Over in a moment

Ling Yun felt that he was in a trance.

It was as if he was forgetting everything little by little until he would inevitably end up remembering nothing.

What was the true identity of this uncomfortable feeling that lurked inside him intertwined ; soaking him so empty that it burned him out until all that remained were chaotic afterimages ?

He could see them now ,as clearly as the light of the day that illuminated the forest.

They were led by a very familiar face , his own .

Behind Meng Yun was a posse , the members of which could all the well be in an another world to the current him . No , they were surely in an another world ; those hazy silhouettes were the proof!

He recognised them indistinctly.

The man at front was his eldest , following him was ... his family ? The fog that shrouded his mind obscured the light of revelation .

His doppelganger bent down till his wraith like presence was inches away from his own.

His face held an expression of curiosity as he examined Ling Yun's which was so similar to his own.

Unconsciously it seemed , his misty hand raised itself slowly upwards till it reached Ling Yun's outstretched one .

Their palms came in contact.

Then the silence shattered.

An unhealthy clamour began as the resentful vented their wrath through piercing screams.

Ling Yun couldn't stop himself from laughing uproariously in riposte.

Receiving unwanted simulation and peaceful contradiction at the same time ; it made him subtly and exquisitely crazy.

He didn't know till how long he laughed.

All he knew that his breath came in wheezes and tears spilled forth from his eyes.

"I'm troubled " , he muttered aloud gasping as he did so , "to taste the act of being loved."

"Ba-Dump!"

His heart thumped suddenly in response waking him from his reverie.

He could hear whispers in his head right now bewitching enough to make his heart shiver.

"The first stride is taken upon the bones of the loved ; let their wrathful wings uplift you to the skies !

Through the spilling of blood be reborn anew into an all new world !"

He shakily pulled out a knife from inside his robes unmindful of his hostile surroundings.

He slashed a long line along his free forearm till blood flowed greedily.

An involuntary howl escaped from his chattering teeth.

The spirits flickered and vanished one by one , the last sight of them being Meng Yun giving him a deep look before he too disappeared like the last wisps of mist after being exposed to the bright sun on the conclusion of rain.

The knife dropped from his hand.

The world around him flipped over in an instant.

He was now in a vast vale littered with flowering plants ; their pollen slowly ascended to the skies in a fog of purple and yellow with a pungent odour.

Ling Yun quickly held his nose in order to prevent them from coming in contact with his olfactory sense.

After conforming that nothing untoward was happening to him he gingerly released his nose .

The lack of response mystified him.

He had stumbled upon this clearing by accident after which his memories were a blank.

The best that he could figure out that the pollen released by the flowers contained a hallucinogen so potent that even with qi the illusion won't be dispelled easily.

The world on the other side had seemed ever so real.

Even now he didn't understand how he had broken though ; scouring through his vague memories did no help.

While he could not remember the means adopted by him to escape , the silhouettes of the vengeful spectres were still imprinted deep inside his heart.

He yelled aloud in parry

"Everything lasted only for a moment for me ! Your obsession won't change a thing !" .

He couldn't help but laugh in triumph as he shook his prideful fists towards the skies.

But as if a switch had flipped the flood of sadistic joy vanished abruptly from his being leaving him empty once more as he came to a sudden realization.

He couldn't believe it when he saw them, but the tears lying in his palm were a reality and even then the sobs were staining the grass like dew in the dawn.

He began to wipe his cheek in incredulity but soon his hand froze as his eyes became unfocused

He muttered instinctively

" All of them came , the trash , but not once did you show your face ."

He buried his head in the sea of flowers desperately trying to escape to another world.

He failed to.

He didn't lift his head though.

Inexperienced , heartless but even so being lost is fine once in a while.

Fang Xingchen sniffed the air with interest.

A melange of tenderness mixed with an even proportion of slyness assaulted his senses.

He breathed it in greedily .

His companions behind him stopped in confusion.

Song Wentao , one of the talents belonging to the Song clan ; who is also the deputy captain of this team stepped forward.

