The Undead Village Arc 5

"So this is the Undead Village"

Guang Zhen descended from his horse standing at the entrance of the village having a gate covered in weeds and dust. Qi ShuanFeng descended the horse as well.

The two men entered the village walking side by side whilst holding onto the leash of their horses.

"It seems barren" Qi ShuanFeng looked around finding the streets almost empty. It was getting dark as well. They'd set off in the morning but arrived quite late.

"Let us find a place to stay first" Guang Zhen suggested.

The two looked for a nearby inn and the only one closest to the entrance was the same inn that Huo Yi had mentioned staying in during his visit.

"Why did you decline the offer to take  soldiers and maids along?" Guang Zhen asked as they entered the premises of that inn.

"If it is as dangerous a place as the Huo Prince stated, then I shall not endanger the lives of normal people for my own safety" Qi ShuanFeng responded to that odd question.

"As I thought, the Prince has such a big heart" Guang Zhen somewhat smirked as he slightly bowed his head to the old innkeeper; though she didn't really respond and stood lifelessly by the counter.

"Is the reason you refused, not the same?" Qi ShuanFeng gestured two fingers to the inn keeper, suggesting they'd need two rooms and placed two silver bars as rent.

"I found it a burden to bring along people that I'd have to protect, it shall only drag me down" Guang Zhen shrugged, he didn't really hide the fact that he wasn't as empathetic as the other person, it didn't matter though; he really did not hide his true personality from Qi ShuanFeng, which was a part of the reason the latter was always at his throat.

The lady placed a key before them, a single one rather than two.

"We need two, lady" Qi ShuanFeng verbally emphasized.

She stood there in a daze ignoring everything that had been said and picked up her lamp leading the way whilst holding that one key.

The two found her behavior quite disturbing and decided to silently follow whilst their hands were clutching onto the holders of their sheathed swords hung by the side of their waists.

She led them through the narrow passage with closed doors on both sides. The floor creaked as they walked to the end of the passage where she unlocked the door using the key she held.

The door opened, the two princes became vary when the old woman gave them space to enter. The room was lit by a single candle so it wasn't as illuminated as the places they were accustomed of living in.

She turned around leaving the two standing there.

"What is up with her?" Qi ShuanFeng felt quite disturbed by the lady's behavior whilst Guang Zhen proceeded to walk in.

"MeiFeng, look" Guang Zhen whispered as soon as he got inside.

"I told you don't call me..." The prince felt agitated yet the moment he entered the room, he was in shock as well "What happened here?" he questioned.

The two stood staring at the broken wooden wall that almost created a pathway to the room next to it.

"It appears, there was some kind of fight in here" Guang Zhen inspected the scene, grabbing the candle and walked through the dark hole in the wall, entering the next room where he discovered a broken cupboard.

"It appears so, there must have been a battle in here" Qi ShuanFeng agreed once he followed him in and saw the same sight.

"It is better that we stay within the same room I presume" Guang Zhen suggested.

"Do you also presume, it is dangerous in here?" Qi ShuanFeng asked to which Guang Zhen could only nod.

The two agreed to stay in the same room, though Guang Zhen took the bed. Qi ShuanFeng refused and said he'd stay awake in case there's some situation. He sat by the window staring at the moon.

" Say, why did you want the Huo siblings to take command of the monitoring division if you don't trust them" Qi ShuanFeng asked out of curiosity.

Guang Zhen felt amused by the question "What we don't understand, we fear and when we fear we waver, if I were to answer the why, I'd state, it is about knowing what I fear"

"You are playing with words again" Qi ShuanFeng argued, yet he'd expected that "The siblings are weird, there's something about them that I cannot put my finger upon, they appeared eighteen years after the attack on Huo Palace and suddenly started making themselves known"

"I doubt that is what they intended, to me it appears they were dragged out of hiding and now curious eyes linger upon them" Guang Zhen laid down upon the bed.

"Are you against them or on their side?" Qi ShuanFeng asked boldly.

Guang Zhen's smile turned to a smirk "that depends upon how big the thing is that they are concealing"

"Do not get yourself in danger just because you feel like it's amusing" Qi ShuanFeng was always against this type of attitude and he naturally became worried if people talked about throwing their life in vain.

"I feel rather flattered that your highness expressed his concern for me" Guang Zhen had a curved smile that even annoyed ShuanFeng more than he already was.

