During the Double Ninth Festival, in front of Hanying Tower.
It was late at night, and the busy city in the distance was still noisy. The woman wearing a dogwood tree walked slowly home with the children, all holding paper kites in their hands. The vendors stopped shouting. The colleagues who had been comparing their voices during the day all chatted about their wives and children at home. The colorful and delicate chrysanthemums along the way were trampled by the footsteps and slowly submerged into the soft soil.
Turning his attention back to this slightly remote area, a gold-rimmed plaque with the three characters "Hanying Tower" was hung in front of the door of this five-story building. The excitement has moved here from the urban area, and the party here has just begun.
But there is no shengxiao or zither here, and everything is eerily quiet. Only water droplets fall on different drum heads regularly, hitting different sounds. Looking up, the paper windows upstairs reflected the figures of the actors inside, dancing in this subtle and regular rhythm. People lined up in an orderly manner, chatting in low voices from time to time.
He looked at the building silently, his indifferent eyes far from admiring.
When he was reached in line, he took out the invitation from his black clothes and handed it to the other party's hand. The man looked at him and put it in.
The fragrance of chrysanthemums is very light, perhaps because the overly bright color takes away most of the senses. But he withdrew his gaze and stared at the upward stairs in front of him. The two servants asked him to stretch out his arms and inspect the visitor's weapons. A man took off his only sword and lined up in order next to the stored weapons.
Another said: "Please store any weapons of any kind here."
He opened his clenched hands, and a green jade ring fell down and fell on the red rope on his wrist.
"Don't be nervous, it's just a decoration." He smiled.
After being released, he went up.
This is a nice place, with carved beams and painted pillars and full of fragrance. There is no incense burner inside, only the flowers purchased on the eve of the Double Ninth Festival and the aroma of the wood of the tables and chairs. Hanying Building itself is a theater building, but it is now rented out to others at a low cost. The current owner is a retired onmyoji who is getting old. Hanying Tower is usually a teahouse, and anyone can come here to have a rest and drink tea. When night falls, people draw the curtains and gather together to whisper and talk about shady news.
The scenery here is good, the location is clean, and the rent is cheap. Many travelers who wander in the gray area like to come here to find out the news. This was his first time here, and he had only heard of it before.
It's also the last time.
Several guards with swords on the top floor fell silently. This is a large room with curtains drawn and screens erected. The room was bustling with people drinking glasses of wine and changing glasses. The dancer moves to a beat that is drowned out by the sound of words, and ghostly shadows appear and disappear on the screen.
The person sitting at the upper table is the owner of Hanying Tower. He was very young and had gray hair on his temples, but he was high-spirited. He raised a glass and chatted and laughed with a group of people in their forties. Those people were so complimentary that anyone who listened to them would feel drunk. Naturally, he was no exception. His face was red with a glib tongue, and he looked around the table with squinted eyes as if he were looking at his own son.
It's nothing more than words such as blessings like the East China Sea, longevity as long as the Southern Mountains, and good health during the Double Ninth Festival. Plus some of his glorious or not-so-glamorous deeds when he was young. But no matter what words are spoken, from whom, or in what form, they all have different meanings. Turn right into wrong, turn black into white, turn good into bad, words are spoken by people, and people listen to them.
"Your location is surrounded by mountains and rivers, facing south and facing north. It is truly a treasure trove for health."
"What's the point of making a living? You're old and old." He responded with a smile.
A cold male voice suddenly broke in.
"This day must come to an end."
As soon as these words came out, everyone was speechless. The old man was obviously stunned, and his withered face turned even redder due to his drunkenness and anger.
"Who is causing trouble here!"
The voice that spoke just now was a very young voice, which should be incompatible with anyone sitting here. They looked around hurriedly, looking for the person who had spoken all over the room. Everyone had their heads covered, but they didn't dare to neglect the adults at the table.
"This building is not bad," the owner of the voice continued, "It's a pity that it will soon be reduced to ruins."
They finally found the source of the sound. He didn't know when he came in, dressed in black, and disappeared under the dim candlelight. It seemed that he had been in the house for a long time. The young man was in his mid-twenties, with short black hair tied behind his head, and his amber eyes were quiet and empty. In the shadows, as a group of people were frantically looking for weapons, he showed a calmness that was beyond his age.
Someone shouted for escort, and he quickly raised his wrist. The nearest candle was extinguished, and along with the gleam of fire was the man's unpleasant voice.
The man clutched his neck in shock. Something penetrated his throat, causing all sounds to be muffled by the tiny hole. The hidden weapon penetrated his neck and was deeply embedded in the wall behind him.
It's a weasel's tooth.
