A white haired azure-eyed youth sat by a hundred foot carriage. Huge eight-legged horses as tall as a house were wandering around at the front while the youth was squatting on the back, a stick in hand with which he was carving some mysterious symbols on the ground.
At times he would shake his head and erase the whole thing, restarting from scratch.
At others he would raise his eyebrows in surprise and curl his thin lips upwards, hurriedly taking out a piece of paper and jotting the image down to the finest detail…
"So it is not a formation…" A child's voice rang out.
"!!!"
Who!
The crouching youth shot to his feet with an alarmed expression as he heard those words. Before he could say anything however, the air flow changed!
Whoosh! The white haired youth's expression greatly changed as a massive wave of pressure rained down from the sky!
"Advanced Stage!" The young man's face fell. Immediately, his attention fell on the sheet of rice paper he was holding in his hand: that was his greatest treasure, no matter what, he had to keep it safe first!
As if he had rehearsed the motion countless times before, his wrist flickered and the sheet of rice paper flew inside his Heaven&Earth Pouch so quickly it looked as if it had just disappeared right there and then. Then, the pair of azure eyes lit up. Like a second pair of eyes opening, the black of the pupils parted to the side, each revealing an electric-blue inverted triangle! Each triangle was emanating an otherworldly azure glow as an ancient aura began to permeate the youth's body and the outline of a finely engraved gargantuan door manifested itself before his extended palms… All this takes time to describe, but in reality, it had all happened in the fraction of a breath. All of these motions had been clearly practiced beforehand by the young cultivator and had been executed flawlessly.
"Indeed, it is the Eyes of Yama." Unknowingly, a pair of golden eyes had already found its way before the glowing triangular pupils and were curiously examining the two symbols. Then, their gaze fell on the now almost fully-materialized azure-black door. "Door to the underworld? But Yama's just plain black, is it supposed to be different depending on the person? There was no such thing mentioned in the Tower of Babel… Wang Fuyin, what a mystery you are!"
"!!!" The white-haired Wang Fuyin stared disbelievingly at the fading afterimage in the distance before a pair of golden irises once again filled his vision. He… He hadn't even registered this person's movements!
Indeed, the keeping of his precious notes, the activation of the Eyes of Yama and the summoning of the underworld door had been accomplished in the blink of an eye.
However, it still had not been fast enough!
"Say, is that the door containing your army of the dead? Yama's door would only connect this world to the underworld, a one-way trip, I had never heard of the other way around being possible! How many can you summon? Are the restrictions on your cultivation base and mental state heavy? Is the amount of spiritual energy used high?" Cheng Hao seemed not to care at all about the shocked visage of the youth, piling on question after question which the poor guy had no way to answer before another one was asked.
"You… are?" Wang Fuyin narrowed his eyes, bringing his hand to his Heaven&Earth pouch. Feeling the absence within of a certain object however, what little intact skin remained on his face suddenly grew a few shades lighter. Then, his eyes reddened, "You! Thief! Give that back!"
"Me? I'm not an enemy, relax. Nor a thief. Name is Cheng Hao, nice to meet!" He examined the sheet of rice paper he was now holding in his hands. His experienced eyes flew all over the piece of paper, attempting to solve the riddle hidden within. Then however, as he felt those pair of unique triangular pupils glaring daggers straight through him, he chuckled.
"Calm down, your notes will be safe with me! Look at me, aren't you convinced yet?" Cheng Hao momentarily lifted his gaze from the page, nodded with an expression that was everything but convincing, and then fell into contemplation again.
"… I'm Wang Fuyin-" The youth started.
"I know that." Cheng Hao waved his hand dismissively.
"And you have no right to steal my possession!" Wang Fuyin furrowed his brows: just what was wrong with this guy? "As a caravan member and your identity being that of a mere Vacant Disciple, the moment this is discovered, the penalty will be death!"
"I know that too." The golden eyed youth's tone held a hint of displeasure as he rubbed his temples. "Now, could you be quiet for a bit? I think I might be onto something here!"
"Be… quiet?" Fuyin gritted his teeth and an evil glint appeared in his eyes. His figure shifted slightly as he suddenly punched out! His fist was like a dragon roaring, revealing the shocking might of a rumbling cultivation base at the peak Basic Stage! Just as his fist smashed through the annoying golden eyed youth however, his face fell!
