Demonic invasion of Lilan 4

"Yu Shixiong, are you sure we're on the right track?"

Stopping where he was, Yu Lingyu turned around. On both sides of the street were huge branches that spread their branches like bones, and sometimes there was a stench of rotting animal flesh. "I'm sure we came this way. There weren't any other side roads, were there?" he asked worriedly.

"The way we came was bigger, and there weren't as many tall plants." San Jie said crossing his arms across his chest. "Ah, we should have listened to Da Shixiong." He slapped his hand on his forehead. Yu Lingyu stares at him.

"I said, don't come with me," he said harshly.

"Da Shixiong will never let you go alone." San Jie said angrily.

"Okay, stop. Let's try to find the right way first." Luo Cheng intervened.

"Even though we split into two groups, none of us have found this tomb yet. If Da Shixiong has found it, the signal should be lit by now." San Jie said rubbing his hands together.

Yu Lingyu fell into thought. If his memory was correct, they should have found the tomb by now. "Looks like we're going around." He said. They had come a long way from the way they parted. Little by little the buildings dwindled in size and eventually, they were nothing but dust.

"Are you sure it's just about The Walking Dead? If something else happens, I don't know what we're going to do here with the three of us." San Jie was really worried. His right hand was tightly wrapped around the scabbard of his sword.

"Look at that." Luo Cheng shouted, showing a light out of the way. "I think we'd better go over there and look."

Leaving the street, they entered the forest through the thickets. As the light became more intense as they got closer, it wasn't long before they saw a slightly larger single-story building. It had a high conical roof on which was held a statue of a huge crane bird. It was completely white and rose in the moonlight.

At first glance, it looked like a temple dedicated to a god, and several flambeaux were burning on its clay wall. The ground was dirty and overgrown with foliage.

"It's worn out." Luo Cheng said as he entered the shrine. After pushing the small wooden gate into the entrance, it opened inward with a creaking sound. "What the hell?" Luo Cheng said as he immediately withdrew his foot.

They weren't the only ones there. Another group of people dressed in dark blue remained there. "Oh, Yu Shidi." Wu Xuan said, looking at the stunned group. With his arms crossed across his chest in front of the High God Statue inside, he was glaring at Yu Lingyu.

"Wu Shixiong?" Yu Lingyu had momentarily forgotten that Wu Xuan was joining. He hit his head with his hand and entered the temple. He couldn't think of anything to say and instead studied the statue in silence.

"Wind Lord," he muttered, looking at the marble figure of the god, a long thin sword slung over his back and a fly whisk in one hand. The statue had kind eyes and was more smoothly made.

"Know him?" Wu Xuan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Who does not know him?" Yu Lingyu replied. A mischievous smile appeared on Wu Xuan's lips. "You're right, who doesn't know him? Great Wind Lord, haha," he said, turning his head towards the statue. "But the designer did not cut the statue right." Wu Xuan said to Lingyu's surprise.

"It's well made, isn't it?"

"Come on, that's the mistake. The wind lord doesn't have a normal well-made look. He has a deathly beauty." With Wu Xuan's statement, San Jie let out an annoyed sound but did not dare to say anything out loud. Luo Cheng closed the door that was swaying due to the wind with a hissing sound and prevented the wind from entering the wind Lord's Temple.

"So Yu Shidi, did you get lost too?" Wu Xuan asked, abandoning his temptation to the statue. The rest of the Juyao Peak students were silently sitting around the temple as if they were making sure not to make any noise. "Are the Wu shixiong lost too?" Luo Cheng asked. Wu Xuan let out an insulting sound. "I think so, thanks to someone." Wu Xuan glared at one of the disciples and the person caught in his gaze winced in pain.

"Please let us rest in here too." Yu Lingyu said as he folded his hands in greeting. Wu Xuan waved his right hand slightly and a few disciples who stood up from where they stood, moved aside to make way for the new group. "Thank you, Wu Shixiong. We won't cause any trouble." Yu Lingyu thanked them, motioning for San Jie and Luo Cheng to sit down.

