Town of Gu

Young Master Hai awakened to a tickle on his forehead, that had been rather annoying him for quite some time. He opened his eyes to see Kang Lei kneeling over him, quite close.

"Kang Lei wha…", Hai Yin spoke, but he was shushed by the young master, towering over him.

"Shhhhhhhh! Hai Yin, do not move!", Kang Lei whispered, with his brows furrowed as he leaned his face closer to Hai Yin's.

Young master Hai laid there frozen stiff, as he was surprised to see Kang Lei in his bed when he had his own, not to mention why was he so close? The tickle on Hai Yin's forehead annoyed him again and without thinking, he reached to scratch it, but Kang Lei grabbed his arm, pinning it to the bed, stopping him in his tracks.

Hai Yin's perfectly fair, yet rose tinted skin turned a shade pinker, "Kang Lei! What are you doing?!", Hai Yin anxiously whispered for some reason, all though he had no idea why he was whispering.

Kang Lei clicked his tongue as he leaned closer, "Hai Yin, quiet or it will fly away!", Kang Lei said firmly although he was whispering.

"Wha…what is it?" Hai Yin stuttered as the pitch in his voice grew several tones higher and his furrowed brows rose as a frightened expression suddenly broke onto his face when he heard "It will fly away."

"Shhh, Hai Yin, do not panic, but there is quite a large bug that I've never seen before on your forehead. It has wings!" Hearing this, Hai Yin gasped as his soul nearly left his body. He jumped up, using every inch of his being to push Kang Lei off of him before he ran around the room with flailing arms yelling, "Get it off! Get it off!"

Pushed onto the floor, Kang Lei sat laughing hysterically, watching the madness that was Hai Yin running around the room like he had lost his mind, the Hai Yin who was usually so calm and collective in the face of danger.

"Hai Yin!" Kang Lei squealed, holding his stomach as he nearly choked from laughing so hard.

"Why do you sit there? Get it off!", Hai Yin yelled as he continued to slap away the air around him.

"Hai Yin, it is gone! It flew away the moment you jumped up!" Kang Lei finally managed to say as he wiped his face, he had laughed himself to tears!

Hai Yin suddenly stopped, turning around to Kang Lei who was still on the floor catching his breath. With wide eyes Hai Yin did his best to stare up at his own forehead, "Are you sure? Where has it gone?", he said, his voice still quite anxious.

Kang Lei finally found the strength to stand and dusted himself off as he walked over with a huge grin on his face. "It has gone, see?" said Kang Lei tapping Hai Yin twice on the forehead to assure the frantic young master that he was telling the truth.

"Hai Yin, are you that afraid of bugs?", said Kang Lei in a teasing manner and Hai Yin finally lowered his eyes to see Kang Lei standing in front of him sucking in his lips to hide the silly grin on his face, but the blue eyed young master was failing miserably.

Rolling his eyes, Hai Yin cleared his throat, brushing past Kang Lei to pick up his sword. With furrowed brows, he turned around, "Let us go.", he said in an agitated tone and exited the room, leaving Kang Lei who was snickering like an idiot by himself.

"Hai Yin, I can't believe a little bug scares you so much." Said Kang Lei chuckling as the two walked down the stairs of the inn, "Let me guess what else frightens you, mice? How about eggplant?", the young master teased. Ignoring Kang Lei, Hai Yin rolled his eyes again, continuing down the steps onto the first floor where the Vu clan were having a meal.

"So you made it, I hope you enjoyed a decent sleep, courtesy of the heir to the Vu clan.", said young master Vu too proud of himself, not being able to help allowing his ego to decide what came out of his mouth.

"We did, thank you; we'll be going now.", said Hai Yin, slightly bowing and turning toward the door, but Kang Lei hadn't followed him.

"What about you? Enjoying your life? Courtesy of the heir to the Kang clan.", said Kang Lei with his brows furrowed and a smirk on his handsome face.

