"That's enough catching up now," Ye Qingyu said. "What brings you back here to Jing Kingdom?"
Cang Jiumin looked at Li Susu, who answered, "We want to ask, is Xiao Lin's Heart Guarding Scale here?"
"How…" Ye Qingyu started to ask, but catching Cang Jiumin's expression, understood. "Yes, it is," he confirmed. "Why are you asking?"
"It might seem too much to ask, but can we have it?" Li Susu asked. "Its power can greatly help us in… a problem," she ended lamely.
Ye Qingyu looked contemplatively at Li Susu. "I'm sorry, sister," he said finally, "but I can't do that."
"Why?"
Ye Qingyu looked troubled. "There's a demon that has suddenly appeared in the capital, and preying on the people," he explained. "I had to borrow some of the scale's power to keep the people safe. Without it, the people are vulnerable."
"What has been done to catch the demon?" Cang Jiumin asked.
"We… we've laid traps for it multiple times, but it's too clever and escapes them every time," Ye Qingyu answered, but Cang Jiumin thought he saw a little bit of hesitation and shame in his eyes. He frowned slightly. What could make Ye Qingyu act so?
"We're on it," Li Susu said confidently, not noticing anything. "We're going to catch the demon for you, so you can give us the scale."
Ye Qingyu smiled at Li Susu. "That's my sister, always such a force of nature," he said fondly. "Very well. Catch the demon, keep my people safe, and I'll let you have the scale."
Li Susu smiled in a self-satisfactory way. Cang Jiumin looked at that smile, heart clenching painfully. When are you going to smile for me too?
Xxxxxxxxxxxxx
"You seem pretty confident you can catch that demon," Cang Jiumin remarked at Li Susu as they walked out of the palace.
Li Susu smirked. "I've had a few hundred years before you ever came to the sect," she said, confidence overflowing, "and I've been educated and trained to hunt demons since I was young. This is my specialty." She raised an eyebrow at him. "You can go back to Xiaoyao and let me handle this on my own."
Cang Jiumin smiled complacently. "Sect Sister maybe my senior," he replied, "but I assure you, I'm no pushover myself. I've been said to be a cut above the rest of my sect brothers and sisters, comparable to the genius Gongye Jiwu of Hengyang Sect. I've read every book, practiced every array and sword technique that Xiaoyao Sect has to offer. I'm pretty sure I can hold my own beside my distinguished Sect Sister."
Li Susu narrowed her eyes and bit back the retort bubbling on her lips. Cang Jiumin noticed and smiled. "What are you smiling at?" she petulantly asked him.
Cang Jiumin shook his head. "I was just mesmerized by how beautiful you look today," he said sincerely.
Speechless, Li Susu looked down and self-consciously tucked a lock of hair behind her ears, but Cang Jiumin could see her cheeks blush. "Let's find somewhere to settle in first," she finally said, walking huffily ahead of him. He followed, smiling in a self-satisfied way.
At the Phoenix Inn, the innkeeper greeted them with a smile. "How may I help you, good sir and madam?" he said as Cang Jiumin and Li Susu approached.
"We'd like to stay over for one night please," Li Susu said.
"Would that be one or two rooms?"
"Two!" "One!" They both said at the same time.
Cang Jiumin and Li Susu looked at each other. "It's two, of course," Li Susu said, turning to the innkeeper. "One for me, and one for the gentleman over here."
"Sect Sister, are you going to let me sleep outside?" Cang Jiumin asked. "Master didn't think of giving me any money so…"
Li Susu took out a bag of coins from her pocket and grinned at the innkeeper. "Two rooms, please," she said firmly, then grinned cheekily at Cang Jiumin. The innkeeper grinned back as he took the coins and gave them two keys, directing them to the rooms.
"Junior Sister!"
Li Susu turned to the sound of the voice. "Senior Brother!" she called out, waving at Gongye Jiwu, who had just exited one of the rooms in the inn. "What a coincidence you're here!"
Cang Jiumin met Gongye Jiwu's gaze. He nodded in acknowledgement, while Gongye Jiwu had a complicated expression on his face as he looked at them. Cang Jiumin briefly wondered at that, and then remembered that he and Li Susu had just recently broken their engagement. He looked at Li Susu wonderingly. Could she have…
"What are you doing here?" Li Susu said, walking up to Gongye Jiwu, noticing nothing between the two men. "Father did say you went down to the mortal realm to hunt demons, but I didn't expect to see you here."
"I wonder that myself," Gongye Jiwu mumbled, but not clear enough for Li Susu to understand. Cang Jiumin perfectly understood, though, and pressed his lips together. He gestured for them to sit at a nearby table, and asked the innkeeper to give them some tea and refreshments.
"My demon hunting led me here," Gongye Jiwu said, louder and clearer this time. "I've been walking among the locals for days now, searching for a demon that possesses people in their sleep. It especially targets people who have felt the sting of love and been rejected, and feeds on their sorrow and suffering."