"Do not mistaken my words, for this is not my concern for you, I presume my little brother is quite fond of you and it shall sadden my heart if he were to feel devastated just because you were careless with your life" Qi ShuanFeng covered up, he hated that smug smile on Guang Zhen's face.

"MeiFeng, you are kind" Guang Zhen responded, yet again annoying the other too much. His grumpy face and frown became even more stoic.

Though he couldn't strike the other for that, he knew Guang Zhen didn't say that to ridicule him.

Even for Guang Zhen himself, he'd always know ShuanFeng was kind despite appearing somewhat harsh and villainous on the exterior.

The two didn't share much after that, Guang Zhen went into a slumber while ShuanFeng stayed awake sitting by the window and staring at the moon.

It late after midnight when ShuanFeng heard a whisper that brought him back to consciousness right after he started dozing off. He became awake so suddenly that he couldn't keep hold of his senses and attacked at the shadow hovering him, pushing it all the way back to the wall with his elbow pressed upon its neck.

"MeiFeng!" Guang Zhen coughed, he was taken by surprise at the sudden movement of the prince.

ShuanFeng also came to complete consciousness and realized it was Guang Zhen that he had attacked.

He immediately backed off feeling a bit embarrassed at his own behavior.

"It appears, you dozed off and I scared you, I apologize" Guang Zhen settled himself , though it hurt being suddenly elbowed into the throat, he'd still grab his neck and massage it.

ShuanFeng was speechless, even though he had said he'd stay awake yet he dozed off and secondly he almost attacked another prince being half awake simply because he was startled.

"S..o...rr..." The word was harder than any other for him out there.

Guang Zhen couldn't help but smile watching him struggle with such a simple word, yet he could not enjoy this adorable fellow at the moment.

"Right, I woke you up because there is something going on outside, a while ago everyone started moving, I was awakened by the commotion and voices"

"What?" ShuanFeng found himself in yet an embarrassing position again since he was so deep in to slumber that he could hear none of those voices.

"Let us lament later and sort the problem at hand first" Guang Zhen suggested, he knew just by the look on ShuanFeng's face that he was deep into contemplation.

ShuanFeng broke out of his guilt driven self reflection and nodded.

The two sneaked out and started to move though the shadows; quite ironical for someone like them to conceal themselves in shadows.

At first they randomly moved around looking through places and peaking into the windows of empty houses.

There was absolutely no one to be found, it was as if the whole village had vanished overnight.

Where had everyone gone to in such less time?

Eventually they walked out of hiding and freely upon the streets looking for any sight of life around.

"Have they vanished in thin air?" ShuanFeng began to question out loud. He became somewhat impulsive and started kicking open the doors of houses.

The night grew thicker and the moon hid behind the clouds, it was a moment of absolute darkness.

"MeiFeng, let us head back to the inn first and get our horses from the stable, we might need them if we want to check far ahead" Guang Zhen suggested and ShuanFeng showed agreement. The two rushed back to the inn only to be shocked out of their guts.

The innkeeper stood at the counter.

"Where is everybody?" Guang Zhen drew his sword pointing it at the old lady.

"Ah Zhen, you cannot, it is but an old person!" ShuanFeng was completely against the idea.

"It is not that I wish to attack an old lady, MeiFeng, it is simply the fact that this old lady knows more than she pretends to know" Guang Zhen suggested.

The old lady stood there lifelessly, ShuanFeng didn't find Guang Zhen's words logical and held his hand lowering his sword for him.

A second after that, a guest came out of one of the rooms and walked towards the lavatory looking somewhat like a zombie.

Both men were shocked, Guang Zhen immediately rushed out of the inn and ShuanFeng followed after him not knowing what he was upto.

He went by the houses again only to see all the people were there, fast asleep.

ShuanFeng was shocked too, how could they return over in such short time? What was going on?

It was almost the time for sunrise when the two returned.

Neither of them had anything to say to the other while they sat in their rooms completely dazed.

They couldn't catch sleep either.

Back at the Guang Palace, everyone was setting up for all the decisions that had been made in the meeting.

In the study room, both Qi JuanFeng and Lady Tianshi stood working out the papers for all possible locations and people to assign to those locations.

Initially it was just JuanFeng but Lady Tianshi joined him after seeing him struggle with that much workload on his own.

"Lady, I am really grateful that you joined me today" JuanFeng was beyond tired, he couldn't help but rub the temples of his forehead frequently.

Lady Tianshi placed the papers on the desk and came to his side somewhat startling him.

She dragged a chair and asked him to sit as he nervously followed the lady's words.

