Chunhua's Visit 4

Black felt his blood run cold upon hearing Hongyue's words. He immediately nodded and watched as Hongyue smiled, her eyes however still flared dangerously. Much too dangerous, Black thought. He didn't want to stay here any longer; however, he wasn't able to move his feet at all. He exerted his strength to no avail; it was like his limbs were dead weights. Black stared at Hongyue dismayed. What spell did she use? How was it this powerful?

Hongyue, however, paid him no attention. Her eyes were concentrated on Chunhua who was running awkwardly on her feet. The corpse of the fourth madam chased closely behind. Hongyue scowled, she wasn't going to perform a 'chase and catch game.' It would be a waste of her energy and time. Hongyue twirled her fingers, and the corpse abruptly rushed forth, its speed enhanced dramatically.

Chunhua, on the other hand, was quite out of breath. Her mind was loaded with questions. Why?! Why wasn't Fourth Madam dead? Was it a ghost? But how was that possible? Chunhua narrowed her eyes. Could it be someone in disguise deliberately scaring her? Within minutes, Chunhua no longer had the time to think nor the energy to yell out for help. Her elemental power was based on earth: a more defensive ability and because of that, Chunhua wasn't at all used to scrambling around this much. Finally, approaching her limit, she spun around, standing her ground.

Quickly chanting out a spell, she manipulated nearby stones to reshape into sharp darts and launched them directly at the corpse. The stones stuck into the flesh of the body, but it did nothing to hinder it. Chunhua paled. It actually was a dead body?!! This was REAL?! How was this possible?! What should she do? Chunhua swayed, her mind slowly breaking. She didn't want to die.

"Fourth Aunt, please spare me..please. I-I didn't intend to kill you..spare me," Chunhua quickly changed to plead, her eyes flowing with tears.

The body proceeded to move forth.

"I-it's me, Chunhua. Mother was the one who told met-," Chunhua stopped short as the body stopped in place. Believing the dead fourth madam stopped because of what she said, Chunhua was fueled with hope and quickly started spilling out the truth for her life. She inched up closer to the dead body and slammed her head down in the dirt in pleading. Fourth Aunt always forgave her as long as she apologized, it wouldn't be any different even if she died, Chunhua thought.

"It was Mother....all Mother. I was worried that you might get in trouble, but it's Mother who insisted that I continued on with the plan. She said it didn't matter if you died or not because you adore me. Fourth Aunt, you still love me right? You can't bear to kill me right? If you love me, you should forgive me. Just forgive me this one time, I'll burn ghost money for you so that you can rest in peace. O-okay?" Chunhua's voice shook the entire time, her head on the ground in hope, so she missed the flash in Hongyue's eyes.

'If you love me, you should forgive me.' The words uttered by Chunhua echoed in Hongyue's heart. Her hands curled up firmly, her nails digging into her skin. Hongyue laughed out bitterly, her voice cutting through the air.

Chunhua looked around wildly, her eyes finally landing on Hongyue. Hongyue stood there calmly, indifferent. It was almost like Hongyue was above the world, and nothing else mattered. Did that trash do this? No, if she could do this, how could she be trash?

"Y-you're not trash?" Chunhua choked out.

Hongyue didn't acknowledge her, but it was rather clear it didn't need to be explained. Instead, Hongyue came closer to Chunhua and for the first time, Chunhua felt fear striking into her soul. She could see the left peculiar dark blue eye that gleamed brightly along with a bloodthirsty black eye watching back at her. This can't be Hongyue! Who was this?! How did Hongyue get someone to look so much like her? Chunhua backed away in doubt; her appearance looked nothing like the overbearing second miss.

"W-who are you? What are you going to do?"

Hongyue paused, seemingly brooding over Chunhua's question, "What am I going to do?"

Chunhua tried to lick her dry lips as she spoke, "You won't gain anything from killing me."

"Oh, who says I'm not going to gain anything?" Hongyue leaned closer, "Was it fun? Plotting and waiting for me to die? Slapping me whenever you felt like it? Didn't you have fun? Why can't I do the same now?"

Chunhua couldn't answer at all. Her voice was stuck in her throat. Her mind shook from the shock. It really was Hongyue? Hongyue could control the dead? How?! Could it be that Hongyue was killed already? Was the person in front of her a ghost as well?

"G-ghost?"

Hongyue paused before she played along, "Oh~ You figured it out. This eldest sister was so lonely in hell that I wanted a playmate. So I came back to find you."

"P-playmate? I don't want to be your playmate! Let me go! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to kill you. Forgive me!"

Hongyue sneered, "Forgive? Didn't mean to? You killed me, and you want me to forgive you? How should I do so? Why don't I kill you as well and we'll both be even?"

Chunhua's eyes widened in fear, and she pulled off pieces of her jewelry, "No! Please no! I'll give you anything. T-this hair stick...this earring too. I'll give it all to you."

A cruel smile spread on Hongyue's face, "How about your life then?"

Chunhua froze, and Hongyue's feet slammed into Chunhua's windpipe, "You know, I was wondering what was so amazing about you that gave you the arrogance to treat me however you liked," Hongyue studied Chunhua's paling face, "But I don't see anything at all. So why is it? Is it because you have elemental powers? It's useless when you don't have your voice to cast spells, right? Why don't you show me the proud Second Miss again? Where did she go?"