"So, what should we do now? Fu Hua ditched us here and went off on his own '' detective song complained about a whine. Since Fu Hua was the only one who actually knew what was going on, they had no idea what they should be doing next.
"You were the one who went with him. Did he not tell you anything?" Xiao Lan asked in a grilling voice. Detective Song was bright most of the time so why was he behaving like this in front of them. Did he not have any dignity left inside him?
Even if Xiao Lan was small, he was still the younger brother of the emperor and commanded respect.
"Now that you said it, the voice who took Fu Hua away was familiar. I think he was the one we encountered in the forest" Detective Song felt eyes bore into him as soon as he let that slip.
"Oh, do tell. Don't be shy detective Song" detective Song gulped his saliva down in fear. The kid was going to kill him, his eyes said as much to detective Song.
"Oh, so we might have heard something in the forest and I did not pay much attention -" the glare was burning now and Detective Song could not do it any longer, "- and I'll tell you everything. Please keep me alive"
So he spilt the beans. It was not like Fu Hua had asked him to keep it a secret but it had certainly been implied heavily. Well, he will deal with the other when the time comes.
"I see. The room he wanted to check was the same one he had been staring at earlier? We should check it out" the party made their way toward the back but were stopped by a voice. For the first time, someone called out to them.
"Hey, you should not go there. Don't you know what that place is? It's haunted and those who enter do not return. It's said that it is a place where the Xi family disposes of its slaves in silence without leaving any evidence behind" this might have scared a normal person and caused them to back off but not this party.
Still, they could not just barge inside as they pleased and did what they were subtly asked to do.
"Ah, really? T-Then we will just g-go around it" Commander Yuhan could not help but think that detective Song played a scared person rather well. His voice, his mannerism, everything looked as if he was actually spooked.
"So, what next? We cannot brute force our way inside and people will now be keeping an eye on us" it was right. The earlier unsuspecting eyes had turned to observe them. Commander Yuhan got the feeling that those were not normal gaze that was aimed their way.
You see, a civilian had a different way to observe someone than a trained personal. These people fell into the latter category.
"Doesn't matter. We will brute force our way through. The worst we can find is a room full of dead corpses" Xiao Lan did not heed the warning and touched the lock to brute force his way through.
The people around them attacked.
"NO, DON'T. WE DO NOT WANT TO PERISH. WE WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO COME BACK" Commander Yuhan took the stance to protect his companions. These souls were vicious, scratching at his arms and his face.
But all of them were ordinary humans who had never cultivated or held magic so they were fairly easy to deal with. His sword easily cut through those bodies and disposed of them all.
"That room is definitely suspicious. Should we still open it?" Commander Yuhan could not help but be worried. No matter what Xiao Lan said, he was still a kid with fluctuating control. He was in danger from others as well as himself.
"You won't be able to stop me after that display at all. Let me see what secrets they are hiding right now" and the door opened with a loud bang.
...….
"Then the young master is free to leave. However, you might come to regret this decision later on in life" regret? Fu Hua had no need for those anymore.
But the other did not know that and gloated him into action anyway.
"I might regret them, I might now but I am curious about one thing. What do you want to accomplish here? With everything?" the family head tensed, his face going black before twisting into a nasty look.
"Y-You! What did you do?" the person cried, his normal shade taken over by the black shadows. At his side, the noble kid who had conversed with them before shook gently. The wide shock in his eyes could not be contained.
And he was not the only one to behave so either. Similar actions occurred all around Fu Hua. In the end, only Fu Hua, the noble kid and his two guards remained.
"Hey, protect the kid since he is the battery for the seal. Go see what's wrong with the seal and wipe the kid's memory clean once again. I will take care of things here" the other guard picked up the kid and left.
The first one turned toward Fu Hua once again, his face twisted into an annoyed expression.
"You have caused us too much trouble. Who are you even? Well doesn't matter I suppose since I will kill you here right now" the threat would have worked better had Fu Hua been like before - powerless.
But the advantage of being behind back in this body was that he had no seal and restrictions over his power. And he was angry, his energy humming for a fight. He had wanted to release it in a controlled manner but this would work as well.
Fu Hua was the one who attacked first and the other dodged. The other was skilled but Fu Hua had seen better.
Hence, his next attack caught the guard on his side.
"Why don't you tell me what you want with Hinou uma now? Also, what does this place have to do with that horse?" Fu Hua wanted answers to his half-baked theories. He just needed confirmation and that was all.
"Does it really matter at this point? We were doing fine before you came and disturbed everything for us" the guard braked as he once again attacked. He had to be in considerable pain from that kick since Fu Hua had made sure it would not heal for a while.
The other cried out in frustration once again and Fu Hua was sure he must have tried to heal himself right then.
"Curse you. We just wanted that damn horse for our leader and we were harming no one else. It is the fault of these nobles who called forth that monster and thought that they could control it. They could not and then they called for help" Fu Hua calmed down a little but did not release his stance.
He needed to counter the other at all cost but he did not want to interrupt the other who was spilling the facts.
"They reached out to us. The monster in exchange for their peace and prosperity but the damage had been done. Hinoe uma escaped their confinement and killed a lot of people. They had already driven away anyone who could help them at this point and their promise was already made. So they only had one option left" the guard paused and Fu Hua could finish that sentence himself.
"Those people got to know the truth and they burned down the array room. Since the original array was gone they could not control that demonic horse at all" Fu Hua finished, finally understanding the whole story now.
"Yup, and there was only one way out left for them - to keep on recreating the ceremony by going back in time. But you know what happened with these ceremonies so we suggested an alternative to add. Not that they had any problem with it since they already had a setup in place" the guard ended merrily.
"You're sick in the head," Fu Hua cried. These ceremonies required people to be sacrificed and since it was Hinou uma, his flames would burn the soul to never reincarnate or be reused. Every time there was a new person that would be required to be used.
The souls here were bound by contract so they could not leave. And hence, the talisman plan - to attract more people here to be sacrificed. But somehow things haven't worked out and the horse was never caught.
"You're trying to corrupt it" Fu Hua cried, his rage clear in his eyes.
"Yes, we are trying to make it fall into a demon. It would be our first success and the leader would be so happy too" the souls, the sacrifice, the protests, everything was staged.
And Fu Hua was sure that they were near their goal at this point. Otherwise, the guard would have no reason to spill all this.
"Say good night now" and the soul attacked with a loud cry.