"The water clan are known for their purification methods and healing" She whispered as she went around his back.

"Um lady?" JuanFeng found himself a bit nervous.

"You need not fear, I shall simply heal your fatigue" She said and proceeded her hands to his forehead. He somewhat tried to move away but she had a firm grip that made him rest his head back. She slowly started to massage his head.

As relaxing as it felt, it was quite embarrassing to watch a crown princess tend to him like this.

"Lady, you need not do this" JuanFeng felt a bit reluctant.

"I feel like doing so and so I shall" Lady Tianshi was someone who always followed her heart's will no matter what someone else thought.

At the same moment Lady XiaoLi entered the chambers but the sight before her confused her, not that she could say so and it made young JuanFeng flustered

"No, no, no! It is not what you think, Lady Tianshi was simply helping me with my fatigue" Young JuanFeng sprung up and shook his hand nervously, his cheeks flushed red and his words were all fumbly.

"I cannot see, young prince" XiaoLi appeared unresponsive, of course she had seen it through the cloth, she might be clever in all sorts of things but this one thing. She wasn't someone to delve into 'feelings', she was quite objective in that regard.

JuanFeng could only sigh, it seemed like these two ladies were too stiff and too emotionless for his understanding.

Their faces were more and more expressionless and doll like that it felt useless to say anything.

"Lady XiaoLi, what brings you here?" JuanFeng asked her.

"It is about the instruction division" XiaoLi came to the point.

"What about it?" JuanFeng became interested.

"As you know, the Huoshe kingdom is still functioning without a patriarch or a matriarch, it will take me some time to take over as the matriarch and for that I'd need my brother's assistance" XiaoLi explained.

"I cannot change the head of instruction division at will, I presume this decision was made based upon your agreement" JuanFeng appeared perplexed.

"I am aware, what I'm suggesting is not changing the head but the location of the instruction division which might help me" XiaoLi answered.

"Where do you want the division to be other than the Guang capital?" JuanFeng asked.

"I want the instruction division to be erected within the Huoshe kingdom of fire clan"

She spoke to the surprise of her listeners.

At the village, it was daytime already. The two men hadn't had any sleep except for the moments where they dozed off for a few but were awakened by nightmares.

"At this rate, we shall last an even less time here than the Huo Prince" Guang Zhen was completely out of energy.

"If the enemy shall only show themselves, it'd be alot easier to defeat it but these mind games are too much" ShuanFeng shook his head.

"We're purposely being denied of sleep, staying awake would effect our spiritual energy" Guang Zhen knew it well but still couldn't bring himself to sleep anyway and it was same for the other prince.

The innkeeper knocked at the door, to which they suddenly became vigilant and clutched onto their weapons but all she did was come in after she was allowed to do so and put a tray with two teacups and some bread on the table and took her leave.

"What do you think?" Guang Zhen asked.

"I don't think I can trust anything that she brings us to eat" ShuanFeng sighed resting his head back against the wall.

"Starving ourselves would obviously work in their favor, let us go outside and find ourselves something to eat and drink" Guang Zhen got up first and ShuanFeng had to follow too.

The two exited the inn while the guests stared at them weirdly.

"These people" Guang Zhen seemed somewhat perplexed.

"What about them?" ShuanFeng asked.

"The ones staying at the inn, they don't look like they are from around here, judging by their attires and all" Guang Zhen said.

"This inn is nearby the village's entrance, it is no surprise that those who enter the village from outside stay in here atleast once" ShuanFeng responded.

The two then walked further into the village looking for any trees or farms where they could find any edible items only to end up at the well of the village quite empty-handed.

"Should we just buy from a shopkeeper around?" ShuanFeng asked.

"We can't trust anyone, until we get the things ourselves" Guang Zhen shook his head.

"Let us atleast drink water" ShuanFeng turned to the well, throwing the bucket in only hearing it hit the ground rather than splash into the water "What? A dried up well?"

"What?" Guang Zhen also got up to look into the well, there was no water atleast as far as he could see into it "This is not right" He shook his head.

"What isn't?" ShuanFeng asked.

"Prince HuoYi told me about a woman that he hit with a stone while she was fetching water from the village well, how is it dried up?" Guang Zhen picked a stone and let it drop in waiting for it to hit the bottom and only then something came to him.

"What is it?" ShuanFeng seemed terribly confused.

"Mei Feng, let us go back and rest afterall; while we wait for the night" Guang Zhen appeared as he was upto something.

