If they had flown, they would have missed the village in the dark. The air had currents of its own but they were more changeable than the currents of water. Jiang Cheng had grown up on this river. He didn't need to see to steer his path.
As they stepped onto the dock, Jiang Cheng drew his sword. The moonlight allowed him to see Chenqing in his brother's hand. He knew how deadly Wei Wuxian could be with the flute, but found himself wishing his brother could still wield a sword.
Without a word spoken between them, Jiang Cheng led the way knowing his brother would remain about nine chi behind. Creatures – the dead animated by resentful energy – were stupid. Seeing Jiang Cheng, they would attack. They didn't have the brains to think his back might be guarded.
As they walked through the village, Jiang Cheng's fist tightened around his sword's hilt. There were no signs of an attack. The streets were pristine, the buildings free of gaping holes, and the area devoid of body parts and gore. There were also no signs of life. No lights lit the streets, no voices filled the air, and no innkeepers came out to offer them lodgings.
When they found the headman's house, Jiang Cheng pounded on the door. It opened more quickly than he'd expected. "Quiet, you idiot! What do you think you're doing making such a racket?" As the man recognized him, his eyes widened but instead of bowing to show his regret – and awareness of his imminent demise – he gestured for Jiang Cheng to enter his home. "Come in, come in. Quickly."
Wei Wuxian darted in after Jiang Cheng. The headman shut the door quietly, making sure it was locked before turning back to his guests.
"What do you mean by treating us so rudely?"
The man looked almost comical, bowing but trying to shush them at the same time. Wei Wuxian did laugh. "Please," the man said, "no noise. You'll call it down on us."
Jiang Cheng scoffed. "That's why we're here. To find the creature and kill it."
"Please," Wei Wuxian said with an unexpected show of diplomacy. "We're here to help. What creature?"
The man glanced about fearfully as if expecting an attack at any moment. "It's like nothing we've ever seen. Homes toppled. Bodies torn to shreds, unrecognizable. The violence of the attacks …" He shuddered.
"Have you seen this creature? Wei Wuxian asked. "What does it look like?"
"No," the headman replied. "To see it is to die."
The brothers exchanged a glance. This level of fear, even from a non-cultivator, was unusual. "Where can we find it?" Jiang Cheng asked.
"Take the north road. It will find you."
The moon provided enough light that they could follow the road. They picked up the pace at the sound of a familiar grunting. "Ha," Jiang Cheng scoffed. "Nothing more than a fierce corpse. The headman's just a superstitious fool." He didn't believe it. The whole village had been dark. One fierce corpse wasn't enough to cause that level of fear.
The garden in front of the small farmhouse was spattered with blood are gore. Even the chickens – Jiang Cheng identified them by the scattered feathers – and what had probably been a small goat had been torn to shreds. After he noticed a toy doll reddened with gore, Jiang Cheng stopped trying to identify pieces. The fierce corpse's grunts, coming from behind the house, grew louder but weren't followed by an attack. Jiang Cheng caught Wei Wuxian's eyes and nodded. His brother stepped forward, flute to his lips, ready to control anything that might attack, as they walked to the side of the farmhouse.
The fierce corpse's legs were trapped up to the knees in something sickly greenish-yellow. The man's death must have been terrible to have revived a corpse with no arms and a gaping hole in its chest. Jiang Cheng saw an axe on the ground near the fierce corpse. The man must have been trying to save his family. Yes, that failure, knowing his family was about to be killed, would have been enough to bring even so hacked up a man back as a fierce corpse. Jiang Cheng cut its head off, offering a prayer that the man be reunited with his family in a happier life, before squatting down to examine what had trapped his legs. He tapped at the substance. It was as hard as stone. "I've never seen anything like it."
"I have." Jiang Cheng looked up sharply. Wei Wuxian sounded afraid but that was stupid. Wei Wuxian was never afraid. "In Sunnydale. There's a demon called Fyarl. They're aggressive. Fast." He nodded at the substance that had trapped the fierce corpse. "Their snot congeals to trap their prey."
