The corpse shrieked and stumbled backward, giving the three cultivators just enough time to make their escape, fleeing into the fog.
As the air got thicker and obstructed their vision, they joined their hands automatically.
"Just what was that!?" Yuan Xuelan groaned between labored breaths.
"I don't know…what kind of corpse gets stronger after it's injured…?" Chen Anyue was at a loss.
"..." Liu Sumeng didn't know what to say either. In the darkness of night, being inside the ominous fog felt even more precarious. And this time there was no dog to guide them with its superior sense of smell. Speaking of which, where did that puppy go anyways?
As if on cue, the sound of barking approached along with the sound of grass crunching beneath steady steps. "Come this way," a gentle male voice beckoned them.
"Who's there!?" Yuan Xuelan yelled, instinctively positioning himself in front of Chen Anyue.
"I'm here to help," the voice answered, louder this time, "I know my way around this mountain." The barking accompanied his voice got louder and before long the small furball barreled into Liu Sumeng's legs once more, tag wagging with a lolling tongue.
"..." He resisted the urge to bend down and pick it up. Either way, the opportunity was lost when it soon abandoned him in favor of whining and pawing at the sleeping A-Ling.
"The one with the white clothes, why don't you put your hand out? I can bring you somewhere safe."
Yuan Xuelan grabbed Liu Sumeng's arm to stop him from reaching out, "Hey! What the heck are you doing, just trusting random people like that?"
"A-Zhang…" Chen Anyue sighed, "We can't be so doubtful either. Look at our situation right now, what else could we do?"
The voice was even closer this time, sounding not more than an arm's length away, "I understand if you don't trust me but," he paused, "I really mean no harm. Actually, I was wondering if the Young Masters and Miss could help me out…it has to do with the woman you fought at the lake."
"It's ok. We just have to stay cautious," Liu Sumeng reassured, before shrugging off Xuelan's hand and reaching out. Cold fingers touched his palm, and from the thicket of mist he could make out the appearance of a young man with a bamboo hat and a bow and quiver strapped to his back. He eyed the bow and asked, "Was it you that helped us earlier?"
"Yes," a faint smile could be made out in the hazy darkness, "let's go somewhere safe first and then we can talk. My name is Feng Yu. I have a cabin not far from here."
True to his words, he really did lead them to a small cabin through the strange fog. Yuan Xuelan frowned and couldn't help but ask, "How do you navigate this fog?" There was suspicion in his tone which caused Chen Anyue to send him a light nudge.
"I've lived on this mountain for many years and know it like the back of my hand. Surely you know how to navigate through your own home even in the dark, correct? It is no different for me," Feng Yu calmly replied, unperturbed by Yuan Xuelan's distrust.
The cabin was rather small, even smaller than A-Ling's home and had necessities only enough for a single inhabitant. "I'm sorry there isn't much in here," Feng Yu lit a small lamp. The fog didn't penetrate the cabin walls and with this newfound visibility, it was easy to note that Feng Yu was a rather handsome young man with warm eyes that smiled easily. "But please make yourselves at home. I shall make some tea."
"..." They sat quietly at the tiny table, waiting for Feng Yu to prepare tea. A-Ling was laid down against the wall, Chen Anyue sighed as she looked down upon the poor girl before finally getting up and asking Feng Yu if he had a blanket for her. He frowned and admitted that he didn't but he found an old jacket that could serve as one instead. The small dog continued to cry and whimper at his master's feet, but A-Ling was still under the influence of Yuan Xuelan's talisman and didn't respond.
Chen Anyue chased both Liu Sumeng and Yuan Xuelan outside so she could change the girl out of her soaking rags. When Yuan Xuelan cried in outrage about how Feng Yu was allowed to stay indoors, she shook her head and reminded there was a small curtain in the cabin that would allow her privacy from Feng Yu's gaze.
"But!" Yuan Xuelan whined.
Chen Anyue shook her head, "No. I'm not going to chase our hospitable host out of his own home. And plus you two are still soaked. Please do us a favor and change as well."
And thus the two male cultivators were forced outside, faced with the heavy fog once more and the chilled breeze of night. Liu Sumeng sighed and began to strip off his robes, not noticing how Yuan Xuelan was quick to look away when he did so. They were both men, after all, so Liu Sumeng didn't think too much about it.
Plus, he was busy being lost in thought, wondering if in the past he had fought such a monstrosity as well. Of course, there were tales of devastating corpses with overflowing resentment but he'd heard nothing about a creature that could heal and become stronger each time it was injured. It was as if it was consuming some sort of energy source each time to heal and at the same time got stronger…
Surely they will figure a way out of this mess, after all, they were able to survive this encounter in his last life… if only Liu Sumeng had some sort of recollection of this entire mission. But he didn't. All he could remember was waking up in Wangyun Peak, Chen Anyue breathing a sigh of relief and Yuan Xuelan refused to meet his eyes for a whole month. Just what could have happened?
When he asked them for details they only told him not to worry and that things were taken care of. Later on in life Anyue secretly confessed to him and her own memories of the time were murky as well but she did remember them fighting a goddess of sorts…
Ah, was that corpse in the pond, the rumored goddess of the local legends? If so, what could have happened to make her that way?