"Don't let it go to your head spawn of the devil, I owe you nothing!", said Vu Zhan as he quickly stood up from the table, placing his hand on his sheathed sword.

Kang Lei almost lunged forward, but he was suddenly stopped by a hand grabbing tightly around his arm, "Do not waste any more time on him, let's go.", said Hai Yin. Kang Lei cut his eye at his traveling companion, exhaling heavily, gently pulling his arm away and walking out of the inn with young master Hai following.

As the two walked side by side, Hai Yin took occasional glances at Kang Lei. The young master had been quiet since they left the inn, pouting looking a lot like his Father at the moment as his brows were closely knitted together. "Why do you allow him to get to you?", Hai Yin finally spoke. Glancing at Hai Yin for a moment, Kang Lei looked up in the sky before directing his attention back in front of him, "I don't allow him get to me.", he said still pouting.

"Then why are you angry?", said Hai Yin.

"….." Kang Lei suddenly stopped, turning toward Hai Yin with his mouth opened, but no words came out, honestly what could he say, the young master was right. The two stared at each other for a moment, before a smirk made its way onto Hai Yin's face and he turned to continue walking.

Pouting again, Kang Lei closed his mouth, hurrying behind, "Hey! Wait for me!"

Hai Yin continued to smirk as he heard Kang Lei run up behind him, but his footsteps suddenly stopped, closing his eyes as a familiar smell hovered around, the aroma of dumplings filling the air that reminded him of home.

Kang Lei stared at Hai Yin, leaning forward to get a better view, he smirked, also smelling the aroma in the air. "Shall we eat?", he asked.

Hai Yin opened his eyes and nodded, the two making their way to a nearby tavern.

The two walked into a loud and rowdy full tavern, the sound of drunken slurred, bickering and laughs filling the entire place. As they looked around, a staff sir walked over taking them to a table right away.

As they made their way to a table, eyes began to stare and some whispered, "Did you see the young master's eyes?", said a man whispering loudly close by.

"Yes, people here aren't born with eyes such as those, his parents must have done something to the child.", the other person at his table added.

"Disgustingly low parents he must have." The first man continued. Hearing this Kang Lei rolled his eyes sitting down, although he'd rather leave, he simply decided to ignore it. Hai Yin glared at the two men just a table away and then the young Master across from him for a moment before looking away.

"What can I get you young masters?", said the staff man.

"Dumplings, and oolong tea please.", said Hai Yin without hesitation.

"And you young master?", said the staff man to Kang Lei.

Lost in his thoughts for a moment, Kang Lei blinked a few times as he had been brought back to earth, "Uh, just bring me some sweet red bean buns and something strong to drink.", said Kang Lei, not thinking too hard about what he wanted. The staff man nodded, leaving the table and Hai Yin looked back up at Kang Lei who was once again lost in his thoughts.

"They are small, minded people who dare not ever venture out of this town, do not take what they say to heart.", said Hai Yin.

Kang Lei glanced up at his traveling companion, those blue orbs shinning brilliantly on the other side of the table, and Hai Yin couldn't help but to stare. "ahh, it doesn't bother me, I'm use to it.", said Kang Lei, a sudden smirk forming on his face. Hai Yin finally took his eyes off of Kang Lei, sighing internally, what an obvious lie.

"Your meal.", said the staff man setting their orders down on the table with the tea and porcelain bottle of wine. The man nodded and walked away. Hai Yin watched Kang Lei take a rather large bite of his sweet red bean bun as he picked up his chop sticks. Instead of putting the dumpling into his mouth, Hai Yin placed it on Kang Lei's plate. About to take another bite Kang Lei stopped, looking up with both brows raised to see Hai Yin looking down at his food.

"You cannot survive on sweets.", said Hai Yin, picking up two more dumplings, and again placing them on Kang Lei's plate before helping himself to one. Not saying anything Kang Lei smirked, putting down his sweet red bean bun, and replacing it with a dumpling that Hai Yin had shared with him.

