Lan Jing Forest (2)

Somewhere deep in the forest, far from the liveliness of Tan Sect, a troublesome thief is meticulously drawing a large magical array on the ground.

Kou and Zhou Xin had actually arrived at the forest the night before. They entered from a different side, away from the sight of the Tan residents. 

As Zhou Xin rested, Kou spent the whole night combing through the forest, inspecting every area for any kind of obscure energy. Once morning came, he woke Zhou Xin up and gave her a task to distract the Tan Clan so that he could do his job undisturbed.

Around the area he was working on, a number of tall trees had small bells hung on their branches. It was the same one he carved on throughout the four-day journey to get here.

The circular array was big enough to hold about a dozen adults and took a long while to draw. Once he finished, Kou looked significantly more pale and drained.

He pulled out a bottle of perfume from his sleeve and spilled its content at the center of the array. A sharp scent of white champaka spread to the surrounding area.

Slowly, a gentle breeze of wind swirled around the array, giving a cool touch to the bones. Kou felt the spiritual energy concentrating inside the area of the array. At the same time, the bells on the nearest trees chimed softly.

Kou sat in the middle of the array in a meditating position.

Taking a deep breath, he declared, "Spirits of the forest, I speak to you."

The red array glowed a bright blue along with Kou's eyes and the shrilling sound of ringing can be heard from all the bells throughout the forest.

In an instant, the energy within the area grew incredibly dense, as if the spirits gathered in that spot all at once.

Kou closed his eyes. When he opened them again, everything in that same forest was somehow different.

Before, the rays of early sunlight pierced through the woods, casting a subtle touch of warmth. The forest itself was bright in the colors of life.

However, the sky had now turned dark. The sun, moon, and stars were nowhere to be seen. A thin layer of white mist enveloped the ground where spurs of blue and green light glowed every now and then, here and there, like fireflies.

Each light had different shades and sizes. The darker ones seem to float more hastily, as if in distraught. Only a few were like this.

Kou casually walked out of the array to approach the glowing lights. As he stepped out, he became translucent. Looking back, he could see another version of himself still sitting unconsciously.

His spirit now wandered separately from his body.

This meant that his body was just an empty shell, left unoccupied.

As if a fresh bait had been thrown into a pond of hungry fishes, several lights darted toward Kou's mortal body.

The moment one of those lights reached the area of the array, a blinding white light shot up from the ground where the outline was drawn. It immediately blocked the floating lights from going any further.

The array worked as a guarded gateway for spirits of the living and the dead. And for this one, Kou held the key.

"Alright! Which one of you wants to talk to me first?"

He walked around the forest and stopped in front of a floating light.

It was the darkest one in color with flickering black sparks.

Kou grinned at it.

"You seem the most impatient. Let's start with you."

He reached into the light and felt his spirit being sucked in. The glowing light grew to embrace him while the forest around him warped into an open field.

The space of reality morphed completely and Kou felt the position of his body switched into one bending over a nearby pond. On the clear surface, he saw the reflection of a girl around sixteen years old.

Out of his control, Kou felt his hand reach to fix his hair, and saw the reflection followed.

Suddenly, a voice called out.

"Meimei!"

Kou felt his body jump and turned around to see a man in green robes waving his hand.

Then, Kou felt his lips move on their own.

"...Ming-gege."

Something seemed to flutter deep inside Kou, which tightened his breath to the point that his chest hurts.

He had a headache as he thought to himself.

Ugh… I see… This girl has feelings for him.

What happened was, the dark light from earlier was the spiritual remains of a person. After Kou made contact with it, the spirit could communicate by having him live through its memories.

The current reality was just a memory of a girl called 'Meimei'.

She tugged on her sleeves as the man approached. He looked to be around eighteen years old.

"I've been looking for you!"

When their eyes met, Meimei immediately looked away.

"Did you just finish your morning lesson?" she asked.

"Yeah! I can take a little break before sword training. Come with me, I have something to show you."

The man then walked past her and gestured his hand as if to tell Meimei to follow.

"Sure!"

As the man faced the other way, Meimei bent over the pond once more and fixed her clothing quickly.

"...Meimei?" The man called.

"Coming!"

Meimei rushed to follow him.

Kou found this amusing.

You look very pretty, so don't be nervous with your appearance!

The two must have walked for a while, but reality warped for Kou so that they reached the town in an instant.

They entered a traditional mage store, where the shopkeeper was an old lady, greeting them with a frail voice.

"Xu Ming! You little rascal, why have you come here? You better not cause any trouble."

The old lady was quite energetic. She turned to face the girl.

"Meimei! It's always good to see you. How have you been?"

Kou could sense that Meimei was slightly startled upon being called.

The man named Xu Ming laughed.

"Don't be like that, ma'am! It has been a while since I last visited your shop."

Meimei politely answered, "I've been alright, ma'am. Thank you."

Xu Ming spoke again, "Anyway, do you have any paper talismans? Any cheap land magic ones will do!"

The old lady smiled gently at Meimei, and without sparing Xu Ming a glance, she opened a drawer filled with paper talismans.

