love at first sight... // zhuiling

Chapter 32

As Hua Cheng faded into nothing, Sizhui was once again alone in an empty void. However, he felt strange. There seemed to be something running through him, almost like spiritual energy flowing through, but it wasn't. Sizhui knew what spiritual energy felt, and this was not the same. 

Then, if it's not spiritual energy, it's resentful energy?  Sizhui thought.

Suddenly, a light emerged. Sizhui went towards it. Upon touching it, the light scattered around Sizhui, each light morphing into a hologram. A building was displayed, then another, and another. At first, Sizhui didn't know what city was being mimicked, but soon he realized where this was. It was the Cloud Recesses. 

Sizhui had no words, he only gasped as his old home was being rebuilt piece by piece. Then, Sizhui saw people starting to form.

Jingyi? Hanguang-Jun? Senior Wei?  Sizhui thought.

"Sizhui! Come over here!" the holographic Wei Wuxian called.

Sizhui was about to run over there, but stopped when he heard himself.

"Senior Wei! Hanguang-Jun! Jingyi!" a holographic Sizhui yelled, running towards them.

"Sizhui, have you been studying well?" the holographic Hanguang-Jun asked.

"Of course, hehe!" the holographic Sizhui replied, beaming.

"Obviously, Sizhui is the best student in all of the Cloud Recesses!" the holographic Wei Wuxian complimented.

"Sizhui, did you know that there's a festival in Gusu right now? Let's go!" Jingyi informed, leading him out of the building.

Suddenly, the hologram became blurry. As it faded away, it burst into hundreds of white, translucent butterflies. After the butterflies completely flew away, Sizhui knelt down with his head hanging low. A tear dropped from his eye. His sadness soon devolved into revenge.

"THIS IS NOT OVER YET." Sizhui yelled into the void. "I WILL DESTROY YOU. DO YOU HEAR ME!"

"Very well." a voice added, suddenly.

Sizhui turned to see Hua Cheng reemerge from the shadows. His finger held a single butterfly. The butterfly soon flew off his finger and in front of Sizhui. The butterfly suddenly glowed a bright light. It split in half, and formed two objects. One was a light grey mask that would cover his upper face, with only two slits for Sizhui to see. Another was a steel jian enclosed in a black scabbard.

"Crimson Rain Sought Flower, this is?" Sizhui asked.

"Did you not say you want to protect the one you love? That is why I'm giving you this mask and jian. You will roam the mortal world with this mask on. During your time there, the mask will be cursed to stay with you forever. The only way to undo the curse is to pass on this mask to the one you love before you return here to become a more powerful ghost. I gave you this jian so you can protect yourself and the one you love." Hua Cheng explained.

Sizhui looked hesitant, but still took both the mask and jian. "Thank you, I will not fail you."

"Very well." Hua Cheng replied.

Right as Sizhui put on the mask, his clothes suddenly changed. The robes changed from his Gusu Lan robes to simple grey robes. Sizhui was shocked at first, but understood that he had to stay anonymous. A death spirit butterfly soon emerged and laid on Sizhui's fingers. That butterfly teleported Sizhui back into the mortal realm.

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Editor's note: the next chapters will be back in the present with jin ling and hua hua. don't worry i'll finish this flashback in a different arc.