The rain continued to fall.

Slaughter surfaced in Yunmeng Jiang, with fierce corpses attacking citizens from nowhere. Soon enough, the city was surrounded by bloodshed and cruelty. A mist of crimson red blood had formed. A foul scent of metallic blood had permeated, dancing underneath victims' noses.

As blood splattered, droplets of rain tried to cleanse the streets. However, it was to no avail.

"What is all the ruckus going on about?" The tanghulu shopkeeper got out from his home. When he was inside the house, he overheard the sound of screaming.

Thinking that someone needed help, he crept out of his house—only to find the scene of corpses and bodies littered all over the streets.

Panic engulfed his senses, but the tanghulu shopkeeper swallowed his urge to scream.

"Why are you standing outside?" His wife, who was still trying to ignore him, had peeped a head out of the doorway. Originally, her brows were furrowed from annoyance. Once she saw the scene outside, disbelief then disgust formed across her face.

She turned around and immediately vomited. The wife didn't eat much, so all she spat out were a bunch of acidic contents.

"W-What is this?" The wife was scared. However, her instincts told her to run back home and protect their son. "Su Nan!" She ran back inside the small wooden cabin, embracing the young boy, who was still covered in his coat. "We have to get out of here!"

The tanghulu shopkeeper entered back inside the house. "Understood. We must pack up and get out of Yunmeng Jiang."

For once, the two parents could finally find something to agree on.

Suddenly, out from the corner of his eyes, the tanghulu shopkeeper spotted something wrong. His son, Su Nan, had finally taken off his hood. Su Nan uncovered his head, which astonishingly enough, had his skin rotting into a dark colour!

The tanghulu shopkeeper was shocked into silence.

For some reason, his son looked really similar to a... corpse.

The tanghulu shopkeeper saw how Su Nan moved. The son completely took off his cloak, revealing a pair of sharp claws on his hands. Su Nan reached out to his mother, who was still naively hugging him in her embrace-

"WATCH OUT!" The tanghulu shopkeeper hurriedly separated his wife from Su Nan, regardless of the several emotions running through his mind.

Thankfully, Su Nan didn't get to lay a finger on his wife.

"What are you doing?" The wife was confused. She was suddenly pushed onto the floor, and her son was peeled away from her arms-

Suddenly, her eyes widened.

A droplet of lukewarm blood had splattered across her cheek. Su Nan, the child fierce corpse had his one arm penetrated through the tanghulu shopkeeper's abdomen, with his claws sticking out from the other side. Despite being at a young age, Su Nan had gained abnormal strength when becoming a fierce corpse!

"Y-YOU..." The wife's jaw jumped up and down. Her heart pumped erratically.

Then, her husband collapsed onto the ground. A puddle of blood flowed out from his severely wounded abdomen. The tanghulu shopkeeper's complexion had lost colour.

"DEAR!" The wife couldn't stop herself from crying.

She crouched to the ground, clutching at her husband's calloused hand, pulling on it like it was the only straw that kept her sanity together. Tears welled up in her eyes, and a broken sob escaped from her hoarse throat. "AHHHH!!!"

The tanghulu shopkeeper could only see that familiar woman, who he'd been trying to pursue for over a day already. He was losing blood extremely fast.

Despite that, a sad smile lingered on his lips. They opened then shut, "If only we had enough time."

There was only regret that the tanghulu shopkeeper had. It wasn't that he lived a short life. It was that he didn't have enough time to reconcile with his wife. If only this entire incident could've happened after they got back together. That way, he would be willing to die a fulfilling end.

His eyes lost its life.

"NOOO!!!" His wife howled, as the tanghulu shopkeeper's hand slipped out from her clutch.

Footsteps approached behind the wife, with the floorboards creaking from every thump. "You..." The wife was flushed from anger. She whipped her head backwards, then was met with the familiar sight of a young boy, who she'd given birth to.

The anger that the wife experienced had vanished without a trace. The wife couldn't find herself hurting her son. There was no way...

That was why, she could only give up. Her tears dried as she began to understand her end. The wife scrambled on the floor. She was to spend her last moments in her husband's embrace.

Su Nan, the fierce corpse had expressionlessly looked at her pitiful state.

