Swirling dust devils greeted the morning air in the city of Siyu. The residents have have been used to this kind of thing since most of the area that surrounded them are desserts with no oasis.
The citizens are busy preparing for their morning hustle when two swarms of cicadas encircled their whole city. Women gathered their children off the streets and went inside their homes afraid that the cicadas might cause diseases or worse, an epidemic. The cicadas swooped down on the streets entering every house. Screams of men, women and children were heard from faraway.
Qing Luan sat at the nearby table as QiuShan Li finished his last meal. A pregnant woman with her child in her womb. The murderers never left any traces after fleeing.
YingLuo removed her hand from one of the corpses. Their body soul was intact however, it's gravely scathed. She instructed FeiXian to bury the dead and uphold a small burial ceremony for them. Her eyes teared up as she saw dead pregnant women.
'How cruel.' She whispered with her breath. Only demon cultivators use forbidden techniques that have been locked inside Emei's deep treasure library.
After the burial, both of her and FeiXian rode the fjords of sand heading to Emei's direction. The quickest route going there was to take a route towards Soul Reaver forest. It was an ancient warpath hundreds of years ago but is deserted now because the people from Siyu feared that souls might be roaming at the forest. YingLuo discarded this idea and together with FeiXian they went inside the Soul Reaver Forest. On their way to Emei, they both talked.
"FeiXian. You must behave properly. Emei is strict with their principles and laws. You know that."
"I know I know..."
"Hmm... Are you scared General Hua?"
"No... Why would I be scared?"
"You saw the dead bodies. The murderers killed young children even unborn children."
"That makes me want to smite them more YingLuo."
"FeiXian... I— Can we stop right here? I'm getting dizzy."
"Alright."
As soon as she got off the horse, YingLuo ran at a nearby cactus and puked out. She vomitted a lot causing her to cough.
FeiXian was a bit befuddled. It was his first time seeing YingLuo vomit. Afterwards, a smile flashed on his face. He may look naive but he already knew what YingLuo is experiencing. YingLuo's face paled as she saw FeiXian went closer.
"Xian... I can— take care of myself."
"You're not in a good condition. Come here."
"N—No... What are you doing FeiXian?"
"Carrying you."
"F—FeiXian. Put me down!"
"No!"
FeiXian carried her to the horse and tied the other horse on the other's saddle. He rested YingLuo in his arms as he saddled the horse slowly.
"What are you doing? You should saddle fast. We're going to Emei and tell the Grandmaster quick!"
"No... It will harm you..."
"Harm me? I'm fine FeiXian... You..."
"When I say no... It's a no. You might harm Xiaoxiao."
YingLuo's eyes widened.
"Xiaoxiao?"
"I never thought of a name for him or her so I call him or her Xiaoxiao for now."
"Silly."
YingLuo caressed her tummy as they both rode the horse. FeiXian's seed is already sprouting inside her.
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Meanwhile, inside the innermost fortress of TaoYan city, Li and Luan returned after they had ravaged the whole city of Siyu.
Flesh had originally replenished their almost rotting corpse. Clapping his hands, XueCao went outside the shadows and congratulated both of the perpetrators.
"Thanks to you Siyu has been wiped out in a night. I know you both haven't fully quenched your spirits, so I will let you attack a city which has many citizens that can satiate you."
"What city? Give us the name and we will wipe it out clean. Never left anyone alive."
"Your next city is... ChuanXi city."
"Understood master. We will go there quickly."
"Yes. Kill them all just like how you wiped out Siyu."
The two corpses bowed and then fled turning into a swarm of cicadas.
XueCao smiled and returned back to playing his GuZheng.
'Old Jianghu will fall. Old Jianghu will fall!'
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Blue skies were covered with dark clouds on ChuanXi. MoXiao assumed that it was about to rain. He remembered that he hanged his other spare clothes just outside the city walls.
He almost forgot about his clothes after him and LanRong's cooking show(love making).
Running at the corridors, he jumped and tumbled until he reached his clothes in time. As he looked up, the dark skies wasn't caused by rain clouds but a huge swarm of cicadas.
The cicadas almost reached at him but he wielded his divine weapon cutting them in small pieces. Some citizens fled inside the palace walls and some were already found dead along the city's streets.
MoXiao did not just stand by and watch. He led the people inside the palace barricaded by a strong enchantment where the cicadas could not enter.
He soon then stood in front of the palace walls as the cicadas took form of the two corpses. His eyes widened as he saw two familiar faces.
"QiuShan Li... Qing Luan..."
"You know us? Hah. Pretty blunt young boy."
"You... You two were supposed to be..."
"Dead? Haha. We're alive now and we will consume everything just as master commands."
"I'm afraid you'll have to go through me."
"Alright. Since I sense a strong divine aura coming from you, why not?"
MoXiao gripped his sword and charged forward. QiuShan transformed into a swarm of cicadas as he fought with MoXiao. The cicadas could not penetrate or even wound MoXiao so he decided to fight fair.
"Heh. I never back down without a fight young boy."
Cicadas landed on QiuShan Li's hand forming into some sort of spear. MoXiao held his weapon and was about to strike when...
XuanZheng went in front of him and dispelled the cicadas using a blue flame.
"Y—you! Who are you? Why do you have such power?"
"I am the Fallen Goddess, JiuTian XuanZheng and the one whom you are insulting is my nephew!"
"Pftt! Qing Luan!... Let's retreat."
"B—but... I want to eat more."
"No! If we face this woman here, we'll never make it before master."
"Tch. How cruel!"
The two flew and retreated turning into a huge swarm of cicadas. XuanZheng's eyes narrowed.
"If I wasn't wrong, MoXiao... That two were QiuShan Li and Qing Luan am I right?"
"Yes you are right ayí. They were dead hundreds of years ago but... How?"
"Someone might have recreated them into living corpses."
"Who do you think would do so ayí?"
"Someone that has great power. Someone who had endured the same fate that I did. Someone who was led astray."
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Horse hooves stopped clanking as FeiXian and YingLuo arrived at the entrance of Emei's school. As the gates were opened, two new endowed acolytes came to welcome them. YingLuo then remembered her first time coming to Emei and attend their classes as a new student.
She stepped off the horse as FeiXian assisted her. Soon, they both entered gates and stepped inside the great hall of Emei. Jue Chen sat at the center of the hall with two other seats prepared for two of them to sit.
FeiXian and YingLuo paid their respects to Jue Chen and she gestured them to both sit down.
"How did the investigation go YingLuo?"
"From what I have seen, the dead bodies have some kind of evil enchantment on them."
"Was it related to the ancient evil tree?"
"It possibly is. But, some clues were lacking. One thing that I am sure was... The murderers used a forbidden technique called Dance of Cicadas."
"Impossible! That technique was long lost... Unless."
"Unless what?"
"You two, follow me."
Jue Chen led them down the hall and into a dark passage below the main hall's back. Jue Chen wrote a spell in the air and flicked it on the lotus marking on the wall. A secret door showed itself and opened a way for them.
They all entered the passage and the door closed behind them.