “This is a concerning matter, and I am not content to simply leave it alone, but it must be lower on the list of priorities. Whether such a force – if one exists at all – is benevolent or malevolent cannot be certain until we uncover its nature.”

That much, Bianca and the others were more than happy to agree to.

“Regardless, there is little that you can do. Begone, and focus on your own affairs – if there is an opportunity for you to strike down the necromancers at our side, young aspirant, I shall make it known.”

The Solitary Peak Sect’s leader seemed impatient for them to depart, still kneeling by the body of his son, seemingly doing everything in his power to keep his gaze away from it even now. Although he had raised his eyes towards them a short while ago, now they were sinking back down, just a little bit away from staring straight at the body all over again, so it wasn’t hard to guess that he wanted some time alone.

That worked well enough for Bianca, who offered him a slight bow of the head, “Then I hope to hear from you sooner rather than later. For as long as our Demoness Sect endures, you should be able to find us at the Grave.”

He offered her no particular acknowledgement, just remaining there as she led them away… to the north-east, further into the Ghostwood.

After they were gone, and he could be sure that they wouldn’t be able to spy upon him, he finally allowed his gaze to return to his son, to the body lying dead and lifeless.

He stared in silence for a long while, losing all track of time, his shoulders dropping in exhaustion.

Water got into his eyes, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stop the tears.

As they got far enough away, the kitsune stopped and turned to Bianca.

“So, I can understand getting away from the guy, but why are we delving even deeper into this place? The Ghostwood doesn’t sound like the safest place.”

“It’s probably not, but… I couldn’t help but be curious about the origin of the energy permeating this place. If we can’t find anything after a day, we can just leave, but… if we did figure it out, wouldn’t that be impressive?”

“And incredibly risky, if it turns out to be some power we aren’t meant to know about. For every faction that’s out in the open, there’s a dozen hiding out of sight, doing whatever comes to mind without any respect for the law the sects attempt to uphold,” Xue Yaling explained, “For instance, the Righteous Court is somewhat in between the two, open enough to be known but subtle enough that many aren’t sure about its true actions and intentions. I also know of a lesser-known group, Human Paradise, though the name is about all I’m familiar with.”

“We had never been able to find the source of the yin filling the area, even during our prime,” Shouge Zhe shook her head, “Whatever is causing it, it must belong to a power that is capable of hiding it. That alone makes them a significant enough threat to not cross, not in our current state.”

“We’re not crossing them, we’re just looking around. Besides, what if our luck is connected to them? Or, what if they may not be hostile to us? We can’t know until we really test it, can we?”

Huang Su offered a smile, “Mistress, there shouldn’t be any harm in merely looking around. As Shouge Zhe has said, the source had not been discovered in decades, so the chances of us stumbling upon the answer are practically non-existent. While it will mean that our time here is less productive than would be ideal, it should not bring us any harm.”

The kitsune muttered under her breath, “Those little slips are so cute…”

“Sorry?”

“Heh, don’t worry about it, right, Bianca?”

Bianca sighed. The kitsune had pointed out something that she had been taking a lot of delight in noticing, that being the way Huang Su’s little mistakes and slips in conversation. It used to be the case that she would speak perfectly formally and without shortening a single word, but since the time she had her asshole trained back in Heart’s Core Town, it was more and more common to see her fail to uphold this particular habit.

Still, the less it was pointed out, the more likely she was to keep doing it, whether because she herself wouldn’t realise it, or assume that others didn’t notice…

“Let’s just get going. We’ve got at least half the day left, so we should be able to come across something interesting out here, even if it doesn’t answer all of our questions. Should be a good use of time regardless – and in the meanwhile, Huang Su can recover her energy to be able to fly us all back out to the Reaper’s Grave, right?”

“Yes, Mistress. This environment isn’t ideal for me, as my fire-type energy conflicts with the intense yin in the air, but I will still be able to recover fully by the end of the day.”

“Great, then… splitting up wouldn’t be a good idea, would it?”

“If you’d like to get lost and never against return to the sect, then it’d be excellent,” the kitsune remarked.

“Yeah, I figured… then let’s head into the middle of the forest first, see if there’s anything worth looking at there. Huang Su, if you could lead the way again…”

“Of course, Mistress.”