Nanming arrived at the village the kneeling man told him about, a settlement just beyond a forest clearing.
Surrounded by tall wooden wall, with watchtower dotted behind the defense like an unwelcoming figure.
But Nanming presses on, despite it being night and the chance of him being mistaken for a bandit increased tenfold.
"Halt!"
A voice shouts, Nanming immediately stops in his track as he regards the commanding voice.
"This is Ugir Village, what business did you have in the middle of the night?"
The figure who appears beyond the dark, carries with him a glowing torch and a sheathed saber. Wearing a yellow robe layered with light plate armor, it's clear that he is a soldier.
"I'm here to buy some rice…"
"During the Dark Hours? How can you… You're from the Jianghu aren't you?"
"…Where do I come from doesn't really matter, if I had any ill intent, I won't stop when you told me"
The soldier face tense up, but then he kind of agrees with Nanming's word. If Nanming wanted to start trouble, he wouldn't stop when told to.
"Alright, do what you want… But I have my eyes on you"
"…Appreciate it"
Nanming bows and he quickly went inside the village, it was much bigger than the nameless village and the structure of the settlement is sound and formidable, made with stone and hardwood.
But he doesn't know where to buy some rice, as he wanders around the paved path, a pair of drunken vagabonds approach him.
"Heya there girl… youre kinda cute aren't ya? Hic"
One of them said, his voice is tipsy and has that dry throat quality in it, he smells bad too, like a mixture of urine and mud.
"For real… girl had killer face…"
Another response as he brush Nanming hair aside, admiring Nanming pristine and blemish-less face.
But before Nanming could respond, a woman voice calls out to them.
"Hey! You drunken lots better get out of my sight at once…"
She said in deep growl, a woman clad in black wearing a jingling straw hat as each of her steps produced a quiet and soothing noise.
"…Huh? And who're you to order me around bastard?"
"…Bro, we should leave"
The vagabond friend then held his shoulder and urged him to leave, thankfully the intoxicated rabble was easy to move because of his imbalance and powerlessness due to the alcohol.
"Tch there goes my fun"
"…"
Nanming watch the two vagabonds went away in hurried pace, before he turn to regards the woman in straw hat. He was about to bow and thanked her, but the woman produced a talisman.
"-?"
The talisman in her hands then combust into green flame, but nothing happens.
"Huh? Was that a dud?"
The woman looks confused, before she produced another talisman and burned it with the same green flame.
Yet nothing happens once more.
"…A Great Spirit then"
"Wait"
Nanming wanted to clarify upon this misunderstanding, but the woman dashed towards him that caused the surrounding dust to be blown away.
Nanming managed to respond as he hastily unsheathed his own sword to block whatever attack she would throw to him.
The woman left hand then withdraws a metallic lantern that she bashed to Nanming, he managed to block it with his sword but the moment he did the lantern explodes into a sick green flame.
"Hex Arts 1: Burn"
"-!"
Nanming had to be content as his entire form was engulfed in green flame, his entire body retched in pain from the sheer heat, yet he persevered through.
Utilizing the speed of his regeneration as he extends away from the woman who just watch him with apathetic contempt as the lantern got pulled back into her hand.
The jingling of her bell is a dreadful omen of Nanming's fate just about now, yet she didn't move, watching and observing Nanming who slowly heals himself off from the weird green flame.
"…What kind of Spirit are you?"
"…I'm not a Spirit"
The woman tilts her head, finding Nanming declaration as nothing but baseless lie.
"Are you taking me for an idiot?"
"…I am speaking the truth"
Soon after, their scuffle draws in nearby bystander, and then the guards approach them with their weapons at a ready.
"I knew it! You Jianghu bastard can never be trusted!"
The guard who talks to Nanming before said, his face contorts into an ugly fury as he brandished the tip of his spear towards Nanming.
"I am not the one who start this…"
Nanming was protesting, but it was met with deft ear by the guard.
"I don't care! It's always ended up like this; you martial artist bastard is the reason Hazhui is in decline now!"
His accusation caused the other guards and villagers to chimes in in agreement, and soon their discontentment culminates into a wave of protest and insult blending and crashing through each other.
"Fuck off you Jianghu shit!"
"Useless Murderer!"
"Go away to hell and kill each other there instead!"
Their insults become runoff words as their faces filled with Hate continued to voice their resentment.
The woman was the first to act, as she presents a blue tael that caused several villagers to gasp and scrambled away upon realizing who are they dealing with.
The guards also react, some of them become hesitant to advance, the spear tip that is so grand before faltering like a branch being tossed around by the wind.
"…How hypocritical, you only care about enacting your pitiful power play to those you consider weak"
She said, her words sting enough that some of the villagers and even guard to hitch their breath as her words find its mark into their heart.
