Spirits of Falling Snow

僵尸新娘 Jiāngshī xīnniáng- Corpse Bride.

Jūn and Fēi traveled by carriage to Shùntiān Fǔ, the rain poured down hard like tiny needles puncturing their skins, thankfully the shades of the trees help in reducing the speed at which the raindrops fell. It had only been a couple of days and Fēi had started to miss the comfy bed at the institute, granted it was nowhere as comfy as a luohan found in noble residents but it was enough after going through adventures where one sleeps on the soil.

They traveled through the woods and into the mountains, mud splashed everywhere when suddenly the coachman told the donkey to yield.

"Sir, we can't pass through the mountain, it appears that there's been a landslide" he pointed ahead, revealing a pile of soil and boulders along with trees stretched from its roots.

"It's alright, we'll walk from here," Jūn said with a grin as he paid the man for their trip, they were lucky enough to find a merchant who wanted to go from Chengdu to Shùntiān Fǔ and were able to hitchhike, cutting their travel time by a lot.

The man told Jūn that he will be staying at the inn by the foot of the mountain if they ever decide to return and wait it out with him but Jūn dismissed the man, stating that they have an urgent matter.

Jūn led Fēi around the mound of landslide, being careful with their steps so they would not slip and fall, they walked for what felt like hours, they were drenched and cold, with no place to seek shelter, Jūn had begun to regret not to wait it out at the inn but they can only move forward from here, they walked the whole journey in silence, knowing that they need to conserve their energy if they want to pass this mountain in piece.

Fēi was so tired she felt like she was seeing things, red robe fluttering behind the trees, voices, so many of them, she could hear it everywhere, encircling them and with each step they took the voice got stronger.

"Jūn" Fēi called out, there was something terribly wrong,

"Jūn" she called out again and Jūn stopped in his tracks,

"Over there," he said, pointing to a temple.

"Jūn, there's something wrong" she began explaining, tugging at the hem of his sleeves, but Jūn looked back at her, and there it was, the same hollowed eyes, blood dripping from the socket that once held Jūn's eyes, it was as if it is haunting her, Fēi let out a shriek, how long had she been following that spirit, that thing, where is Jūn?

She let go of her hold and ran back, retracing her steps but the voices got stronger, urging her to enter the temple, the red robes adorned the forest. She ran and ran and ran but the voices followed her, they want her, Fēi looked back to see if the thing that masked itself as Jūn followed her and it was then that she realized it was a bad decision, she was distracted and ran into one of the red robes, from that red robe hands emerged, they were pale with nails chipped and bloody they grasped for Fēi, grabbing her by her wrist and shoulder and face,

"Jūn!" she yelled for help, her arms held down so she was unable to unsheath her sword, her only hope was Jūn, just as she was swallowed by the darkness, a light blinded her, it was Jūn's talisman, and then a hand pulled her away from the hold of the robes, freeing her.

"Fēi" Jūn caressed her hair, removing strands of hair from her face.

"Jūn, there was"

"I know, don't look back" Jūn pulled Fēi into an embrace, swiftly making sure she could not take a peek, "There's something evil in this forest, and I need you to be brave, alright?" he whispered into her ears, Fēi nodded and Jūn slowly let her go.

"It's okay" he muttered, Fēi turned around, she could see it now, she was standing at a pathway to a temple, its path adorned with hanging willow trees, and on the branches hung what seemed like a dozen dead bodies, each wore a bridal robe.

The temple emitted what one can only describe as a black mist,

"I've been hoping that the journey to Shùntiān Fǔ would be eventless but I guess not" Jūn sighed as he walked towards the temple, his right hand still holding his sword while his left hand steadies to open the doors of the temple.

"Jūn, is this a good idea?" Fēi asked, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword, following Jūn's lead,

"Well, we can't exactly ignore it" he chuckled, Fēi gulped as Jūn placed his hand on the door, swiftly opening it. A howl of wind greeted them, the temple was empty except for a coffin right in the middle, the coffin was not closed and inside, a decaying body could be found, a male dressed in red. A marriage robe,

"Were all the brides outside...for him?" Fēi shuddered at the thought, there was a strum in the energy and Fēi noticed, the temple was filled with Yin but that strum of energy was darker, something ominous resided in the temple.

"Jūn" Fēi looked around the room carefully while keeping close to her companion, not wanting to be parted with the possibility of something dangerous lurking in the shadows, and then there it was, the strum of energy, again and again like a beating heart and with a 'bam' the corpse sat up. It again pointed at Fēi, and it growled and the wind quickly formed and blew against Jūn and Fēi, they covered their face from the wrath of the wind, and it howled a word that Fēi quickly recognized 'Fāngshì'.

Jūn swiftly deployed his talismans, binding the corpse with one talisman saying 'Bind' and another one written in sophistication saying 'Purify' but the talismans were quickly burnt and with another howl, the bodies outside wailed in response and marched towards the temple.

"Jūn ..." Fēi called out for Jūn with a sense of urgency,

"Close the door, hold them with that wooden block" he instructed in response, he then investigated the body, carefully stepping closer to the coffin, there was a single talisman on the chest of the sitting-up corpse written in blood, Jūn looked at the corpse, the corpse has been poorly reanimated using Sǐ Líng Shù --Necromancy–

'such sacrilegious practice has been banned by the Emperor since the year 230, this must have been what the grandmaster has warned us about'

"Jūn?" the wooden block was barely holding the door together as dozens of corpse brides wailed and scratched the doors, Jūn swiftly removed the talisman from the corpse and the corpse howled again, the black mist made its way from the corpse's gaping mouth before it falls motionless and the scratching on the doors stopped.

"Is it fine to just..." Fēi replicated Jūn's move of removing the talisman,

"I don't know but I know no talisman or ritual that is able to cancel the re-animation" he grinned while putting the talisman into his pouch,

"Shouldn't we burn that?" Fēi stared at him horrified that he was not discarding such a dangerous curse

"Well, we need to investigate it first," he replied.

Jūn and Fēi made their way out of the temple after purifying it and found that there was not even one corpse lying by the door, all of the brides were still hanging nicely from the willow tree, and their bodies had started to decompose to the point that there was no foul smell, merely skeletons hanging, Jūn lend his hand to Fēi encouraging her to step outside and follow him which she gladly did, she took Jūn's hand and walked side by side through the forest of hanging brides.