"What are you doing over there ? Get a move on Fang Xingchen ! " , the disgruntled tone in his voice was painfully obvious ; he always had felt that in no way he was inferior to the other yet it hadn't been him whom had been chosen as the captain !

"Can't you feel it ? " , Fang Xingchen said softly , his eyes closing in enrapture. " The exquisite scent that arrives just before a storm ."

"Have you gone crazy as well ? I always thought that Guichen was the only one with a problem in his head .But it seems that the saying is really true heh , madness always runs in the family !"

Song Wentao responded scornfully.

His taunt prompted many others to laugh in support as well . Only those from the Fang clan stayed silent.

Fang Xingchen ignored the ridicule instead walking slowly up to Song Wentao till they were at a respectable distance.

He scrutinised the other person carefully circling around him over and over as if to be sure of something.

Song Wentao was naturally riled up by what he felt was an attempt to disregard him .If he didn't respond to this insult his dignity would just go to the dogs ! Naturally then , he bellowed in a fashion he felt , exhibited his prestige clearly:

"Fang Xingchen do you want a fight ? If so I promise to shatter your big head with a single strike ! So you better get on unless you want your skull nailed to the tree yonder ."

Fang Xingchen looked at him in curiosity before turning his face to the heavens and sighing in lonesome sadness and then began to recite poetry in an exaggerated manner

"Ah, the sadness of

having become a grownup,

mature in every way,

and being the only one

who knows it."

On hearing this recitation the already fuming Song Wentao was about to explode.

"What do you mean by this ? " His roar rang through the entire forest.

"Well boys , won't you teach them then ? " , Fang Xingchen said flippantly with a smile on his face.

Following his words as if in response to an order the rest of the members of the Fang clan surrounded their teammates from the other clans .

Song Wentao's gaze chilled .

He began to speak in a slow , measured tone pronouncing each word carefully as if he was addressing a child

"Are you sure that you're doing this . Remember that you're outnumbered three to one ; There's just three of you and nine of us".

"Ah! " , Fang Xingchen made an exaggerated expression ,"Did you learn to count ? That's excellent progress right there Brother Tao , Some day you might just learn to read !"

Song Wentao's brow wriggled like a worm ; while his fellow clansmen did their best to suppress themselves , the others who had no such restriction were already laughing aloud in abandon.

"Calm down ,Wentao ! Arguing with this sissy never ends well " , thinking so he took a deep breath before addressing .

"Are you sure that you don't want your teeth kicked in ? "

"Maybe, I wouldn't know unless you try."

"In that case " , Song Wentao nodded to those on his side . That was the signal . It was the time to attack .

Unfortunately he never got an opportunity to carry it out.

Fang Xingchen snapped his fingers causing a red light to blossom out of it , as if in response the other two members of the Fang clan plunged themselves into their enemy without bothering to use any means ; instead a thick , black line suddenly materialized on one side of their bodies right from their foreheads all the way to the tips of their legs.

Seeing this Song Wentao had an ominous premonition .

He barely had the time to respond however for soon following a momentary sound like shattering glass, a turbulent wave ripped through the clearing tearing through everything on its path leaving only burning embers and a world of ash in its aftermath.

Fang Xingchen wasn't surprised at all at the sight of a naked sword nestling his bare neck. He looked towards the hand that held that sword.

Song Wentao had seen better days.

Now all that remained of a handsome man with a striking appearance who had made countless girls swoon ; was a burnt shell.

Resembling a ghoul more than the human he once was ; masses of flesh hung loose from a decaying skeleton in a scene that had come straight from a nightmare.

"A living corpse , indeed " Fang Xingchen noted cynically.

" Hiss" , with an almighty effort the corpse that was all that remained of Song Wentao began to speak in a voice that was deteriorated as he was.

"Say your prayers ." , his words were as brief as his situation allowed for.

"Will you wait for a bit .It will be over in a moment ," Fang Xingchen said exasperatedly.

The corpse could not respond ; limited as it was by expression but the sword hesitated .

