CHAPTER-3
Long Xue chased the dogs tirelessly as they whimpered in fear and tried the prolong the inevitable. Sooner or later, they knew that he was going to catch them anyway. The three dogs zoomed past the shops and houses, running into a forest close to the market. Long Xue ran after them as the prickles of the tree branches tore his robes little by little.
Long Xue didn't care about anything else. His target were the dogs, and all he wanted was to teach them a lesson they'll never forget, 'Never mess with me'.
Seeing the dogs stop, an evil smile formed on his face.
Long Xue halted. Staring at the dogs in front of him, he spoke, "I'm going to beat you all up till you end up mute."
Long Xue believed that when dogs bark, they cause fear. By turning them mute, he wouldn't be afraid of the dogs anymore. He then noticed something peculiar, the dogs had been staring in a particular direction for some time now.
"What are you guys looking at?" Long Xue looked up and discovered the human body that was nailed on the tree before him. The body's face was pale and from its mouth, maggots fell, indicating that it had been there for a some time.
The sight was quite scary and disgusting at the same time. Long Xue's body shivered as he looked up into the sky. In the sky, little lights twinkled as the translucent clouds slowly moved. The moonlight rained down on the trees, casting their shadows to the ground.
"Night has fallen? So quickly! Wasn't everything bright moments ago?" Long Xue's heart started to beat a little faster than normal. Tonight was the night of the third full moon, the Yin sect will be out today!
The dogs ran off which dragged Long Xue out of his contemplation. He had only one thought in mind, and that was to leave this cursed place as quick as possible.
As Long Xue turned back, a man fell within his sight. The sudden appearance of the man spooked him that he wanted to call for help. The man swiftly used his hands to cover the boy's mouth.
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" The man asked.
Hearing the man's voice, Long Xue recognised him, "You, you're the man I met earlier today."
"Yes, you're right, but this time you didn't bump into me. That's a good sign." The man replied as he placed a smile on this lips. "Seems you're good at recognising voices."
"What are you doing here?" Long Xue asked.
The man's eyes widened in shock, "I should be asking that. If you die, how would I live?"
"What are you talking about?"
The man sighed, "Forget it. Hop on my back, I'll carry you out of here."
Long Xue shook his head, "No, I can run."
"But not as fast as I can."
"I'm a second level practitioner, I'm faster than you're." Long Xue replied, grinning a little.
Suddenly, growling sounds jumped out of the trees and the chantings intensified. The air became cold and Long Xue found it had to breathe, the air was suffocating him. Long Xue coughed as he tried to breathe.
"Deaeration, a skill belonging to Essence of air." The man muttered softly as he lifted Long Xue and carried him on his back.
As the man ran, the bobbing Long Xue could feel a sense of familiarity with the man, so he asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm Long Zhi." The man replied.
"Long Zhi?" The name sounded familiar, "You mean the Long Zhi who founded the Long sect, my sect?"
The man shot Long Xue a glare, "Which other Long Zhi do you know?"
"None!" Long Xue spoke, still shocked at what he had just heard.
"Long Xue!" A voice called out from the surrounding darkness.
Long Xue looked glanced around to search for his caller, but saw no one, "Did you hear that?"
Long Zhi narrowed his gaze, "As far as I'm concerned, we both heard nothing."
"What are you talking about? I definitely heard someone call my name." Long Xue replied.
"Those voices are illusions. They is part of the Yin sect's formation, 'The Alluring'." Long Zhi replied as he hopped over a boulder that blocked his path.
"Well, the formation sounds so real." Long Xue heart skipped a beat.
"That's more to the reason why you shouldn't believe anything you see or hear when you're out at night, especially on the Night of Yin." Long Zhi nodded.
Long Xue said, "My father told me that on the third full moon, I shouldn't go out at night. He never really told me why."
"Well you're about to see why." Long Zhi dropped Long Xue in the market square as he spoke hurriedly, "Keep on running, run straight home! Like I said earlier, do not trust anything you see or hear until you've successfully stepped into your home, that's the formation's loophole."
"What if I run into some kind of danger?" Long Xue asked, shakily.
"You will, trust me, but don't stop running." Long Zhi replied, trying to sound optimistic.
"What? You mean I can't avoid it?" Long Xue gulped down the spit that had accumulation in his throat.
Long Zhi laughed, "Never! Kid, you're up a against the Yin sect, and technically, you're currently in their formation. What makes you think it'll be easy to outrun them?"
Long Xue shook his head before asking, "What about you?"
"Don't worry about me kid. As long as you're fine, I will be too. Note, if you die, I die. In short, my life is in your hands now." Long Zhi laughed as he scurried away.
"Hey wait! You can't just leave me here!" Long Xue looked around as his hands shook.
Looking up to the sky, he noticed that a large cloud was covering the moon. Suddenly, howling sounds filled the air giving the market square an eerie vibe.
Without a moment of thought, Long Xue started to run. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him.
Just as the man had said, the voice of his sister, Haiyin, fell into his ears.
"Long Xue, what are you doing our here? We've been looking for you all day?"
Long Xue paid no attention to the voice and continued running.
"Long Xue!" The voice called out again, but this time, it sounded a little hoarse and serious.
Long Xue ignored the call.
"Long Xue!" The voice turned monstrous, and a heavy gust of wind blew through the streets, lifting the dust and rattling the doors of the sealed houses and shops.
None of this occurrences slowed Long Xue down, infact, they caused his legs to involuntarily locomote faster.
A black fog gathered a few metres from Long Xue and morphed into a shadow figure. Long Xue knew what a shadow figure was and he knew their capabilities of superhuman speed.
"Not good." Long Xue muttered as he continued to run ahead.
Noticing that the boy wasn't slowing down, the shadow figure charged at him, moving at a speed that was incomparable to the speed of a cultivator at a practitioner's level.
"I can't stop running, that's what he said but, he never said anything about running faster." Long Xue mumbled to himself as he gasped for air, "If I'm going to die, I might as well give it all I've got!"
With the motivation, Long Xue charged ahead as qi began to radiate off his body. "I'm Long Xue and I'm nourished with the blood of the dragons! No one is stopping me! Not today, not ever!"
...
"All she felt was pain spread through her body. She cried out as she fumfered the word 'help', despite knowing that no one was coming to her aid tonight.
She got up once again wanting to live, and see the sunrise.
She grabbed the pitchfork and yanked it out of her shoulder. The voice of a young beautiful crying maiden scattered in the night's air followed by a soft sigh.
She held the pitchfork tightly in her hands as she begun running again, her left shoulder still throbbing from the pain. The chantings of the Yin sect grew louder as she literally could hear their feet clapping with the ground.
One of the men in black appeared in front of her. He was probably expecting her to be phased, but the girl showed no sign of fear or paranoia. She tightened her grip around the pitchfork and did something unspeakable of! She threw the pitchfork at the man and it dashed into his head!
A high pitched scream escaped from the from him as he turned into a black fog and shattered into pieces of black fogs.
The young maiden was neither a fish nor a fowl in the faculty of physical and intellectual capabilities, but turns out that being engrossed in a life and death situation brings out the best of you."