Lìngxiāo's eyes scanned the gray, cold stone-made, five-floor-tall tower-structured prison that stood tall. His golden-brown pools of gaze seemed dimmed especially for this place.
The walls were thick with a mix of unspoken sorrow, dried blood, and the loud but cold authority of the old rules nobody questioned before. Though the mountain place was full of nature's beauty, this place seemed to cut the air like a cigar. The door had the title of the Yùn Chóng clan as the prison's side branch.
Lìngxiāo forced his feet to walk like he never really thought of this place. He just walked with his usual gratefulness silently beside Chóng Fēi.
'So..this is the place..where I was supposed to be brought if..shù fù never kidnapped me like that..'
He swallowed dryly. More likely in other children's sorrow who were killed. Some of them could be whom he met that day. He wondered if that same boy—who called him his problem for no reason and challenged if he had lived after eight years or not—was also the one who died here or not.
Perhaps he was. He was not saved like him. Nor did he seem like any cultivator to him either.
"Boys, where are your attentions, huh?" Chóng Fēi spoke with his usual arrogance, with the perfect mix of authority.
His covered sword gave two measured hits over the metal door which opened slower while they were already at the doorway. "If humans like you are snails, then snails would turn out to be humans in the next generation."
The guards within gray robes shifted awkwardly—or insulted. Some got busy opening the door for them, and others hit their boots with the hilt of the sword at the ground. Then uncovered the swords in one rhythm with a sharp, thin slashing sound, holding them up till both sides of the guards pointed them up.
"Welcome to Yùn Chóng underground prison realm, Chóng Fēi Gōngzǐ and Lìngxiāo Gōngzǐ." All said in union, almost echoing through the walls.
"Hm. Good." Chóng Fēi gave a slow single nod, chin up, while his other hand held his sword at his side, the other one busy again fixing that single lock of hair outside his ponytail.
Showing his full aura here perhaps.
But Lìngxiāo couldn't help but get just a little shaken when the swords were out like this right over his head. Not like he was this much scared of blades as Chóng Fēi was with the needles. But because the whole place seemed to recreate the past within one question: what if shù fù never came to save me?
Worse possibilities floated into his mind. A miserable life. Grow up only to die.
His throat felt tight at those. So he quickly dropped it. His thumb gave a light press over his hand—the tiniest way to calm himself down in situations like that. He barely did it, but it was always useful.
'They should be more careful with the blades. One almost clipped my hair from the other side within the formality.'
Thankfully it wasn't noticeable.
He covered it up by his own professional nods and bows with his masked smile, fixing his hair just lightly—pinning it loosely behind instead, so it was not totally tied nor open. That out-of-place lock of hair in front of him just reminded him of that slap and clip of hair. He quickly pushed it behind his ear instead.
But right now, Chóng Fēi was back to his sharpness.
He wasn't just noticing how the guys performed, or if they were biting back any lies into their mouths—even Lìngxiāo too. He clearly looked like he was now thinking much deeper and more sharply. The effect of alcohol was fully gone by now.
"Be careful with the swords, idiots. Will you buy us eyes if you pop one?" He muttered dryly with a roll of his eyes, catching one blade between his fingers lightly, seeming not to leave even the ground without scolding everyone properly.
A few men nodded, understanding their mistakes. While a few were like thieves with the minds of guards. They just rolled their eyes with a mix of old jealousy about something and mocking.
Chóng Fēi didn't react totally just now. His mood was probably too good to ruin by their dirty looks. He just held two fingers up at his own eyes—while glaring at those men—and then slowly lowered the hand.
"Eyes down. Now." He ordered in a controlled tone. "Or I would postmodern the whole body of yours—without the Hàngwō rituals."
Then he muttered, "Lord and my zhù fù know how you got this position even here. Can't even show some respect."
Lìngxiāo watched things unfold from the corner of his eyes. He felt there was something off more than the wrong rule of execution.
