"Who's A-Ling!?" Yuan Xuelan cried, "isn't she your daughter?"
The uncle looked at him with wide eyes, "I don't have a daughter!"
"Then… who was that girl that sat next to you last night?" Chen Anyue asked hesitantly.
The man blinked at them, "What girl…?" He was looking very confused and a little pale, "Are you guys trying to trick me or something? I don't understand what you're talking about."
Liu Sumeng watched the situation, but he had an idea about what was going on. "How many people were there?" he asked.
"How many people…?" The uncle frowned.
"How many people did you drink with last night?"
Chen Anyue and Yuan Xuelan both confidently answered, "Twelve."
But the uncle instead said, "Eleven."
It was all too baffling.
"I'm sorry for disturbing you Uncle, I think there must have been some sort of misunderstanding." Chen Anyue bowed to the poor man who seemed wide-eyed and fearful.
"No, no, it's just odd. I feel like something must be wrong." The uncle held a hand to his forehead, mouth set in a deep frown. Below him, Baozi continued to bark.
"Woof woof woof woof woof!"
"Please don't let it worry you!" Yuan Xuelan said, "We won't trouble you any farther."
But just as they were about to turn around and leave, the uncle stopped them, "Wait, actually there's something I want to show you."
He invited them inside to the small house. It felt a little cramped with all of them inside but it was a well-lived and modest place. They followed the uncle to one of the rooms in the back. It was one like any other, free of dust and very tidy. Though it bore an obvious poor-looking appearance, there were cute decorations like wind chimes hanging from the window and fresh flowers sitting in a small pot on a low desk. It was apparent that a girl lived there.
"This morning I came into this room for some reason and couldn't really remember why. It was strange because I was sure no one was living here, and yet… I honestly didn't even think much about it until you mentioned something about a daughter. I'm sure I don't even have a daughter though. Actually, I'm just an old dog, living here with Baozi. I've never taken a wife before."
The three cultivators shared a look.
"Don't worry uncle, we'll be sure to figure out what's going on here," Yuan Xuelan reassured.
"Last night…when you were asking about strange occurrences, could this be it?" the old man's voice trembled.
Chen Anyue nodded, "It could be a clue as to what's happening in this village. But please don't worry uncle, we'll be sure to get to the bottom of this." She gave him a radiant smile which seemed to calm the man's nerves by a little bit.
When they finally set out again, Chen Anyue asked, "Could this be what happened to the people in the inn?"
"It would explain a lot…" Yuan Xuelan hummed.
"We will find out."
The large mountain that overlooked Zu village was blanketed with dense forests. The path that wound up its slopes was uneven and narrow. Liu Sumeng led them in the front while Chen Anyue and Yuan Xuelan walked behind him side by side. The air grew colder as they continued on as well, a fog creeping along the edge of the vision. Before long, the mist was thick enough that even the road in front of their feet became difficult to discern.
"Shijie, stay close." Yuan Xuelan huddled close to her while Liu Sumeng walked ahead. The white of his robes was becoming more and more difficult to make out in the heavy mist so they had to keep a brisk pace to keep up.
"Ah-!" But before long, Yuan Xuelan stumbled a little over a rock.
"A-Zhang! Are you ok?" Chen Anyue held him up.
"No, no it's nothing. Dammit I can't see a thing." Nothing was hurt except maybe a bit of his ego. Granted, he really couldn't see a thing through the thicket of fog. Thus, it was only natural that he stumbled over his steps. However small the stumble was, Liu Sumeng had disappeared from their sights.
"Liu-ge?" Anyue called, "Liu-ge? Where did you go?"
"I'm here." His voice seemed to be coming from all directions.
"W-what in the world," Yuan Xuelan clicked his tongue in annoyance.
Not far away, Liu Sumeng experienced the same problem. Although the distance between them realistically shouldn't be far, the sound was distorted the moment they had left each others' sights. Clearly, there was something odd about the mist. "I didn't go far. Just walk forward."
Carefully, the two Ascending Dawn disciples took careful steps forward and sure enough, the fog slowly unveiled the Ivory Sword Saint's figure. Though it was heavy enough that Yuan Xuelan could only see him clearly when he was barely a step away.