The two stayed patiently within the inn for the day and waited for nightfall while taking turns to sleep and replenish their energy.

It was only by nightfall that the two exited the inn.

Guang Zhen snuck in nearby houses to check up on people while ShuanFeng snuck into storage sheds and grabbed them some ropes and blades.

The two met up by the well.

"Are you sure?" ShuanFeng asked.

"Yeah" Guang Zhen said and he started tying the rope tightly around his waist.

ShuanFeng tied the other end to a tree and held onto the closer end, he helped Guang Zhen lower in. The two held hands briefly while Guang Zhen entered the well. ShuanFeng let it go once the latter had lowered in.

Little by little he loosened the grip on the rope and let the other lower in.

Until Guang Zhen reached the end of the dried up well.

There was no trace of water as if it had been dried up for centuries, yet a mass of stones was gathered up at one end.

"Did you find something?!" ShuanFeng yelled into the well.

Guang Zhen didn't answer, instead he started moving those stones and eventually the pile rolled of itself too.

He was shocked and stood there for a bit being completely frozen until the noise of sword clashing sword distracted him.

"Meifeng?! What's going on up there? MEIFENG?!!" Guang Zhen yelled but all he could hear were the sounds of swords until there was none.

" Meifeng? MEIFENG?! QI SHUANFENG ANSWER ME! ARE YOU THERE?!" He kept yelling but there was no response.

He tried to climb back but fell off, the dangling rope all slipped in the well as if it had been cut off.

He was stuck in the well with Qi ShuanFeng missing, things couldn't be worse. He almost found himself going into a panic attack enclosed in a space like this not knowing if the other prince was alive or not until...

The stones rolled off and behind it was a hidden trap door.

He composed himself and got on his feet even though they felt completely lifeless. Yet he put some strength into his legs and dragged himself to the door pulling the door knob.

He had to crawl through it on all fours since the door was small and cramped up, feeling his consciousness fade as he made his way through this congested space feeling all out of breath due to the enclosure. For some reason such a tight place was making him feel nervous, he finally reached the end of the tunnel and jumped out of it trying to catch his breath in the open space without thinking where he was.

Only when he came to his senses he opened his eyes to what was around him and his eyes widened at the sight before him

At the palace, Guang Yun was finally up, he had recovered a lot ever since Huo Yi had absorbed in the negative energy. The Queen had barely left his side too, she was intense about caring for him. He understood the concerns of his mother but if there was a chance, he wished to get out and know what was going out there.

Huo Yi made an appearance, not that the Queen was fond of him coming over but she couldn't really refuse either out of formality.

"How are you today?" Huo Yi questioned the first thing after he settled.

"Mother..." Guang Yun turned to the queen, who seemed reluctant to leave him alone with Huo Yi.

She almost clenched her fists upon her robes as she got up and showed formality before taking her leave.

"I apologize, my mother is quite protective" Guang Yun stated, Huo Yi barely understood, he wouldn't know the concern of a mother anyway.

"You seem better today" Huo Yi said placing his hand upon the latter's cheek, feeling his face.

"I am, thanks to you" Guang Yun didn't really mind it, he knew touch was the only way Huo Yi would be able to feel his condition.

"I am glad" Huo Yi said with his still expression yet Guang Yun could tell that there was a tint of actual relief on his face. He somewhat understood how his brother could tell his moods even if he hid it well, considering which; he couldn't help but wonder where his brother went as he hadn't visited him while he was injured.

"Say, where is ZhenGe?" Guang Yun asked Huo Yi.

"Did you not know? Guang Zhen and Qi ShuanFeng set upon to a journey to the village in the forest"

Huo Yi was surprised to know that he hadn't been informed of his own brother's whereabouts.

"What?!" Guang Yun almost sat up with a jerk and tried to get off bed.

"You can not! You shall aggravate your wound!" Huo Yi tried to stop him but the latter seemed too panicked

"I must tell him!" Guang Yun struggled.

"Tell what?" Huo Yi asked.

Guang Yun turned to HuoYi and gripped tightly on his shoulders

"It is the villagers! They are in on this!"

The villagers dragged an unconscious Guang Zhen tossing him forward onto the ground of the underground temple, in front of a huge statue of a male, buff and tall figure with handsome features, horns and a huge pointed tail.

They themselves were groveling on the ground to show respect to this familiar statue.

Guang Zhen knew the statue of their worship well, he had often seen it while reading the darkest books in the forbidden section of the Guang library.

The Statue of the demon lord, Mowang.