"Yu Shidi, as a thank, please come here and have a chat with me." Wu Xuan invited Yu Lingyu who is going to sit next to San Jie. He heard the sound of several disciples of Juyao Peak holding their breaths. Standing up, Lingyu approached the statue without looking at Wu Xuan. Wu Xuan was still staring at it and seemed ready to throw the statue off its base if necessary.

"It doesn't seem like much of a mistake." Yu Lingyu said as he studied Wu Xuan's face. He certainly seemed angry about the finish of the statue. "If I destroy this statue, will it be a problem?" he asked eagerly. Yu Lingyu pursed his lips into a thin line. "Well, that, hmm doesn't seem right," Lingyu replied, choosing his words.

"I won't take your wallet. Don't worry." Wu Xuan said looking at Lingyu who was tightly wrapping his right hand around it. "Ah." Then he looked back at the statue and gave it a fiery look. "He never smiled kindly." Drawn to the statue's smile, he pointed his right hand towards it as if to grasp it. "You are wrong," Lingyu said without further thought.

"What?"

"He always had a gentle smile."

Wu Xuan glanced at Lingyu's face. "Really? Yu Shidi how do you know that?"

"So, how does Wu Shixiong know that he didn't smile?"

Wu Xuan laughed out loud. "You're funny, Yu Shidi. You're always good at jumping from one question to another, aren't you?" During their conversation, small whispers started among the Juyao disciples. Wu Xuan was not the type of person to relate to others like this. If he talked to anyone for a long time, it was only with his Shimei, Yuan Yu Yi, and his Shizun. It was an open secret that he didn't like messing around with Yu Yi either. But now that same Wu Xuan was acting friendly with an ordinary disciple of no importance at Jun Peak, it was truly surprising to the rest of the group.

"However, it's a relief that it's a Feng Zhen temple. Walking corpses can't come here even if they want to." Luo Cheng who was sitting on the side said in a cheerful voice. Wind Lord was a deity who thought highly of cleanliness and no unpleasant demon could enter his temple. Also, It has been a custom since then for people to wash and come in fresh clothes before entering the Feng Zhen temple. "That's a real relief. Your wind lord would be very angry if those nasty animals set foot here." Wu Xuan replied with a sarcastic smile.

"Every man dies. Don't disrespect them like that. I pity them." San Jie muttered to himself. He was crouching with his legs close to his chest, his arms folded across his chest and his head leaning against the wall.

"Speaking of filth, if the Wind Lord sees Yu Shixiong, he will blow up this temple." Sun Jie said looking at Yu Lingyu who was covered in dust and leaf litter from head to toe and glistening with sweat.

"Forgot whose fault it was? If you hadn't run away after seeing that little wea-" Not letting Luo Cheng finish his sentence, San Jie pounced on him and knocked him to the ground. Yu Lingyu barely controlled his laughter and automatically looked at Wu Xuan.

"I'll go and check the road." Without saying anything further, Lingyu stepped to the door to leave, but a pair of voices stopped him.

"I'm coming too!" San Jie and Wu Xuan said at the same time.

Yu Lingyu:???

"I'll come too. Don't go with these strangers." San Jie said turning to Wu Xuan. "Oh really? Can you even protect yourself?" Wu Xuan asked back, rolling his eyes insultingly. San Jie's hands clenched. "You-"

"Ah San Shidi, don't worry. No one needs to come." Yu Lingyu said with an awkward smile as he waved his hands to his sides. "I'm going because I want to observe too. Yu Shidi, if you want to come, then let's go together." Said Wu Xuan, who once again raised his teasing smile to the corner of his mouth.

"Ah no problem, no problem. Thank you Wu Shixiong." Yu Lingyu glanced out of the corner of his eye at San Jie, who was blushing with anger, and walked out of the temple with Wu Xuan.

"Where are we going?" Yu Lingyu asked, trying to run behind Wu Xuan's long steps. As if realizing that his speed was too fast, Wu Xuan shortened his steps a little. "To find the tomb. Where else?"