Everyone was stunned. He snapped his fingers again, and a crackling sound of electricity sounded at his fingertips. Gold and white intertwined, electric light flashed, and a thunder fell from the sky, penetrated the roof tiles, and split open the table filled with wine and meat. All the dishes, bowls, lamps and candles were on the floor. The dark wind extinguished all the lampstands, and everything became dark. The old guys were panicking and running around, but he didn't care. Lightning struck, and the old man who was sitting at the table in a daze noticed that the place was empty. He stretched out his trembling, skinny hands to rub his eyes. There was another burst of thunder, and a terrifying aura came closer.
Another bolt of lightning illuminated a sinister face in front of him.
There was also a huge, dark beast behind him, like a jackal or a wolf, with ferocious and terrifying eyes. The pale fangs glowed with blue light, making people suspect that they would be stained with blood at the next moment.
The crackling sounds continued one after another. From the beginning, the sound of breaking porcelain turned into the messy and panicked footsteps of people, and now it was mixed with the sound of burning wood. The scorching fire light came from bottom to top, coating the young man and the monster he descended with the thunder with a light golden color.
"I heard that the older a mediocre person gets, the more greedy for money and fear of death he becomes." He said coldly.
"Yes, who sent you here? How much did he spend? What do you want? I will give you whatever you want. I will give you whatever you want..."
"Don't you ask me who I am?" The young man came closer.
"Then who are you?"
"The dead don't need to know." He sneered, "It's enough for me to remember you."
The young man turned away. The huge and ferocious Tengu came closer, causing the pleas to turn into screams, and then into dying wails.
Then it falls into silence.
The fire became more intense. People downstairs knocked over candle lamps in their haste to escape, and the fire was still spreading, trying to devour all the secrets that had not yet been revealed. The young man left calmly and took away the saber that originally belonged to him. He didn't even look at the other more fancy and expensive weapons.
It wasn't until he was hundreds of steps away that he took out the horizontal knife and checked it briefly. The color of the knife is like ink jade, and the pattern is like the flowing water of Hetian Mountain. Then he raised his head and set his sights on the building where he came from. From a distance, it was obvious that the roof tiles were opened by lightning, and flames shot out from the sky. There were sounds of ferocious beasts breaking through wooden structures and objects being broken, and there were calls for help and screams one after another inside the house. Some people ran out of the door with fire on their bodies, and some people's figures fell in the window.
Occasionally, the silhouette of a tengu flashes past, and together with the flames, it devours the remaining people.
There are some voices that are constantly heard, and some people are unmoved.
He looked at the building silently, his indifferent eyes far from admiring.
The dark night and the burning fire—all this is so familiar. Now he just returns this scene exactly as it was before. Even though this scene was more than twenty years old, it still brought back terrible memories in him, making him feel dizzy.
"Tsk, it's burning really hot."
The frivolous voice reached my ears, and putting my hand on the handle of the knife was my first reaction. But a moment of thinking caused him to stop his next action - although his hand was always faster than his consciousness, and the blade of the knife was already halfway out.
He felt an unusually strong demonic aura, and it was not the best choice to fight against it in the first place.
A slender white hand rested on his forearm holding the knife and pushed the blade back. The red nails are very pointed and long, as annoying as the fire over there. He did not turn his face, but looked sideways slightly, and saw a pair of curved golden crescents sleeping in a pair of silky eyes.
"The Six Paths of Impermanence..."
"Not bad, Tang Shaoxia recognizes me."
He turned his head and looked at the man. The impermanent man stopped talking and moved his gaze away, looking at Hanying Tower.
"What do you want from me?"
"Well, you want revenge, right? That poster was the guy who sold the news about their lives back then... So, why don't I help you again."
"What?"
Lord Xueyue waved his sleeves, and an unprovoked fire suddenly broke out in the building a hundred steps away. The flames rose from the ground and engulfed the entire building in an instant. The slight fire that had previously shot out was eclipsed and was included in it. The fire seemed to be alive, expanding and growing, almost completely covering the five-story building, with only a vague outline flashing in the dazzling firelight. The sky here was brightened by the fire on the ground, and all the surrounding scenery became clear, as if it were daytime.
He opened his eyes slightly, and Lord Kotsutsuki then said: "Don't worry, your little dog will be fine. If the fever gets stronger, even the hair you dropped there won't leave any evidence."
His hand moved to the hilt of the knife again. It's not like he never thought that the Six Paths of Impermanence would target him - judging from the people and monsters he had killed, it would be a matter of time. It's just that he can't see through the impermanent ghost in front of him no matter what. He didn't like the feeling of the unknown, he needed to be in control.
"What do you want?"
Lord Kutsutsuki moved closer, resting his elbow on his shoulder and supporting his chin with the back of his hand. He looked at him and saw an unpredictable smile in his eyes. He also smelled the scent of the other party, which was faint, like those chrysanthemums in the building, and like lotus.
"I told you, I'm here to help you."
