𝗣𝗨𝗣𝗣𝗘𝗧 𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗪. MO DAO ZU SHI

CHAPTER FOUR ━ RISE OF THE DEAD

"a-yuan! my son! you died such a miserable death. gone from me just like that. how can i do without you? my boy," madam mo cried.

near the middle of the night, they had found the corpse of madam mo's only son. a tragedy to say the least. hai-feng wouldn't say he felt as if the boy didn't deserve it but still...no one should have to die the way he did.

"it was you!" the woman accused pointing a finger at mo xuanyu. "you killed him! you bastard! how could you do that? he's just a child. why didn't you die instead?!"

as madam mo made to grab him, lan sizhui prevented her from doing so.

"madam!"

"let me go!" she demanded. "i'll avenge a-yuan's death! let me go!"

"avenge?" mo xuanyu repeated. "it's not like i killed him."

"what did you say?"

"madam mo," lan sizhui began. "your son's flesh and energy were sucked dry. he was obviously killed by demons."

"this lunatic is obviously the murderer," the woman continued completely brushing lan sizhui's words aside. "today in the hall, you all heard him well. he wanted to cut off a-yuan's arm. i want a life for a life. pay with your life!"

mo xuanyu began to panic, yelling as he ran away. "don't kill me. murder!"

in his haste to get away he ended up kicking a-yuan's lifeless body over, displaying something red peeking from beneath his robes.

"a spirit lure flag?" hai-feng wondered out loud.

"why would my son have it on him?" madam mo questioned.

"madam," lan sizhui stepped in. "i figured the cause of your son's death. spirit lure flag. summon spirits. elicit demons. your son carried this, making him the live target of any nearby spirits. the evil spirits summoned by the flag caused his demise."

"bullshit!" she snapped as she snatched the flag from his hand before ripping it up. "he only took a ragged flag from you. how could it be...how could it...?" she suddenly grabbed a hold of lan sizhui's robes. "you useless things. to hell with you cultivation and exorcism. you can't even protect a child. what's the point of inviting you? it's all because of your ragged flag that my a-yuan died. you should all pay with your lives. give me back my a-yuan!"

at this point and time hai-feng has had it with this woman's disrespectful talk. now he could see where her son got it from. lan jingyi and lan sizhui may be from the gusu lan clan but he himself wasn't born within the clan his husband was a part of. he had no reason to hold his tongue or allow such disrespect to be directed towards his favorite disciples.

"are you really blaming us for what your son did? it was his fault if i'm not mistaken. he isn't a child, he's seventeen. he's old enough to decide what's right from wrong. he's old enough to follow rules and listen to instructions was he not? when we warned him to stay away from those flags he completely disregarded our warning and in doing so caused his own death."

madam mo released lan sizhui and turned her heated gaze on hai-feng.

"how dare you speak to me that way."

"i'll speak to you anyway i want. i ask you again madam mo. are you blaming us for your son's death when it was him who decided to ignore the warnings we gave him? he was the cause of his own death. if he had listened to us then he'd still be alive but he isn't now is he? i would also like to warn you that if you ever place your hands on either of my two disciples again, you'll find yourself without them, do i make myself clear?"

"how...how dare you?! you should have been the one to die, not him! you and these useless little boys! it's because of your clan and their stupid flags that got him killed in the first place! you should all die here and pay with your lives!"

if hai-feng could cut her tongue from her mouth he would do so without hesitation. thankfully lan sizhui prevents him from doing so.

"ai-ting."

the senior master glanced over at him before taking a breath and decided to block the woman's words out as she continued to wail and claim that they should've been the ones who lost their lives. hai-feng's headache was only getting worse and his patience had long since run out. right now their main focus should be finding the ghost who did this. once it's been properly taken care of, they could head back home and rest. gods know the man needed it.

just as hai-feng began to plan for their next steps a blast of sinister wind whipped by causing every lantern to become extinguished. noises of panic began to fill the courtyard before they died down at lan sizhui's command. panic, confusion, and fear are things evil spirits take advantage of. it was easier for them to cause trouble and wreck havoc. for a few minutes there was only the sound of light breaths and faint sniffling before screams erupted through the night.