"The moment you see me for what I truly am and then you flee like some lost cattle circled by a wolf… Pathetic"
"…So you use your authority to bully the weak? I failed to see you as above them should you use such method"
Nanming counters back, his sword pointed towards the ground as if he deliberately left himself open for her to attack, she knows enough that it's a trap.
But still, the woman is confused on his remark, isn't she technically defending him?
"You are but a Spirit, what knowledge do you have of your perceived lowly mortal realm?"
"I am not a Spirit…"
Nanming then slit his own arm with his sword, leaving a gush of black blood falling to the blade and dripping to the ground.
"Does Spirit bleed blood?"
"…You didn't even bleed blood"
That's right, Nanming is not bleeding blood, but Plasmatic Spirit Blood, which means he is a Spirit.
"…Really?"
But Nanming is unaware, for as long as he knows this is blood and it's not even stinky, unlike actual Plasmatic Spirit Blood.
"Don't take me for a fool, I know who you are and it's my job to exorcise you…"
"…"
Nanming failed to see a way to reason against her accusation, given that his defense turns out to be a just cause for her extremity.
And so Nanming begins his inhibition, coating his surroundings with magnificent Blue that writhe like flame.
The woman scoff, a part of her was actually surprised that he had this many energy that his inhibition turns out to be majestic. But she assumes it was just a spectacle, a circus acts devoid of efficiency borne of years of training.
But for the villagers and guards, it was an awe worthy scene. They barely know anyone with inhibition this large.
"W-Wait! Are you really a Spirit?"
One of the villagers, an old granny suddenly springs forth from within the crowd with her hunchback posture, as if she can snap by just a gust of wind.
"I am n—"
"Please! My grandson Hao has been missing since yesterday night! I pray to the shrine everytime hoping you would come!"
She said as she bowed towards Nanming with tearful voice, as if she has met a god.
"But I am no—"
"Leave old lady, this Spirit is dangerous… I must exorcis—"
"No you can't!!"
The old granny then rise from her kowtow posture and walks towards the woman before she hits her with a frail and weak punch. But the woman didn't act before her aggression, rather she seems hesitant to even react.
"He's the only one who can save my grandson! Don't you dare exorcise him!"
"…Do you know who I am?"
The old granny didn't stop her useless act of beating her up.
"I don't care who you are! Even if you are the Sect Leader Han himself, I do not care! As long as my grandson can be save, I will walk even hell itself!"
Her declaration seems to convinced the woman to stop her aggression, with a heavy sigh and some few jingle she lowers her lantern and regards Nanming.
"…"
The old granny then crawled back towards Naming when she realized that the woman will not attack him, she then uttered a word that caused Nanming to feel discomfort.
"O Great Spirit! This humble self has dared to disturb your peace! Please, if I can help, I will compensate your greatness to even be compassionate enough to regard my lowly self!"
"…"
Nanming tried to make her stand up, but he feared it was just going to make things difficult for him later, so he decided to entertain her request.
"There is a village just beyond this clearing, I want you to send one… no, three sack of rice to them"
"Yes! I will!"
The old granny then shouts into the crowd.
"You heard him! Prepare the rice and send them to that old man village now!"
But her command was met with a weak protest.
"B-But mistress! It's from our stockpile of rice… W-We are planning to—"
"I don't give a damn! We had too much harvest anyway! Just give them away before rat gets to have a feast!"
Her commanding voice caused the protesting man to whimper as he bowed and quickly move his leg towards the deeper part of the village.
With this, Nanming fulfilled his promise, now it's time to fulfill this old granny's promise.
.
.
.
"Hao was missing three weeks ago when he was out searching for a boar to eat"
The old granny said, her incessant words carry out to both him and the woman whom Nanming now knows as Flame Streak of the Netherstride, given that her outfit is largely different from the one he knows it certainly takes him by surprise.
"I said to him 'why would you go hunt some boar? We had enough food to last us month!'"
Right now, all three of them are in her manor, compared to the Crimson Palace Wind Manor it is certainly pitifully small, but relative to the village it is huge.
"Hao, the ever so foolish of him dare talk back to me, 'I'm tired of eating gruel and porridge every day! I want to eat meat! Meat!'"
She said as she lowers her voice by a few octaves as if to imitate Hao's own voice, she then serves both Nanming and Flame Streak a tea from a clay cup.
"Apology for the lowly serving, this time is a tough one… Last week a young girl was kidnapped by bandit, and her father was killed by Pekung"
The old granny said as she shyly and dejectedly watches as Nanming, who she presumed to be a high-ranking manifested Spirit to drink such lowly and dirty tea leaf.
"Don't worry…"
Nanming took a sip of the tea, it is far inferior to the one brewed by Father but is pleasant, the warm water and the aroma of the boiled leaf does wonder in repelling the cold.
