Dance of the blades

Chapter 56 Just a peek~

The silence stretched on for a few minutes before both Lan Jingyi and Jin Ling were back on their feet, facing the other way to avoid eye contact. 

Huffing in amusement at the sight, Lan Sizhui set down the squirming bird to his hand, waiting until it settled on him comfortably.

"Yuandao" Lan Sizhui amusingly observed the little crow cawing joyfully in response to his call. Rummaging through his robes with his free hand, he takes out a yellowish old scroll.  Drawing his hand closer to himself, the small distance allows the little critter to land on the paper. Its eyes trailing the cartography shown.

"We should be near the entrance of the village by now. If we go further up south we might be get a glimpse of the meeting point." Lan Sizhui paused and raising his head from his map. He finds himself facing Lan Jingyi and Jin Ling's heads, their eyes bore holes into the scroll held in Lan Sizhui's hand.

"That's great! You hear that young mistress the village is only a bit further up ahead. You don't have to be scared and cowering for your life anymore!" Lan Jingyi teased while extending out a hand and patted Jin Ling's back.

Jin Ling rolled his eyes and gave Lan Jingyi a blank stare, "Scared? Says the one who screamed like a young maiden and ran around in circles after hearing a twig snap" 

Remembering the desperate cries and flailing of Lan Jingyi with his lantern, the irritation from his friend's sarcastic statement was replaced with mild mirth.

His retort startled the grinning Lan Jingyi, sending him into a sputter. His cheeks redden in embarrassment as the memory from his earlier blunder resurfaced to his mind. Receiving a slap to his face his previous talkative mood vanished into silence.

That is until a light chuckle came from behind him, breaking him out of this state. Lan Sizhui stood behind the two with a hand covering over his mouth.

"Alright that's enough you two. We still need to head to the meeting point so please refrain from fighting" Lan Sizhui said in a gentle, hoping to appease the two of them.

His words rang trough and surprisingly the two rowdy boys had settled down. They glanced at each other silently before huffing and turning the other way in resort. Their cheeks were puffed out as the light from their lanterns flicker and illuminated their faces, casting shadows over their cheekbones. The fog swirled around them in the background, stifling the sound around them into an eerie silence.

Glancing over their surroundings, a sudden realization shot through from the darkest corners of Lan Jingyi's mind, the presence missing among them becoming clearer than day. 

"Sizhui where is Zizhen? Wasn't he with you when I left how come he isn't here yet?" and just as Lan Jingyi uttered his enquiry, a pale hand gripped upon his shoulders.

"Everyone forgot about me" a gloomy voice snuck up from behind him, placing a trembling cold hand on his shoulder. The shock of the sensation sent him staggering to his feet, causing him to fling himself onto Jin Ling who was standing beside him. 

The hand that had reached out daggled in the air, the owner's desolate eyes stared dead on into Lan Jingyi's widen irises. The owner of the hand's expression only darkening with more gloom at his friend's display. 

"Three minutes...three minutes! It hasn't even been close to an hour and the three of you had even stopped recognizing me. Shame on you! My poor fragile heart broken! Thrown into depths of a demon's mouth and swallowed! Was our time travelling together that easily forsaken in the span of a few minutes"  A gloomy voice exclaimed with tone filled of anguish. Followed after the dramatic speech was the sound of a solid hand patting against a broad chest.

Not long after a familiar figure stepped forward from the darkness and into the glimmering lantern light. The figure was tall compared to the rest of the young boys, his earthy coloured robes blended with the trees and ground behind him, making it easier for the three boys to miss his arrival from a distance. The light from the lanterns illuminated his spauish gray eyes, the two circular pupils bore holes into the direction of Lan Jingyi.

 Startled by the intensely of the gaze on him, Lan Jingyi met those spauish gray eyes head on and curiously trailed after the direction it went. His gaze went lower and lower until it reached where his hands were clutched on.

Suddenly the colour drained from Lan Jingyi's face as he openly gawked at the golden robed boy he was unconsciously clinging to. Mortified by this he forcefully detached himself from the scowling teen and scrambled back to his feet.

If Lan Jingyi's usually thick face had not shown the slightest surface of cracks then after hearing the light poorly concealed chuckle from his back should have shattered any remaining face he had upheld.

"Alright that's enough messing around now everyone. Zizhen now that you're here why don't we leave Jingyi alone and focus on getting to our mission's meeting point. If you keep this up I'm afraid Jingyi will lose his face at this point" Lan Sizhui lightly admonished, his voice kept low and gentle gave off a pleasant tone. 

Unfortunately in Lan Sizhui's attempt to salvage the situation he had failed to conceal the amusement and mirth in his eyes, to make matters worst his shoulders were still slightly shaking from restraining his laughter. This only made the already agitated Lan Jingyi storm off with a huff, his face was so red that he could no longer stand being around them anymore.

"Ah Jingyi wait up!" Ouyang Zizhen shouted out when he finally regained his posture. Shaking their heads with a soft smile, the other two behind him chased after the running boy.

The fog had partially cleared when they reached the village gates, the moon shone bright in the night sky granted them the ability to see the pathway ahead.

However instead of feeling relief at the sight of civilization, a sense of unease clouded the young demon slayers' minds the moment they set foot across the threshold. 

"Sizhui" Ouyang Zizhen called out to the boy leading ahead of  them while fiddling the handle of his lantern.

"Are you sure you got us to the right place? We didn't make a wrong turn, did we?" he asked unsure and frantically looked around sideways nervously.

The houses around them were vacant, empty of the gentle candle lights that would penetrate through the paper window sill at this hour. There was not a single soul in sight and neither the faint sound breathing from human beings could be heard in the silent desolate night.

No matter how hard they looked they could not see a single demon slayer in sight. It was as if they had all vanished under the moonlight, leaving not a single trace behind.

"No it can't be wrong. The name on the village gate and the one on the map are exactly the same. This should be the right place!" Lan Sizhui put the map and exclaimed. His brows furrow in concentration and stared at the characters craved on the stone plate in confusion.

"Maybe they're late and got lost in fog? After it take us a while to get here on foot" Jin Ling suggested nonchalantly as he leaned against the wall of nearby house. The surrounding stone that build it seemed to have a faint layer of dust gained over time.

"Or maybe they all got tired and went to bed in one of the villagers' home. We could try searching for them through the windows" as Lan Jingyi said this, he prompted himself against the window laying behind Jin Ling. With wide curious eyes, he peek through the cracks of the paper surface to get a clearer view of the inside.

Before Lan Sizhui could make a comment to stop him though, a loud scream shot through the silence of the night.