"..."
Dammit, could this guy look any more disconcerting with his soul-piercing blank gaze? Yuan Xuelan steeled his resolve and refused to look away.
"That was worrisome," Chen Anyue snapped him out of his thoughts with a sigh, "We must take care not to get separated." Yuan Xuelan and Chen Anyue were already glued together, leaving only Liu Sumeng.
He looked at them both with an unreadable expression before holding out his hand. When Yuan Xuelan saw his Shijie beginning reaching out, he instantly went and grabbed that pale outstretched hand before she could. Chen Anyue gave him a strange look but he ignored her, "Don't take this the wrong way, Liu Sumeng!"
"...Ok." That was all he said before he turned around and continued walking forward. The hand in Yuan Xuelan's was surprisingly warm for such a cold person.
The three of them continued to walk, and at some point, Yuan Xuelan wondered if they were still on the right path and that if they were, how would they even be able to find that rumored lake? "Are we even going the right way?"
"..." Liu Sumeng said nothing.
"What, are we just going to wander aimlessly in this fog till we die?" His voice raised in frustration.
"A-Zhang…"
"Wait."
There was a rustling sound that seemed to approach from all around them, its origin undetermined. Yuan Xuelan's hand let go of Liu Sumeng's and instantly flew to his sword while shielding his Shijie's body. The three of them stood still, tense and awaiting whatever trouble that might come to greet them.
The sound got louder and louder until…
"Woof! Woof, woof, woof!"
"T-that's!" Yuan Xuelan swore, "You, you, you damn mutt!" He couldn't admit that for a moment he was actually worried and afraid. All because of a stupid dog.
The small fat white dog was at Liu Sumeng's feet, pawing at his robes.
"Did it follow us here?" Chen Anyue looked at it curiously.
"How could it do that? Sounds are distorted and there's no way to see anything more than an arm's length away."
"Then, by smell," Liu Sumeng said.
Just as quickly as it came, the dog disappeared back into the mist. "Let's follow it." He grabbed Yuan Xuelan's hand again and pulled him forward in the direction the dog ran off to.
"Hey!" Xuelan whined as he stumbled forth, dragging Anyue forward too. It was a little awkward but they regained balance quickly and followed after. There were panting and barking sounds in the distance that became louder and louder as they walked. Soon enough the dog appeared out of the mist before it ran off again.
"Even if you can't tell where the sound is coming from, it still gets louder if you approach the source…" Chen Anyue muttered. In front of her, Liu Sumeng nodded. Although the method was a little slow, they were able to follow the dog through the odd fog.
Eventually, the fog began to thin, while still lingering it was much easier to see so Yuan Xuelan threw away the hand he was holding. Liu Sumeng made no reaction and simply continued to follow the mutt. There was no more dirt path beneath their feet but judging by how foliage bent and broke and how the grass was pleated, this way had been traveled before, and not too long ago either.
Soon, the trees became sparser and before them, a small lake came into view. Actually, the body of water was small enough that it should probably more accurately be called a pond rather than a lake. By then, dusk had begun to set in, turning the sky orange.
"Do you feel that…?" Chen Anyue's voice was both soft and determined.
"Yeah," Yuan Xuelan agreed while Liu Sumeng simply nodded. Resentful energy was practically pouring out of the water's surface, saturating the air around them. No wind or sound of animals could be felt or heard. Before they were able to contemplate what to do, Chen Anyue noticed something in the distance.
"Hey! Isn't that…!" She called, pointing. Baozi barked non-stop.
At the end of a small wooden pier, a girl stood facing the water with listless eyes. It was difficult to make out her features through the fog but Yuan Xuelan squinted, thinking that she looked awfully familiar, "It's A-Ling!" he said before going to run up to her.
Despite him calling her name, the girl, unlike the vibrant and sweet thing he met yesterday did not respond at all and only continued to look at the water's surface.
"A-Ling!" Yuan Xuelan tried again when he finally stood behind her and reached out, "A-Ling-"
Instead of acknowledging him, she flinched away from his touch and flung herself right into the murky waters. Yuan Xuelan was shocked but without much thought or hesitation he jumped in right after her!