The men seemed not to even like their own heir coming here.
So he mentally took notes over it and thought of silently searching for it as they went. Already they were much late.
It was eleven thirty-four am.
"Let go for now, Gōngzǐ. Children might be waiting for you." Lìngxiāo said quietly to Chóng Fēi with a faint lowering of himself near to his side.
Chóng Fēi didn't argue even here.
He seemed too developed to Lìngxiāo within hours. Or perhaps he was always this way. He just exhaled and stood straight back to composed. He knew very little of him within the communication to judge properly.
"They were informed you would come too. So..technically they are waiting for 'us'. Not me only." Chóng Fēi corrected lightly, his gaze over the black hole of the main doorway.
Lìngxiāo blinked. He didn't expect kids to actually know they would be coming here to meet them personally. Not about him too, who just..ended up here—but also wished to fix too. He used the 'waiting' more likely to remind Chóng Fēi that they weren't here to create a mess.
They came to fix.
"I see. Then, we should not make them wait more, Gōngzǐ." He said with a faint smile like the only peek of the sun into the sunless town.
"Correct." Chóng Fēi moved forward first. "Follow my lead."
Lìngxiāo looked over the doorway and then lightly over the guards before following him inside.
The insides of the prison were indeed cold and old. It was swallowed by darkness which was only brightened by the few fireplaces. It was shaped into a circular way like a tunnel. The upwards had circular windows which barely passed any wind or light.
Lìngxiāo couldn't tell—or didn't want to imagine—why the faint smell of blood still came. Could a place be this..much dirty?
He held his sleeve to his nose, hurrying beside Chóng Fēi. He felt like he couldn't breathe here.
'I feel more bad for the children. How they might have lived here for so long?'
Chóng Fēi was also holding his nose. Annoyance was growing in his eyes.
Then at that moment, the chief of this prison hurried beside him with a bow since Chóng Fēi wasn't stopping his pace yet. "Long time no see, Gōngzǐ. We hope you are doing fine."
"No I am not." Chóng Fēi said through gritted teeth. His next voice hushed with disbelief and disgust. He left no space. "The fuck do you all even clean this fucking place? When was the last time you did it? If I cannot breathe here, the kids would have been dead like the bugs here!"
The man cleared his throat awkwardly to speak.
But Chóng Fēi didn't let him.
He turned at Lìngxiāo with a snap of his finger. His tone filled with authority but trembled a little when speaking about ghosts. "Speak if anything related to..gûi gets involved here for this environment too."
Lìngxiāo caught faintly by the smell, lowered his sleeve for a moment, gave a faint professional smile before explaining. "Unholy places are highly at risk of catching attention for evil spirits. Not only gûi. Especially places where deaths and..sorrow are all together the most. I believe some other gûi might have already started to hunt here. Indeed?"
He turned to the chief who didn't get any chance to say anything by those two sharp tongues. The way he avoided gaze told already that a few new ghost guests or something more already lived here.
And not like they were in peace either.
Perhaps even Chóng Fēi didn't know. Perhaps he really didn't come here for a few years. It was not any healthy place to come to either. Not when everything was still that cruel back then.
Chóng Fēi paused at mid-walking. Making both of them pause too.
"Gōngzǐ?" Lìngxiāo called lightly.
"Already..?" Chóng Fēi whispered, swallowed hard. He looked at Lìngxiāo like his bravado was wavering again—and he could cling to him any time.
But he held back for the sake of his dignity again.
"I can exorcise this too, Gōngzǐ." Lìngxiāo held a faint comforting hand near to Chóng Fēi's hand—without touching. "It is not as serious as the red robe Gûi."
His smile soft but confident. "All you have to do is trust me. Would you?"
Chóng Fēi held his gaze with that thin press of his lips. Maybe thoughtful. Then a nod with a faint mumble, "Ask for it like it serves you powers or something."
It made Lìngxiāo smile a little wider. His guess sometimes did hit at right points without even trying.