12 Chapter 12

– Ge-ge, called In He, stepping on exactly the same stones that the Demon Lord's feet had stepped on a few moments ago. – Ge-ge, – he repeated insistently, as Shi Yu continued walking to the east in complete silence, without giving a single gesture that he heard the young man.

– What? – Shi Yu asked irritably when he was called for the fifth or sixth time in a row. – Don't you see that with your screams you are preventing me from listening to the spirits?

– Spirits? – In He glanced briefly at the waters of Zheng Li Hu, softly silvered by the light of the waning moon. – Are they talking about?

– They're singing, – muttered the Demon Lord. – Did the monk step on your ears, since you can't hear it yourself?

– In He begs for forgiveness, – the young man said, slightly stammering, – but I am extremely ignorant of art and can't distinguish a scream from a song. However, I was told that the singing of spirits means a bad omen, a speedy illness and even death. Ge-ge is not afraid of incurring failure by listening to their song?

– No, – Shi Yu replied. – It's not so easy to attract bad luck to immortals: small curses do not stick to us, and large ones can only be created by very strong cursing demons, which haven't been in the lower world for a long time.

– I heard, – In He lowered his voice, forcing Shi Yu to walk slower to hear his words, – that a couple of hundred years ago, someone powerful put a curse on one of the higher demons, so strong that he almost went to his forefathers-barely saved.

– Are you talking about a Demon of the water? – Shi Yu asked. – He was cursed, but the curse itself was very weak. If the Demon of the water hadn't taken the poison from the spider lily that day, which was mixed into his wine by some of the "faithful" servants, it would never have affected him.

Following the Demon Lord along Zheng Li Hu, In He soon noticed the outlines of a small village, skirted by one of the shallow rivers flowing into the lake. The bend of the river stretched like a snake along the houses built in the form of Diao jiao law[1], whose disorderly scattering resembled a crescent stretched to the shore, in the center of which, on a hill, stood a lone Si he yuan[2].

The tiny houses, set on high stilts washed by the waters of the river, looked like birds in the semi-darkness. Their walls, shrouded in thick water vapor, seemed translucent in the fog, and from afar the travelers could see that the gentle slopes of the white roofs were floating in the air, separate from the piles.

Despite the lateness of the time, the gates of Si he yuan were hospitably opened, but not a single sound came from the courtyard; only from time to time could be heard the light rattling of small skulls hung in clusters above the entrance.

– Ge–ge, – In He stopped at the very threshold, not daring to enter, – don't you think that this house is kind of strange? He grimaced, rubbing the tip of his nose with his index finger. – He smells like fresh blood pudding. Maybe this is the abode of a shaman?

– A keen sense of smell, – Shi Yu praised, beckoning In He with his hand. The Demon Lord had already entered and was standing in the middle of the courtyard. The moonlight fell directly on him, which made Shi Yu, dressed all in black, seem molded out of smoke against the background of darkness.

– At first glance, it really looks like a shaman's hut, but, – Shi Yu picked up a decapitated snake carcass already beginning to rot from the ground, – shamans believe that snakes have bad blood. None of them would hang snake skulls in a prominent place. Only here, – he called one of the will-o'-the-wisps to get a better look at the snake, – I can't understand why someone needed to take off her skin?

In He shrugged his shoulders.

– I don't know, ge-ge, – he said, after a moment's thought. – I'm not sure of my guess, but it seems like he needed it for something. Perhaps he was trying to lure others with her help, because it is known that snakes always crawl to where one of their relatives died. But I am much more concerned about something else, – In He looked around the yard, – and this is the location of the house. All I can think of is complete madness, and I'd rather get lost.

pay attention To make a mistake, – Shi Yu corrected him. – Did you also to how the diao Jiao Law are located?

In He took out the Soul Eater scabbard.

– Did ge-ge notice that? – In He asked, gazing intently at Si he yuan's residential buildings. – At first, it seems that all the houses are built randomly, but in fact, – In He bared the blade of the sword for two cun, – Diao jiao law form a crescent around Si he yuan, which is the moon.

Snake skulls above the gate, the acrid smell of blood that permeates every splinter here, and finally – the figure of the crescent moon, – said In He, clutching the handle of the Soul Eater. – The air is full of energy, but it already belongs to the dead. By chance, we ended up in the domain of cultivators from the Clan of the Blood Moon.

– The ones who chose the scarlet immortal as their God and persistently worship him? – The Demon Lord asked mockingly. – Whats a pity that Aoi will never respond to their prayers, all the sacrifices for his name were made in vain.

– You're right, ge-ge, – In He shouted, – the cultivators from the Clan of the Blood Moon are brainless fools who never saw Aoi, despite all their efforts. Does this mean that he is dissatisfied with his believers? Or, maybe, – In He grinned sarcastically, – he just considers them too useless to show his face, or he doesn't exist?

There was a soft rustle behind him, more like the chirping of grasshoppers, and a moment later, a short knife with a wide blade, stuck in the log wall right behind his head, touched the snow-white skin of In He's cheek.

[1] Diao Jiao Low – is a traditional Chinese house on stilts.

[2] Si He Yuan – is a house located at the corners on the cardinal directions, consisting of four disconnected buildings.

Si - four, He - union, Yuan - yard.