"And of course, I knew you would that too." Cheng Hao's voice rang out from beside him. "First little tip. If you truly wished to sneak attack me, the last thing you should have done would have been to make me keep up my guard by not dispelling your pupils." The white-haired youth gulped as he felt what seemed like the edge of a blade grazing against his neck. "Second little tip. I am superior in terms of cultivation base, speed and experience. Don't push it."
"For a thief, you sure are infuriating!" Fuyin chuckled bitterly as he raised his hands announcing his surrender. His pupil gradually turned back to normal and he asked with a frown, "How in the world are you so fast? I've never met an Advanced Stage cultivator so fast!"
"I'm not fast, I just take shortcuts. And I'm NOT a thief. Here, this should be yours!" Fuyin felt the 'blade' soften as a sheet of paper fluttered down. He quickly caught it before hastily turning around, subconsciously putting his body in between, his gaze retaining some wariness… which erupted into fury when he noticed a very similar piece of paper in the other's hands.
"You COPIED it!"
"Was kinda hard during that commotion." Cheng Hao nodded with furrowed brows, "but as I said, I'm no thief. Therefore, the only way to have that was to make one for myself, no big deal."
"Give that back!"
"No way, it's mine! Now what? You going to steal that from me? As a Vacant Sect member and your identity being that of a mere caravan member bodyguard, the moment this is discovered the penalty will be death!"
"…"
"Eheh." Cheng Hao smiled and his attention fell back on the problem depicted on the paper. There were strange arrows which he had already guessed represented movement vectors, each accompanied by some weird symbol, which he guessed were numbers as many repeated themselves, while there were many different sizes of dots, each having a couple of scribbles plus the numbers from before beside them. At first glance, it might seem some kind of formation, but Cheng Hao had deemed it to be a puzzle… or rather, a depiction of some kind of obstacle course.
"What, you planning on building your own impenetrable lair?" Cheng Hao jokingly said. Then, his gaze fell on the fading silhouette of the underworld door. "Could it be, it is connected to your little toy here-"
"WHAT?" Wang Fuyin suddenly shouted out, taking the golden eyed youth by surprise. "This guy??? For real???"
The expression of anger on his face did not match the elation displayed on his stupidly grinning mouth, and in that moment of surprise in which the white-haired youth failed to control his emotions, Cheng Hao had come to conclude a few things.
First, this guy had apparently been looking for him. Now, judging by how reluctant the youth looked when he found out the person he had been seeking was the same irritating thief that had stolen his precious sheet of rice paper, it was probably to ask for a favor of sorts.
Second, the two of them did not seem to be alone. The calmness this youth had been displaying from the start had already been weird enough to cause Cheng Hao to feel suspicious. At first he had thought this Fuyin might have a reliable ace in the hole, but now that did not seem to really be the case. Or rather, that wasn't all that there was to it…
The truth was, this kid had external help!
That's right! Wang Fuyin was not alone and Cheng Hao had long since guessed that.
Having an ally that could see the happenings from the point of view of a bystander, of course Fuyin would be able to see that Cheng Hao did not wish to harm him but actually had other motives that would not endanger his life. Furthermore, Cheng Hao's mind quickly churned and he recalled a piece of information from what his dear friend back at the inn had told him: this guy was found 'talking to himself' more than once! In reality, he had not been alone then! Those people that had reported the events to Gu Qiu simply hadn't realized there was another person present!
It all made sense now that he thought about it.
"Interesting…"
Cheng Hao's eyelids drooped over and his mischievous gaze grew as cold as a thousand year old glacier. His whole presence froze over and the abrupt change made Wang Fuyin feel a frightening chill enveloping his heart. Unknowingly he stepped back and his back hit the side of the carriage as he found his path of retreat cut off.
"Now now, you better be careful, kid!" Cheng Hao brought his hand to his long strands of black hair: there, keeping those strands orderly, lay a golden lotus hairpin. The child's hand slowly closed around the lotus hairpin and as it did Fuyin witnessed the hair decoration undergo a drastic change as it assumed the shape of a lotus knife, whose finely decorated handle was now tightly grasped within the child's slender fingers. The pressure emitted by the golden blood began manifesting itself as the air particles all around began to turn golden, "You better tell your shy companion to come out now, or you will have the honors of being this god blood blade of mine's first taste of cultivator blood!"