He then threw his claw down.

"What will happen to the people of Yunmeng Jiang?" Lan Zhan was worried. "There are fierce corpses everywhere. They won't be safe if this continues."

However, his worry didn't end that much longer. Shen Qingqiu reassured him, "Don't worry. I've already sent some friends of mine and Binghe's to come over."

Hearing that, Lan Zhan could calm down.

"Who do you suspect is the drums player?"

Each couple shared their designated umbrella; green, white, and red. They discussed about the identity of the drums player. "Is there a chance that they are someone we know or recognize?" Wei Wuxian asked.

"Actually," Luo Binghe decided to be helpful for once. "I always found it really puzzling. The fierce corpses that are attacking in Yunmeng Jiang, we've already killed at least over twenty of them. However, if they were in Yunmeng Jiang originally, that doesn't explain why they haven't done any evil."

Xie Lian caught up to his thought process. "Are you saying that the fierce corpses were brought inside Yunmeng Jiang recently?"

Luo Binghe nodded.

However, Shen Qingqiu interrupted. "We knew that already. But how did they manage to keep their identity as a secret? Does that mean that the drums player have control over them?"

Wei Wuxian was silent. He bowed his head, then spoke up. "Actually, to control a large amount of fierce corpses, one would need my flute, Chengqing or the Yin Tiger Tally. However, that seal was destroyed a long time ago. I can't really understand how these fierce corpses are managed to be controlled so easily."

The rest of the three couples understood.

Most importantly, just how did the drums player control the fierce corpses?

"Actually," Wei Wuxian coughed. He put up a smile, "I suspect that the drums player must have snuck into Yunmeng Jiang recently as well."

"That makes sense." Xie Lian agreed. "Does anyone have any idea who the drums player is?"

They all looked at one another. There was a similar gaze within their eyes (only one eye for Hua Cheng), which kindled the first flame of determination.

The three couples knew that they all had the same person in their mind.

"...You all know what I'm thinking of right?" Wei Wuxian smiled.

The others all smiled back.

A woman dressed in a black hood had walked down the street. She was calm and well-composed, as she completely ignored the cries and pleas for help. Nobody could see what expression she had on her face, while it appeared like nothing could faze her.

"When will this be over?" Absolute boredom was written across her face.

If the tanghulu shopkeeper and his wife were to see this woman, they'd recognize her as the mysterious young lady who brought Su Nan back to them.

Her coat sashayed to her figure, with droplets of water pitter and pattering.

Despite the outburst of sudden fierce corpses in the city, none of the fierce corpses tried to attack her. It was like they couldn't sense her, but the fierce corpses completely ignored her.

The young lady continued walking.

Sounds of destruction were ignited in the distance, acting as if it were merely simple background music. The young lady was unfazed.

She seemed unimpressed, despite every ounce of blood being shed had happened because of her actions.

"I wonder if Boss will praise me." She muttered under her breath. "After all, I did much better than that disgrace of a demon."

If Bo Fan had heard what she'd said, he would've thrown his longsword at her.

The young lady suddenly stopped.

Her lone figure in the middle of the streets was auspicious. There was nobody else on the streets but her. It was as if all the citizens and havoc had been moved to another area. The young lady felt confused and puzzled. Where was everyone?

She felt laidback, up until she suddenly felt a waver in the air.

Immediately, the young lady found her hair standing up, like the fur of a cat.

The young lady froze. She pondered if someone was following her. However, there shouldn't have been anything wrong with her acting, right? She doubted that any ordinary citizen would pick her out from amongst the crowd.

Therefore, it must be someone with skill.

All of a sudden, a sharp—no, a piercing killing intent had spiralled. The young lady didn't have much time to defend herself, as a sword, Bichen was thrown at her. The sword's frosty glare had almost blinded her, as she panicked as to what to do.

The young lady depended on her reflexes.

A puff of fire was set ignite on her fingertips. As the young lady was panicking, the small ball of fire on her fingertips had rapidly transformed into the size of an infant. The appearance also instantaneously melted into a colour of azure blue.

The young lady shot her large ball of blue fire at Bichen.