"Wei Wuxian," Jiang Cheng shouted. "You let me touch it? Ugh. I can't believe you." Then he caught up to what his brother had said. "Demon?" His tongue tripped over the foreign word. "You told me Chenqing doesn't work against creatures from demonic cultivation land."
Wei Wuxian glanced down at his flute. "Chenqing controls the dead. These creatures aren't dead."
"So you'll be useless against it. Great."
Wei Wuxian pulled out a small knife. "They can only be killed by silver."
Jiang Cheng gestured at the gore splattered courtyard. "That's our only weapon against whatever did this?"
"I think Zubian will slow it down."
Jiang Cheng glared at his brother. "Perfect. Any ideas how to find this creature?"
"As the headman said, it will find us."
They didn't have to wait long. A warning growl sounded just before the creature charged from the woods. Jiang Cheng swung Sandu. What should have been a good, clean strike barely sank in. He had to pull sharply to get the sword out of the creature's side. The creature turned on him, breathed in, and snot flew towards the ground. Jiang Cheng had barely enough time to jump on his sword and fly above the creature before the snot hit with a heavy thump. The creature turned, searching for its prey, and spotted Wei Wuxian. As it charged, Jiang Cheng leaped to the ground and struck it from behind with Zidian. The creature froze, jerking in place as the purple lighting hit it. Wei Wuxian jabbed his small knife into the creature's abdomen. "Go for its heart, you idiot," Jiang Cheng shouted just before the creature fell.
The creature didn't move. "Is it dead?" Jiang Cheng asked.
Wei Wuxian nodded. "Its heart is here," he said, patting at his own abdomen.
Jiang Cheng nudged the creature with his sword. "I thought you said these things vanished when killed."
"That's vampires. This is a Fyarl. Completely different creatures."
Jiang Cheng snorted. "As if I know the difference between demonic cultivation creatures. Could there be more hiding in the woods?"
"No," Wei Wuxian replied. "They're aggressive. If there'd been more nearby, they wouldn't have stayed out of the fight."
Jiang Cheng didn't want to even think about taking on a pack of those things. "We should get back, tell the headman his village is safe."
"You go back," Wei Wuxian said. "There's something I need to look into."
Jiang Cheng's eyes narrowed. "What? What do you need to look into? I'm not going back without you. Lan Wangji will kill me if something happens to you."
"Jiang Cheng, so dramatic. He will not."
"He will," Jiang Cheng insisted. "He told me so. Alright, not in so many words, maybe it was more a flick of an eyebrow, but he made himself clear."
"You go back," Wei Wuxian said. "I'll be along soon. Just make sure to tell Lan Wangji about the Fyarl."
"Why can't you tell him? What are you going to look into? What aren't you telling me?"
"It's nothing," Wei Wuxian insisted. "It's just, well, the Fyarl must have gotten here somehow. That means a portal. We can't leave it open. If it's not shut down, more demons might come through."
"I'm coming with you."
"Jiang Cheng," he whined.
"Wei Wuxian." Even though Jiang Cheng most certainly didn't shout, his words had their intended effect.
"Fine," Wei Wuxian mumbled. "Let's go." He pulled out a blank sheet of paper and drew a talisman in his own blood.
"What's that?"
"To find the portal," Wei Wuxian replied.
It was the oddest talisman Jiang Cheng had ever seen, so strange only his brother could have come up with it. The talisman changed color, darkening to blue as they moved away from the portal and brightening to red as the moved closer. When they found the portal, Jiang Cheng eyed it warily. It looked unnatural, like a tear in the world.
"There's just one thing I have to do before closing the portal," Wek Wuxian said.
"What's that?" Jiang Cheng didn't expect his brother to shove him to the ground. He also didn't expect Wei Wuxian to leap through the portal but wasn't surprised. "What do you think you're doing, you idiot?" Jiang Cheng whipped Zidian forward. It lashed around Wei Wuxian's leg. He yanked with all his might but couldn't pull his brother back. Holding tightly onto Zidian, he allowed himself to be dragged forward, straight into the portal.