The Short Distance Between Us

TSDBU: [9]

[9]

"Wei...yuan... wei...yuan... wei-" Yan Guang's spirit was kneeling before Xiao Weiyuan's body as his blood soaked the ground.

A puddle of blood formed as it left Xiao Weiyuan's head. It reached Yan Guang and from it, a black twisting mist crawled into his body, blackening him.

His spirit was torn.

The black mist hungrily took its chance, devouring him and sinking him deeper into the darkness.

"He won't die." a cold voice whispered in his ear.

Yan Guang woodenly turned his head.

Behind him were two men with ghostly pale skin. One downed in white robes while the other wore black.

"A little later and he would have converted into an evil spirit." the white robbed man sighed in relief.

With the flick of the black-robed man's fan, the hungry contaminated mist was pulled away, instantly disappearing into ash.

Yan Guang regained clarity and approached, grabbing the white robes. "s-save him... please..." Broken, his shoulders slumped to the ground and his head met the ground in begging.

"Bi'An." the black-robed man warned his colleague.

"Aye~ Wujiu~ don't be so cold to the kid ba. Let him cry for a bit." he lowered himself to the ground and soothingly patted Yan Guang's head.

"Xiao Weiyuan won't die. His time has not come yet however we're here to pick you up."

The tale of Heibai Wuchang, the two deities in charge of escorting the spirits to the underworld. Xie Bi'An and Fan Wujiu.

Many knew the tale but of course, no one had seen them before.

"Don't waste time. Hurry and collect him." the list of names in the scroll of death was never-ending and in each second, new names were being written.

"Yan Guang, Xiao Weiyuan will survive this fall, see?" on cue, people arrived at the scene.

Looking up, he saw the same old man looking down with his finger pointing at their direction. Ropes were quickly thrown down the cliff and rescuers climbed down.

"Now follow us~." Bi'An encouraged him.

"Hurry." Wujiu impatiently read through the location of the next spirit on the list.

As if hypnotized, Yan Guang followed them instantly but when he heard the siren speed away, he snapped out of his trance.

"What if he tries to do it again?"

"Then we'll pick him up." Bi'An answered with a troubled smile.

"Dead." unlike him, Wujiu bluntly gave him a straight answer.

"No... I can't leave!" Yan Guang defiantly glared at them. Quickly, he turned his back and sprinted away in an attempt to catch up with the ambulance.

But with a wave of his fan, Fan Wujiu swept him off of his feet while Xie Bi'An bounded him with what looked like strips of cloth or a string of paper talismans.

Yan Guang's tenacity was not to be underestimated. Desperate, he madly tried tearingthrough his bindings with the only thought of escaping.

This amused Bi'An so he sat down. "Do you want to save him?"

"Bi'An!" Fan Wujiu sternly warned. Bi'An's bad habit of interfering with mortals was acting up again.

"You have accumulated a great amount of good karma. With it, you can exchange it for a favor as long as it's negotiable."