After the two finished eating they shared the bottle of wine along with the tea, when a fight suddenly broke out at the other end of tavern, "Sleeping with my young misses are ya? I'll break your bones!", a drunken man slurred, sloppily throwing a punch at another man causing the both of them to fall onto the ground.

Eyeing the commotion with their brows raised, a smirk made its way onto Kang Lei's face, this tavern was too lively for its own good.

"Shall we go?", said Hai Yin and Kang Lei nodded, waving his hand to get the staff man's attention while Hai Yin pulled out a silver stone, placing it on the table.

"Is there anything else that I can get for you two young masters?", said the staff man coming back over, seemingly anxious as the environment was becoming increasingly uncomfortable.

"No, but you can tell us where we can find Gu's graveyard.", said Kang Lei.

The staff man's brows rose, "The graveyard? Are you sure you want to go there? Some strange things have been happening.", said the man leaning closer to Kang Lei and whispering.

"We must go, we have respects to pay.", said Kang Lei and the staff man nodded.

Looking at both young masters as he spoke, the staff man leaned in closer, "graves have been dug up, the dead have gone missing, people are saying that the dead are up and walking." Kang Lei raised his brows, and parted his lips, playing the role of ignorant surprised tourist as he wide eyed Hai Yin to do the same. As the staff man turned to Hai Yin, the young master raised his brows, placing his hand to cover his mouth.

"Yes, it's true!", said the staff man as he saw their reactions. "The graveyard is toward the end of the vendors walkway, past the old ladies robe shop, there will be a little path about two miles leading to it. If the body you wish to visit is there, pay your respects and leave quickly!", said the staff man.

"Thank you.", said Hai Yin and the staff man nodded and walked away. Quickly glancing at each other first, the two got up and left the tavern.

After the two reached the graveyard, the situation was exactly the same as it was in the village of Xitang. Neither of the two sensed indignant energy and many graves were empty, although there weren't as many bodies missing since Gu's graveyard was much larger.

"It is the same.", said Hai Yin with furrowed brows.

"…." Kang Lei said nothing with his brows also furrowed, eyeing the empty graves closely, once again there were no markings or incantations of any kind left behind.

"We will need to wait it out until nightfall.", said Hai Yin and Kang Lei nodded as the two took their positions, going into hiding to see how the night would play out.

Hour's later the night had grown still, chatter still sounded in the distance and the sound of birds chirping here and there. As Kang Lei sat twirling the ends of his hair, a hummingbird fluttered above him, Kang Lei looked up, dropping his hair and holding out his palm for the messenger to land, closing his eyes, Kang Lei could now hear Hai Yin.

"Something is different, it has been nightfall for a while now.", said Hai Yin.

"I agree, could it be that they know we are here?", asked Kang Lei and suddenly footsteps began to thud, nature wrestling beneath the steps. Narrowing their eyes, the two young masters, watched carefully as four men with shovels dragging behind them made their way to the graves. Unlike the mindless idiots from Xitang before, these men began to dig straight away, knowing exactly what they were supposed to do. Kang Lei and Hai Yin eyed each other for a second and focused back on the men digging.

"The caster is close by, if we stop them, he will come and see what the problem is.", said Kang Lei.

"But if we stop them, we will not find out what becomes of the bodies, let's wait and see.", said Hai Yin.

"…" nodding, Kang Lei sat patiently waiting as Hai Yin suggested. As they sat watching, horseshoes began to sound along the path, a horse and carriage soon pulling up, stopping on the side of the graveyard. The man jumped down from the carriage and stood still by the carriage, not doing anything like the man in the village of Xitang had did so before.

