faraway wanderers/Word Of Honor [ Oneshots ] -Wenzhou-

Arc One - starting

"We should move toward the north." Zhou Zishu said.

South

North

South

Zhang Chengling sighed at the scene in front of him and continued to sip his soup.
The group of three were at the tavern, trying to decide where they should go next.

"Little Tyke, tell me where we should move: north or south." Wen Kexing asked.

Zhang Chengling froze. 'Not again'

He knew if he took his senior's side, his shifu would punish him, and if he took his shifu's side, this good senior of his wouldn't come to save him.
Sweat started to form on his head.

"Are you listening?" Wen Kexing spoke again.

He took a deep breath and said abruptly, "East, senior! We should go towards the east!"

Both Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing were stunned! Both thought this little tyke would take their side, but he just..
They were both looking at him with hawk eyes.
At that very moment, Zhang Chengling realised he had just made a very big mistake.

"Aiyo!" An old woman approaches them and asks, "Is there anything else these honourable men would like to eat?"

Wen Kexing chuckled at the word honourable.
"We are just wanderers, new here.If you could tell us a good place to visit, we will be very thankful."

He paused and said, while sending a flirtatious look at Zhou Zishu, "If that place sold good wine, it would be better."
In return, Zhou Zishu licked the cup's edge while maintaining eye contact with the wen kexing.

Their staring contest was broken by the old lady's voice, who failed to catch this detail between them.

"Ah! You all have arrived at a very good time; there is a village if you go east. You should visit it; people there are going to celebrate their festival!"

"Festival?" Zhou Zishu asked

"Yes, they celebrate it to give respect to Madam Jiayi."

The old woman enthusiastically sat down and started to tell the tale with a serious face.

"About 200 years ago, there lived a beautiful woman named Liu, who was so scholarly and intelligent. Around the village, every man was in love with her.
Her husband, who was not particularly good at anything, began to feel inferior to her.
So he did the only thing a jealous and worthless husband would do."

intentionally lowering her voice-

"He accused his wife of being a witch who, maintained her beauty, by consuming people's soul, and everyone around the village believed him."

"Believed him just like that?" Zhang Chengling asked.

"Obviously kid, other men had their eyes on her too, so their wives supported the husband and started making up all kinds of stories.
The poor woman begged, but jealousy toward her was so great that villagers tied her to a tree and burned her alive.
While she was getting burned, she said she'll do the things she's accused of after her death and will return to consume their souls."

"Was there an owl?" Wen kexing lowered his voice too.

"An owl?"

"Yes! There is a saying that owls are-Ouch! Ah-xu, why did you pinch me!"

"My apologies, just ignore him; he gets a little excited when he hears stories like this, please continue."

"Yes Yes!" The woman bobbled her head, once again trying to create a mood for her story, and spoke dramatically, "And then things got bad and people started to die. The bodies looked like someone had sucked the life out of them; their eyes were bulging out, and their faces paled like they had seen something horrific!
It didn't take long for words to reach out.
Then arrived the great cultivator Madam Jiayi, who offered her body as an offering to Liu, and when she got possessed, Madam Jiayi stabbed herself with a dagger to lock Liu's soul inside.

Villagers were deeply touched, and for Madam Jiayi, they created a cist of gold and buried her in the lake, which flowed beside the tree where villagers had burned Liu.

Since then, they have celebrated a four-day festival in her honour."

"Hmmm, those villagers were not good people then."

"Shi-Shi... Shifu, I was wrong, let's go towards the north..."

Wen Kexing laughed, "What is there to be afraid of little tyke? let's go there; I'll get inspiration for my stories."

Both of them looked at Zhou Zishu, the decision dependent on him, who only smirked and asked the old lady.

"There will be wine, right?"

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Hello there!

I hope you all are having a very good day!

It's my first time to write something like this, hope you all will like it.

If you have any suggestion feel free to tell me.

I'll be back with a new chapter soon till then take care ✨