Suddenly another shudder passed through the clearing eliciting another hiss of what could have been surprise from the remnant of Song Wentao.

Fang Xingchen couldn't help smiling ; his face resembled that of a cat that had just eaten the master's fish and had been praised for it.

"It takes time you know ,with the distance and all but Contract Gu are really handy .You should get some ."

The sword pushed further inwards drawing a thin -red line of crimson from his neck.

"What did you do you maniac ? "

The apparition hissed at him , spluttering foul liquid that might have once been spit all over him.

Fang Xingchen shrugged helplessly.

"I just pretty much wiped everyone except for you ,me and those at the formation site ."

"Wait a bit " , he slapped his head to convey his mistake " I just forgot our remaining prey too , silly me !"

The sword shook even more.

"Do you even have an inkling of what you did ? Not to mention the fact that all of our clans would come after you ; your damn explosion earlier was enough to get all of the beasts out of hiding !"

"Well that was the general idea !"

This time a chattering of calcified teeth conveyed astonishment.

Fang Xingchen put a finger in his open mouth ; a perfect representative of the association of lethargic cultivators .

"You see it gets so difficult to flush out rabbits from their holes be it if they are of the alive or the dead variety . Having the hounds on the loose makes everything so much easier !"

"What about your own then ? You don't care even a little bit of the lives of your clansmen ? In that case what about that idiot over there at the teleportation formation ; Do you honestly think that my brethren would let him go ?"

"Ugh !" , Fang Xingchen looked at him as if he had accused him of something utterly vile and disgusting , "How can you even think that ? It's utterly nauseating !"

"Trust me on this one , Brother Song . To my dear clansmen what transpired was exhilarating ; Enough to send them to the heavens though I literally did just that ! Isn't that funny ? As for cousin Guichen , your pals are welcome to do whatever they want it's not my responsibility after all everyone is entitled to their fair share of fun "

"Don't you think so , Brother Song ? "

"Did you enjoy what I did to you ? "

"The feeling of watching your flesh burn and reduce to ashes in front of your own eyes ; watching your fair countenance , a source of pride and joy ,vanish for ever never to return again "

'Was it thrilling to watch your dear brothers-in -arms perish so cruelly in front of your eyes knowing all the while that you can do nothing to stop it from happening ? "

Song Wentao roared ; his raw rage manifesting in the outside world as an animal like scream .

"You are gone ! You monster !"

Song Wentao's sword surged forward like a dragon raging in a torrential downpour ; all it had to do was to reach an inch forward and it would be over.

Everything would be over .

That accursed creature would vanish forever from existence.

But his sword never reached its destination .

The creature in shambles looked down at what had once been its broad chest exuding immense might . It was no longer whole ; pierced by a single finger resembling a sword point blazing with red light.

The creature looked up ; it could no longer make any sound.

Fang Xingchen sighed

" Too late , Brother Song ! "

"When we use the sword what is the point of talking with our mouths ? "

"We talk with our sword , remember ? " , he said gently caressing the ruined face as if coaxing a child.

The spectre gave one last look of horror at him before its body dissolved into ash ; the remains scattering away with the wind.

"I hope you have fun wherever you are going , Brother Song !"

He screamed towards the skies as a sign of farewell .

He then went back to the earth digging around for something he needed.

"Aha ! I knew you had it in you !"

Fang Xingchen picked up his loot with a childlike thrill , a stack of dimly shining badges which had at one point of time been radiant but now lacked any sort of lustre.

After a while spent rummaging the remains in the area he finally managed to collect all of his spoils ; after a brief diversion to collect some more he would be heading to a far-more amusing place later on.

He couldn't help patting his chest contently at the thought or to be more specific a certain , very special Little Gu that was even now twitching in excitement .

"You would have to wait for a while , little one !"

"But don't worry preparing meals doesn't take too much time ."

"Everything is over in a moment ."

Under the bright blue sky ; A merry youth , bouncing and beaming , could be seen setting off into the verdant green ; leaving a world of fire and brimstone behind him.