Almost more than two hour's had past and the mindless men were still digging, they had brought up several bodies, and a pair would carry them to the side of the graveyard and the fifth man hurried to open the carriage. As Hai Yin watched with his sword tightly clenched in hand, his stomach began to knot, disarranging the dead was the highest form of disrespect, disturbed spirits could become restless and wreak havoc around town.

When the carriage was nearly full, one of the digging mindless men joined the already carriage rider, pulling back on the horse's halter, the carriage took off.

Nodding to each other, the two young masters were ready to follow the trail when a man in all black appeared out of thin air, a mist of lights swirling around him as he did. Unable to see his face from being so far away, Hai Yin grew restless.

"Wait!", Kang Lei suddenly said, stopping Hai Yin from jumping down from the tree. "Let us see what he will do.", Kang Lei explained. Nodding, the two watched the man who they were unable to get a clear picture of from so far away. Facing the carriage, the man quickly formed multiple hand signs, swirled around and placed it on the back of the carriage.

"Ah! A clearing spell, it is the reason there were no tracks left behind in Xitang!", said Kang Lei. The two young masters looked at each other, jumping down from the tree, Hai Yin dissipating the messenger link and the man in black quickly looked up, making a run for the woods. Quickly, the two darted after the man in black, when Kang Lei suddenly stopped.

"Hai Yin!", he yelled.

The young master swiftly turned around, his long dark hair flowing over his shoulder, "What is it?"

"We must split up, follow the carriage!", Kang Lei yelled, taking off and running after the man in black before Hai Yin could protest.

"Kang Lei Wait!", Hai Yin yelled, turning around to watch Kang Lei as he was almost out of sight. "Dammit!", the young master cursed, clenching his teeth as he took off in the opposite direction toward the carriage.

In the other direction into the woods, with his thin, and athletic build, Kang Lei was able to catch up to the man in black in a flash.

"Stop!", Kang Lei called out, "you are no longer outnumbered, why are you still running?", Kang Lei yelled to the man in black, hoping that he would take the bait and stop for a fight. Glancing behind him for only a moment, the man tossed a talisman at Kang Lei, just missing him, it exploding as it landed on a tree. With wide eyes, Kang Lei managed to throw himself over the blast, but as he landed, another talisman was headed straight for him!

Quickly Kang Lei threw himself backwards, balancing so that he wouldn't hit the ground as the talisman glided over his body, nearly touching his chin. Pulling himself back up once the talisman had safely passed, Kang Lei darted after the man in black, just escaping the blast of the exploding talisman behind him.

Wiping the sweat from his brow Kang Lei drew his sword, throwing it after the man who Kang Lei could still see, although the man had gained quite the distance in between the two. Juntuan flew at the speed of light, as it neared the man, but he suddenly jumped from the ground, kicking the tree and ricocheting his body far enough to avoid getting a major injury from the black sword as it only sliced his thigh. Landing back on the ground the man continued to run.

"Are you that afraid of me?", Kang Lei antagonized the man in black, as the young master caught his sword that had made a speedy return back to him after it had hit its target. Glancing behind him again, the man threw another talisman. Quickly sheathing juntuan, Kang Lei put up his hands, quickly forming a series of signs and creating a small, but sturdy barrier to block the blast of the on coming talisman. Taking the full blast of the talisman, the barrier dissipated, allowing Kang Lei to continue on without stopping.

The man in black glanced behind him once more, intending to release another talisman, but the young master chasing him was no longer in site. The man continued running, bringing up his hands to form multiple signs.

"Over here!", Kang Lei yelled, speeding from the man's left, spearing him to the ground. The two fell hard, rolling over a few times as they landed. Landing on his stomach, the man, tried to get up to run, but Kang Lei quickly reached over, grabbing the man by the hem of his robes.

"You will not get away again!", the blue-eyed young master yelled as he flipped the man in black over onto his back. Caught off guard, Kang Lei's eyes grew wide as he quickly let go of the man, falling backwards onto the ground. What kind of sorcery was this? The man had no face!