Lìngxiāo took some seconds to digest an abnormal piece of information.
He hadn't heard this title except from an entertaining poetry song artist who was almost a regular guest at every loud ceremony big clans like Hàngwō called for.
But not like he had personally seen too much.
Not like it was even needed. Nor had he even gone to every ceremony they threw. Most of the time it would be the biggest one he attended, and he left early or skipped because of his urgent duty as an exorcist somewhere.
'If this gûi is talking about that pen-named singer..I might need to stay longer at the upcoming ceremony to be sure about it. I should ask more. This much is not enough.'
Lìngxiāo looked down at the mirror once more. Then he sank his hand within it like clear water.
"Oh, darling!" Serpent held his hand eagerly, cold fingers making him snap his hand back.
"Serpent.." He hissed soft like a light warning. Mostly flushed by that 'almost' unexpected touch.
It also reminded him of the way drunk Chóng Fēi had called him this. Though she called him this from the start, it reminded him of a recent incident. But perhaps because he knew him before the female curse.
"And..do not call me that." He added with a faint, uncomfortable catch. Then sank his hand into the mirror again, fingers clenching and unclenching in silent impatience and signaling. "Just hand me the female gûi."
"Hmph! You always do that. You don't let me love you while I'm overflowing here~" She whined but did grab the female ghost and hand her to him.
"Do not kill me please! I said the truth! I really do not know who he is or if he killed me or not!!" The female ghost cried out in panic within his grip—where he held her like a tiny ball of dust, struggling.
"I will not kill you. I have not had any reason. Not yet." Lìngxiāo said calmly. His tone was gentle, promising. "All you have to do..is trust me."
The ghost slowly stopped struggling. Still not trusting totally. But curling into his fingers. Lìngxiāo could see that the male ghost was still hovering to scare her.
"Out." He just gave it a smooth, hard fist with the same hand she was curling into. It made it fall down to the valley of the mirror.
"You still do not have the right to fist over my head just for playing with this thing!" The male ghost yelled as his voice disappeared within the distance.
The laughs from other curses and ghosts bobbled up again. Sharp and mocking like devil neighbors who found something entertaining. But this time it was all of them who lived within the mirror. Not only the three or eight-eyed one.
"Everyone..?" Lìngxiāo just lightly echoed like a reminder to his curses: behave.
"Alright, alright, 'gentlemen'. Let us be silent for a moment and solve this case. Our Gōngzǐ is working on a serious matter." The three-eyed one announced dramatically, making everyone pause after a few breathless exhales.
"Are Mōs gentle?" One of the curses asked when they couldn't ignore the press over the word.
"SHHHH!!" All other curses hushed sharply.
"Oh..alright.." That same one mumbled and went back to silent.
Lìngxiāo took another breath before slowly taking out his hand from the mirror when the ghost was no longer struggling. Then he put the mirror back into his robe and took out a talisman. He placed it over the ghost in his palm right after opening his fingers.
"Eh!" The ghost tensed when she saw another talisman coming. Perhaps expected any burn or torturing.
"You are alright." Lìngxiāo said, raised his palm like handling something really sensitive. His strict smile softened. "I meant no harm but just answers—as long as you are not harmful or lying to me."
The ghost opened its almost solid eyes from the gaps of her fingers—eyes. Fingers.
She was now in a tiny paper human form in his hand. She gasped and looked around herself. Then looked at him while cupping her own face with wide, dot-like eyes which looked like they were drawn by ink.
"I have a face made of ink and paper!" She said like confirming it.
"Yes!~" The curses never stopped overhearing and now answered her surprise. Their tone over-dramatically excited.
The ghost paused and then said again, "And I am trapped in a paper!!"
"Yeeees!!" The curses echoed again.
"Girl, is that this much unbelievable? He does it when he finds any ghost 'useful' or 'interesting'. Your abnormality is the reason here." Serpent added in a muffled mutter. Almost jealous too.
Lìngxiāo shook his head lightly in silent hopelessness. Fond.
'But I cannot deny..they did make me feel a little better than before..not only the energy release.'
He took the paper human near to his shoulder, letting it perch on his shoulder and turning towards the door. He pushed back his hair as he gained back his composure.
