The once-bustling town at the foot of Jinyue Mountain had become a battlefield of chaos. Smoke curled into the air, the cries of frightened townsfolk echoed between shattered roofs, and the clang of weapons rang out as disciples from both the Jinyue and Lingxiao Clans fought off strange spirit beasts with maddened eyes and unnatural strength.
But these weren't just ordinary spirit beasts.
Yiran landed beside Suoxue, brushing his tousled hair out of his eyes, his talisman papers already fluttering between his fingers. "You know, I had a dream like this once," he said conversationally. "Only I was riding the beast and it had wings."
Suoxue shot him a look that could freeze lava. "Focus."
Yiran gave a mock salute. "Sir, yes sir! Cold Prince in command."
They approached the largest creature—a six-legged serpent-hound hybrid with white-blind eyes and strips of black fabric floating around its body like cursed banners.
Yiran's teasing demeanor vanished. His gaze sharpened.
"Don't touch it," he said quietly. "Let me look."
Suoxue raised a hand to halt the disciples mid-attack. The beast snarled and hissed, snapping at the air, but oddly enough, it didn't attack again. It paced in a circle, the black banners trailing from its body fluttering unnaturally.
Yiran knelt beside a collapsed stone well and studied the creature. "The eyes are glazed... but there's no spirit qi inside. It's not possessed... more like... controlled."
He held out his palm and pressed a talisman to the ground. The red ink lit up with runes that danced across the cobblestone and up to the creature. For a moment, the ribbons around the beast quivered.
Then Yiran grinned. "Bingo."
He stood, brushing off his knees and leaned close to Suoxue. With a mischievous sparkle in his eye, he whispered, "It's black magic. Not common demonic cultivation stuff—old and buried kind. Forbidden rituals using soul-flag binding. Someone's controlling them through a parasitic enchantment."
Suoxue stiffened. "Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure. I read about it."
"Where?"
Yiran gave him a slow smile. "The forbidden library in my clan."
Suoxue's eyes narrowed. "You—"
"Shhh," Yiran raised a finger to Suoxue's lips dramatically, making him blink. "Let me be your dangerous little secret."
Suoxue exhaled deeply through his nose.
"Disciples," he called, straightening. "Secure the perimeter. Do not destroy the flags on their bodies. They are cursed bindings. We will sever them without spreading the enchantment."
Disciples of both clans immediately fell into formation, though a few cast puzzled looks toward Yiran, who now stood like a little prince in the center of disaster, hands on his hips, examining the flags with scholarly precision.
"I need more talisman ink," Yiran muttered. "And three brushes. Maybe four. Ooh! And a bowl of chicken soup if anyone has it—thinking makes me hungry."
One of the Lingxiao disciples blinked. "W-what does the soup have to do with anything?"
Yiran gave him a solemn look. "Morale."
Suoxue pinched the bridge of his nose.
The battle continued in pockets across the village, but under Suoxue's command and Yiran's guidance, the clans began to subdue the beasts without killing them. Yiran rushed between groups, scribbling talismans in mid-air, slapping them onto flag-bound beasts, or yelling instructions.
He even rode on the back of a stunned creature at one point, trying to examine its patterns up close while holding its ears like reins. "Whoa there! Easy! You're all cursed up, sweetie!"
Suoxue nearly tripped when he saw him.
"Ling Yiran!" he barked.
"What!? I'm taming it!"
Suoxue leapt up and yanked him down by the back of his collar. "You'll get eaten."
"Then save me heroically, and I'll fall in love with you. Isn't that how it goes?"
Suoxue dropped him.
Eventually, all creatures were subdued and bound in arrays, the black flags burned carefully under Yiran's supervision. When the final fire flickered out, Suoxue turned to Yiran.
"You knew what this was too quickly."
Yiran smiled but said nothing.
"You're hiding something."
Yiran looked up at the starry sky. "Aren't we all?"
Suoxue looked at him for a long time. Then nodded.
The town was safe. But the questions had only just begun.