"It is a pleasant tea, but the more time we waste the less time I had in searching for Hao"
"Ah yes, Hao went towards West. There is a lot of boars around the steppe just beyond the river inside the forest"
Nanming finished gulping down the tea, the same one Flame Streak seems hesitant to drink as she only watches the floating tea leaf inside the copper hues water.
"That is enough clue, I can guarantee that Hao will be here before the Night falls once more"
Nanming prepared to leave, and so does Flame Streak. The old granny, however, seems anxious about their departure.
"But it is still Dark Hours… Many Jiangshi prowls beyond the unlit darkness…"
"Mere Jiangshi won't bother me"
Nanming reassured the old granny by showing her the sheath of his sword, the dark gleams illuminated by the lantern and candle inside the well-lit room.
The old granny just nods and bids them farewell.
As Nanming heads out to where the mentioned steppe is, he couldn't help but notice that Flame Streak is also following him around.
"Why are you following me?"
He ask, but he didn't stop walking.
"Who knows what kind of trick you'll up to once you get your hands on Hao you Nether Spirit"
"…How many times should I tell you that I am not a Spirit?"
No matter how many times he said it, Flame Streak remained unconvinced, her prejudice of him has become as thick as blood mixed with oil, can blood even be mixed with oil? Well, the analogy works for Nanming.
"Sounds like something a Nether Spirit would say"
"…Whatever, just don't attack me out of nowhere"
Once Nanming and Flame Streak is a considerable distance away from the village, Nanming pulls out a flower and holds it up high.
"…What are you doing?"
Flame Streak was dumbfounded by his action, but she is prepared to react should his action turns out to be malicious.
"O Spirit, heed me…"
Nanming said, and then the tree surrounding him writhe like coiling snake, their root breach the ground as the creak of old barks accompanied their hypnotic movement. Flame Streak instantly blares her lantern with Nether Flame only to see it extinguished.
-Foolish Nether Wielderrr, such fickle Flameeee won't bother ussss…
Something speak, something ancient and powerful. The voice comes from within the tree; no, it is the tree. Flame Streak couldn't believe what was happening, but another Great Spirit has manifested itself.
The Root of Decadent.
-Nameless Whyyy have you sought…us?
"I seek a man named Hao, where is he?"
-Hao…
The tree writhe as it speaks
-A pitiful old lady begs to usss… Find a mann with the samee name… But he is rotten, corrupted by Sin we hate
"…It doesn't matter, where is he?"
The tree suddenly speeds up in its coiling, breaking the ground and trapping Nanming in its root, its voice then boomed and hurts Flame Streak ear who was forced to cower and covered her ear.
-Whyy… You are a great being… why bother seeking an irredeemable mann?
"…I am just a human, and I have to save a fellow human"
-Kindness won't repayy… Heed us Nameless, time will come that your naïve worldview will bite back…
"If you don't want to tell me then I will ask another Spirit"
-…
Nanming threat seems to work, seeing as the root retreats into the ground and the tree returns to their original shape.
-Beyond a cave, lies one of you… one of your kin… Its followers perhaps, old as us… the mann you speak, that you seek… is in his grip
"Thank you"
The root then shoots up once more to take the flower Nanming held and pat his hair, he seems surprised, but he didn't make any attempt to shoo the roots away.
The intense pressure then eased up, signaling the Spirit departure. And after that, Flame Streak regained her composure, this time she cautiously hovers her right hand over to a hilt of blade.
"Who are you really?"
A Great Spirit that calls another Great Spirit is unthinkable, impossible even, for Spirit has their own domain and they won't be content with another Spirit intruding upon their place.
Yet this boy managed to call the Great Spirit without any poems and he just offers them a flower.
"…I am a human, not a Spirit, my answer will not change"
Yet the boy still answers with the same words, but it seems that he didn't abuse this power to call a Spirit at will. Should Flame Streak be at ease or should she report this to the Sect?
"…What is your name"
"…Nanming"
Nanming, unfamiliar name. Flame Streak couldn't recall anyone with that name.
"Nanming, my apology for attacking you without any just cause… As a compensation"
Flame Streak then puts her cape away, revealing a figure one might appreciate as heavenly even when it was covered in robe and rags.
"…You can have your way with m—"
"No"
Yet Nanming plainly refused, he even put his hand in front of his face to block his sight.
"I will not, just… help me find Hao"
"…"
Flame Streak is even more confused, isn't a man supposed to like a woman body? So much so that they sometimes abandon reason to have their way with them? Or is this boy not a boy and is just a girl with deep voice considering his face does resembles a woman.
"Also, have some dignity… Your body is precious"
"…Alright"
Flame Streak wears her cape and walks beside Nanming, wading through the forest in the middle of the night, she wonders why no Jiangshi or Malevolent Spirit around.
Well, she didn't complain, its quite troublesome killing something that refused to die.