For commanding cicadas, Yīn Xiàtiān was an expert at keeping herself hidden. Her skills seemed a rather bizarre combination, one of the noisiest insects combined with an assassin's silence, but somehow it worked well for her. Perhaps even better now that she had the Sorrowful Soul in her possession.

"She was testing the power of that sword out on this town," Mù Tiān Mìng observed, "though it's possible she never left the town. The question is, how close is she?"

Làng Wū Yáo closed his eyes, his healed ear now able to hear everything around him once again. There was the unconscious man on the ground mumbling about making more money, the proprietor of this restaurant cowering behind the counter, the server tucked behind the door, the people bustling outside completely unaware of what was happening inside the restaurant.

Làng frowned, shaking his head.

"How troublesome," Shāng Bù Huàn rubbed at his head. "We don't know the reach of this sword just yet. She could be here, she could be in the next town."

"Given her obsession with Wū Yáo, it's quite possible she is still here," Mù said. "Perhaps she saw us playing in the plaza much of the morning and decided to send us a message."

"I'm really tired of bugs in our food," Shāng frowned. "But given that we are dealing with one of Huò Shì Míng Huáng's assassins now wielding a sorcerous sword, we have to be ready for anything."

"What now?" Làng questioned quietly.

Shāng leaned on the table with a frown. "The last time you asked that, there were scorpions everywhere. You're not seeing something we aren't, are you?"

Làng shook his head.

Shāng sighed in relief. "For a moment there, I thought you were going to say the walls were crawling with cicadas next or that you heard the Hunting Fox's party again."

"Làng would say it with a bit more urgency if he thought there was danger!" Líng Yá pointed out. "He's trying to communicate better, yanno! He knows you can't understand him like I can."

The talk over the campfire still lingered in Làng's mind. Filling in each other's gaps and being a strength where one may feel weak. They trusted his sense nearly as much as he trusted it himself. He could hear things they could not, understand the world in a way that no one else could. His supernatural hearing was incredibly fine tuned, which was also his trouble with Yīn and her cicadas.

"I'm sure in time, we will understand each other a bit more." Shāng grinned. He still wasn't good at reading Làng yet, but that would take time. Làng seemed to be adjusting to them as well, but a massive shift in his life probably left him a bit confused and unable to figure out how to always communicate. "For now, though, we're still a bit short on options. Staying here could cause trouble, but leaving could also leave trouble here."

"Yīn Xiàtiān could very well follow us out of town," Mù countered. "Or she could already be gone."

"True," Shāng frowned a bit. "All the paths I'm thinking feel like Làng is bait and I'd rather not have that."

"A little late for that!" Líng Yá pointed out. "This guy stayed silent, only plucking notes in a town where we didn't even know that bug freak had been! Man, what a pain!"

"It's possible this encounter was just coincidence," Mù reasoned. "She now knows we're here, and we know she's here or at least has been close enough to possess the tavern man. It's a bit of a stalemate at the moment. The only move she's made is try to get us to drink bugs."

Shāng wrinkled his nose.

Làng stared at the squashed bugs on the table. "We make the first move and lure her closer."

Shāng looked up from the table, surprised by the suggestion.

"She is a danger to this town and all near it," Làng continued. "She must be dealt with, and that sword must be sealed." He peered back at his companions. It didn't take much to see they agreed with him but also were concerned. Yīn had taken him down relatively easily with a bug in his ear, something he was still fuming about, and using himself to drag her out would be risky. "Together."

The restaurant proprietor peered out from behind the counter. He hadn't heard Làng's voice, assuming that Líng Yá's was his. It was a strangely alluring voice and it seemed like someone was after it. That lady he saw yesterday, perhaps... "Um, Sirs."

The trio looked over at the proprietor still partially cowering from behind the counter.

"You're talking about that terribly rude lady, aren't you?" the proprietor asked. "The one with balls in her hair?"

"That's her! That obsessive buggy bitch!" Líng Yá shouted

It was then the proprietor realized the other voice did not belong to Làng but instead his pipa. He stared at Líng Yá, uncertain of what to make of him.

"She was here then?" Shāng questioned.

The proprietor nodded, taking his focus off the pipa. "She came in for a meal, paid in coins that turned into bugs, then after she left, everyone started fighting!"

"Not even paying for a meal! How low can you get?!" Líng Yá criticized.

"Was she holding a sword that looked like braided hair?" Mù asked.

The proprietor nodded again. "I saw it for a brief moment before the chaos broke out. But there's more than that. After she left, there was a strange noise then there was a crack in the back wall!" He pointed at the crack along the back partially hidden by curtains. "Do you think that rude lady caused that too?"

Làng stared at the proprietor for a moment, considering the strange noise. His supernatural voice was something unique enough that he doubted anyone else possessed this ability. And if they did, they certainly weren't in Xī Yōu else that princess probably would've claimed them. He walked over to the indicated crack, pushing the curtains over to the side just enough to observe the damage. His voice could do a lot of things, but this was far beyond what even he was capable of doing.

"The Sorrowful Soul does make noise but it doesn't have that effect," Shāng recalled the information they'd been tracking. "It could be another sword."

The proprietor glanced between the gathered group hoping that they would get rid of these weird occurrences in their town. "I honestly just want my place to be standing after the end of the night."

But there was another in the room that had been listening in on the conversation. The server had suddenly begun to stare at them across the room from behind the nearby door. He had heard rumors about someone coming to collect sorcerous swords. Could they possibly be the Sword-plundering Nemesis the imperials had mentioned, the greatest villains in all of Xī Yōu? The reward for information was incredibly high.

Làng glanced at the server for a moment who peered back at him before shutting the door. His breathing suggested he was intent on doing something risky. The proprietor was more than willing to offer information about the mysterious noise and Yīn Xiàtiān, but that server seemed to have a different intent. Returning to the table, he dug the single brass coin from his pocket, placing it on the table. "We need to go."

The other two stood up, not questioning it. Làng had sensed something given Líng Yá's silence and the rather serious expression the musician now wore. They walked some ways away, Làng carefully listening to their surroundings. The server had suddenly left the restaurant after they did. He was attempting to sneak but even with the noise in the plaza, the server couldn't cover his steps.

Mù peered at Làng as soon as they were further from the restaurant. "Something was with that proprietor, wasn't it?"

"The server," Làng nodded, keeping his voice low as he spoke. "I believe he recognized you, Shāng."

"Me?" Shāng questioned. "It's not as though people really know my face."

"The talk about swords," Làng said.

Shāng frowned. "How troublesome." He had been stealing sorcerous swords for a while, keeping them from the empire's hands. The idea of the Sword-plundering Nemesis had spread around but no one really knew what he looked like. He usually wore a hat that shielded his face. The Hunting Fox knew what he looked like, but there were no wanted posters or anything like that posted to indicate the two were one and the same.

"Stop right there, Sword-plundering Nemesis!"

Imperial soldiers surrounded them quickly as the locals scurried away to find a place to hide. Shāng sighed. So much for not getting recognized. This would make things troublesome.

Làng glanced around, pulling Líng Yá from his back and into his hands. These men were acting of their own volition. He kept his ears open for signs of Yīn Xiàtiān nearby. He still couldn't find an aura evil enough to match hers or even come close. He didn't even hear the cicadas at the moment. What was she waiting for? Or was she actually not here?

But there was another noise he heard. A deep ringing, almost guttral in the distance.

...

Author's musings

They never seem to catch a break do they? First bug tea courtesy of Yin, now a mysterious noise that causes cracks in the wall. Could Yin be the source of the noise or could it be someone else? They certainly have a lot of trouble on their hands right now, don't they?