"I have more activities to attend. So, I would only ask you quietly. You will answer me. Understood?" He said to the ghost after turning lightly towards it.
The ghost nodded. "I'll.."
Lìngxiāo smoothed whatever invisible wrinkles were claiming the silk of his ocean-green robe from the reckless fast run and the exorcism, then started to walk down the stairs. His eyes scanned the walls.
They looked unfamiliar from his run without proper attention.
The stairs didn't even look like a regular place anybody went. The stones would make sound in a risky way as if they would break anytime.
He looked around suspiciously as the place looked dark even after killing all the ghosts.
The place was abandoned.
Dark and colder. Spiders made their largest houses here. The old furniture was also abandoned. Could be the only tower left like this. He couldn't believe he ran up here.
'Was it this close to the downstairs?'
He looked down from the stairs as he was only on the fourth floor. He heard just a little muffled voices. It was a little soft and full of relief—on the other side. Perhaps the parents came to take their children.
On the other side, some were men, cursing over and the one they were curling around was nobody else but Chóng Fēi. Chóng Fēi's voice was the loudest and full of the rage he had seen last time before running over here. His sword wasn't silent too. The sharp ringing sounds still echoed through the stone walls.
But right now—his focus was on two things: the mysterious person the ghost had mentioned and this place.
He kept his gaze over the atmosphere while keeping his questioning under his breath. So he walked past the stairs and moved into one place—the dark, abandoned room, raising his palm with his glowing small lantern.
"Have you seen his face? Has he killed you?" He asked the ghost softly while removing the silver web tangled over the doorway.
"No.." she said like disappointed by herself. "I just saw his eyes. Even whatever he wished to say was said by his mōs."
Lìngxiāo listened. He turned behind when something rushed past. Not strong enough. Same as the ghosts. It didn't take him long to understand. This place still had something which kept attracting the ghosts, and maybe that's why the ghosts kept coming back here. But his instincts already said that there was something which shouldn't be ignored.
'Can just eyes tell who he is?'
'Does this new thread have an ending, or is it also trying to stretch me thin?'
But he asked anyway. "Do you remember his eye color?"
"It was..green. Deep green. But almost glimmered like blue too. Peacock green. But had the light lotus green at the edges too." She said, hiding deeper into his hair when this place felt too wrong.
'Peacock green.'
Lìngxiāo replayed every pair of eyes in his mind which he had seen in his life and remembered. Not among common people, but the cultivators. The Hàngwō side didn't have anyone with this color of eyes. Mostly all were cold shades, as if they chose who would fit better within their uniform too—not only the skills.
Làncǎi could never be within this list. Not Wàng Wùjī either. His suspicion orbited around Chóng Féng again, who somehow had the type of eyes which did not limit to one color.
He is his father. Could also be that he arranged this to keep an extra eye on his son, since he was now actively working with Lìngxiāo—whom he definitely didn't trust. But he didn't have qì to even do it. Could he have taken anyone's help? Any of his friends, it could be. But why then was it kept secret in that way? It was still tagging into his heart And mind as fishy yet he couldn't focus on one thing right now.
Someone does not hide without a reason.
His mind caught one impossible person which did match with this discretion, but he perhaps..had died long ago—
That same boy from his childhood who had called him his 'problem'. The memory was still fresh within his mind. Even more since he had just re-experienced everything within that trauma loop.
'But..was he not ordinary? A victim? He should have gone five years ago. But could his information be left within the information texts?'
His chest gave a tug at the thought.
'But what if..he was also not ordinary at all? Just as me? He..did not look fearful at that night either. As if he knew he would not be..executed at all.'
'But how can he be related to Chóng Fēi Gōngzǐ?'
'Even when working at his clan..I have not seen him. Fēi Gōngzǐ was always the only one heir.'
'Still..this universe is unexpected. So I would collect some information from the texts too.'
"A hanging body! And it's moving?!!!" The ghost itself got scared by something and hid deeper into his hair.
"Gōngzǐ, there is something definitely not just any regular cursed puppet." Mō Qīn called even from the gem.
Lìngxiāo's attention sharpened over the external conflict and looked at the way forward. His eyes locked on the horrible-looking thing in front of him.