The unrestrained

YueYang

Both of us stood up to look. The teacups and teapot broke to pieces on the ground. A Qiankun Pouch lay amid the white shards of porcelain and the tea that spilled out. The surface of the bag went up and down, as if something was trapped inside, eager to come out.

Although the Qiankun Pouch was only the size of a fist, it was specially made to store things. Complex incantations were also sewn on both the inside and the outside, adding a few more sealing layers. I originally sealed the arm inside the pouch and put it under a teacup on the table. Now, seeing its agitation, we finally remembered that it was time to perform Rest. If not for the short nightly duets they perform to calm it, no matter how strong the Qiankun Pouch's power of suppression was, it couldn't trap the ghost hand alone.

Wei Ying felt for the bamboo flute that had been by his waist, but he found nothing. Turning around, he saw that I already had the flute in his hands. I took it from him. The notes are sounded like squeaks back at Mingshi. So I should fix it. My head tilted slightly downward. I only handed the flute back after carving on it for a while. Taking the flute back, he noticed that, after it had been adjusted, even rough details such as the finger holes were much finer.

I said, "Play it properly."

I was remembering the horrible duet we played in the Mingshi that angered shufu to the point of waking up from a coma and fainting again, Wei Ying laughed so hard that he almost fell on the ground. We both thought the same. He stopped himself from fooling around any longer and, with a serious expression, raised the flute to his lips. However, having only played a few notes, the Qiankun Pouch suddenly multiplied in size and stood upright on the ground!

A note cracked with a "tut". Wei Ying commented, "Has it gotten too used to the bad playing? I'm playing properly for once, and it doesn't even like it."

As if replying him, the Qiankun Pouch flung itself at Wei Ying. My melody took a sharp turn. With one smooth gesture, the seven strings vibrated at once, emitting a noise so strong that it almost seemed like an avalanche. After the sound, the Qiankun Pouch fell backward to the ground again. As if nothing had happened, Wei Ying continued playing. My wrist softened. Following the tune of Rest, the guqin's melody became calm once more, and gradually blended with the flute's. He looked at me and smiled while we dueted. I smirked at him and continued to play 'rest' on my zither. My heart is rejoicing that we are together and now he is not running away from me anymore.

The song finished, and the Qiankun Pouch finally shrunk to the size it had been, remaining motionless. Wei Ying stuck the flute back by his waist, "In these few days, it's never looked as impatient as this before. It seems as if it was provoked by something."

I nodded and turned to him, "And, it was something on you."

He immediately looked downward at himself. Today, there was only one thing on him that was different-the Curse Mark that had been transferred to him from Jin Ling.

Jin Ling's Curse Mark was left on him when he was at the stone castles of the Xinglu Ridge. Seeing how strongly the ghost hand reacted to the Curse Mark, did it mean that...

Wei Ying asked, "Do you mean that another part of his body might be within the walls of the Nie Sect's Saber Hall?"

I said, "I think so. Let's go to Xinglu Ridge again tomorrow. It's nine. Let's get some sleep."

He nodded. I sat on the mat and shut my eyes. He called out, "Hanguang Jun, why don't you sleep on the bed?"

I became speechless. He insisted on me to sleep with him. I nodded. I get on to the bed and we both fell asleep.

On the next morning, the two of us departed again, heading back to the Xinglu Ridge.

Yesterday, Nie HuaiSang had been caught and confessed everything. Over the night, he called for all of the sect's reliable disciples to clean up the mess that the intruders created. When Wei Ying and I walked over, the piece of wall that Wei Ying dug Jin Ling out of had just been filled and a new corpse was already put inside. Watching the white bricks stack up neatly, he wiped some sweat off his brows. However, as he turned around, his legs almost gave out. He pulled a cringing smile onto his face, "HanGuang-Jun...and you..."