Cang Jiumin surreptitiously looked at Li Susu, who looked thoughtful. He wondered if she was thinking about Gongye Jiwu's rejected proposals, but found that he was wrong when she answered, "That kind of demon should be recorded in the List of Evils in the Scripture Hall. I can't remember…"
"It is Ye Mei," Gongye Jiwu answered. "It can change its form and easily read minds, which is how it can sense people with love thoughts and to lure them into a fantasy she created, she easily takes the form of the one the person either hates or loves."
Cang Jiumin's eyes brightened at that last one, which Li Susu finally picked up on. "Don't get the meaningless part," she snapped, rolling her eyes. Gongye Jiwu looked at them both, and coughed self-consciously.
Li Susu straightened her back, and raised her chin. "I've read something about Ye Mei," she continued, ignoring Cang Jiumin's pointed looks. "It could be restrained by a red silk thread from Lingting Country, and has a keen sense of smell, so something with a strong scent, like spell water can also be used to limit its movements." She raised an eyebrow on him, as if to challenge him, What else can you add?
Cang Jiumin's lip curled in amusement. "Ye Mei sucks all the thought out of its prey, leaving them catatonic, good as dead," he said. "When it gets dark, it can also easily fool divine artifacts, which is why the Jing emperor and his guards couldn't catch her even with the Heart Guarding Scale. That's why it's important that we know ourselves as well as the enemy to take the risk of catching her." He looked at Li Susu, who pointedly avoided his glance.
They discussed some more on how to catch the demon, and decided on the spots where they will stand guard on. Cang Jiumin had misgivings about leaving Li Susu alone, but as she said, she had been an immortal disciple for far longer than he had, with more experience in demon slaying than he has, so she is more than capable of handling herself.
But why do I feel so uneasy?
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
The night was quiet enough. With Ye Qingyu's help, the people emptied the streets, bedtimes hastened for little children, and wary adults closed their windows and doors. Lantern in hand, Cang Jiumin walked through the empty streets.
I wonder how Li Susu is doing now? Cang Jiumin couldn't help but think and worry about her. When he asked what she was going to do, all he got in response was a cheeky smirk and a flourish of skirts as she capered away from him.
"She'll be all right," Gongye Jiwu said, reading his thoughts perfectly, watching Li Susu like he was. "She's always succeeded on what she sets out to do, and demon slaying is her responsibility." He smiled at Cang Jiumin, and tapped his shoulder. "She'll be all right."
Cang Jiumin touched his chest, where his nail-pierced heart was beating quietly. Demon slaying is her responsibility. With Gongye Jiwu's assurance in his mind, he tried to calm his worries away and focused on finding the demon.
He looked at the red threads they had tied along the streets. There was a slight movement on the threads, which could have just been the wind, if not for an insistent tugging on them. He decided to investigate and followed the movement towards an alley.
A little girl, or so he thought, sat crouched in the middle of the alley. "Little girl," Cang Jiumin called, "what are you doing here, alone at night?"
The little girl stood, and Cang Jiumin quickly realized that it wasn't a little girl at all, but…
Li Susu turned to him, a suspiciously bright smile on her face. Cang Jiumin looked down, and saw shimmering red silk threads wrapped around one arm. He looked up at the demon's face, which took on Li Susu's.
Ye Mei transforms into the person one hates or loves.
"My darling," Cang Jiumin said in a sweet tone, "there you are. I've been looking all over for you." The demon smiled, and reached out to touch him.
The demon narrowly avoided being decapitated by Nanzhi, Cang Jiumin's sword. The illusion disappeared, and the demon's real face flickered in sight. "How can you break free from my spell?" she screeched, and threw lightning bolts at Cang Jiumin, who quickly put up a barrier to shield himself.
Cang Jiumin whispered an incantation, and cast it towards the demon. "You can never hurt me with her," he said, holding her with the chaining spell. The demon struggled for a while, glaring daggers at him.
"Love is a poison that everyone succumbs to," the demon muttered, gritting her teeth against the tightening of the chain around her. "You are no exception, Devil God."
Cang Jiumin started, then tightened the chain some more. "You…" This must be the doing of Si Ying and Jing Mie, he thought angrily. This must be a retaliation for tricking them back at the Barren Abyss. "If that's what you know about love, then you don't know it at all," he said, sending lightning bolts through the chain. The demon screamed in agony. "You don't have the right to toy with it, much less use it as a weapon to hurt people."
A bolt of magic came out of nowhere, breaking through Cang Jiumin's spell and freeing the demon, which quickly turned into smoke and flew away from him.
"You can't get away that easily!" Cang Jiumin said, flying after the demon. As he flew, he looked down, and saw Gongye Jiwu fighting another demon illusion, but he couldn't stop to help, because the direction the demon was flying to was…
Susu…
The smoke entered The Phoenix Inn, and into one of the rooms there. Cang Jiumin sped up, and barged through the room, Li Susu's room, where he found her unconscious on the floor, with the real demoness Ye Mei standing over her.
"Let her go!" Cang Jiumin said, sending a bolt of energy towards Ye Mei, which she quite easily dissipated into thin air.
