~~~

The temple in front of them is old, dusty, and full of cracks. It has been left unattended for so long that one can barely make out the stone under all the vines that have grown over it.

Huang Shing cannot see why anyone would want to visit a place like this.

“This is boring,” he says.

“It is not boring,” Fan Bingbing says, almost glaring at him. Considering it is Sister Fan, that’s the equivalent of the foulest of scowls. It is a reminder to Huang Shing that there is someone who really wants to visit this place. “If you do not like it, you can leave. No one asked you to follow me.”

“Hey!” Huang Shing says. “Don’t make it sound like I’m some intruder! Going alone would have been dangerous. I’m here to help.”

“You are here because you were bored,” Fan Bingbing counters.

“I was very bored,” Huang Shing admits, nodding. “That doesn’t make me wrong about it being dangerous.”

Sister Fan stares at him in silence for three seconds.

“You are not wrong,” she says last. It sounds like it takes a lot for her to say it, so Huang Shing counts it as his win.

He tries not to let it show, though. Despite what he said, Huang Shing is grateful to Sister Fan for bringing him along. It would have been way too boring had he stayed behind now that the truce between General Murong and General Dan is in place.

The stupid, stupid truce.

It is not that Huang Shing doesn’t understand how the truce is a good thing. However, after how things ended with Yi Jiao, fighting in the frontlines had been a nice way to unleash all the frustration he felt. It is not as if he needed to care for Murong Bang’s soldiers. He could be as brutal as he wanted while fighting them, and everyone would say he did a good job.

Then the truce came.

Qing Jin getting Murong Bang to agree to a truce might have surprised General Dan’s soldiers but not Huang Shing. It was just further proof of how amazing Brother Jin is.

All the same, Huang Shing wishes Brother Jin could have given him a few more days to fully work out his aggression. With the truce in place, General Dan began mobilizing troops to the border with General He’s lands to engage in what the older officers are calling a “sitting war.”

It is a good name. There is lots of sitting around and staring at each other menacingly from across the border, but very little fighting. The most demanding physical activity Huang Shing has had to engage in lately has been digging up graves and burning the bodies so they could not be used by the Death Fashioning Scripture.

A voice in his head that sounds suspiciously like Brother Jin tells him it’s a good thing people aren’t dying by the dozens yet. The voice is obviously right, as Brother Jin often is, but that doesn’t mean Huang Shing hasn’t been bored for the past few days.

When Sister Fan announced she was heading out, he instantly invited himself along.

“Why are we here anyway?” Huang Shing asks, poking one of the temple walls. The inside of the building is dark and uncomfortably damp. The only sources of light are three small fireballs created by Sister Fan.

“Because Elder Fa has hindered the activities of the Exploration Division for far too long,” Fan Bingbing replies. Her eyes are fixed on the many odd symbols covering the walls. “Under Lord Feng Shang, the Division of External Relations handled most matters in the Storm Dragon Empire. Though our Exploration Division repeatedly tried to launch expeditions, we were always refused at the advice of Elder Fa.”

Those are the most consecutive sentences Huang Shing has heard from Fan Bingbing in a good while. That means she feels really strongly about this subject, not that one would be able to tell from her tone. She sounds as stoic as always. Even more so than Brother Jin.

“Things are different now,” Fan Bingbing continues. She points at a wall blocking their path. “Please knock down this wall.”

Huang Shing does not ask why. He punches, and the wall comes down.

“As expected,” Sister Fan says as the crumbling wall reveals a passage hidden behind it. She walks into it. Huang Shing follows.

“As I was saying, things are different now,” Sister Fan says. “Lord Feng Gui does not mind giving us free rein. That’s the reason Elder Ju supports him. While us, members of the Exploration Division, are nominally here to help General Dan, Elder Ju has ordered us to start laying the groundwork for future explorations. These ruins are just one of the many places now open to us.”

“Okay,” Huang Shing says. He folds his hands behind his head. “Is this old place really so important, though?”

Sister Fan actually glares at him for that.

“Yes,” she says. “Brother Qing understands that much. You should endeavor to learn from him.”

“Wait.” Huang Shing blinks. “Brother Jin knows about this too?”

As soon as he asks that, he realizes how silly the question is.

Of course Brother Jin knows about this.

“Brother Qing sees the importance of history,” Sister Fan says. “It was he who suggested we look into this place when I discussed the matter with him. After all, this territory used to belong to Duke Lai.”

“Huh? Why is that important?”

Sister Fang gives him a very patient look.

“Because Duke Lai was working with those on the other side of the Dead Plains,” she explains slowly. “That a ruin like this is in Duke Lai’s lands cannot be a coincidence. They clearly have designs for this country. Maybe they are looking for something or don’t wish for something to be found. By the way, there are three of them. I can sense the vibrations under the earth.”

Huang Shing is about to ask what she is talking about when he senses it.

That foul, corrupted presence cannot be anything else.

Huang Shing moves to the side as an ugly, misshapen creature with eyes where eyes shouldn’t be and teeth where teeth shouldn’t be rises from the ground. Its large jaws make loud snapping noises as it tries to bite everything around it.