"That's nice to hear, Meimei! I hope your family is also doing well. Xu Ming, you haven't come for weeks and the first thing you're going to buy is cheap paper?"

Xu Ming placed a copper coin on the counter.

"Sorry! I've been busy with my lessons recently, and I don't have much pocket money. I promise I'll buy something expensive next time."

Hearing that, the old lady chuckled as she laid out the paper talismans.

"What good are your lessons anyway? It's no good learning magic if you're not earning any money!"

Meimei laughed, which made Xu Ming pout.

Kou internally nodded his head.

It was a good point. Kou acknowledged his own strength in magic, but he was now known more as a thief. Other than that, it explained the numerous rogue mages and mage pirates across the five lands.

Although the shopkeeper probably meant it as a joke, Xu Ming was embarrassed.

"Well, it's people like me that become your customers, ma'am."

"Heh, it's still no use if you don't have enough money to be my customer, is there? I can always open a different shop!"

"..."

Sighing in defeat, Xu Ming grabbed a paper talisman and turned to Meimei.

"Look, Meimei! I just learned this from my grandfather."

Lifting the paper talisman on one hand, he made a sign with the other. This simple action caught the attention of both the old lady and Meimei.

Xu Ming muttered an incantation, and the paper talisman in his hand flared up, turning into ashes in an instant.

Meimei gasped in admiration and clapped her hands, while the old lady hummed in surprise.

"Gege! That's amazing!"

Seeing their reactions, Xu Ming rambled proudly, "Right? It's sky magic! Basically, it draws power from the spirits of the sky. It is much harder than land magic because the spiritual energy is more spread out. Also, using sky magic spells have to be more specific! Just this one trick requires different gestures and incantations depending on the talisman spells you want to burn."

Because Meimei was naturally quick-witted and often spoke her mind, she asked cheerfully, "Is that why you bought the cheapest one?"

The old lady bursted into laughter as Xu Ming's face was blushing.

"T-that's because I don't want to waste unused paper talismans! If I'm going to burn them, I should practice on the cheap ones."

Curious, Meimei asked again, "Is that so? Are paper talismans hard to create?"

The old lady answered, "Not at all! It took me less than ten minutes to make a whole batch."

Hearing that, Kou commented in his head.

That's because the paper talismans are just regular paper with regular ink! It won't hold much spiritual power and could only last a few seconds.

Kou thought about the cost of these paper talismans. They were the cheapest ones you could find. 

This Xu Ming person seemed to come from a mage sect, considering his robes and mentions of magic lessons. If so, why is he so poor? If he wanted to show off, why didn't he bring along any paper talismans from his sect?

Kou was then reminded of the reason he was doing all this.

Was he a student of Tan Academy? From that Tan Sect?

Kou suddenly had a bad feeling. Could it be that something bad happened to this young couple? Perhaps this young lad was the first victim, and the girl died later with resentment in her heart. Was it caused by the Tan Sect? If so, the whole case would just be a bigger headache for Kou.

Xu Ming felt that he had failed to impress Meimei, so he made an excuse.

"Meimei, I have to go back for training. Let's meet again next time!"

However, Kou knew the emotions Meimei was feeling. She found his awkwardness and eager pride to be endearing. The whole time, Kou felt Meimei's heart beating so wildly that he had suspected her excitement to be anxiety.

"See you again, next time! Ming-gege!"

As Xu Ming left the shop, Kou could feel Meimei's heart calming down. There was a hint of disappointment and relief.

Just how deep is your love for him, Meimei? This can't end well…

Meimei kept staring out of the entrance to the shop where Xu Ming had left. She only realized she had been spacing out because the old lady spoke to her.

"Are you feeling alright, Meimei? You seem different today."

"...Yes, ma'am. I'll take my leave now."

"Take care!"

Before Kou could comprehend the weird emotion that he felt when the old lady talked to Meimei, the reality warped again.

This time, Meimei stood in front of a small house. The scene seemed to take place on the same day. Meimei must have walked home.

Reaching towards the door, Meimei's hand trembled.

It wouldn't have been noticeable to anyone as it wasn't shaking, but Kou felt the immense dread that she was feeling before entering the house.

He couldn't determine which emotion she was feeling.

Excitement? Anxiety? Guilt? Fear?

The door was opened, and Kou could see what was behind it.

Inside the house, on a wooden chair, sat another girl whose appearance was identical to Meimei.

The girl looked at the newcomer and her eyes widened.

"Meimei…"

But the girl's lips weren't moving. The girl inside the house wasn't talking.

Huh? That can't be right. I'm Meimei, right?

The voice that had called out the name 'Meimei' was definitely from the body Kou was currently inhabiting. He felt his own lips moving. 

If he was 'Meimei', then why did 'Meimei' call out her own name?

Kou immediately understood once the girl in the house spoke in an identical voice.

"Jiajia? Where have you been? Why are you wearing my clothes?"

The girl in the house was called 'Meimei'.

And the girl whose body he was in was called 'Jiajia'.

The two of them looked and sounded identical.

They were twins.