Huan PingZe met up with the two as they made their hasty return to Tiang'an. ZhouYan was on PingZe's shoulder, basking under the warm sun.
"You look like shit, brother MingYu," PingZe said with a grin when ZhiYi helped MingYu forward as if he were a frail vase. MingYu shot him a friendly, slightly worried glance.
"You too, PingZe."
Over the many weeks they hadn't seen each other, PingZe had deteriorated to the point he looked less like a mortal than a normal human. His smiling eyes had heavy rings to them, the cheeks had subtly sunken, and a stubble had grown in blotchy batches across his chin. Even though he physically looked, frankly, like shit, he still held the twinkle in his eyes and a bright grin on his face.
"A drink would do me some good, I agree." But before the three could make their way to a teahouse, a cry broke out in the basket and PingZe's eyebrows shot to space. His grin widened and for a brief moment, he looked like a haggard madman.
"I was away for a short while, and you have a child?"
Before either of the supposed parents had the time to answer, PingZe already reached over to LongHai's side and took the baby boy out of his dwellings. LongHai looked disgruntled as the baby was taken from him.
"I have a nephew now!" PingZe looked genuinely happy as he brushed over the boy's plump cheeks. The baby was smiling as he tried to grab onto his fingers. "And a cute one! What's his name? Where did you get him? And where are my little nieces?"
MingYu was peeved that AhXin so happily laughed in PingZe's arms. Seeing this, ZhiYi quickly guided them to a nearby teahouse. As they settled in the corner of the sparsely filled shop, they briefed him on what had happened at the Jiang's and the Hsu's. PingZe gave a low whistle as the two finished their story.
"You never told Jiang Lei that AhXin is his nephew?"
MingYu shook his head, "He wouldn't be able to accept it. How could we explain that his sister had given birth to a healthy boy if she was dead and barely half-way through the pregnancy?"
PingZe rocked the newest Wang in his arms. "Have you heard from the girls?"
"No, but they should have settled in HeHua," ZhiYi said quietly.
"HeHua? I was travelling around the area. If I had known, I would have stopped by to visit them." PingZe mused as he teased the baby, tickling the boy's chin with his finger.
MingYu had seemed fidgety the moment they had entered the teashop, and now that they had gotten the latest news exchanged, he couldn't contain himself anymore and said, "Where have you been all this time?"
A shadow passed by in the depths of PingZe's eyes as he gave the two men a lopsided smile. "Oh, not much, just wandering around."
"You wandered far enough to steal Fan ZhiHao's ink?" ZhiYi pointed out as he took a sip of his liquor. He held his eyes on PingZe, studying every twitch and blink of an eye.
"That old fart, he really went and complained to you about it? You're not my dad!" PingZe grumbled and drank his liquor in one swift motion.
"I'll be damned if I had a child like you," ZhiYi mumbled.
PingZe shot him a devious grin. "Don't say that brother, I'll teach little AhXin my wanton ways and you will have to swallow those words someday."
"You-!"
"But, for what purpose you stole it?" MingYu hurried to cut in before the two rascals were at each other's throats. "Zho LanLin said something about tattoos?"
"Oh, so even she has told you about me." PingZe's grin widened. "Well, there's no reason to beat around the bush, I stole the ink to use it in a tattoo."
"On who?" ZhiYi and MingYu snapped in unison. PingZe's grin faltered as a slight flush crept over his neck.
"Err, well, that doesn't really matter," PingZe said and cleared his throat. "I tattooed spirit possession incantations to prevent them from being possessed again. All should be good now."
"You-! Do you even know what the ink does?" ZhiYi said, his eyes narrowed as his grip tightened around his cup.
MingYu's eyes were now the size of plates as he instead bellowed, "You, you of all people tattooed incantations? Who is the victim?"
MingYu shot a glance ZhiYi's way, his eyes fixated on the brown bottle hanging on his sash with ten poorly drawn seals slapped on top of it. PingZe would have been the last person MingYu expected to draw anything - especially on another person's body!
PingZe looked miffed as his brows furrowed. "What about it? The ink will enhance the incantations. There shouldn't be a problem with it. And besides, I used ZhiYi's spirit possession talisman as the base, I didn't miss a single stroke."
"So that was why you took it," ZhiYi said as he sipped the alcohol through pursed lips.
MingYu couldn't help but pity the person who had become PingZe's drawing board.
"On the more important matters," PingZe said, moving the subject away from himself. "I looked around Tiang'an as soon as brother ZhouYan reached me. But I can't find YueQin anywhere, brother. There is not even a waft of negative energy in the air. And we are in Tiang'an of all places."
ZhiYi looked gravely worried. "This isn't good. We must find her before it's too late."
"What do you mean, brother?"
"The Hsu household had no spirits nor ghosts present aside from Wei LiXue. After such a massacre, there must be at least some spirits present, resentful from the horrors they experienced. Unable to move on." ZhiYi spoke slowly, his mind deep in thought.
"Didn't brother MingYu say Zhu ZongYing used an amulet on her?" PingZe probed as he shifted AhXin on his arms.
"I was pulled out before I could see what happened," MingYu said drily. Even though he was swept away, he already knew what had happened. The massacre had a purpose. He just wished he was wrong about it. Taking a deep breath in, he finally asked, "In how many ways can a ghoul be created?"
ZhiYi and PingZe exchanged worried glances with each other. ZhiYi put down his cup and turned his complete attention to MingYu. "Only through concentrating a mass of resentful energy in one place can one create such a thing."
"What about a vessel?" MingYu said, his eyes shot between the two brothers, trying to find signs that maybe he had thought wrong. But an ominous shadow passed by them both and MingYu raised his hand to wipe at his face with distraught. He was right.
"Master Ye doesn't approve of such practises, but it is not impossible," ZhiYi said.
PingZe slammed his cup on the table. "You don't mean?"
"I'm worried that MingYu is right. Wei YueQin might have been used as a vessel for all the resentful energy. If it's true, she won't have many days to live before she will die a terrible death or turn into a monster." ZhiYi said.
The three men sat in depressing silence, only broken when AhXin suddenly kicked his feet and broke into an ear-piercing cry.
PingZe froze at the sound, blood escaping his already half-dead face. He cringed and shoved the boy over to MingYu's outstretched hands.
"Why does it sound like it's being murdered?" PingZe huffed as he pressed his hands over his ears.
"Who's 'it', you brat? Besides, he's just hungry," MingYu said as he cradled the crying boy in his arms and stood up from the table. "I'll get back to the inn first to feed him." With that, MingYu hurried off.
"Ugh, good thing the girls never cried," PingZe muttered as he poured himself another cup of wine.
ZhiYi raised his brow at the brother. "They weren't babies anymore when we took them in."
"Thank god for that!" PingZe said with a grin and chucked the liquor down in one go.
"Now, mind telling me why you look like you just came back from the dead?" ZhiYi said. His eyes had narrowed as he peered at PingZe. "Are you sure it has nothing to do with you using that ink?"
PingZe's grin grew smug. "I'm touched, you are so worried."
"After all we have been through together, how could I not be? You look like someone sucked all your life-force out."
"I wish." PingZe snorted as he played with the empty cup in his hand. "No, I just got caught up in one of Fan ZhiHao's traps. That sly fox, let me tell you. He nearly evaporated my body! He must have added traps on the sect grounds after kicking me out last time."
A smile quivered on ZhiYi's lips. "He must be disappointed that you are still alive."
"I bet." PingZe chuckled as he scratched his stubble. "I swear, if not for Xu Guanting, that old fart would have offed me long ago."