In this flourishing modern city surrounded by brightly lit buildings of many sizes and shapes. These flashing rays illuminate people's paths while stretching out the shadows hidden in the corners of people's sight.
In this place clustered with people walking the same bright road only one figure walks in reverse. Choosing to enter the dark junctions where light barely reaches.
Sitting on top of a wooden folding chair in the middle of a dark alley. Chu Nuan sighed to herself as she reexamined the note in her hand.
"Chu Nuan you crook! This isn't over. You'll be begging for forgiveness once the three of us come back to find you! Just you wait!"
Sighing once again at the three naughty children who ran away without permission her lips took on a cold smile. Covering one hand over her eyes, she chuckles quietly at first. Before getting louder and more intense until the ringing of her voice seems to have echoed across the whole alleyway.
Abruptly it stops, lowering her hand to reveal a pair of black colored pupils flickering with golden sparks. It gleams dangerously as she looks towards the end of the alley. Towards the figure running- no, floating away from her.
Standing up from her chair, Chu Nuan stretches her tense back as words mutter under her breath. "What a pain."
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The floating spirit led Chu Nuan en route to an abandoned construction site that closed down two years ago due to insufficient funds supporting the construction project. Not enough humans pass by to disperse the desolate aura of an abandoned site. Thus, allowing this area to become a favorite hanging spot for wandering ghosts.
Black mist surrounds the building like an invisible cloak, as a deathly silence pervades the site. Only thin strands of moonlight seeping through the cracks of the architecture lit up the dark corridor.
"To the left." she whispers, eyes glowing with faint golden sparks.
A moment later as she arrived at the deepest part of the building, an icy wind blew against her cheeks. Within a second after, the flooring under her feet began to emit a bloody red as radiant light along with a tremendous amount of killing intent exploded from below.
Hundreds of red blades appear from every angle as it flies in her direction with frightening speed.
"A hundred killing edge array?" Chu Nuan pondered as she dodged the blades piercing to her right while twisting her upper body to evade the blades aiming at her from above.
In the fraction of a second, Chu Nuan flicked her wrist lightly to reveal a black chain enveloped in a solemn indigo aura.
Soul Constricting Chain.
Throwing the chain in an attempt to intercept the oncoming blades her body flashes backward with a 360 flip in the air.
"Clang!"
Chain clashes against blades as her eyes calmly observe the surrounding area.
This formation is called A Hundred Killing Edge or Crimson Edge, a combination of illusions blended in with a few killing components. This array produces red blades from multiple directions while gauging the strength of its opponents. Thereby enabling it to adjust the output and intensity of each attack. While deceptional blades serve to hinder the opponent's sight as well as their judgment, authentic blades camouflages itself within the onslaught.
This is somewhat of a tricky array, but it should have the same weakness as all other formations. She sidesteps to the right then bend to roll forward, avoiding another bout of blades as she glances to the left.
Suddenly, due to the wet terrain caused by rain water accumulating from the day before, her feet slipped and caused her body to slam onto the ground. Paralyzed by the temporary pain, Chu Nuan grunted from discomfort whilst struggling to open her eyes.
"Swish."
The sound of oncoming blades entered her confused mind. Before a clear signal can be processed thoroughly, her body has already unconsciously moved. Rolling to evade the set of daggers coming her way, this successful dodge only left a three inch long wound on her back. It was at that same moment when Chu Nuan's brain regained clarity from the roll that her gaze caught a shrinking presence nearby.
Hidden behind a pillar faintly visible from sight is the outline of a white figure. The head of a little boy peeks out nervously from behind.
Found it.
If she's not wrong, the base of the formation should be that little boy. Or more correctly, something that the boy should be carrying. The eye of a formation cannot stray too far away from the area of the array, seeing the ghost hiding within the boundaries of this arrangement is proof enough.
Pretending to not have noticed its presence, Chu Nuan continues to observe the boy while throwing her chain around to defend herself. Her lips move inaudibly while fingers maneuver to form a seal. All of a sudden as if surprised by the abrupt appearance of blades from behind she swings the chain sharply to the left. Missing the approaching weapons and the chance to evade, the sound of piercing flesh echo in the abandoned building.
Having completed its job, accompanying Chu Nuan's fall to the floor, the formation blinked a few times before returning to a state of rest. Lights and daggers vanish while a body remains lying in silence. Sensing this state of calm, the little ghost nervously reveals himself from behind a pillar. Observing attentively his body starts to move forward bit by bit, unaware of a slender frame appearing behind.
Emerging from the shadows in a relaxed manner, an intact Chu Nuan grins deviously before moving to restrain the troublesome child in front of her.
"Ah!" Surprised by the sudden attack with nary a chance to dodge, the kid attempts to reactivate the array.
Chains swiftly wrap around the kid's waist as a powerful force pulls him towards the waiting Chu Nuan. Even before he has a chance to react, a pale, slim hand grips tightly around his neck.
Tightening her hold around the boy's throat, Chu Nuan stared at the little boy with unnerving calmness. " …... the array."
Being stared at by those pair of cold emotionless eyes, the boy felt a cold shiver run down his spine. " I…...I…" Stuttering to form words, the boy subconsciously grip the pendant dangling on his chest as he turns to look at the place where her carcass was lying moments before. Only to witness the body slowly turning into particles of black dust before flying off with the wind. Understanding dawned on him whilst tears began to form on the edge of his eyes.
Chu Nuan glanced at the pendant briefly before moving her sight back to the tender face in front of her. " I will let you go if you release the formation." she said in a soft tone.
"..." Without any other choice, the little kid nodded in docile agreement. Moving his hand toward the pendant around his neck and muttering a few unintelligible words, the lighting from the floor flashes several times before it starts to diminish.
Watching the array being released, she set the child down before snapping her fingers to make a folding chair appear. "Sit." she pointed to the ground as she moved to sit on the chair.
Resting her chin on top of her hands, Chu Nuan observed the little boy for a few minutes. A child around the age of 11 or 12 with brown hair and intelligent eyes. He is wearing a blue and white school jersey with the word, "North" sew on it. If memories are correct, there was an incident surrounding the disappearance of a pair of mother and son a while back. The mother being a small actress while the son goes to North Middle school.
Continuing with her observation, there seems to be bruises on his left cheek and around his neck partly due to her rough treatment moments ago. But also a testament of what he experienced before death. A shoe is missing from one of his feet while a suspicious "Xie" character is printed on another side of his cheek. Glowing with a faint light, the word on his right cheek releases a particular type of spiritual energy that does not belong to the small ghost himself.
"Who are you?" She asked with seriousness. Peering closer into the frightened eyes of the weak ghost before her, a finger stretches out in slow motion a few inches away. "What are your intentions bringing me here...and.." Along with that sliding finger her sight moved to where the pendant around the boy's neck rests. " Where did you get that pendant?"
View colliding with the quivering figure of the little spirit, she released the gloomy aura around her and instead adjusted into a more carefree mood. Smiling as though the person kneeling in front of her is an old friend instead of a ghost trying to capture her a second ago. She whispered in a gentle voice, while the words that came out of her mouth became many times more frightening.
"Hehe, it's okay if you don't want to talk. I don't mind, really. Patience is my middle name, I'll stop carving you up until you decide that I'm trustworthy enough for you to confide in."
Saying so, a glinting knife rests on his pudding-like cheeks.