Dressed in fresh and dry clothes he shoved his tattered set into his interspatial ring. After a gentle knock, a smiling Chen Anyue allowed them back inside.
Feng Yu greeted them with hot tea, "These leaves are the best that I have…forgive me if they aren't to your tastes."
Yuan Xuelan was quick to stop her before performing a quick set of hand seals to test the integrity of the tea. Only when he was done he smiled at her and said, "It's safe."
This earned him a frown. Chen Anyue was quick to bow to their host, "I'm very sorry for his lack of manners. We've been very on edge lately so…"
Yuan Xuelan fidgeted in his seat with a pout, because while he understood it might have been a bit rude, he thought it was appropriate in their current situation.
Luckily, Feng Yu only shook his head and laughed it off, "Don't worry, I'm not bothered at all. I understand his concerns."
Liu Sumeng, who ignored their bantering, took a sip of his tea and waited till they settled down before asking, "How long have you been here?"
"I've honestly lost track," Feng Yu's smile was a little sad, "If there was a time that I didn't live on this mountain, well… I don't really remember much from back then."
"You said something earlier about wanting help and the woman at the lake, can you clarify that?" Chen Anyue asked.
Feng Yu nodded, "Yes, have you heard about the legend surrounding this mountain"?
"Yeah," Yuan Xuelan replied, putting his elbow on the table and resting his head in his hand, "The whole story about the goddess and the frog right? The people of Zu village told us."
"Yes, that legend…Actually, the woman that you fought…that was the goddess. Her name is Bai Qiaoyin and I'm…the frog."
The three cultivators stared at the man that sat before them but none of them were incredibly surprised either. "Hard to imagine a goddess would become something as monstrous as that. What exactly happened to make her so resentful?" Yuan Xuelan continued to question.
"...No," Feng Yu took a breath, his lashes were lowered and trembling, "It's not…she's not resentful at all. This was all my fault!" The confession came out passionately, head hung in shame, Feng Yu began to explain his story from the beginning.
The tragic love story between a goddess and a mortal began the same, punished and cast away to this lonely mountain top. And the poor Bai Qiaoyin who died at the lakeside with a shattered soul, leaving Feng Yu all by himself to watch over those fragments.
Although he maintained the appearance of a young man at night, during the day, he would turn into a frog. Every day he would do his best to nurture her soul and look after her but anxiety plagued him. He feared that there would come a time he couldn't help her, couldn't protect her…like the time he watched her take her last breath at the lake. What could he do? He was only a frog.
"I felt powerless…" Feng Yu inhaled, hands curling into fists. "No, I was powerless."
It would take centuries before Bai Qiaoyin's soul would be whole again. Centuries where Feng Yu could do nothing but watch over her without the ability to protect or nurture her. Centuries of anxious yearning weighed down by insurmountable hopelessness.
"One day, a traveler came by these mountain parts and saw me tending to the lake. After I told him my story he offered me a quicker way to restore her soul. I was a fool to trust that man… I'm not even sure why I believed him.
"Truly, what an idiot! Before I knew it, things became like this… my Qiaoyin became a monster, and the villagers came up the mountain to die one by one. It happened for such a long time as well, my Qiaoyin got worse and worse. And yet no one came to help us, even though the resentful energy grew to this point, even though so many people died…"
Chen Anyue held her hands to her chest, "How horrible..."
"...No one knew," Liu Sumeng said.
"What do you mean…?" Feng Yu asked, brows furrowed in confusion.
"Like he said, no one knew. The villagers were clueless about the disappearances. Actually, when someone disappeared it was as if they never existed in the first place. Probably some power of spell set up by that evil traveler of yours. We only came here because divination told us that there was strong resentful energy coming from this place," Yuan Xuelan supplied as he hummed in thought, "Though I've never heard of a power like that before. Sounds like some sort of crazy forbidden technique."
Chen Anyue frowned and shook her head, "I haven't either."
"..." Liu Sumeng furrowed his brows. Was there a person like that in the past? He tried to think…But his mind was coming up frustratingly blank, like information just out of reach. There had to be someone…from somewhere… and yet?
He couldn't recall.
"Okay so let's get this straight," Yuan Xuelan said, snapping Liu Sumeng out of his thoughts, "A guy shows up and tells you that he has a shortcut for completing Bai Qiaoyin's soul. And then he lures the villagers up the mountains with some sort of spell and makes them sacrifice themselves to Bai Qiaoyin. Their resentful energy gathering in her and feeding her, turning her into that thing we fought earlier."
"Correct." Feng Yu bit his lip.
"I wonder what his motives were…" Chen Anyue questioned.
Feng Yu looked down, "I haven't a clue…"
"And how is he making the villagers come up the mountain and sacrifice themselves?" Chen Anyue looked at the sleeping A-Ling and sighed, "We need to stop that first."
That was when Liu Sumeng put down his teacup and said, "The fog."
"Right," Yuan Xuelan nodded, "I have a feeling it's something to do with that fog too. We're not as affected because of strong spiritual cores and Feng Yu- well I guess he's not really a normal person anymore because of his curse. That fog already disturbs our senses, who knows what it's capable of doing to a normal person."
Feng Yu's eyes went wide, "Ah! Actually, I think I have an idea about this fog…!"