"Want to see her nightmares, devil fetus?" Ye Mei leered, and with a twirl of her finger, sent Cang Jiumin into Li Susu's mind…
Xxxxxxxxxx
"Tantai Jin!"
Cang Jiumin opened his eyes. He was standing in the streets of Jing Kingdom, which was bustling with people celebrating the Pohang Festival. He looked around, and with a jolt in his heart, saw…
Ye Xiwu smiled at Tantai Jin holding up the demon mask on his face. "It suits you," she said, laughing.
"If you ask me, that mask suits you better," Tantai Jin retorted, gesturing towards the mask she was holding.
Ye Xiwu stuck out her tongue and skipped ahead, with Tantai Jin shaking his head as he followed her.
This was… the Pohang Festival 500 years ago.
Cang Jiumin scanned the area, and found Li Susu looking at the dream Ye Xiwu and Tantai Jin, with an unfathomable look on her face. She couldn't see me, he thought as he watched her step onto the street and follow them at a distance. He strode towards her, but was instantly repelled by an invisible barrier keeping him from getting too close to her.
"Li Susu!" Cang Jiumin shouted, hoping against hope that she could hear him. But Li Susu never turned around and couldn't hear him. Helplessly, he could only follow her and make sure… but what could he do?
Yes, that's right, you can do nothing, Ye Mei's voice rang in his head. You can only watch as her nightmares destroy her mind… and she has carried a lot of nightmares with her.
He watched the scene from 500 years ago play out again. The diviner points out first Ye Xiwu, then Tantai Jin, to play out the goddess and the Devil God. They walk up the stage…
The scene shifts, and Li Susu finds herself dressed as the goddess, and Tantai Jin…
Cang Jiumin widened his eyes in horror as he watched Tantai Jin take off his mask, but in place of the Jing emperor's face, the Ancient Devil God's face appeared.
"You didn't expect this, did you, Lady Immortal?" the cold menacing voice sneered, and drew the Sky-Slashing Sword. Li Susu drew a barrier around herself, but the dark force of the Ancient Devil God broke it and sent her crashing into the ground.
"Li Susu!" Cang Jiumin screamed in horror as he saw her slowly pick herself up, then cough up blood. He summoned his power to break the barrier, but darkness dropped all around him, and in another instant, he saw himself standing in the Barren Abyss.
"Cang Jiumin."
Cang Jiumin turned behind him, and saw the black armored Devil God from Ye Xiwu's nightmares.
"You… What did you bring me here for?" Cang Jiumin demanded. "What do you want?"
The Devil God sneered. "What do I want?" he said, looking over to him with disinterested, red colored eyes. He sneered. "You were born as a devil fetus, but you think you're the God of War, Ming Ye." He stood imposingly, rings of fire glowing behind him. "Look at me closely, devil fetus. This is your destiny. This is who you will be. This is who you'll ever be."
"You're wrong!" Cang Jiumin roared, drawing Nanzhi out. "I used to be the devil fetus. But now, I am Cang Jiumin, a disciple of the Xiaoyao Sect, dedicated to eradicating demons like you!" He slashed his sword down, sending a streak of power towards the Devil God, who countered with the Sky-Slashing Sword.
"You're a wolf amongst the sheep," the Devil God taunted him. "Are you really so willing to remain in that immortal sect just for her?" He slashed into the darkness, and scenes from Li Susu's nightmares appeared. The Ancient Devil God raised the God-Slaying Crossbow towards the Jing Kingdom, and unleashed a flurry of bolts down towards the earth.
Li Susu is in danger! Cang Jiumin's mind screamed, and he looked at the leering face of the Devil God. This is Ye Mei's dream, how to break it? As if in response, light shone out of Nanzhi, warmth pulsing into his hand. He raised the spirit sword towards the Devil God, and flew towards him, plunging the sword blade into his chest. The Devil God and the darkness around them dissipated, and in its place was Ye Mei, blood dribbling down her lips.
"H-how…" she gurgled, before slumping down to the ground, dead. She shimmered for a while, before disappearing into thin air, with the only trace of her existence being the blood on the ground.
Nanzhi disappeared into his palm as Cang Jiumin lifted Li Susu off the ground. "Li Susu," he called out, shaking her slightly.
"Mmm…" Li Susu moaned, and slowly opened her eyes. As her eyes slowly focused on the face in front of her, she gasped, and flinched.
Cang Jiumin's heart clenched painfully, the six nails burrowing deeper into his heart.
Ye Mei transforms into the person one hates or loves.
From then till now, your nightmare is still me.
I intended this story as a series of snippets from the episodes, expanding on selected scenes, especially on the scenes I thought was too short. But when I started thinking about episode 33, it became a full-blown rewriting since I thought that was the worst episode in terms of editing. Story-wise, it had potential, but the final output was simply a mess. Thus, expanding on 33, I went overboard XD
Thank you for reading! This is not yet the end, don't worry, I simply want to thank you for your time in reading this story of mine. =D