An Army of Wild Bulls and their Matador - 2

"My Prince... what next?" Fu Yating felt lost for a good long minute.

Sa Keling had died, without them getting the chance to question him.

He decided to follow Wuyun to the burial site they had previously landed on. Wuyun walked there slowly and found an empty spot next to a tree. "He had chosen this spot. He really liked the tree here." He placed the corpse by the tree and started digging with his hands.

Fu Yating knew it would take a long time for him to dig out a human-sized pit, but he waited there. Alongside Zhou Yixiao, they waited for a couple of hours as Wuyun prepared a shabby grave for the dead immortal. How exactly did he die?

"I know you both have questions," Wuyun spoke once he had put up a wooden cenotaph, carved with a random rock found nearby. "I will only answer them, because, in his last moments, he didn't seem to hate you."

"Thank you. We aren't happy by the turns of events either." Fu Yating bowed towards the grave. He made another proper observation and then said, "You should perhaps write his name. If the soul wanders aimlessly in the mortal realm, then maybe the name would guide it back here. A piece of wood will do just fine."

A ghost haunting this town's graveyard would probably be inconvenient for the folks living around, but they saw Sa Keling's soul disappear into nothing.

"...I'm illiterate." Wuyun bitterly replied.

Zhou Yixiao takes up the job of chopping down a thick branch. He steals a knife from Wuyun's waistband and carves into it, 'Sa Keling'. Even in such a confusing situation, Fu Yating had to mentally acknowledge how Yixiao's skill set was unique.

"He didn't look like he was in his own senses, till the brand was removed." Fu Yating brings their attention back to the concerned topic.

"Teacher Sa had missing memories." Fu Yating gulped anxiously at the similarity. "He always preached the teachings of some 'Lord' whose words were supreme. He was an immortal, so he always had to shift from village to village... or else the people would notice that he didn't age.

He preached the word of his Lord to common folk, taught them to read or write and advised them in everyday actions. He had found me in the Southern kingdoms when I was a child. I was an orphan child, eating scraps to survive. The lands aren't bountiful in the South, neither are the rains kind. People didn't share much with beggar children.

The first time I came to trust another person, was when he shared half of his meal with me. Flail looking himself, and yet kind to everyone. I was impressed and I wished to follow him everywhere. From there, he has brought me along. I carried him around on my carriage. All the time I've known him, Teacher Sa had only praised the Lord.

But today... only today did he speak against him... in his dying moments."

"He was surely an immortal. How did he die?" Zhou Yixiao asked.

"How would I know your immortal business? I only know that my Teacher was wronged, I believe, that he regained his memories. No other way could he speak against the Lord." Wuyun furrowed his brows and sighed. "With him gone, I don't know where to go next."

Regardless of his own worries, Fu Yating couldn't help but think about Wuyun. Yes, their first meeting had been him deceiving them, and yet Wuyun was a child compared to himself. He understood that without Sa Keling, Wuyun didn't have any other motivations yet.

But Fu Yating had never been good at comforting strangers. Even less, when he had no solutions to their problems.

This time again, Yixiao stepped ahead and started speaking. "You, yourself and the one you care for, both remain in the same world. So long as your devotion lasts and you patiently keep searching, you will meet again."

Wuyun angrily retorted, "There are so many incidents, where people just disappear out of nowhere." Even Fu Yating shakes his head. There are souls crushed out of existence. There are memories that cannot be recollected, no matter what effort is put.

"Of course, it could take forever. You could have no means and no idea of where to go. You wouldn't know where you'd end up, or worse you wouldn't even remember what you were searching for. But things don't just disappear in this mortal world. They linger with as little hints of what they used to be, and you will meet again."

Wuyun stared and so did Fu Yating, dumbfounded by the confidence in his tone. The same man who tactlessly spoke out whatever came to his mind, could also be so sure about something. Almost as if he spoke with experience.

'We will meet again' Fu Yating thought if the phrase sounded any familiar. An image flashes in his mind. A child's mischievous voice... it rings alarms in his memory, searching for any other clue. But again, he is defeated by his punishment mark.

Fu Yating falls on his knees and grabs onto his hair. Gracelessly panting and moaning in pain. Zhou Yixiao immediately runs to his side and holds him steady. "My Prince, don't think too much. Clear you thoughts... don't try too hard." He whispers in a sad tone. But Fu Yating has no intentions of letting go of that thought. Just who was that child in his memories? Just a few more seconds and he could see his face. He moans in pain and forcefully tries to push away Yixiao. The memory doesn't return.

Instead, he remembers something completely different.