The two forces collided against each other. However, the fire of the hottest heat wasn't able to melt the sword of the coldest temperatures. Instead, the two forces deflected one another.

Bichen was deflected onto the pavement, piercing in a cobblestone.

Meanwhile, the ball of blue fire erupted and vanquished into thin air. The young lady had noticed her impulsiveness. She realized her mistake. She had revealed her identity! However, if she hadn't deflected the sword with her fire, it was possible that she would've died on the spot.

After all, the person who threw that sword definitely wasn't joking around.

Suddenly, six consecutive thumps landed on the ground. The three couples had stood there, surrounding the young lady from escaping. "So, you're the drums player?"

The young lady let out a soft "tch".

"You have nowhere to escape to." Lan Zhan spat. Utilizing his spiritual power, he levitated Bichen back into his own hands, sheathing his frosty sword.

The young lady examined her surroundings.

Indeed, she was completely surrounded.

A lengthy sigh poured out from her mouth. With a swift motion, the young lady tore off her cloak, revealing her figure from underneath.

She had dark chocolate brown hair, with snowflake white bangs. The young lady wore the same set of black robes which Bo Fan had, with the outline of a dragon carved on her belt. Strung across her abdomen were the blue Chinese drums.

The young lady frowned. Her face was beautiful and pleasant to look at, with her eyebrows slanting downwards due to her frustrated emotion.

"How did you know it was me?" She asked.

Wei Wuxian frowned at that. "How do you want us to answer that question? It was quite obvious."

The young lady smiled, but the smile was quite bland. "If I wanted to, I could've ignited the entire city on fire. Nobody would've been able to put it out, even Clan Leader Jiang." Then, her ugly smile faded. "However, I saw that this man was able to put out my blue fire with a single blow." She looked at Hua Cheng.

Hua Cheng looked at her as if she was merely a piece of trash.

"Of course, if I had set Yunmeng Jiang on fire, he would've put it out. That would've ruined my plans, so I decided to take control and destroy Yunmeng Jiang from the inside." She explained. "I do have to admit, I might've been obvious to you guys. After all, you guys couldn't see my figure, nor my belongings. I also had no connections to those villagers."

The young lady twirled a lock of white silky hair around her finger. "I thought that my fierce corpses would've been able to stop you guys enough for me to escape."

"There is no escape." Shen Qingqiu spat.

The young lady arched an eyebrow. "I'm afraid that I'll disappoint you." She set aside her hair, then summoned balls of blue fire, which levitated above her palms. "This will hurt." The young lady pressed onwards, "So let way for me."

Luo Binghe ignored that statement and asked, "What is your connection to Bo Fan, the demon? What about Cang Qiong Mountain?"

The young lady was surprised when her threat was ignored.

She sneered, "Bo Fan? Isn't it as clear as day that we're accomplices?"

Then, her gorgeous phoenix eyes widened. "Did you want me to introduce myself? Naturally, I'll do so." She flaunted the string of Chinese drums across her abdomen. "My name is Yi Ran. I am the Barbarian of Blue Fires. Nice to meet you all."

Yi Ran had no smile, but there was a trace of amusement in her eyes. "Allow me to rephrase my earlier question, which you've all unrighteously ignored. Geez, where is the respect nowadays." She leaned forwards. "If you won't let me escape, then naturally, there will be consequences."

The two balls of blue fire in her palms became more prominent.

"Shall we get started?"

Every cultivator must have an instrument!

Wei Wuxian: Chengqing (flute)

Can play many pieces of music, including crappy, romantic, and sorrowful ones.

Lan Zhan: Zither (guqin)

Can play and compose for wifey, including searching for wifey's soul for thirteen years.

Lan Xichen: Flute (vertical)

Can play with his brother, and compose for mother, who suffered from the marriage.

And then there's Yi Ran: Drums

"I can go BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG."

Here's a small fun fact about the young lady's name. I've always wanted to create a more entertaining villain, so I actually put some thought into the Barbarian of Blue Fire's name.

In pinyin, it is "Yi Ran", while hanzi is:【意燃】

The Yi【意】in YiRan means: Purpose/Significance

The Ran【燃】in Yi Ran means: Burn/Ignite

😌 Yes Yes, I did that