In the moonlight, withered branches of plants were drawing shadowy patterns on the street. There was no other sound except the occasional whistling of the wind. "Shouldn't we come with the group?" Yu Lingyu asked in a surprised voice as he removed a rotten leaf from his head. "They're just a nuisance. What? You don't want to come with me?" Stopping where he was, Wu Xuan turned to Lingyu with a mischievous smile. Taking a step back, Lingyu smiled awkwardly.

"No. I meant no such thing, this is train-"

"This is not training." Wu Xuan said in a sharp tone. "Yu Shidi you know that too."

Yu Lingyu let out the breath he was holding. It was true, he knew from the beginning, that something was wrong. "It's just weird. Everything seems to be a coincidence. But isn't the idea that if a lot of random things happen, they're not random after all?"

Crossing his arms across his chest along with his sword, Wu Xuan rotated his right foot and drew patterns on the dusty earth. "you are right. We didn't find any walking corpses or graves. Also here, in the middle of a vast desolate forest, there is a temple of the wind lord for us to rest. What is such a supremely pure God doing in the middle of a decrepit forest?"

Yu Lingyu flinched as if he understood something from his statement. "It's not a Feng Zhen temple." He said in a shaky voice as a chill ran down his spine. "But- but the crane bird statue on the roof-"

"Yu Shidi oh Yu Shidi, that was not a bird, but a snake swallowing a bird. Why is your eyesight so bad?"

Yu Lingyu felt like his whole body was melting. "It can't be, it's not him." He jumped out of the street, trying to run back to the temple, but Wu Xuan grabbed him by the shoulder of his coat and pulled him towards him. "Don't worry Yu Shidi. Do you want to help our prey escape?" Wu Xuan, leaning towards Lingyu, whispered into his ear.

"Prey? Wu Shixiong, I have no idea what you are saying. But my shidi-" Something cold touched Lingyu's lips, interrupting his words. "Shh," Wu Xuan muttered as he placed a finger of his right hand on Lingyu's lips, which was wrapped around Lingyu's shoulder.

"Don't worry, if we can't find the prey, let the prey find us. The only barrier in the temple is now gone, so he will show himself now."

Gently pushing away the arm around his shoulder, Yu Lingyu turned to face Wu Xuan. Yu Lingyu barely rose to Xuan's shoulders and Lingyu needed to lift with his toes if he needed to press into Xuan's eyes. "Interruption?" he asked feigning ignorance.

"It is me." Xuan blinked and said arrogantly.

 "Eh?"

"You recognized that statue didn't you?" Wu Xuan asked. "Most people can't tell the difference. Yu Shidi, how did you know it wasn't the wind lord?"

Lingyu wondered what to say as he looked at Wu Xuan, who was staring at him with a glowing but sly gaze. "I didn't understand at first after you said—"

"Oh really? But I never said it wasn't the Wind Lord. Yu Shidi, don't pretend you don't know. You saw that it was a snake, didn't you? You knew it wasn't the wind Lord at first glance. But," Wu Xuan approached Lingyu and this forced Lingyu to take a step back. Wu Xuan bowed slightly from his waist and looked directly into Lingyu's eyes.

"But, you're still pretending."

That's not true! Lingyu needed to shout. He wasn't pretending, he really failed to recognize it. After all, so much time had passed that even the calculation was forgotten. Therefore, he had nothing else in mind except to think of the statue as a simpler statue of Feng Zhen.

"Wu Shixiong, you're overestimating me. But the truth is, I recognized him just because of your words. And now, here I am, left alone my Shidi, let them become prey, arguing here." Yu Lingyu's voice was full of anxiety and worry. He knew that Wu Xuan definitely had a plan, but he still couldn't be careless.

What if it is him?

Besides Feng Zhen, there was one more person who carried a fly whisk and a long sword, forgotten by the world, who was hated by the world the most.

Lord of Destruction, Hu Mao!