'The more a recipient fights the repercussions, the stronger they agonize him. Effects of the punishment brand will not go away in the current life, so fighting it is in vain.' The scroll in the Heavenly Capital's liabrary said so.

He looked at Yixiao, currently looking like an adult. Sometimes he would put on the mask of a child, a naughty and yet sweet child. A child who was somehow fascinated by the boring man he was, worried for a pathetic deity like him. He placed an arm on the ground, trying to position himself straight again, but instead his hand landed on Yixiao's palm.

He pulled up Yixiao to a standing position and looked at Wuyun, standing awkwardly and stealing sad glances at Sa Keling's grave.

"You don't think we killed your teacher? Even if he was fine before we appeared?" Fu Yating continued asking curiously.

"He wasn't exactly fine earlier. He was restless, and wouldn't let me get near him. Wouldn't let me stop him when he... killed so many people." Wuyun honestly answered. "I don't really know why, but Teacher Sa had a dreamy look to him. As if he was drunk all the time, which is why he used to get thrown out of many places we traveled to. Did you cultivators notice how his eyes weren't cloudy at the end?"

"My Prince, what if he was under some hypnotic curse?" Yixiao asked.

"What sort of curse lasts for years?" Fu Yating asked and yet again, thought of his own condition. His wasn't a curse, it was only his bad luck. A misplaced punishment.

He thought about that man Sa Keling spoke of so desperately, who had it worse. Who had lost far too much, under the commands of this 'Lord'.

Fu Yating looked up at Wuyun and said. "We are sorry for your loss, and we will investigate the matter further. If fate has us cross paths again, I hope we can fill you in on a justice well served." Wuyun bows to him and he bows in return. Yixiao just stands there, distracted.

"I cannot be sure of what you find out. But he was good to me, and that is reason enough for me to follow him. I will continue traveling lands just like him. Help around what little I can. I'm not smart enough to chase ghosts and dead people, so if he hears my name in afterlife, maybe he'd find me again."

Yixiao smiles at him and turns around. Fu Yating nods a final time and also starts to walk away.

After walking some more, they end up inside the Xiaodou market. It was still early in the morning and the shopkeepers were setting up their stalls. Just when they were facing a small well, Yixiao stopped in his tracks.

"My Prince, wait here for a second." Fu Yating nodded.

Yixiao walked behind the well and sat behind it's stone wall, hiding from eye view. 'What is he up to now?' Fu Yating thought and tried to see him, but he was gone. Fu Yating sighed and sat on the stone wall. Right then, a girl walked up to the well to collect water, but stopped when she saw him.

"Good sir... are you from the capital?" She asked meekly.

Fu Yating looked up to answer and... that was a mistake. Before he could say anything, the girl gasped and fainted right on the spot. Fu Yating really didn't know what to do.

He stood up, trying to either help her, or maybe escape the scene. But he couldn't do either of those, because a small crowd started to gather around them. "Why did the maiden suddenly faint? Did the man do something to her?" Another loud whisper, "In broad daylight! What times have we reached, oh Heavens!"

During times like these, the deity would use their teleportation magic and disappear from the spot, and would turn into a legend. People would remember such a God for decades.

But Fu Yating couldn't afford to have such attention on himself. He was on a discreet mission to check on the Sun Dynasty, and his current location were only known by Luo Ming and the Heaven Emperor himself. Making a commotion would only alert all of the Heavenly Capital and if any officers involved, they would get alerted.

Seconds turn into minutes and the girl showed no signs of waking up, and the crowd, instead of helping her up, only whispered more absurd things.

"Do you think, he broke her heart? Why reject the girl so harshly? He could at least take her as a concubine. Such a frail looking girl, which man wouldn't want her?"

"How does she look frail to you? She has a strong frame, she looks as if she would bear healthy sons to her future husband."

Fu Yating coughed loudly, silencing the crowd. He touched the girl's forehead hesitantly. Afraid of what horrifying death he would see, he was relieved to get the vision of an old woman breathing her last breath as her equally old husband held her hand and cried weakly. It was a sad and yet a happy scene. This mischievous girl would lead a long happy life with her husband, and die a painless death of old age.

He couldn't think much about the vision, because he had other lies to make up quickly. "This girl- she suffers from memory loss. I am... I am actually her long lost brother!" The crowd gasped. "And... now I will take her to meet our parents."

He apologized mentally and lifted the girl up in his arms. Suddenly, she woke up and started shouting. "You pervert! You're not pretty enough to just take me to bed!"

"My poor sister, she doesn't remember anything." Fu Yating ignored her blames and walked away from the crowd. He was feeling very uncomfortable having to escape the situation in such a disgraceful way. Just where the hell was Yixiao?