Huang Shing’s fist slams into its skull.

[Nine Dragon Slaying Palms- Blooming Lotus]

The attack crushes the creature’s brain, but the creature still moves, its body already working to mend itself. Huang Shing does not give it a chance to do so. He follows up his attack with a harder, heavier hit. His roaring Qi turns the creature into nothing more than bits of flesh splattered over the walls of the temple.

Knowing better than to let any part of these creatures touch him, Huang Shing protects his body with a layer of Qi,

“Be more gentle,” Sister Fan chides him as the temple trembles slightly from Huang Shing’s attack. She’s playing that instrument of hers as another one of the creatures is repeatedly torn apart by invisible attacks. “I doubt you have the power required to bring this temple down, but there is no harm in being safe.”

“What do you mean I don’t have the power required?” Huang Shing shouts, not even looking as the third creature Sister Fan warned him about tries to sneak behind him. “I can bring down one building if I wanted to! I can bring down several buildings if I wanted to!”

Without even looking, Huang Shing turns around and uppercuts the creature. Its body hits the ceiling and bounces back down, where it’s met with a punch. This one smashes the creature into the ground, where Huang Shing keeps hitting it, tearing its body apart beyond the point where it can mend itself.

He does, however, make sure to use less strength than before to avoid causing any accidents.

“I am not underestimating your power,” Sister Fan says as she finishes the creature from the Death Fashioning Scripture. “I merely recognize this temple was made to withstand far greater power than you possess.”

Huang Shing frowns as he finishes beating up the creature. “I feel I should try bringing this temple down just to prove you wrong, but I also realize that’d be stupid.”

“It heartens me that you have that much self-awareness,” Sister Fan replies. From anyone else, it would have probably come across as sarcastic, but her dull monotone tells Huang Shing that she completely means it.

“I have tons of self-awareness. I just don’t use it most of the time.”

“Some would say that’s worse,” Sister Fan replies. Once again, there’s no judgment in her voice. She’s more interested in the scribbles on the wall than in hearing him talk. That suits Huang Shing just fine at the moment.

“Thinking is hard.” Huang Shing shrugs. “Feeling is easy.”

“Is that so?” Sister Fan says. She is taking notes, jotting down what she reads on the walls. “I would say it is the opposite. I would have thought someone with your experiences would understand how messy feelings can be.”

Huang Shing makes a face. He wasn’t expecting Sister Fan to bring up how things ended up with Yi Jiao.

Wait, in the first place, how does she even know about it?

Does everyone know about it already? Surely not!

Right?

Huang Shing clicks his tongue. It is not as if he can’t see Sister Fan’s point of view. That whole thing was a mess, but that’s exactly why Huang Shing can’t allow himself to think hard about it. If he thinks hard about it, then he’ll start to understand how the whole thing was not entirely anyone’s fault. It was just a collection of very poor decisions from everyone.

Most of them Yi Jiao’s, obviously, but it isn’t as if he can’t see how maybe he could have done things better.

However, that was a thinking thing. Working out his issues through violence until he feels better about himself is much more preferable for a person like Huang Shing.

“Everyone has their preferences,” Huang Shing says instead of voicing his thoughts. “Anyway, those creatures were definitely from the Death Scripture, right? Doesn’t that mean they already sacked this place for anything of value?”

“Maybe.” Sister Fan says calmly. “Then again, that they left guardians here to kill anyone who would enter could mean there is something valuable here.”

“Like what?”

“The actual building,” Sister Fan replies. “The walls here tell a story. It is the story of the war between humans and demons thousands of years ago.”

Huang Shing blinks.

“What?”

“Though the humans were numerous, they were no match for the overwhelming power of the demons,” Sister Fan continues as though he hadn’t interrupted. “Eventually, the humans were driven back to this continent. To prevent themselves from becoming extinct, humans had no choice but to create a barrier around the continent to keep the demons away from our lands forever.”

Huang Shing stares at Sister Fan blankly.

“I have never heard a story like that in my life.”

Driven to this continent? Everyone knows Vermillion is the only landmass! The rest is just ocean!

“Neither had I until I brought my findings to Elder Ju. Apparently, the war is common knowledge among the Sect Leaders and Elders of the more prominent Sects,” Sister Fan says. “It might be that the Death Scripture has some interest in the pieces of history left behind on this side of the Dead Plains.”

“Well, if the Elders say it’s true…” Huang Shing frowns. “Maybe the people from the Death Scripture are seeking a treasure that’s related to those days? Wait, the temple in the Dead Plains had that barrier, right? Were they after something like that? Is there a weapon in one of these?”

“Perhaps.”

“Young Master Feng Hao reacted to the temple, and they were hunting Young Master Feng Hao,” Huang Shing says. “Is that all related? Is that why they were after the Young Master?”

Sister Fan looks at him, and though her face is as impassive as ever, Huang Shing could swear there is a smile there.

“Finally interested in history?”

~~~